Red Square

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day appears to be an odd sight in the sky. MWC 922 appears to be a square when viewed by a telescope. What causes a nebula to take an (apparent) shape like this?

Morning Stars

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows five (well, six!) members of the Solar System scattered across the view. Can you spot planet six?

Hidden in the Camel

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows close by (a mere 10 million light-years away) galaxy IC 342 in the constellation of Camelopardalis.

Overpowered

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows two galaxies, Messier 60 (an elliptical galaxy) and Messier 4647 (a spiral galaxy). The elliptical seems to almost overpower the light of the spiral galaxy (as well as most of the other, further galaxies in the frame).

Arches and Reflections

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the Arch of the Sky (the Milky Way), auroral activity and the reflections of both in a lake. "Mouseover" the image for a constellation guide.

The Fall of Coffee

Was William S. Burroughs able to use magical powers and put a hex on a hip coffee joint, forcing it to close its doors forever?

Or was it just somebody else complaining about bad cheesecake? Or (as with so much today) rising rents?

You decide! The strange story of cut-up technique, out of phase recordings and the hexing of Moka Bar.

Galactic Assassin

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a possible assassin, ASASSN-151h. 200 times brighter than the brightest supernova and (temporarily!) 200 times brighter than all the stars of our galaxy combined, this object could be the brightest object ever detected.

Elemental Stars

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day combines the familiar periodic table of elements with in what kinds of stellar furnaces it is theorized they formed in.

Birthing Spider

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a Hubble Space Telescope image of young stars in the gas and dust rich region known as the Tarantula Nebula.

Northern Climes

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day points to a few deep sky objects found in a familiar constellation, Ursa Major (the Big Bear, but also known variously as The Plough, The Big Dipper and more). Look carefully and you'll spot a temporary visitor as well! ("Mouseover" the image for some guidance to nomenclature.)

Deep Study

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Messier 101 in the constellation of Ursa Major. Discovered by Messier, studied by Lord Rosse and his Leviathan, this image combines the data from several space-borne instruments to bring new understanding to M101's structure and makeup.

Spaces

Works space setups of various creative folk through the ages. Interesting to see how plain and unadorned some of these are. Clearly some of us are overthinking our work areas!

Two-Tail

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a finely-detailed image of Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) and it's dust and ion tails as it seemed to pass near Messier 101 in the constellation of Ursa Major.

The Sky is Falling

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day attempts to answer the age-old question: Why did the chicken cross the road?

Desert Planet

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows MSL Curiosity's current target on the road to Mount Sharp: exploring the makeup of the dark sand dunes found in Curiosity's current path (click on the image to get a "uncompressed" look; as it sits on the APOD website it looks somewhat odd).

The Dim Red Dot

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Proxima Centauri, a member of the Alpha Centauri star system. Proxima Centauri is only visible through a telescope and is currently under close scrutiny. Does it have planets? Perhaps we'll find out soon!

The Wisdom Stars

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the core of the Milky Way in infrared light, giving us some clues as to the structure and makeup that are hidden from "the naked eye" due to obscuring dust clouds.


(The term "Wisdom Stars" in the title refers to a game called Outreach that placed such objects in the center of the galaxy. It's possible that this concept was lifted from Ben Bova's classic novel The Star Conquerors, but I have no definite proof of that. Stories about the center of the galaxy abound, from Gregory Benford's Galactic Center series to Larry Niven's At the Core to Vernor Vinge's Zones of Thought. Reality looks as strange, or stranger.)

Clustering

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a cluster of galaxies centered on Messier 106, a spiral galaxy in the constellation of Canes Venatici.

Wright Mons

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us a more detailed look at a portion of dwarf planet Pluto, as imaged by the New Horizons 2015 vehicle (now on it's way to another target).

Links

Connections between Neil Gaiman's Sandman and the rest of the "DC Universe". Personally, when I stumbled across an image of, say, Batman, in a story in the Gaiman Sandman series, it was in a story that did less for me than the "pure quill".

Satellite

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is an infrared portrait of one of the Milky Way's satellites, the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Forgotten Decade

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day focuses on the 1970's—not the year but a portion of the New General Catalog—found in the constellation of Orion (and overshadowed by their more famous neighbor, the Great Nebula of Orion).

Wot?

Lego has changed it's mind about bulk purposes. However...

Lego said it used to ask customers ordering bulk purchases for the "thematic purpose" of their project, as it did not want to "actively support or endorse specific agendas". 

"However, those guidelines could result in misunderstandings or be perceived as inconsistent, and the Lego Group has therefore adjusted the guidelines for sales of Lego bricks in very large quantities," it said. 

As of 1 January the company will instead ask that customers make clear the group does not support or endorse their projects, if exhibited in public.

Sometimes a brick is just a brick.

California Dreaming

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows NGC 1499, more popularly known as the California Nebula.

Diffraction Pattern

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a ring, a corona, around the Sun. This is not the corona that one can see during an eclipse (real or caused by artificial means), but a result of light passing through moisture in our atmosphere.

Eject! Eject! Eject!

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a image from the long-lived hard-working SOHO orbiter. It shows a Coronal Mass Ejection bubbling off the Sun and into space. Such events can cause auroral activity in the Earth's upper atmosphere, or, if not prepared for, massive damage to our space and ground infrastructure.

Marked Spiral

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 1300 in the constellation of Eridanus. What lurks at the center of NGC 1300?

In Saturn Space

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us a Cassini orbiter image of Saturn's "shepherd moon" Prometheus and the ghostly F Ring beyond.

NuSTAR Looks at the Neighbor

NASA's Nuclear Spectrosopic Telescopic Array took at look at our largest neighbor, Messier 31, the Andromeda Galaxy. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day maps some of the X-ray sources found within that galaxy.

Comets, Comet Dust

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day combines several plates to catch two comets (and a lucky meteor fall—some comet dust, maybe?) in one view.

Well of Stars

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the Lagoon Nebula, made up of an open cluster (NGC 6530), Messier 8 and NGC 6523. Globules show ongoing star formation, making this a well of stars.

Picture of the Century

A long time ago in a world now seemingly far from ours, a fragile robot beamed back what was called "The Picture of the Century" (see below).

(Images taken by that fragile robot, and others, by the way, are undergoing a process of restoration, revealing new details, which can be used to see how the unchanging Moon has changed since the 1960's. See another image below.)

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day might very well be the new Picture of the Century. Our home pebble, rising over the pebble we call the Moon. Maybe every politician should get a copy of this image to remind her or him how fragile a basket we keep our eggs in.

