2014 – My Literary Year in Review

I wrote not one but two essays for the blog this week. Didn’t like either of them when they were done. That’s the kind of mood I’m in. Perhaps I’ll rework them and share them later. Perhaps I’ll file them away as pieces of journal therapy. At any rate, lacking substantive content, I thought it might be useful to review what I produced, and what I took in, literature wise, during this past year.

In addition to 59 blog posts, I shared the short stories “Call Me Sam” on Phil Giunta’s blog, and “Don’t Go in the Barn, Johnny” in the Firebringer anthology Somewhere in the Middle of Eternity. I did also write one radio play (first draft only), five short stories (one sold, yet to be published, two rejected, one pending, one slated for my podcast), a novella (thrice-rejected), a premise for a (non-SF) novel, a premise for a comic series, and a good deal of copy for work-related websites. Kind of a disappointing showing, all things considered. Let’s hope 2015 is better. I’ve already sold two essays sight-unseen to two books from a pretty prestigious publisher, so that’s good.

My top ten most-read posts of 2014 were, in order:

Leadership Lessons in Ender’s Game
Review – Ultraman Mebius           
Helen Noel Kicks Ass! (And other reflections upon reading the first volume of James Blish’s Star Trek series.)           
Getting to the heart of a character… Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Review – Space: 1999 – To Everything That Was           
15 of Marvel’s Greatest Comics… Steve’s Perspective
Double Doors are a Two-Way Street – a silly but important reflection           
Carter Hall is one bloodthirsty guy… A Review of The Golden Age Hawkman Archives
I F___ing HATE Political Memes!
The Globe Wernike Elastic Bookcase

Obviously, #1 shows that a lot of kids are using my blog to do book reports, and #10 shows that… um… I can pretty much write about anything and get some hits?

Finally, on the incoming side, I read about 60 books. That counts some “read” on audio. Here’s what influenced me this year:

Gods and Warriors            Michelle Paver
Essential Fantastic Four, Vol. 8
Odd and the Frost Giants            Neil Gaiman
Space:1999 Johnny Byrne’s Children of the Gods            William Latham
Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four, Vol. 4
Peter Pan in Scarlet            Geraldine McCaughrean
The Graveyard Book            Neil Gaiman
The House of the Seven Gables            Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Annotated Peter Pan            J.M. Barrie
Wonder Woman Archives, Vol. 5
Nextwave, Agents of H.A.T.E. Ultimate Collection
Destination: Moonbase Alpha            Robert E Wood
Legion of Super-Heroes Archives, Vol. 11
Wind Dancers            R.M. Meluch
Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil, Vol. 1
Classic Space: 1999 ‚Äì To Everything That Was Selected Remastered Works            Andrew E.C. Gaska
The Golden Age Doctor Fate Archives, Vol. 1
The Search For Maggie Ward            Andrew M. Greeley
Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century Volume 2: The Man Who Learned Better            William H. Patterson Jr.
The Mightiest Machine            John W. Campbell Jr.
The Books of Magic            Neil Gaiman
The Menace from Earth             Robert A. Heinlein
Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men, Vol. 3            Roy Thomas
Something Wicked This Way Comes            Ray Bradbury
Black Canary/Zatanna: Bloodspell
Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes: The Authorized Adaptation
The Steel Remains             Richard K. Morgan
Marvel Masterworks: Marvel Two-In-One, Vol. 1
For Love of Mother-Not            Alan Dean Foster
The Hugo Movie Companion: A Behind the Scenes Look at How a Beloved Book Became a Major Motion Picture            Brian Selznick
Showcase Presents: The Brave and the Bold: The Batman Team-Ups, Vol. 2
Icerigger             Alan Dean Foster
The Faith Instinct: How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures            Nicholas Wade
The Communist Manifesto            Karl Marx
Marvel Masterworks: Captain America, Vol. 3
Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked           Catherine Orenstein
Essential Avengers, Vol. 7            Jim Shooter
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer            Mark Twain
Spook Hole (Doc Savage, #70)            Kenneth Robeson
Magnus, Robot Fighter 4000 A.D., Vol. 1
Superman Archives, Vol. 1
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Christabel and Kubla Khan            Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Showcase Presents: Ghosts
My Years with Ayn Rand            Nathaniel Branden
Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man, Vol. 6
Sons Of The Titans             Patrick H. Adkins
All Star Comics Archives, Vol. 1
Riverrun            S.P. Somtow
Atomic Robo and the Fightin’ Scientists of Tesladyne
Superheroes!: A Never-Ending Battle            Laurence Maslon
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 2009            Alan Moore
The Sandman, Vol. 3: Dream Country             Neil Gaiman
For Us, the Living: A Comedy of Customs            Robert A. Heinlein
The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde            Oscar Wilde
Logan’s World           William F. Nolan
DC Universe Christmas
Oliver Twist            Charles Dickens
Alien 3            Alan Dean Foster

 

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