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My sci-fi poem “Martian Gardeners Paring Memories of Old Earth” is published in this month’s issue of Solarpunk Magazine.
A short piece that’s been rattling around in my head for years, this one is small but packs a punch. Unfortunately, it’s paywalled, but you get the whole issue for $6 and it’s packed with great solar punk fiction and poetry.
My fantasy short story “Reflections on Discord” is now published in the Winter 2025 edition of The Colored Lens. “Reflections on Discord” follows Adewale, abused hired-help of an expedition to a mysterious city. Adewale dreams of adventure and being free, but his life of servitude offers no hope for that—until his reflection takes on a life of its own. Grab yourself a copy here.
I had hoped to write some kind of end of year post in December 2024. Maybe even a brief newsletter. But neither of those things happened. I don’t know how people get around to it. Oh well, better late than never.
Continuing on from reports in 2022 and 2023 (inspired by a similar analysis from Kate McKean’s excellent newsletter), here’s the breakdown for the books I read in 2024. The list includes things I finished, but also DNFs if I finished an appreciable portion of the book before putting it down.
I read 66 books in 2024. I can immediately report that I read a lot of short fiction on my e-reader, and listened to a lot of podcasts. But beyond that, I need to dig into the numbers.
Slightly more fiction this year, but it seems like I naturally gravitate to a 50/50 split on fiction/non-fiction. More sci-fi than last year, but much less fantasy. Surprising—I hadn’t noticed the lack of fantasy.
Overall this more closely resembles 2022 than 2023. Apparently I got a taste for books on writing craft this year—interesting, given I wouldn’t have guessed that. Memoir was still big but tied with science—again, surprising, as I would have said I read much more science. I picked up a lot of other interesting things this year in non-fiction, and it’s nice to see that reflected here.
As usual, mostly paperback. My audiobook listening was almost nonexistent. I was aware that I picked up a lot of hardbacks this year, which was a real joy. However, I hadn’t really appreciated just how few ebooks I read this year. I have been reading a lot of short fiction on my e-reader, which probably accounts for my lack of awareness.
Still on an upward trend here (60/40 in 2022, 52/48 in 2023). I recall putting in a lot of effort on this in 2022, and somewhat in 2023, but I hadn’t really paid any attention to this in 2024 beyond noticing that my bookshelf looks more diverse than it used to. It’s nice to see that this has become more of a sustained habit that I don’t have to consciously maintain.
I count books as ‘read’ on my log even if I don’t read them cover to cover. As a rule of thumb, if I get more than halfway, I’ll count it. I DNFed 8 books this year, roughly the same percentage as last year. Looking at the books in question, they were mostly longer works that, for me, seemed to fizzle out.
For reference, here’s the list (see the Book Log for previous years):
You can now read my sci-fi story “Nelly’s World” for free in Gamut Magazine.
The story was published in issue #11 only a few months ago. Unfortunately, Gamut Magazine has now closed after a single year of excellent issues. But the editors have kindly lowered the paywall, and put the stories into this free-to-read archive.
My fantasy story “Ten Thousand Years Walking the Godsroad” is now available in Issue #2 of Trollbreath Magazine. This story follows Harnivel, spin doctor of the gods, as he navigates a sentient magical road to escape imprisonment in the underworld—but the road is long, and the road has plans of its own.
This is a weird story that was great fun to write, and is part of a wider range of stories featuring Harnivel. Hopefully it’s the first of several publications in this line.