Ecce Sigum

Immanentize the Empathy

Category: Book List

August 2022 Reading List

John Winkelman

Things were kind of slow in August, reading-wise, due to a surge in burnout at the beginning of the month, and other assorted drains on my energy and attention span. I did make it through a few more issues of The Paris Review, and some interesting genre fiction as well.

Book and Journals

  1. Jennifer Pelland, Unwelcome Bodies [2022.08.02]
  2. The Paris Review #225 [2022.08.10]
  3. J.M. McDermott, Maze [2022.08.12]
  4. The Paris Review #226 [2022.08.18]
  5. The Paris Review #227 [2022.08.23]
  6. The Paris Review #228 [2022.08.28]
  7. Poetry Magazine #220.5 [2022.08.29]
  8. The Paris Review #229 [2022.08.31]

Short Prose

  1. Jennifer Pelland, “For the Plague Thereof Was Exceedingly Great”, Unwelcome Bodies [2022.08.01]
  2. Jennifer Pelland, “Big Sister/Little Sister”, Unwelcome Bodies [2022.08.01]
  3. Jennifer Pelland, “Immortal Sin”, Unwelcome Bodies [2022.08.01]
  4. Jennifer Pelland, “Flood”, Unwelcome Bodies [2022.08.01]
  5. Jennifer Pelland, “The Call”, Unwelcome Bodies [2022.08.01]
  6. Jennifer Pelland, “Captive Girl”, Unwelcome Bodies [2022.08.01]
  7. Jennifer Pelland, “Last Bus”, Unwelcome Bodies [2022.08.01]
  8. Jennifer Pelland, “The Last Stand of the Elephant Man”, Unwelcome Bodies [2022.08.01]
  9. Jennifer Pelland, “Songs of Lament”, Unwelcome Bodies [2022.08.02]
  10. Jennifer Pelland, “Firebird”, Unwelcome Bodies [2022.08.02]
  11. Jennifer Pelland, “Brushstrokes”, Unwelcome Bodies [2022.08.02]
  12. Wayétu Moore, “Gbessa”, The Paris Review #225 [2022.08.02]
  13. Ben Marcus, “Notes from the Fog”, The Paris Review #225 [2022.08.02]
  14. Katharine Kilalea, “OK, Mr. Field Part 3 (Winter)”, The Paris Review #225 [2022.08.08]
  15. Shruti Swamy, “A House Is a Body”, The Paris Review #225 [2022.08.09]
  16. Benjamin Nugent, “Safe Spaces”, The Paris Review #225 [2022.08.09]
  17. Ursula K. Le Guin, “Firelight”, The Paris Review #225 [2022.08.10]
  18. Rachel Khong, “The Freshening”, The Paris Review #226 [2022.08.11]
  19. Mitchell S. Jackson, “Exodus”, The Paris Review #226 [2022.08.13]
  20. Nell Freudenberger, “Rabbits”, The Paris Review #226 [2022.08.15]
  21. Diane Williams, “O Fortuna, Velut Luna”, The Paris Review #226 [2022.08.17]
  22. Venita Blackburn, “Fam”, The Paris Review #226 [2022.08.18]
  23. Pilar Fraile Amador (Heather D. Davis, translator), “Partners”, The Paris Review #226 [2022.08.18]
  24. Mary Miller, “Festival”, The Paris Review #226 [2022.08.18]
  25. Lincoln Michel, “A Feeling Artist”, The Paris Review #227 [2022.08.19]
  26. Leslie Jamison, “I Met Fear on the Hill”, The Paris Review #227 [2022.08.19]
  27. Ludmilla Petrushevskaya (Anna Friedrich, translator), “Two Sisters”, The Paris Review #227 [2022.08.22]
  28. Hernan Diaz, “The Stay”, The Paris Review #227 [2022.08.22]
  29. Kelli Jo Ford, “Hybrid Vigor”, The Paris Review #227 [2022.08.23]
  30. Peter Orner, “Ineffectual Tribute to Len”, The Paris Review #228 [2022.08.24]
  31. Isaac Bashevis Singer, “The Murderer”, The Paris Review #228 [2022.08.24]
  32. Kate Zambreno, “Four Stories”, The Paris Review #228 [2022.08.27]
  33. J. Jezewska Stevens, “Honeymoon”, The Paris Review #228 [2022.08.27]
  34. Hebe Uhart, “Coordination”, The Paris Review #228 [2022.08.27]
  35. Souvankham Thammavongsa, “The Gas Station”, The Paris Review #228 [2022.08.28]
  36. Nick Fuller Googins, “The Doors”, The Paris Review #228 [2022.08.28]
  37. Jonathan Escoffery, “Under the Ackee Tree”, The Paris Review #229 [2022.08.30]
  38. Kimberly King Parsons, “Foxes”, The Paris Review #229 [2022.08.30]
  39. Laura van den Berg, “Karolina”, The Paris Review #229 [2022.08.30]
  40. Lydia Davis, “Revising One Sentence”, The Paris Review #229 [2022.08.30]

