2025 Reading Roundup: By The Numbers

Time for my annual round-up of what I read and watched in 2025. Because I dropped the ball on doing monthly Round-Up reports, I’m going to run a few more detailed posts over the next week or two listing everything I’ve read or watched. Today’s post is mostly a “by the numbers” thing.

BOOKS

I did manage to read 123 books in 2025: 13 hardcovers, 49 softcover/paperbacks, 35 e-books, and 23 audiobooks. 19 of those titles were rereads, the rest books I read for the first time in 2025.

Monthly distribution: 7 in January; 9 in February; 9 in March; 6 in April; 5 in May; 11 in June; 9 in July; 10 in August; 13 in September; 5 in October; 13 in November; and 26 in December.

I read work from approximately 110 different creators (authors and anthology editors mostly; I did not track graphic novels editorial staff, colorists, and letterers this year).

17 of these books were for book clubs at Sparta Books in Sparta NJ and Stanza Books in Beacon NY. 12 of them were Advanced Review Copies (either print or from NetGalley). 3 of them were for my “Reread My Favorites” project (hopefully debuting on the blog soon.)

The shortest book I read was 41 pages long (Jeffrey Ricker’s short story collection Lies I Tell Myself: Stories), the longest 609 (Suzanne Finstad’s Natalie Wood: The Complete Biography).

Genre Breakdown:

·       Adventure: 1

·       Biography: 1

·       Crime: 1

·       Pop culture analysis: 2

·       Fantasy: 20

·       Historical fiction: 2

·       History: 2

·       Horror: 28

·       Memoirs: 25

·       Mimetic/current day fiction: 3

·       Mixed genre short story collections: 2

·       Mystery: 12

·       Mythology: 1

·       Romance: 7

·       Science: 3

·       Science Fiction: 11

·       Superhero: 2

·       Thriller: 1

·       True Crime: 1

These were my own rough classifications, and in hindsight I’m not sure why I broke crime fiction and mysteries into separate categories. I was surprised to realize I once again read a lot more horror than I thought. I didn’t read any playscripts this year for the first time in a while. And also, for the second year in a row, not a single poetry collection. I am not a big poetry reader, but I usually like to at least try to read a collection or two during National Poetry Month.

STORIES

I did manage to read 366 short stories in 2025 by 243 different authors (this includes translators).

The monthly distribution: 35 in January; 38 in February; 36 in March; 8 in April; 24 in May; 31 in June; 17 in July; 16 in August; 39 in September; 14 in October; 12 in November, and 96 in December. (Clearly, I was way behind my 1-per-day pace by the time I hit December, but a few anthologies and single-author collections helped me catch up.)

These stories came from 23 anthologies and single-author collections, 15 different magazines, 1 author Patreon site, 1 author website, 1 stand-alone e-book independently published, 3 printed chapbooks, and 2 novels (as back-matter). Last year, I calculated exactly how many stories came from each format, but as I’m running behind on this post, I’m going to skip that this year. In previous years I’ve also counted how many different editors were involved, but I neglected to accurately track that this year as well.

Genre breakdown:

·       Adventure: 3

·       Comedy: 3

·       Crime: 3

·       Fantasy: 102

·       Horror: 134

·       Mimetic/modern-day: 4

·       Mystery: 9

·       Science Fiction: 104

·       Super-Heroes: 4

Again, I’m surprised that I read a bit more horror than I thought I did. And I’m still not sure why I separated crime, mystery, and thrillers into distinct subcategories.

MOVIES

I didn’t even come close on my “watch 52 movies” challenge. I watched 3 whole movies in 2025.

I had challenged myself to watch more of the several hundred DVDs I own (split between movies and television series). 1 of the 3 movies watched was on DVD. The other two were in actual movie theaters.

Genre breakdown:

·       Horror (kind of): 1 (The Life of Chuck, a movie that is hard to categorize)

·       Super-Heroes: 2 (Superman and Fantastic Four: First Steps)

These 3 movies were the work of 3 different directors.

TELEVISION

I only managed to watch 63 distinct episodes across 9 series, so nowhere near the “1 episode for every day” goal.

Genre breakdown:

·       Comedy: 2 series

·       Science Fiction: 2 series

·       Super-Heroes: 1 series

·       Horror: 1 series

·       Crime: 1 series

·       Variety/Comedy Specials: 2

LIVE THEATER

I saw 11 live theatrical productions in 2025, so I missed my “average one per month” goal by 1! I attended these shows in 11 different theaters, 9 of which were in New York City. One was in the Los Angeles area, and 1 was a local high school production. 8 were musicals, 3 were dramas. One was a new production of a show I’ve seen live before (Guys and Dolls), and two were shows I’ve seen movie or filmed stage versions of (Moulin Rouge and Pirates of Penzance).

