READING ROUND-UP FEBRUARY 2026

The second monthly summary, slightly delayed, of what I’ve been reading, listening to, and watching in 2026!

 

BOOKS

I read 10 books in January: 8 in print, 0 in e-book format, and 2 in audio format. They were:

1.       Twelve Months (Dresden Files #18) by Jim Butcher. (PRINT - HARDCOVER)

2.       Better Dreams, Fallen Seeds, And Other Handfuls of Hope by Ken Scholes (PRINT - SOFTCOVER)

3.       The Yards Between Us: A Memoir of Life, Love, and Football by R.K. Russell (AUDIOBOOK)

4.       Finding My Way by Malala Yousafzai. (AUDIOBOOK)

5.       And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. (PRINT - SOFTCOVER)

6.       The Decagon House Murders (House Murders #1) by Yukito Ayatsuji (trans. Ho-Ling Wong). (PRINT - SOFTCOVER) (STANZA BOOKS MYSTERY BOOK CLUB FEBRUARY PICK)

7.       Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. (PRINT - SOFTCOVER) (SPARTA BOOKS BOOK CLUB FEBRUARY PICK)

8.       Zane Carrington (Stormgate Press Quick Read #3) by Charles F. Millhouse (PRINT – SOFTCOVER)

9.       Nimona by ND Stevenson (PRINT – SOFTCOVER) (STANZA BOOKS GRAPHIC NOVEL BOOK CLUB FEBRUARY PICK)

10.   Demon Lover Witch by Mark Harris (PRINT – SOFTCOVER)

 

 

STORIES

I have a goal of reading 365 short stories (1 per day, essentially, although it doesn’t always work out that way) once again 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.       “Death Echoes Overlapping” by Megan Chee, in Lightspeed Magazine #189, edited by John Joseph Adams

2.       “The Worldbuilder” by Phoenix Alexander.

3.       “Sensor Ghosts” by Deborah L. Davitt

4.       “Warren's Tentacle” by Susan Palwick

5.       “Six Sides of a Fairy Tale” by Audrey Zhou

6.       “Dream Destinations (From the Lost Traveler's Tour Guide)” by Alexander Weinstein

7.       “The Salt and the Cure” by Ruleman Ragas

8.       “A Handbook to Spirit-Hunting” by Modupeowula Shelle

9.       “Wounds” by Celia Marsh from Sunday Morning Transport February 2026, edited by Fran Wilde and Julian Yap

10.   “Realm of the Shorn” by David Bowles

11.   “The Definition of a Second” by Carrie Vaughn

12.   “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and birds that fly above the earth across the expanse of sky” by P H Lee

13.   “Legacies” by Seanan McGuire, from the Author's Patreon

14.   “The Portobello Road” by Muriel Spark from All The Stories of Muriel Spark editor unknown

15.   “Harley Takes A Wife” by Ken Scholes, from Better Dreams, Fallen Seeds, and Other Handfuls of Hope, edited by Patrick Swenson

16.   “Of Anchor Chains and Slow Refrains and Light Long Lost in Darkness” by Ken Scholes

17.   “Stuck in Buenos Aires with Bob Dylan On My Mind” by Ken Scholes

18.   “Greatest Guns in the Galaxy” by Ken Scholes and Bryan Thomas Schmidt

19.   “The Monsters Underneath His Bed” by Ken Scholes

20.   “Let Me Hide Myself In Thee” by Ken Scholes

21.   “Better Dreams Than These” by Ken Scholes

22.   “That When I Waked I Cried to Dream Again” by Ken Scholes

23.   “Homeward Dreams and Fallen Seeds and Melody by Moonlight” by Ken Scholes

24.   “Business in Great Waters” by Ken Scholes

25.   “Evermore I Told The Raven” by Ken Scholes

26.   “Unsettled Nature” by Jordan Kurella, from Apex Magazine #154, edited by Lesley Conner

27.   “Twelve Facts About the Dermestid Beetle” by Marisca Pichette, from Nightmare Magazine #161, edited by Wendy N. Wagner

28.   ” The Ghost in Apartment 5K” by Everdeen Mason

29.   “Rest Stop” by Pedro Iriguez

30.   “Remember Me in the Meat” by Sarah Pauling, from Clarkesworld #233, edited by Neil Clarke

31.   “Chip” by D.A. Xiaolin Spires

32.   “The Doorkeepers” by A.T. Greenblatt, from Uncanny Magazine #41, edited by Michael Damian Thomas

33.   “The Source of the Spread” by Sam J. Miller, from the Author’s Newsletter

34.   “The Skull of Francisco Xalbec” by Alan M. Fisher, from The Deadlands #41, edited by Vajra Chandrasekara

35.   “The Uninvited Guest” by Josh Reynolds, from the Author’s Newsletter

36.   “Confessions of the Little Seer: An Accidental Ghost Story” by Emily Linstrom, from Kaleidotrope Winter 2025, edited by Fred Coppersmith

37.   “Water Softener People” by EC Dorgan

38.   “The Trial For Murder” by Charles Dickens, from The Collected Short Stories of Charles Dickens, editor unknown

39.   “The Man Who Lost the Sea” by Theodore Sturgeon, from Strange Horizons Website April 2009, editor unknown

40.   “Really A Sukkah!” by Sholom Aleichem, from Holiday Tales, edited by Aliza Shevrin

41.   “The Sisters” by James Joyce, from Dubliners, editor unknown

42.   “Recitatif” by Toni Morrison, from Bergen Community College website, editor unknown

43.   “Dust to Dust” by Mary Robinette Kowal, from Fireside Magazine, edited by Julia Rios

44.   “Jana Dives” by Tsitsi Dangarembga, from Yale Review website, editor unknown

45.   “Button, Button” by Richard Matheson, from Button, Button: Uncanny Stories), editor unknown

46.   “A Drama in Mexico” by Jules Verne (Trans. W.H.G. Kingston), from Four Short Stories, editor unknown

47.   “In Absentia” by Suzan Palumbo, from The Dark #129, edited by Sean Wallace

48.   “A Night's Lodging” by Stefan Grabinski (trans. Anthony Sciscione), from Orchard of the Dead and Other Macabre Tales, edited by Anthony Sciscione

49.   “The Fortune Teller” by Patricia A. McKillip, from Coyote Road, edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling

50.   “Hollow in the Hope” by Aimee Ogden, from Beneath Ceaseless Skies #451, edited by Scott H. Andrews

51.   “Breakfast” by John Steinbeck, from The Long Valley, editor unknown

52.   “The Best in the Country” by Walter Tevis, from The King is Dead: Stories, edited by Kevin Brockmeier

53.   “A Meeting in Valadolid” by Anthony Burgess, from The Devil's Mode: Stories editor unknown

54.   “Dr. Mid-Nite Thinks Fast” by Charles Reizenstein, from All-Star Comics #6 (1941), editor unknown

55.   “Testament of a Forgotten God” by Charles F. Millhouse, from Pulp Reality #1, edited by Charles F. Millhouse

56.   “The Barbarian” by Joanna Russ, from The Future is Female, edited by Lisa Yaszek

57.   “First Hunt” by Bryan Thomas Schmidt, from Aliens Vs. Predator: Ultimate Prey, edited by Jonathan Maberry & Bryan Thomas Schmidt

58.   “Kaddish For The Last Survivor” by Michael A. Burstein, from I Remember The Future: The Award-Nominated Stories of Michael A. Burstein, edited by Jason Sizmore

59.   “Lusting For Jenny, Inverted” by Elizabeth George, From Two of the Deadliest, edited by Elizabeth George

60.   “The Adventure of the Frightened Baronet” by August Derleth, from The Adventures of Solar Pons, edited by Vincent Starrett

61.   “Paper Casualty” by Len Deighton, from Declarations of War, editor unknown

 

So that’s 61 short stories in February. A bit more than “1 per day,” ha-ha (February 28st was the 59th day of 2026.)

