A Year In Reading 2017

Like many, I enjoy reflecting on the many titles I've read over the past year. Thank goodness for Goodreads.com where I can actively track the books I've read over time. As has become tradition, I'd like to present to you my notable reads for the year 2017. Sure, everyone is doing it but here's my hook: These are the books I've read and enjoyed in 2017 but were not necessarily published this year.
The fact of the matter is, I probably read more books not published in each given year than those that are published in the current year. I'm always impressed with those who focus on reading mostly new books. Of course, this is coming from a chronically slow reader. There are just so many great books out there and even if I were a fast reader, there are just too many great books to get to that you couldn't possibly get to in any given year. 

So, let's get on with my list of notable books I've read in 2017! These are listed chronologically in order read from January through December.

• THE HOTTEST GAY MAN EVER KILLED IN A SHARK ATTACK by Douglas Hackle (2016) Douglas Hackle: I started the year off reading  Douglas Hackle's first long form story because I'd seen so many other fans of Bizarro say this was a strong contender for top Bizarro book of the year. Ya know what, they were right! This is a jolly good story about a sentient sled, the detached arm of a famous rock star, a polar bear-headed keytar player and a not-so-hot gay guy who take off on a road trip of epic proportions. It is as awesome as it sounds!

• TANUKI TANGO OVERDRIVE by Arthur Graham (2016) Arthur Graham:  Arthur Graham is an author and editor that's been in the bizarro game for quite sometime. Since stepping away from Rooster Republic Press he's gone on to edit the Horror Sleeze Trash Zine as well as focus more on his own writing. Tanuki Tango Overdrive was a fun romp that took me by surprise. It's a funny, over-the-top action adventure similar to A. Lee Martinez. Check out this hidden gem for a good laugh. Oh yeah and Tanukis are real and they have giant balls. Really!

• THE NIGHTLY DISEASE by Max Booth III (2016) Perpetual Motion Machine:  Originally published by the now defunct DarkFuse and since reissued by Perpetual Motion Machine, THE NIGHTLY DISEASE was another book I made a point of reading due to all the hype I'd seen the previous year on this darkly funny tale of life as a hotel night auditor. This is the type of book that takes you behind the scenes of a job you never knew could be so interesting. Okay, so, maybe author Max Booth III punches up the action from the true, ordinary and mundane night to night life on the job. But, if you've read Confession of a Hotel Night Auditor blog then maybe you realize there is an uncomfortable amount of truth to this dark, bizarre thriller.

• THE FIRST CUT by Chuck Buda (2016) La Cigolli Publishing:  Every year there seems to be at least one book I read that I enjoy even thought it has a lot of technical flaws. This year, Chuck Buda's The First Cut is that book. I loved the story and the characters in The First Cut. This is a very graphic, sexually perverse and violent story. It also represents a maturing in the storytelling skill of the author. I gave it three stars at first because of a few technical aspects that I felt hurt the overall reading experience. However, in the end, many months later this book still sticks to me. I can't wait to read on further in the series and see how it all plays out.

• HOME IS WHERE THE HORROR IS by CV Hunt (2017) Grindhouse Press:  CV Hunt is on the list again this year after winding up on last year's list with my uber-favorite, Ritualistic Human Sacrifice. I didn't think Hunt could follow-up such a strong book but Home Is Where The Horror Is is as nearly as strong an effort as the aformentioned book. This is a very real, very visceral story with vivid characters and a rather unique monster. Great horror and a book actually published in the year I read it! This one stuck to my ribs as well since reading it.

• HUSK by Rachel Autumn Deering (2016) Tiny Behemoth Press:  Yet another book I read to catch up on the buzz books of 2016. I wanted to grab a signed copy of this at a convention Deering and I were both at but unfortunately I was also vending books at a table and never had the opportunity to meet her. Nevertheless I grabbed the digital copy and found out what all the hubbub was about. In some ways this was similar in tone and feel to CV Hunt's Home Is Where The Horror Is and it's still unique unto itself. The monsters battled in this one come from within. Right. Right? Right!

• MINIVAN POEMS by Justin Grimbol (2016) Thicke & Vaney Press: This is exactly what it says it is, a book full of poems about minivans. Yet, you still cannot prepare yourself for the wonderful poems held within. These are very short, bite-sized poems that are an ode to minivans, country living, down-home folks, loved ones and butt. Lots of butts. I am not one for poetry at all but Justin Grimbol makes poetry a wonderful art accessible to everyone. I need more Minivan Poems in my life. And a hard copy of this book to put out on my coffee table.

• SPUNGUNION by John Boden (2017) Dynatox Ministries:  Right at the end of the year I read two fantastic books. Spungunion is one of those books. This one took me by surprise. I'd read another of Boden's books last year. I saw this title and thought the premise sounded pretty cool. The introduction by Bracken MacLeod stresses that no two John Boden stories are alike and boy is that the truth. Spungunion is nothing like Jedi Summer (the book I mentioned previously). Spungunion is some folksy, truck, road trip horror. The writing is keen and vivid. The prose is poetry. It's a short book but it packs a wallop. This is like Convoy if Convoy was a surreal horror thriller.

• IS WINONA RYDER STILL WITH THAT DUDE FROM SOUL ASYLUM? AND OTHER LURID TALES OF TERROR AND DOOM!!! by Douglas Hacks (2017) Douglas Hackle:  I start and end with Douglas Hackle. The only author who I read two of their works in 2017 and both knocked it out of the park. This book is a collection of absurdist short stories, the realm in which Hackle really shines. This should be taught in Bizarro lecture halls the world over. Perfection of the genre. This is how weird fiction is done.

