Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Early Bird



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the launch of Explorer 1 in 1958. Explorer 1 was not only the first successful satellite launched by the United States of America, but the first purely scientific vehicle, starting a long line of more Explorers, Pioneers, Vikings and more.

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Venus on the Half Shell



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us a nightside view of one of our most enigmatic planets: Venus, as viewed by JAXA's Akatsuki orbiter.

Monday, January 29, 2018

Nebular Webs



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows IC 417 and NGC 1931 in the constellation of Auriga. Will this cosmic meal ever come to be?

Saturday, January 27, 2018

Mirrorverse



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us skies above and skies below, as the Milky Way is reflected in a laguana in the Atacama Desert.

Friday, January 26, 2018

Dang Tourists



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us another tourist selfie from the surface of Mars. MSL Curiosity is climbing Vera Rubin Ridge!

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Wagon Wheels of Stars



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows ESO 350-40, popularly known as The Cartwheel Galaxy in the constellation of Sculptor. It's distinct look is thanks to a collision, which has rippled through and distorted the spiral into a ring.

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Cosmic Younglings



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows "tadpoles" (sites of star formation) inside nebula IC 410 in the constellation of Auriga.

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Ribbons and Pearls



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day comes courtesy of the European Southern Observatory, spiral galaxy NGC 1398 in Fomax. Star formation in action!

Monday, January 22, 2018

Saturday, January 20, 2018

Thursday, January 18, 2018

Blue Interloper



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows blue comet C/2016 R2 PanSTARRS cruising through open cluster Hyades in the constellation of Taurus.

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Nebular View



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings a dramatically new look to an old friend. Combining data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope, take a look at a video which creates a flight through the Great Nebula of Orion!

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Trunk Route



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows IC 1396, the Elephant's Trunk Nebula in the constellation of Cepheus. The nebula is a complex of cool gas and dust, stretching over 50 light years, and is a site for stellar formation.

Monday, January 15, 2018

Sunday, January 14, 2018

Cosmic Encounters



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings the arch of our own home galaxy, the Milky Way, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (satellite galaxies to our own) and close visitor, Comet McNaught, over the skies of Patagonia.

Saturday, January 13, 2018

Launch and Landing



While it may be getting routine for some viewers, today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a sight that still thrills me. The launch of a Falcon 9, and, in the same frame, the successful landing of the first stage for reuse.

Friday, January 12, 2018

Interloper



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Comet PanSTARRS C/2016 R2 displaying shades of blue courtesy of excited carbon monoxide molecules.

Thursday, January 11, 2018

Heartlight



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day peers into the heart of the constellation of Ara. Be careful when you peer into the dragon!

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Interacting Arp 243



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows NGC 2623, a pair of galaxies undergoing a vast and slow collision. Also known as Arp 243, this object has been studied to see what happens during such a cosmic catastrophe.

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

What's in a Name?



Possibly due to it's less than prominent place in the sky for amateur observers, today's Astronomy Picture of the Day, planetary nebula NGC 7027, hasn't been tagged with a popular name. Taking a look at this image from the Hubble Space Telescope, what would you call it?

Monday, January 8, 2018

The Clouds of Andromeda



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us a "denser" look at Messier 31, the Andromeda Galaxy. Reddish clouds of ionized hydrogen surround the galaxy, amazingly (to me), called "interstellar cirrus clouds"!

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Tether



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Tethered Satellite System 1, an attempt to use a tether going from the Space Shuttle Atlantis to a satellite. What would such a thing be used for? Possibly (at the large scale) a space elevator. Or generating power. Changing orbits. Cleaning "space junk".

I think my first encounter with tethers was in the science fiction of the late Robert L. Forward, who even had a company exploring the concept.

Saturday, January 6, 2018

Conjunction



What's that off the wingtip of a passenger jet over Europe? UFO's? No, it is today's Astronomy Picture of the Day. Jupiter and Mars are in conjunction with extra-solar Zubenelegubi, a star in the constellation of Libra.

Friday, January 5, 2018

Streams of Creation



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the star-forming regions of NGC 3372, the Great Carina Nebula, rising over an island in Lake Ballard. To live under such skies!

Thursday, January 4, 2018

Cosmic Crab



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us another supernova remnant, and the first on the list of not comets that has outlived (vastly) the comets discovered by Charles Messier.

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Boom Tomorrow. Always Boom Tomorrow.



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the Helix Nebula, a "planetary" nebula (also designated as NGC 7293). Objects such as this were tagged "planetary" because of their appearance in early telescopes, but are actually the results of massive stellar outpourings of matter (nova). Will this be our eventual fate?

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Dark Cluster



What lies at the heart of the galaxy cluster in today's Astronomy Picture of the Day? Are we seeing a hint of the elusive substance dark matter? Or something more "mundane" like a supermassive black hole?

Monday, January 1, 2018

2017: A Year of Not Reading

Another turn around the solar cycle, another year of reading.

It's been expressed previously, elsewhere, but 2017 (and 2016 previous) were both hard. As such, it was hard on my reading. Work took a lot out of me. Stress sucks.

2017: The Year in Books (53). The goal, for years and years, has been 60. I think I only missed that goal once since I started keeping track. I have to do better!

As such, even though such plans usually don't last, I've got a couple of reading plans in mind.

First, I thought I would replicate reading the venerable Ballantine Adult Fantasy series of the late 60's and early 70's. That series introduced us to a lot of what is considered classic fantasy, fantasy that still has an impact today (Lord of the Rings, anybody?). My thought is to try and read one book a month, in the order of release (the series eventually released multiple books a month, but if I can manage one, I'll be happy). If successful, I'll even extend it to those books that were considered for the series and didn't, those books by an author that were original to the series and continued (the Deryni novels of Katherine Kurtz) and even works by those authors that probably would have ended up in the series if it hadn't been cancelled (Stephen Donaldson, Terry Brooks).

Second, I want to tackle the so-called Harvard Five Foot Shelf. This was a collection of "great works" that were sold as a means of self-improvement (certainly one reason I continue to read so much is that goal!). Hypothetically one can get through the whole series in a relatively short period of time if you follow the program outlined in one volume. Bonus: you can get the whole thing as eBooks for free.

Third, I just need to read more. If I'm down and in a funk, I just need to read rather than mope. In one way, setting these goals causes stress if it seems like I'm not making them, on the other hand, goals are an impetus to making some progress.

2017: The Year in Shorts (170). The goal here has been 465 short works, or one short work a day. It didn't work out this year. Usually I exceed the goal. Time to buckle down.

The goal here is to work through some of the standalone short works (short stories, novellas) that I've been accumulating while continue to read the various "best of" anthologies. Once I get started on shorts, they tick up pretty fast.

2017: The Year in Graphics (171). Again, not as good as prior years, but still a decent showing. Highlights included Black Bolt, Providence (and the earlier parts of the overall arc), Black Monday Murders, Injection, Wayward and a surprising number of titles related to Star Wars.

The main trend here seemed to be a move (significant) away from "superhero" titles, especially by Marvel. Yet another reboot and endless crossovers killed it for me. Oddly enough, while superheroes at Marvel seem to be mired, the Star Wars line remains fresh, especially on those titles concentrating on secondary characters or even characters existing only on the pages of the comics. My favorite reads are completely divorced from any media property, especially is Warren Ellis is involved.

