January 2023

I never really intended to blog, but I think you can get to know people through the things they enjoy and I thought it would be cool to highlight some of the things I’ve been digging the past few weeks.

I know it may be blasphemy, given that I’m a writer, but I think if it came down to it and I had to choose between music and books…I’d probably choose music. Most days, anyway. I consider myself a pretty broad listener, but my go-to genres dance around progressive rock/metal and their various sub-genres. This time of year when it’s cold and bleak and dreary, I tend to overload on black metal. I was blown away by Blackbraid’s “I” (2022) and have been listening to it frequently. Agalloch is an all-around favorite and this time of year, I find myself listening to “Marrow of the Spirit” and “The Mantle” often. It’s my annual tradition to go on a walk during the first snowfall while listening to “The Mantle” and I’m a bit bummed that we haven’t had a snowy year so far. Some honorable mentions: Kayo Dot’s “Plastic House on Base of Sky” and Ulver’s “Hexahedron”. You’ll almost always find me listening to Between the Buried and Me or Devin Townsend as well.

Books. Who doesn’t love books? I’ve been slowly getting through my TBR pile, which I think may have become sentient and self-replicating over the holidays…The past couple of books I’ve read were, “The Lady of the Lake” by Andrzej Sapakowski, “Spore” by Stuart Buck, “Embassytown” by China Mieville…and some others in there. Sapakowski…what can I say? I love the Witcher series. Witcher 3 is easily a favorite video game of all time and his novels are so fucking good too. I’m bummed to be all but finished with that world…and technically am as far as the main series goes. Left me feeling like I left friends behind, a feeling I haven’t experienced after finishing a novel in a while. “Spore” - well holy moly, what a weird book. If you don’t know Stuart Buck, you should. He’s a lovely weirdo and the owner of The Bear Creek Gazette. His stories have incredible heart, bonkers concepts, and he does the kind of stuff many people can only get away with in indie-fiction. “Embassytown” was batshit. That’s all I can say. If you’re unfamiliar with Mieville’s work, I wouldn’t start here, but definitely get around to it. It’s a concept I’ll be thinking about for a long time to come. Up next: “Mirrorshades: Cyberpunk Anthology” edited by Bruce Sterling, and then probably both of Cormac McCarthy’s new ones…and then we’ll see. So much out there. Probably some more VanderMeer.

I’ve been a huge fan of video games my whole life. One of my earliest memories is playing NES in the basement of my childhood home, circa four years old. I started Red Dead Redemption 2 over the holidays (Yeah, yeah…I’m slow to get to things) and am loving it. The exploration is incredible. The writing is tight and well done. I can’t stop petting my dog and saying, “Yeah, that’s a good gurrrrrl. Yeah, that’s my gurrrrl,” so, thanks, Rockstar Games.

I tend to do comics-benders. I read the first seven volumes of Zdarsky and Chechetto’s Daredevil (lots of other excellent artists hopped in and out throughout) recently. I’m reading Moon Knight and Thor as monthly/floppies. This and that. Barbaric, by Moreci, Gooden, Duke, and Campbell as well. Holy shit, this comic is wild. I’m also a sucker for anything that Ed Brubaker and Sean Philiips team up on, which has been all of their Reckless books lately.

TV and movies…I’m so slow to get to TV and movies, but the last movie I caught in theaters was Violent Night and I loved it. I watched Wednesday over the holidays and this weird little series from Oats Studios…just fucked up vignettes of horror/dark future type of stuff. Really dug that too.

Anywho, that’s what I’ve been enjoying lately. ‘Spose I better get back to writing. Catch you soon.