OTHER LIVE EVENTS

I also tracked what other live events I went to. I attended:

·       one college graduation (my goddaughter’s, from the University of Pittsburgh),

·       1 baseball game (our local minor league team, The Sussex Miners)

·       1 work convention

·       2 book conventions/festivals (PulpFest; Milford Readers and Writers)

·       1 antiquarian book fair (in NYC)

·       1 annual birthday bookstore crawl (in NYC)

·       4 In-Person Author Events (1 at Kew and Willow in NYC, 3 at Stanza Books in Beacon)

·       6 online author events (mostly on C.S.E. Cooney and Carlos Hernandez’s Twitch channel)

·       16 book club meetings (6 at Sparta Books in Sparta NJ, 10 at Stanza Books in Beacon NY)

PODCASTS

I only really started listening to podcasts late this year (other than about a decade ago when I used to listen to the New Yorker’s short story podcast, back when I still had an iPod Nano). So of course I decided to track my listening: 54 individual episodes across 5 different podcasts. All of them were comic book-related with the exception of 2 episodes:

·       The Borgo Pass podcast (Universal Monsters): 2 episodes

·       World on Fire: the All-Star Squadron podcast: 3 episodes

·       The Boxing Glove Arrow podcast (Green Arrow): 5 episodes

·       JSA Presents (various Justice Society related shows): 16 episodes

·       The History of Comic Books in 500 Issues: 24 episodes

COMIC BOOKS

I also decided to track how many individual comic books (single monthly issues, or “floppies”) I read in 2025. The total was 467. 30 of those were rereads, the other 437 were new (and mostly newly published). These issues were stretched across approximately 112 different titles from 10 different publishers.

The monthly distribution: 32 in January; 55 in February; 15 in March; 34 in April; 45 in May; 42 in June; 35 in July; 29 in August; 31 in September; 66 in October; 29 in November, and 54 in December.

The genre breakdown:

·       Comedy: 2

·       Fantasy: 25

·       Horror: 44

·       Mystery: 7

·       Sports: 2

·       Science Fiction: 2

·       War: 2

·       Super-Heroes: 383

Summary of Challenges:

366 Short Stories Challenge: 366 of 365 read.

Goodreads Challenge: 123 of 120 read.

Movie Challenge: 3 of 52 watched.

Television Challenge: 63 of 365 watched.

Live Theater Challenge: 11 of 12 shows attended.

2026 Reading Challenges!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Here’s hoping for a healthy book-and-story-filled 2026.

I always set myself more than one reading/viewing challenge per year. Some goals carry over from year to year, and some are new. Some are broad and some are themed. And in many cases, books read will help me meet more than one challenge. In 2024 I also started making some formal movies, television, and live theatre viewing challenges.

On the reading side of things, in 2025, I hit my overall book and short story goals but on the viewing side of things, I only got close to my goal for live theater, and majorly dropped the ball on my television and movie viewing goals. Instead of one large annual wrap-up post, I’m going to make a series of shorter posts: one for overall numbers (probably tomorrow), one for books, two for short stories (the first of which will go up on Sunday January 4), one for comic books, one for live theater and other live events (Thursday, January 8), and one for television/movies.

Once again, this year, I’m sticking mostly to the basic challenges:

365 SHORT STORIES CHALLENGE

Every year, I challenge myself to read one short story per day. Some years I keep the pace well, and some years I fall behind and then scramble to catch up (and some years, I catch up and fall behind again, and some years I blow past the goal handily). I’m defining “short story” as anything from flash fiction to novella-length. I am going to once again make an effort to review one or two stories every Sunday in my “Sunday Shorts” feature.

GOODREADS CHALLENGE

Goodreads allows members to set a challenge. In previous years, I’ve set goals ranging from 125 to 150 books. For 2025, I’m setting a goal of 120 to start with (10 books per month), and we’ll see what happens.

MOVIE CHALLENGE

I own a lot of DVDs. (I know, you’re shocked. Shocked!) Every year I say, “This is the year I’m going to make an effort to watch them!” And then, somehow, I … don’t. One year, I did a list of 12 and two alternates as I used to do for the ToBeRead Challenge, called it the ToBeWatched Challenge … and failed it miserably. In 2024, I got about halfway to the goal of 52 movies (an average of one per week). In 2025, not so much. So this year, I’m setting myself the same challenge. This includes movies on DVD, streaming services, and any trips to an actual movie theater (which have become rare for me).

TELEVISION CHALLENGE

Did I mention I own a lot of DVDs? And that I’m subscribed to a lot of streaming services? I did? Well, you won’t be shocked to know that it’s not all about the movies. So I’m setting myself a “TV Series Watch” challenge akin to my Short Story Challenge: an average of one full episode of a television series (regardless of length) for each day in the year, which this year means 365 episodes.

LIVE THEATRE CHALLENGE

I did pretty well with this one in 2025, even though I didn’t manage to post reviews of everything. So I’m continuing the goal for 2026: I want to see at least 1 live theatrical performance per month. Most of them will be in New York City, but I’ll count any play, musical, opera, ballet, or staged reading I see anywhere, regardless of whether it’s fully professional productions, college, community theatre, whatever. (Music concerts, author signings, and conferences/conventions do not count towards this but will be tracked separately.)

COMIC BOOK CHALLENGE

I also own a lot of comic books. I went “cold turkey” on buying new comics about 20 years ago for budget and space reasons. But then in 2018 Seanan McGuire and Saladin Ahmed, two authors whose work I love, started writing various comics for Marvel and thought brought me back into buying monthly comics. And I keep buying more. 2025 was the first year I actually tracked every individual comic book issue (“floppies,” as some people call them) I read, so I’m going to make this an official Challenge for 2026: as with the short stories and the television episodes, I plan to read at least one comic book (new or back issue) for every day of the year … so again, 365 total.

ALPHABET CHALLENGE

I saw at the beginning of 2025 several book bloggers posting about various alphabet challenges: one book title for each letter of the alphabet, one author for each letter of the alphabet. I made a good run at both in 2025 without necessarily making reading decisions based on either, so I think I’m going to do them again in 2026.

