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ConFusion 2018: The Setting as Character

John Winkelman

(These are my lightly edited notes for a panel I attended at the ConFusion Fantasy and Science Fiction Convention in January of 2018)

THE PANEL: The Setting as Character (21 January 2018, 12:00)

DESCRIPTION: “In Science Fiction and Fantasy , settings can literally come alive–be it via the talking flowers of Through The Looking Glass or the rage of Peter Quill’s creepy dad-planet in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. In Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch universe where ships have minds, main characters can be both people and places at the same time. Are living settings a science fiction/fantasy extension of the classic “Hero Vs. Nature” story? How do they exist in conversation with real-world beliefs about whether the world around us has a will of its own?”

PANELISTS: A. T. Greenblatt, Cassandra Morgan, David John Baker, Suzanne Church

NOTES:

My thoughts:

This was a good general overview of the topic. I was kind of hoping that there would be more focus on concepts like Genius Loci and the like, but on reflection the panel’s approach makes more sense, as setting qua setting is the environment in which the story exists, not a personality with agency per se.

ConFusion 2018: Science Fiction and Philosophy

John Winkelman

(These are my lightly edited notes for a panel I attended at the ConFusion Fantasy and Science Fiction Convention in January of 2018)

PANEL: “Science Fiction and Philosophy: Exploring the Connections”

DESCRIPTION: “SF has been called the literature of ideas, and the ideas explored in SF have become increasingly philosophical throughout the history of the genre. What are the most illuminating thought experiments in recent and classic SF? Which philosophical questions do they raise? And how are philosophers in today’s universities employing SF in their teaching and research?”

PANELISTS: Andrea Johnson, Dyrk Ashton, Ken Schrader, Nathan Rockwood

NOTES:

MY THOUGHTS:

This panel was interesting in that so much of the discussion revolved around listing works which address philosophical questions, and not a lot of addressing the questions themselves. This bothered me at first, but on reflection I realize that these panels are meant to be introductions and overviews, not necessarily deep dives into the subject; if for no other reason than that the panels all stand alone, and if two or more share a subject it is only by coincidence. That said, I appreciated the breadth of suggestions, and particularly that they included games. Computer games, if the narrative is sufficiently complex, can be seen as simulations and testing grounds for ideas which are not always easy for an individual to address in the real world.

2018 Reading List

John Winkelman

Welcome to the fourth year of the Reading List. These are all of the books I have purchased and/or read in calendar year 2018. My full list of books can be found on LibraryThing (books I own) and GoodReads (books I have read).

January (38)

  1. McKean, Dave and Schafer, William – The Weight of Words (Subterranean Press)
  2. Nguyen, Viet Than – The Refugees
  3. Atwood, Margaret – The Handmaid’s Tale
  4. Walton, David – The Genius Plague
  5. Sterling, Phillip – And Then Snow (Main Street Rag)
  6. Mitchell, David – Slade House
  7. Peninsula Poets #74.1, Spring 2017 (Poetry Society of Michigan)
  8. Peninsula Poets #74.2, Fall 2017 (Poetry Society of Michigan)
  9. D’Rivera, Paquito – Letters to Yeyito (Restless Books)
  10. Simo, Ana – Heartland (Restless Books)
  11. Khan, Ausma Zehanat – The Bloodprint
  12. Liu, Ken – The Man who Ended History, signed, #462 of 500 (WSFA Press)
  13. Chakraborty, S.A. – The City of Brass
  14. Ashton, Dyrk – Paternus
  15. Hines, Jim C. – Terminal Alliance
  16. Law, Lucas K. and Mak, Derwin (eds.) – Where the Stars Shine (Laksa Media Groups, Inc)
  17. Tomlinson, Patrick S. – The Ark (Angry Robot Books)
  18. Tomlinson, Patrick S. – Trident’s Forge (Angry Robot Books)
  19. Tomlinson, Patrick S. – Children of the Divide (Angry Robot Books)
  20. Sizemore, Jason – For Exposure (Apex Publications)
  21. Sizemore, Jason – Irredeemable (Seventh Star Press)
  22. Apex Magazine #104
  23. Gates, Jaym and Valentinelli, Monica (eds.) – Upside Down (Apex Publications)
  24. Townsend, Tracy – The Nine (Prometheus Books)
  25. Ness, Mari – Through Immortal Shadows Singing (Papaveria Press)
  26. Wolfe, Navah and Parisien, Dominik (eds.) – Robots vs. Fairies (Saga Press)
  27. Hirshfield, Jane – Nine Gates
  28. Brown, Adrienne Marie and Imarisha, Walidah (eds.) – Octavia’s Brood (AK Press)
  29. Karastoyanov, Hristo – The Same Night Awaits Us All (Open Letter Books)
  30. Music & Literature #7
  31. Music & Literature #8
  32. Freedman, Carl (ed.) – Conversations with Ursula K. Le Guin (University Press of Mississippi)
  33. Le Guin, Ursula K. – The Found and the Lost (Saga Press)
  34. Le Guin, Ursula K. – The Unreal and the Real (Saga Press)
  35. Foglio, Kaja and Foglio, Phil – Girl Genius 16: The Incorruptible Library (Airship Entertainment)
  36. Claybourne, Zig Zag – The Brothers Jetstream: Leviathan (Narmer’s Palette)
  37. Eastern Iowa Review #3
  38. Johns, Andreas – Baba Yaga (Peter Lang Publishing)

February (13)

  1. Granta #142
  2. Stein, Melissa – Terrible Blooms (Copper Canyon Press)
  3. George, Jenny – The Dream of Reason (Copper Canyon Press)
  4. Nezhukumatathil, Aimee – Oceanic (Copper Canyon Press)
  5. Campbell, Bill and Hall, Edward Austin (eds) – Mothership: Tales From Afrofuturism and Beyond (Rosarium Publishing)
  6. Goh, Jaymee and Chng, Joyce (eds) – The Sea is Ours: Tales of Steampunk Southeast Asia (Rosarium Publishing)
  7. Karetnyk, Bryan (ed.) – Russian Émigré Short Stories from Bunin to Yanovsky
  8. Triantafyllou, Petros (ed.) – Art of War (Booknest.eu)
  9. Jemisin, N.K. – The Obelisk Gate
  10. VanderMeer, Jeff – Authority
  11. Jacobin Magazine, Issue 28 (Winter 2018)
  12. Nielsen, Madame – The Endless Summer (Open Letter Books)
  13. Kopf, Alicia – Brother in Ice (And Other Stories)

March (25)

  1. Okorafor, Nnedi – Binti
  2. Sullivan, Susan Abel – Cursed: Wickedly Fun Stories (World Weaver Press)
  3. Parrish, Rhonda (ed.) – Fae (World Weaver Press)
  4. Parrish, Rhonda (ed.) – Sirens (World Weaver Press)
  5. Parrish, Rhonda (ed.) – Equus (World Weaver Press)
  6. Parrish, Rhonda (ed.) – Corvidae (World Weaver Press)
  7. Bujold, Lois McMaster – Penric’s Mission, signed, #433 of 450 (Subterranean Press)
  8. Mandel, Emily St. John – Station Eleven, signed, #588 or 750 (Subterranean Press)
  9. Reaves, Mallory and Reaves, Michael – Eternity’s Wheel, signed, #485 of 500 (Subterranean Press)
  10. Armstrong, Kelley – Lost Souls (Subterranean Press)
  11. Blaylock, James P. – River’s Edge, signed, #970 of 1000 (Subterranean Press)
  12. Silverberg, Robert – The Millennium Express (Subterranean Press)
  13. Spencer, William Browning – The Unorthodox Dr. Draper, signed, #382 of 750 (Subterranean Press)
  14. Straub, Peter – Perdido (Subterranean Press)
  15. Silverberg, Robert – The Emperor and the Maula (Subterranean Press)
  16. Shiner, Lewis – Heroes and Villains, signed, #436 of 750 (Subterranean Press)
  17. Lumley, Brian – The Compleat Crow (Subterranean Press)
  18. Pulphouse Fiction Magazine #0, December 2017
  19. Pulphouse Fiction Magazine #1, January 2018
  20. Schutt, Christine – Pure Hollywood (And Other Stories)
  21. James, D.R. – If God Were Gentle (Dos Madres Press)
  22. Bray, Mark – Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook (Melville House Publishing)
  23. Kemper, Donna – Forgive and Forgotten (Credo House Publishers)
  24. Apex Magazine #106 (March 2018)
  25. Joshi, S.T. (ed.) – Black Wings 6 (PS Publishing)