 

COMIC BOOKS

I’ve begun tracking the individual monthly comic book issues I read and thought it would be fun to include that list in this monthly round-up as well. I’m striving for a comic book per day. I’ve also started doing a “Random Back Issue Comic Books Read/Reread” daily post on my Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky accounts. We’ll see how long that lasts. Here’s the comics I read in January:

 

1.       Edgar Rice Burroughs' Korak Son of Tarzan #3 (Gold Key 1964)

2.       The Micronauts #1 (Marvel, 1979)

3.       Exquisite Corpses #09 (Image Comics, 2026)

4.       Gatchaman: Jinpei: Henshin #1 (Mad Cave, 2026)

5.       Captain America #6 (Marvel, 2026)

6.       Everything Dead & Dying #5 (Image, 2026)

7.       Batman/Superman: World's Finest #47 (DC, 2026)

8.       Adventures of Superman: Book of El #5 (DC, 2026)

9.       Adventures of Superman: Book of El #6 (DC, 2026)

10.   Wiccan: Witch's Road #2 (Marvel, 2026)

11.   Action Comics #488 (DC, 1978)

12.   T.H.E. Cat #2 (Dell, 1967)

13.   Justice League of America #113 (DC, 1974)

14.   Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes #1 (Gold Key, 1964)

15.   The Undead Iron Fist #3 (Marvel, 2026)

16.   The Undead Iron Fist #4 (Marvel, 2026)

17.   Superman Unlimited #7 (DC, 2026)

18.   Superman Unlimited #8 (DC, 2026)

19.   Superman Unlimited #9 (DC, 2026)

20.   Showcase #101 (featuring Hawkman) (DC, 1978)

21.   Showcase #102 (featuring Hawkman) (DC, 1978)

22.   Showcase #103 (featuring Hawkman) (DC, 1978)

23.   Green Lantern: Galactic Slam #1 (DC, 2026)

24.   Wonder Woman Black and Gold 2026 Special #11 (DC, 2026)

25.   Captain Planet and the Planeteers #2 (Dynamite, 2026)

26.   Captain Planet and the Planeteers #3 (Dynamite, 2026)

27.   Captain Planet and the Planeteers #4 (Dynamite, 2026)

28.   Captain Planet and the Planeteers #5 (Dynamite, 2026)

29.   Captain Planet and the Planeteers #6 (Dynamite, 2026)

30.   Marvel Super-Heroes #18 (featuring The Guardians of the Galaxy) (Marvel, 1968)

31.   Lost Fantasy #1 (Image, 2026)

32.   Lost Fantasy #2 (Image, 2026)

33.   Lost Fantasy #3 (Image, 2026)

34.   Lost Fantasy #4 (Image, 2026)

35.   Lost Fantasy 5 (Image, 2026)

36.   Lost Fantasy #6 (Image, 2026)

37.   All-Out War #6 (DC, 1980)

38.   DC Special #10 (Strange Sports Stories) (DC, 1976)

39.   Charlton Classics #8 (featuring Hercules) (Charlton, 1981)

40.   ROM #1 (Marvel, 1979)

41.   JSA #16 (DC, 2026)

42.   Captain Action #1 (DC, 1968)

43.   Marvel Team-Up #23 (Human Torch & Iceman) (Marvel, 1974)

44.   Tales of Sword & Sorcery: Dagar the Invincible #12 (Gold Key, 1975)

45.   Sea Devils #18) (DC, 1966)

46.   C.O.R.T. Children of the Round Table #5 (DC, 2026)

47.   Supergirl #10 (DC, 2026)

48.   Aquaman #14 (DC, 2026)

49.   Action Comics #1095 (DC, 2026)

50.   Nova: Centurion #4 (Marvel, 2026)

51.   Man From Atlantis #1 (Marvel, 1979)

52.   DC KO: The Kids Are All Fight (DC, 2026)

53.   Superman #34 (DC, 2026)

54.   Justice League Unlimited #15 (DC, 2026)

55.   Dark Shadows #08 (Gold Key, 1970s)

56.   Time Warp #1 (DC, 1979)

57.   Showcase #95 (New Doom Patrol) (DC, 1970s)

58.   Fright Featuring Son of Dracula #1 (Atlas, 1975)

59.   Marvel Super-Heroes #12 (Captain Marvel) (Marvel, 1967)

60.   DC Special #12 (Historical Adventures) (DC, 1970s)

61.   Zatanna Special #1 (DC, 1987)

62.   Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #46 (1973)

63.   Marvel Premiere #56 (Dominic Fortune) (Marvel 1980)

64.   World’s Finest #210 (DC, 1970s)

65.   Captain America #7 (Marvel, 2026)

66.   Shogun Warriors #15 (Marvel, 1979)

67.   The Warlord #1 (DC, 1976)

So that’s 67 comics, way ahead of the “one per day” goal.

 

MOVIES

1.       And Then There Were None (1945), directed by Rene Clair (DVD)

2.       Ten Little Indians (1965), directed by George Pollack (DVD)

Still not even close to the “one per week” I’m aiming for.

 

TELEVISION

·       Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1 Eps 4 – 10 (6 episodes)

·       The Muppet Show (2026) Sason 1, Ep 1 (1 episode)

That’s 7 episodes of television, still not even close to the “1 per day” I was shooting for.

 

LIVE THEATER

No live theater in February, sadly. It was a busy work month.

 

PODCASTS

I’m a fairly recent convert to listening to podcasts, so I thought it would also be fun to list those here in the monthly roundups:

1         Justice Society Presents Episode 23 (JSA in the 90s: Spotlight on Jay Garrick The Flash)

2         Justice Society Presents Episode 24 (Mr. and Mrs. Superman 01)

3         Justice Society Presents Episode 25 (JSA in the 90s: Justice Society of America #6 (Chris Franklin))

4         Justice Society Presents Episode 26 (The Sandman Slept Here 00 (World's Fair Comics #1, Sandman debut))

5         Justice Society Presents Episode 27 (JSA in the 90s: Spotlight on how the Post-Crisis JSA inspired the JLA)

6         Justice Society Presents Episode 28 (JSApril: Dr. Mid-Nite Thinks Fast dramatic reading)

7         Justice Society Presents Episode 29 (The Sandman Slept Here 01 (Sandman Mystery Theatre Issues 1-4))

8         Borgo Pass Horror Podcast Episode 5 (House of Horrors (1946))

9         Borgo Pass Horror Podcast Episode 6 (Night Monster (1942))

10     Warlord Worlds Episode 1 (First Warlord and Sable storyline synopses)

11     World On Fire: An All-Star Squadron Podcast Episode 4 (Squadron issues 4 & 5)

12     World On Fire: An All-Star Squadron Podcast Episode 5 (Listener Feedback)

 

 

 

Summary of Challenges:

366 Short Stories Challenge: This month: 61 read; YTD: 87 of 366 read.

Books Challenge: This month: 10 read; YTD: 21 of 120 read.