Outermost

Outermost: The Art and Life of Jack Gaughan; Luis Ortiz (Nonstop Press; 2010; ISBN 978-1-933065-16-8; cover by Jack Gaughan)

I picked up this book as it seemed to be the only one out there covering the art of Jack Gaughan, who, along with a few others (John Schoenherr and Richard Powers in particular) really dominated the artwork for genre books and magazines in the 1960's.

Unfortunately, it was something of a disappointment. It seemed to short when it came to artwork. The text is biographical in nature, somewhat scant on Gaughan's technique. It only really seemed to come alive when the author talked about Gaughan's interactions with the famous genre artist Hannes Bok (the section about Bok's death is particularly touching).

It is, as I said, the only one that seems to be out there. It would be nice to have had something three times in length, or larger reproductions. Maybe the future?

A Little Activity

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the auroral rings (a new one for me!) over the dark skies of Iceland. "Mouseover" the image (in the link, not here) to get a constellation guide.

The More Things Change...

Now that American science fiction, past its majority, is heading for the peaceful middle age of an established form, some of its earliest adherents feel as if they had suddenly grown long gray beards; there is nothing more pathetic, I suppose, than the look on the face of an old-guard fan who's waiting to say something about Stanton A. Coblentz, while all around him people are talking about Heinlein. 

With understandable bitterness, some have been driven to the extreme position that no science fiction published later than 1935 is worth reading—while among their younger colleagues it isn't hard to find those who will put the date still later, and argue that everything published before it was trash.

(Damon Knight, In Search of Wonder, 1956)

Swap out a few names, and this would be the gist of many online conversations over the past few years.

Aurora Australis

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the southern (not northern) lights of Morgiana, SW Victoria, Australia.

Chesley Bonestell

Over at Tor Dot Com, a tribute to Chesley Bonestell.

Not One, But Two

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the tail and anti-tail of Comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina) as it arcs away from the warmth of the Sun.

2016: Active Listens

Late in 2015, I changed the way I "consume" podcasts. Prior to that day, I was manually downloading podcasts, manually adding them to iTunes, manually adding them to my (increasingly creaky and now much missed) iPod.

After that day, I started using an iPhone and the first "app" I added (other than the "apps" that had been on my Android-based cellphone and had iPhone equivalents) was Overcast. There are many podcast apps out there, but I had heard a lot of good things about Overcast (including from the creator of the app), so gave it a try.

As a result, my listening has grown...possibly out of control. But, I'm spending less time downloading/adding/managing and don't mind it back episodes grow: I can save them, delete them, add them later, etc., as I see fit.

Here's my list of "active listens" plus titles that are "inactive" (but still in my subscription lists in the hopes they come back someday). It'll be interesting to see what remains by the end of the year.

(I do not listen to every episode of every podcast. For example, if I'm in the car and a episode with poor sound quality comes on...I'll skip to the next. I'll try that episode again, later. If it is still unlistenable, I'll delete the episode. Same with subject matter: If I can't connect with the episode, I'll delete and move on. So many podcasts, so little time, you know the rest!)

"Hey, Fred! That's a lot of podcasts." Yep, it is. Three things contribute to this: (a) my commute seems to get longer and longer and local radio sucks; (b) still involved in a couple of projects at work that allow me to listen to podcasts (that will slowly change); (c) family goes to bed earlier than me and we don't have a "media room" so watching TV disturbs the sleepers (more time for podcasts!).

(Updated as of July 10, 2016.)

12 Byzantine Rulers (re-listen)

(The) 1843 Podcast

99% Invisible

Accidental Tech Podcast

Adventures in Space and Tim

Afoot

The Agony Column

Alice Isn't Dead

Analog(ue) (considering unsubscribing) (unsubscribed)

Ancient Rome Refocused (inactive, re-listen)

Ancient Warfare Magazine

A Podcast to the Curious: Dedicated to the Weird Fiction of M.R. James

Ask Me Another

Astronomy Cast

The Audio Guide to Babylon 5

Babbage

Back to Work (considering unsubscribing) (unsubscribed)

Backlisted Podcast

Bat Labels Label-Cast

Bat Segundo (inactive)

Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Beware the Hairy Mango

Blurry Photos

Books and Authors

Cabbages and Kings

Campaign Podcast

Charlie Don't Podcast!

Chop Bard

Clarkesworld

Clockwise

Code Switch

The Command Line Podcast (unsubscribed)

Common Sense (with Dan Carlin)

Connected (unsubscribed at end of January)

The Coode Street Podcast (a.k.a., Notes from Coode Street)

The Cornell Collective

Cortex (unsubscribed at end of January)

Covert Contact (The Blogs of War Podcast)

Critical Success

Cthulhu

(The) Cultures (unsubscribed after a dozen or so episodes)

The D6 Generation

Dan Snow's History Hit

Data Skeptic

The Dead Authors Podcast

The Dice Decide

Doctor Who: Radio Free Skaro

Doctor Who: Verity!

Doctor Who: The Writer's Room

The Double Shadow

The Dreaming: The Sandman Read-Along Podcast

Eating the Fantastic

Echoes Interviews (PRI)

The Economist Radio

Embedded

Escape Pod

Epic War Stories: True Stories Told by Real Soldiers

Fangirl Happy Hour

The Fantastic Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs

Fire Talk With Me (inactive, retired?)

FiveThirtyEight Elections

Flash Forward

Fran Wilde

Freakonomics Radio

Fresh Air

The Functional Nerds

Galactichat

Galactic Suburbia

The Gaming Grunts

Gastropod

(The) Great Pendragon Campaign

The Grognard RPG File

Guns, Dice, Butter

Hardcore History (with Dan Carlin)

The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast

Hearts of Space

Hello from the Magic Tavern

Hidden Brain

The History of Byzantium

The History Network

The History of Philosophy in India (same site as below, episodes drop in between main feed)

The History of Philosophy (Without Any Gaps)

The History of Podcast

The History of Rome (retired, re-listen)

History on Fire

How We Roll Podcast

Ideas

The Ihnatko Almanac

In Our Time

The Incomparable

The Incomparable Game Show (several separate shows in one feed)

The Incomparable Radio Theater

The Infinite Monkey Cage

Inquiring Minds

Inquisitive (retired)

The Intelligent Life Podcast

Invisibilia

The Jodcast

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff

Klikitcast (A Beverly Cleary Podcast)

Lazy Doctor Who

Less Than or Equal

Liftoff

Lightspeed

Longform

The Lovecraft Geek (inactive?)

Material (unsubscribed at end of January)

Meanwhile in the Future (inactive?)