April (21)

  1. Winn, Howard – Acropolis (Propertius Press)
  2. Jemisin, N.K. – The Stone Sky
  3. Coates, Ta-Nehisi – A Nation Under Our Feet 1
  4. Brakefield, Russell – Field Recordings (Wayne State University Press)
  5. VanderMeer, Jeff – Acceptance
  6. Cleave, Sarah (ed.) – Banthology: Stories from Banned Nations (Deep Vellum Publishing)
  7. Ganieva, Alisa – Bride & Groom (Deep Vellum Publishing)
  8. Apex Magazine #107 (April 2018)
  9. Harris, Joseph – Logically Thinking (chapbook)
  10. Harris, Joseph – Speak Up! (chapbook)
  11. McSweeney’s #52
  12. Ugresic, Dubravka – Fox (Open Letter Books)
  13. Bat-Ami, Miriam – Measuring the Marigolds (Caffeinated Press)
  14. Ono, Masatsugu – Lion Cross Point (Two Lines Press)
  15. Two Lines #28
  16. Scalzi, John – Head On
  17. Willis, Connie – I Met a Traveler in an Antique Land (Subterranean Press)
  18. Lovecraft, H.P. – The Illustrated Call of Cthulhu (Flesk Publications)
  19. Mignola, Mike – Hellboy: Into the Silent Sea, Studio Edition (Flesk Publications)
  20. Peninsula Poets #75.1 (Spring 2018)
  21. Vodolazkin, Eugene – Laurus (Oneworld Publications)

May (8)

  1. Ward, Jesmyn (ed.) – The Fire This Time
  2. Vollmann, William T. – No Immediate Danger
  3. Bacigalupi, Paolo – The Alchemist (Subterranean Press)
  4. Kuznia, Yanni (ed.) – A Fantasy Medley 3 (Subterranean Press)
  5. Hilbig, Wolfgang – The Tidings of the Trees (Two Lines Press)
  6. Pulphouse Fiction Magazine #2, April 2018
  7. Mandanipour, Shahriar – Moon Brow (Restless Books)
  8. Fresán, Rodrigo – The Bottom of the Sky (Open Letter Books)

June (28)

  1. Voices 2018
  2. Shishkin, Mikhail – Calligraphy Lessons (Deep Vellum Publishing)
  3. VanderMeer, Ann and VanderMeer, Jeff (eds) – Sisters of the Revolution (PM Press)
  4. Vollmann, William T. – No Good Alternative
  5. Bulgakov, Mikhail – The Master and Margarita
  6. Russian Literature Triquarterly #9 (Spring 1974)
  7. Carruth, Hayden – Scrambled Eggs & Whiskey (Copper Canyon Press)
  8. Le Guin, Ursula – Sixty Odd (Shambhala Publications)
  9. Gaiman, Neil – Fragile Things
  10. Gaiman, Neil – Sandman: Overture (Vertigo Comics)
  11. de Jesus, Noelle Q. and Katigbak-Lacuesta, Mookie (eds.) – Fast Food Fiction Delivery (Anvil Publishing, Inc)
  12. Realuyo, Bino – The Gods We Worship Live Next Door (University of Utah Press)
  13. Malonzo, Mervin – Tabi Po #1 (Visprint, Inc)
  14. Malonzo, Mervin – After Lambana (Vistaprint, Inc)
  15. Chacon, Sasha Pimentel – Insides She Swallowed (West End Press)
  16. Donoso, Isaac (ed.) Boxer Codex – Vibal Foundation
  17. Hagedorn, Jessica – The Gangster of Love
  18. Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne – Loaded (City Lights Books)
  19. Giroux, Henry A. – American Nightmare (City Lights Books)
  20. Reyes, Barbara Jane – Invocation to Daughters (City Lights Books)
  21. Meltzer, David (eds) – San Francisco Beats: Talking with the Poets (City Lights Books)
  22. Lewis, Penelope and Page, Ra (eds.) – Spindles: Stories from the Science of Sleep (Comma Press)
  23. Depestre, Rene – Hadriana in All My Dreams (Akashic Books)
  24. Bakewell, Sarah – At the Existentialist Cafe (Other Press)
  25. Abdurraqib, Hanif – They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us (Two Dollar Radio)
  26. Sax, Sam – Madness
  27. Ferlinghetti, Lawrence – A Coney Island of the Mind, 50th Anniversary Edition (New Directions Publishing)
  28. Coval, Kevin, Lansana, Quraysh Ali, and Marshall, Nate (eds.) – The Breakbeat Poets (Haymarket Books)

July (14)

  1. Lange, Norah – People in the Room (And Other Stories)
  2. Apex Magazine #109, June 2018
  3. Hong, Xiao – Ma Bo’Le’s Second Life (Open Letter Books)
  4. PEN America #21 – Mythologies
  5. Stephenson, Neal and Galland, Nicole – The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.
  6. Gleason, Rachel – New Kind of Rebellion (chapbook)
  7. Yang, Jy – The Black Tides of Heaven
  8. Yang, Jy – The Read Threads of Fortune
  9. Singh, Vandana – Ambiguity Machines (Small Beer Press)
  10. Erdrich, Heid E (ed.) – New Poets of Native Nations (Graywolf Press)
  11. Womack, Ytasha L. – Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-fi and Fantasy Culture (Lawrence Hill Books)
  12. Goncharov, Ivan – Oblomov
  13. Arendt, Hannah – The Origins of Totalitarianism
  14. Poirer, Agnès – Left Bank

August (14)

  1. Yesenin, Sergei – Selected Poems
  2. Mandelstam, Osip – Voronezh Notebooks (New York Review Books)
  3. Turgenev, Ivan – First Love and Other Stories (Oxford University Press)
  4. Mayakovsky, Vladimir – Selected Poems (Northwestern University Press)
  5. Watts, Peter – The Freeze-Frame Revolution (Tachyon Publishing)
  6. Haight, Ian – Celadon (Unicorn Press)
  7. Roanhorse, Rebecca – Trail of Lightning
  8. Granta #144
  9. Apex Magazine #110
  10. Salvage Magazine #5
  11. Brace, Kristin – Fence, Patio, Blessed Virgin (Finishing Line Press)
  12. Ólafsson, Bragi – Narrator (Open Letter Books)
  13. Twitty, Michael W. – The Cooking Gene
  14. Bourdain, Anthony – Kitchen Confidential

September (19)

  1. Foglio, Kaja and Foglio, Phil – Girl Genius 17: Kings and Wizards (Airship Entertainment)
  2. The Paris Review #226
  3. Amazing Stories 76.1 (Fall 2018/WorldCon Issue)
  4. Rucker, Rudy – Return to the Hollow Earth (Transreal Books)
  5. Sagwa, Kim – Mina (Two Lines Press)
  6. Two Lines #29
  7. Ulibarri, Sarena (ed.) – Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers (World Weaver Press)
  8. Trabucco Zerán, Alia – The Remainder (And Other Stories)
  9. Sigurðsson, Ófeigur – Oraefi: The Wasteland (Deep Vellum Publishing)
  10. Llansol, Maria Gabriela – The Geography of Rebels Trilogy (Deep Vellum Publishing)
  11. Berti, Eduardo – The Imagined Land (Deep Vellum Publishing)
  12. Matthieussent, Brice – Revenge of the Translator (Deep Vellum Publishing)
  13. Jones, Scott R. (ed.) – Cthulhusattva (Martian Migraine Press)
  14. Brenda, Libia (ed.) – A Larger Reality (Cumulo de Tesla)
  15. Ugrešić, Dubravka – American Fictionary (Open Letter Books)
  16. Ashton, Dyrk – Paternus: Wrath of Gods
  17. Albahari, David – Checkpoint (Restless Books)
  18. Hernandez, Catherine – Scarborough (Arsenal Pulp Press)
  19. Wagner, Phoebe and Wieland, Brontë Christopher (eds.) – Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation (Upper Rubber Boot Books)

