SUMMER READING LIST

I, uh, not to belabor a mea culpa, have lapsed when it comes to reading. Since my old phone cracked I haven't managed to port Audible onto my new one (for some reason!). No matter how many times I go through the hopeless rigmarole of thumbing in my information, the app refused to boot up, so, I can't simply listen to any stories; and, because of my grungy, frustrating-as-fuck job slurping up eleven hours of my life four out of seven days a week, it's a struggle to just nest down somewhere and run my eyes over a series of pages for an indefinite span of minutes. (As embarrassing as it is to admit, reading, right now, is a struggle!) But a struggle, in and of itself, is not an excuse.

As an aspiring story-time Bard, I can't, with a straight face, rhapsodize about the crucial joys of reading and not routinely crack open a damn book, so I'm posting my reading list here; mostly just as added pressure. To hold myself accountable for not keeping a promise to myself and (by the most generous of estimates) the two and a half people reading this post: so, anyways, here's my summer reading list:

Tad William's 'The Dragonbone Chair'

'Dragonbone Chair' was the blueprint for 'Game of Thrones', only Tad finished his epic and went on to write several others (no hate, just facts). Williams is a seminal titan of fantasy as an art form, and, for the sake of my own story, I'd be a world class dumbass not to study an award-winning recipe like 'Chair'.

'The King of the Swords' Michael Moorcock

If you've ever scratched your head and wondered aloud where the hell Elden Ring got its gritty mythical story beats from, Moorcock's multiverse is your answer. (Or were the Albinaurics, an unnatural race of crippled albino sorcerers--one of which rides a white wolf ---just a coincidence, George?)

"Corum, with Jhary-a-Conel and Rhalina, crosses the planes and find a world claimed by Chaos with plains of dried blood and other outlandish geography"

'A Season in Carcosa' edited by Joseph Pulver Sr.

The King in Yellow is cosmic horror at its finest, no tentacles required. The concept of a play that can render anyone mad for so much as referencing its content was a stroke of genius in the 1890's and in 2023 it's as hauntingly relevant now as it ever was.

'Sword against Death' Fritz Leiber

Leiber, icon of weird fiction that he is, deserves to be read, enjoyed, and explored for inspiration. (The reason, the only reason, I struggle with Leiber is because Fafrhd and Mouser are one-note murder hobos; so, while the fantasy setting is spectacular,  and Leiber's prose second-to-none, the main characters are an honest-to-God chore to read.) With pulps like this, you really have to unzip your skull, put your brain on a high shelf, and just enjoy "cool stuff" and "cool stuff" happening, because that's the appeal. It sure as hell isn't a fascinating, thematically-visceral cast of characters trying to be more than just their archetypes.

'The Twisted Ones' Kingfisher

'The Near Witch' V.E. Shwab

'The Midwich Cuckoos' by John Wyndham

One of my favorite horror movies of all time is 'Children of the Damned', so, yeah, I want to read the book that inspired it.

'The Bird's Cage' Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery' is a ridiculously simple and yet shockingly complex short story, betraying the banal depravity of human society in pages when writers today, for similar results, demand volumes. Besides 'The Lottery' she's also the author of 'The Haunting of Hill House', one of the most iconic haunted house stories ever written; with a film of legendary excellence to its name. Jackson is revered as a maven in horror fiction, and, while I've yet to sample her work long-form, I'd bet a years worth of cold sweat she won't disappoint.

'Tales of the Dying Earth' Jack Vance

I've let these stories wallow in dust-cloaked neglect on my book shelf for longer than I'd care to admit; or endure for another day. It's past time I  brushed off these tomes and filled my bedroom with the cathartic crack of a freshly bent spine, and the thoughtful rustle of pages.