Under a Black Rainbow

JANUARY  (7 books | 2,036 pgs) 01.) The Game Master's Book of Villains, Minions, and Their Tactics (Game Manual, 256 pgs) | 4/5 02.)  The Game Master's Book of Traps, Puzzles and Dungeons (Game Manual, 256 pgs) | 4/5 03.) Loteria by Cynthia Pelayo (Stories & Poetry, 344 pgs) | 3/5 04.) The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (Novel, 528 pgs) | 2/5 05.) Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware (Graphic Novel, 384 pgs) | 3/5 06.) Root Rot by Saskia Nislow (Novella, 140 pgs) | 3/5 07.) The Undead by Johan Egerkrans (Art, 128 pgs) | 4/5 *     *     * I am late in posting my monthly reading list and personal updates. The new job is full of wonderful people and challenging work, but I often feel like my productivity is being used inefficiently. There are ways to mitigate this, and I'm working on it.  But this struggle makes for a crowded headspace. After being in the office all day most of the week, I yearn for the silence of...

I've had a strangely large number of conversations in the last two weeks about the nature of authenticity, itself a comment on truth as a whole.  Because so much of what life has thrown at us in recent years is composed of digital falsehoods pushing nonsense, linguistic labyrinths meant to confound, and a wholesale weaponization of language forcing ideologies to clash against each other...it can be hard to find the authenticity in life sometimes.  The internet was lauded early on as some great bastion of learning. It was also touted as a way to further connect people of differing backgrounds and ideas. Though presented as a kind of great technological, cosmopolitan symposium like those held in ancient Greece among statesmen and politicians and philosophers, it has become simply another great example of our idealism outshining the reality of what would actually happen. Rather than being a pure way of spreading truth and knowledge, we've basically polluted the digital ocean in t...

SEPTEMBER  (5 books | 1,175 pgs) 35.) Death My Own Way by Michael S.A. Graziano (Novella, 130 pgs) | 3/5 36.) The Goth House Experiment by S.J. Sindu (Stories, 209 pgs) | 3/5 37.) Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha (Stories, 284 pgs) | 4/5 38.) Dead Inside by Chandler Morrison (Novel, 168 pgs) | 2/5 39.) Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware (Graphic Novel, 384 pgs) | 3/5 * Light month of reading, but I've been hyper focused on revising my resumes and cover letters, submitting to open work positions, and handling some family stuff in the background.  The only book I really enjoyed this month was Thomas Ha's Uncertain Sons and Other Stories . More sci-fi-leaning than I typically enjoy, but man that guy can worldbuild his ass off. Great collection of super punchy, vibrant places in some very similar wheres in some very similar whens, albeit VERY, VERY different. I'm shocked it's his first collection.  * Slight movements being made on the next ...

  Wild year to come back to this series, but I'm glad it's back to allow a little escapism for those of us with darker hearts in need of filling.  And the latest season mostly delivers. Certainly more so than season 6 did, but here's how I ranked those episodes:  S6E1: "Joan is Dead" - This one was fine, if a bit over the top in moments (necessarily so). I give this one a solid 4/5.  S6E2: "Loch Henry" - Loved this one for the tension. It's dark, no one wins, and the use of tech is present in a fun way. My second favorite episode of the season: 5/5. S6E3: "Beyond the Sea" - My absolute favorite episode of this season. Great storyline, great worldbuilding, absolutely brutal ending that's so earned. A super enthusiastic 5/5 for sure.  S6E4: "Mazey Day" - Absolute nonsense. This felt less like a Black Mirror episode and more like a creature of the week thing. The only episode worse than this one was the final one. Barely a 1/5, b...

  Small Portrait (1950) Kay Sage * Probably gonna start calling these posts something else since I'm definitely reading a lot less this year than I did last year. I'm also not updating nearly as often.  April was significantly better than March, but no less eye-opening in some respects.  * I read one book for all of April and it was a novella by Netflix and movie screen horror wunderkind Mike Flanagan. "Rare, Fine & Limited" was an immediate purchase for me when I saw that it would be a Mike Flanagan novella attached to a bottle of tequila. That bottle then became a spectacularly delicious sotal spirit, which was a delicious smokiness that I'd never had before, but which was enjoyed alongside this reading.  Flanagan's movies and shows have been exceptionally done, so I expected nothing less in a novella. And the first 72 pages were magnificent. SO GOOD. The pacing was stunning, the story evolved into something I really, really became enamored by once it h...

  MARCH  (1 book | 266 pgs) 05.) The Genocide House by Robert Kloss (Novel, 266 pgs) | 2/5 * March remains an incredibly tough month for me; mom's birthday comes at the beginning of the month, mine in the middle, then the anniversary of her passing near the end. There is no part of the month where her absence is not felt despite my trying to simply get through it all.  But this month has been especially tough, both personally and professionally. I won't expand on the personal stuff, though it weighs relatively heavy. But professionally, I'm getting my ass handed to me on a daily basis. The education I'm getting is good; the realization that I'm still not at the level I want to be...is frustrating. And that's all on me, I'm finding.  There is a mountain of things I need to learn in order to be half as good as I want to be at my job. And though I still love the work, it has been a really, really hard month. Some of that is work related, a fair amount remains e...

  OCTOBER  (5 books | 909 pgs) 94.)  The House of Slaughter, Vol. 4: Alabaster (Graphic Novel, 160pgs) |  5/5 95.) Critical Role | The Mighty Nein Origins: Beauregard Lionett (Graphic Novel, 56 pgs) | 5/5 96.) Critical Role | The Mighty Nein Origins: Cadeucus Clay (Graphic Novel, 56 pgs) | 5/5 97.) A Guest in the House by E.M. Carroll (Graphic Novel, 256 pgs) | 3/5 98.) Anthology of Emo, Vol. 1 by Tom Mullen (Nonfiction, 381 pgs) | 3/5 *     *     * August and September were super anemic on the writing front. Between being sick for much of August and then having so many events happening in September, I just never got back into the swing of things. Really tried to do more with October as I took the last week off for vacation, but other life stuff got in the way and I was forced to spend much of my free time handling that.  I remain in a creative rut, at least somewhat. There are little sparks here and there every so often, but the dam is sturd...

AUGUST  (0 books | 0 pgs) Obviously, I was unable to read as much as I have in prior months. September, however, is looking nice and ripe for some catching up on the books I meant to complete this month. If nothing else, I've already read 93 books and had planned on reading 80 for the entire year, so...not a bad time to take a break for a minute while life has its way with me.  August found me busy with two of the remaining four stops on the 2024 "Book Tour" I've tried to complete, with one event in Blue Springs netting me 16 book sales and my reading/signing event in St. Louis netting me 8 more book sales. I had the pleasure of meeting a ton of great people at the local event and can't wait to meet more at the Phantom Pages Festival on Saturday, October 5th .  I was inspired by several of the authors seen at the Blue Springs event, and decided to up my own self-promo game by buying a collapsible vinyl banner and creating some excerpted bookmarks.  I began helping...