October (28)

  1. Pulphouse Fiction Magazine #3
  2. Vourvoulias, Sabrina – Ink (Rosarium Publishing)
  3. Arnold, Amy – Slip of a Fish (And Other Stories)
  4. Indiana, Rita – Tentacle (And Other Stories)
  5. Apex Magazine #112, September 2018
  6. Morgan, Saretta – Feeling Upon Arrival (chapbook, Ugly Duckling Presse)
  7. Fitterman, Robert – This Window Make Me Feel (Ugly Duckling Presse)
  8. Cáceres, Omar – Defense of the Idol (Ugly Duckling Presse)
  9. White, Simone – Dear Angel of Death (Ugly Duckling Presse)
  10. Marinovich, Filip – Wolfman Librarian (Ugly Duckling Presse)
  11. Herzer, Christine – Orange (chapbook, Ugly Duckling Presse)
  12. Storm Cellar 7.1
  13. Nordenhof, Asta Olivia – the easiness and the loneliness (Open Letter Books)
  14. Larsen, Nella – Passing (Restless Books)
  15. Le Guin, Ursula – Wild Angels (Copper Canyon Press)
  16. Le Guin, Ursula – So Far, So Good (Copper Canyon Press)
  17. Poetry 213.1, October 2018
  18. Locus Magazine, October 2018
  19. Stoneboat Literary Journal 8.2
  20. Almeida, Alexis – I Have Never Been Able to Sing (chapbook, Ugly Duckling Presse)
  21. Rogal, Lisa – Feed Me Weird Things (chapbook, Ugly Duckling Presse)
  22. Ostrups, Artis – Gestures (Ugly Duckling Presse)
  23. Patterson, Zahara – Chronology (Ugly Duckling Presse)
  24. Gdenov, Vasilik – Alphabet for the Entrants (chapbook, Ugly Duckling Presse)
  25. Vitale, Anna – Our Rimbaud Mask (Ugly Duckling Presse)
  26. Hamilton, Diana – God Was Right (Ugly Duckling Presse)
  27. Sugar House Review 10.1
  28. Apex Magazine #113

November (31)

  1. Reikki, Ron (ed.) – The Way North (Wayne State University Press)
  2. Apex Book of World SF: Volume 1 (Apex Publications)
  3. Apex Book of World SF: Volume 2 (Apex Publications)
  4. Apex Book of World SF: Volume 3 (Apex Publications)
  5. Apex Book of World SF: Volume 4 (Apex Publications)
  6. Apex Book of World SF: Volume 5 (Apex Publications)
  7. Leib, Bart R. and Holt, Kay T. (eds.) – Resist Fascism (Crossed Genres Publications)
  8. Kasper, M (ed., trans.) – Ideas Have No Smell: Three Belgian Surrealist Booklets (Ugly Duckling Presse)
  9. Anderson, Darran – Imaginary Cities (University of Chicago Press)
  10. Piglia, Ricardo – The Diaries of Emilio Renzi: The Happy Years (Restless Books)
  11. Butcher, Jim – Turn Coat, signed, #360 of 500 (Subterranean Press)
  12. Shiner, Lewis – Heroes and Villains, signed, #247 of 750 (Subterranean Press)
  13. Schow, David J – DJStories, signed, #568 of 1000 (Subterranean Press)
  14. Bujold, Lois McMaster – Mira’s Last Dance, signed, #242 of 450 (Subterranean Press)
  15. Blaylock, James P. – River’s Edge, signed, #379 of 1000 (Subterranean Press)
  16. Armstrong, Kelly – Amityville Horrible, signed, #961 of 1500 (Subterranean Press)
  17. Anders, Charlie Jane – Rock Manning Goes for Broke, signed, #393 of 1500 (Subterranean Press)
  18. Lansdale, Joe R. and Mertz, Stephen – M.I.A. Hunter, signed, #177 of 500 (Subterranean Press)
  19. Resnick, Mike – Voyages, signed, #703 of 1000 (Subterranean Press)
  20. Leckie, Ann – Provenance, signed, #259 of 500 (Subterranean Press)
  21. McSweeney’s #54: The End of Trust
  22. Monk, Ian and Becker, Daniel Levin (eds.) – All That Is Evident Is Suspect: Readings from the Oulipo 1963-2018 (McSweeney’s)
  23. Peninsula Poets, Fall 2018 (Poetry Society of Michigan)
  24. Palmer, Ada – Too Like the Lightning
  25. Dickinson, Seth – The Monster Baru Cormorant
  26. Yang, JY – The Descent of Monsters
  27. Poetry CCCXIII.3, December 2018
  28. Sanchez, Pablo Martin – The Anarchist Who Shared My Name (Deep Vellum)
  29. Granta #145
  30. Jemisin, N.K. – How Long ’til Black Future Month?
  31. Rodoreda, Mercè – Camellia Street (Open Letter Books)

December (9)

  1. Salvage #2
  2. Salvage #3
  3. Hilbig, Wolfgang – The Females (Two Lines Press)
  4. Apex Magazine #114 (November 2018)
  5. Steffen, David (ed.) – The Long List Anthology, vol. 4 (Diabolical Plots L.L.C.)
  6. The Paris Review #227
  7. Salvage #6
  8. Poetry #213.4, January 2019
  9. Girondo, Oliverio – Decals (Open Letter Books)

2017 Reading List

John Winkelman

Same as the 2016 reading list. This are all of the books and journals acquired/read by Yours Truly in the 2017 calendar year.

January (11)

  1. Suah, Bae – Recitation (Deep Vellum)
  2. Klougart, Josefine – Of Darkness (Deep Vellum)
  3. Manson, Mark – The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck
  4. Blasim, Hassan (ed). – Iraq + 100 (Comma Press UK)
  5. The Long List Anthology vol. 2 (Diabolical Plots LLC)
  6. More, Thomas – Utopia
  7. Harrison, Jim – Republican Wives (novella)
  8. Žižek, Slavoj – Event
  9. Volodine, Antoine – Radiant Terminus (Open Letter Books)
  10. Chopra, Serena – IC (Horse Less Press)
  11. Anderson, Stephanie – Lands of Yield (Horse Less Press)

February (16)

  1. Athitakis, Mark – The New Midwest (Belt Publishing)
  2. Atkinson, Scott (ed) – Happy Anyway: A Flint Anthology (Belt Publishing)
  3. Wolin, Sheldon S. – Democracy Incorporated
  4. Thompson, Hunter S. – Fear and Loathing On the Campaign Trail ’72
  5. Thompson, Hunter S. – The Great Shark Hunt
  6. Thompson, Hunter S. – Generation of Swine
  7. Thompson, Hunter S. – Songs of the Doomed
  8. Thompson, Hunter S. – Better Than Sex
  9. Granta #138: Journeys
  10. Du Bois, W.E.B. – The Souls of Black Folk (Restless Books)
  11. Weir, Andy – The Martian
  12. Aira, César – The Proof (And Other Stories)
  13. Dick, Philip K. – The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick
  14. Noll, João Gilberto – Atlantic Hotel (Two Lines Press)
  15. Two Lines, Issue 26
  16. Harrison, Jim – A Really Big Lunch

March (13)

  1. Eco, Umberto – The Name of the Rose
  2. Xue, Can – Frontier (Open Letter Books)
  3. England, Andrea – Other Geographies (Creative Justice Press)
  4. Robinson, Kim Stanley – New York 2140
  5. Hines, Jim C. – Revisionary
  6. Sterling, Bruce – Pirate Utopia (Tachyon Publications)
  7. Castillo, Ana – Peel My Love Like an Onion
  8. Castillo, Ana – Black Dove (Feminist Press)
  9. Blackburn, Paul – The Collected Poems (Persea Books)
  10. Castillo, Ana – Watercolor Women Opaque Men (Northwestern University Press)
  11. Li He – Goddesses, Ghosts and Demons: The Collected Poems of Li He
  12. Kicknosway, Faye – Who Shall Know Them?
  13. Vallejo, César – Poemas Humanos