Graphic Novels Challenge: This month: 1 read; YTD: 4 of 52 read.

Read the Book / Watch the Movie Challenge: This month: 0 read/watched; YTD: 0 read/watched.

Movie Challenge: This month: 2 watched; YTD: 4 of 52 watched.

TV Shows Challenge: This month: 7 episodes watched; YTD: 19 of 365 watched.

Live Theater Challenge: This month: 0 show attended; YTD: 1 of 12 attended.

Comic Books Challenge: This month: 67; YTD: 107 of 365 read.

Reading RoundUp: January 2026

The first monthly summary of what I’ve been reading, listening to, and watching in 2026!

 

BOOKS

I read 11 books in January: 7 in print, 2 in e-book format, and 2 in audio format. They were:

1.       More Than Love: An Intimate Portrait of My Mother, Natalie Wood by Natasha Gregson Wagner. (AUDIOBOOK)

2.       The Day The Earth Froze by Gerald Hatch (PRINT - SOFTCOVER)

3.       Klaus: Complete Deluxe Hardcover by Grant Morrison and Dan Mora (PRINT - HARDCOVER, GRAPHIC NOVEL)

4.       Being Jazz by Jazz Jennings. (AUDIOBOOK)

5.       Rise of the Crones (The Crone Wars Book 5) by Lydia M. Hawke. (E-BOOK)

6.       Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. (PRINT - SOFTCOVER) (SPARTA BOOKS BOOK CLUB JANUARY PICK)

7.       The Searcher (Cal Hooper #1) by Tana French. (PRINT - SOFTCOVER) (STANZA BOOKS MYSTERY BOOK CLUB JANUARY PICK)

8.       Golden Age Christmas Mysteries, edited by Otto Penzler (PRINT – SOFTCOVER)

9.       Absolute Martian Manhunter, Volume 1: Martian Vision by Deniz Camp, Javier Rodriguez, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (PRINT – SOFTCOVER)

10.   Frankenstein Alive, Alive! By Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson (PRINT – SOFTCOVER)

11.   A Confluence of Obsidian (The Obsidian Sisterhood #3) by Lydia M. Hawke (E-BOOK)

 

 

STORIES

I have a goal of reading 365 short stories (1 per day, essentially, although it doesn’t always work out that way) once again 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.       “Mother’s Hip” by Corey Jai White & Maddison Stoff, in Lightspeed Magazine #188, edited by John Joseph Adams

2.       “Bots All The Way Down” by Effie Seiberg.

3.       “Hunter, Hunter” by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe

4.       “A Brief Public Announcement” by Eli Brown

5.       “Choose Your Own Damnation” by Kehkashan Khalid

6.       “Where The Chicken-Footed Dwell” by Marisca Pichette

7.       “Academic Neutrality” by M.R. Robinson

8.       “The Moving Finger” by Adam-Troy Castro

9.       “Dregs” by R. Diego Martinez, from Nightmare #160, edited by Wendy N. Wagner

10.   “The Tailors” by Kurt Fawver

11.   “Jennifer's Daughter” by Sara S. Messenger

12.   “A Skull in Reverse” by Stephanie Feldman from Sunday Morning Transport Dec 2025, edited by Fran Wilde and Julian Yap

13.   “'Brokeheart' GPT, or "A Superintelligent Being Reads Pat Rosal”” by Micaiah Johnson, from Sunday Morning Transport Jan 2025

14.   “Donuts From the Daydream Network” by Julia Vee

15.   “Slake” by Victor Manibo

16.   “The Final Voyage of the Ouranos” by Marie Brennan

17.   “The Stolen Christmas Box” by Lillian de la Torre from Golden Age Christmas Mysteries, edited by Otto Penzler

18.   “Persons or Things Unknown” by Carter Dickson

19.   “Death on Christmas Eve” by Stanley Ellin

20.   “If Christmas Comes” by Steve Fisher

21.   “The Christmas Bogey” by Pat Frank

22.   “Silent Night” by Baynard Kendrick

23.   “Dead on Christmas Street” by John D. MacDonald

24.   “A Reversible Santa Claus” by Meredith Nicholson

25.   “Crime's Christmas Carol” by Norvell Page

26.   “The Adventure of the Dauphin's Doll” by Ellery Queen

27.   “The Butler's Christmas Eve” by Mary Roberts Rinehart

28.   “Dancing Dan's Christmas” by Damon Runyon

29.   “The Wrong Santa Claus” by Vincent Starrett

30.   “So Many Miles to the Heart of a Child” by Richard Bowes, from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 561 (April 1998), edited by Gordon Van Gelder

31.   “The Red One” by Jack London, from Voices From The Radium Age, edited by Joshua Glenn

32.   “First Bar at the End of the Day” by Ken Scholes, from Better Dreams, Fallen Seeds and Other Handfuls of Hope, edited by Patrick Swenson

33.   “Making My Entrance Again With My Usual Flair” by Ken Scholes

34.   “John Stevenson's Good Fortune” by Horatio Alger, from Horatio Alger Society Website, editor unknown

35.   “The End of the Story” by Clark Ashton Smith, from Vampire Tales: The Big Collection, editor unknown

36.   “The Hills of the Dead” by Robert E. Howard

37.   “Carnival of Crime” by Fred Whitby, from Star Spangled Comics 45 (June 1945), edited by Jack Schiff

38.   “Worth His Salt!” by Herbert E. Smith, from Captain Marvel Adventures 33 (March 1944), edited by Will Lieberson

39.   “A Tip on a Turtle” by Robert Silverberg, from Playing Games, edited by Lawrence Block

40.   “The Assimilated Cuban's Guide to Quantum Santeria” by Carlos Hernandez, from The Assimilated Cuban's Guide to Quantum Santeria, edited by Bill Campbell

41.   “The Adventure of the Clockwork Men” by Ron Goulart, from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction #721, edited by C.C. Finlay

42.   “The Invisible Event” by Seanan McGuire, from The Author’s Patreon

43.   “Minor Hockey Gods of Barstow Station” by Beth Cato, from Red Dust and Dancing Horses and Other Stories, editor unknown (originally published in Galactic Games, edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt)

44.   “The Collector” by Daniel Jose Older, from Salsa Nocturna: Stories, edited by Kay T. Holt

45.   “Incident at Bear Creek Lodge” by Tananarive Due, from The Wishing Pool and Other Stories, edited by Vince A. Liaguno and Rena Mason

46.   “The Astrakhan, the Homburg, and the Red Red Coal” by Chaz Brenchley, from Everything in All The Wrong Order, edited by Seanan McGuire