 NOVELLA NOVEMBER

I’ve made NovellaNovember (or, as another book blogger on Bluesky coined it, Novellavember) a thing for the past few years. My goal is to promote and discuss novellas and short novels (and even novelettes) throughout the month, including publisher, author and editor interviews. I say every year I’m going to shoot for a novella day, but I think I’ll make that a novella every two days for 2026.

OTHER UNOFFICIAL CHALLENGES

There are a few ongoing (in some cases, sort of life-long, or at least second-half-of-my-life long) challenges that I don’t think I’ve ever written about here. For instance, I’m well on my way to having read everything Bram Stoker ever wrote. Here are those challenges, and I’m going to do my best to create dedicated posts early in the year showing what I’ve already read/watched for each challenge and then update as I go along. Again, these are multi-year challenges:

·       The Complete Bram Stoker Read-Through

·       The Complete Seanan McGuire Read-Through

·       The Complete Silvia Moreno-Garcia Read-Through

·       The Complete Philip Jose Farmer Read-Through

·       The Complete Edgar Rice Burroughs Read-Through

·       The Complete Maurice Broaddus Read-Through

• The Complete Perry Rhodan Read-Through

·       The Complete Dark Shadows Rewatch

·       The Complete Doctor Who Rewatch

·       The Complete Star Trek Rewatch

·       The Complete Planet of the Apes Rewatch

·       The Complete Brother Cadfael Read-Through and Rewatch

·       The Complete A.A. Fair (Cool and Lam series) Read-Through

·       The Complete Marvel Comics 1970s Novels Reread

·       The Complete Hard Case Crime Read-Through

·       The Complete Radium Age of Science Fiction Read-Through

·       The Complete American Mystery Classics Read-Through

·       The Complete Doc Savage Read-Through

·       The Complete Three Investigators Read-Through

·       The Complete Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Girl From U.N.C.L.E. Read-Through and Rewatch

·       The Complete All-Star Squadron Reread

·       The Complete The Invaders (Marvel Comics) Reread

·       The Complete Starman (2000’s DC) Reread

·       The Complete Tomb of Dracula Reread

·       The Complete Micronauts and ROM Reread

·       The Complete Shakespeare Watch (either Live theater or filmed)

·       Read A Book or Story From Every Nation in the World

·       Read a Book From Every State and US Territory

·       Read a Book from Every Canadian Province/Territory

And one of these days I would really like to finish creating a list of every book I remember reading in my life.

ACCOUNTABILITY

So how am I going to hold myself accountable? I’m planning to bring back my monthly Reading RoundUps. (I know, I know … I said this in the 2025 Challenge post and failed miserably at actually doing it. Second time’s the charm?) I’m not going to rename/rebrand because I like the alliterative title (which falls well in line with Series Saturday, Sunday Shorts, and a few other blog series I’m hoping to make regular features again in 2026), but those posts will also track the Viewing challenges.

I would love to hear what YOUR Reading, Writing, or Viewing Challenges are for 2024. Let me know in the comments!

NOVELLA NOVEMBER IS COMING!

I love reading books of all lengths, but man do I really love novellas! Something about that 17,000-to-40,000-word length (roughly 70 to 160 pages) feels like the sweet spot – short enough to read in a single sitting, long enough to have more depth and twists than a standard short story.

Earlier this year, I posted on various social media accounts that I want to make Novella November a thing this year (and every year hereafter) and got some very enthusiastic responses.

And then, as is my wont, I sort of dropped the ball on the subject and lost momentum. I’m going to blame that on my gall bladder, which was removed three weeks ago and thus is in no position to contradict me or defend itself from libel.

So here’s a second, if somewhat last-minute call. I would love to see my fellow readers, book bloggers, and writers, as well as editors and publishers and bookstore owners, talking about why you all love the novella form. If you make Novella November posts on your own blogs or social media, please send me a link! And feel free to use the Novella November graphic above (designed by my good friend, who is also a wonderful artist and graphic designer, Keith Howell. A.K.A. Professor Challenger on Instagram….) Just please give Keith design credit if you use it.

OR! If you’re a writer, editor, publisher, etc. who would like to do a guest post or a short email interview for my website, please let me know. Happy to host anyone who has something to say about novellas, especially if you’ve released a novella recently or have one releasing in the near future.

I will be making as many posts as I can talking about my love of novellas as well as posting reviews throughout the month. I may repost some of the Novella November posts from 2023 (there weren’t many). And as I come across bookstores that are doing Novella November displays or small press publishers doing Novella November sales, I’ll be sharing whatever photos and website links I can.

I have also recently been made aware that in the wake of the implosion of National Novel Writing Month, there is a “Novella November” writing prompt/group on Tumblr. I have no intent to step on their toes; I’m not on Tumblr and have no idea if they have a logo, etc. If anyone who reads this is involved with that, please reach out and I will gladly advertise it. (I am considering digging out my trunked science fiction novella and giving it another go as well.)

Let’s make Novella November a thing!