April (13)

  1. Condrescu, Andrei – Alien Candor (Black Sparrow Press)
  2. Cope, David (ed) – Song of the Owashtanong (Ridgeway Press)
  3. May, Jamaal – Hum (Alice James Books)
  4. Wright, C.D. – The Poet, the Lion, Talking Pictures, El Farolito, a Wedding in St. Roch, the Big Box Store, the Warp in the Mirror, Spring, Midnights, Fire & All (Copper Canyon Press)
  5. Poetry Magazine, April 2017
  6. Pitol, Sergio – The Magician of Vienna (Deep Vellum Publishing)
  7. Gnarr, Jón – The Outlaw (Deep Vellum Publishing)
  8. Adams, John Joseph (ed.) – Cosmic Powers
  9. Conversations with Paul Bowles (University Press of Mississippi)
  10. Conversations with Chinua Achebe (University Press of Mississippi)
  11. Patterson, Jorge Zepeda – Milena, or The Most Beautiful Femur in the World (Restless Books)
  12. Fresán, Rodrigo – The Invented Part (Open Letter Books)
  13. Garréta, Anne – Not One Day (Deep Vellum Publishing)

May (11)

  1. VanderMeer, Jeff – Borne
  2. Springer, Filip – History of a Disappearance (Restless Books)
  3. Jaeggy, Fleur – I Am the Brother of XX (And Other Stories)
  4. Segaloff, Nat – A Lit Fuse: The Provocative Life of Harlan Ellison (NESFA Press) #165 of 500
  5. Dostoevsky, Fyodor – Crime and Punishment
  6. Dostoevsky, Fyodor – Demons
  7. Jussawalla, Feroza and Dasenbrock, Reed Way (eds) – Interviews with Writers of the Post-Colonial World (University Press of Mississippi)
  8. Granta #139
  9. Miéville, China – October
  10. James, D.R. – Split Level (Finishing Line Press)
  11. McGookey, Kathleen – Heart in a Jar (White Pine Press)

June (11)

  1. Carroll, Jim – Living at the Movies
  2. Rulfo, Juan – The Golden Cockerel & Other Writings (Deep Vellum Publishing)
  3. Nowicki, Wojciech – Salki (Open Letter Books)
  4. Glossolalia, Issue 3
  5. Jodorowsky, Alejandro – Where the Bird Sings Best (Restless Books)
  6. Martin, George R.R. – The World of Ice and Fire
  7. Hopler, Jay – The Abridged History of Rainfall (McSweeney’s)
  8. Walsh, Joanna – Worlds from the Word’s End (And Other Stories)
  9. Laurel, Juan Tomás Ávila – The Gurugu Pledge (And Other Stories)
  10. NDiaye, Marie – My Heart Hemmed In (Two Lines Press)
  11. The 3288 Review, Issue 2.4 (Caffeinated Press)

July (17)

  1. Schafer, William (ed.) – Best of Subterranean (Subterranean Press)
  2. Alexie, Sherman – The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
  3. Alexie, Sherman – Reservation Blues
  4. Alexie, Sherman – You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me
  5. Oliver, Mary – Why I Wake Early
  6. Open Palm Print #7
  7. Eggers, Dave – Zeitoun
  8. Hammond, Rose L. – Just a Poor Country Girl (Run With It)
  9. LeBel, Steve – The Universe Builders: Bernie and the Lost Girl (Argon Press)
  10. LeBel, Steve – The Universe Builders: Bernie and the Putty (Argon Press)
  11. Davis, Jean – The Last God
  12. McClure, Patricia M. – Losing a Hero to Alzheimer’s
  13. Payne, J. Scott – The Green Hell (Argon Press)
  14. Compton, Deanna J. – Freecurrent: The Legacy (In God’s Hands Publishing)
  15. The Best of McSweeney’s (McSweeney’s)
  16. Torres, Fernanda – The End (Restless Books)
  17. Bergsson, Guðbergur – Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller (Open Letter Books)

August (11)

  1. Dickie, Tenzin – Old Demons, New Deities (O/R Books)
  2. Carroll, Jonathan – The Crow’s Dinner (Subterranean Press)
  3. Sterling, Bruce – Heavy Weather
  4. Sterling, Bruce – Globalhead
  5. Russell, Mary Doria – The Sparrow
  6. Blas de Roblès, Jean-Marie – Island of Point Nemo (Open Letter Books)
  7. Kenny, Timothy – Far Country (Bottom Dog Press)
  8. Steadman, Ralph – Extinct Boids
  9. Steadman, Ralph – Nextinction
  10. Shrestha, Romio – Goddesses of the Celestial Gallery (Mandala Publishing)
  11. Yoss – A Planet for Rent (Restless Books)

September (20)

  1. Hernández, Carlos – The Assimilated Cuban’s Guide to Quantum Santeria (Rosarium Publishing)
  2. Merwin, W.S. – The Shadow of Sirius (Copper Canyon Press)
  3. Merwin, W.S. – The Essential W.S. Merwin (Copper Canyon Press)
  4. Two Lines, issue 27
  5. The Paris Review, issue 222
  6. Powers, Tim – Medusa’s Web; signed #462 of 474 (Subterranean Press)
  7. Gallagher, Stephen – The Authentic William James; signed #279 of 1000 (Subterranean Press)
  8. Carroll, Jonathan – The Crow’s Dinner; signed #312 of 1000 (Subterranean Press)
  9. Egan, Greg – The Four Thousand, the Eight Hundred; signed #669 of 1000 (Subterranean Press)
  10. Grant, Mira – Final Girls; signed #1161 of 1250 (Subterranean Press)
  11. Bujold, Lois McMaster – Penric and the Shaman  (Subterranean Press)
  12. Kiernan, Caitlin R. – Dear Sweet Filthy World (Subterranean Press)
  13. Resnick, Mike – Voyages; signed #911 of 1000 (Subterranean Press)
  14. Reynolds, Alastair – Beyond the Aquila Rift (Subterranean Press)
  15. Shepard, Lucius – Five Autobiographies and a Fiction (Subterranean Press)
  16. Silverberg, Robert – Early Days; signed #626 of 1000 (Subterranean Press)
  17. Pugliese, Nicola – Malacqua (And Other Stories)
  18. Boullosa, Carmen – Heavens on Earth (Deep Vellum Publishing)
  19. Lahens, Yanick – Moonbath (Deep Vellum Publishing)
  20. Brandt, Per Aage – If I Were a Suicide Bomber (Open Letter Books)

October (39)