47.   “The Stars You Can't See By Looking Directly” by Samantha Murray, from Clarkesworld 232, edited by Neil Clarke

48.   “The Purloined Letter” by Edgar Allan Poe, from Poetry and Tales, edited by Thomas Ollive Mabbott

49.   “Hell on the Homefront Too” by Stephen Graham Jones, from Giving The Devil His Due: Special Edition, edited by Rebecca Brewer

50.   “Alchemy” by Carrie Vaughn, from Nevertheless She Persisted: Flash Fiction Project, editor unknown

51.   “Persephone” by Seanan McGuire

52.   “The Great King's Lost Bride” by R.K. Duncan, From Beneath Ceaseless Skies 449, edited by Scott H. Andrews

53.   “J.C. on the Dude Ranch” by Philip Jose Farmer, from Riverworld And Other Stories, editor unknown

54.   “The Fortingall Yew” by William Meikle, from A Winter's Tale: Horror Stories for the Yuletide, edited by Cliff Biggers, Charles R. Rutledge, James R. Tuck

 

So that’s 54 short stories in January. A bit more than “1 per day,” ha-ha (January 31st was, of course, the 31st day of 2026.)

 

COMIC BOOKS

I’ve begun tracking the individual monthly comic book issues I read and thought it would be fun to include that list in this monthly round-up as well. I’m striving for a comic book per day. I’ve also started doing a “Random Back Issue Comic Books Read/Reread” daily post on my Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky accounts. We’ll see how long that lasts. Here’s the comics I read in January:

 

1.       Knights of the Round Table #1 (Dell, 1954)

2.       ROM #1 (Marvel, 1979)

3.       Tomahawk #106 (DC, 1966)

4.       Marvel Super-Heroes #17 (Marvel, 1968)

5.       New Adventures of Superboy 29 (DC, 1983)

6.       Demon Hunter #1 (Atlas, 1975)

7.       Dark Shadows #6 (Gold Key, 1970)

8.       Marvel Two-in-One #33 (Marvel, 1977)

9.       Fence: Breakthrough: Quarter Clash #1 (Boom Studios, 2026)

10.   Nova Centurion #1 (Marvel, 2026)

11.   JSA #15 (DC, 2026)

12.   The Tin Can Society #9 (Image, 2026)

13.   Hero Zero #1 (Dark Horse, 1994)

14.   The MAZE Agency #2 (Comico, 1989)

15.   Hercules Unbound #12 (DC, 1977)

16.   Batman Family #12 (DC, 1977)

17.   Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #36 (Gold Key, 1971)

18.   Teen Titans #44 (DC, 1976)

19.   Sorcerer Supreme #1 (Marvel, 2026)

20.   Shogun Warriors #1 (Marvel, 1979)

21.   C.O.R.T. (Children of the Round Table) #5 (DC, 2026)

22.   Aquaman #13 (DC, 2026)

23.   Green Lantern Corps #12 (DC, 2026)

24.   Supergirl #9 (DC, 2026)

25.   Action Comics #1094 (DC, 2026)

26.   Star Spangled Comics #45 (DC, 1945)

27.   Captain Marvel Adventures #33 (Fawcett, 1944)

28.   Nutsy Squirrel #71 (DC, 1956)

29.   DC Special #29 (DC, 1977)

30.   Tales of Evil #1 (Atlas, 1975)

31.   The New Warriors #1 (Marvel, 1990)

32.   Famous First Editions F-8 (reprinting Flash Comics #1) (DC, 1975)

33.   Showcase #83 (DC, 1969)

34.   Steel The Indestructible Man #1 (DC, 1978)

35.   Marvel Classics Comics (Dracula) #9 (Marvel, 1976)

36.   Kurt Busiek’s Astro City #1 (Image, 1995)

37.   Silver Age: Showcase #1 (The 7 Soldiers of Victory) (DC, 2000)

38.   The X-Men #44 (Marvel, 1968)

39.   Sea Devils #31 (DC, 1966)

40.   The Grim Ghost #2 (Atlas, 1975)

So that’s 40 comics, a bit ahead of the “one per day” goal.

 

MOVIES

1.       Zootopia 2 (2025), directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard (THEATER)

2.       Thunderbolts* (2025), directed by Jake Schreier (STREAMING, Disney+)

Not even close to the “one per week” I’m aiming for.

 

TELEVISION

·       Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2, episodes 1 – 8 (8 episodes)

·       Behind the Curtain: Stranger Things: The First Shadow documentary (1 episode)

·       Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1 Eps 1 – 3 (3episodes)

That’s 12 episodes of television, not even close to the “1 per day” I was shooting for.

 

LIVE THEATER

1.       Oedipus (Studio 54, NYC)

PODCASTS

I’m a fairly recent convert to listening to podcasts, so I thought it would also be fun to list those here in the monthly roundups:

1         Justice Society Presents Episode 18 (JSA in the 90s: Justice Society #3)

2         Justice Society Presents Episode 19 (JSA in the 90s: Spotlight on the Holidays)

3         Justice Society Presents Episode 20 (JSA in the 90s: Justice Society #4)

4         Justice Society Presents Episode 21 (JSA in the 90s: Justice Society #5)

5         Justice Society Presents Episode 22 (JSA in the 90s: Spotlight on Jay Garrick, The Flash)

6         The History of Comics Books in 500 Issues Ep. 27 (African Comic Books Before World War Two)

7         The History of Comics Books in 500 Issues Episode 28 (Tijuana Bibles)

8         Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum Episode 400 (Tom Wilson interview)

9         Borgo Pass Horror Podcast Episode 3 (Man Mad Monster, 1941)

10     Borgo Pass Horror Podcast Episode 4 (The Invisible Man, 1933)

11     The Boxing Glove Arrow Podcast Episode 11 (Interview with Win Scott Eckert)

 

 

Summary of Challenges:

366 Short Stories Challenge: This month: 26 read; YTD: 26 of 366 read.

Goodreads Challenge: This month: 11 read; YTD: 11 of 120 read.

Graphic Novels Challenge: This month: 3 read; YTD: 3 of 52 read.

Read the Book / Watch the Movie Challenge: This month: 0 read/watched; YTD: 0 read/watched.

Movie Challenge: This month: 2 watched; YTD: 2 of 52 watched.

TV Shows Challenge: This month: 12 episodes watched; YTD: 12 of 365 watched.

Live Theater Challenge: This month: 1 show attended; YTD: 1 of 12 attended.

Comic Books Challenge: This month: 40; YTD: 40 of 365 read.

2025 Reading Roundup: By The Numbers

Time for my annual round-up of what I read and watched in 2025. Because I dropped the ball on doing monthly Round-Up reports, I’m going to run a few more detailed posts over the next week or two listing everything I’ve read or watched. Today’s post is mostly a “by the numbers” thing.

 

 

 

BOOKS

I did manage to read 123 books in 2025: 13 hardcovers, 49 softcover/paperbacks, 35 e-books, and 23 audiobooks. 19 of those titles were rereads, the rest books I read for the first time in 2025.