Sunday Shorts: AMPLITUDES

TITLE: Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity

EDITOR: Lee Mandelo

360 pages, Erewhon Books, ISBN 9781645660866 (paperback, e-book)

MY RATING: Recommended*

REVIEW: In Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity, editor Lee Mandelo has brought together a thought-provoking and exciting set or stories that look at what the future (near and further out) might look like for queer people, written by authors whose lived experience falls all along the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. Some of these stories are brightly hopeful, some cautiously optimistic. Some tackle the repercussions of today’s backlash against the LGBTQIA+ community (and in particular, the attacks on Trans people). Some few even put the sexual aspect of our sexuality and culture at the forefront. All of the stories focus on characters solving problems – some of those problems being self-made, and some being societal. Many of them also comment on the nature of society to take advantage of the disadvantaged, the grieving, the lonely. As with all multi-author anthologies, not every story will work for every reader. The stories I loved, you may not, and vice versa. But I think there’s something in here to spark the interest and attention of every reader of science fiction.

Here are my thoughts on just a few of the stories contained in Amplititudes:

Sarah Gailey’s “Moonwife” explores what happens to our digital existence after we die. Our lives have already become increasingly digital, every aspect of our personalities online someplace. That digital footprint doesn’t just disappear when we die. Gailey posits a world where the seances and mediums of the past do their work digitally as well; it’s almost the same as contacting an actual spirit. And as there always is when technology and grieving people are concerned, there’s always someone willing and able to use the former to take advantage of the latter. As always with what I’ve read of Gailey’s work, there is a huge emotional punch at the center of the story, and a catharsis.

“Six Days” by Bendi Barrett is a more dystopian tale of community surviving the fall of civilization, in which even the smallest actions and absences have consequences. “There’s no better world that we don’t make ourselves,” one of the characters says in a contemplative moment. While the setting is dystopian, the mood of the story is quiet even in the moments fraught with danger. I was surprised at how the emotional underpinnings of the story snuck up on me. This may have been the first story by Barrett I’ve read; I sincerely hope it won’t be the last.

It took me a little while to really understand what was happening in Sunny Moraine’s “The They Whom We Remember,” and that appears to be by design of the author. Moraine is very effective at throwing the reader into the middle of a character’s dilemma and then mixing the character’s past and present together to fully reveal how that dilemma came about and how it is resolved. The story has a lot to say about internal identity and kept me guessing, in a good way, about what is going on with the main character and the world they live in.

“Sugar, Shadows” by Aysha U. Farah melds science fiction with classic private eye tropes. The narrator is tasked with finding a missing young man for his rich parents. Which proves to be easy enough – and then becomes increasingly complicated. I loved the way the story spooled out, both the mystery and the world-building. I also found what the story has to say about addiction (both the disease itself and those who prey on and take advantage of the addicted) thought-provoking.

Meg Elison’s “Bang Bang” is part tribute to the B-52s’s “Love Shack,” part dissection of club culture. It’s fast and punchy and hopeful without being trite. I had to reread it several times just to make sure I got all of the nods to one of the most infectious songs ever written, and to wring every bit of emotional nuance out of the text. It’s one of the shorter stories in the collection, but as the final entry, it encompasses so much of what the anthology is trying (and succeeding) at doing.

Anthologies like this, presenting a mix of established and emerging LGBTQIA+ writers looking to our future while acknowledging our present, are so vital. And as I said, there’s surely something (and more than one something) for everyone in the community, and for our allies.

 I’ve previously reviewed Lee Mandeo’s novel Summer Sons and novella Feed Them Silence.

*I have moved away from a star-based rating system here on the blog (I can’t avoid using stars on Goodreads, NetGalley, and the various bookseller sites). Instead I am switching to ranking books as “highly recommended,” “recommended,” “satisfactory” and “not right for me.” I may add other levels as I refine this concept.

I received an electronic advance reading copy of this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I received and read the book before the publication date but fell behind on positing reviews. Amplitudes was released on May 27, 2025, and is available now wherever books are sold.

I love short fiction in all its forms: from novellas to novelettes, short stories, flash fiction, and drabbles. Sunday Shorts is the feature where I get to blog about it.

Sunday Shorts: The Shivers

TITLE: The Shivers

AUTHORS: various

194 pages, Amazon Originals, (e-book and audiobook)

MY RATING: 4 stars out of 5

REVIEW: The five short stories in Amazon’s The Shivers collection all capably fulfill the promise of the collection’s title: they all made me shiver at least once, and most more than that. While they all have some supernatural element (some slowly revealed, some blatant from the start, and mostly all in the form of ghostly presences of some kind), they are mostly absent of jump scares and gore. They are more on the suspenseful side of horror, an interesting blend of the psychological and the supernatural. All of the stories have a grounding in the everyday that is slowly (or, as slowly as one can in a short story) infused with dread and then outright horror.

In Joe Hill’s “Jackknife,” a disgraced college professor at loose ends slowly realizes there is something not right about the tree from which he recently removed a rusted old jackknife. In Stephen Graham Jones’ “The Indigo Room,” a dramatic office presentation turns dark, eerie, and prophetic. Grady Hendrix’s “The Blanks” takes place in an almost too idyllic island summer community whose secrets are hinted at before being revealed, while Catriona Ward’s “Day and Night in Misery” tweaks the haunted hotel room trope in a most moving way. The collection concludes with “Letter Slot” by Owen King, focused on a teen boy living in poverty on the same road as an abandoned McMansion to which he is inexorably drawn.

While I’ve read stories or novels by Joe Hill, Owen King, Stephen Graham Jones, and Grady Hendrix (but only one short story in Hendrix’s case), this was my first exposure to Catriona Ward’s work, and her story (like the others) definitely made me want to read more (readers, feel free to recommend what Ward book I should read next!). All five authors understood the assignment here and delivered on it. Hill’s story is probably the most outright horror/least suspenseful. Jones’s is absolutely the most surreal and otherworldly. Hendrix’s is the creepiest. Ward’s and King’s tie for the title of “most tugged at my heart.” I enjoyed all five stories and can’t stress enough how much each creeped me out.