  1. Suah, Baeh – North Station (Open Letter Books)
  2. Neruda, Pablo – Book of Twilight (Copper Canyon Press)
  3. Chamoiseau, Patrick – Texaco
  4. Bishop, K.J. – The Etched City
  5. Akhmatova, Anna – Selected Poems
  6. Navarro, Elvira – A Working Woman (Two Lines Press)
  7. Unnikrishnan, Deepak – Temporary People (Restless Books)
  8. Cruz, Victor Hernandez – Red Beans (Coffee House Press)
  9. Michigan Quarterly, vol. 56 No. 2
  10. McSweeney’s #50
  11. Jemisen, N.K. – The Fifth Season
  12. VanderMeer, Jeff – Annihilation
  13. Oomen, Anne-Marie – Pulling Down the Barn (Wayne State University Press)
  14. Cooper, Wyn – Postcards from the Interior (BOA Editions, Ltd.)
  15. Cooper, Wyn – Chaos is the new Calm (BOA Editions, Ltd.)
  16. Holden, Craig – The Jazz Bird
  17. The Sutra of Hui Neng (H.K. Buddhist Book Distributor)
  18. Dobbs, David & Ober, Richard – The Northern Forest
  19. Watts, Alan – Psychotherapy East & West
  20. Kapleau, Philip – The Three Pillars of Zen
  21. Lopez, Donald S. (ed.) – Religions of Tibet in Practice
  22. Baghramian, Maria (ed.) – Modern Philosophy of Language
  23. Liu, Ken (ed.) – Invisible Planets
  24. Ward, Jesmyn – Sing, Unburied, Sing
  25. Schnurr, Ryan – In the Watershed (Belt Publishing)
  26. McLelland, Edward – How to Speak Midwestern (Belt Publishing)
  27. Nickels, Ashley and Vilella, Dani (eds) – Grand Rapids Grassroots: An Anthology (Belt Publishing)
  28. Sedegy, Jason (ed.) The Akron Anthology (Belt Publishing)
  29. Cleveland Neighborhood Guidebook (Belt Publishing)
  30. Piiparinen, Richey and Trubek, Anne (eds.) – The Cleveland Anthology (Belt Publishing)
  31. Atkinson, Scott (ed.) – Happy Anyway: A Flint Anthology (Belt Publishing)
  32. Boyd, Eric (ed.) – The Pittsburgh Anthology (Belt Publishing)
  33. Clark, Anna (ed.) – A Detroit Anthology (Belt Publishing)
  34. Foley, Aaron – The Detroit Neighborhood Guidebook (Belt Publishing)
  35. Foley, Aaron – How to Live In Detroit Without Being a Jackass (Belt Publishing)
  36. Bayne, Martha (ed.) – Rust Belt Chicago: An Anthology (Belt Publishing)
  37. McQuade, Zan (ed.) – The Cincinnati Anthology (Belt Publishing)
  38. Biehl, Jody K. (ed.) – Right Here, Right Now: The Buffalo Anthology (Belt Publishing)
  39. Marino, Jacqueline and Miller, Will (eds.) – Car Bombs to Cookie Tables: The Youngstown Anthology (Belt Publishing)

November (13)

  1. Abani, Chris – The Face: Cartography of the Void (Restless Books)
  2. Piglia, Ricardo – The Diaries of Emilio Renzi, Formative Years (Restless Books)
  3. Keni, Niyati – Esperanza Street (And Other Stories)
  4. Quin, Ann – The Unmapped Country (And Other Stories)
  5. McDermott, John J (ed). – The Writings of William James (University of Chicago Press)
  6. McPhee, John – Draft No. 4
  7. Subterranean Press Bibliography 1995 – 2015 (Subterranean Press)
  8. Hilbig, Wolfgang – Old Rendering Plant (Two Lines Press)
  9. Nielsen, Joanes – The Brahmadells (Open Letter Books)
  10. Diaz, Junot (ed.) – Global Dystopias (Boston Review)
  11. Long List Anthology vol. I
  12. McClung, Laren (ed.) – Inheriting the War
  13. Stoppard, Tom – Plays 5

December (3)

  1. Naivo – Beyond the Rice Fields (Restless Books)
  2. Silveira, Maria Jose – Her Mother’s Mother’s Mother and Her Daughters (Open Letter Books)
  3. McSweeney’s #51

2016 Reading List

John Winkelman

The 2015 reading list was so much fun that I have decided to do it again! I am making a couple of minor changes to the criteria here. First, this list will include books I have read, books I have purchased but not read, and literary journals which I purchase and/or read, all in the 2016 calendar year. With any luck I will have an even dozen from Caffeinated Press at the end of the year. Since 2016 is a leap year this may give me just enough time to reach that goal. Why not only list books I actually read? Because feck is over-rated.

Helping to fill this list are the subscriptions I have to the catalogs of independent publishers Open Letter Books, Restless Books, And Other Stories, Deep Vellum and Horse Less Press, as well as subscriptions to The Paris Review, Granta and Zyzzyva. These should get me, at minimum, 35 things to read this year. Just shy of three a month. So without further ado, here is the list.

January (65)

  1. Zyzzyva, issue 31.3
  2. The Paris Review, issue 215
  3. Rodoreda, Mercè – War, So Much War (Open Letter Books)
  4. Anderson, Benedict – Imagined Communities
  5. Rattle, issue 50
  6. Piketty, Thomas – Capital in the Twenty-First Century
  7. Clark, Patricia – Sunday Rising
  8. Harrison, Jim – Dead Man’s Float
  9. Mecklenburg, Virginia – Modern Masters: American Abstraction at Midcentury
  10. n+1, issue 24
  11. Labbé, Carlos – Loquela (Open Letter Books)
  12. Comola, Jessica – Everything We Met Changed Form & Followed the Rest (Horse Less Press)
  13. Bettis, Christine – Burnout Paradise (Horse Less Press)
  14. Burns, Megan – Sleepwalk With Me (Horse Less Press)
  15. Midwestern Gothic, issue 20
  16. Dunes Review, issue 19.2
  17. Mieville, China – Three Moments of an Explosion (Subterranean Press, signed, number 268/400)
  18. Michigan’s Voices, issue 3.2, Spring 1963
  19. The Noble Savage, issue 1, February 1960
  20. Gulf Coast, issue 20.2, Fall 2008
  21. Bamber, Linda – Metropolitan Tang
  22. Wakoski, Diane – Argonaut Rose (Black Sparrow Press)
  23. Meltzer, David – No Eyes: Lester Young (Black Sparrow Press)
  24. Kashin, Oleg – Fardwor, Russia! (Restless Books)
  25. Velázquez, Carlos – The Cowboy Bible and Other Stories (Restless Books)
  26. Clark, Anna (ed) – A Detroit Anthology (Rust Belt Chic Press)
  27. The Tishman Review, issue 1.4
  28. Michigan Quarterly Review, issue 54.4
  29. Taylor, Jonathan Jay and Neill, Foster – The Michigan Poet
  30. O’Brien, Colleen – Spool in the Maze (New Michigan Press)
  31. Krieg, Brandon – Invasives (New Rivers Press)
  32. El-Mohtar, Amal – The Honey Month (Papaveria Press, signed)
  33. Klaver, Christian – The Adventure of the Lustrous Pearl (signed)
  34. Klaver, Christian – The Adventure of the Innsmouth Whaler (signed)
  35. Kalver, Christian – The Adventure of the Solitary Grave (signed)
  36. Klaver, Christian – Shadows Over London (signed)
  37. McClellan, Brian – Servant of the Crown (signed)
  38. McClellan, Brian – Forsworn (signed)
  39. McClellan, Brian – Murder a the Kinnen Hotel (signed)
  40. McClellan, Brian – In the Field Marshal’s Shadow (signed)
  41. Steinmetz, Ferret – Flex (signed)
  42. Steinmets, Ferret – The Flux (signed)
  43. O’Keefe, Megan – Steal the Sky (signed)
  44. Underwood, Michael R. – Genrenauts: The Shootout Solution (signed)
  45. Underwood, Michael R. – Genrenauts: The Absconded Ambassador (signed)
  46. Collins, Brigid – The Southern Dragon (signed)
  47. Bennett, Robert Jackson – City of Blades (signed)
  48. Olson, Melissa – Boundary Crossed (signed)
  49. Toyama, Kentaro – Geek Heresy (signed)
  50. Duncan, Andy and Klages, Ellen – Wakulla Springs
  51. Wilson, Kai Ashante –The Devil in America
  52. Smale, Alan – Clash of Eagles
  53. Swanson, Jay – Into the Nanten (signed)
  54. Kloos, Marko – Terms of Enlistment (signed)
  55. Brown, Pierce – Red Rising
  56. Hurley, Kameron – Mirror Empire (signed)
  57. Hurley, Kameron – God’s War (signed)
  58. Gnarr, Jon – The Pirate (Deep Vellum Publishing)
  59. The Gateway Review Issue 2.1
  60. Eastern Iowa Review, Spring/Summer 2015
  61. Tenev, Georgi – Party Headquarters (Open Letters Books)
  62. Rajaniemi, Hannu – Collected Fiction
  63. Dickinson, Seth – The Traitor Baru Cormorant
  64. Wojtaszek, Kristina – Opal (World Weaver Press, signed)
  65. Parrish, Rhonda (ed) – Scarecrow (World Weaver Press, signed)

