The seventh monthly summary of what I’ve been reading, listening to, and watching in 2026, covering both July and August!
BOOKS
I read 6 books in July: 3 in print, 1 in e-book format, and 2 in audio format. They were:
1. Heartstopper Volume 6 by Alice Oseman. (PRINT - SOFTCOVER) (Graphic Novel Challenge)
2. This Much Is True by Miriam Margoyles (AUDIO)
3. Long Bright River by Liz Moore (PRINT - SOFTCOVER) (Stanza Books Mystery Book Club July pick)
4. Hammer Horror: The Complete History of Britain's Legendary House of Horror Films by “The Practical Atlas" (E-BOOK)
5. A City Dreaming (Astra Black #3) by Maurice Broaddus. (PRINT - HARDCOVER)
6. Carl's Doomsday Scenario (Dungeon Crawler Carl #2) by Matt Dinniman (AUDIO)
I read 8 books in August: 5 in print, 2 in e-book format, and 0 in audio format. They were:
1. After The Rain by John Bowen (PRINT – SOFTCOVER)
2. The View From Lake Como by Adriana Trigliani (PRINT – SOFTCOVER) (Sparta Books Book Club August Pick)
3. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells (PRINT – SOFTCOVER)
4. Children Shouldn't Play With The Dead by Russell Dickson (E-BOOK)
5. War of the Worlds: Thunder Child by Matthew Hardy, Rob Jones, and Kevin Castaniero (PRINT – HARDCOVER)
6. Monsters Unborn: The Lost Universal Monster Remakes by Bruce Kilkowski Jr. (PRINT – SOFTCOVER)
7. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (PRINT – SOFTCOVER)
8. If I Had Two Wings: Stories by Randall Kenan (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.
July:
1. “You, Me, Us” by Oyedotun Damilola Muess, in Lightspeed Magazine #194, edited by John Joseph Adams
2. “The Assumption of Maria” by Max Gladstone
3. “Fetspace” by Rhiannon Rasmussen
4. “If A Discarded God Can Change, So Can I” by V.M. Ayala
5. “Waru Waru” by Ruth Joffre
6. “Hungry Like The” by E. Catherine Tobler
7. “The Punishing Animal” by B. Pladek
8. “Concerto For Wartime” by Sean Williams
9. “No More Amazement” by Seanan McGuire, from the Author’s Patreon
10. “The Plague Comes from Chinatown” by Claire Jai-Wen, from Nightmare #166, edited by Wendy N. Wagner
11. “A Nebraskan Choir” by Steve Toase
12. “Annette Funicello Is My Dream Mouse” by S.L. Coney
13. “Our Darkness To Take” by Hailey Piper, from Three-Lobed Burning Eye #47, edited by Andrew S. Fuller
14. “Lady Night's Menagerie” by Rachael K. Jones, from Three-Lobed Burning Eye #48, edited by Andrew S. Fuller
15. “Olden” by Nisi Shawl
16. “The Bathhouse for Long Life” by Claire Jia-Wen, from Apex Magazine #153, edited by Lesley Conner
17. “Glass” by Beth Dawkins
18. “Immigrant Girl From the End of the World” by Hannah Yang, from Uncanny #70, edited by Michael Damian Thomas
19. “A Song in Minor Scale” by Gunnar de Winter, From Kaleidotrope Summer 2026, edited by Fred Coppersmith
20. “Before She Knew About Magic” by Joshua Geller Schwartz, from Otherside #2 edited by V.M. Ayala, M.R. Robinson, Ash Vale
21. “Two People” by Ben Francisco
22. “The Life and Times of the Extraterrestrial Potoo” by K.J. Khan, from Clarkesworld #238, edited by Neil Clarke
23. “Moby Dick, Ecoterrorist” by James Morrow, from The Sunday Morning Transport July 2026, edited by Fran Wilde and Julian Yap
24. “Dreams in Burnished Silver” by Christine Hanolsy, from Beneath Ceaseless Skies 462, edited by Scott H. Andrews
25. “We Are All Strange Ones Here” by Sally Sultzman
26. “Gas Leak at St. Gentian” by Sara Orner, from The Dark #134, edited by Sean Wallace
27. “The House Mother” by Krisiti DeMeester