For four of these stories, the sense of dread works so well because the authors make you care about the main characters through personal moments or traits or reminiscences that resonate. Suspense is more suspenseful, horror is more horrific, when you care about the characters who are in danger. I found the main character of the Hill story to be thoroughly unlikeable and thus less sympathetic but found the other protagonists to be relatable. Interestingly, three of those main characters are mothers of young children who are in some sort of danger, while the fourth is a teenage boy with a sick mother (a natural reversal of the caregiver/cared-for roles).

Fair warning for those who might need it: both the Ward and Hendrix stories involve child death. Both happen “off screen” but are recounted in enough detail that it may upset some people.

I received an advance electronic reading copy of this book for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. The Shivers is available now in e-book and audiobook format only from Amazon, and can be purchased as individual titles or as a bundle.

I love short fiction in all its forms: from novellas to novelettes, short stories, flash fiction, and drabbles. Sunday Shorts is the feature where I get to blog about it.

TOP TENISH: INDEPENDENT BOOK STORES

Tomorrow, Saturday April 26th, is Independent Bookstore Day. So I thought I’d talk about some of my favorite Indy Bookstores, moving geographically from those closest to me to those further away. (I’ll be visiting all of the first 6 listed, probably in listed order.)

Sparta Books (Sparta, NJ) Sparta Books has been my “home ground” bookstore for quite a few years now. Long-time staff members Sue and Linda and owners Jen and Brad are always welcoming and happy to special order anything they don’t have in stock as long as the title is currently in print. The store hosts a monthly Lego night for kids, a number of author events, and a book club that meets the Third Thursday of every month (yes, I’m a member. The group usually reads stuff outside of my normal genres, which challenges me to get “outside my comfort zone” a little bit). Located at 29 Center St, Sparta, NJ 07871.

Pyramid Comics (Sparta, NJ) Pyramid is my “home ground” comics shop. Owner Pete is friendly and knowledgeable. The store is well stocked with current/recent comics and a lot of graphic novels, along with some collectibles. Located at 24 Main St, Sparta, NJ 07871.

Black Dog Books (Lafayette, NJ) I haven’t been into Black Dog since their change in ownership, so I don’t know what their current stock (new vs. used) and genre distribution is, but I look forward to visiting for the first time today. Located at 103 NJ-15 South, Lafayette Township, NJ 07848

Broad Street Books (Branchville, NJ) This is my “home ground” used bookshop. Su and Ethan run a wonderful community-oriented store with stock that is usually heavy on non-fiction but has plenty of fiction, graphic novels, and kid’s books. They also do a lot to support local authors. And their building is a former bank! Located at 1 Mill St, Branchville, NJ 07826

Stanza Books (Beacon, NY) Stanza has become my “home away from home-ground” bookstore, located a short walk from where my sister lives. A cozy, welcoming space, owners Andi and Mark run multiple monthly book clubs (mystery, science fiction, fantasy, horror, literary, “feel good,” and “books in comparison” all get their own nights) plus tons of book launches and author conversations. For my money, they are THE genre bookstore in the Dutchess/Putnam County NY area. Located at 508 Main St, Beacon, NY 12508

Binnacle Books (Beacon, NY) Binnacle is a lovely, tightly packed, used bookstore on Main Street in Beacon. Every visit, I find some surprise I didn’t realize I was looking for. The staff are always helpful and willing to chat about books. Located at 321 Main St, Beacon, NY 12508.

The Mysterious Bookshop (New York City, NY) Otto Penzler’s Mysterious Bookshop has been a staple in Lower Manhattan for decades. The staff is always fun to talk to, so incredibly knowledgeable about the mystery and crime genres. In particular, this is a great place to find long out-of-print volumes and Sherlockiana, along with their American Mystery Classics and Bibliomysteries lines (from The Mysterious Press). AMC reprints classics of the genre by American authors like Cornell Woolrich, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Dorothy L. Hughes, and Ellery Queen. The Bibliomysteries line is a series of novelettes about crimes and mysteries that are book centric. Located at 58 Warren St, New York, NY 10007.

The Drama Bookshop (New York City, NY) Co-owned by the great Lin-Manuel Miranda, TDB is a great spot to find all things theatre-related (not just Broadway): play scripts, memoirs, musical librettos, books on theatre history, acting and stagecraft, as well as memorabilia (coffee mugs, key chains, etc.). Located at 266 W 39th St, New York, NY 10018.

Sweet Pickle Books (New York City, NY) I mean, what’s not to love about a store that sells used books AND jars of pickles? It’s a very narrow, heavily stocked store, so I’ll admit that I sometimes feel a little claustrophobic in there, but I love the selection of both books and pickles. Certain days of the week, if you donate 5 books you get a free jar of pickles in return! Located at

Three Lives & Company (New York City, NY) Another wonderful independent shop in Manhattan. No used books, but well-stocked with warm, friendly staff. Located at 154 W 10th St, New York, NY 10014, not far from the landmark Stonewall Inn.

Shakespeare & Company (New York City, NY). There are stores with this name all over the world (most notably in France). Until recently, this was a small chain around Manhattan but now there’s only one location still open, with a small café at the front and a broad selection of titles in all genres. Located at 2020 Broadway, New York, NY 10023, near Lincoln Center.

