November Reads

Christmas carols are floating down the stairs to where I sit in our little living room. Across from me, our Christmas tree is lit, glowing its halogen reminder of what time of year it is. The dogs are dozing peacefully (for now), and the boys are having a bit of quiet time. It’s a quintessential Christmas-season afternoon. The outdoors are a little less on-theme; it’s unseasonably mild and raining steadily.

It’s good weather, in other words, to snuggle up with a book. Or to talk about books!

Last month I only got through about four books, mostly because I’ve been busy writing. I decided to start a new project for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which meant I was effectively juggling four projects (two novels in their rewrite / revision stage, one being prepped for audiobook release, and the new one for ‘Wrimo). This left little time for reading. Still, two of the books I read were incredible. Can’t wait to talk about them. But first…

Welcome to Nightvale by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor

Welcome to Nightvale is the novel based on the podcast of the same name. I’ve never listened to the podcast, which may have impacted my enjoyment of this novel. But I don’t think so.

Nightvale, the titular town, is a bizarre and isolated community in the middle of the desert. The town is populated with strange people, and strange things happen as a matter of routine. The story is ostensibly about several residents of the town and a strange man who shows up and starts handing out mysterious notes.

At first the strangeness of the town is entertaining and speaks to some great mystery lurking underneath it. Then it becomes clear that the strangeness is largely a coat of paint overtop of an underwhelming story that might have to do with accepting responsibility and something about family. The absurd idiosyncrasies that are at first amusing, quickly become predictable beats smothering an otherwise barely coherent narrative. Anytime something remotely noteworthy is mentioned, it will be surrounded by inane absurdities.

I love bizarre stories and I’m rarely bothered by things being weird for the sake of being weird, but this one rubbed me in many of the wrong ways. Don’t take my word for gospel, though. This book is pretty darn popular and has a solid following.

Blood Rites (The Dresden Files #6) by Jim Butcher

If you’ve been following this blog for some time, you might smirk to yourself or shake your head when you read that title. The Dresden Files is sort of a guilty pleasure for me, one that I have a love/hate relationship with.

The books are far from highbrow literature, which is nothing to complain about. They follow Harry Dresden, a wizard-for-hire who operates as sort of a spell-wielding gumshoe detective. The stories are entertaining adventures filled with all manner of monsters and magic. They also contain their fair share of inconsistencies and downright cringeworthy moments.

Blood Rites follows Dresden as he attempts to stop the actresses and female production crew of a pornographic film from being murdered. Monsters, demons, vampires, and fairies all play a role in this latest adventure. Also a puppy.

I can’t bash these books because I keep going back and reading them. So I guess that speaks to their appeal. If you want to give Butcher’s Dresden Files a go, I strongly recommend starting with the first in the series.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

This year has been a great one for books, in large part because I’ve finally read some classics that have long been on my list. Early this year I read both The Hobbit and Fellowship of the Ring (planning on making Two Towers the first book I start in 2024) and I remember feeling glad I got to read them for the first time so late in life, but also a little salty with myself for sleeping on them. I feel the same way about Dracula, probably more given my love of horror.

Stoker’s classic vampire tale is ridiculously good. It’s packed with atmosphere, creepy settings, and truly gothic horror. Of course I already knew it inspired much of what horror is these days, but I had no idea how much. Bram Stoker really was a literary genius, at least as far as this book is concerned.

Right off the hop, we’re thrown into Dracula’s castle, following poor Jonathan Harker into his nightmare. Reading the descriptions of the castle, after being immersed in the horror genre for so long, is like stepping into the halls of a museum.

Dracula’s coming to England is truly epic. I can see now why an entire movie (The Last Voyage of the Demeter 2023) was made based on his voyage at sea. The storm described in the book is terrific.

The whole investigation of Dracula’s reign of terror is engaging and familiar. It’s become the formula for monster hunts across the horror genre.

I could rant for pages and pages about this book. It’s absolutely earned a spot in my very fluid top five books of all time, a list that will likely forever remain locked in my mind, changing to suit my mood from moment-to-moment. The challenge will be resisting reading it again in the next year.

The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

Christopher Buehlman has been a favourite horror author of mine for the past couple of years, ever since I read his werewolf novel Those Across the River. And while I love his horror novels, this journey into fantasy is my favourite yet.

The Blacktongue Thief follows a—you guessed it—black-tongued thief named Kinch, an indebted member of the Taker’s Guild. Owing the guild money, he embarks on a quest along with a knight named Galva. But while Kinch’s journey is to serve the Taker’s Guild, Galva’s is much more noble.

Coming across all manner of monsters, fighting their way through cities, sewers, and mountains, and meeting tons of interesting folk along the way, Kinch and Galva’s adventure is truly epic.

Buehlman’s imagination is one of the finest out there as far as I’m concerned. From the creatures he comes up with to the characters he breathes life into, his worlds are overflowing with life and magic. The dialogue and first-person narration are snappy and often hilarious.

I’m very excited for the follow up to this one, which I believe is expected next year.

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So that’s it, like I said, just the four. Have you read any of these? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments, on Instagram or Facebook @authorchristophersweet, or by shooting me a message using the contact page.

Thanks very much for reading!

Oh, and if you’d like to receive news about my upcoming novel The Orchid Room, head to the homepage and sign up for my monthly newsletter.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

-Chris

June Reads

It’s still easy to forget how busy summers can get around here. Our campground opened for the season on May 15 and things get busier every week. My days are largely filled with mowing dozens of acres of grass; chopping, storing, and delivering firewood; collecting garbage; slinging beers (bar on-site); and occasionally disposing of the remains of recently-deceased rodents, birds, and small mammals. Oh, and I write when I can find / make the time.

This leaves very little time for reading. Fortunately for me, audiobooks are a thing so I’m able to supplement my eyeball reading with some earhole reading.

I read some pretty good ones this past month, including an anthology, a sci-fi classic, and a newer sci-fi. I want to remind you that my comments on each are not a review! These are just some thoughts I have on each.

K, here we go:

Illusions of Isolation by Brennan LaFaro

This is the book I’ve been looking forward to writing about the most. Brennan reached out for some readers to review his recent collection of short horror stories and was good enough to do a book swap with me. With indie authors (like myself), you never really know what you’re going to get. Fortunately this book was worth the read. I was unfamiliar with Brennan’s work when I reached out to him, but have since added the first book in his Slattery Falls series to my library.

Illusions of Isolation has something for everybody. Seriously. Brennan LaFaro has a real talent for crafting horror using a variety of devices and genres. From hauntings to demonic CEOs to post-apocalyptic wasteland warriors, he’s got you covered.

It’s hard for me to pick a favourite in this collection since each of the stories grabbed me in their own way. Gun to my head, though, I’d have to say The Last Little Piece of Civilization stands out among the rest. It’s a sci-fi / eco-horror that will long live in my memory.

Along with weaving a baker’s dozen of excellent stories, LaFaro does the reader the further consideration of including a brief note on each story on the page immediately following. I love this and plan on usurping the technique for my own anthology (which I hope to officially announce in the next year, but please be patient).

Awesome work, Brennan. Looking forward to Slattery Falls!

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (The Carls #1) by Hank Green

I discovered this gem of a modern sci-fi entirely by chance, as many great books are discovered. I was looking for an audiobook to listen to while stocking our woodshed with the first of this year’s supply of firewood, and did something in my Libby app that I’d never done before: I sorted by most popular. I was looking for a good sci-fi and a lot of the choices that came up under my preferences were the same books that are always recommended, many of which I’ve read already. I can’t even remember reading the blurb for this one, so I must have downloaded it based on the cover image alone—a faux pas, I know.

The book turned out to be fantastic. And they chose the perfect narrator in Kristen Sieh—something I’m finding is becoming more and more of a rarity in audiobooks.

The book follows twenty-something digital designer April May, who stumbles upon a ten-foot-tall transformer-like figure on the streets of New York. She names it Carl. After uploading a video in front of it, she wakes up to discover not only that her video has gone viral, but that there is a Carl in every major city in the world. And not everyone is happy to see them…

Hank Green launches straight into the action in this book and doesn’t let up. I found myself dying to know what happens next, what such-and-such could possibly mean, and who or what “the Carls” are.

This book is smart, zany, and witty. The protagonist, April May, is immediately likeable and relatable. Her poor friends provide a solid foundation of personality for her to stumble upon time and time again. I’m looking forward to the sequel!

The Donut Legion by Joe R. Lansdale

I’m a big fan of Joe Lansdale’s work. He’s written some of my favourite episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, wrote the novel that inspired the Bruce Campbell film Bubba Ho-Tep, and his novel The Thicket (which I hear is being adapted into a movie starring Peter Dinklage) is a solid western.

I went into The Donut Legion kind of blind, drawn to the UFO on the cover and the seemingly aloof title. It was getting some good buzz so I decided to make it the second audiobook I listened to last month.

The novel is a wacky romp into the world of missing persons and larger-than-life cults. It features an eclectic ensemble of characters as they search for protagonist Charlie Garner’s missing ex-wife, who appears to him in a sort of vision in the early pages. What follows is an insane game of cat-and-mouse between Charlie and his friends, and the sadistic members of the titular cult.

This was a fun, never-too-serious noir / thriller / mystery from the master of many genres. Gotta say, though, the audiobook has quite a bit to be desired, in my humble opinion. I’d recommend the physical book if you have the option.

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

I’ve been yearning to read something by Asimov for a long time now. Why I haven’t sooner is the same reason I haven’t yet read any of the other hundreds of books in my to-be-read pile: because the stack keeps growing, titles sliding up and down in priority on an almost daily basis. I’m also making a habit of reading more books by indie authors, to support the community I became a tiny part of a couple of years ago. But I digress.

I, Robot is a fascinating conglomeration of anecdotal stories regarding the history of robots as they exist in Asimov’s Robot universe. Throughout the book, Asimov presents his characters with unique problems posed by the robots being used by everyday citizens as well as deep-space explorers. In general, the problems are heavily caused by and solved through Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

The laws are hierarchal, in that the First Law supersedes the second, and that both of those are held above the third.

This book could be viewed as a philosophical thought experiment. As each situation is presented, it felt—to me—as if Asimov poked holes in his own laws, or created circumstances to do the same, and then set about solving the situation through sheer logic.

What moved me throughout the book is how often it is discovered that, within an apparently dire situation, the robots are not at fault. Humanity, it would seem, does not deserve robots, at least not those that operate as effectively as Asimov’s. It’s hard to argue this point without spoiling much of the book.

All in all, I loved this book and can’t wait to dive further into Asimov’s work.

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And that’s it for June's reads.

Have you read any of these? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments, on social media, or through my contact page.

“If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.”
-Isaac Asimov

April Reads

For the last few months or so, I’ve been trying to stay diligent posting about the books I’ve read in the month previous. It’s not to act as a book reviewer, which I state here that I am absolutely not, but more to inspire and incite discussion.

These posts are necessarily brief. Since I am not posting with the intent to rate any of them, I only provide a very brief, one or two sentence long synopsis, if it can even be called that. But I like talking about books way too much to just leave it at that.

I’ll keep posting those monthly snapshots but I’d also like to go a bit more in depth, which I will do here. Again, I want to be clear, these are not reviews. These are simply my opinions of the books I’ve been reading.

Opening statements over. Commence book discussion.

Big Magic - Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

This was an inspiring and uplifting read by the author of Eat Pray Love. My sister-in-law recommended I read this one, knowing how important “creative living” is to me. I’m glad she did, as this is not a book I would have picked up on my own. Big Magic is full of encouraging wisdom from the author, complimented by interesting, often charming anecdotes. I wouldn’t say I learned anything new reading this book, but it did affirm much of what I live by and value. It’s the kind of book that I’ll highlight several passages in and will return to frequently, if only to re-read a quote or anecdote.

Sleeping in the Fire - A Collection of 9 Horrifying Tales by John Durgin

The title says it all. Most of these stories are pretty entertaining, if a little campy. There are some great concepts within, from a Flatliners-esque drug, to a carnivorous parasite from outer space, to a Gremlins-esque monster. All but a few of the stories kept me glued to the page. Durgin bravely includes one of his earliest short stories as the last entry in the book, which he states in the introduction is far from his best work. All told, solid anthology and I’m looking forward to reading more by this author!