 

Monthly distribution: 7 in January; 9 in February; 9 in March; 6 in April; 5 in May; 11 in June; 9 in July; 10 in August; 13 in September; 5 in October; 13 in November; and 26 in December.

 

I read work from approximately 110 different creators (authors and anthology editors mostly; I did not track graphic novels editorial staff, colorists, and letterers this year).

 

17 of these books were for book clubs at Sparta Books in Sparta NJ and Stanza Books in Beacon NY. 12 of them were Advanced Review Copies (either print or from NetGalley). 3 of them were for my “Reread My Favorites” project (hopefully debuting on the blog soon.)

 

The shortest book I read was 41 pages long (Jeffrey Ricker’s short story collection Lies I Tell Myself: Stories), the longest 609 (Suzanne Finstad’s Natalie Wood: The Complete Biography).

 

Genre Breakdown:

·       Adventure: 1

·       Biography: 1

·       Crime: 1

·       Pop culture analysis: 2

·       Fantasy: 20

·       Historical fiction: 2

·       History: 2

·       Horror: 28

·       Memoirs: 25

·       Mimetic/current day fiction: 3

·       Mixed genre short story collections: 2

·       Mystery: 12

·       Mythology: 1

·       Romance: 7

·       Science: 3

·       Science Fiction: 11

·       Superhero: 2

·       Thriller: 1

·       True Crime: 1

 

These were my own rough classifications, and in hindsight I’m not sure why I broke crime fiction and mysteries into separate categories. I was surprised to realize I once again read a lot more horror than I thought. I didn’t read any playscripts this year for the first time in a while. And also, for the second year in a row, not a single poetry collection. I am not a big poetry reader, but I usually like to at least try to read a collection or two during National Poetry Month.

 

 

STORIES

I did manage to read 366 short stories in 2025 by 243 different authors (this includes translators).

 

The monthly distribution: 35 in January; 38 in February; 36 in March; 8 in April; 24 in May; 31 in June; 17 in July; 16 in August; 39 in September; 14 in October; 12 in November, and 96 in December. (Clearly, I was way behind my 1-per-day pace by the time I hit December, but a few anthologies and single-author collections helped me catch up.)

 

These stories came from 23 anthologies and single-author collections, 15 different magazines, 1 author Patreon site, 1 author website, 1 stand-alone e-book independently published, 3 printed chapbooks, and 2 novels (as back-matter). Last year, I calculated exactly how many stories came from each format, but as I’m running behind on this post, I’m going to skip that this year. In previous years I’ve also counted how many different editors were involved, but I neglected to accurately track that this year as well.

 

Genre breakdown:

·       Adventure: 3

·       Comedy: 3

·       Crime: 3

·       Fantasy: 102

·       Horror: 134

·       Mimetic/modern-day: 4

·       Mystery: 9

·       Science Fiction: 104

·       Super-Heroes: 4

 

Again, I’m surprised that I read a bit more horror than I thought I did. And I’m still not sure why I separated crime, mystery, and thrillers into distinct subcategories.

 

 

MOVIES

I didn’t even come close on my “watch 52 movies” challenge. I watched 3 whole movies in 2025.

I had challenged myself to watch more of the several hundred DVDs I own (split between movies and television series). 1 of the 3 movies watched was on DVD. The other two were in actual movie theaters.

 

Genre breakdown:

·       Horror (kind of): 1 (The Life of Chuck, a movie that is hard to categorize)

·       Super-Heroes: 2 (Superman and Fantastic Four: First Steps)

 

These 3 movies were the work of 3 different directors.

 

 

TELEVISION

I only managed to watch 63 distinct episodes across 9 series, so nowhere near the “1 episode for every day” goal.

 

Genre breakdown:

·       Comedy: 2 series

·       Science Fiction: 2 series

·       Super-Heroes: 1 series

·       Horror: 1 series

·       Crime: 1 series

·       Variety/Comedy Specials: 2

 

 

LIVE THEATER

I saw 11 live theatrical productions in 2025, so I missed my “average one per month” goal by 1! I attended these shows in 11 different theaters, 9 of which were in New York City. One was in the Los Angeles area, and 1 was a local high school production. 8 were musicals, 3 were dramas. One was a new production of a show I’ve seen live before (Guys and Dolls), and two were shows I’ve seen movie or filmed stage versions of (Moulin Rouge and Pirates of Penzance).

 

 

OTHER LIVE EVENTS

I also tracked what other live events I went to. I attended:

·       one college graduation (my goddaughter’s, from the University of Pittsburgh),

·       1 baseball game (our local minor league team, The Sussex Miners)

·       1 work convention

·       2 book conventions/festivals (PulpFest; Milford Readers and Writers)

·       1 antiquarian book fair (in NYC)

·       1 annual birthday bookstore crawl (in NYC)

·       4 In-Person Author Events (1 at Kew and Willow in NYC, 3 at Stanza Books in Beacon)

·       6 online author events (mostly on C.S.E. Cooney and Carlos Hernandez’s Twitch channel)

·       16 book club meetings (6 at Sparta Books in Sparta NJ, 10 at Stanza Books in Beacon NY)

 

 

PODCASTS

I only really started listening to podcasts late this year (other than about a decade ago when I used to listen to the New Yorker’s short story podcast, back when I still had an iPod Nano). So of course I decided to track my listening: 54 individual episodes across 5 different podcasts. All of them were comic book-related with the exception of 2 episodes:

·       The Borgo Pass podcast (Universal Monsters): 2 episodes

·       World on Fire: the All-Star Squadron podcast: 3 episodes

·       The Boxing Glove Arrow podcast (Green Arrow): 5 episodes

·       JSA Presents (various Justice Society related shows): 16 episodes

·       The History of Comic Books in 500 Issues: 24 episodes

 

 

COMIC BOOKS

I also decided to track how many individual comic books (single monthly issues, or “floppies”) I read in 2025. The total was 467. 30 of those were rereads, the other 437 were new (and mostly newly published). These issues were stretched across approximately 112 different titles from 10 different publishers.

 

The monthly distribution: 32 in January; 55 in February; 15 in March; 34 in April; 45 in May; 42 in June; 35 in July; 29 in August; 31 in September; 66 in October; 29 in November, and 54 in December.

 

The genre breakdown:

·       Comedy: 2

·       Fantasy: 25

·       Horror: 44

·       Mystery: 7

·       Sports: 2

·       Science Fiction: 2

·       War: 2

·       Super-Heroes: 383

 

 

Summary of Challenges:

366 Short Stories Challenge: 366 of 365 read.

Goodreads Challenge: 123 of 120 read.

Movie Challenge: 3 of 52 watched.

Television Challenge: 63 of 365 watched.

Live Theater Challenge: 11 of 12 shows attended.

2026 Reading Challenges!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Here’s hoping for a healthy book-and-story-filled 2026.

I always set myself more than one reading/viewing challenge per year. Some goals carry over from year to year, and some are new. Some are broad and some are themed. And in many cases, books read will help me meet more than one challenge. In 2024 I also started making some formal movies, television, and live theatre viewing challenges.