The Eloquent Page (St. Albans, VT) I travel once a year to St. Albans for work and pay at least once visit to this used bookstore every time I’m there. I can highly recommend their Arthurian and gaming sections in particular, but there’s bound to be something for everyone here. Located at 70 N Main St, St Albans City, VT 05478.

Studio Moonfall (Kenosha, WI) Paid my first visit to this shop earlier this month and will gladly go back whenever I’m in the Kenosha area. They have a ton of stuff from various small press genre publishers, a small selection of used books, and a nice selection of original coloring books created by the store’s owner. Located at 5031 7th Ave, Kenosha, WI 53140.

The Inner Child (Kenosha, WI) Another comic and collectibles store I visited for the first time recently after years of hearing about it. The sheer amount of comic book related stuff in this store is overwhelming, in the best possible way. All manner of comics and magazine back issues, along with action figures, posters, DVDs, video games, statues … It was well worth the visit (for my collection, if not for my checking account) and I’m eager to return.

Downtown Books (Milwaukee, WI) Another store I’ve only visited once, a year ago, but this multi-room used bookstore will always have my heart because they were willing to dig through a packed warehouse to help me rebuild my paperback Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators set, a fond childhood memory. Hoping to get back there soon. Located at 624 N Broadway, Milwaukee, WI 53202.

The Iliad Bookshop (North Hollywood, CA) Another store I get to perhaps once a year but always find a small pile of books to acquire. Like Downtown Books, the store is a bit of a maze, but a fun maze. With cats. And a wonderful façade that book lovers will appreciate. My second favorite place to find Arthuriana. Located at 5400 Cahuenga Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601.

Also, a couple of small chains (meaning only a few stores, usually in the same geographic region):

McNally-Jackson Books (5 locations in New York City) I mostly visit the Rockefeller Center location but have been to several of the others. One of the things I love about these stores is the layout: entire sections dedicated to fiction from various parts of the world. On the second floor of the Rockefeller Center location, there are shelving units (rather than one shelf) not just for fiction from America, Canada, and the UK, but for countries across Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, and Pacifica. Of course, they also have the usual genre sections, a ton of non-fiction, and a fun pens-and-journals area.

The Open Book (4 locations in Los Angeles area) I’ve only been to the location in Canyon Country/Santa Clarita of this used bookstore chain, but I love it. They have great SF and fantasy sections, an ever-interesting stock of vintage paperbacks and hardcovers, pulp magazines, DVDs, CDs, and vinyl. Last visit, I found some vintage hardcovers of Mission: Impossible, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and The Adventures of Spin & Marty.

So tell me about your favorite Indie Bookstores and where they are. I travel a lot for work, so I’m always happy to find new stores to visit!

Book Review: A WEB OF OBSIDIAN

TITLE: A Web of Obsidian (Obsidian Sisterhood #1)

AUTHOR: Lydia M. Hawke

231 pages, Michem Publishing, ISBN 9781989457290 (print, also e-book)

MY RATING: 5 stars out of 5

I have been a fan of Lydia M. Hawke since the first book in the Grigori Legacy series (when it was originally published under the author’s real name, Linda Poitevin*), so it’s probably not a surprise that I quite enjoyed A Web of Obsidian, her newest urban fantasy series. Although I’m not sure that “urban fantasy” is the totally correct genre label for this series, as the magic the main character encounters turns out to be the result of an ancient alien visitor to Earth … but “urban science fiction” doesn’t have the same ring, and didn’t Arthur C. Clarke say that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic? So maybe I’m overthinking the label …

Web is narrated in the first person by Sister Monica Barrett, sixty-nine years old and the holder of two black belts (continuing from the Crone Wars books Hawke’s penchant for centering older women as series leads). Well, former Sister -- Monica left the church years ago but still lives with a group of nuns while running a shelter for women (abused, abandoned, in need of support). Monica is always ready to stand up for her convictions and for the rights of the women she has decided to protect – including an emaciated, nearly dead woman who shows up on the shelter’s front porch pursued by a mysterious man. Sister Monica is beaten almost to death by the man before the nearly dead woman tosses her a smooth, flat stone that reinvigorates Monica and allows her to defeat the woman’s would-be assailant. This plunges Sister Monica into a world of secret societies at odds with each other.

To clear: Sister Monica kicks ass even before she gains mystical abilities she doesn’t understand. She is a psychologically and physically strong female protagonist. While she shares two traits with Claire Emerson, the lead character in Hawke’s Crone Wars series (both are retirement-age women who are at first overwhelmed by the revelation that magic is real and that they have been chosen to wield it), the two are very different in personality and in non-magical physical ability. I mention this because I would hate anyone to think that Web of Obsidian is just a retread of Becoming Crone. The main character, the way the magic system works, the way the story beats play out as Monica slowly discovers what she’s been drawn into, are all quite different. I liked Claire … I would hang out with Sister Monica.

Bear in mind that this is the first book in a new series, so not every question introduced is answered. There are enough reveals to feel satisfied at the end, and enough lingering questions to leave a reader intrigued to read book two. And a couple of twists along the way to keep things interesting. There are also several supporting characters that I’m interested in seeing developed as the series progresses.

*A few years ago, Poitevin decided to start publishing her urban fantasy series under a different name from her romance and romantic suspense books, hence the Grigori Legacy, Crone Wars, and Obsidian Sisterhood series now being issued under the “Lydia M. Hawke” name.

