Better late than never, here’s the second monthly summary of what I’ve been reading and listening to in 2022!
BOOKS
I read 9 books in February: 6 in print, 3 in e-book format, and 0 in audio format. They were:
1. Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente. FULL REVIEW HERE. (PRINT)
2. The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction 2021 edited by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki. Review of three stories HERE. (E-BOOK)
3. Far Sector by Nnedi Okorafor, Jamal Campbell, Deron Bennett, Andy Khouri, Jamie S. Rich. (PRINT)
4. Slights by Kaaron Warren. (PRINT)
5. Lightspeed Magazine #141 (February 2022 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams. (E-BOOK)
6. Three Left Turns to Nowhere by Jeffrey Ricker, J. Marshall Freeman, and ‘Nathan Burgoine. FULL REVIEW HERE. (PRINT)
7. Unexpected Stories by Octavia E. Butler. FULL REVIEW HERE (PRINT)
8. The Secret Skin by Wendy N. Wagner. (PRINT)
9. Amethyst Dreams (Bloodlines Chronicles #1) by S.M. Butler. (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) 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. “Plausible Realities, Improbably Dreams” by Isabel J. Kim, from Lightspeed Magazine #141 (February 2022 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams
2. “Bad Code” by Stephen Graham Jones
3. “Neunet” by Sharang Biswas
4. “Lyceum” by Karin Lowachee
5. “Not Creator or Destroyer” by Anjali Sachdeva
6. “When We Were Gods” by Isha Karki
7. “How To Abandon Your Sourdough Starter: A Recipe for Disaster” by Theresa DeLucci
8. “The Honest Fox, or, A Truth Shared Is Not A Truth Lost” by P H Lee
9. “The Unseen” by Allahrakhi Memom, from Fantasy Magazine #76 (February 2022), edited by Christie Yant and Arley Sorg
10. “Slow Communication” by Dominique Dickey
11. “After Naxos” by Julia August
12. “Cousins Season” by S. Fambul
13. “Sacrifice Your Tears” by Seanan McGuire, on the author’s Patreon page.
14. “Where You Go” by Somto O. Ihezue, from The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction 2021, edited by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
15. “Things Boys Do” by Pemi Aguda
16. “Giant Steps” by Russell Nichols
17. “The Future in Saltwater” by Tamara Jeree
18. “The Thoughtbox” by Tlotlo Tsamaase
19. “The Parts That Make Us Monsters” by Sheree Renee Thomas
20. “Scar Tissue” by Tobias S. Buckell
21. “Ancestries” by Sheree Renee Thomas
22. “Breath of the Sahara” by Inegbenoise O. Osagie
23. “The Many Lives of An Abiku” by Tobi Ogundiran
24. “A Love Song for Herkinal As Composed by Ashkenas Amid The Ruins of New Haven” by Chinelo Onwualu
25. “A Curse at Midnight” by Moustapha Mbacke Diop
26. “A Mastery of German” by Marian Denise Moore
27. “Are We Ourselves” by Michelle Mellon
28. “The Goatkeeper's Harvest” by Tobi Ogundiran
29. “Baba Klep” by Eugen Bacon
30. “Dessicant” by Craig Laurance Gidney
31. “Disassembly” by Makena Onjerika
32. “The River of Night” by Tlotlo Tsamaase
33. “Egoli” by T.L. Huchu
34. “The Friendship Bench” by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu
35. “Fort Kwame” by Derek Lubangakene
36. “We Come as Gods” by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
37. “And This Is How to Stay Alive” by Shingai Njeri Kogunda
38. “The Front Line” by WC Dunlap
39. “Penultimate” by ZZ Claybourne
40. “Love Hangover” by Sheree Renee Thomas
41. “Red_Bati” by Dilman Dila
42. “Roadside Assistance” by Jeffrey Ricker, from Three Left Turns to Nowhere, edited by Jerry L. Wheeler and Stacia Seamen
43. “The Scavenger Hunt” by J. Marshall Freeman
44. ” Hope Echoes” by 'Nathan Burgoine
45. “On Stony Ground” by Cynthia Ward, from Black Cat Weekly #23, edited by John Betancourt
46. “A Necessary Being” by Octavia E. Butler, from Unexpected Stories, edited by Merrilee Heiftetz
47. “Childfinder” by Octavia E. Butler
48. “Islands Off the Coast of Capitola, 1978” by David Herter, from Tor.com, edited by David Hartwell
49. “O2 Arena” by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, from Galaxy’s Edge Magazine #53 (November 2021), edited by Lezli Robyn
So that’s 49 short stories in February. A bit more than “1 per day.” (February 28th was the 59th day of 2022.)
Summary of Reading Challenges:
“To Be Read” Challenge: This month: 2 read; YTD: 2 of 24 main titles read.
RoofbeamReader To Be Read Challenge: This month: 1 read. YTD: 1 of 12 main titles (0 of 2 alternates)
366 Short Stories Challenge: This month: 49 read; YTD: 89 of 365 read.
Graphic Novels Challenge: This month: 1 read; YTD: 4 of 52 read.
Goodreads Challenge: This month: 9 read; YTD: 18 of 125 read.
Non-Fiction Challenge: This month: 0 read; YTD: 0 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 9 read.
Series fully completed: 0 of 3 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 as I could and as many women horror writers as I could, and hopefully a few who overlap. Only three of the nine books were by black authors/editors (The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction 2021, Far Sector, and Unexpected Stories) while three were were horror written by women (Comfort Me With Apples, Slights, and The Secret Skin). But somewhere around 70% of the short stories were by black authors. So I think I can count this month as having met the mini-challenge.
March is Women’s History Month, so the goal is going to be to read as many books by female authors as I can.