On the reading side of things, in 2025, I hit my overall book and short story goals but on the viewing side of things, I only got close to my goal for live theater, and majorly dropped the ball on my television and movie viewing goals. Instead of one large annual wrap-up post, I’m going to make a series of shorter posts: one for overall numbers (probably tomorrow), one for books, two for short stories (the first of which will go up on Sunday January 4), one for comic books, one for live theater and other live events (Thursday, January 8), and one for television/movies.

Once again, this year, I’m sticking mostly to the basic challenges:

 

365 SHORT STORIES CHALLENGE

Every year, I challenge myself to read one short story per day. Some years I keep the pace well, and some years I fall behind and then scramble to catch up (and some years, I catch up and fall behind again, and some years I blow past the goal handily). I’m defining “short story” as anything from flash fiction to novella-length. I am going to once again make an effort to review one or two stories every Sunday in my “Sunday Shorts” feature.

 

GOODREADS CHALLENGE

Goodreads allows members to set a challenge. In previous years, I’ve set goals ranging from 125 to 150 books. For 2025, I’m setting a goal of 120 to start with (10 books per month), and we’ll see what happens.

 

MOVIE CHALLENGE

I own a lot of DVDs. (I know, you’re shocked. Shocked!) Every year I say, “This is the year I’m going to make an effort to watch them!” And then, somehow, I … don’t. One year, I did a list of 12 and two alternates as I used to do for the ToBeRead Challenge, called it the ToBeWatched Challenge … and failed it miserably. In 2024, I got about halfway to the goal of 52 movies (an average of one per week). In 2025, not so much. So this year, I’m setting myself the same challenge. This includes movies on DVD, streaming services, and any trips to an actual movie theater (which have become rare for me).

 

TELEVISION CHALLENGE

Did I mention I own a lot of DVDs? And that I’m subscribed to a lot of streaming services? I did? Well, you won’t be shocked to know that it’s not all about the movies. So I’m setting myself a “TV Series Watch” challenge akin to my Short Story Challenge: an average of one full episode of a television series (regardless of length) for each day in the year, which this year means 365 episodes.

 

LIVE THEATRE CHALLENGE

I did pretty well with this one in 2025, even though I didn’t manage to post reviews of everything. So I’m continuing the goal for 2026: I want to see at least 1 live theatrical performance per month. Most of them will be in New York City, but I’ll count any play, musical, opera, ballet, or staged reading I see anywhere, regardless of whether it’s fully professional productions, college, community theatre, whatever. (Music concerts, author signings, and conferences/conventions do not count towards this but will be tracked separately.)

 

COMIC BOOK CHALLENGE

I also own a lot of comic books. I went “cold turkey” on buying new comics about 20 years ago for budget and space reasons. But then in 2018 Seanan McGuire and Saladin Ahmed, two authors whose work I love, started writing various comics for Marvel and thought brought me back into buying monthly comics. And I keep buying more. 2025 was the first year I actually tracked every individual comic book issue (“floppies,” as some people call them) I read, so I’m going to make this an official Challenge for 2026: as with the short stories and the television episodes, I plan to read at least one comic book (new or back issue) for every day of the year … so again, 365 total.

 

ALPHABET CHALLENGE

I saw at the beginning of 2025 several book bloggers posting about various alphabet challenges: one book title for each letter of the alphabet, one author for each letter of the alphabet. I made a good run at both in 2025 without necessarily making reading decisions based on either, so I think I’m going to do them again in 2026.

 NOVELLA NOVEMBER

I’ve made NovellaNovember (or, as another book blogger on Bluesky coined it, Novellavember) a thing for the past few years. My goal is to promote and discuss novellas and short novels (and even novelettes) throughout the month, including publisher, author and editor interviews. I say every year I’m going to shoot for a novella day, but I think I’ll make that a novella every two days for 2026.

OTHER UNOFFICIAL CHALLENGES

There are a few ongoing (in some cases, sort of life-long, or at least second-half-of-my-life long) challenges that I don’t think I’ve ever written about here. For instance, I’m well on my way to having read everything Bram Stoker ever wrote. Here are those challenges, and I’m going to do my best to create dedicated posts early in the year showing what I’ve already read/watched for each challenge and then update as I go along. Again, these are multi-year challenges:

·       The Complete Bram Stoker Read-Through

·       The Complete Seanan McGuire Read-Through

·       The Complete Silvia Moreno-Garcia Read-Through

·       The Complete Philip Jose Farmer Read-Through

·       The Complete Edgar Rice Burroughs Read-Through

·       The Complete Maurice Broaddus Read-Through

  • The Complete Perry Rhodan Read-Through

·       The Complete Dark Shadows Rewatch

·       The Complete Doctor Who Rewatch

·       The Complete Star Trek Rewatch

·       The Complete Planet of the Apes Rewatch

·       The Complete Brother Cadfael Read-Through and Rewatch

·       The Complete A.A. Fair (Cool and Lam series) Read-Through

·       The Complete Marvel Comics 1970s Novels Reread

·       The Complete Hard Case Crime Read-Through

·       The Complete Radium Age of Science Fiction Read-Through

·       The Complete American Mystery Classics Read-Through

·       The Complete Doc Savage Read-Through

·       The Complete Three Investigators Read-Through

·       The Complete Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Girl From U.N.C.L.E. Read-Through and Rewatch

·       The Complete All-Star Squadron Reread

·       The Complete The Invaders (Marvel Comics) Reread

·       The Complete Starman (2000’s DC) Reread

·       The Complete Tomb of Dracula Reread

·       The Complete Micronauts and ROM Reread

·       The Complete Shakespeare Watch (either Live theater or filmed)

·       Read A Book or Story From Every Nation in the World

·       Read a Book From Every State and US Territory

·       Read a Book from Every Canadian Province/Territory

 

And one of these days I would really like to finish creating a list of every book I remember reading in my life.

 

 

ACCOUNTABILITY

So how am I going to hold myself accountable? I’m planning to bring back my monthly Reading RoundUps. (I know, I know … I said this in the 2025 Challenge post and failed miserably at actually doing it. Second time’s the charm?) I’m not going to rename/rebrand because I like the alliterative title (which falls well in line with Series Saturday, Sunday Shorts, and a few other blog series I’m hoping to make regular features again in 2026), but those posts will also track the Viewing challenges.

 

 

I would love to hear what YOUR Reading, Writing, or Viewing Challenges are for 2024. Let me know in the comments!

Theatre Thursday: Passengers

This past weekend, we paid our first visit to the Perelman Performing Arts Center in New York City, down by the World Trade Center, to see Passengers by the 7 Fingers. It was an incredible experience.

Description: My hand, holding the program for Passengers, in front of the main section of seating in front of the stage

Written, directed, and choreographed by Shana Carroll, Passengers is an intriguing mix of dance, gymnastics, silkwork, trapeze, juggling, polework, acrobatics, singing, vocalization, and spoken word – truly the “multidisciplinary” show it is advertised to be. The performers (at our performance: Sereno Aguilar Izzo, Eduardo De Azevedo Grillo, Kaisha Dessalines-Wright, Marie-Christine Fournier, Marco Ingaramo, Anna Kitchtchenko, Maude Parent, Michael Patterson, and Will Underwood) were all absolutely fantastic; it would be almost impossible to single any one of them out for praise over the others. They are truly an ensemble, and it appears from looking at the Perelman PAC website that the show might change subtly depending on which members of the company are in a particular performance (for instance, the website includes a photo of a cast member doing high-wire balancing, which was not in the performance we saw).

