Traci C (Ashbe)
Image by REXANDROS from Pixabay
Remembering the Read
Traci C (Ashbe)
It has been a long moment since I have blogged. Mostly, classes on AutoCrit and deadlines on Deadlinesforwriters kept me away. I missed it and talking with you all. What has been an even longer weight of time passing, has been my reading I’m ashamed to say.
For a long time, probably since my health problems began, I’d pick a book up to read but very few didn’t take me years to complete that reading. I was starving for the page even though, I didn’t realize it.
Stephen King famously says that you need the tools to write. I’d agree. Oh, I was getting some plotlines for stories. But the truth was, I was losing the focus, the sharpness that comes from writing. In the last two months since I’ve been reading again, I have such a thirst for words. I’m currently rotating six books during the days.
I’ve been pleased to finish the trilogy of Vanessa Len’s “Only a Monster” series. It was thrilling, adventurous, and the love stories were exquisite. I loved the time travel and the different ages they journeyed though. Some places were beautiful and some horrifying. I loved the fashions as well.
I followed that up with “Graham: The Broken Duke,” by Jess Michaels. The love story between a duke who’d recently lost his best friend over a girl and a socialite that moonlights as a theater actress is at times chilling. These two made such a good couple and their stories were truly heartbreaking.
Next came: “The Publisher’s Legal Handbook” by Helen Sedgewick caught my attention next and was one of the first of the six rotated stories that continue to follow. This book is packed with information to help both Indies and trads when it comes to contracts, how to set up a business, and how to keep yourself out of trouble. I’m keeping this on my book for reference.
My next is “A Weirdish Wildish Space” by Mary Sangiovanni. This is my first book by Mary, though I’m already loving a second one of hers as well. In this, I think you would come to see as I did the earlier world of horror conventions, authors, and business. She knew a lot of horror author greats such as F. Paul Wilson, Jack Ketchum, Richard Mathison, and her future husband (Brian Keene), among others. I can identify with her personal life in spades and I love how fiercely protective she is of her child as I am my own. She also talks about what it was like to be a woman in horror then and more recently. She blazed a lot of trails. I learned a lot of history from her. If you haven’t read her, you’ll enjoy her wit, her bravery, and her humor.
Another read is “Other Words,” by Brian Keene. I remember him from Cemetery Dance when he did a column there; but I hadn’t read his stories before recently. In this book, he gathered all his forwards and introductions for different books and anthologies out there. Again, it was ripe with history and I found myself listening to him as I did Mary, another soul around a campfire sharing stories. He has lived a life full of adventure, close-encounters, and getting to live the dream. I can’t wait to read more by him.
The last book on my list is “Final Girls,” by Riley Sager. This book snared me like one of Dean Koontz’s thrillers might. I shifted back and forth often on who I thought was guilty and why and in the end, was STILL surprised. Quincy Carpenter is one hell of a character and this also won’t be the last book of Sager’s I read either.
I hope I gave you some choices. They really are all superb books. I don’t like to give too much away and in the end, it worries me, that I didn’t paint a broad enough picture of things. I am reading faster despite the six books at a time. When I was younger, I used to do the same. It’s fun to jump every three chapters to another book and catch up with it.
Hope you’re doing well. Take care, God bless, and have a great week ahead!