28. “The Spider at the Heart of It” by Josh Pearce, from Interzone #305, edited by Gareth Jelley
August:
1. “Legs” by A.M. Maris, in Lightspeed Magazine #195, edited by John Joseph Adams
2. “The Age of Cancer” by Vajra Chandrasekera
3. “What Do You Mean the Nanobots Formed a Union??” by Joel W.D. Buxton
4. “Ladd's Robot Repair” by David Anaxagoras
5. “Infinite Wishes” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
6. “Fragments of the Whole” by Brooke Bolander
7. “Of All Who Devour” by Adelehin Ijasin
8. “The Goddess of Not Enough” by Susan Palwick
9. “Your Piteous Heart” by Seanan McGuire, from the Author’s Patreon
10. “Focus” by Carlos Hernandez, from Clarkesworld #238, edited by Neil Clarke
11. “The Cinema of Babel” by Sam J. Miller, from Uncanny #71, edited by Michael Damian Thomas
12. “When We All Get to Heaven” by Randall Kenan, from If I Had Two Wings: Stories (single author collection), editor: unknown
13. “I Thought I Heard the Shuffle of Angels' Feet” by Randall Kenan
14. “The Eternal Glory That Is Ham Hocks” by Randall Kenan
15. “Ain't No Sunshine” by Randall Kenan
16. “Ezekiel Saw the Wheel” by Randall Kenan
17. “Mamiwata” by Randall Kenan
18. “Resurrection Hardware or, Lard & Promises” by Randall Kenan
19. “The Acts of Velmajean Swearington Hoyt and the New City of God” by Randall Kenan
20. “Now Why Come That Is?” by Randall Kenan
21. “God's Gonna Trouble the Water or, Where Is Marisol?” by Randall Kenan
So that’s 28 short stories in July and 21 in August. Way less than “1 per day” (August 31st was the 243rd 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 and Instagram accounts. I’ve italicized those issues. Here’s the comics I read in July and August:
July:
1. Dracula #6 (Dell)
2. House of Mystery #170 (Eclipso and Prince Ra-Man) (DC)
3. Superboy #203 (DC)
4. Superboy #228 (DC)
5. All-Star Squadron Annual #1 (DC)
6. All-Star Squadron #16 (DC)
7. All-Star Squadron #17 (DC)
8. All-Star Squadron #18 (DC)
9. JSA (2024) #21 (DC)
10. Batman/Superman: World's Finest #52 (DC)
11. Green Lantern (2023) (DC)
12. Green Lantern Corps (2025) (DC)
13. Avengers Armageddon #1 (Marvel)
14. Adventure Comics #389 (Supergirl) (DC)
15. Justice League Unlimited #20 (DC)
16. The Other/Half #3 (Ignition Press)
17. Zatanna (2026) #02 (DC)
18. Adventures of Superman: Book of El #9 (DC)
19. The Fury of Firestorm (2026) #3 (DC)
20. Superman Unlimited #14 (DC)
21. Imperial Guardians #4 (Marvel)
22. Barbara Gordon: Breakout #2 (DC)
23. 1776 #1 (Charlton)
24. Captain America #255 (Marvel)
25. Iceman #2 (Marvel)
26. Magnus Robot Fighter #6 (Gold Key)
27. Zatanna (2026) #2 (DC)
28. The Flash (2023) #34 (DC)
29. Green Lantern (2023) #36 (DC)
30. The Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery #5 (DC/Vertigo)
31. Superman (2023) #39 (DC)
32. Adventures of Superman: Book of El #10 (DC)
33. Brothers of the Spear #6 (Gold Key)
34. Star Trek Celebrations #1 (IDW)
35. Fireborn #3 (Image)
36. Supergirl: Survive #1 (DC)
37. Emperor Aquaman #18 (DC)
38. Excommunicated #2 (Vault)
39. Universal Monsters: Phantom of the Opera #4 (Image/Skybound)
40. Super Creepshow #4 (Image)
41. The Thing on the Doorstep #5 (Image)
42. All-Star Squadron #19 (DC)
43. All-Star Squadron #20 (DC)
44. Tarzan Beyond #1 (Alien Books)
45. Land of Never #1 (Mad Cave)
46. Walt Disney's The Sword in the Stone #1 (Gold Key)
47. Rawhide Kid #1 (Marvel Max)
48. Justice League of America #198 (DC)
49. Man From Atlantis #2 (Marvel)
50. Wordsmith #2 (Renegade Press)
51. The Nice House By The Sea #10 (DC/Vertigo)