July 2022 Reading List

John Winkelman

July was another excellent month for reading. I finished half a dozen issues of The Paris Review, as well as the some translated prose and the second and third books of John Scalzi’s Interdependency trilogy. And all that without feeling rushed. So even though July was exceptionally busy there were enough quiet moments to sink my teeth into some really good writing.

Books and Journals

  1. Andrés Neuman (Jeffrey Lawrence, translator), How to Travel Without Seeing [2022.07.06]
  2. The Paris Review #219 [2022.07.06]
  3. The Paris Review #220 [2022.07.08]
  4. The Paris Review #221 [2022.07.15]
  5. The Paris Review #222 [2022.07.19]
  6. Ana Simo, Heartland [2022.07.21]
  7. John Scalzi, The Consuming Fire [2022.07.23]
  8. John Scalzi, The Last Emperox [2022.07.26]
  9. The Paris Review #223 [2022.07.29]
  10. The Paris Review #224 [2022.07.31]

Short Prose

  1. Christine Lincoln, “What’s Necessary to Remember When Telling a Story”, The Paris Review #219 [2022.07.02]
  2. Tom Bissell, “Creative Types”, The Paris Review #219 [2022.07.04]
  3. Alexander Kluge (Isabel Fargo Cole, translator, “In Medieval Angelology, There Are Nine Orders of Snow”, The Paris Review #219 [2022.07.06]
  4. Amparo Dávila (Audrey Harris & Matthew Gleeson, translators), “Moses and Gaspar”, The Paris Review #219 [2022.07.06]
  5. Adam O’Fallon Price, “A Natural Man”, The Paris Review #220 [2022.07.08]
  6. Fleur Jaeggy, “Agnes”, The Paris Review #220 [2022.07.08]
  7. Jean-René Étienne and Lola Raban-Oliva, “Formentera Storyline”, The Paris Review #220 [2022.07.08]
  8. Harry Mathews, “Berenice’s Tale”, The Paris Review #220 [2022.07.08]
  9. J.M. Holmes, “What’s Wrong with You? What’s Wrong with Me?”, The Paris Review #221 [2022.07.09]
  10. Patrick Modiano (Lorin Stein, translator), “The Hat”, The Paris Review #221 [2022.07.11]
  11. Chris Knapp, “States of Emergency”, The Paris Review #221 [2022.07.11]
  12. “Laura Francis” & Alexander Masters, “Love, Death & Trousers: Eight Found Stories”, The Paris Review #221 [2022.07.11]
  13. Anne Carson, “Eddy”, The Paris Review #221 [2022.07.14]
  14. Julie Orringer, “Neighbors”, The Paris Review #221 [2022.07.15]
  15. Caleb Crain, “Envoy”, The Paris Review #221 [2022.07.15]
  16. Ann Beattie, “Ruckersville”, The Paris Review #222 [2022.07.17]
  17. Isabella Hammad, “Mr. Can’aan”, The Paris Review #222 [2022.07.17]
  18. Sigrid Nunez, “The Blind”, The Paris Review #222 [2022.07.17]
  19. Duncan Hannah, “Diaries, 1970-73”, The Paris Review #222 [2022.07.17]
  20. Antonio Di Benedetto, “Ace”, The Paris Review #222 [2022.07.19]
  21. David Sedaris, “Letter from Emerald Isle”, The Paris Review #222 [2022.07.19]
  22. Peter Mountford, “Pay Attention”, The Paris Review #223 [2022.07.25]
  23. Katharine Kilalea, “OK, Mr. Field (Part 1) Summer”, The Paris Review #223 [2022.07.26]
  24. J. Jezewska Stevens, “The Party”, The Paris Review #223 [2022.07.28]
  25. Duncan Hannah, “Diaries, 1973-1974”, The Paris Review #223 [2022.07.29]
  26. Karl Ove Knausgaard (Damion Searls, translator), “Fate”, The Paris Review #223 [2022.07.29]
  27. Joy Williams, “Flour”, The Paris Review #224 [2022.07.29]
  28. Chia-Chia Lin, “Practicing”, The Paris Review #224 [2022.07.29]
  29. Rachel Cusk, “Justice”, The Paris Review #224 [2022.07.30]
  30. Joanna Novak, “The Wait”, The Paris Review #224 [2022.07.30]
  31. Katharine Kilalea, “OK, Mr. Field (Part 2) Autumn”, The Paris Review #224 [2022.07.31]