So, there you have the top of my reading list for 2017. I don't like to stamp the list at 10 or 20 or anything like that. This is just the most enjoyable reads of the year. The list is longer than last year's which only featured six books. This year come in at nine. I put away more books than I did last year and I think overall I read a lot more quality stuff that the previous year. 

Some honorable mentions that didn't make the list would be: SUNFALL by Tim Meyer, Chad Scanlon and Pete Draper. M.R. Tapia's THE DIE-FI EXPERIMENT. JOHN WAYNE LIED TO YOU by John Wayne Comunale, VERY TRUE STORIES STARRING JEFF O'BRIEN by Jeff O'Brien. And CHILDREN OF THE DARK by Johnathan Janz.

I've already got a full reading list of what promises to be top notch shit for 2018. If the titles I have at the top of my To Be Read pile are any indication of the year in reading to come, it will prove to be a banner year in reading. Hope you're year in reading will be grand as well.

You can check out my full list of books read for 2017 HERE.

A Year of Reading

I like to reflect on my year of reading. Thank goodness for Goodreads.com where I can actively track the books I've read year to year. So I'd like to present to you my notable reads for the year 2016. Sure, everyone is doing it but here's my hook: These are the books I've read and enjoyed in 2016 but were not necessarily published in 2016. 

The fact of the matter is, I probably read more books not published in each given year than those that are published in the current year. I'm always impressed with those who focus on reading mostly new books. Of course, this is coming from a chronically slow reader. There are just so many great books out there and even if I were a fast reader, there are just too many great books to get to that you couldn't possibly get to in any given year. 

So, let's get on with my list of notable books I've read in 2016! These are listed chronologically in order read from January through December.

• I WILL ROT WITHOUT YOU by Danger Slater (2016) Fungasam Press:  I feel like I've been waving the flag of this book for a year now, and that's because I have. I said from the moment I read that last page of the book that this will be the winner of the Wonderland Book of the Year Award (The Award for the best fiction in the Bizarro genre) for 2017. Twelve months later I still believe that in my heart of hearts. If I were going to rank the best book of 2016, this would be it.

• RITUALISTIC HUMAN SACRIFICE by C.V. Hunt (2015) Grindhouse Press:  I said that this list is ranked chronologically, but Ritualistic Human Sacrifice also takes the rank of my second favorite read of 2016. It was a very close second to ROT. That is because this book is so visceral, so disturbing, so daring, so real and yet so over the top that it is impossible to ignore. The author, a female, reveals the darkest parts of the male mind that many men would never admit they think. This book basks in the darkness it casts on you as you read.

• PINK PLANET by Jon R. Meyers (2014) Riot Forge:  I was shocked that I loved PINK PLANET as much as I did. This book had flaws I felt would have me giving any other book a two star review and leave me disappointed. PINK PLANET thrives on its heart. Some of the plot points are absurd. There is a fuzzy creature that seems to serve no function whatsoever to move the story forward and yet, I want to buy plushies of this creature and read the further adventures of this adorable useless character. But this book is dripping with sincerity and passion and if you can get past some of the more technical shortcomings, I think it is punk rock brilliance in writing.

• THE LAST PORNO THEATER by Nick Cato (2013) Grindhouse Press:  This book is one of those books that I've been eyeing for for the past three years but never pulled the trigger on for one reason or another. Then I met Nick Cato at a con earlier this year and got the paperback from him. I knew Nick Cato to be a movie buff of the 70's exploitation era in particular. THE LAST PORNO THEATER is exactly that, a 70's era exploitation story crossed with a Godzilla movie rolled into a story about the last remaining porn theater on 42nd Street in New York. If you're a fan of H.G. Lewis, The Warriors and Kaiju monsters, get your hands on this book.

• THE COMPLEX by Brian Keene (2016) Deadite Press:  You can hardly go wrong reading a Brian Keene book. So THE COMPLEX making my list this year isn't much of a surprise. The book is signature Keene: bloody, dark, character rich and bleak. What I loved best about THE COMPLEX was that Keene dared to give it an ending that was reminiscent of THE RISING. Anyone who knows anything about the ending to that book knows that for readers, you either love it or hate it. I am in the love category and so I enjoyed Keene taking that risk again with THE COMPLEX.

• THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON by Stephen King (2005) Scriber eBooks:  It's been a long while since I last read a King book (I'm thinking Under The Dome when it came out.) I've really been heavy into reading indie authors for the past several years. But I felt I needed to get back to King. It was time to read something from the highest echelons of horror and THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON was sitting on my digital bookshelf for quite sometime. I blew off the dust and was instantly reminded of why he is the master. For me, King has been hit or miss since his golden age. This book is without a doubt a hit for me. Great, suspenseful storytelling. Atypical psychological horror with just a touch of supernatural. A perfect Stephen King book and a perfect way to close out my year of reading for 2016.

There it is. Looking back on the year as a whole, I think I had my hair blown back early in the year. ROT and RITUALISTIC both floored me and it was difficult for anything I'd read the remainder of the year to touch either of them. There were lots of honorable mentions: The Drive-In 3 by Joe Lansdale, Sick in the Head by Phil LoPresti, SuperGhost by Scott Cole, Pay Up and Die by Chuck Buda, The Enemy Held Near by Armand Rosamilia and Jay Wilburn and Pins by Jessica McHugh. Any one of those books could have fallen in line in a longer list. Unfortunately, I've only read a total of 31 books this year so I wanted a short list to highlight the heavy hitters for me this year. 

I've already got a bunch of great reading suggestions from others Best of 2016 lists. That's why I feel it's important to share mine as well. Hope something here grabs your attention and you decide to check it out and add it to your list for 2017.

You can check out my full list of books read for 2016 HERE.