Day: February 22, 2017

January 2017

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Almost the end of February and I’m finally getting around to posting my monthly round-up for January. What can I say? It’s been a busy year so far, and it doesn’t show any signs of letting up. (I mean, a genuine madman in the Oval Office isn’t helping matters anyway.)

But what are you complaining about? You’re just the imaginary blog reader I made up in my head!

Really, though, I have begun to suspect that nobody else is reading these posts, even the few who occasionally did so in the past. But hey, whatever. They help me keep track of things, which is maybe all that matters.

And it’s not like there’s a lot more to report. I spent the last couple of days of January (and the first couple of February) down on Sanibel Island in Florida — which is where the photo above comes from — but otherwise it was a pretty uneventful month. I mean, for the day to day, my Twitter feed is the better place to go.

Here’s just where I keep track of the stories, books, movies, and music I encountered in the month. So let’s get on with that, shall we, gentle (and likely nonexistent) reader?

The stories

I read a few I really liked. 2017 originals:

  • “A Lumberjack’s Guide to Dryad Spotting” by Charles Payseur(Flash Fiction Online)
  • “Alexandria” by Monica Byrne (F&SF)
  • “Bodies Stacked Like Firewood” by Sam J. Miller (Uncanny)
  • “Women’s Work” by Amelia Aldred (Flash Fiction Online)
  • “Goddess, Worm” by Cassandra Khaw (Uncanny)
  • “The Whole Crew Hates Me” by Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed)
  • “Soliloquy in a Cheap Diner Off Route 66” by James Beamon (Apex)
  • “BlueBellow” by Alexis Pauline Gumbs (Strange Horizons)
  • “The Regression Test” by Wole Talabi (F&SF)
  • “Next Station, Shibuya” by Iori Kusano (Apex)
  • “Still Life With Abyss” by Jim Grimsley (Asimov’s)
  • “Vegetablemen in Peanut Town” by August Marion (Escape Pod)

Reprints:

  • “This Is How I Wish to Be Restored” by Christie Yant (Lightspeed)
  • “Holding the Ghosts” by Gwendolyn Clare (Escape Pod)
  • “The Quiltmaker” by Mike Allen (Apex)
  • “Cold Print” by Ramsey Campbell (Pseudopod)

The books

I finished two books in January, both of which I really liked: Babylon’s Ashes by James S.A. Corey and The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson. The former was the latest book in the Expanse series, which I believe I am physically incapable of not reading as soon as each new book is published, and the latter was a novella I read for my (now regular) book club. I don’t have a huge amount to say about either book — you should have joined my book club if you wanted lengthy discussion — but I did enjoy them.

The movies

  • Black Mass:

  • The Birds:

  • Bringing Out the Dead:

  • The Visit:

  • The Sweet Smell of Success:

  • The Brothers Grimm:

  • Solaris:

  • Now You See Me 2:

  • Bridge of Spies:

The music

My monthly mix of stuff I heard and liked: