Tag: ZIg Zag Claybourne

August 2025 Books and Reading Notes
August was an insanely busy month for me, but did offer up occasional reading time, mostly in airplanes, and at airports, and sitting in the public areas of convention centers before anybody else was awake.

Acquisitions
1. Kaja and Phil Foglio, An Entertainment in Londinium (Airship Entertainment) [2025.08.05] – Kickstarter reward
2. Eugene Vodolazkin, The History of the Island (Plough Publishing) [2025.08.14] – Purchased at Snowbound Books in Marquette, Michigan
3. Juan Felipe Herrera, Notes on the Assemblage (City Lights Books) [2025.08.14] – Purchased at Snowbound Books in Marquette, MI
4. Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Colleen Doran (artist), Good Omens: The Official (and Ineffable) Graphic Novel (Dunmanifestin, Ltd.) [2025.08.25] – Reward for a Kickstarter which persevered through multiple rounds of slings and arrows over the past couple of years.
5. Zig Zag Claybourne, Amnandi Sails (Obsidian Sky Books) [2025.08.29]
Reading

Books
1. Dan Davies, The Unaccountability Machine [2025.08.17]
2. Dennis E. Taylor, We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (re-read) [2025.08.24]
3. Dennis E. Taylor, For We Are Many (re-read) [2025.08.25]
4. Dennis E. Taylor, All These Worlds (re-read) [2025.08.26]
Short Prose
1. Kameron Hurley, “The Wonder” [2025.08.28]
2025-09-01
June 2025 Books and Reading Notes
June was a pretty good month for reading, considering the almost complete lack of free time, thanks to an intense work project and the arrival of summer with all of its related activities. I think the standout was Zig Zag Claybourne’s Breath, Warmth, and Dream, which was absolutely beautiful. I backed the Kickstarter campaign for book two of the trilogy, and am eagerly awaiting its arrival.

It was interesting to dive into Heavy Metal, which I first read in the early eighties, I think, when I was probably a little too young to be reading things which were DEFINITELY aimed at an older audience. The writing and artwork for this new generation of Heavy Metal compares quite favorably to the original run from more than forty years ago.

Acquisitions
1. Voices 2025 [2025.06.07] – Picked up at the Dyer-Ives Poetry Competition winner’s celebration.
2. Inque Magazine #3 [2025.06.24]
Reading List

Books
1. Heavy Metal #001 [2025.06.01]
2. Metal Hurlant #1 [2025.06.02]
3. Voices 2025 [2025.06.07]
4. Zig Zag Claybourne, Breath, Warmth, and Dream [2025.06.18]
5. Wolfgang Hilbig (Isabel Fargo Cole, translator) , Old Rendering Plant [2025.06.25]
Short Prose
1. Kameron Hurley, “Not My City” (Patreon post)
2025-07-01
Weekly Round-up, June 21, 2025

[Milkweed blossom, smelling like heaven.]

A super-short post this week, on account of I am insanely busy.

Reading

Late Thursday evening I finished Zig Zag Claybourne‘s excellent Breath, Warmth, and Dream. The story is engaging, the writing poetic, and the reading experience was a delight.

Writing

Nothing. Too busy.

Weekly Writing Prompt

Subject: Aliens, Super Powers
Setting: Ruins
Genre: Utopian

2025-06-21
May 2024 Books and Reading Notes
May was a pretty good month for reading. I had some down time and managed to fill it with books, like I did regularly when I was much younger.

Acquisitions
1. Eva Baltasar (Julia Sanches, translator), Mammoth (And Other Stories) [2024.05.07] – This is the most recent addition to my collection from my subscription to And Other Stories.
2. Vanessa Angélica Villareal, Magical Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders [2024.05.18] – This was an impulse buy I made after seeing the title mentioned favorably by Jeff VanderMeer on one social media account or another.
3. Zig Zag Claybourne, Breath, Warmth, & Dream (Obsidian Sky Books) [2024.05.20] – This was a Kickstarter reward from a recently-completed campaign. I met Zig Zag at ConFusion, back in, I think, 2016. He is a superb writer and overall a most excellent human being.
4. Dinara Mirtalipova, Russian Tales: Traditional Stories of Quests and Enchantments [2024.05.28] – This was a birthday gift from my partner. It is gorgeous!
Reading List

Books
1. Ian Monk and Daniel Levin Becker (editors), All that is Evident is Suspect: Readings from the Oulipo 1963 – 2018 [2024.05.08]
2. Daniel Suarez, Kill Decision (e-book, re-read) [2024.05.10]
3. Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Mexican Gothic [2024.05.13]
4. João Gilberto Noll (Adam Morris, translator), Atlantic Hotel [2024.05.16]
5. Sarah Hans, An Ideal Vessel [2024.05.18]
6. César Aira, The Proof [2024.05.20]
7. Corey Robin, The Reactionary Mind [2024.5.28]
8. Glen Cook, The Black Company (e-book, re-read) [2024.05.31]
Short Prose
1. Oskar Pastior, “Rules of the Game”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.01]
2. Hervé Le Tellier, “A Few Musketeers”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.02]
3. Pierre Rosenstiehl, “Frieze of the Paris Métro”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.02]
4. Jacques Jouet, “Poem of the Paris Métro”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.02]
5. Harry Mathews, “Sainte Catherina”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.02]
6. Jacques Jouet, “The Republic of Beau-Locks”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.03]
7. Ian Monk, “We Did Everything”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.03]
8. François Caradec, “On the End of Time”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.03]
9. Paul Fournel, “Novels”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.03]
10. Anne F. Garréta, “N-evol”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.04]
11. Olivier Salon, “Invisible Cities: Lille”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.04]
12. Jacques Roubaud, “Arrangements”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.04]
13. Frédéric Forte, “99 Preparatory Notes to 99 Preparatory Notes”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.04]
14. Pablo Martín Sánchez, “Metric Poetry”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.05]
15. Étienne Lécroart, “Eodermdromes”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.05]
16. Harry Mathews, “Narrative Sestinas”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.05]
17. Étienne Lécroart, “Counting On You”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.05]
18. Hervé Le Tellier, “Liquid Tales”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.05]
19. Bernard Cerquiglini, “A Very Busy Year”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.05]
20. Olivier Salon, “Shark Poem”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.06]
21. Ross Chambers, “Brief Encounter”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.06]
22. Daniel Levin Becker, “Writer’s Block”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.06]
23. Jacques Roubaud, “⊂”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.06]
24. Marcel Bénabou, “Our Beautiful Zeroine”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.06]
25. Paul Fournel, “The Beautiful Appetite”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.06]
26. Valérie Beaudouin, “Northern Line”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.07]
27. Michèle Audin, “Caroline, October 21, 1935”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.07]
28. E. Berti & P. Martin Sánchez, “Microfictions”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.07]
29. Daniel Levin Becker, “Epithalamia”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.07]
30. Frédéric Forte, “The Pitch-Drop Experiment”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.07]
31. Clémentine Mélois, “Louise”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.07]
32. Michèle Audin, “No One Remembers”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.08]
33. Ian Monk, “Return(s)”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.08]
34. Eduardo Berti, “An Ideal Presence”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.08]
35. Jim C. Hines, “Daddy’s Little Girl”, Patreon [2024.05.29]
36. Jim C. Hines, “Gift of the Kites”, Patreon [2024.05.29]
2024-06-01