February (30)

  1. River Styx issue 95
  2. Granta issue 132
  3. Farooqi, Musharraf Ali – Between Clay and Dust (Restless Books)
  4. Harrison, Jim – The Ancient Minstrel (signed)
  5. How Do I Begin? A Hmong-American Literary Anthology (Heyday Books)
  6. Barr, Terry – Don’t Date Baptists: and Other Warnings from My Alabama Mother (Red Dirt Press)
  7. Sternin, Grigori and Kirillina, Jelena – Ilya Repin
  8. Rucker, Rudy and Sterling, Bruce – Transreal Cyberpunk (Transreal Books)
  9. Bell, Cristalyne (ed.) Rebel Reporting: John Ross Speaks to Independent Journalists
  10. Meruane, Lina – Seeing Red (Deep Vellum)
  11. Eco, Umberto – Six Walks in the Fictional Woods
  12. Granta issue 134
  13. Estes, Phil – High Life (Horse Less Press)
  14. Olszewska, Daniela – Answering Machine (Horse Less Press)
  15. Eco, Umberto – How to Travel with a Salmon
  16. Eco, Umberto – Travels in Hyperreality
  17. Eco, Umberto – Kant and the Platypus
  18. Eco, Umberto – Misreadings
  19. Eco, Umberto – Serendipities
  20. Eco, Umberto – The Search for the Perfect Language
  21. Leckie, Ann – Ancillary Justice
  22. Tomaszewski, Z.G. – All Things Dusk
  23. Dillard, Annie – The Annie Dillard Reader
  24. Hawthorne, Nathaniel – Short Stories
  25. Melville, Herman – Great Short Works of Herman Melville
  26. Tolstoy, Leo – The Death of Ivan Illych & Other Stories
  27. Campbell, James – The Ghost Mountain Boys
  28. Least Heat-Moon, William – PrairyErth
  29. Eco, Umberto – The Prague Cemetery
  30. Eco, Umberto – Art and Beauty in the Middle Ages

March (27)

  1. Abani, Chris – The Face: Cartography of the Void (Restless Books)
  2. Aw, Tash – The Face: Strangers on a a Pier (Restless Books)
  3. Ozeki, Ruth – The Face: A Time Code (Restless Books)
  4. Lynch, Sean – The City of Your Mind (Whirlwind Press)
  5. Whirlwind, issue 5
  6. Whirlwind, issue 6
  7. Whirlwind, issue 7
  8. Sinister, Bucky – Black Hole: A Novel (Soft Skull Press)
  9. Ali, Taha Muhammad – So What (Copper Canyon Press)
  10. Hô Xuân Huong – Spring Essence: The Poetry of Hô Xuân Huong (Copper Canyon Press)
  11. The Paris Review #216
  12. Pfeijffer, Ilja Leonard – La Superba (Deep Vellum)
  13. VanderMeer, Ann (ed.) The Bestiary (Centipede Press)
  14. Chambers, James – The Engines of Sacrifice (Dark Regions Press)
  15. Meikle, William – The Plasm (Dark Regions Press)
  16. Pugmire, W.H. & Thomas, Jeffrey – Encounters with Enoch Coffin (Dark Regions Press)
  17. Sammons, Brian M & Barrass, Glynn Owen (eds.) – World War Cthulhu (Dark Regions Press)
  18. Jamneck, Lynne (ed.) – Dreams from the Witch House (Dark Regions Press)
  19. Accola, Rosie – So That Tonight I Might See (chapbook)
  20. Lake, Brandon – Something Lacking, vol. 1 (Split Filter Press, chapbook)
  21. Brace, Kristen – The Farthest Dreaming Hill (chapbook)
  22. Austin, Melissa B. – Keys (chapbook)
  23. The Bandit Zine – Issue 3, Alt Fashion and D.I.Y.
  24. The Bandit Zine – Love + Heart Break issue
  25. de Alba, Cassanda – Habitats (Horse Less Press)
  26. Schapira, Kate – Handbook for Hands That Alter as We Hold Them Out (Horse Less Press)
  27. Porter, Bill (Red Pine) – Finding Them Gone (Copper Canyon Press)

April (36)

  1. Fanning, Robert – Sheet Music (Three Bee Press, chapbook)
  2. Fanning, Robert – American Prophet (Marick Press)
  3. Zyzzyva 32.1
  4. Volodine, Antoine – Bardo or Not Bardo (Open Letter Books)
  5. Hirsch, Edward – A Poet’s Glossary
  6. Rich, Adrienne – Later Poems
  7. Pederson, Miriam – This Brief Light (Finishing Line Press, chapbook)
  8. Ferlinghetti, Lawrence – Writing Across the Landscape
  9. Custer, Nic (La©luster) – Nothing Works, Everyone Labors
  10. Secret Bully, issue 1 (chapbook)
  11. Stairs in the Middle of the Street – Creative Youth Center of Grand Rapids
  12. Under the Sun – Creative Youth Center of Grand Rapids
  13. Green a Table, Green an Elephant – Grand Rapids Creative Youth Center
  14. Pratchett, Terry and Baxter, Stephen – The Long Utopia
  15. Bat-Ami, Miriam – Two Suns in the Sky
  16. Pushcart Prize VIII (1983-1984)
  17. Stoppard, Tom – The Invention of Love
  18. Startling Sci-Fi (New Lit Salon Press)
  19. Haight, Ian – Magnolia and Lotus (White Pine Press)
  20. Best of Vine Leaves Literary Journal 2015 (Vine Leaves Press)
  21. Topology Magazine (Spring 2016 issue)
  22. Hariharan, Githa – Almost Home (Restless Books)
  23. Tin House issue 61
  24. Rastall, Janeen, et al – Heart Radicals (ELJ Publications)
  25. Magoon, Mark – The Upper Peninsula Misses You (ELJ Publications)
  26. Hamilton, Carol – Umberto Eco Lost His Gun (Pudding House Publications)
  27. Winn, Howard – Four-Picture Sequence of Desire and Love (Front Street Publishers)
  28. Bridges: Poets of Dutchess and Ulster Counties (Springtown Press)
  29. Hamilton, Carol – Such Deaths (Purple Flag)
  30. Cope, David – Turn the Wheel (The Humana Press)
  31. Big Scream, issue 51
  32. Big Scream, issue 54
  33. Hinrichsen, Dennis – Skin Music (Southern Indiana Review Press)
  34. Rappleye, Greg – Figured Dark (University of Arkansas Press)
  35. Atkins, Priscilla – The Cafe of Our Departure (Sibling Rivalry Press)
  36. Granta issue 135

May (10)

  1. Villoro, Juan – God is Round (Restless Books)
  2. Zhadan, Serhiy – Voroshilovgrad (Deep Vellum Publishing)
  3. Audin, Michèle – One Hundred Twenty-one Days (Deep Vellum Publishing)
  4. Neruda, Pablo – Then Come Back: The Lost Neruda Poems (Copper Canyon Press)
  5. Gross, Terry – All I Did Was Ask
  6. Marquez, Gabriel Garcia – Collected Novellas
  7. Barker, Clive – The Scarlet Gospels
  8. Martin, George R.R. and Dozois, Gardner – Rogues
  9. Pratchett, Terry – Raising Steam
  10. Saer, Juan Jose – The Clouds (Open Letter Books)

June (20)

  1. Gablik, Suzi – Conversations Before the End of Time
  2. Pavlov, Konstantin – Cry of a Former Dog
  3. Burrows, E.G. – Man Fishing
  4. Kooser, Ted – Local Wonders
  5. Tvedten, Brother Benet – The View From a Monastery
  6. Duras, Marguerite – Abahn Sabana David (Open Letter Books)
  7. Beneath a Single Moon: Buddhism in Contemporary American Poetry (Shambhala Press)
  8. Conversations with Henry Miller (University Press of Mississippi)
  9. Conversations with Jorge Luis Borges (University Press of Mississippi)
  10. The Paris Review, issue 217
  11. Jodorowsky, Alejandro – Albina and the Dog-Men (Restless Books)
  12. Enjoy! (826michigan)
  13. Vigus, Rebecka – Rivers Edge (Lilac Publishing)
  14. Edwards, Zev Lawson – The New Punk
  15. Glaysher, Frederick – The Parliament of Poets (Earthrise Press)
  16. Clay, Anissa – The God Conception (Red Engine Press)
  17. Third Wednesday, Vol. IX, No. 2
  18. Reynolds, Alastair – Beyond the Aquila Rift (Subterranean Press)
  19. Moon, Jung Young – Vaseline Buddha (Deep Vellum)
  20. Laroui, Fouad – The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers (Deep Vellum)