Meeples & Miniatures

The Memory Palace

Midnight in Karachi

More or Less: Behind the Stats

(The) Naked Scientist

Norman Centuries (inactive, re-listen)

Note to Self Podcast

NPC Cast: RPG, Tabletop and Boargames

Numbers Station

On the Media

One Shot Podcast

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

The Pen Addict

Philosophy Bites

Planet Money

Pod4Ham: A Podcast About the Musical "Hamilton"

PodCastle

Politics Podcast (NPR)

Pop Culture Happy Hour

(The) Pope's Prayer Intentions

Pray As You Go

Presidential

Pseudopod

Pynchon in Public

Question of the Day

Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men (Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men)

Radio Free Battlefront (inactive?)

Radiolab

Random Trek

Real Time with Bill Maher

Reality Bomb

(The) Rebound

Reconcilable Differences

Revolutions

Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast

Robot or Not?

Rocket Talk

The Rolistes Podcast

Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine

Science Fiction Book Review Podcast

Science Friday

SF Crossing the Gulf (inactive, hope it is revived!)

SF Signal Podcast (retired)

SFFaudio

The Skiffy and Fanty Show

Sofanauts

Sophomore Lit

Sound Opinions

Spark

Special Relationship (Economist and Mic)

Special Sauce with Ed Levine

SPEKTRMODULE

The Sporkful

Starship Sofa

Star Talk Radio

Studio 360

System Mastery (unsubscribed)

Tales of Mythic Adventure

TeeVee (specifically those episodes dealing with shows I watch)

The Talk Show with John Gruber

Tea & Jeopardy

The Three Hoarsemen (well, d'oh!)

Three Moves Ahead

This American Life

Tolkien Professor

Total Party Kill

TV Talk Machine

Two-Minute Time Lord: A Doctor Who Podcast

Unjustly Maligned

(The) Unmute Podcast

UNspoiled! Sandman

Upgrade

The Virtual Memories Show (and at this link as well)

Waking Up with Sam Harris

War College

Welcome to Night Vale

What's the Point

Witness

Within the Wires

(The) Write Gear

The Writer and the Critic

Writing Excuses

WSJ Speakeasy

WWPD (unsubscribed at end of January, due to change in interests of hosts)

You Are Not So Smart

Your Daily Lex (very inactive)

Still looking for a podcast that covers the history of the Vietnam War, including pre-history of Vietnam to current day. If anybody comes across such a thing...

2016: 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 November 8, 2016): 333.

Jason Aaron & Mike Deodato, Jr.: Star Wars: Vader Down 001 (1 story, completed).

Jason Aaron and Jorge Molina: Star Wars (2015-) 001-021; Star Wars Annual 01; Star Wars Special 01 (C-3PO) (23 stories, continuing to read).

John Alison and Max Sarin: Giant Days 001-017 (17 issues, continuing to read).

Brian Michael Bendis & Valerio Schiti: Guardians of the Galaxy (2015-) 001-008 (8 stories, continuing to read).

Karl Bollers, Rick Leonardi, Paul J. Mendoza, Taylor Esposito: Holmes & Watson 001-006, Volumes 01, 02 (extra material) (8 stories, apparently completed).

John Carpenter & Eric Powell & Brian Churilla: Big Trouble in Little China 001-025 (25 stories, continuing to read).

Amit Chauhan and Eli Powell: The 13th Artifact (1 story, complete).

Arvind Ethan David, Ilias Kyriazis, Charlie Kirchoff: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency—A Spoon Too Short 001-005 (5 stories, completed).

Arvind Ethan David & Ilias Kyriazis: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency—The Salmon of Doubt 001 (1 story, continuing to read).

Gerry Duggan & Phil Noto: Chewbacca (2015-) 001-005 (5 stories, completed).

Warren Ellis & Divers Hands: Transmetropolitan 001-060; I Hate It Here; The Filth of the City (62 stories, continuing to read).

Warren Ellis & Jordie, Bellaire & Declan Shalvey: Injection 001-010 (10 stories, continuing to read).

Warren Ellis & Jason Masters: James Bond 001-008 (8 stories, continuing to read).

William Gibson: Archangel 001-002 (2 stories, continuing to read).

Kieron Gillen & Salvador Larroca: Darth Vader (2015-)  001-024, DV Annual 001 (25 stories, continuing to read).

Marc Guggenheim & German Peralta: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2016-) 001-002 (2 stories, continuint to read).

Jonathan Hickman & Tomm Coker: The Black Monday Murders 001 (1 story, continuing to read).

Sam Humphries & Javier Garron: Star-Lord (2015-) 001-008 (8 stories, continuing to read).

Sam Humphries and Alti Firmansyah: Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde (2015) 001-003 (3 stories, completed).

Alexandro Jodorowsky: Alexandro Jodorowky's Screaming Planet 001-002 (2 stories, complete).

Mike Johnson & Co.: Star Trek (2011-) Volumes 001-004 (4 stories, continuing to read).

Antony Johnston, Shari Chankhamma, Justin Greenwood: The Fuse 001-023 (23 stories, continuing to read).

Tom King & Mitch Gerads: Sheriff of Babylon 001-012 (12 stories, continuing to read).

Stan Lee & Jack Kirby: Fantastic Four (1961-1998) 001-006 (6 stories, continuing to read). Uncanny X-Men 001-006 (6 stories, continuing to read).

Marjorie Liu and Mark Brooks: Han Solo 001 (1 story, continuing to read).

Don Lomax: Vietnam Journal Volume 01—Indian Country (1 story, continuing to read).

Jeff Loveness & Brian Kesinger: Groot (2015) 001-006 (6 stories, completed).

Andrew MacLean: ApocalyptiGirl—An Aria for the End Times (1 story, complete).

Mike Mignola & Divers Hands: Hellboy 01—Seed of Destruction (1 story, continuing to read). Abe Sapien—The Drowning 001-004 (4 stories, continuing to read).

Alan Moore, Jacen Burrows, Juan M. Rodriguez: The Courtyard 001 (1 story, completed).

Alan Moore, Jacen Burrows, Juanmar: Neonomicon 001-004 (4 stories, completed).

Jim Ottaviani & Leland Purvis: The Imitation Game: Alan Turing Decoded (1 story, completed).

Kevin Rubio & Lucas Marangon: Star Wars: Tag & Bink Are Dead 001-002 (2 stories, completed). Star Wars: The Return of Tag & Bink 001-002 (2 stories, completed).

Chris Ryall and Tony Akins: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency—Interconnected Kings 001-005 (5 stories, completed, read second time).

Charles Soule & Marco Checchetto: Obi Wan & Anakin 001-005 (5 stories, continuing to read).

Charles Soule & Phil Noto: Poe Dameron (2016-) 001-005 (5 stories, continuing to read).

Charles Soule & Alex Maleev: Lando 001-005 (5 stories, completed).

Various: Deadpool Classic Volume 001-002 (2 stories, continuing to read). Heavy Metal 276 (Jack Kirby and Lord of Light) (1 issue, completed).

