The monthly summary of what I’ve been reading and listening to in 2021!
BOOKS
I read 12 books in February: 6 in print, 5 in e-book format, and 1 in audio format. They were:
1. Lightspeed Magazine #129 (February 2021 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams. The usual fine assortment of sf and fantasy short stories. This month’s favorites for me were Phoebe Barton’s “The Mathematics of Fairyland,” Keith Brooke and Eric Brown’s “Me Two,” A.T. Greenblatt’s “The Memory of a Memory is a Spirit,” and Autumn Brown’s “Small and Bright.”
2. Abbott by Saladin Ahmed (writer), Sami Kivelä (art), Jason Wordie (colors), Jim Campbell (letters), Chris Rosa and Eric Harbur (editor). This graphic novel collects the first Abbott mini-series about intrepid reporter Elena Abbott, who happens to be both black and a woman working at a white-run newspaper in 1972 Detroit. As Abbott investigates a string of unusual murders (of black men and animals), she uncovers supernatural events tied to the death of her first husband. I absolutely loved this: the pacing of the story, the multi-faceted characters (and their full representation of racial/gender/sexuality marginalized groups), and the supernatural threat – the Umbra – along with Elena’s role in fighting it. A second mini-series, Abbott 1973, has just started monthly publication.
3. The Worker Prince (The Saga of Davi Rhii Book 1) by Bryan Thomas Schmidt. Schmidt takes the Moses myth and jumps in into far-future interstellar space, where the human leader of the Borali Alliance declares the first-born sons of all human Workers must be killed. The one child spared grows up thinking he’s the leader’s nephew until the truth comes out and he rallies the Workers to revolution. Fast-paced space opera with engaging lead characters and a scenery-chewing villain you can’t help but hate.
4. Lumberjanes True Colors by Lilah Sturges (writer), Polterink! (art and colors), Jim Campbell (letters), Sophie Philips-Roberts (editor). The focus of this stand-alone graphic novel (which does not reprint material from the regular monthly Lumberjanes book) is on Ripley. Ripley, the youngest and most excitable of the ‘Janes, starts to feel like standing out and being noticed isn’t the great thing she’s always thought, and then she meets a zebracorn (yes, you read that correctly, and it’s exactly what you think) who grants her wish to fit in and be like everyone else. Downside? She’s so bland everyone forgets her, which causes problems when her fellow ‘Janes encounter a problem only Ripley’s unique persona can solve. Once again, Sturges and Polterink deliver a story that shows the power of friendship and human need to be liked/respected/needed.
5. The Returning (The Saga of Davi Rhii Book 2) by Bryan Thomas Schmidt. In the second book of the Davi Rhii trilogy, the Workers (Vertullians) have been made full members of the Borali Alliance, but not everyone is happy about that. Political and personal tensions bubble over. Just as fun and fast-paced as the first book, while adding layers to the characters and to the society as a whole.
6. An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography by Paul Rusesabagina. I bought this book a few years back after several people recommended it. Reading Rusesabagina’s memoir of his role in saving refugees during the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994 was an interesting experience. He has an engaging style, very personable and expressive. The early chapters do a nice job of laying out not just his personal history but a bit of Rwanda’s history that led to the genocide. But about halfway through the book, I started to question what I was reading: were his actions really as altruistic as he was painting? why does he insist on describing the Hutu leaders of the genocide movement as “good men” when they clearly aren’t? Every memoir is subjective – ask five people who witnessed the same event to describe it and you’re going to get five different stories – but this felt a bit like the author was trying to unsuccessfully gloss over things he didn’t think fit the narrative that’s been built around him thanks to the movie Hotel Rwanda. So, I’m reading more about the genocide, from other refugees/survivors. Because one of the things the author is accurate about is the lack of knowledge in the US when it comes to genocide in general and especially to genocides in other countries.
7. Nine Bar Blue by Sheree Renée Thomas. What an amazing short story collection. Every story here was new to me, even the reprints. I have no idea how I’ve managed to not read anything by Thomas even while being aware of her via Twitter, Facebook, and posts by so many other authors – it’s kind of embarrassing. As the title implies, a lot of these stories have music as a background or basis, and many of them take place in or near Memphis. They also skirt the genre line between horror and fantasy – quite a few gave me chills and a sense of wonder. I’m planning to post a full review soon.