July (12)

  1. Klougart, Josefine – One of Us Is Sleeping (Open Letter Books)
  2. Chu, Wesley – Time Siege
  3. Yoss (Gomez, Jose Miguel Sanchez) – Super Extra Grande (Restless Books)
  4. Colasacco, John – Two Teenagers (Horse Less Press)
  5. Jordan, Ahmunet Jessica – Black and Blue Prints
  6. Granta 136
  7. Boullosa, Carmen – Before (Open Letter Books)
  8. Devi, Ananda – Eve Out of Her Ruins (Deep Vellum)
  9. Lawrence, Stephon – Nervs (Horse Less Press)
  10. Miller, Frank – 300
  11. McGuane, Thomas – Gallatin Canyon
  12. Salter, James – All That Is

August (17)

  1. Saccomanno, Guillermo – Gesell Dome (Open Letter Books)
  2. Poetry (July/August 2016)
  3. Gaiman, Neil – The View From the Cheap Seats
  4. Year’s Best Science Fiction #32
  5. New American Writing #34
  6. Amezcua, Eloisa – On Not Screaming (Horse Less Press)
  7. De Rojas, Agustin – The Year 200 (Restless Books)
  8. Volksmode 2014 (Issue Press)
  9. Campbell, Anna – Ever Your Friend (Issue Press)
  10. Curry, Erin – Poems to the Sea (Issue Press)
  11. Johnson, Cathy G – Thank God, I Am In Love (Issue Press)
  12. Wietor, George – Past Lives (Issue Press)
  13. Batt, J. Daniel – Keaghan in the Tales of Dreamside (Story Jitsu)
  14. Genius Loci – Tales of the Spirit of Place (Ragnarok Publications)
  15. Eastern Iowa Review issue 2
  16. Vuong, Ocean – Night Sky with Exit Wounds (Copper Canyon Press)
  17. Zyzzyva #107

September (21)

  1. Neuman, Andres – How to Travel Without Seeing (Restless Books)
  2. Stephenson, Neal – The Diamond Age (Subterranean Press; signed – 292 of 500)
  3. Benford, Gregory – The Best of Gregory Benford (Subterranean Press)
  4. McCammon, Robert – Blue World (Subterranean Press)
  5. Chu, Wesley – The Days of Tao (Subterranean Press; signed – 321 of 1000)
  6. Kuznia, Yanni (ed.) – A Fantasy Medley II (Subterranean Press)
  7. Powers, Tim – Down and Out In Purgatory (Subterranean Press)
  8. Lansdale, Joe and Lansdale, Kasey – The Case of the Bleeding Wall (Subterranean Press; signed – 278 of 500)
  9. Armstrong, Kelley – Driven (Subterranean Press; signed – 502 of 1000)
  10. Armstrong, Kelley – Forsaken (Subterranean Press; signed – 372 of 1000)
  11. Achebe, Chinua – Things Fall Apart
  12. Levy, Ariel (ed.) – The Best American Essays 2015
  13. N+1 #26
  14. Pagano, Emmanuelle – Trysting (&  Other Stories)
  15. Raud, Rein – The Brother (Open Letter Books)
  16. The Paris Review #218
  17. Browne, Colin – I Had an Interesting French Artist to Visit Me This Summer (Figure 1 Publishing)
  18. Yahgulanaas, Michael Nicoll – Red – A Haida Manga
  19. Scott, Walter – Wendy (Koyama Press)
  20. Bell, Marc – Stroppy (Drawn & Quarterly Press)
  21. Bernard, Bruce (ed.) – Vincent by Himself

October (9)

  1. Hines, Jim – Libriomancer
  2. Allfrey, Ellah Wakatama – Africa 39: New Writing from Africa South of the Sahara
  3. Passages: Africa (PEN America)
  4. Glossolalia Issue 2 (PEN America)
  5. Suah, Bae – A Greater Music (Open Letter Books)
  6. Montes, Lara Mimosa – The Somnambulist (Horse Less Press)
  7. Powell, AJ – Grayson Rising (Caffeinated Press)
  8. Brewed Awakenings II (Caffeinated Press)
  9. Joshi, S.T. (ed) – Black Wings V (PS Publishing)

November (24)

  1. Fonseca, Carlos – Colonel Lagrimas (Restless Books)
  2. Sanchez-Andrade, Christina – The Winterlings (Restless Books)
  3. Spencer, Cynthia – Girl Tramp (Horse Less Press)
  4. Danos, Stephen – Missing Slides (Horse Less Press)
  5. Okorafor, Nnedi – The Book of Phoenix
  6. Geiger, Arno – The Old King In His Exile (& Other Stories)
  7. Loeb, Paul Rogat – The Impossible Will Take a Little While
  8. Byatt, A.S. – Babel Tower
  9. Earley, Tim – Linthead Stomp (Horse Less Press)
  10. Jimenez, Claudia Salazar – Blood of the Dawn (Deep Vellum Publishing)
  11. Jaffe, Noemi – What are the Blind Men Dreaming? (Deep Vellum Publishing)
  12. Rabasa, Eduardo – A Zero-Sum Game (Deep Vellum Publishing)
  13. Poetry magazine CCIX:2 November 2016
  14. Lehman, David (ed.) – Best American Poetry 2016
  15. Burton, Richard Francis (trans.) – Tales from the Arabian Nights
  16. Millidge, Gary Spencer – Alan Moore: Storyteller
  17. Campbell, Hayley – The Art of Neil Gaiman
  18. Zaleski, Philip and Zaleski, Carol – The Fellowship
  19. Crowley, John – The Chemical Wedding by Christian Rosencruetz (Small Beer Press)
  20. Crowley, John – Lord Byron’s Novel
  21. Mondrup, Iben – Justine (Open Letter Books)
  22. Davis, Jean – Sahmara
  23. Kaag, John – American Philosophy
  24. Pushkin, Alexander – Novels, Tales, Journeys: The Complete Prose of Alexander Pushkin

December (41)

  1. Ellis, Warren – Transmetropolitan 1: Back on the Street
  2. Ellis, Warren – Transmetropolitan 2: Lust for Life
  3. Ellis, Warren – Transmetropolitan 3: Year of the Bastard
  4. Ellis, Warren – Transmetropolitan 4: The New Scum
  5. Ellis, Warren – Transmetropolitan 5: Lonely City
  6. Ellis, Warren – Transmetropolitan 6: Gouge Away
  7. Ellis, Warren – Transmetropolitan 7: Spider’s Thrash
  8. Ellis, Warren – Transmetropolitan 8: Dirge
  9. Ellis, Warren – Transmetropolitan 9: The Cure
  10. Ellis, Warren – Transmetropolitan 10: One More Time
  11. Pratchett, Terry – Discworld Companion
  12. Zyzzyva #108
  13. Tea, Michelle – Black Wave (And Other Stories)
  14. Calvino, Italo – If On a Winter’s Night A Traveler
  15. Calvino, Italo – Invisible Cities
  16. Hines, Jim C. – Codex Born
  17. Hines, Jim C. – Unbound
  18. Borges, Jorge Luis – Selected Non-fictions
  19. Paris Review #219
  20. Eir, Oddny – Land of Love and Ruins (Restless Books)
  21. Granta #137
  22. Shah, Bullhe – Sufi Lyrics
  23. Cardoso, Lucio – Chronicle of the Murdered House (Open Letter Books)
  24. Chambers, Robert W. – The King in Yellow (Book Revivals Press)
  25. Reppion, John (ed.) – Spirits of Place (Daily Grail Publishing)
  26. Dillard, Annie – The Abundance
  27. Marshall, Tim – Prisoners of Geography
  28. Marx, Karl – Das Kapital
  29. Bakunin, Mikhail – God and the State
  30. Kropotkin, Peter – Anarchism
  31. Herman, Edward S. and Chomsky, Noam – Manufacturing Consent
  32. Hedges, Chris – Wages of Rebellion
  33. Hedges, Chris – American Fascists
  34. Hedges, Chris and Sacco, Joe – Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt
  35. Hedges, Chris – Empire of Illusion
  36. Ismailov, Hamid – The Underground (Restless Books)
  37. Goff, Nichole – Aluminum Necropolis (Horse Less Press)
  38. Gurton-Wachter, Anna – Blank Blank Blues (Horse Less Press)
  39. Snyder, Gary – The Great Clod
  40. Coates, Ta-Nehisi – Between the World and Me
  41. Diaz, Junot – The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Subscribing to Book Publishers