2018: The Year in Graphics

Previously, I've had these listed under the various Year in Shorts entries. Some people (hello!) feel this inflates my count of short works (not sure why this is a problem with those people, but it is the internet, so there's got to be somebody with a problem out there who wants to share it!). As an experiment, I'm going to split the graphic works off as a separate list. If nothing else, it might make it easier for me to keep track of what I've read.

Number of Titles Read (as of December 31, 2018): 295.

Saladin Ahmed & Co.: Abbott 001-005 (5 issues, continuing). Miles Morales: Spider-Man 001 (1 issue, continuing). Black Bolt 001-012; Black Bolt Legacy Primer Pages (13 issues, completed.)

Jason Aron & Chris Bachalo: Dr. Strange 2015-2018 001-003 (3 issues, continuing).

Frank Brunner & Steve Englehart: Doctor Strange Classic 001-003 (3 issues, continuing).

Warren Ellis & Co.: Transmetropolitan 001-060, Filth of the City, I Hate It Here (62 issues, completed). Supreme Blue Rose 001-007 (7 issues, completed). Freakangels Volumes 001-006 (6 issues, completed). Atmospherics (1 issue, completed). Global Frequency—The Deluxe Edition (1 volume, completed).

Neil Gaiman & Co.: Sandman 001—Sleep of the Just; 002—Imperfect Hosts; 003—Dream a Little Dream of Me; 004—A Hope in Hell; 005—Passengers; 006—24 Hours; 007—Sound and Fury; 008—The Sound of Her Wings; 009—Tales in the Sand; 010—The Doll's House; 011—Moving In; 012—Playing House; 013—Men of Good Fortune; 014—Collectors; 015—Into the Night; 016—Lost Hearts; 017—Calliope; 018—A Dream of a Thousand Cats; 019—A Midsummer Night's Dream; 020—Facade; 021—Season of Mists Prologue; 022—Season of Mists Chapter 1; 023—Season of Mists Chapter 2; 024—Season of Mists Chapter 3; 025—Season of Mists Chapter 4; 026—Season of Mists Chapter 5; 027—Season of Mists Chapter 6; 028—Season of Mists Epilogue; 029—A Game of You 01: Slaughter on Fifth Avenue; 030—A Game of You 02: Lullabies of Broadway; 031—A Game of You 03: Bad Moon Rising; 032—A Game of You 04: Beginning to See the Light; 033—A Game of You 05: Over the Seas to Sky; 034—A Game of You 06: I Woke Up and One of Us Was Crying; 035—Fear of Falling; 036—Three Septembers and a January; 037—Thermidor; 038—The Hunt; 
039—August; 040—Soft Places; 041—The Song of Orpheus; 042—The Parliament of Rooks; 043—Ramadan; 044—Brief Lives 01; 045Brief Lives 02; 046Brief Lives 03; 047Brief Lives 04; 048Brief Lives 05; 049Brief Lives 06; 050Brief Lives 07; 051—Brief Lives 08; 052—Brief Lives 09; 053A Tale of Two Cities; 054Cluracan's Tale; 055Hob's Leviathan; 056The Golden Boy; 057Cerements; 058World's End; 059—Vertigo Jam 1—The Castle; 060The Kindly Ones 01; 061The Kindly Ones 02; 062The Kindly Ones 03; 063The Kindly Ones 04; 064The Kindly Ones 05; 065The Kindly Ones 06; 066The Kindly Ones 07; 067The Kindly Ones 08; 068The Kindly Ones 09; 069The Kindly Ones 10; 070The Kindly Ones 11; 071The Kindly Ones 12; 072The Kindly Ones 13; 073—The Wake 01—Which Occurs in the Wake of What Has Gone Before; 074—The Wake 02—In Which a Wake is Held; 075—The Wake 03—In Which We Wake; 076—The Wake 04—An Epilogue, Sunday Mourning; 077—The Wake 05—Exiles; 078—The Wake 06—The Tempest; 079—Dust Covers: The Collected Sandman Covers (79 issues, completed).

Jody Houser & Co.: Rogue One 001-002 (2 issues, continuing).

Stan Lee & Steve: Ditko: Strange Tales 110—Dr. Strange, Master of Black Magic!; Strange Tales 111—Dr. Strange, Master of Black Magic! (2 issues, continuing).

Mike Mignola & Co.: Hellboy: Seed of Destruction; The Wolves of Saint August; The Chained Coffin; Wake the Devil; Almost Colossus; The Right Hand of Doom; Box Full of Evil; Being Human; Conqueror Worm; The Third Wish; The Island; Into the Silent Spring; Krampusnacht; Winter Special 2016; Winter Special 2017; The Visitor How & Why He Stayed 001-005; The Rise of the Black Flame 001-005; Rasputin—The Voice of the Dragon 001-005; Koshchei the Deathless 001-006; Hellboy Winter Special 2018Pancakes; The Midnight Circus; The Nature of the Beast; King Vold; Hellboy in Mexico; Hellboy versus the Aztec Mummy; Hellboy Gets Marrie; The Coffin Man; The Coffin Man 2—The Rematch; House of the Living Dead; The Crooked Man; The Penanggalan; The Corpse; Double Feature of Evil; The Iron Shoes; The Hydra and the Lion; The Troll Witch; The Baba Yaga; The Sleeping and the Dead; Heads; Goodbye, Mr. Tod; The Varcolac; The Vampire of Prague; The Bride of Hell; The Whittier Legacy; Buster Oakley Gets His Wish; They That Go Down to the Sea in Ships; A Christmas Underground; Dr. Carp's Experiment; The Ghoul, or Reflections on Death; In the Chapel of Moloch; Makoma, or A Tale Told by a Mummy in the New York City Explorer's Club on August 16, 1993 (69 stories, continuing).

Charles Soule & Phil Noto: Poe Dameron 013 (1 issue, continuing).

Howard Tayler: Schlock Mercenary 01—The Tub of Happiness; 02—The Teraport Wars; 03—Under New Management; 04—The Blackness Between; 05—The Scrapyard of Insufferable Arrogance; 06—Resident Mad Scientist; 07—Emperor Pius Dei; 08—The Sharp End of the Stick; 09—The Body Politic; 10—The Longshoreman of the Apocalypse; 11—Massively Parallel (11 volumes, continuing).

Kurtis J. Wiebe & John "Roc" Upchurch: Rat Queens 001 (1 issue, continuing).

Jim Zub & Co.: Wayward 001-028 (28 issues, continuing).

2018: The Year in Books

Here is a list of books (long form works) that I have read for the year. Books will come in many formats: paper (pBooks), audio (aBooks), electronic (eBooks) and possibly even serialized in magazines.

Number of books read (as of December 31, 2018): 081.

Books read (alphabetical by author, then chronological within author):

Isaac Asimov: Foundation (eBook) (January).

J.D. Bernal: The World, The Flesh and The Devil (eBook) (December).

John W. Campbell, Jr.: The Moon is Hell (eBook) (November).

C.J. Cherryh: Chanur 01—The Pride of Chanur (eBook) (December).

Tom Clancy: Red Storm Rising (aBook and eBook) (August). Ryanverse 01—Without Remorse (eBook) (September).

Arthur C. Clarke: The Ghost from the Grand Banks (eBook) (November).

Hal Clement: Close to Critical (eBook and aBook) (November).

Glen Cook: The Black Company 01—The Black Company (aBook) (March).

Howard Coyle: Team Yankee (eBook) (May).

Gordon R. Dickson: Necromancer (pBook) (June). Tactics of Mistake (pBook) (June). Dorsai! (pBook) (June). The Spirit of Dorsai (eBook) (June).

Warren Ellis: Global Frequency—The Deluxe Edition (pBook) (April). Transmetropolitan Deluxe 001 (pBook) (November). Transmetropolitan Deluxe 002 (pBook) (November). Transmetropolitan Deluxe 003 (pBook) (November).

Neil Gaiman & Divers Hands: Sandman 01: Preludes and Nocturnes (eBook) (November). Sandman 02: The Doll's House (eBook) (November). Sandman 03: Dream Country (eBook) (November). Sandman 04: Season of Mists (eBook) (November). Sandman 05: A Game of You (eBook) (November). Sandman 06: Fables & Reflections (eBook) (December). Sandman 07: Brief Lives (eBook) (December). Sandman 08: World's End (eBook) (December). Sandman 09: The Kindly Ones (eBook) (December). Sandman 10: The Wake (eBook) (December).

Joe Haldeman: The Forever War (eBook and aBook) (November).

Robert A. Heinlein: The Rolling Stones (pBook) (November). Starman Jones (pBook) (November).

Katherine Kurtz: The Chronicles of the Deryni 01—Deryni Rising (eBook) (December).

Mike Mason and Matthew Sanderson: The Grand Grimoire of Cthulhu Mythos Magic (pBook) (July).

Mike Mignola & Co.: Hellboy Omnibus Volume 01—Seed of Destruction (eBook) (December). Hellboy Omnibus Volume 02—Strange Places (eBook) (December). Hellboy—The Complete Short Stories 01 (eBook) (December). Hellboy—The Complete Short Stories 02 (eBook) (December).

Andre Norton: Solar Queen 01—The Sargasso of Space (eBook) (December). Solar Queen 02—Plague Ship (eBook) (December).

Sandy Petersen & Co.: Call of Cthulhu Seventh Edition Keeper's Book (pBook) (July). S. Petersen's Field Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors (pBook) (July).

Terry Pratchett: Snuff (eBook) (July).

Spider Robinson: Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (eBook) (January). Time Travelers Strictly Cash (aBook) (January). Callahan's Secret (aBook) (January). My Favorite Shorts (eBook) (September).

Clifford D. Simak: The Goblin Reservation (eBook) (March). The Big Front Yard and Other Stories (eBook) (September). I Am Crying All Inside and Other Stories (eBook) (September). The Thing in the Stone and Other Stories (eBook) (October).

Greg Stafford: King of Sartar (eBook) (December).

Howard Tayler: Schlock Mercenary 01—The Tub of Happiness (pBook) (November). Schlock Mercenary 02—The Teraport Wars (pBook) (December). Schlock Mercenary 03—Under New Management (pBook) (December). Schlock Mercenary 04—The Blackness Between (pBook) (December). Schlock Mercenary 05—The Scrapyard of Insufferable Arrogance (pBook) (December). Schlock Mercenary 06—Resident Mad Scientist (pBook) (December). Schlock Mercenary 07—Emperor Pius Dei (pBook) (December). Schlock Mercenary 08—The Sharp End of the Stick (pBook) (December). Schlock Mercenary 09—The Body Politic (pBook) (December). Schlock Mercenary 10—The Longshoreman of the Apocalypse (pBook) (December). Schlock Mercenary 11—Massively Parallel (pBook) (December). Schlock Mercenary 12—Force Multiplication (pBook) (December). Schlock Mercenary 13—Random Access Memorabilia (pBook) (December). Schlock Mercenary 14—Broken Wind (eBook) (December). Schlock Mercenary 15—Delegates & Delegation (eBook) (December).

J.R.R. Tolkien: The Hobbit (eBook) (January). The Fellowship of the Ring (aBook) (February). The Two Towers (aBook) (April). The Return of the King (eBook) (December).

E.C. Tubb: Dumarest 01—The Winds of Gath (eBook) (November) (combined overview and review of the series here).

A.E. van Vogt: Isher 01—The Weapon Shops (eBook) (November). Isher 02—The Weapon Makers (eBook) (November).

John Varley: The Persistence of Vision (eBook) (January). The Barbie Murders (eBook) (June).

David Weber: Honor Harrington 01—On Basilisk Station (aBook) (December).

Gene Wolfe: The Book of the New Sun 01—The Shadow of the Torturer (aBook) (August).

Roger Zelazny: Roadmarks (pBook) (January). Nine Princes in Amber (aBook) (January). A Night in the Lonesome October (pBook) (October)

[REDACTED]: [REDACTED] (eBook) (February) (manuscript, if it is published I'll change this).

Books read (in chronological order, master list): 001: Foundation (Asimov). 002: Roadmarks (Zelazny). 003: Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (Robinson). 004: Nine Princes in Amber (Zelazny). 005: Time Travelers Strictly Cash (Robinson). 006: Callahan's Secret (Robinson). 007: The Hobbit (Tolkien). 008: The Persistence of Vision (Varley). 009: [REDACTED] by [REDACTED]. 010: The Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien). 011: The Black Company (Cook). 012: The Goblin Reservation (Simak). 013: Global Frequency—The Deluxe Edition (Ellis). 014: The Two Towers (Tolkien). 015: Team Yankee (Coyle). 016: The Barbie Murders (Varley). 017: Necromancer (Dickson). 018: Tactics of Mistake (Dickson). 019: Dorsai! (Dickson). 020: The Spirit of Dorsai (Dickson). 021: Snuff (Pratchett). 022: Call of Cthulhu Seventh Edition Keeper's Book (Petersen). 023: S. Petersen's Field Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors (Petersen). 024: The Grand Grimoire of Cthulhu Mythos Magic (Mason & Sanderson). 025: The Book of the New Sun 01—The Shadow of the Torturer (Wolfe). 026: Red Storm Rising (Clancy). 027: My Favorite Shorts (Robinson). 028: Without Remorse (Clancy). 029: The Big Front Yard and Other Stories (Simak). 030: I Am Crying All Inside and Other Stories (Simak). 031: The Thing in the Stone and Other Stories (Simak). 032: A Night in the Lonesome October (Zelazny). 033: Isher 01—The Weapon Shops (van Vogt). 034: Isher 02—The Weapon Makers (van Vogt). 035: Dumarest 01—The Winds of Gath (Tubb). 036: Close to Critical (Clement). 037: The Moon is Hell (Campbell). 038: The Rolling Stones (Heinlein). 039: The Tub of Happiness (Tayler). 040: The Forever War (Haldeman). 041: The Ghost from the Grand Banks (Clarke). 042: Preludes and Nocturnes (Gaiman). 043: The Doll's House (Gaiman). 044: Dream Country (Gaiman). 045: Season of Mists (Gaiman). 046: A Game of You (Gaiman). 047: Transmetropolitan Deluxe 001 (Ellis). 048: Transmetropolitan Deluxe 002 (Ellis). 049: Transmetropolitan Deluxe 003 (Ellis). 050: Starman Jones (Heinlein). 051: The Teraport Wars (Tayler). 052: Under New Management (Tayler). 053: The Blackness Between (Tayler). 054: The Scrapyard of Insufferable Arrogance (Tayler). 055: Resident Mad Scientist (Tayler). 056: On Basilisk Station (Weber). 057: Emperor Pius Dei (Tayler). 058: The Sharp End of the Stick (Tayler). 059: Hellboy Omnibus Volume 01—Seed of Destruction (Mignola). 060: The Sargasso of Space (Norton). 061: Hellboy Omnibus Volume 02—Strange Places (Mignola). 062: Hellboy—The Complete Short Stories 01 (Mignola). 063: Hellboy—The Complete Short Stories 02 (Mignola). 064: The World, The Flesh and The Devil (Bernal). 065: Fables & Reflections (Gaiman). 066: The Return of the King (Tolkien). 067: The Body Politic (Tayler). 068: Deryni Rising (Kurtz). 069: The Longshoreman of the Apocalypse (Tayler). 070: Massively Parallel (Tayler). 071: Brief Lives (Gaiman). 072: World's End (Gaiman). 073: King of Sartar (Stafford). 074: Force Multiplication (Tayler). 075: Random Access Memorabilia (Tayler). 076: Broken Wind (Tayler). 077: Delegates & Delegation (Tayler). 078: The Kindly Ones (Gaiman). 079: The Wake (Gaiman). 080: Plague Ship (Norton). 081: The Pride of Chanur (Cherryh).

Paper Books: 024.

Electronic Books: 048.

Audiobooks: 009.

Sometimes I have swapped between formats, so the totals of those three formats may not equal the total for books read in a year.

2018: The Year in Shorts

Across the eons comes a tale of a time in a galaxy far, far away, when John DeNardo of SF Signal started tracking his short stories read as a way of trying to make a goal of reading one short work for each day of the year. I've managed, more often than not, to match that goal myself. While the tradition has faded at SF Signal, it continues here. The legend continues!

Number of Stories Read: 176 (out of 365) as of December 31, 2018.

(Administrative Note: You'll see in the previous entry for this category that there are a number of anthologies/collections that I did not complete in 2015. Some of them even go back to 2014. I regard these as abandoned. Some will be started again—from the beginning. Others will not be visited again.)

Stories/Collections:

Poul Anderson: The Complete Psychotechnic League (Volume 01). Made up of: Preface (David Afsharirad); Marius; Un-Man; The Sensitive Man; The Big Rain; Interstitial Material (Sandra Miesel) (3 entries, continuing to read).

Isaac Asimov (editor): The Hugo Winners (Volumes 01 and 02). Made up of: (read in 2016) Introduction (Isaac Asimov); The Darfsteller (Walter M. Miller, Jr.); Allamagoosa (Eric Frank Russell); Exploration Team (Murray Leinster); The Star (Arthur C. Clarke); Or All the Seas with Oysters (Avram Davidson); (read in 2018) The Big Front Yard (Clifford D. Simak); The Hell-Bound Train (Robert Bloch); Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes); The Longest Voyage (Poul Anderson); Postscript (Isaac Asimov); Appendix (Uncredited); Here I Am Again (Isaac Asimov); The Dragon Masters (Jack Vance); No Truce With Kings (Poul Anderson); Soldier, Ask Not (Gordon R. Dickson); "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman (Harlan Ellison); The Last Castle (Jack Vance); Neutron Star (Larry Niven); Weyr Search (Anne McCaffrey); Riders of the Purple Wage (Philip José Farmer); Gonna Roll the Bones (Fritz Leiber); I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (Harlan Ellison); Nightwings (Robert Silverberg); The Sharing of Flesh (Poul Anderson); The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World (Harlan Ellison); Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones (Samuel R. Delany); Appendix: Hugo Awards 1962-1970 (6 stories in 2016, 0 stories in 2017, continuing to read).

Algernon Blackwood: The Willows; The Wendigo (2 stories, completed).

Jorge Luis Borges: Collected Fictions. Made up of: A Universal History of Iniquity (1935): Preface to the First Edition; Preface to the 1954 Edition; The Cruel Redeemer Lazarus Morell; The Improbable Impostor Tom Castro; The Widow Ching – Pirate; Monk Eastman, Purveyor of Iniquities; The Disinterested Killer Bill Harrigan; The Uncivil Teacher of Court Etiquette Kôtsuké no Suké; Hakim, the Masked Dyer of Merv; Man on Pink Corner; Et cetera; Index of Sources. Fictions (1944): The Garden of Forking Paths (1941): Foreword; Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius; The Approach to Al-Mu’tasim; Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote; The Circular Ruins; The Lottery in Babylon; A Survey of the Works of Herbert Quain; The Library of Babel; The Garden of Forking Paths. Artifices (1944): Foreword; Funes, His Memory; The Shape of the Sword; The Theme of the Traitor and the Hero; Death and the Compass; The Secret Miracle; Three Versions of Judas; The End; The Cult of the Phoenix; The South. The Aleph (1949): The Immortal; The Dead Man; The Theologians; Story of the Warrior and the Captive Maiden; A Biography of Tadeo Isidoro Cruz (1829-1874); Emma Zunz; The House of Asterion; The Other Death; Deutsches Requiem; Avveroës’ Search; The Zahir; The Writing of the God; Ibn-Hakam al-Bokhari, Murdered in His Labyrinth; The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths; The Wait; The Man on the Threshold; The Aleph; Afterword. The Maker (1960): Foreword: For Leopoldo Lugones; The Maker; Dreamtigers; A Dialog About a Dialog; Toenails; Covered Mirrors; Argumentum Ornithologicum; The Captive; The Mountebank; Delia Elena San Marco; A Dialog Between Dead Men; The Plot; A Problem; The Yellow Rose; The Witness; Martin Fierro; Mutations; Parable of Cervantes and the Quixote; Paradiso, XXXI, 108; Parable of the Palace; Everything and Nothing; Ragnarök; Inferno, I, 32; Borges and I. Museum: On Exactitude in Science; In Memoriam, J.F.K.; Afterword. In Praise of Darkness (1969): Foreword; The Ethnographer; Pedro Salvadores; Legend; A Prayer; His End and His Beginning. Brodie’s Report (1970): Foreword; The Interloper; Unworthy; The Story from Rosendo Juárez; The Encounter; Juan Muraña; The Elderly Lady; The Duel; The Other Duel; Guayaquil; The Gospel According to Mark; Brodie’s Report. The Book of Sand (1975): The Other; Ulrikke; The Congress; There Are More Things; The Sect of the Thirty; The Night of the Gifts; The Mirror and the Mask; “Undr”; A Weary Man’s Utopia; The Bribe; Avelino Arredondo; The Disk; The Book of Sand; Afterword. Shakespeare’s Memory (1983): August 25, 1983; Blue Tigers; The Rose of Paracelsus; Shakespeare’s Memory. A Note on the Translation; Acknowledgments; Notes to the Fictions. (4 stories in 2017, continuing to read.)