June 2022 Reading List

John Winkelman

I finally made it through all of the back issues of Poetry Magazine I have been collecting for the past decade. Forty-some issues, read and appreciated and ready to be archived. Now I am working my way through back issues of The Paris Review, and enjoying the experience. I will likely let my subscription lapse at the end of the year, or go to digital-only, which gives me access to the entire online archives, which is an AMAZING resource. But no more physical copies.

Books and Journals

  1. Poetry Magazine #219.2 (November 2021) [2022.06.01]
  2. Poetry Magazine #219.3 (December 2021) [2022.06.03]
  3. Poetry Magazine #219.4 (January 2022) [2022.06.05]
  4. Hurley, Kameron, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.05]
  5. Voices 2022 [2022.06.06]
  6. Poetry Magazine #219.5 (February 2022) [2022.06.06]
  7. Poetry Magazine #219.6 (March 2022) [2022.06.07]
  8. Poetry Magazine #220.1 (April 2022) [2022.06.09]
  9. Poetry Magazine #220.2 (May 2022) [2022.06.09]
  10. Poetry Magazine #220.3 (June 2022) [2022.06.09]
  11. Hariharan, Githa, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  12. The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.18]
  13. The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.23]
  14. Monáe, Janelle, The Memory Librarian [2022.06.26]
  15. The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.26]
  16. The Paris Review #218 [2022.06.29]
  17. Poetry Magazine #220.4 (July/August 2022) [2022.06.30]

Short Prose

  1. Hurley, Kameron, “The Judgment of Gods and Monsters”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.02]
  2. Hurley, Kameron, “Broker of Souls”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.03]
  3. Hurley, Kameron, “The One We Feed”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.03]
  4. Hurley, Kameron, “Corpse Soldier”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.03]
  5. Hurley, Kameron, “Levianthan”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.03]
  6. Hurley, Kameron, “Unblooded”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.03]
  7. Hurley, Kameron, “The Skulls of Our Fathers”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.03]
  8. Hurley, Kameron, “Body Politic”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.04]
  9. Hurley, Kameron, “We Burn”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.04]
  10. Hurley, Kameron, “Antibodies”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.04]
  11. Hurley, Kameron, “The Traitor Lords”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.04]
  12. Hurley, Kameron, “Wonder Maul Doll”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.05]
  13. Hurley, Kameron, “Our Prisoners, the Stars”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.05]
  14. Hurley, Kameron, “The Body Remembers”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.05]
  15. Hurley, Kameron, “Moontide”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.05]
  16. Hurley, Kameron, “Citizens of Elsewhen”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.05]
  17. Hariharan, Githa, “Seven Cities and AnyCity”, Almost Home [2022.06.07]
  18. Freudenberger, Nell, “Found Objects“, The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.09]
  19. Hariharan, Githa, “Two Cities of Victory”, Almost Home [2022.06.12]
  20. Martin, Andrew, “With the Christopher Kids“, The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.13]
  21. Hariharan, Githa, “Toda Cafe Blues”, Almost Home [2022.06.14]
  22. Szalay, David, “Lascia Amor e siegui Marte”, The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.15]
  23. Bachelder, Chris, “The Throwback Special, part 3”, The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.16]
  24. Hariharan, Githa, “Mapping Freedom”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  25. Hariharan, Githa, “Speaking in Haiku”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  26. Hariharan, Githa, “Trailblazing in Andalusa”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  27. Hariharan, Githa, “Looking for a Nation, Looking at the Nation”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  28. Hariharan, Githa, “Bittersweet Danish”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  29. Hariharan, Githa, “Seeing Palestine”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  30. Hariharan, Githa, “Almost Home”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  31. Bischel, Peter, “Two Stories”, The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.17]
  32. Sorrentino, Christopher, “Apparition of Danhoff”, The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.18]
  33. Hale, Benjamin, “Don’t Worry Baby”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.18]
  34. Zevi, Anne-Laure (Angel, Mitzi, translator), “Nom”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.18]
  35. Teicher, Craig Morgan, “Four Stories”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.19]
  36. Beach, Jensen, “Migration”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.20]
  37. Gombrowicz, Witold (Bhambry, Tul’si, translator), “The Tragic Tale of the Baron and His Wife”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.21]
  38. Johnson, Dana, “She Deserves Everything She Gets”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.21]
  39. Monáe, Janelle and Johnson, Alaya Dawn, “The Memory Librarian”, The Memory Librarian [2022.06.23]
  40. Bachelder, Chris, “The Throwback Special, part 4”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.23]
  41. Monáe, Janelle and Lore, Danny, “Nevermind”, The Memory Librarian [2022.06.24]
  42. Cusk, Rachel, “Freedom”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.24]
  43. Arthurs, Alexia, “Bad Behavior”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.24]
  44. Nugent, Benjamin, “The Treasurer”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.25]
  45. Kroll-Zaidi, Rafil, “Lifeguards”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.25]
  46. Monáe, Janelle and Ewing, Eve L., “Timebox”, The Memory Librarian [2022.06.26]
  47. Monáe, Janelle and Delgado, Yohanca, “Save Changes”, The Memory Librarian [2022.06.26]
  48. Monáe, Janelle and Thomas, Sheree Renée, “Timebox Altar[ed]”, The Memory Librarian [2022.06.26]
  49. Campbell, Bonnie Jo, “Down”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.26]
  50. Gladman, Renee, “Five Things”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.26]
  51. Murnane, Gerald, “From Border Districts”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.26]
  52. Léger, Nathalie, “Barbara, Wanda”, The Paris Review #218 [2022.06.27]
  53. Martin, Andrew, “No Cops”, The Paris Review #218 [2022.06.29]
  54. Barrodale, Amie, “Protectors”, The Paris Review #218 [2022.06.29]
  55. Beattie, Ann, “Panthers”, The Paris Review #218 [2022.06.29]
  56. Sharma, Akhil, “The Well”, The Paris Review #218 [2022.06.29]