John Winkelman

A list of 50 book publishers who offer subscriptions to their catalogs. This list may or may not be updated regularly. I have subscriptions to Open Letter Books, Restless Books, And Other Stories, Deep Vellum and Horse Less Press, and I love every one of them!

Last Day of May, 2015

John Winkelman

Sitting in the Lyon Street Cafe with a journal book, a notebook, a Chromebook, Esperanza Street, and Rudy Rucker‘s recently released Journals 1990-2014. The work book, apparently, covers a lot of ground.

June approaches, and with it a titanic pile of work. In the day job the current project will hit the “WE HAVE ONE MONTH LEFT” milestone tomorrow. In Master Lee’s class we have one week until the Festival of the Arts performance. Rick and I are fitting in private practice sessions whenever we can, to offset the time we spend teaching in class.

But the biggest news involves Caffeinated Press, and it comes in two parts. First, today is the last day for submission to Brewed Awakenings II, the house anthology of short stories. Tomorrow we start looking at all of the submissions and figuring out which ones will make it into the anthology. I don’t know the exact submission count, but I do know it is probably closer to 100 than it is to 50.

The second is The 3288 Review. Submissions are rolling in. At the same time we are working on the website (going live very soon!) and meeting frequently to hash out the final details of design, distribution, etc.

Oh yeah: June is when we set up our new office space on Kalamazoo Ave, just south of 28th Street.

In the spare moments left after all of this, I still have a house to maintain and numerous repairs and upgrades.

And at some point I will need sleep and/or food.

Mid-March Update

John Winkelman

It’s been a rough winter for fans (and family) of genre fiction. We lost Leonard Nimoy and Terry Pratchett within fourteen days of each other. I find it entirely logical to say “bugrit”.

Tomorrow I leave for several days of corporate training in Chicago. Can’t say I’m looking forward to it, though I am feeling some cabin fever. Near as I can tell my hotel is on the river the Chicagoans dye green for St Patrick’s Day, so that should be interesting. And this happens during the first week of a new project so I will probably work some late nights after the full days of learning the grammar of the formal language that is corporate-speak.

(and at this point I lost half an hour, engrossed in the Wikipedia articles on Formal Language, Formal Semantics, and Cognitive Semantics)

Three weeks until the Caffeinated Press event at Schuler Books and Music here in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Brewed Awakenings sales are better than expected; we may even turn a profit! It was a lot of hard work getting where we are, and I suspect that the “success hangover” is surprise at how well everything went. I wouldn’t say we were over-prepared for setbacks, but there is a specific and subtle paranoia in waiting for a shoe to drop. Also, I am now officially the Chief Operations Officer of Caffeinated Press, which means I’m the one who takes the Official Notes in the meetings.

I’ve managed to set aside some time for reading for pleasure. This is not to suggest that reading query submissions isn’t pleasurable – we have a lot of words from a lot of talented people – but, well, a good book is a good book. The Hermit’s Story, by Rick Bass, for instance. I just finished the second story in the collection, “Swans”, which was masterfully told and brought tears to my eyes and placed me briefly in a conflicted state between “what the hell am I doing with my life?” and “I need to practice until I write like this!”

I never really paid much attention to Twitter until this year. Now I use it daily, both as a tool for promoting Caffeinated Press and as a way to keep up with the current states of the various facets and factions of the publishing industry. To that end, I am currently following the Twitter feeds of 92 literary magazines and journals. And every day a few more pop up in the “who to follow” box. That list will likely pass 100 by the end of the day.

So now I have started ordering individual issues from some of these journals. Only a couple a week; a good lit journal can cost as much as a good book; and indeed the dividing line between a lit mag and an anthology per se can be quite thin. Since CafPress is ramping up our own 3288 Review it is useful to see who else is out there, and how they do it. So much good writing. So little time.

Also, I just passed 100 feeds in the Journal list. Now I feel compelled to make a spreadsheet. Maybe something to work on in the hotel in Chicago next week.

 

Early-Mid March Update 2015

John Winkelman

The first taste of Spring is in the air. The thermometer on my car read “42” briefly yesterday afternoon in the parking lot outside of Pho Soc Trang. Of course the huge bowl of pho contained within my corporeal self could have been throwing off the reading.

Caffeinated Press has hit the ground running! Our first event at the UICA attracted at least 30 people to listen to authors read excerpts and publishers discuss their craft. Our pool of editorial talent continues to grow, and the spring melt is causing our trickle of submissions to grow to a small stream. In addition to book-length manuscripts we are accepting short form submissions for both the Autumn 2015 edition of Brewed Awakenings and the inaugural edition of the 3288 Review literary journal.

Master Lee’s school is still going strong. We just elevated one of our senior students to instructor status. It was well deserved. Congratulations, Tracy! Now the real work begins.

One of our students from Back In The Day, Han Lin, is in town this weekend. His contribution to the class, both as a martial artist and as a translator for some of the finer points of Master Lee’s instructions, cannot be overstated.

Over the past year we have had a few students return to class after long absences. Hearing them talk about how the class has changed, and how it has stayed the same, reinforces just how long I have been a student. Hearing them ask about other people who have themselves been absent for long periods of time. Seeing how much they remember of old, old lessons. Realizing how much the style has evolved under Master Lee. Being immersed in the system, it is sometimes difficult to get a sense for how influential it is on our lives, and hearing it from people who have left and returned is a valuable lesson.

As for reading, most of mine has been short stories by members of the local writing group. I have managed to get about 75% of the way through The Three Body Problem, by Liu Cixin. I really like it so far! Engaging, interesting, complex story; and the translation by Ken Liu displays a masterful level of precision – as should be expected from a writer like Liu.

As for my own writing, it has slowed considerably as I devote more time to Caffeinated Press. I am concentrating more on revising than writing. Two of my short stories have been through first reads, and two more are still out in the wild. The reader notes have been both encouraging and eye-opening. This is the first time, I think, that more than one or two people have read anything I have written which I intend to publish. The work never ends, but every step is rewarding.

That’s it for the moment. Work will send me to Chicago during the week of St. Patrick’s Day. Maybe I’ll get to see the river dyed green.

Playing With(in) the Rules

John Winkelman

In Twisty Little Passages, Montfort distinguishes between three types of story or narrative: Diegetic, Hypodiegetic, and Extradiegetic (from diegesis). The 1001 Arabian Nights is useful for describing the differences: The framework story is diegetic, each of the individual stories is hypodiegetic, and the physical book itself, the paper and ink, is extradiegetic.

In the world of Interactive Fiction, Diegetic commands are those which control the “player character”. Extradiegetic (e.g. meta-) commands are those which control the game itself. Hypodiegetic commands are those which are made through the player character, and which influence other characters in the game.

Moving from Interactive Fiction out to User Interaction, we find some parallels. Using the navigation links in a website is diegetic. Using the web browser controls is extradiegetic. Perhaps using in-system tools (e.g. a price calculator or a store locator) could be considered hypodiegetic.

Someone pointed out a few years ago that web developers and usability experts, nominally working in a “new” field, could take many lessons from the video game industry, which has been working on many of these same problems for more than 30 years.