Ted Chiang: Stories of Your Life and Others. Made up of: (read in 2017) Tower of BabylonUnderstandDivision by Zero; (read in 2018) Story of Your life; Seventy-Two Letters; The Evolution of Human Science; Hell is the Absence of God; Liking What you See: A Documentary; Story Notes (Stories of Your Life and Others) (3 stories in 2017, continuing to read).

Gordon R. Dickson: The Spirit of Dorsai. Made up of: Prologue; Amanda Morgan; Interlude; Brothers; Epilogue (5 entries, completed.)

Gardner Dozois (editor): The Year's Best Science Fiction (First Annual Collection). Made up of: Introduction: Summation: 1983 (Gardner Dozois); Cicada Queen (Bruce Sterling); Beyond the Dead Reef (James Tiptree, Jr.); Slow Birds (Ian Watson); Vulcan's Forge (Poul Anderson); Man-Mountain Gentian (Howard Waldrop); Hardfought (Greg Bear); Manifest Destiny (Joe Haldeman); Full Chicken Richness (Avram Davidson); Multiples (Robert Silverberg); Cryptic (Jack McDevitt); The Sidon in the Mirror (Connie Willis); Golden Gate (R. A. Lafferty); Blind Shemmy (Jack Dann); In the Islands (Pat Murphy); Nunc Dimittis (Tanith Lee); Blood Music (Greg Bear); Her Furry Face (Leigh Kennedy); Knight of Shallows (Rand B. Lee); The Cat (Gene Wolfe); The Monkey Treatment (George R. R. Martin); Nearly Departed (Pat Cadigan); Hearts Do Not in Eyes Shine (John Kessel); Carrion Comfort (Dan Simmons); Gemstone (Vernor Vinge); Black Air (Kim Stanley Robinson); Honorable Mentions: 1983 (Gardner Dozois). (8 stories, continuing to read).

Harlan Ellison (author) and Terry Dowling (editor): The Essential Ellison. Made up of: (read in 2017) Introduction: Sublime Rebel (Terry Dowling); The BeginningsThe Sword of ParmagonThe Gloconda; (read in 2018) The Wilder One; The Saga of Machine Gun Joe; Glowworm; Life Hutch; S.R.O.; Worlds of Terror; Lonelyache; Punky & the Yale Men; A Prayer for No One's Enemy; Worlds of Love; In Lonely Lands; The Time of the Eye; Grail; That New Old-Time Religion; I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream; Corpse; The Whimper of Whipped Dogs; A Stab of Merriment; The Voice in the Garden; Erotophobia; Mom; Ecowareness; The Outpost Undiscovered by Tourists; Dept. of "What Was the Question?" Dept.; Dept. of "Trivial Pursuit" Dept.; Trouble With Women; The Very Last Day of a Good Woman; Valerie: A True Memoir; The Other Eye of Polyphemus; All the Birds Come Home to Roost; To the Mattresses With Mean Demons; The Tombs (Excerpt); "Our Little Miss"; A Love Song to Jerry Falwell; Telltale Tics and Tremors; True Love: Groping for the Holy Grail; Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" W; Rococco Technology; The Sky Is Burning; The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World; Along the Scenic Route; The Song the Zombie Sang (with Robert Silverberg); Knox; Heart's Blood; From Alabamy, with Hate; My Father; My Mother; Tired Old Man; Gopher in the Gilly; Nights & Days in Good Old Hollyweird; Strange Wine; The Resurgence of Miss Ankle-Strap Wedgie; The Man on the Mushroom; Somehow, I Don't Think We're in Kansas, Toto; Face-Down in Gloria Swanson's Swimming Pool; Petards & Hangings; Soldier; The Night of Delicate Terrors; Shattered Like a Glass Goblin; At the Mouse Circus; Shadows from the Past; Free With This Box!; Final Shtick; One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty; Jeffty Is Five; Contracts on the Soul; Daniel White for the Greater Good; Neither Your Jenny nor Mine; Alive and Well and on a Friendless Voyage; The Classics; "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman; Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes; A Boy and His Dog; The Deathbird; Dark Liberation; The Thick Red Moment; The Man Who Was Heavily into Revenge; Driving in the Spikes; Afterword (4 entries in 2017, continuing to read).

Harlan Ellison: Ellison Wonderland. Made up of: Introduction: The Man On the Mushroom; Commuter's Problem; Do-It-Yourself (with Joe L. Hensley); The Silver Corridor; All the Sounds of Fear; Gnomebody; The Sky Is Burning; Mealtime; The Very Last Day of a Good Woman; Battlefield; Deal from the Bottom; The Wind Beyond the Mountains; Back to the Drawing Boards; Nothing for My Noon Meal; Hadj; Rain, Rain, Go Away; In Lonely Lands (3 stories, continuing to read).

Harlan Ellison (editor): Dangerous Visions. Made up of: Foreword 1—The Second Revolution (Isaac Asimov); Foreword 2—Harlan and I (Isaac Asimov); Thirty-Two Soothsayers (Harlan Ellison); Evensong (Lester del Rey); Flies (Robert Silverberg); The Day After the Day the Martians Came (Frederik Pohl); Riders of the Purple Wage (Philip José Farmer); The Malley System (Miriam Allen deFord); A Toy for Juliette (Robert Bloch); The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World (Harlan Ellison); The Night That All Time Broke Out (Brian W. Aldiss); The Man Who Went to the Moon—Twice (Howard Rodman); Faith of Our Fathers (Philip K. Dick); The Jigsaw Man (Larry Niven); Gonna Roll the Bones (Fritz Leiber); Lord Randy, My Son (Joe L. Hensley); Eutopia (Poul Anderson); Incident in Moderan (David R. Bunch); The Escaping (David R. Bunch); The Doll-House (James Cross); Sex and/or Mr. Morrison (Carol Emshwiller); Shall the Dust Praise Thee? (Damon Knight); If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister? (Theodore Sturgeon); What Happened to Auguste Clarot? (Larry Eisenberg); Ersatz (Henry Slesar); Go, Go, Go, Said the Bird (Sonya Dorman); The Happy Breed (John Sladek); Encounter with a Hick (Jonathan Brand); From the Government Printing Office (Kris Neville); Land of the Great Horses (R.A. Lafferty); The Recognition (J.G. Ballard); Judas (John Brunner); Test to Destruction (Keith Laumer); Carcinoma Angels (Norman Spinrad); Auto-da-Fé (Roger Zelazny); Aye, and Gomorrah... (Samuel R. Delany) (7 entries, continuing to read).

James Frenkel (editor): True Names and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier. Made up of: Preface (James R. Frenkel); Introduction (Vernor Vinge); A Time of Transition/The Human Connection (Danny Hillis); True Nyms and Crypto Anarchy (Timothy C. May); Eventful History: Version 1.x (John M. Ford); How is the NII Like a Prison? (Alan Wexelblat); Intelligent Software (Pattie Maes); The Right to Read (Richard M. Stallman); Cryptography and the Politics of One's True Name (Leonard N. Foner); The Lessons of Lucasfilm's Habitat (F. Randall Farmer and Chip Morningstar); Social Dimensions of Habitat's Citizenry (F. Randall Farmer); Habitat Anecdotes (F. Randall Farmer); True Magic (Mark Pesce); True Names (Vernor Vinge); Afterword (Marvin Minsky). (4 entries, continuing to read).