52. Marvel Two-In-One #99 (The Thing and ROM) (Marvel)
53. All-Star Squadron #21 (DC)
54. All-Star Squadron #22 (DC)
55. All-Star Squadron #23 (DC)
56. All-Star Squadron #24 (DC)
57. All-Star Squadron #25 (DC)
58. All-Star Squadron #26 (DC)
59. All-Star Squadron Annual #2 (DC)
60. DC Comics Presents Annual #1 (Earth-1 and Earth-2 Supermen) (DC)
61. Superheroes #1 (Dell)
62. Morlock 2001 #1 (Atlas)
63. Superheroes #3 (Dell)
64. Hawkman #5 (1960s) (DC)
65. Micronauts: the New Voyages #11 (Marvel)
66. All-Star Squadron #27 (DC)
67. All-Star Squadron #28 (DC)
68. Shogun Warriors #5 (Marvel)
69. The Shadow #5 (Archie)
70. Tarzan #258 (DC)
71. Justice Inc. #1 (DC)
72. The Image of the Beast #1 (Last Gasp)
73. John Carter, Warlord of Mars #1 (Marvel)
August:
1. Doc Savage (magazine) #1 (Marvel/Curtis)
2. All-Star Squadron #29 (DC)
3. All-Star Squadron #30 (DC)
4. Gay Comics #22 (Gay Comix)
5. The Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery #6 (DC/Vertigo)
6. The Scorpion #1 (Atlas)
7. The Scorpion #2 (Atlas)
8. The Scorpion #3 (Atlas)
9. The Shadow #1 (DC)
10. Batman/Superman: World's Finest #53 (DC)
11. Batman/Superman: World's Finest Annual 2026 (DC)
12. Justice League Unlimited #21 (DC)
13. Justice League: Knight Vision Special #1 (DC)
14. Green Lantern #104 (1970s) (DC)
15. Imperial Guardians #5 (Marvel)
16. Avengers Armageddon #2 (Marvel)
17. Captain America (2025) #12 (Marvel)
18. Captain America (2025) #13 (Marvel)
19. Supergirl (2025) #15 (DC)
20. Superman (2023) #40 (DC)
21. Superman Unlimited #15 (DC)
22. Action Comics #1100 (DC)
23. Superman Year One Thousand #1 (DC)
24. Worlds Unknown #8 (Golden Voyage of Sinbad) (Marvel)
25. All-Star Squadron #31 (DC)
26. All-Star Squadron #32 (DC)
27. All-Star Squadron #33 (DC)
28. All-Star Squadron #34 (DC)
29. All-Star Squadron #35 (DC)
30. Supergirl: Survive #2 (DC)
31. Summer of Supergirl Special #1 (DC)
32. DC's Hawk-Girl Summer #1 (DC)
33. Marvel Team-Up #28 (Spider-Man and Hercules) (Marvel)
34. Sorcerer Supreme #8 (Marvel)
35. Swamp Thing '89 #3 (DC/Vertigo)
36. Swamp Thing '89 #4 (DC/Vertigo)
37. The Fury of Firestorm (2026) #4 (DC)
38. Barbara Gordon: Breakout #3 (DC)
39. Emperor Aquaman #19 (DC)
40. Batwoman (2026) #5 (DC)
41. The Flash (2023) #35 ((DC)
42. Green Lantern (2023) #37 (DC)
43. Green Lantern Corps (2025) #18 (DC)
44. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. #13 (Gold Key)
45. Justice League of America #209 (DC)
46. Classics Illustrated #108 (Knights of the Round Table) (Gilberton)
47. Turok Son of Stone #73 (Gold Key)
48. Marvel Premiere #57 (Doctor Who) (Marvel)
49. Marvel Premiere #58 (Doctor Who) (Marvel)
50. Marvel Premiere #60 (Doctor Who) (Marvel)
51. All-Star Squadron Annual #3 (DC)
52. Kona #16 (Dell)
53. Showcase #28 (Sea Devils) (DC)
54. Frankenstein #8 (Marvel)
55. Strange Suspense Stories #75 (Captain Atom) (Charlton)
56. All-Star Squadron #36 (DC)
57. All-Star Squadron #37 (DC)
58. Americomics #2 The Shade, The Messenger, Tara of the Jungle) (AC Comics)
59. Rima the Jungle Girl # 1 (DC)
60. Marvel Spotlight #33 (Deathlok) (Marvel)
61. The Grim Ghost #1 (Atlas)
62. Marvel Classics Comics #3 (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) (Marvel)
63. All-Star Squadron #38 (DC)
64. All-Star Squadron #39 (DC)
65. All-Star Squadron #40 (DC)
66. Secret Six #2 (DC)
67. Walt Disney's Wart and the Wizard #1 (Gold Key)
So that’s 140 comics across the two months, way ahead of the “one per day” goal, but once again fewer new comics and more back issues, especially in August.