Upgrade by Blake Crouch

Blake Crouch is one of my favourite cross-genre writers. Author of the Wayward Pines trilogy, Crouch is comfortable blending science fiction with horror, often leaning more into the former. The last book I read by him, Dark Matter, was fantastic. Upgrade had a great, if not entirely original, concept that didn’t really catch fire for me the way the story in Dark Matter did. In a nutshell, the son of a once-renowned and now-disgraced geneticist has his body genetically enhanced, turning him into a sort of superhuman. The near-future America that Crouch paints is disturbingly believable. For me, it was also the most interesting part of the novel. Most of the story was predictable, especially based off of similar entries in the genre. Having read several of Crouch’s other books, it was plain to see what would befall the protagonist, how he would deal with it, what the consequences would be, and what the eventual resolution would be. Don’t get me wrong, this was still a very entertaining, fast-paced sci-fi novel. It just wasn’t my favourite from this particular author.

The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien

It’s going to be hard for me not to rant here. We all know what this book is about, that it is one of the most acclaimed pieces of literature in history, that it inspired millions of people like me to run through the woods with a stick, pretending to slay orcs and fend off balrogs.

I’d never read any of Tolkien’s work before this year. Of course I’ve seen the Lord of the Rings movies a dozen times each and The Hobbit films once (which is enough), so I knew roughly what to expect from the books. I decided that this year I would at least start the Lord of the Rings literary journey. I promised myself I’d take it slow and not force my way through the books. I made that commitment to myself because I’ve been warned for much of my reading life about how “dry” and “boring” and “rambling” the books can be. How The Hobbit is a silly kids book and how the subsequent books are 90% self-indulgent historical blathering. It seems like the popular thing to do these days is to hate on Tolkien’s written work. I can count on half of one hand how many people have actually recommended I read the LotR books. I’ll forever be grateful to those two.

In January I read The Hobbit and loved it. I had to temper my enthusiasm for Fellowship after that.

“Sure The Hobbit is okay,” people would say. “But you won’t make it halfway through Fellowship before you get bored. Too many songs. Too much history. Too many…words.”

Am I ever glad I didn’t listen. Of course there’s very good reason why these books are so highly acclaimed. Fellowship of the Ring was fantastic! I’m sort of glad I saw the movies first—the books are like an expansion on a world I already know and love. If I’d read the books earlier in life, I’m sure I would have been miffed at all that had to be cut out and changed to make them into movies (changes that I know were necessary to make these screen-worthy).

To me, the songs and the history were never too much—they added flavour to the magical world Tolkien created. As a lover of poetry, I found the songs to be nice interludes in the prose. And they’re not even that long!

If you’re on the fence about Lord of the Rings in any way, I say take the chance. Embrace them. Try to enjoy them. I think that, too often, we try to find the fault in things, try to look for the cracks. It might be more fun to find beauty in the cracks, take pleasure in the journey, hear the magic in the songs. I dunno. Maybe I’m just a nerd.

Gwendy’s Magic Feather by Richard Chizmar

This is a sequel to the novella co-written by Chizmar and Stephen King, Gwendy’s Button Box. While I loved the initial entry in this trilogy, this book was a little tougher to enjoy. The story is a slow burn, which I normally enjoy. However, it sort of fizzles out instead of ending, especially when compared to Button Box. Whereas the first book was all magic blended with horror, this was a lot of following a congresswoman around in her day-to-day life with a teardrop of that old magic just to make it a tie-in. Very little would have to be lifted from this story to make it an underwhelming mystery. Here’s hoping the final entry, Gwendy’s Final Task, is a little more exciting.

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

Stephen Graham Jones is one of my favourite authors these days. The guy wields prose like a bullwhip. His writing is at times manic, and always keenly observant and razor sharp. My Heart is a Chainsaw is his homage to slashers and is delivered with the self-awareness of Scream without being derivative about it. I won’t say anything more about the story to avoid spoiling anything. Suffice it to say this was definitely the best horror I read all month. Apparently it’s the first book of a blossoming trilogy—I’m looking forward to the follow ups!

That’s it for my April reads. My May reading is already off to a fun start and I’m looking forward to discussing it with you.

Have you read any of the books I listed here? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments or shoot me a message through the contact page. Or hit me up on social media. I always love talking books!

Til next time.