The loose concept of the show is that the unnamed characters (and each cast member plays multiple roles if I interpreted things correctly) are all passengers on a train. Throughout the performance, they bond, fall in love, separate and reunite (romantically and platonically); they experience the highs and lows of all kinds of relationships. Their emotions run from the comic to the heart-breaking, and most of it is expressed via movement and body language only. There are a couple of compelling monologues and songs and one very funny dialogue about the nature of time travel which serve as breathers from the more physical aspects of the show (even the most talented dancers, gymnasts and acrobats need a break!), but the most poignant moments come through the physical movements. The silkwork and trapeze work were particularly stunning and emotional; the juggling was hysterically funny; the contortionist aspect was mind-boggling, and the polework was mouth-droppingly exhilarating.

The 7 Fingers are billed as “Montréal’s acclaimed contemporary physical theater group” and they absolutely lived up to that acclaim.

Passengers runs at the Perelman Performing Arts Center at 251 Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan through June 29th, 2025, only. I highly recommend seeing it before it closes if you’re in the NYC area. The 7 Fingers website indicates the show will also play in Boston for the month of September.

Description: the lobby marquee for Passengers (a photo of Grand Central Station’s main departures board) behind piles of luggage, a clock, and an empty bench.

 

I’ve always loved live theater, and in the past couple of years I’ve been making a stronger effort to see more of it. Theater Thursday is a new occasional series where I talk about live theater, both shows I’ve seen recently and shows I’ve loved in the past.

Theatre Thursday: Kowalski

My first theatrical show of 2025 was Kowalski, at The Duke on 42nd Street in New York City.

In Kowalski, playwright Gregg Ostrin imagines what might have gone on the night Marlon Brando showed up at Tennessee Williams’ Provincetown house to audition for the role of Stanley Kowalski in the Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire at the behest of director Elia Kazan. I am a sucker for tales of backstage/off-screen drama, so I knew I had to see Kowalski even with as little as I know of the personal lives of Williams and Brando (does that make me a bad theatre fan? Should I turn in my gay card?), and no matter how much of the 90-minute encounter is conjecture on Ostrin’s part.

Robin Lord Taylor was mostly known to me previous to this as Oswald Cobblepot, a.k.a. The Penguin, on Gotham, but his turn as Tennessee Williams now supersedes his TV work in my mind. His body language betrays Williams’ combination of insecurity and hubris with almost every gesture, some of it flamboyant enough to be real and real enough to avoid caricature. His whiskey-soaked voice soars when he’s excited and drops gutturally when he’s no longer amused, trying to stay in command of his home despite the overwhelming presence of Brando (and eventually, Brando’s female traveling companion).

Brandon Flynn (also previously known to me mostly from his television work on 13 Reasons Why, where he proved he could handle tough material) captivates from the moment he breaks into Williams’ house (easy, because the front door doesn’t latch properly); he exudes the calm sexuality Brando did at the start of his career mixed with playfulness but underscored with some bitterness. He avoids doing a Brando impersonation, giving his dialogue just enough of a mumbly quality to justify the number of times Williams comments on the way he speaks but otherwise avoiding the cliches.

When Taylor and Flynn are alone on stage together, they have a connection that made the audience the night I saw the show sit still and focus on every word, every gesture. The connection is in turn playful (especially with the misunderstanding of their first meeting), commiseratory (sharing stories of troubled childhoods), and confrontational (as each tries to control the other). Even when the characters are angry with each other, when Williams sulks or Brando rages, the actors are perfectly in synch.

While this is essentially a two-man show, there are three other characters. I estimate two of them have about twenty minutes of stage time each, and the third less than that. Ellie Ricker’s Jo, the young girl who has traveled with Brando to Provincetown from New York only to be left behind at the bus station until she takes matters into her own hands, is effervescent and easily manipulated by both men. I spent the whole time she was on stage wanting to tell her to pay attention to the way they’re using her as a pawn. When she does, Ricker’s transition from sweet to hurt to angry is pitch perfect. Alison Cimmet (who I think I last saw way downtown in a production of Machinal, twenty or more years ago) plays Williams’ long time friend Margo Jones … and man, do I wish the script gave her more to do. She is wonderfully acerbic as the long-supporting friend who is deeply hurt by being passed over as director of Streetcar in favor of the much more in-demand Elia Kazan; acerbic but loving. She and Lord also have solid chemistry in their too-few scenes together. Sebastian Treviño has the least stage time as Pancho, Williams’ live-in lover. He handles what little he’s given to do (sexily smolder, physically threaten, get drunk) very well but the Pancho is there mostly as a possible basis for the role Brando is there to audition for.

If I have any complaint about the show, it’s the way it is structured as a memory play. The first minute or so, with an older Tennessee Williams sitting in a chair talking to an unseen, and unheard, television interviewer, felt awkward and unnecessary, as did the closing narration.

Colin Hanlon’s direction is superb, making full use of the single set (the living room and kitchen of Williams’ home) designed by David Gallo with an eye towards keeping your attention on the actors. Jeff Croiter’s lighting design is subtle and warm and Lisa Zinni’s costumes capture the essence of Williams and Brando with period perfection. The Duke at 42nd Street is an intimate black box space which made it even easier for the audience to be pulled into the drama. I hope the show does well enough to garner a transfer to a Broadway house eventually, but I fear some of the immediacy of being in a smaller house will be lost. So go see Kowalski during this initial limited run. It closes February 23rd.

Kowalski set design by David Gallo, lighting design by Jeff Croiter

 

I’ve always loved live theater, and in the past couple of years I’ve been making a stronger effort to see more of it. Theater Thursday is a new occasional series where I talk about live theater, both shows I’ve seen recently and shows I’ve loved in the past.

2025 Reading Challenges

I always set myself more than one reading challenge per year. Some carry over from year to year, and some are new. Some are broad and some are themed. And in many cases, books read will help me meet more than one challenge. Last year I also started making some formal movie, television, and live theatre viewing challenges.

 

On the reading side of things, in 2024, I hit my overall book and short story goals and blew past my non-fiction reading sub-goal, but didn’t complete any of the other reading challenges I set myself. On the watching side of things, I exceeded my goal for live theater, but only hit about 70% of my television goal and slightly less than 50% of my movie-watching goal.

 

So I decided this year, I’m sticking to the basics:

 

 

 

365 SHORT STORIES CHALLENGE

Every year, I challenge myself to read one short story per day. Some years I keep the pace well, and some years I fall behind and then scramble to catch up (and some years, I catch up and fall behind again, and some years I blow past the goal handily). I’m defining “short story” as anything from flash fiction to novella-length. I am going to once again make an effort to review one or two stories every Sunday in my “Sunday Shorts” feature.