Mark Waid & Divers Hands: S.H.I.E.L.D. (2014-2015)—Issues 001-012 (12 issues, completed). All-New, All-Different Avengers (2015-) 001-003, FBCD 2015 (4 stories, continuing to read).

Mark Waid & Terry Dodson: Princess Leia 001-005 (5 stories, completed).

Greg Weisman and Andrea Broccardo: Kanan: The Last Padawan 001-012 (12 stories, continuing to read).

Chuck Wendig & Ario Anindito: Hyperion 001-003 (3 stories, continuing to read).

Chuck Wendig & Luke Ross: Star Wars: The Force Awakens 001-002 (2 stories, continuing to read).

G. Willow Wilson & Divers Hands: Ms. Marvel (2014-2015)—Issues 001-019 (19 stories, completed).

G. Willow Wilson & Divers Hands: Ms. Marvel (2015-)—Issues 001-008 (8 issues, continuing to read).

Skottie Young & Divers Hands: Rocket Raccoon and Groot  001-006 (8 stories, continuing to read).

2016: The Year in Shorts

Many years ago, in a galaxy far, far away, 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. Time for a new batch of stories!

Number of Stories Read: 411 (out of 365) as of December 28, 2016.

(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:

Isaac Asimov (editor): The Hugo Winners (Volumes 01 and 02). Made up of: 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); 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, continuing to read).

Gregory Benford: The Final Now (1 story, completed). Backscatter (1 story, completed).

Ted Chiang: The Great Silence (1 story, completed).

Oliver Dickinson: The Complete Griselda [made up of: Oliver and Me (Greg Stafford); Introduction; Points of View; Lucky Eddi; Griselda Gets Her Men; Shamus Gets a Case; A Tasty Morsel; All in the Family; The Great Chart Caper; Hanufa's Little Sister; Down Among the Dead Men; Good Advice; Wolfhead's Story; Carving Up Carver; Devil's Play; Bad Example; Holding the Baby; This Love Business; Serious Money; Worlds Apart; Red Hot; Happy Anniversary; First Class Protection; The Hero Bit; The Matchmaker; Griselda the Hero??; The Trouble with Nephews; Interfering Uncles Have Their Uses (Michael O'Brien); Different Shades of Red; Respect; The Cradlesnatchers] (30 stories, continuing to read).

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).

Gardner Dozois and George R. R. Martin (editors): Old Venus. Made up of: Introduction: Return to Venusport (Gardner Dozois); Frogheads (Allen M. Steele); The Drowned Celestial (Lavie Tidhar); Planet of Fear (Paul J. McAuley); Greeves and the Evening Star (Matthew Hughes); A Planet Called Desire (Gwyneth Jones); Living Hell (Joe Haldeman); Bones of Air, Bones of Stone (Stephen Leigh); Ruins (Eleanor Arnason); The Tumbledowns of Cleopatra Abyss (David Brin); By Frogsled and Lizardback to Outcast Venusian Lepers (Garth Nix); The Sunset of Time (Michael Cassutt); Pale Blue Memories (Tobias S. Buckell); The Heart's Filthy Lesson (Elizabeth Bear); The Wizard of the Trees (Joe R. Lansdale); The Godstone of Venus (Mike Resnick); Botanica Veneris: Thirteen Papercuts by Ida Countess Rathangan (Ian McDonald). (3 stories, continuing to read.)

Harlan Ellison: The Last Person to Marry a Duck Lived 300 Years Ago: Pointed Essays. Made up of: Infamy, Infamy, They've All Got It in fa Me; Ask Uncle Harlan: 1991 Introduction to Installment 1; Installment 1: 5 August 1989; 1991 Introduction to Installment 2; Installment 2: 27 September 1989; 1992 Introduction to Installment 3; Installment 3: 19 December 1989; Installment 4: 28 June 1990. An Accomplice of Liars & Forgets; Strangers in a Strange Land; Struggling for Interior Logic; The Brides of Sheckenstein; I, Felon; Clark Ashton Smith: Out of Space and Time; The Streets: The Road You Walk Is Thorny, My Son (21 June 1990); Installment 1: 19 July 1990; Installment 2: 25 September 1990; Installment 3: 23 July 1991. T'anks but No Tokes; Abiding with Sturgeon: Mistral in the Bijou; An Untitled, yet Antagonistic, Essay of Approximately 2700 Contumelious but Logical Words; Arthur 'n' Me; The Pitch: It Goes in Neat, but It Comes Out...; ...but It Comes out Spinning Like a Flying Saucer. The Queen of Guilty Pleasures; An Open Letter to "Outre" and Its Editors: J'accuse; He Speaks, and the Angels Sing; But I Digress... (Guest Column). The Misty Forward; Ellison's Folly or, Horrors of the House of Glass; The Soul of Solomon: What Is, Is; Sometimes, Perhaps, What Ain't, Shouldn't Be; I Had a Thought Today...: Installment 1: 15 November 2013; Installment 2: 18 March 2009; Installment 3: 2 May 2009/12 March 2012; Substitute: Installment: 29 March 2009. The Captain of Fate; Terrorists. (37 stories, collection completed.) I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream (1 story).

Harlan Ellison: Deathbird Stories. Made up of: Introduction: Oblations at Alien Altars; The Whimper of Whipped Dogs; Along the Scenic Route; On the Downhill Side; O Ye of Little Faith; Neon; Basilisk; Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes; Corpse; Shattered Like a Glass Goblin; Delusion for a Dragon Slayer; The Face of Helene Bournouw; Bleeding Stones; At the Mouse Circus; The Place with No Name; Paingod; Ernest and the Machine God; Rock God; Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" W; The Deathbird. (20 stories, collection completed.)

Edward L. Ferman and Robert P. Mills (editors): Twenty Years of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Made up of: F&SF and I (Isaac Asimov); 5,271,009 (Alfred Bester); Free Dirt (Charles Beaumont); Becalmed in Hell (Larry Niven); Private - Keep Out! (Philip MacDonald); Gladys's Gregory (John Anthony West); Feminine Intuition (Isaac Asimov); That Hell-Bound Train (Robert Bloch); A Touch of Strange (Theodore Sturgeon); Gratitude Guaranteed (Kris Neville and Reginald Bretnor); Prime-Time Teaser (Bruce McAllister); As Long as You're Here (Will Stanton); Sweet Helen (Charles W. Runyon); A Final Sceptre, a Lasting Crown (Ray Bradbury); Yes, We Have No Ritchard (Bruce Jay Friedman); We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (Philip K. Dick); 237 Talking Statues, Etc. (Fritz Leiber); M-1 (Gahan Wilson); The Silly Season (C.M. Kornbluth); The Holiday Man (Richard Matheson); Something Else (Robert J. Tilley); Afterword (Edward L. Ferman).