William Hope Hodgson: The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson—The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" and Other Nautical Adventures. Made up of: (read in 2017) Unreality and the Borderlands of Human Existence (Jeremy Lassen); (read in 2018) The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" (novel); From the Tideless Sea, Part One; From the Tideless Sea Part Two--Further News of the Homebird; The Mystery of the Derelict; The Thing in the Weeds; The Finding of the Graiken; The Call in the Dawn; Contraband of War; The Diamond Spy; The Red Herring; The Case of the Chinese Curio Dealer; From Information Received; The German Spy; The Problem of the Pearls; The Painted Lady; The Adventure of the Garter; My Lady's Jewels; Trading with the Enemy; The Plans of the Reefing; The Island of the Ud; The Adventure of the Headland; The Bells of the Laughing Sally; The Adventure with the Claim Jumpers; A Note on the Texts (Jeremy Lassen) (1 story in 2017, continuing to read).

Douglas Hofstadter: Metamagical Themas. Made up of: (read in 2017) Introduction. Section I: Snags and Snarls: On Self-Referential SentencesSelf-Referential Sentences: A Follow-Up; (read in 2018) On Viral Sentences and Self-Replicating Structures; Nomic: A Self-Modifying Game Based on Reflexivity in Law. Section II: Sense and Society: World Views in Collision: The Skeptical Inquirer versus the National Enquirer; On Number Numbness; Changes in Default Words and Images, Engendered by Rising Consciousness; A Person Paper on Purity in Language. Section III: Sparking and Slipping: Pattern, Poetry, and Power in the Music of Frederic Chopin; Parquet Deformations: A Subtle, Intricate Art Form; Stuff and Nonsense; Variations on a Theme as the Crux of Creativity; Metafont, Metamathematics, and Metaphysics. Section IV: Structure and Strangeness: Magic Cubology; On Crossing the Rubicon; Mathematical Chaos and Strange Attractors; Lisp: Atoms and Lists; Lisp: Lists and Recursion; Lisp: Recursion and Generality; Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and the Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. Section V: Spirit and Substrate: Review of Alan Turing—The Enigma; A Coffeehouse Conversation on the Turing Test; On the Seeming Paradox of Mechanizing Creativity; Analogies and Roles in Human and Machine Thinking; Who Shoves Whom Around Inside the Careenium?; Waking Up from the Boolean Dream, or, Subcognition as Computation. Section VI: Selection and Stability: The Genetic Code: Arbitrary?; Undercut, Flaunt, Pounce, and Mediocrity: Psychological Games with Numbers; The Prisoner's Dilemma Computer Tournaments and the Evolution of Cooperation. Section VII: Sanity and Survival: Dilemmas for Superrational Thinkers, Leading Up to a Luring Lottery; Irrationality Is the Square Root of All Evil; The Tale of Happiton; The Tumult of Inner Voices, or, What is the Meaning of the Word "I"?; Epilogue (3 essays in 2017, continuing to read).

Robert E. Howard: The Bloody Crown of Conan. Made up of: Foreword (Gary Gianni); Introduction (Rusty Burke); The People of the Black Circle; The Hour of the Dragon (separate novel); A Witch Shall Be Born; The People of the Black Circle (synopsis); The Story Thus Far ...; Untitled Synopsis ("Amalric a son of a nobleman..."); Untitled Draft ("Three men squated beside the..."); The Hour of the Dragon (synopsis); Notes on "The Hour of the Dragon"; A Witch Shall Be Born (synopsis); Hyborian Genesis Part II: Notes on the Creation of the Conan Stories (Patrice Louinet); Notes on the Conan Typescripts and the Chronology (Patrice Louinet) (3 entries, continuing to read).

Dave Hutchinson: Acadie (1 story, completed).

Damon Knight: In Search of Wonder. Made up of: (read in 2016) Introduction to the First Edition (Anthony Boucher); Author's NotesCriticsThe ClassicsChuckleheadsCampbell and his Decade(read in 2018) Cosmic Jerrybuilder: A. E. van Vogt; Half-Bad Writers; One Sane Man: Robert A. Heinlein; Asimov and Empire; More Chuckleheads; When I was in Kneepants: Ray Bradbury; The Vorpal Pen: Theodore Sturgeon; Anthologies; Half Loaves; Genius to Order: Kuttner and Moore; Kornbluth and the Silver Lexicon; The Jagged Blade: James Blish; Overalls on Parnassus: Fletcher Pratt; Microcosmic Moskowitz; Amphibians; New Stars; Curiosa; B-R-R-R!; Decadents; Britons; Pitfalls and Dead Ends; Symbolism; What Next?; Acknowledgements; Bibliography; Index. (6 entries in 2016, 0 stories in 2017, continuing to read.)

Fritz Leiber: Smoke Ghost and Other Apparitions. Made up of: (read in 2016) Introduction (Ramsey Campbell); Smoke GhostThe Power of the Puppets(read in 2018) Cry Witch!; The Hill and the Hole; The Enormous Bedroom; Black Glass; I'm Looking for Jeff; The Eeriest Ruined Dawn World; Richmond, Late September, 1849; The House of Mrs. Delgato; The Black Ewe; Replacement for Wilmer: A Ghost Story; MS. Found in a Maelstrom; The Winter Flies; The Button Molder; Do You Know Dave Wenzel?; A Visitor from Back East; Dark Wings; Some Notes on the Texts (John Pelan and Steven Savile) (3 stories in 2016, 0 stories in 2017, continuing to read.). Ill Met in Lankhmar (1 story, completed).

Fritz Leiber: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser—Swords Against Death. Made up of: The Circle Curse; The Jewels in the Forest; Thieves' House; The Bleak Shore; The Howling Tower; The Sunken Land; The Seven Black Priests; Claws from the Night; The Price of Pain-Ease; Bazaar of the Bizarre.  (7 stories, continuing to read).

Barry N. Malzberg: The Engines of the Night—Science Fiction in the Eighties. Made up of: (read in 2016) Introduction to the Ebook EditionIntroduction to the Original EditionThe Number of the Beast(read in 2018) L’État c’est moi; I Could Have Been a Contender, Part One; Anonymity & Empire; I Don’t Know How to Put It Love but I’ll Surely Surely Try; Memoir from Grub Street; The Fifties; The Fifties: Recapitulation and Coda; Ah Tempora! Ah Portions! Ah Mores! Ah Outlines!; Science Fiction and the Academy: Some Notes; At the Divining Edge; Some Notes Toward the True and the Terrible; Wrong Rabbit; John W. Campbell: June 8, 1910 to July 11, 1971; The Science Fiction of Science Fiction; I Don’t Want Her You Can Have Her—; Onward and Upward with the Arts, Part II;  Tell Me Doctor If You Can That It’s Not All Happening Again; The Richard Nixon-John B. Mitchell-Spiro Agnew Blues; Cornell George Hopley Woolrich: December 1903 to September 1968; A Few Hard Truths for the Troops; Onward and Upward with the Arts, Part III; Science Fiction As Picasso; Mark Clifton: 1906– 1963; September 1973: What I Did Last Summer; The Cutting Edge; Son of the True and Terrible; The All-Time, Prime-Time, Take-Me-to-Your-Leader Science Fiction Plot; Grandson of the True and the Terrible; Give Me That Old-Time Religion; SF Forever; What I Won’t Do Next Summer, I Guess; Come Fool, Follify; The Engines of the Night; Con Sordino; Corridors; L’Envoi; Son of L’Envoi (3 entries in 2016, 0 entries in 2017, continuing to read).