 

 

GOODREADS CHALLENGE

Goodreads allows members to set a challenge. In previous years, I’ve set goals ranging from 125 to 150 books. For 2024, I’m setting a goal of 120 to start with (10 books per month), and we’ll see what happens.

 

MOVIE CHALLENGE

I own a lot of DVDs. (I know, you’re shocked. Shocked!) Every year I say, “This is the year I’m going to make an effort to watch them!” And then, somehow, I … don’t. One year, I did a list of 12 and two alternates as I do for the TBR Challenge, called it the TBW Challenge … and failed it miserably. Last year, I got about halfway to the goal of 52 movies, an average of one per week. So this year, I’m setting myself the same challenge. This includes movies on DVD, streaming services, and any trips to an actual movie theater (which have become rare for me).

 

TELEVISION CHALLENGE

Did I mention I own a lot of DVDs? And that I’m subscribed to a lot of streaming services? I did? Well, you won’t be shocked to know that it’s not all about the movies. So I’m setting myself a “TV Series Watch” challenge akin to my Short Story Challenge: an average of one full episode of a television series (regardless of length) for each day in the year, which this year means 365 episodes.

 

LIVE THEATRE CHALLENGE

I did pretty well with this one in 2023, even though I never posted about it (because I posted extraordinarily little here in 2023, but that’s a subject for another post), so I’m making it official for 2024: I want to see at least 1 live theatrical performance per month. Most of them will be in New York City, but I’ll count any play, musical, opera, ballet, or staged reading I see anywhere, regardless of whether it’s fully professional productions, college, community theatre, whatever. (Music concerts, author signings, and conferences/conventions do not count towards this.)

 

 

ACCOUNTABILITY

So how am I going to hold myself accountable? I’m planning to bring back my monthly Reading RoundUps. I’m not going to rename/rebrand because I like the alliterative title (which falls well in line with Series Saturday, Sunday Shorts, and a few other blog series I’m hoping to make regular features in 2025), but those posts will also track the Viewing challenges.

 

I would love to hear what YOUR Reading, Writing, or Viewing Challenges are for 2024. Let me know in the comments!

Reading Round-Up: August 2024

Here’s what I read, listened to, and watched in August 2024!

 

BOOKS

I read 8 books in August: 3 in print, 3 in e-book format, and 2 in audio format. They were:

1.       My West Side Story: A Memoir by George Chakiris and Lindsay Harrison (E-BOOK, Non-fiction Challenge)

2.       A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, (Narrated by Tim Curry) (AUDIOBOOK)

3.       Superman Batman: Saga of the Super Sons by Bob Haney, Dick Dillin, Vince Colletta, Tex Blaisdell, and others (PRINT; Graphic Novel Challenge)

4.       Stormgate Press Quick Reads Book #1: The Purple Mystique by Charles Millhouse (PRINT)

5.       Tournament Manners: A Martial Arts Mystery by Jess Faraday (E-BOOK)

6.       In the Hands of Women by Jane Loeb Rubin (PRINT) REVIEW HERE

7.       The Butterfly Mosque: A Young American Woman's Journey to Love and Islam by G. Willow Wilson (AUDIOBOOK; Non-fiction Challenge)

8.       A Princess of Mars: Shadow of the Assassins by Ann Tonsor Zeddies (e-book) REVIEW HERE

 

 

 

STORIES

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 Darkness Between the Stars” by Richard Thomas in Lightspeed Magazine #171, edited by John Joseph Adams

2.       “Resistance” by Cat Rambo

3.       “The Quality of Mercy Is Not Strain'd” by Archita Mittra

4.       “Under the Skin” by Deborah L. Davitt

5.       “Mud Maidens Rise” by K.A. Wiggins

6.       “Look at the Moon” by Dominique Dickey

7.       “What's in a Name?” by Matthew Hughes

8.       “Child of the River” by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe

9.       “The Lazarus Cabal” by Sean Lee Levin, from The Lazarus Cabal, edited by Michael Croteau

10.   “Daily Nightly” by Jim Beard, from Moonstone Double Shot May 2024, edited by Joe Gentile

11.   “Streets of Blood” by Richard Scanlan

12.   “The Time Capsule” by Alice Towey, from Clarkesworld #214, edited by Neil Clarke

13.   “The Sort” by Thomas Ha

14.   “A Night in Purple” by Charles Millhouse, from Stormgate Press Quick Read Book #1: The Purple Mystique, edited by Charles Millhouse

15.   “Death in Purple” by Charles Millhouse

16.   “Into the Valley of Death” by William Meikle, from Creature Feature, edited by William Meikle

17.   “Home from the Sea” by William Meikle

18.   “A Rock and a Hard Place” by William Meikle

19.   “One Ear Left Over” by Jonathan Olfert, from Beneath Ceaseless Skies #413, edited by Sean H. Andrews

20.   “An Isle in a Sea of Ghosts” by J.A. Prentice

21.   “Once There Was Water” by Katie McIvor, from The Dark #111, edited by Sean Wallace

22.   “The Operculum Necklace” by Megan Chee

23.   “Bite Me, Drink Me, Get Me” by H. Pueyo

24.   “To Call the Lightning” by Rebecca Burton, from Kaleidotrope Summer 2024, edited by Fred Coppersmith

 

So that’s 24 short stories in August. Less than “1 per day” again, which keeps me slightly behind for the year! (August 31st was the 244th day of 2024.)

 

MOVIES

I watched four movies in August:

1.       We Are Doc Savage (2024)

2.       Logan (2017)

3.       The Hitch-Hiker (1953)

4.       West Side Story (1961)

The week ending August 31st was the 35th week of the year, so I’m still behind on the “1 movie per week” challenge.

 

TELEVISION

·       Batman: Caped Crusader Season 1, Episodes 1 – 10 (10 episodes) REVIEW HERE

·       Slow Horses Season 3, Episodes 1 – 6 (6 episodes)

·       Only Murders in the Building Season 4, Episode 1 (1 episode)

·       The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2, Episodes 1 – 3 (3 Episodes)

That’s 20 episodes of television, which puts me still well below the “1 per day” I was shooting for and keeps me behind the pace for this challenge.

 

LIVE THEATER

I saw two live theatrical performances in August:

1.       Back to the Future: The Musical (Winter Garden Theater, New York City) REVIEW HERE

2.       Once Upon a Mattress (Hudson Theatre, New York City) REVIEW HERE

 

Summary of Challenges:

“To Be Read” Challenge: This month: 0 read; YTD: 6 of 15 read.

366 Short Stories Challenge: This month:  24 read; YTD: 226 of 366 read.

Goodreads Challenge: This month: 8 read; YTD: 83 of 120 read.

Graphic Novels Challenge:  This month: 1 read; YTD: 16 of 52 read.

Non-Fiction Challenge: This month: 2 read; YTD: 14 of 12 read.

Read the Book / Watch the Movie Challenge: This month: 0 read/watched; YTD: 2 read/watched.

Movie Challenge: This month: 4 watched; YTD: 21 of 52 watched.

TV Shows Challenge: This month: 20 episodes watched; YTD: 169 of 366 watched.

Live Theater Challenge: This month: 2 shows attended; YTD: 11 of 12 attended.