May 2022 Reading List

John Winkelman

This was another very poetry-heavy month, though I did manage to sneak in a couple of books about politics and the like. This quantity of poetry reading is putting my head in an interesting place, and I have written a couple of poems about the effect of reading so much poetry in a compressed time-frame. Perhaps this is what it is like to be an English major.

Two items of note here: Between Clay and Dust, which is the first fiction I have read since sometime in March, and Kameron Hurley’s short fiction, which is the first such I have read this year. 2022 had been like that.

Books and Journals

  1. Poetry Magazine #215.6 (March 2020) [2022.05.04]
  2. Poetry Magazine #216.1 (April 2020) [2022.05.05]
  3. Poetry Magazine #216.2 (May 2020) [2022.05.08]
  4. Poetry Magazine #216.3 (June 2020) [2022.05.10]
  5. Poetry Magazine #216.4 (July-August 2020) [2022.05.11]
  6. Poetry Magazine #217.1 (October 2020) [2022.05.15]
  7. Poetry Magazine #217.2 (November 2020) [2022.05.16]
  8. Poetry Magazine #217.3 (December 2020) [2022.05.17]
  9. Anderson, Benedict, Imagined Communities [2022.05.18]
  10. Poetry Magazine #217.4 (January 2021) [2022.05.19]
  11. Poetry Magazine #217.5 (February 2021) [2022.05.20]
  12. Poetry Magazine #217.6 (March 2021) [2022.05.22]
  13. Poetry Magazine #218.1 (April 2021) [2022.05.23]
  14. Duncombe, Stephen, Dream or Nightmare [2022.05.24]
  15. Poetry Magazine #218.2 (May 2021) [2022.05.25]
  16. Poetry Magazine #218.3 (June 2021) [2022.05.26]
  17. Poetry Magazine #218.4 (July/August 2021) [2022.05.27]
  18. Farooqi, Musharraf Ali, Between Clay and Dust [2022.05.28]
  19. Poetry Magazine #218.5 (September 2021) [2022.05.29]
  20. Poetry Magazine #219.1 (October 2021) [2022.05.31]

Short Prose

  1. Hurley, Kameron, “Sky Boys”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.05.29]
  2. Hurley, Kameron, “Overdark”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.05.31]

April 2022 Reading List

John Winkelman

For National Poetry Month this year, I decided to work my way through my pile of unread issues of Poetry Magazine. It was quite an experience. Last time I read this much poetry, in this much variety, was in the heyday of The 3288 Review when we were getting over a hundred submissions a month, each with as many as ten poems.