Edward L. Ferman (editor): The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction—A Thirty Year Retrospective. Made up of: Introduction (Edward L. Ferman); F&SF at 30 (Isaac Asimov); Fondly Fahrenheit (Alfred Bester); And Now the News... (Theodore Sturgeon); Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot (Reginald Bretnor); Not With a Bang (Damon Knight); Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes); A Canticle for Leibowitz (Walter M. Miller, Jr.); Love Letter from Mars (John Ciardi); One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts (Shirley Jackson); The Women Men Don't See (James Tiptree, Jr.); Born of Man and Woman (Richard Matheson); Jeffty Is Five (Harlan Ellison); Ararat (Zenna Henderson); Me (Hilbert Schenck); Sundance (Robert Silverberg); The Gnurrs Come from the Voodvork Out (Reginald Bretnor); Dreaming Is a Private Thing (Isaac Asimov); Poor Little Warrior! (Brian W. Aldiss); Imaginary Numbers in a Real Garden (Gerald Jonas); We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (Philip K. Dick); Selectra Six-Ten (Avram Davidson); Dance Music for a Gone Planet (Sonya Dorman); Problems of Creativeness (Thomas M. Disch); The Quest for Saint Aquin (Anthony Boucher).

Jennifer Henshaw and Allison Linn (editors): Future Visions. Made up of: Foreword (Harry Shum); Introduction (Rick Rashid); Hello, Hello (Seanan McGuire); The Machine Starts (Greg Bear); Skin in the Game (Elizabeth Bear); Machine Learning (Nancy Kress); Riding with the Duke •(Jack McDevitt); A Cop's Eye (Blue Delliquanti and Michele Rosenthal); Looking for Gordo (Robert J. Sawyer); The Tell (David Brin); Another Word for World (Ann Leckie).

Robert E. Howard: Robert E. Howard's Complete Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One (1932-33). Made up of: Foreword (Mark Schultz); Introduction (Patrice Louinet); Cimmeria; The Phoenix on the Sword; The Frost-Giant's Daughter; The God in the Bowl; The Tower of the Elephant; The Scarlet Citadel; Queen of the Black Coast; Black Colossus; Iron Shadows in the Moon (variant of Shadows in the Moonlight); Xuthal of the Dusk (variant of The Slithering Shadow); The Pool of the Black One; Rogues in the House; The Vale of Lost Women; The Devil in Iron; The Phoenix on the Sword (first submitted draft); Notes on Various Peoples of the Hyborian Age (Uncredited); The Hyborian Age; Untitled Synopsis ("A squad of Zamorian soldiers..."); The Scarlet Citadel (synopsis); Black Colossus (synopsis); Untitled Fragment ("The battlefield stretched silent..."); Untitled Synopsis ("The setting: The city of Shumballa..."); Untitled Draft ("Amboola awakened slowly..."); Hyborian Names and Countries; Hyborian Age Maps; Hyborian Genesis: Notes on the Creation of the Conan Stories (Patrice Louinet); Notes on the Conan Typescripts and the Chronology (Patrice Louinet); Notes on the Original Howard Texts (Uncredited) (9 stories, continuing to read).

Damon Knight: In Search of Wonder. Made up of: Introduction to the First Edition (Anthony Boucher); Author's Notes; Critics; The Classics; Chuckleheads; Campbell and his Decade; 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, continuing to read.)

Penelope Love: Eurhol's Vale & Other Tales. Made up of: Foreword (Andre Jarosch); Explanatory Note; Eurhol's Tale; Down the River; The Harrowing; Wolf & Zebra; A Short Introduction to Glorantha (Peter Metcalfe) (7 stories, completed). It's Not Easy Being Grim & Other Tales. Made up of: Foreword (Andre Jarosch); What My Father Told Me—A Personal View of Gloranthan Culture (James D. and David S. Chapin); The Stranger's Tale; Strange Broo; The Guardian's Death-Bed Story; The Outer Atomic Explorers & the White Moon; Tales of Gim Gim the Grim—It's Not Easy Being Grim—The Bull in the Painting; The Breath of Thantar; The Eye of the Father; The Pool of Gorpgod; Night of the Cacodemon; A Night on the Town; A Rainy Night in Pavis (13 stories, completed).

Barry N. Malzberg: The Engines of the Night—Science Fiction in the Eighties. Made up of: Introduction to the Ebook Edition; Introduction to the Original Edition; The Number of the Beast; 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, continuing to read).

Michael Moorcock: Elric—The Stealer of Souls. Made up of: Foreword (Alan Moore); Inttroduction; At the Beginning—Putting a Tag On It; The Dreaming City; While the Gods Laugh; The Stealer of Souls; Kings in Darkness (with James Cawthorn); 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 entries, continuing to read).

Fritz Leiber: Smoke Ghost and Other Apparitions. Made up of: Introduction (Ramsey Campbell); Smoke Ghost; The Power of the Puppets; 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, continuing to read.). Swords and Deviltry. Made up of: Induction; The Snow Women; The Unholy Grail; Ill Met in Lankhmar. (2 entries, continuing to read).

Andrew Porter (editor): Exploring Cordwainer Smith. Made up of: Introduction (John Bangsund); Paul Linebarger (Arthur Burns); Cordwainer Smith (John Foyster); John Foyster Talks With Arthur Burns (John Foyster & Arthur Burns); I Am Joan and I Love You (Sandra Miesel); Chronology (Alice K. Turner); Bibliography (J.J. Pierce); Background (Andrew Porter) (8 entries, completed).

Roderick Robertson (editor): Gloranthan Visions—Insights into Glorantha. Made up of: Introduction; When the Wolf Pirates Came to the City of Wonders (Phyllis Ann Karr); The Hero Bit (Oliver Dickinson); The Road of Kings (John E. Boyle); Short Myths—Green Age (How Men Got Useful); Golden Age (The Ten Tests of Murharzarm); Storm Age (Orlanth's Ring; How Orlanth Met Ernalda; The Disintegration of Yelm); Great Darkness (The Lightbringer's Quest) (Greg Stafford); Morden Defends the Camp (Greg Stafford) (11 entries, completed).

Nisi Shawl and Bill Campbell (editors): Stories For Chip—A Tribute to Samuel R. Delany. Made up of: 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); 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 entries, continuing to read.)

Clifford D. Simak and David W. Wixon (editor): I Am Crying All Inside and Other Stories. Made up of: Introduciton (David W. Wixon); Installment Plan; 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 entries, continuing to read.)