I received an electronic advance reading copy of this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Web of Obsidian releases in print and e-book form on February 25, 2025.

Book Review: OUR SHARE OF NIGHT

TITLE: Our Share of Night

AUTHOR: Mariana Enriquez   TRANSLATOR: Megan McDowell

588 pages, Hogarth Books, ISBN 9780451495150 (paperback; also hardcover, e-book, audio)

MY RATING: 5 stars out of 5

Mariana Enriquez’s Our Share of Night, translated into English by Megan McDowell, is not an easy book to read. It is close to 600 pages of dense emotive language, shifts in point-of-view, jumps in time, forays into multiple horror sub-genres, history lessons, and a pervading sense of doomed inevitability. But it is a book worth reading and contemplating. I might not have read the book, or at least not now, if it hadn’t been chosen as the January selection for Stanza Books’ Horror Book Club. Weeks after finishing it, scenes are still popping unbidden into my head and the urge to research the 1980s history of Argentina in more detail keeps growing.

Our Share of Night is primarily the story of Juan Peterson and his son Gaspar, who one morning in January 1981 set out on a road trip that will eventually take them to the remote family estate of Juan’s recently deceased wife, Rosario. Rosario’s family is part of a worldwide cult called The Order, and Juan is the Order’s unwilling medium, keeping them in contact with the Darkness they worship and which they believe has promised them immortality of a sort. Juan will do anything to protect his son from being used by the Order – even if it means putting himself, his brother Lius, his best friend Stephen, and his wife’s half-sister Tali in danger. The aftereffects of that initial road trip play out years later, as Juan’s health continues to fail and Gaspar ages into adulthood.

 I say ‘primarily’ because in addition to the large sections of the book told in close third-person from Juan’s and then Gaspar’s POV (with occasional forays into close third from the POVs of various friends and loved ones), there are shorter sections told from other people’s POV: a stream-of-consciousness section from the POV of Juan’s adoptive “father” Doctor Bradford; a short first-person section narrated by a journalist; and a long flashback narrated by the late Rosario. The Doctor Bradford section was the toughest part of the book for me, as stream-of-consciousness is not a form I enjoy, and also one of the more horrific passages as well.

Enriquez smoothly intermixes supernatural/cosmic horror (the scenes with the unknowable Darkness and the way it manifests through Juan),cult horror (The history and machinations of The Order), body horror (very much not easy to read are the passages describing what one of the Order members has done to deform young children), slasher horror (people in a house with a deranged killer), houses that are haunted or connected to supernatural realms (several), medical horror (the AIDS Crisis), generational trauma, and the very real horrors of living under a dictatorship that caused the disappearance of thousands of citizens. I’m hard pressed to think of a sub-genre of horror that isn’t represented in one form or another. There’s even a bit of erotic horror.

The true core of the book is the characters. I can’t say that I particularly like Juan, but I believed, and even admired, his need to protect his son from the horrors that have been inflicted on him. I believed in his need to somehow revenge himself on those who have abused him. I felt for Gaspar even as I yelled at him (yes, I yelled – I didn’t throw the book across the room, but I yelled) for falling into some of the same negative behaviors his exhibited. Enriquez’s handling of this generational inheritance of anger and propensity for physical violence is nuanced and oh so very realistic, as is Gaspar’s awareness that he needs to break the cycle and his struggle to do so. Rosario is equally complex in her love for Juan and her drive to take over (and theoretically change) the Order but at what cost? What, if anything, does she consider unacceptable?

Enriquez also has a lot to say about the perseverance of organizations and orders. She never directly references the legend of the Hydra (cut off one head, and two more grow back) but like that creature, despite generational bulldozing (for lack of a better term), the Order keeps coming back – much like the dictatorships of Argentina (the faces may change; the methodologies of control don’t). And so the horror continues even as the book ends.

As stated earlier, this is not an easy book to read for many reasons. But what it has to say about the history of Argentina, of colonialism, of fanaticism, is too important not to make the effort. It’s not a polemic; it’s not a lecture. It is a fantastic, character driven novel that also holds a mirror up to systems of control (organizational and interpersonal) while also touching on pretty much every type of horror story you can think of.

I’ve had Enriquez’s 2021 short story collection, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, on my To Be Read bookcase pretty much since it was published, and bought her 2024 collection, A Sunny Place for Shady People, as soon as it came out – both at the recommendation of Mark at Stanza Books in Beacon NY. This novel has convinced me to move both collections up closer to the top of my To Be Read stacks.

Sunday Shorts: SLOW BURN

TITLE: Slow Burn

AUTHOR: Mike Allen

278 pages, Mythic Delirium Books, ISBN 9781956522037 (paperback; also e-book)

MY RATING: 5 stars out of 5

Slow Burn, Mike Allen’s latest short story collection, is another tour-de-force mix of body horror, existential dread, and yes, I’ll say it again as I did for his previous collection, mind-fuckery (in the best possible sense of the word). Allen’s stories, even the dark fantasy entries, are grounded in a gritty reality that then veers into increasingly disturbing imagery. Even when his stories start with a sense of dread or an unsettling moment, Allen’s talent for grounding the reader before pulling the rug out from under is on full display.

Allen’s stories are character driven, wherein lies another of his talents: revealing the interiority of a character with sometimes just a sentence or two. Whether the story is set in the small town here-and-now of southwestern Virginia or a fantasy world, the horror is heightened because the characters, or their wants/needs, are recognizable and relatable. The main characters also tend to be common people – middle class or lower – rather than rich or famous, dealing with horrors that encroach on their ability to get a job, keep a job, or get home to a loved one.