Though sidelined for a few days by a touch of the flu, as well as some crazy work hours, I did manage to complete seventeen issues of Poetry, two poetry books by local writers, and the latest issue of Peninsula Poets.

The density of reading has put my mind in a very good space and I may continue this habit well into May in order to get caught up to present.

Books and Journals

  1. Poetry Magazine #209.2 (November 2016) [2022.04.01]
  2. Poetry Magazine #210.1 (April 2017) [2022.04.04]
  3. Poetry Magazine #213.1 (October 2018) [2022.04.05]
  4. Poetry Magazine #213.3 (December 2018) [2022.04.06]
  5. Poetry Magazine #213.6 (March 2019) [2022.04.07]
  6. Poetry Magazine #214.1 (April 2019) [2022.04.07]
  7. Poetry Magazine #213.4 (January 2019) [2022.04.08]
  8. Poetry Magazine #213.5 (February 2019) [2022.04.11]
  9. Poetry Magazine #214.2 (May 2019) [2022.04.12]
  10. Poetry Magazine #214.3 (June 2019) [2022.04.14]
  11. Poetry Magazine #214.4 (July/August 2019) [2022.04.17]
  12. Alles, Colleen, After the 8-Ball [2022.04.18]
  13. Poetry Magazine #214.5 (September 2019) [2022.04.19]
  14. Poetry Magazine #215.1 (October 2019) [2022.04.20]
  15. Poetry Magazine #215.2 (November 2019) [2022.04.24]
  16. Poetry Magazine #215.3 (December 2019) [2022.04.26]
  17. Poetry Magazine #215.4 (January 2020) [2022.04.27]
  18. Poetry Magazine #215.5 (February 2020) [2022.04.28]
  19. Renee, Anna, Patina [2022.04.29]
  20. Peninsula Poets #79.1 (Spring 2022) [2022.04.30]

March 2022 Reading List

John Winkelman

Not a bad month for reading, was March. The first book, The Tyrant Baru Cormorant, took the first half of the month to read, and the remaining six flew by, relatively speaking. This was a good mix of fiction and poetry, with a surprise nonfiction in They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, Hanif Abdurrraqib’s collection of music reviews and criticism which I picked up at City Lights Bookstore back in the summer of 2019.

Books

  1. Dickinson, Seth, The Tyrant Baru Cormorant (2022.03.15)
  2. Poetry Magazine #207.1, October 2015 (2022.03.15)
  3. Abdurraqib, Hanif, They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us (2022.03.20)
  4. Tomlinson, Patrick S., Gate Crashers (2022.03.24)
  5. Jaeggy, Fleur (Alhadeff, Gini, translator), I am the Brother of XX (2022.03.28)
  6. Coolidge, Sarah (editor), This Is Us Losing Count (2022.03.29)
  7. Poetry Magazine #208.4, July/August 2016 (2022.03.31)

 

February 2022 Reading List

John Winkelman

February was a good reading month. I made it through five books – one genre fiction, one nonfiction sociological text, and three books in translation – one poetry and two fiction. Like in January, I didn’t read any short prose. I guess that’s just not where my mind is right now. Maybe in March.

Books

  1. Chakraborty, S.A., The Empire of Gold (2022.02.04)
  2. Du Mez, Kristin Kobes, Jesus and John Wayne (2022.02.14)
  3. Brandt, Per Aage, If I Were a Suicide Bomber (2022.02.14)
  4. Karastoyanov, Hristo, The Same Night Awaits Us All (2022.02.20)
  5. Torres, Fernanda, Glory and its Litany of Horrors (2022.02.26)

Short Prose

January 2022 Reading List

John Winkelman

January was a pretty good month for reading. I finished three genre novels, following the three I read at the end of 2021. Having my head in this space feels really good, and I find that my own writing is easier, and occasionally improved, by focusing on genre works for extended periods of time.

The down-side is that I spent so much time reading these books (and the ones which I did not finish by the end of the month) that I completely neglected to read any short prose other than news articles and blog posts.

