It’s New Year’s Eve. Once again I will have the same New Year’s Resolution: to not wear purple polyester pants in public. I’ve had this same resolution for decades. The thought process is this: come the end of the year I may have done a lot of stupid shit. I may sit there feeling like I didn’t accomplish anything. No matter what, I will still be able to say that I kept my resolution.

Well, I thought I was done leaving the house for the year after Monday, but I just got home from 4 hours of running around. My apologies for getting the last post of the year out a little late.

As you may recall, I found out that our portable generator had a fuel leak when I went to test it. After some back and forth with the warranty folk, I dropped it off at a place in Burton, about 45 minutes away. Due to the number of things in for repair, it would take about a week for them to look at it. Sure, no problem.

And then the bomb cyclone hit.

What does that mean? Hell if I know. Something about a huge drop in atmospheric pressure leading to high winds gusting up to 65 mph, reporters using the word “squall” every ten minutes, frigid conditions, ice buildup…you know, the perfect weather for power to go out.

Well thank Cthulhu we managed to maintain power throughout the crapshow. I’m pleased to say that the gennie is back on the deck where it belongs and I’m ready for the next batch of crazy weather.

Everyone here survived the holidays. We got to see all of the families, which was actually fun. The VA contingent was in for a few days after the holiday so we had some nice dinners as well.

On a personal note, I have mostly gotten used to the new glasses. It took me a little while build up the courage to drive with them on, but it really is nice to be able to see traffic and then glance down and not have the instrument panel look like a blur. If only I could stop taking off my glasses when getting up from the computer.

Listening To: I burned through Richard Kadrey’s The Flesh King which I enjoyed but not as much as, The Pale House Devil, the first in the series. I also listened to How Horror Works in Books and Film which, once I review it, will put me at 100 books read in 2025.

Currently Reading: I spent quite a bit of time on the road, so there was a lot more audiobook reading than physical book reading. I hope to finish up King Sorrow in the next couple of days.

Current Obsession: Closing the books on 2025.

We started the process of figuring out the final payments for 2025. As soon as this gets posted, we will actually process those payments and then 2025 will be all finished. We published five new books in 2025! We had a great year meeting all of our readers in person, spreading the gospel of great horror fiction all over. We look forward to continuing this process in the future.

We can finally announce that we will be partnering with David Hayes and the Historic Howell Theater to bring you The Midnight Creature Feature Show — a series of the best B movies throughout the year. First up will be Deadly Weapons (1974) on 10 January at 9pm.

I also received our schedule for this year’s ConFusion and it’s a busy one! I’ll be on ten panels over the weekend.

Friday 30 January

12pm Wrote-Sold-Published

3pm   From The Ground Up (Info for beginning writers)

6pm   Pop Culture Cookbook Phenomena

7pm   Don’t Call it a Comeback (vampires)

Saturday 31 January

11am  Fannish Hobbies

1pm   Autograph Session #1

3pm   Indie Publishing—What I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know

4pm   Crowdfunding Your First Self-Pub

6pm   On Sinners

Sunday 1 February

1pm  Building Community in the Writing World

Whew! I’m tired just looking at that list!

I know that I had mentioned discussing some more of the creepy stuff associated with the end of the year holidays, but I’m going to put that off for a little bit to bring you the best of what I read this year. Sorry, I’m just super excited about hitting the 100 books in a year mark.

I gave 25 of the 100 books I read 5 star reviews on Goodreads. If you would like to see all of the reviews, you can check my Goodreads page here. Rather than recount all of them, I’m just going to note a couple of them.

The Murderbot Diaries Martha Wells

I enjoyed every single one of these books and I highly recommend them for all sci-fi fans (I know, it might seem weird that I’m starting the list with something that’s not horror). Martha Wells does an amazing job of telling these stories from the viewpoint of an artificial person. I don’t usually burn through an entire series without pausing to read something in between, but I could not not do that this with these books. Also recommended—the Bobiverse books which I also started this year.

I Was A Teenage Slasher, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, The Killer on the Road Stephen Graham Jones

Stephen Graham Jones is an amazing author whose horror novels are populated by real people in extraordinary situations. He has earned his place on the list of people I whose books I will read just because his name is on the cover.

How to Sell A Haunted House Grady Hendrix

Another author whose books never fail. Hendrix has a unique ability to take a genre mainstay and provide a new take on it. If you ever have a chance to attend one of his autographings, go. For this title, he has a presentation which is like attending a real estate conference explaining how most haunted houses fail to sell because of how they are marketed. Hilarious.

Someone You Can Build A Nest In John Wiswell

An amazing love story between a woman and a creature who is able to shape-shift by incorporating pieces of the environment—from metal chains to the flesh of her victims. It’s one of those ideas I wish I had come up with.

My Ex, the Antichrist Craig DiLouie

I’m a sucker for a well written epistolary novel and this one rocks. Told through a series of interviews of the band-mates of someone who just might have been put on Earth to end it.

That’s a brief look at some of my favorites. Wishing you all a safe and happy New Year’s Eve. Remember, like St. Patrick’s Day, this one is for the amateur alcoholics so be careful tonight.

See you all in the new year.

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