My Top 11 Reads from the Past 12 Months

Of all the books I've read in the past twelve months, these are my favorites.

Note: Only a couple of these books were published in 2015 (or in December, 2014).

 

11. Cipher, by Kathe Koja

 

 

10. We Are All Completely Fine, by Daryl Gregory

 

 

9. Kiss Me, Judas, Will Christopher Baer

 

8. Windeye, by Brian Evenson

 

 

7. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, by Haruki Murakami

 

6. Black Hat Jack, by Joe R. Lansdale

 

5. Bleeding Shadows, by Joe R. Lansdale

 

4. Cruelty, by Edward Lorn (I feel compelled to disclose that I know the author of this one, but in no way do I feel the need to apologize for this book's inclusion on this list. It deserves to be here as much as any other.)

 

3. It, by Stephen King

 

2. Bubba Ho-Tep, by Joe R. Lansdale

 

1. Summer House with Swimming Pool, Herman Koch

 

 

 

 

 

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1300381/my-top-11-reads-from-the-past-12-months

Happy Halloween!

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1280019/happy-halloween

Halloween Outfits & Xenophiles

I wrote an autobiographical piece on Halloweens past for THe GaL iN THe BLue MaSK's 31 DAYS OF HORROR feature. It's somewhat notable because it's the only place online where you'll find a photograph of my ugly mug.

 

You can read it here.

 

Source: the-gal-in-the-blue-mask.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-gals-31-days-of-horror-gregor-xane.html

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1276296/halloween-outfits-xenophiles

Creation

Here's another Jeffrey Ford story in audio format. This one's a short story entitled "Creation."

 

Give it a listen, if you please. (Story starts at around the 00:34:30 mark.)

 

• Hugo Nomination for Best Short Story 2003.
• Nebula Nomination for Best Short Story 2002.
• World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story 2003.
• Featured in Datlow et al.’s ‘Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror’, Sixteenth Edition.

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1274852/creation

The Empire of Ice Cream

Sadly, none of my favorite author's short story collections are available in audio book format. I had the idea recently to revisit all of Jeffrey Ford's short works through audio to see what I could learn from a modern master of the form, but I quickly found that my educational plan could not be enacted in full. Luckily, a number of his stories were recorded for various podcasts and are available for free in disparate locales across the internet. 

 

The Empire of Ice Cream is one such story. And I highly recommend you give it a listen. Genre-wise, it falls somewhere between science fiction and fantasy set in the modern world.

 

You can find it here. (The story begins at approximately 00:09:30)

 

 

• Hugo Nomination for Best Novelette 2004.
• Nebula for Best Novelette 2003.
• World Fantasy Award Nomination for Best Novella 2004

 

 

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1274564/the-empire-of-ice-cream

Kill Your Thirst for Halloween Horror!

Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon AU

Here there be puppets!

It's 2 Day! The Kindle edition of Bad Apples 2: Six Slices of Halloween Horror is now available (the paperback edition is right around the corner). Reach out and grab it, if you're so inclined.

 

This anthology contains my new novella Doctor Proclivity & Professor Propensity. And, yes, as advertised, there are scads and gobs and oodles of puppets therein. 

 

 

Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon AU

 

The minds behind the bestselling BAD APPLES: FIVE SLICES OF HALLOWEEN HORROR return this October with another batch of frightful fare. This time, they brought along a friend - Bram Stoker Award-winning author Kealan Patrick Burke!

Dive into the season with these six Halloween treats:

• Two boys enter a Halloween attraction that holds a devilish secret - but one of the boys has a surprise of his own in Edward Lorn's HALLOWEEKEND.

• Halloween was his birthday, and all poor Bob Talley wanted was for his family to be together again. This year, his wish might come true amid whispers of CANDIE APPLE, from Evans Light.

• A deserter seeks to escape the horrors of war and pave a new existence in a foreign land in Jason Parent's DIA DE LOS MUERTOS.

• Does something putrid truly reside in a small town’s pumpkin patch, or is it only a local legend? Find out in Adam Light's TOMMY ROTTEN.

• An old man and his dog await Halloween visitors with candy and a shotgun in Kealan Patrick Burke's THE ONE NIGHT OF THE YEAR.

• Jimmy Stones and his Uncle Shel uncover the dark secrets of Medium, Ohio's annual Halloween puppet show in Gregor Xane's DOCTOR PROCLIVITY & PROFESSOR PROPENSITY.

 

Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon AU

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1264667/here-there-be-puppets

Little Saint Sidewise

Source: www.classyhalloween.com/collections/617401-pumpkins

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1264248/little-saint-sidewise

Goody, goody!

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1263195/goody-goody

Get yourself a little something to kick off the month of Halloween

To celebrate the imminent release of Bad Apples 2: Six Slices of Halloween Horror, the man at the helm of Corpus Press (Evans Light) is offering the original Bad Apples for just 99¢.

