The first monthly summary of what I’ve been reading and listening to in 2021!
BOOKS
To keep my numbers consistent with what I have listed on Goodreads, I count completed magazine issues as “books.” I read 12 books in January: 3 in print, 8.5 in e-book format, and .5 in audio format I started We Are Totally Normal in audio but finished it in e-book). They were:
1. Lightspeed Magazine #128 (January 2021 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams. The usual fine assortment of sf and fantasy short stories. This month’s favorites for me were Anjali Sachdeva’s “The Incorruptible World,” An Owomoyela’s “The Hard Spot in the Glacier,” Maria Dhavana Headley’s “The Orange Tree,” and P H Lee’s “Frost’s Boy.”
2. By the Way, I Love You by Seth King. Cute New Year’s Day romance novella in which a college boy who has always thought he was straight falls for his out-and-effeminate new roommate. King gives the characters depth and personality.
3. Lumberjanes Volume 16: Mind Over Mettle by Shannon Watters & Kat Leyh (writers), AnneMarie Rogers (artist), Maarta Laiho (colors), Aubrey Aiese (letters) and Sophie Philips-Roberts (Editor). Mal’s attempt to overcome her fear, which she thinks is a detriment to the other ‘Janes, lands her in dinosaur land again – but things have changed there, and the Janes must not only rescue their friend but all the dinosaurs. Another fun adventure with great character advancement for several of the main cast.
4. The Christmas Accomplice by Hank Edwards. A gay holiday romance novella. Socially awkward geek Welton winds up on vacation at a ski resort after breaking up with his boyfriend, and immediately has an awkward meet-cute with resort employee Reece. Complications ensue (the arrival of the ex-boyfriend, nosy co-workers, and Reece’s challenges to earn a possible promotion) but there’s a HEA ending. The characters are endearing, the stumbling-blocks not insurmountable. Highly recommended.
5. The Warrior’s Pilgrimage by Frank Schildiner. Schildiner takes on, in novella form, one of his favorite genres: the “sword and sandal” movies, and he nails it. His new take on the legend of Romulus and Remus focuses on the forgotten brother. FULL REVIEW HERE.
6. The Final Decree by Jeffrey Ricker. All Bill Templeton wants is to marry his fiancée – but first he needs a divorce from Travis, the smuggler he left behind for a different life. To get it, Bill must travel to a city under siege by corporate armed forces. This is a really fun adventure story (light on the romance, although it underpins everything that happens) and I hope Ricker writes more novellas set in this universe with these characters.
7. Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor. A girl with strange powers travels Ghana in search of explanations and the seed that gave her her abilities, while legends grow around her. Once again, Okorafor blends magic and science with strong characters to give us a fantastic novella. FULL REVIEW HERE.
8. We Are Totally Normal by Rahul Kanakia. A YA novel about coming out and coming to understand yourself. The main character, Nandan, is highly confused about his attractions and spends a good portion of the book contradicting himself in terms of what he wants and what he believes. There are scenes in which he’s even pretty unlikeable and manipulative. His friends seem to understand him a lot better than he does. I started this one in audio form, but finished in e-book partially because I just wasn’t driving long distances enough to make progress with the book, and partially because I found the narrator’s character voices irritating/grating (as this is the only thing I’ve heard this particular narrator on, I can’t judge whether it’s the narrator overall or just these particular voices).
9. Kill the Man by Steve Orlando and Philip Kennedy Johnson (writers), Al Morgan (art and colors), Jim Kennedy (letters), Mike Marts (editor). Up and coming Mixed Martial Arts star James Bellyi watched his father be killed in the ring by a contender who happened to be gay, so he keeps his own sexuality quiet – until he’s publicly outed by the current MMA champ. This is a story not just of coming out in a notoriously homophobic sport, but also of finding peace with your past. Fantastic character work is accompanied by Morgan’s moody detailed artwork, and the limited black-white-red color palette increases the sense of claustrophobia, of being “in your own head.” Content Warning for homophobic language and physical violence.
10. Calculated Risks (InCryptid #10) by Seanan McGuire. McGuire’s latest entry in her InCryptid series picks up immediately where the cliffhanger ending of the previous installment, Imaginary Numbers, left off. I read an e-ARC obtained through NetGalley, so a full review is forthcoming.
11. Defensive Play (a Boys on the Brink novella) by Jamie Deacon. I do seem to have developed an interest in gay sports romances over the past year or so. In this one, a closeted British teen who suffers from social anxiety and panic attacks but who is a fantastic soccer defenseman finally meets the boy of his dreams – a striker for a rival team who is very openly gay. I loved the way this one develops both characters (without bouncing POVs, as so many romances seem to) and doesn’t let the roadblocks to their happy-for-now ending linger. I also thought the author took a realistic view of modern high school social dynamics.