8. Later by Stephen King. The protagonist of Stephen King’s third novel for Hard Case Crime calls to mind King favorites like Geordie LaChance and Bill Denbrough but is set in the 2000s. There’s a solid supernatural element to this alongside the crime, so something for everyone. FULL REVIEW HERE.
9. Hawkman Vol 4: Hawks Eternal by Robert Venditti (writer), Fernando Pasarin, Marco Castiello, Marcio Takara (art), Jeromy Cox (colors), Rob Leigh, Richard Starkings (letters), Harvey Richards (editor). Collecting the final issues of Venditti’s fantastic reinvention/expansion of the Hawkman mythos. I regret not picking this series up in monthly format, the story is that good. The run ends as strong as it started, while leaving room for other people to work with the character. I’m planning to do a Series Saturday post sometime soon.
10. Inside the Hotel Rwanda: The Surprising True Story … and Why It Matters Today by Edouard Kayihura. While I was reading the Rusesabagina memoir, this book and several others about the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsis in Rwanda popped up as recommendations. So, when I decided I wanted a broader look at the Hundred Days, it made sense to start here. Kayihura’s style is not as immediately personable as Rusesabinga’s; his style is more tense, fully acknowledging the danger everyone was in. Again, the early chapters cover his life pre-genocide and a bit of the country’s history – but Kayihura also extends the story beyond the end of the Genocide, covering his life and the nation’s attempts to heal. There’s also a lot of anti-Rusesabagina talk throughout the book, which matched some of what I thought was suspect about Rusesabagina’s story. I have two more memoirs (one by a female survivor, one by the leader of the UN peacekeeping forces) that I’m going to read this month to try and round out my understanding of what happened.
11. The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography by Sidney Poitier. The only audiobook I listened to this month (I’m traveling far less these days), and what a great listen. Poitier is a wonderful storyteller (no surprise there). What I found interesting is that this is not a linear memoir; Poitier bounces between his early childhood in the Bahamas, his teen years in Miami, his adult married life and acting career and his present (at the time he recorded this) reasons for looking back. He tackles moments in life and those of his parents when those moments tie into whatever point he’s making about being human. And it’s really enthralling all the way through. And he leaves in all the natural verbal tics (the “you knows” and “you understand what I’m saying” type phrases) that most memoirists leave out. There’s nothing effected at all in his style.
12. How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin. The first of my fiction To Be Read challenge titles hasn’t been sitting on my shelf as long as some of the other titles on this year’s list, since the book came out in 2018, but it was an appropriate choice for Black History Month, don’t you think? I had previously read a handful of these stories in other venues (“The Ones Who Stay and Fight,” “The Effluent Machine,” “Cloud Dragon Skies,” “Valedictorian,” and “Non-Zero Probabilities”) but most of them were new to me. As with the Sheree Renée Thomas collection, I really tried to savor this one, but could never put it down after just one story. Every single story is thought-provoking, whether it’s science fiction or fantasy, present-day, far-future, or otherworldly. This is not just Afrofuturism/Afrofantasy at its finest, it’s science fiction/fantasy as a whole at its finest.
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 Mathematics of Fairyland” by Phoebe Barton, from Lightspeed Magazine #129 (February 2021 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams
2. “Bulletproof Tattoos” by Paul Crenshaw
3. “Me Two” by Keith Brooke and Eric Brown
4. “Sidewalks” by Maureen F. McHugh
5. “Church of Birds” by Micah Dean Hicks
6. “The Memory of a Memory is a Spirit” by A.T. Greenblatt
7. “Small and Bright” by Autumn Brown
8. “Destinations of Beauty” by Alexander Weinstein
9. “Kisser” by David James Brock, from Fantasy Magazine #64 (February 2021), edited by Christie Yant and Arley Sorg
10. “Of Course You Screamed” by Sharang Biswas
11. “Like a Box of Chocolates” by Dani Atkinson
12. “Flight” by Innocent Chizaram Ilo
13. “Inflatable Angel” by Seanan McGuire, on the author’s Patreon page.