MOVIES
I watched ONE movie in July and ZERO in August. This is getting to be a habit I need to break.
1. Heartstopper Forever, directed by Wash Westmoreland (STREAMING, NETFLIX)
TELEVISION
July:
· Doctor Who Classic S09 Eps 1 – 26 (Pertwee Season 3) (26 Episodes)
· Doctor Who Classic S10 Eps 1 – 26 (Pertwee Season 4) (26 Episodes)
· Doctor Who Classic S18 Eps 9 – 12 (Tom Baker Season 7) (4 Episodes)
· Man From Atlantis S01 Eps 1 - 3 (3 episodes)
· Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S04 Ep 1 (1 episode)
August:
· Doctor Who Classic S18 Eps 13 – 28 (Tom Baker Season 7) (16 Episodes)
· Man From Atlantis S01 Eps 4 – 7 (4 Episodes)
· Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S4 Eps 2 – 6 (5 Episodes)
· Lanterns S01 Ep 1 (1 Episode)
LIVE THEATER
I saw no live theatre in July or August, which makes me sad.
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:
July:
1 The Doctor's Beard Episode 71 (Day of the Daleks)
2 World on Fire: An All-Star Squadron Podcast Episode 10 (All-Star Squadron Annual 1)
3 The Doctor's Beard Episode 72 (The Curse of Peladon)
4 The Doctor's Beard Episode 73 (The Sea Devils)
5 World on Fire: An All-Star Squadron Podcast Episode 11 (All-Star Squadron 14-15/JLA 207-209)
6 World on Fire: An All-Star Squadron Podcast Episode 12 (All-Star Squadron 16-17)
7 World on Fire: An All-Star Squadron Podcast Episode 13 (All-Star Squadron 18)
8 World on Fire: An All-Star Squadron Podcast Episode 14 (All-Star Squadron 19-20)
9 The Doctor's Beard Episode 74 (The Mutants)
August:
1. The Doctor’s Beard Episode 75 (The Time Monster)
2. The Doctor's Beard Episode 76 (Patreon Exclusive #61 (Season 8 Retrospective))
3. The Doctor’s Beard Episode 77 (The Three Doctors)
4. The Doctor’s Beard Episode 78 (Carnival of Monsters)
5. The Doctor’s Beard Episode 79 (Frontier in Space)
6. The Doctor’s Beard Episode 80 (Planet of the Daleks)
7. The Doctor’s Beard Episode 81 (The Green Death)
8. The Doctor’s Beard Episode 139 (The Full Circle)
9. The Doctor’s Beard Episode 140 (State of Decay)
10. The Doctor’s Beard Episode 141 (Warriors’ Gate)
11. The Doctor’s Beard Episode 142 (The Keeper of Traken)
Summary of Challenges:
Books Challenge: This month(s): 14 read; YTD: 58 of 120 read.
366 Short Stories Challenge: This month(s): 49 read; YTD: 254 of 366 read.
Graphic Novels Challenge: This month(s): 2 read; YTD: 10 of 52 read.
Movie Challenge: This month(s): 1 watched; YTD: 7 of 52 watched.
TV Shows Challenge: This month(s): 86 episodes watched; YTD: 254 of 365 watched.
Live Theater Challenge: This month(s): 0 shows attended; YTD: 10 of 12 attended.
Comic Books Challenge: This month(s): 140; YTD: 538 of 365 read.
Read the Book / Watch the Movie Challenge: This month: 0 read/watched; YTD: 0 read/watched.