 

I believe this promotion is only going on for a couple of days, so if you're at all interested, you may want to grab it while the grabbing's good.

 

 

 

Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK (£0.99) | Amazon AU

 

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1262581/get-yourself-a-little-something-to-kick-off-the-month-of-halloween

napping with bellies full of little stringless creatures

Source: www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAYQjB1qFQoTCK6yzpbznsgCFUl4PgodHwEPQA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fheavydiscussion.blogspot.com%2F2009_10_04_archive.html&psig=AFQjCNGBx0SAIj

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1262285/napping-with-bellies-full-of-little-stringless-creatures

Rare photograph of infamous 'Hand of God' cultists

Source: www.wmur.com/national/ventriloquist-dolls-will-get-big-bucks-at-auction/35412770

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1259719/rare-photograph-of-infamous-hand-of-god-cultists

drunk clown on stilts

Source: www.pinterest.com/mom2boxergirls/marionettes

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1259727/drunk-clown-on-stilts

a puppeteer reserves a room in hell

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1259725/a-puppeteer-reserves-a-room-in-hell

A slice from the forthcoming BAD APPLES 2!

Promo image created by Edward Lorn

Vaudevillian Night

Source: vault217.gmu.edu/?p=3685

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1256335/vaudevillian-night

Closely Related

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1256333/closely-related

String Octet

Source: www.bobbakermarionettes.com

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1256325/string-octet

A Family Portrait

Source: www.puppetparts.com/marionettes.htm

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1256297/a-family-portrait

Fantastic, naturalistic puppetry. 

 

The Cashore Marionettes

Source: www.cashoremarionettes.com

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1256316/post

Dreams of Sleep Under a Starless Sky

Source: www.baylinartists.com/artist/the_cashore_marionettes/press-kit

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1256310/dreams-of-sleep-under-a-starless-sky

Security Blanket

Source: www.travelbywheelchair.com/category/boston

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1256301/security-blanket

Finish Me

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1252079/finish-me

The Headmistress Will See You Now

Source: www.buzzfeed.com/donnad/creepy-marionettes-you-can-own#.ytg2b4g2QY

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1256354/the-headmistress-will-see-you-now

Scrappy

Source: www.czechmarionettes.com/en/detail/480-480-chihuahua-czech-marionette-puppet/pridat

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1252077/scrappy

Giving Head to a Lion

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1252074/giving-head-to-a-lion

A Quiet Moment in Sawdust

Source: www.puppethub.com/photo/wooden-marionette

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1252066/a-quiet-moment-in-sawdust

Quicksand in Everyday Objects

Source: bethhopkinsart.blogspot.com/2013/03/new-blog-new-era.html

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1252061/quicksand-in-everyday-objects

"Jimmy had expected more than just another retelling of Little Red Riding Hood."

 

 

Source: www.puppetbarge.com/ClickforRedRidingHooddetailsEnterTitle.html

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1251365/jimmy-had-expected-more-than-just-another-retelling-of-little-red-riding-hood

Woodbeard Undressed

Source: www.puppethub.com/photo/tattoo-d-puppet

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1252059/woodbeard-undressed

The Devil's Pencil

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1252069/the-devil-s-pencil

"...before he knew it, he was inside the trunk..."

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1250785/before-he-knew-it-he-was-inside-the-trunk

www.nlstalkingbooks.org/talkingbooksform

Reblogged from: Jessica's Book Thoughts

URL: www.nlstalkingbooks.org/talkingbooksform

Some body on here made a post about weakening eyesight. I don't remember who it was, but this is a link for Talking Books (I don't know if it referred to by the same name everywhere else, that is what it was called when my grandma used the service). It is a great program that sends you both the book player and the cartridges with books on them. You don't have to leave your hkme, everything is done by mail. You can also apply to download books on your own and put them on USB thumb drive. It costs nothing for to people who qualify to use the service.

 

You don't have to be blind to use the service, just have a difficult time reading.

 

 

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1250845/post

"...he was involved in mind control research. For decades."

 

 

 

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1249934/he-was-involved-in-mind-control-research-for-decades

never look up

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1248655/never-look-up

"Didn't look like a professor at all"

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1248658/didn-t-look-like-a-professor-at-all

Doctor Proclivity

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1248653/doctor-proclivity

somnambulist bliss-out

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1247808/somnambulist-bliss-out

silent platform

Source: clivehicksjenkins.wordpress.com/tag/marionettes

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1247801/silent-platform

In praise of Ubaste, Goddess of the Internet

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1245441/in-praise-of-ubaste-goddess-of-the-internet

Bastard!

Source: exeuntmagazine.com/reviews/bastard

Original post: GregorXane.booklikes.com/post/1241110/bastard