Cordwainer Smith: The Rediscovery of Man—The Complete Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith. Made up of: Introduction (John J. Pierce); No, No, Not Rogov!; War No. 81-Q (rewritten version); Mark Elf; The Queen of the Afternoon; Letter to the Editor of Fantasy Book; Scanners Live in Vain; The Lady Who Sailed The Soul (Cordwainer Smith and Genevieve Linebarger) (variant); When the People Fell; Think Blue, Count Two; The Colonel Came Back from the Nothing-at-All; The Game of Rat and Dragon; The Burning of the Brain; From Gustible's Planet; Himself in Anachron (Cordwainer Smith and Genevieve Linebarger); The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal; Golden the Ship Was - Oh! Oh! Oh! (Cordwainer Smith and Genevieve Linebarger); The Dead Lady of Clown Town; Under Old Earth; Drunkboat; Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons; Alpha Ralpha Boulevard; The Ballad of Lost C'Mell; A Planet Named Shayol; On the Gem Planet; On the Storm Planet; On the Sand Planet; Three to a Given Star; Down to a Sunless Sea (Cordwainer Smith and Genevieve Linebarger); War No. 81-Q; Western Science Is So Wonderful; Nancy; The Fife of Bodidharma; Angerhelm; The Good Friends. (34 stories, collection completed.)

Cordwainer Smith and Hank Davis (editor): When the People Fell. Made up of: Introduction (Frederik Pohl); No, No, Not Rogov!; War No. 81-Q (rewritten version); Mark Elf; The Queen of the Afternoon; Scanners Live in Vain; The Lady Who Sailed The Soul (Cordwainer Smith and Genevieve Linebarger) (variant); When the People Fell; Think Blue, Count Two; The Colonel Came Back from the Nothing-at-All; The Game of Rat and Dragon; The Burning of the Brain; From Gustible's Planet; Himself in Anachron (Cordwainer Smith and Genevieve Linebarger); The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal; Golden the Ship Was - Oh! Oh! Oh! (Cordwainer Smith and Genevieve Linebarger); Drunkboat; A Planet Named Shayol; On the Gem Planet; On the Storm Planet; On the Sand Planet; Three to a Given Star; Down to a Sunless Sea (Cordwainer Smith and Genevieve Linebarger); War No. 81-Q; Western Science Is So Wonderful; Nancy; The Fife of Bodidharma; Angerhelm; The Good Friends; Timeline of The Instrumentality of Mankind (John J. Pierce). (1 story, completed.)

Cordwainer Smith and Hank Davis (editor): We the Underpeople. Made up of: Introduction (Robert Silverberg); The Dead Lady of Clown Town; Under Old Earth; Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons; Alpha Ralpha Boulevard; The Ballad of Lost C'Mell; Norstrilia. (1 story, completed.)

Allen M. Steele: Sex and Violence in Zero-G—The Complete "Near Space" Stories (Expanded Edition). Made up of: Introduction 01: The Coming of the Space Age; Introduction 02: Return to Near-Space; Walking on the Moon; Free Beer and the William Casey Society; The Return of Weird Frank; Sugar's Blues; The Flying Triangle; The Zoo Team; Live from the Mars Hotel; The War Memorial; Moreau(2); The Great Galactic Ghoul; The Emperor of Mars; Zwarte Piet's Tale; The Weight; Kronos; The Death of Captain Future; The Exile of Evening Star; 0.0G Sex -- A User's Guide; Working for Mister Chicago; High Roller; Shepherd Moon; Appenxix 01: "Near Space" Timeline; Appendix 02: Space Station and Spacecraft Designs (11 stories, continuing to read).

Jonathan Strahan (editor): Meeting Infinity. Made up of: Introduction (Jonathan Strahan); Rates of Change (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck as by James S. A. Corey); Desert Lexicon (Benjanun Sriduangkaew); Drones (Simon Ings); Body Politic (Kameron Hurley); Cocoons (Nancy Kress); Emergence (Gwyneth Jones); The Cold Inequalities (Yoon Ha Lee); Pictures from the Resurrection (Bruce Sterling); Aspects (Gregory Benford); Memento Mori (Madeline Ashby); All the Wrong Places (Sean Williams); In Blue Lily's Wake (Aliette de Bodard); Exile from Extinction (Ramez Naam); My Last Bringback (John Barnes); Outsider (An Owomoyela); The Falls: A Luna Story (Ian McDonald) (5 entries, continuing to read).

Jonathan Strahan (editor): Drowned Worlds. Made up of: Introduction (Jonathan Strahan); Elves of Antarctica (Paul J. McAuley); Dispatches from the Cradle: The Hermit - Forty-Eight Hours in the Sea of Massachusetts (Ken Liu); Venice Drowned (Kim Stanley Robinson); Brownsville Station (Christopher Rowe); Who Do You Love? (Kathleen Ann Goonan); Because Change Was the Ocean and We Lived by Her Mercy (Charlie Jane Anders); The Common Tongue, the Present Tense, the Known (Nina Allan); What Is Jeffrey Ford); Destroyed by the Waters (Rachel Swirsky); The New Venusians (Sean Williams); Inselberg (Nalo Hopkinson); Only Ten More Shopping Days Left Till Ragnarök (James Morrow); Last Gods (Sam J. Miller); Drowned (Lavie Tidhar); The Future is Blue (Catherynne M. Valente) (1 entry, continuing to read).

Jonathan Strahan (editor): The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year (Volume 10). Made up of: Introduction (Jonathan Strahan); Black Dog (Neil Gaiman); City of Ash (Paolo Bacigalupi); Jamaica Ginger (Nalo Hopkinson and Nisi Shawl); A Murmuration (Alastair Reynolds); Kaiju maximus®: "So Various, So Beautiful, So New" (Kai Ashante Wilson); Waters of Versailles (Kelly Robson); Capitalism in the 22nd Century, or A.I.R. (Geoff Ryman); Emergence (Gwyneth Jones); The Deepwater Bride (Tamsyn Muir); Dancy vs. the Pterosaur (Caitlín R. Kiernan); Calved (Sam J. Miller); The Heart's Filthy Lesson (Elizabeth Bear); The Machine Starts (Greg Bear); Blood, Ash, Braids (Genevieve Valentine); Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers (Alyssa Wong); The Lily and the Horn (Catherynne M. Valente); The Empress in Her Glory (Robert Reed); The Winter Wraith (Jeffrey Ford); Botanica Veneris: Thirteen Papercuts by Ida Countess Rathangan (Ian McDonald); Little Sisters (Vonda N. McIntyre); Ghosts of Home (Sam J. Miller); The Karen Joy Fowler Book Club (N.A. Sulway); Oral Argument (Kim Stanley Robinson); Drones (Simon Ings); The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn (Usman T. Malik); The Game of Smash and Recovery (Kelly Link); Another Word for World (Ann Leckie) (1 story, continuing to read).