Books

  1. Roanhorse, Rebecca, Black Sun (2022.01.06) – I really liked this book. Until now I had not read a fantasy story – or indeed any fiction at all, that I recall, that was centered in pre-colonial America. The characters are vivid and immediately interesting, the descriptions are both grand and intimate. Roanhorse writes very well and I look forward to reading the sequel, Fevered Star.
  2. Muir, Tamsyn, Harrow the Ninth (2022.01.18) – I loved this book! Harrow was as good a read as its predecessor Gideon the Ninth. It was a little slower-paced, but this was mostly due to the density of the world building and depth of characterizations. Muir is very good at exploring the mental and emotional states of her characters, and shows distinct empathy toward even the least sympathetic of the necromancers in this story. I definitely would not want to live in the universe of the Locked Tomb, but it is a fun place to visit on occasion.
  3. Mandel, Emily St. John, Station Eleven (2022.01.20) – I finished the Subterranean Press edition of Station Eleven while camped out in a hotel room the night before the 2022 ConFusion Science Fiction Convention. To read a story of the survivors of a pandemic touring the Great Lakes, while waiting for the start of a conference taking place in Michigan the middle of a pandemic, put my mind in an interesting place. Mandel writes beautifully. Her characters are well-defined and consistent, and the story immediately pulled me in. Moments of sharp clarity are mixed with hints of the state of the larger world, and the pages are full of the wonder and terror of living in a time when over 99% of humanity has suddenly died. Highly recommended.

ConFusion 2022 – Notes for If You Liked That, Read This!

John Winkelman

These are my notes from the panel “If You Like That, Read This!” which took place at 7:00 pm on Saturday, January 22, 2022 at ConFusion 2022: Rising ConFusion in Novi, Michigan.

I moderated this panel, which was a somewhat superfluous role as the panel included only myself and Anton Cancre, filling in for Sarah Hans, who was unable to attend the panel. Since there were only half a dozen attendees, we decided to keep things informal. We pulled some chairs into a circle and went around and the room, discussing books we had read recently, and books we particularly liked and recommended to the other attendees.

The first list includes recent reads and books which came up in the conversation.

This next list is the reading recommendations, subtitled “Read this now!!!”

All in all, it was a fun panel, and I have added a few of these titles to my ever-growing TBR pile.

The Books of ConFusion 2022

John Winkelman

Though ConFusion 2022 was much smaller than previous ConFusions, many authors still attended so I arrived with high hopes, a pocketful of money, and some bags. I brought a stack of books to get signed, and returned home with those and a dozen more, with the majority of the new books signed as well. Truly, this was a glorious weekend for my collection!

The first photo is the books I brought to ConFusion 2022 which were signed by the authors.

The top row is Jim C. Hines‘ Magic Ex Libris series, including Libriomancer, Codex Born, Unbound and Revisionary.

The second row starts Terminal Uprising, the second book in Hines’ Janitors of the Post Apocalypse series. Jason Sanford‘s new novel Plague Birds is next, followed by Pimp My Airship by Maurice Broaddus, and Patrick S. Tomlinson‘s Gate Crashers.

This photo includes the books I acquired at ConFusion 2022 and which were signed by the authors.

First up is The Banished Craft by E.D.E. Bell. Next are Starship Repo and In the Black by Patrick S. Tomlinson. Then comes Hidden Menagerie, an anthology edited by Michael Cieslak.

Next are two books by Jen Haeger, Whispers of a Killer and Moonlight Medicine: Onset. Next is Meaningless Cycles in a Vicious Glass Prison, a collection of poetry by Anton Cancre. Cancre was at the signing table filling in for author Sarah Hans, who was unable to attend the signing session. As thanks for buying two of Hans’ books, Anton gave me his book for free (!) and was gracious enough to sign it. Later that day Anton again filled in for Hans in a panel I moderated, “If You Liked That, Read This!” which was loads of fun. I will discuss it more in my ConFusion 2022 wrap-up post.

And finally we have Jason Sanford‘s collection Never Never Stories which upon returning home I found is a duplicate. Oh, well. Now I have two copies of this book, in case I want to read it more than once.

And these are the books I acquired at ConFusion 2022 which were not signed. For the first two, Dead Girls Don’t Love and An Ideal Vessel, author Sarah Hans was indisposed during the signing. The other two, Yoon Ha Lee‘s The Fox Tower and Other Tales, and Damian Duffy and John Jennings‘ graphic novel adaptation of Octavia E. Butler‘s Parable of the Sower, my partner and I picked up at the bookstore in the dealer room on our way out of the convention to return home.

A dozen new books is actually a fairly small haul for me at a ConFusion, but again, this was a much smaller than usual version of the event. I should just have time to read these before the next ConFusion in 2023.