Sandy Mitchell: A Mug of Recaff (Warhammer 40,000) (1 story, completed).

Michael Moorcock: Elric—The Stealer of Souls. Made up of: (read in 2016) Foreword (Alan Moore); IntroductionAt the Beginning—Putting a Tag On ItThe Dreaming CityWhile the Gods LaughThe Stealer of SoulsKings in Darkness (with James Cawthorn); (read in 2018) The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams (originally The Flame Bringers); Mission to Asno!; Origins (artwork); Dead God's Homecoming; Black Sword's Brothers; Sad Giant's Shield; Doomed Lord's Passing; Elric; The Secret Life of Elric of Menibone; Final Judgment (Alan Forrest); The Zenith Letter (Anthony Skene) (7 stories in 2016, 0 stories in 2017, continuing to read).

Linda Nagata: The Martian Obelisk (1 story, completed).

Alastair Reynolds: Beyond the Aquila Rift—The Best of Alastair Reynolds (Made up of: (read in 2017) Great Wall of MarsWeather; (read in 2018) Beyond the Aquila Rift; Minla's Flowers; Zima Blue; Fury; The Star Surgeon's Apprentice; The Sledge-Maker's Daughter; Diamond Dogs; Thousandth Night; Troika; Sleepover; Vainglory; Trauma Pod; The Last Log of the Lachrimosa; The Water Thief; The Old Man and the Martian Sea; In Babelsberg; Story Notes for Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds (2 stories in 2017, continuing to read).

Spider Robinson: My Favorite Shorts. Made up of: Introduction; God Is An Iron; Soul Search; Orphans of Eden; Local Champ; In the Olden Days; Not Fade Away; Rubber Soul; You Don't Know My Heart; Serpent's Teeth; Copyright Violation; "—and Subsequent Construction"; Melancholy Elephants; Going Home With Ginny; Playing You Out With Music (15 entries, collection completed).

Spider Robinson: Callahan's Crosstime Saloon. Made up of:Introduction: Spider Robinson: The SF Writer as Empath (Ben Bova); Foreword; The Guy with the Eyes; The Time-Traveler; The Centipede's Dilemma; Two Heads Are Better Than One; The Law of Conservation of Pain; Just Dessert; "A Voice Is Heard in Ramah ... "; Unnatural Causes; The Wonderful Conspiracy (11 entries, collection completed).

Spider Robinson: Time Travelers Strictly Cash. Made up of: ForewordsFivesight; Soul Search; Spider vs. the Hax of Sol III; Dog Day Evening; God Is an Iron; Rah, Rah, R.A.H.!; Have You Heard the One ... ?; Local Champ; The Web of Sanity; Mirror/rorriM Off the Wall; Serpents' Teeth; Callahan's in Cyberspace (12 stories, collection completed).

Spider Robinson: Callahan's Secret. Made up of:Foreword; Involuntary Man's Laughter; Pyotr's Story; The Blacksmith's Tale; The Mick of Time (5 entries, collection completed).

Nisi Shawl and Bill Campbell (editors): Stories For Chip—A Tribute to Samuel R. Delany. Made up of: (read in 2016) Introduction (Kim Stanley Robinson); Michael Swanwick and Samuel R. Delany at the Joyce Kilmer Service Area, March 2005 (Eileen Gunn); Billy Tumult (Nick Harkaway); Voice Prints (Devorah Major); Delany Encounters: Or, Another Reason Why I Study Race and Racism in Science Fiction (Isiah Lavender III; Clarity (Anil Menon); When Two Swordsmen Meet (Ellen Kushner); For Sale: Fantasy Coffin (Ababuo Need Not Apply) (Chesya Burke); Holding Hands with Monsters (Haralambi Markov); Song for the Asking (Carmelo Rafala); Kickenders (Kit Reed); Walking Science Fiction: Samuel Delany and Visionary Fiction (Walidah Imarisha); Heart of Brass (Alex Jennings); Empathy Evolving as a Quantum of Eight-Dimensional Perception (Claude Lalumière); Be Three (Jewelle Gomez); Guerrilla Mural of a Siren's Song (Ernest Hogan); An Idyll in Erewhyna (Hal Duncan); Real Mothers, a Faggot Uncle, and the Name of the Father: Samuel R. Delany's Feminist Revisions of the Story of SF (L. Timmel Duchamp); Nilda (Junot Díaz); The First Gate of Logic (Benjamin Rosenbaum); The Master of the Milford Altarpiece (Thomas M. Disch); River, Clap Your Hands (Sheree R. Thomas); Haunt-Type Experience (Roz Clarke); (read in 2018) Eleven Stations (Fábio Fernandes); «Légendaire.» (Kai Ashante Wilson); On My First Reading of The Einstein Intersection (Michael Swanwick); Characters in the Margins of a Lost Notebook (Kathryn Cramer); Hamlet's Ghost Sighted in Frontenac, KS (Vincent Czyz); Each Star a Sun to Invisible Planets (Tenea D. Johnson); Clones (Alex Smith); The Last Dying Man (Geetanjali Dighe); Capitalism in the 22nd Century or A.I.r. (Geoff Ryman); Jamaica Ginger (Nalo Hopkinson and Nisi Shawl); Festival (Christopher Brown). (23 stories in 2016, 0 stories in 2017, continuing to read.).

Clifford D. Simak and David W. Wixon (editor): I Am Crying All Inside and Other Stories. Made up of: (read in 2016) Introduction (David W. Wixon); (re-read in 2018) Installment Plan(read in 2018) I Had No Head and My Eyes Were Floating Way Up In the Air; Small Deer; Ogre; Gleaners; Madness from Mars; Gunsmoke Interlude; I Am Crying All Inside; The Call from Beyond; All the Traps of Earth. (2 stories in 2016, 0 stories in 2017, 10 stories in 2018, collection completed).

Clifford D. Simak and David W. Wixon (editor): The Big Front Yard and Other Stories. Made up of: Clifford D. Simak: Learning All the Words (David W. Wixon); The Big Front Yard; The Observer; Trail City's Hot-Lead Crusaders; Junkyard; Mr. Meek - Musketeer; Neighbor; Shadow World; So Bright the Vision (9 entries, collection completed).