Charles Stross: The Atrocity Archives. Made up of: Charlie's Demons (Ken MacLeod); The Atrocity Archive; The Concrete Jungle; Afterword—Inside the Fear Factory; Glossary of Abbreviations, Acronyms and Organizations (6 entries, collection completed) (6 entries again, collection completed again). Down on the Farm (1 story, completed). Overtime (1 story, completed). A Tall Tail (1 story, completed).

Jack Vance: The Dying Earth. Made up of: Turjan of Jiir; Mazinian the Magician; T'sais; Liane the Wayfarer; Ulan Dhor Ends a Dream; Guyal of Sfere (6 stories, collection completed). The Eyes of the Overworld. Made up of: The Overworld, Cil; The Mountains of Magnatz; The Sorcerer Pharesm; The Pilgrims; The Cave in the Forest; The Manse of Iucounu (7 stories, completed).

Roger Zelazny (author) and David S. Grubbs, Christopher S. Kovacs and Ann Crimmins (editors): The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny 01: Threshold. Made up of (if no author indicated, item by is by Zelazny): Notes (Christopher S. Kovacs); A Word from the Editors (David G. Grubbs and Christopher S. Kovacs and Ann Crimmins); Out Of Nowhere (Robert Silverberg); Before Amber (Carl B. Yoke); A Rose for Ecclesiastes; A Word from Zelazny (Christopher S. Kovacs and Roger Zelazny); Braxa; Ecclesiastes' Epilogue; Bok; A Word from Zelazny (Christopher S. Kovacs and Roger Zelazny); And The Darkness Is Harsh; A Word from Zelazny (Christopher S. Kovacs and Roger Zelazny); Mr. Fuller's Revolt; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); Diet; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); Youth Eternal; Slush, Slush, Slush; The Outward Sign; The Agnostic's Prayer; Passion Play; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); On May 13, 1937; Cactus King; The Graveyard Heart; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); Our Wintered Way Through Evening, and Burning Bushes Along It; In the Dogged House; Future, Be Not Impatient; Flight; Horseman!; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); The Teachers Rode a Wheel of Fire; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); Sense and Sensibility; Moonless in Byzantium; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); On the Road to Splenoba; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); Final Dining; The Borgia Hand; Nine Starships Waiting; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); Circe Has Her Problems; A Word from Zelazny (Christopher S. Kovacs and Roger Zelazny); The Cat Licks Her Coat; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); The Malatesta Collection; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); From a Seat in the Chill Park; Rodin's 'The Kiss'; To His Morbid Mistress; The Stainless Steel Leech; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); Old Ohio Folkrag; The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); A Thing of Terrible Beauty; A Word from Zelazny (Christopher S. Kovacs and Roger Zelazny); How A Poem Means; Monologue for Two; Concert; Iceage; Threshold of the Prophet; Hart Crane...; Southern Cross; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); I Used to Think in Lines That Were Irregular to the Right; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); A Museum Piece; A Word from Zelazny (Christopher S. Kovacs and Roger Zelazny); Hybris, Or The Danger of Hilltops; Mine is the Kingdom; St. Secaire's; In Pheleney's Garage; King Solomon's Ring; The Black Boy's Reply to William Butler Yeats; The Misfit; Rite of Spring; The Great Slow Kings; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); Collector's Fever; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); The Night Has 999 Eyes; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); Decade Plus One of Roses; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); He Who Shapes; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); See You Later, Maybe; Sundry Notes on Dybology and Suchlike; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); "...And Call Me Roger": The Literary Life of Roger Zelazny, Part 1 (Christopher S. Kovacs); Conditional Benefit; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); Hand of the Master; A Word from Zelazny (Roger Zelazny and Christopher S. Kovacs); The Great Selchie of San Francisco Bay; Studies in Saviory; Acknowledgments (David G. Grubbs and Christopher S. Kovacs and Ann Crimmins) (99 entries, collection completed).

Periodicals:

Locus: April 2015 (4 entries); May 2015 (4 entries); June 2015 (4 entries); July 2015 (4 entries); August 2015 (4 entries); December 2015 (4 entries); January 2016 (4 entries); April 2016 (4 entries).

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (January/February 2016). Made up of: Number Nine Moon (Alex Irvine); The White Piano (David Gerrold); Telltale (Matthew Hughes); Vortex (Gregory Benford); Rockets Red (Mary Robinette Kowal); Smooth Stones and Empty Bones (Bennett North); Casper D. Luckinbill, What Are You Going to Do? (Nick Wolven); Robot from the Future (Terry Bisson); Squidtown (Leo Vladimirsky); Touch Me All Over (Betsy James); Braid of Days and Wake of Nights (E. Lily Yu); Books to Look For (charles de Lint); Books (James Sallis); Films (Pat Murphy and Paul Coherty); Coming Attractions (Uncredited); Curiosities (Graham Andrews) (3 stories, continuing to read.)

2016: 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, 2016): 060.

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

Dick Camp: The Devil Dogs at Belleau Wood—U.S. Marines in World War I (eBook) (May).

Rajiv Chandrasekaran: Little America—The War Within the War for Afghanistan (eBook) (November).

James B. Chapin: It's Not Easy Being Grim & Other Tales (pBook) (December).

C.J. Cherryh: The Pride of Chanur (eBook and aBook) (March). Chanur's Venture (aBook) (April). The Kif Strike Back (aBook) (April). Chanur's Homecoming (aBook) (April). Merchanter's Luck (pBook) (April). Downbelow Station (eBook) (April).

Guillermo del Toro: Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters—Inside His Films, Notebooks, and Collections (pBook) (October).

Oliver Dickinson: The Complete Griselda (pBooks) (December).

Harlan Ellison: The Last Person to Marry a Duck Lived 300 Years Ago (pBook) (October). Deathbird Stories (pBook) (Ocotober).

Ian Fleming: Casino Royale (eBook) (June).

Eric Flint: 1632 (aBook) (February).

William Gibson: Pattern Recognition (aBook) (May).

Jean Giraud (Moebius): Edena (The Moebius Library Volume 1) (pBook) (December).

Robert A. Heinlein: Rocket Ship Galileo (pBook) (October). Space Cadet (pBook) (October). Red Planet (pBook) (October). Farmer in the Sky (pBook) (December). Between Planets (pBook) (December). The Door Into Summer (pBook) (December).

Kenneth Hite: The Thrill of Dracula (pBook) (December).

R.J. Ivankovic: H.P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu (pBook) (December).

Kij Johnson: The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe (pBook) (September).

Phyllis Ann Karr, John Boyle, Oliver Dickinson, Greg Stafford: Gloranthan Visions—Insights into Glorantha (pBook) (December).

Philip Keith: Blackhorse Riders (aBook) (May).

