temporus | End of Month Roundup (Reply)

Just a few accomplishments for the month:

One new short story completed. Although really, I started it before the end of last year, but since I wrote over 50% of it this month, it counts.   Title is Daemonstration.

Revised an old story.

One story still in the wilds. I try not to worry about these, that's what my Write Again software is for.

Read four books:

The Ogre's Wife, by Richard Parks.   An absolute treat of a short story collection. I couldn't recommend it more highly. My personal favorites were A Place to Begin, Golden Bell, Seven, and the Marquis of Zeng, and The Ogre's Wife.   I know I'm looking forward to his next collection due out this year from Prime Books, Worshiping Small Gods.

Dark Notes from NJ, Edited by Harrison Howe. A collection of short stories by the Garden State Horror Writers. Tales inspired by music and lyrics from NJ Musicians. First, I have to admit, the concept is just cool. I'm tempted to go back and try the idea on my own, see what I could come up with. The stories run a broad approach, each with it's own note of Darkness, yet none quite duplicating the others. The sum of those notes was a dark chord with much tension.   Just what you want with a collection of Horror shorts.

Swords and Deviltry, by Friz Leiber.   Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. Okay, so there are many classics I'm way behind on. I've had a quirky past in my reading list, but I'm on a mission to make up for it. I'm working to catchup on the classics, both within the SF/F genres and in literature in general. This is one of those I should have read years ago. Fantastic. The only negative I could imagine, is that there were only three stories. I'll definitely be adding more to my to be purchased list.

Summer Knight, by Jim Butcher.   I'm a bit behind on my Dresden Files books.   I'm planning to catchup, especially with the new TV series out on SCiFi Channel.   (Which I find interesting.)   This book kept me on my toes a bit more than the first two. It was also a bit of a branch out from the others. A different feel, not quite as ordered as the first three were. I'm hopeful that as the series continues, we'll see even more of this to come.

Not as much as I had originally hoped coming into the month. But, in hindsight, not as bad as I feared. I'm going to have to drop a few TV shows, or I'm not going to get much more than this done per month.