In “Falling Is What It Loves,” a daughter tries to come to peace with the complicated relationship she had with her father after his death from cancer with the aid of a supernatural (or possibly alien?) creature called a “roommate.” Is the roommate somehow the main character’s conscience or internal monologue personified? Does every person on Earth have a “roommate”? The story opens up, but does not easily answer, questions about guilt and communication and generational trauma. Generational trauma is also at the core of “The Feather Stitch,” in which a grandmother’s search for her missing grandson leads her to a craft shop with a demonic connection – but generational understanding and familial magic also play their role in a dark story with a (hopefully) hopeful ending.

My two favorite stories in the collection share a theme: how secrets revealed can cause a life, and a person’s sense of self, to fall apart. In “The Butcher, The Baker,” Trukos’ life is simple: kill whoever Auntie Mayya tells him to, in defense of her baking empire. Until the day when Trukos kills someone he wasn’t ordered to and the magic driving him begins to unravel. (Is it spoilery to say this is the darkest take on both the titular fairy tale and “the gingerbread man” that I’ve ever read? Possibly. Sorry.). In “Gherem,” (co-authored with Charles M. Saplak), the titular character, injured in battle, is tasked with carrying an angry witch back to their homeland with the prize that had been battled for before enemy forces catch up to them – but neither Gherem, nor the witch, nor the reason for the battle, are what they at first seem.

The collection also includes horror, or horror-tinged, poems. I feel in no way qualified to review poetry, so all I’ll say is that like the short stories, the poems range from the subtly eerie to full-bore horror.

I love short fiction in all its forms: from novellas to novelettes, short stories, flash fiction, and drabbles. Sunday Shorts is the feature where I get to blog about it.

Sunday Shorts: Three from Autumn Cthulhu

Editor Mike Davis takes a line from H.P. Lovecraft’s story “Polaris” (“And in the autumn of the year, when the winds from the north curse and whine, and the red-leaved trees of the swamp mutter things to one another in the small hours of the morning under the horned waning moon…”) and uses it as the core principal of the anthology Autumn Cthulhu (Lovecraft ezine Press, 2016). Here are my thoughts on a few of the stories contained therein:

cover image by andreiuc88

“In the Spaces Where You Once Lived” by Damien Angelica Walters

Helena and Jack, a couple in their retirement years, live in a house that backs up onto a beautiful forest. Jack is falling victim to dementia/Alzheimer’s and Helen is struggling to accept the slow loss of her husband and to cope with the changes in his personality. Jack is convinced this house is not his home, that his home is elsewhere: perhaps somewhere in the woods. Walters’ story balances a very real fear (Jack’s health and eventual full loss of memory and cognitive function) with a slow-growing dread that something is very wrong in the woods. Of course, something is, or this wouldn’t be a Lovecraftian story. The relationship between Helena and Jack is drawn so indelibly by Walters, it is easy to see the love that underpins the strangeness and discomfort; scenes with their child and grandchild add to both the poignancy of Jack’s situation and the tension of the mystery of the woods. Helena does eventually learn what’s lurking just out of sight and why it is affecting Jack – but thankfully the author does not use it as an explanation for Jack’s declining mental acuity. That would have been a bit too precious for an otherwise realistic look at the horror of Alzheimer’s and similar diseases.

“The Black Azalea” by Wendy N. Wagner

The protagonist of Wagner’s story is Candace, a recent widow whose marriage to Graham was not a happy one especially in the later years. Before he passed, Graham had planted an azalea bush in the shadow of an elm tree that succumbed to Dutch elm disease, leaving room for sunlight to kill the azalea. The dead azalea blocks Candace’s view of her garden, so she decides on the last nice day of autumn to dig the bush out. Which is when she discovers strange rot at the bush’s core … strange rot that seems to be incredibly contagious to all the other plant life on Candace’s property. And eventually to more than just the plants. Wagner is an expert at moving a story from subtle unease to full out horror, and “The Black Azalea” is yet another example of that skill. The story also does not skimp on characterization in favor of horror; Candace’s life as a widow, and her life before becoming a widow, are just as central to the story as the rot is (and, in fact, I began to consider that this (supernatural? extraterrestrial?) rot is something of a metaphor for the course of Candace and Graham’s marriage.

“A Shadow Passing” by Daniel Mills

“A Shadow Passing” is one of the most fever dream-like short stories I have read in recent memory. A young boy’s mother leaves their house each day, dressed in widow’s black, to track down “them” – winged batlike shadows that speak to her, taunt her, are leading her to something. Something the boy seems tied to, with his strange fevers. Something the boy’s aunts and grandfather don’t seem to want him to be a part of, seeking medical assistance for him while his mother is away. Mills’ prose is perfect for the story’s overall sense of disconnection from logical reality, of a sick child’s inability to understand why the adults in his life seem to be at odds, of the way fevers especially steal time from us and cause us to hallucinate. I might have been reading too much into the story, but it also feels like an investigation of how adults who get caught up in cults will sacrifice everything, potentially even their own children, for the sake of their new beliefs – and how difficult it is for family members outside the cult to save the ones who have been sucked in.

I love short fiction in all its forms: from novellas to novelettes, short stories, flash fiction, and drabbles. Sunday Shorts is the feature where I get to blog about it.