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My Reading List for 2013

My Reading List for 2013

With the year wrapping up I figured it would be fun to share my reading list from 2013. If anything it’s a good way to share with everyone what I have read (or re-read as the case may be) throughout 2013. Maybe you’ll find a new favorite. Since this list is pretty long I’ll avoid reviews, however follow me over on Goodreads to see what I thought. Links will go to Amazon.

Novels—

It was a big year for novels for me. I’ve read more that I ever had before. This was also my first year reading on a Kindle (Paperwhite). For years I was a staunch physical book reader. However this year has changed all that. I absolutely love my Kindle it has changed the way I read. I’ll save those thoughts for another post…the list:

  1. God’s War: Bel Dame Apocrypha Volume 1
    by Kameron Hurley
  2. Ready Player One
    by Ernest Cline
  3. Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas
    by John Scalzi
  4. Slated
    by Teri Terry
  5. Gun Machine
    by Warren Ellis
  6. Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1) …again.
    by Jim Butcher
  7. Fool Moon: (The Dresden Files, Book 2) …again.
    by Jim Butcher
  8. Grave Peril (The Dresden Files, Book 3) …again.
    by Jim Butcher
  9. This Present Darkness
    by Frank Peretti
  10. The Atrocity Archives (Laundry Files)
    by Charles Stross
  11. The Human Division
    by John Scalzi
  12. The Aylesford Skull (Tale of Langdon St. Ives)
    by James P. Blaylock
  13. The Keyhole Factory : A Novel
    by William Gillespie
  14. American Gods …again.
    by Neil Gaiman
  15. Blood Meridian: or the Evening Redness in the West
    by Cormac McCarthy
  16. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (The Inheritance Trilogy)
    by N. K. Jemisin
  17. Heart Shaped Box: A Novel
    by Joe Hill
  18. The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive)
    by Brandon Sanderson
  19. Under the Empyrean Sky (The Heartland Trilogy)
    by Chuck Wendig
  20. The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel
    by Neil Gaiman
  21. Shift – Omnibus Edition (Silo Saga) (Volume 2)
    by Hugh Howey
  22. The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer …again.
    by Neil Stephenson
  23. BioShock: Rapture
    by John Shirley
  24. Your First 1000 Copies: The Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing Your Book
    by Tim Grahl
  25. Beta Reading
    by REDACTED
  26. Beta Reading
    by REDACTED
  27. Mistborn: The Final Empire (Book No. 1)
    by Brandon Sanderson
  28. The Lurker at the Threshold 
    by H. P. Lovecraft & August Derleth
  29. The Stars Were Right (… again, and more times than I can possibly count.)
    by me!

Favorite novel of 2013:

Blood Meridian: or the Evening Redness in the West
by Cormac McCarthy

Not only was Blood Meridian my favorite book of the year. It shot past Life on the Mississippi and became my 2nd favorite book of all time. It’s that good.

Graphic Novels—

I am a big fan of comics. So alongside novels I also read a bunch of comic books. I generally wait until they’re available in collected form. The loose issues always feel too short for me and I like to settle in with a nice big chunk.

  1. Saga, Vol. 1
    by by Brian K. Vaughan (Author) , Fiona Staples (Illustrator)
  2. Locke & Key, Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft
    by by Joe Hill  (Author) , Gabriel Rodriguez (Author)
  3. The Sixth Gun, Book 1: Cold Dead Fingers
    by Cullen Bunn  (Author) , Brian Hurtt  (Illustrator)
  4. The Sixth Gun, Vol. 2
    by Cullen Bunn  (Author) , Brian Hurtt  (Illustrator)
  5. Leviathan
    by Ian Edington (Author)
  6. Saga, Vol. 2
    by Brian K. Vaughan  (Author) , Fiona Staples (Illustrator)
  7. Locke & Key, Vol. 2: Head Games
    by Joe Hill  (Author) , Gabriel Rodriguez (Author, Illustrator)
  8. American Vampire Vol. 1
    by Scott Snyder  (Author) , Stephen King  (Author) , Rafael Albuquerque (Illustrator)
  9. Hawkeye, Vol. 1
    by Matt Fraction  (Author) , David Aja (Illustrator) , Javier Pulido (Illustrator) , Francesco Francavilla (Illustrator) , Alan Davis (Illustrator) , Jesse Hamm (Illustrator)
  10. Hawkeye: Little Hits, Vol. 2
    by Matt Fraction  (Author) , David Aja (Illustrator) , Javier Pulido (Illustrator) , Steve Lieber (Illustrator) , Francesco Francavilla (Illustrator) , Jesse Hamm (Illustrator)
  11. Moscow 38
    by Benjamin Jelter

Favorite graphic novel of 2013:

Saga Vol. 1 & 2
by Brian K. Vaughan  (Author) , Fiona Staples (Illustrator)

Short Stories—

I didn’t read many short stories this year which is a shame. As a result I won’t be picking a favorite. However all three of the short stories I did read where quite good.

  1. Dead Pig Collector
    by Warren Ellis
  2. Taltos
    by Steve Tontounghi
  3. Shaggoth in Bloom
    by Elizabeth Bear

So that’s my list! How about you? How was your year of reading? Was there anything that stood out to you as a favorite? Did you find a new favorite author? What’s on your plate for next year? Is there a book you’re really hankering to read?

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Terrifying Christmas to all!

Merry Christmas to all of my readers and followers both far and wide. Thanks for helping make 2013 an amazing year for me and your support of The Stars Were Right. Y’all are great. I can’t wait to show everyone what’s in store for 2014.

A ho ho ho-rrific holiday season!

(I like to give credit where credit is due, so when I found Cthulhu Claus on a Google image search. After I had explored further, I discovered this was a Christmas card back in 2010 for the players of the MMO “The Secret World” by FunCom. See the full image here.)

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The Purge

Launching Writing Career

The new year for me is a good time to reflect on the previous year and refocus, start on the right foot as it were. 2012 was great, I hit a few milestones, I began shopping Coal Belly and I finished The Stars Were Right. Not bad, but it’s time to take this a step further. I have decided that 2013 is going to be a very productive year for me and I have narrowed my focus down to two specific goals:

  1. Really focus on getting published (trying both traditional and self routes.)
  2. Try to finish not one but two manuscripts.

That’s a lot in a year, but I think I can do it. However there’s one distraction that constantly crops up, hence, the purge.

Yesterday I woke up and began to tackle my single greatest time-sink that would prevent me from achieving these two goals – video games. I love ’em, I have a whole blog about ’em (which will probably be going away soon.)

The thing is as much as I enjoy gaming I love writing more. Outside of my day job my time is limited. If I want to make a serious go at writing that’s where I need to put 100% my free time. It’s far to easy to put aside working on my next tale and spend hours upon hours playing games. I caught myself doing it a lot in past weeks and it’s time to stop. If I am going to achieve my goals then I need to redouble my efforts take steps to not distract myself. So sorry video games, you gotta go.

So… as I write this, I’m watching Steam slowly remove a bunch of games from my hard drive and I canceled a few preorders that were sitting out there like time-sink landmines waiting to come along and steal a weekend or two of productivity.

Sort of related: here’s a video Ze Frank posted when he restarted A Show it’s something I find incredible encouraging and anytime I begin a new manuscript or start down a new path I re-watch it. Keep in mind it’s NSFW (language.) Maybe you’ll find it encouraging as well:

How about you? Are you setting goals for yourself? You doing anything to help you achieve those goals? What’s 2013 hold for you?