Clifford D. Simak and David W. Wixon (editor): Grotto of the Dancing Deer and Other Stories. Made up of: The Language of Clifford D. Simak (David W. Wixon); Over the River and Through the Woods; The Grotto of the Dancing Deer; The Reformation of Hangman's Gulch; The Civilization Game; Crying Jag; Hunger Death; Mutiny on Mercury; Jackpot; Day of Truce; Unsilent Spring (with Richard S. Simak (11 entries, collection completed).

Clifford D. Simak and David W. Wixon (editor): New Folks' Home and Other Stories. Made up of: Introduction: The Names in Simak (David W. Wixon); New Folks' Home; The Questing of Foster Adams; Hermit of Mars; Worlds Without End; Barb Wire Brings Bullets!; Second Childhood; Beachhead; Sunspot Purge; Drop Dead; Worrywart (2 stories, continuing to read).

Clifford D. Simak and David W. Wixon (editor): The Thing in the Stone and Other Stories. Made up of: Introduction: Clifford D. Simak : Seeker After the Truth (David W. Wixon); The Thing in the Stone; The World of the Red Sun; Skirmish; Aesop; The Hangnoose Army Rides to Town!; Univac: 2200; The Creator; The Spaceman's Van Gogh; Hunch; Construction Shack (11 stories, collection completed).

(The Clifford D. Simak collections are eBook and—I think—paper editions as well. I had subscribed to an earlier effort that failed after two volumes—taking quite a sum of my money with it. Hopefully I get through all of these in 2018. I will note that I'm not sure if this is really "complete" as a note in The Thing in the stone and Other Stories mentions plans for fourteen collections and I haven't seen any beyond these collections when they came out a few years ago.)

Clark Ashton Smith: The Collected Fantasies 01—The End of the Story. Made up of: (read in 2017) Introduction (Ramsey Campbell); A Note on the Texts (Scott Connors and Ron Hilger); To the DaemonThe Abominations of Yondo; (read in 2018) Sadastor; The Ninth Skeleton; The Last Incantation; The End of the Story; The Phantoms of the Fire; A Night in Malneant; The Resurrection of the Rattlesnake; Thirteen Phantasms; The Venus of Azombeii; The Tale of Satampra Zeiros; The Monster of the Prophecy; The Metamorphosis of the World; The Epiphany of Death; A Murder in the Fourth Dimension; The Devotee of Evil; The Satyr; The Planet of the Dead; The Uncharted Isle; Marooned in Andromeda; The Root of Ampoi; The Necromantic Tale; The Immeasurable Horror; A Voyage to Sfnomoe; Appendix One—Story Notes; Appendix Two—"The Satyr" Alternate Conclusion; Appendix Three—From the Crypts of Memory; Appendix Four—Bibliography; About the Editors (4 stories in 2017, continuing to read).

Michael Swanwick: Day of the Kraken; The Phantom in the Maze; The Fire Gown; House of Dreams; The Mongolian Wizard; The Pyramid of Krakow; The Dala Horse; What Can Be Saved from the Wreckage? (7 stories and 1 essay, completed).

John Varley: The Persistence of Vision. Made up of: Introduction (Algis Budrys); The Phantom of Kansas; Air Raid; Retrograde Summer; The Black Hole Passes; In the Hall of the Martian Kings; In the Bowl; Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance; Overdrawn at the Memory Bank; The Persistence of Vision (10 entries, collection completed).

John Varley: The Barbie Murders. Made up of: BagatelleThe Funhouse EffectThe Barbie Murders; Equinoctial; Manikins; Beatnik Bayou; Good-Bye, Robinson Crusoe; Lollipop and the Tar Baby; Picnic on Nearside (9 entries, collection completed).

(I have a plan to read all the Varley anthologies, than at least the "Eight Worlds" novels ahead of the final volume of much delayed third volume of his Metals Trilogy.)

Dannie Ware: Mercy (Warhammer 40,000) (1 story, completed).

Connie Willis: I Met a Traveller in an Antique Land (excerpt from the story here) (1 story, completed).

Gene Wolfe: Storeys from the Old Hotel. Made up of: An Introduction; The Green Rabbit from S'Rian; Beech Hill; Sightings at Twin Mounds; Continuing Westward; Slaves of Silver; The Rubber Bend; Westwind; Sonya, Crane Wessleman, and Kittee; The Packerhaus Method; Straw; The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton; To the Dark Tower Came; Parkroads—A Review; The Flag; Alphabet; A Criminal Proceeding; In Looking-Glass Castle; Cherry Jubilee; Redbeard; A Solar Labyrinth; Love, Among the Corridors; Checking Out; Morning-Glory; Trip, Trap; From the Desk of Gilmer C. Merton; Civis Laputus Sum; The Recording; Last Day; Death of the Island Doctor; On the Train; In the Mountains; At the Volcano's Lip; In the Old Hotel; Choice of the Black Goddess (2 entries, continuing to read).

Gene Wolfe: Endangered Species. Made up of: Introduction; A Cabin on the Coast; The Map; Kevin Malone; The Dark of the June; The Death of Hyle; From the Notebook of Dr. Stein; Thag; The Nebraskan and the Nereid; In the House of Gingerbread; The Headless Man; The Last Thrilling Wonder Story; House of Ancestors; Our Neighbour by David Copperfield; When I Was Ming the Merciless; The God and His Man; The Cat; War Beneath the Tree; Eyebem; The HORARS of War; The Detective of Dreams; Peritonitis; The Woman Who Loved the Centaur Pholus; The Woman the Unicorn Loved; The Peace Spy; All the Hues of Hell; Procreation; Lukora; Suzanne Delage; Sweet Forest Maid; My Book; The Other Dead Man; The Most Beautiful Woman on the World; The Tale of the Rose and the Nightingale (And What Came of It); Silhouette (2 entries, continuing to read).

Gene Wolfe: The Fifth Head of Cerberus. A novel in parts (three novellas), made up of: The Fifth Head of Cerberus; 'A Story', by John V Marsch; V.R.T. (1 entry, continuing to read).

[The Gene Wolfe reading is going to be somewhat jumpy. I'm listening to two podcasts covering Gene Wolfe. For the one, they are currently covering the New Sun sequence, so I will be re-reading those books. For the other, they are concentrating on short works, so the sequence of reading will be:

Trip Trap (Old Hotel)
House of Ancestors (Endangered Species)
The Changeling (Castle of Days)
Paul's Treehouse (Castle of Days)
Morning Glory (Old Hotel)
Car Sinister (Castle of Days)
How the Whip Came Back (Castle of Days)
Of Relays and Roses (Castles of Days)
The Scarecrow's Boy (by Michael Swanwick) (Year's Best SF 14, edited by Hartwell/Cramer; Not So Much Said the Cat by Swanwick)
The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories (Endangered Species)
The HORARS of War (Endangered Species)
Eyebem (Endangered Species)
Sonya, Crane Wessleman, and Kittee (Old Hotel)

(I've read a number of these upon first publication, if they appeared in anthologies such as Orbit, so it has been so long it'll be like the first time again!]

Liz Ziemska: Mandelbrot the Magnificent (excerpts from the story can be read here) (one story, completed).

Periodicals:

Locus: February 2018 (counts as four entries); May 2018 (counts as four entries).

HALO

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a short video showing a Sun halo of ice crystals in the skies of Sweden.