Michael Lee Lanning (editor): Tours of Duty—Vietnam War Stories (eBook) (May).

Robin D. Laws: Blowing Up the Movies (pBook) (December).

John Le Carre: Call for the Dead (eBook) (February). A Murder of Quality (eBook) (May). The Spy Who Came In From the Cold (eBook) (June).

Penelope Love: The Widow's Tale (pBook) (December). Eurhol's Vale and Other Tales (pBook) (December).

Luis Ortiz; Outermost—The Art and Life of Jack Gaughan (pBook) (January).

Ellis Peters: A Morbid Taste for Bones (eBook) (March).

Terry Pratchett: Guards! Guards! (aBook) (July).

Cordwainer Smith (Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger): Norstrilia (pBook) (August). The Rediscovery of Man—The Complete Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith (pBook) (September).

Greg Stafford & Jeff Richard: King of Sartar (pBook) (December).

Neal Stephenson: Cryptonomicon (aBook) (March)

Charles Stross: The Atrocity Archives (eBook) (January) (aBook) (July) (second time).

Howard Tayler: Schlock Mercenary 01—The Tub of Happiness (pBook) (March) (December). Schlock Mercenary 02—The Teraport Wars (pBook) (December).

J.R.R. Tolkien: The Hobbit (eBook) (April).

Jack Vance: The Dying Earth (aBook) (December). The Eyes of the Overworld (aBook) (December). Cugel's Saga (aBook) (December). Rhialto the Marvelous (aBook) (December).

Vernor Vinge: Rainbows End (aBook) (December).

David Weber and Linda Evans: Hell's Gate (eBook) (February). Hell Hath No Fury (eBook) (February).

David Weber & Joelle Presby: The Road to Hell (eBook) (February).

Fran Wilde: Updraft (aBook) (April).

Roger Zelazny: Doorways in the Sand (pBook) (March). A Night in the Lonesome October (pBook) (October). The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, Volume 01—Threshold (pBook) (December).

Books read (in chronological order, master list): 001: Outermost—The Art and Life of Jack Gaughan (Ortiz). 002: The Atrocity Archives (Stross). 003: 1632 (Flint). 004: Hell's Gate (Weber & Evans). 005: Hell Hath No Fury (Weber & Evans). 006: The Road to Hell (Weber & Presby). 007: Call for the Dead (Le Carre). 008: The Tub of Happiness (Tayler). 009: Doorways in the Sand (Zelazny). 010: Cryptonomicon (Stephenson). 011: A Morbid Taste for Bones (Peters). 012: The Pride of Chanur (Cherryh). 013: Chanur's Venture (Cherryh). 014: The Hobbit (Tolkien). 015: The Kif Strike Back (Cherryh). 016; Chanur's Homecoming (Cherryh). 017: Merchanter's Luck (Cherryh). 018: Downbelow Station (Cherryh). 019: Updraft (Wilde). 020: Pattern Recognition (Gibson).  021: Blackhorse Riders (Keith). 022: Tours of Duty—Vietnam War Stories (Lanning). 023: The Devil Dogs at Belleau Wood—U.S. Marines in World War I (Camp). 024: A Murder of Quality (Le Carre). 025: The Spy Who Came In From the Cold (Le Carre). 026: Casino Royale (Fleming). 027: The Atrocity Archives (Stross) (second time). 028: Guards! Guards! (Pratchett). 029: Norstrilia (Smith). 030: The Rediscovery of Man (Smith). 031: The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe (Johnson). 032: A Night in the Lonesome October (Zelazny). 033: The Last Person to Marry a Duck Lived 300 Years Ago (Ellison). 034: Deathbird Stories (Ellison). 035: Rocket Ship Galileo (Heinlein). 036: Space Cadet. 037: Red Planet (Heinlein). 038: Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters—Inside His Films, Notebooks, and Collections (del Toro). 039: Little America—The War Within the War for Afghanistan (Chandrasekaran). 040: The Dying Earth (Vance). 041: Edena (Giraud). 042: Rainbows End (Vinge). 043: The Eyes of the Overworld (Vance). 044: Farmer in the Sky (Heinlein). 045: H.P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu (Ivankovic). 046: Blowing Up the Movies (Laws). 047: The Complete Griselda (Dickinson). 048: The Thrill of Dracula (Hite). 049: The Widow's Tale (Love). 050: Eurhol's Vale and Other Tales (Love). 051: Gloranthan Visions (Various). 052: It's Not Easy Being Grim & Other Tales (Chapin). 053: King of Sartar (Stafford & Richards). 054: Between Planets (Heinlein). 055: The Door Into Summer (Heinlein). 056: The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, Volume 01—Threshold (Zelazny). 057: Cugel's Saga  (Vance). 058: Rhialto the Marvelous (Vance). 059: Schlock Mercenary 01—The Tub of Happiness (Tayler). 060: Schlock Mercenary 02—The Teraport Wars (Tayler).

Paper Books: 030.

Electronic Books: 015.

Audiobooks: 016.

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

2015: The Year in Review

Hey, it's January again? So, how did I do in 2015?

Long form: 154 books!

Short form: 800!

The goal for books is always at least 60, as that seemed to be my average when I was crazily working 80 hours a week plus doing Army National Guard on one or more weekends. So, if I can't get at least that far—I'm doing something wrong. So, I am always happy to get at least a few past that.

Short form: The goal is at least one title per day. So, I made it! Or did I?

If you look at the titles read, most of them are "graphic novels" (comic books for people of a certain age). I may split this into another "The Year In..." category on the blog. The question then comes with the "trades" (collected editions). Do I continue to carry them in The Year in Books, or only restrict them to The Year in Graphics? Stay tuned.

The plan for 2015 was to concentrate on non-fiction. Did I stick to that goal? Nope. Oh, well.

Best of the year? Some non-fiction (especially Peter Ackroyd's Venice and Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods). I definitely want to continue with these sorts of books going forward, as well as mixing in "harder" non-fiction.

Umberto Eco was another good read during the year. I have some more of his non-fiction, so I will continue with those and I have a few novels that are lined up for a re-read or a first read.

Arthur Conan Doyle added a lot to the short works. I plan to start going through the two massive annotated editions I have of the Sherlock Holmes stories in 2016. It may take me more than a year to do so...

I went through Neil Gaiman's Sandman series again, after initially thinking of skipping a year. In doing so, I noticed a few more things that I hadn't previously. And, I got my daughter to start reading the series (she is on Volume 8 as of this morning), so winning!

Biggest discovery this year was Mike Mignola, mostly titles in and around his Hellboy series. I have to thank my podcast co-hosts Jeff Patterson and John Stevens for this (our ongoing discussions on graphic works has really added to my reading list!).

On into 2016!