14. “Spyder Threads” by Craig Laurence Gidney, from Come Join Us by The Fire Volume 2, (not sure who edited it)
15. “Navigational Errors” by Lucy A. Snyder, from Fireside #88, edited by Maurice Broaddus
16. “Ancestries” by Sheree Renée Thomas from Nine Bar Blues
17. “Thirteen Year Long Song” by Sheree Renée Thomas
18. “Aunt Dissy’s Policy Dream Book” by Sheree Renée Thomas
19. “Nightflight” by Sheree Renée Thomas
20. “River, Clap Your Hands” by Sheree Renée Thomas
21. “Stars Come Down” by Sheree Renée Thomas
22. “Child’s Play” by Sheree Renée Thomas
23. “Headstatic” by Sheree Renée Thomas
24. “The Parts That Make Us Monsters” by Sheree Renée Thomas
25. “The Dragon Can’t Dance” by Sheree Renée Thomas
26. “Who Needs the Stars if the Full Moon Loves You” by Sheree Renée Thomas
27. “310 Lucy” by Sheree Renée Thomas
28. “Shanequa’s Blues – Or Another Shotgun Lullaby” by Sheree Renée Thomas
29. “Madame & the Map: A Journey in Five Movements” by Sheree Renée Thomas
30. “Teddy Bump” by Sheree Renée Thomas
31. “Origins of Southern Spirit Music” by Sheree Renée Thomas
32. “The Ones That Stay and Fight” by N.K Jemisin, from How Long ‘Til Black Future Month?
33. “The City Born Great” by N.K Jemisin
34. “Red Dirt Witch” by N.K Jemisin
35. “L’Alchemista” by N.K Jemisin
36. “The Effluent Machine” by N.K Jemisin
37. “Cloud Dragon Skies” by N.K Jemisin
38. “The Trojan Girl” by N.K Jemisin
39. “Valedictorian” by N.K Jemisin
40. “The Storyteller’s Replacement” by N.K Jemisin
41. “The Brides of Heaven” by N.K Jemisin
42. “The Evaluators” by N.K Jemisin
43. “Walking Awake” by N.K Jemisin
44. “The Elevator Dancer” by N.K Jemisin
45. “Cuisine des Mémoires” by N.K Jemisin
46. “Stone Hunger” by N.K Jemisin
47. “On the Banks of the River Lex” by N.K Jemisin
48. “The Narcomancer” by N.K Jemisin
49. “Henosis” by N.K Jemisin
50. “Too Many Yesterdays, Not Enough Tomorrows” by N.K Jemisin
51. “The You Train” by N.K Jemisin
52. “Non-Zero Probabilities” by N.K Jemisin
53. “Sinners, Saints, Dragons, and Haints, in the City Beneath the Still Waters” by N.K Jemisin
So that’s 53 short stories in February. Quite a bit more than “1 per day” and putting me ahead so far for the year. (February 28th was the 59th day of 2021.)
Summary of Reading Challenges:
“To Be Read” Challenge: This month: 3 read; YTD: 4 of 24 main titles read. (0 of 4 alternate titles read)
366 Short Stories Challenge: This month: 53 read; YTD: 79 of 365 read.
Graphic Novels Challenge: This month: 3 read; YTD: 5 of 52 read.
Goodreads Challenge: This month: 12 read; YTD: 24 of 125 read.
Non-Fiction Challenge: This month: 3 read; YTD: 4 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: February was Black History Month and Women in Horror Month, so my challenge, as usual, was to read as many Black authors and women horror writers as I could, and with hopefully a few overlaps. I read 5 books (An Ordinary Man; Nine Bar Blues; Inside the Hotel Rwanda; The Measure of a Man; and How Long ‘Til Black Future Month) by black authors, which was not quite half of the total books read for the month. Most of those short stories I read by black authors were accounted for by the Sheree Renee Thomas and N.K. Jemisin collections, but there was also work by Gidney, Ilo, and Brown. Thomas and Jemisin also accounted for most of my minimal “women in horror” reading, alongside short stories by Seanan McGuire and Lucy A. Snyder.
March is Women’s History Month, so my intent is to read as many female authors as possible.