12. Poisoning for Profit: The Mafia and Toxic Waste in America by Alan A Block and Frank R. Scarpitti. The first of my non-fiction To Be Read challenge titles has been sitting on my work bookshelf for a long time. It’s an interesting, if now somewhat outdated, look at the links between organized crime and the waste disposal industry as it developed in New York and New Jersey in the late 70s and early 80s. A bit dry and repetitive in places, but still a solid read.
STORIES
I have a goal of reading 365 short stories (1 per day, essentially, although it doesn’t always work out that way) this year. Here’s what I read this month and where you can find them if you’re interested in reading them too. If no source is noted, the story is from the same magazine or book as the story(ies) that precede(s) it.
1. “The Incorruptible World” by Anjeli Sachdeva, from Lightspeed Magazine #128 (January 2021 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams
2. “The Hard Spot in the Glacier” by An Owomoyela
3. “The Memory Plague” by D. Thomas Minton
4. “On the Fringes of the Fractal” by Greg Van Eekhout
5. “The Orange Tree” by Maria Dhavana Headley
6. “Answering the Questions You May Have About the Kharbat” by Adam-Troy Castro
7. “The Mushroom Queen” by Elizabeth Zienska
8. “Frost’s Boy” by P H Lee
9. “Things to Bring, Things to Burn, Things Best Left Behind” by C.G. McGill, from Fantasy Magazine #63 (January 2021), edited by Christie Yant and Arley Sorg
10. “Incense” by Megan Chee
11. “10 Steps to a Whole New You” by Tonya Liburd
12. “The Billionaire Shapeshifters’ Ex-Wives Club” by Kristiana Willsey
13. “What You Build” by Seanan McGuire, on the author’s Patreon page.
14. “Let All the Children Boogie” by Sam J. Miller, from Tor.com, edited by Jonathan Strahan
15. “A Fairy Tale for the Little Acorn” by ‘Nathan Burgoine, on the author’s website
16. “Goal Invariances Under Radical Self-Modification” by Julie Nováková from Future Science Fiction Digest #6 (March 2020), edited by Alex Schvartsman
17. “Our Lady of the Golems” by Irene Punti
18. “Vic From Planet Earth” by Yevgeny Lukin (translated by Mike Olivson)
19. “Sankofa” by Nnedi Okorafor, from Decision Points, edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt
20. “The Van Etten House” by Carrie Laben, from The Dark #68 (January 2021), edited by Sean Wallace
21. “Love for Ashes” by Frances Ogamba
22. “There, in the Woods” by Clara Madrigano
23. “Each Night an Adaptation” by Osahon Ize-Iyamu
24. “Singing the Comic-Con Blues” by Seanan McGuire, novella included in the paperback of her InCryptid novel Calculated Risks
25. “Wild Geese” by Lavie Tidhar, from F&SF January/February 2021, edited by C.C. Finlay
26. “How to Break into a Hotel Room” by Stephen Graham Jones, from Nightmare Magazine #100, edited by John Joseph Adams and Wendy N. Wagner.
So that’s 26 short stories in January. A bit less than “1 per day.” (January 31st was, of course, the 31st day of 2021.)
Summary of Reading Challenges:
“To Be Read” Challenge: This month: 1 read; YTD: 1 of 24 main titles read. (0 of 4 alternate titles read)
366 Short Stories Challenge: This month: 26 read; YTD: 26 of 365 read.
Graphic Novels Challenge: This month: 2 read; YTD: 2 of 52 read.
Goodreads Challenge: This month: 12 read; YTD: 12 of 125 read.
Non-Fiction Challenge: This month: 1 read; YTD: 1 of 24 read.
Read the Book / Watch the Movie Challenge: This month: 0; YTD: 0 read/watched.
Complete the Series Challenge: This month: 0 book read; YTD: 0 of 14 read.
Series fully completed: 0 of 4 planned
Monthly Special Challenge: I didn’t set a specific “mini challenge” for January, other than to work on staying on track or getting ahead on the yearly challenges. I didn’t really get ahead on any, but at least I made partial progress on the graphic novel challenge (Kill the Man and Lumberjanes Volume 16), the non-fiction challenge (Poisoning for Profit), the “To Be Read” Challenge (Poisoning for Profit), and the 365 Short Stories and Goodreads Challenges. No progress on the Read/Watch or Complete the Series Challenges this time out.
February is Black History Month and Women in Horror Month, so my challenge, as usual, is to read as many Black authors as I can and as many women horror writers as I can, and hopefully a few who overlap.