My Discord / discord I mentioned: The Bookish Bryants youtube.com/@t... CriminOlly youtube.com/@c... Revenant Reads youtube.com/@r... David Wiley youtube.com/@d...
I agree with the masses that "The Forever War" is a must-read; it is way up toward the top of my list of favorite books of science fiction. I love love love Raymond Chandler. There are so many great authors in your stack and so many great works. Thank you, Michael.
H.G. Wells would have loved the internet so much. He would have been such a pain in the ass on the comments. The Bachman books are actually pretty decent if you like pulp fiction. They don't run on as much as most Stephen King books do.
Life happens! I have two special-needs kids, so I'm well acquainted with the unexpected and how it derails even the best-laid plans. Thanks for posting all of the content that you do! I got into Garbaugust myself this year and had fun with it. I'm looking forward to Cimmerian September, another great reading event.
I’m almost done with Malory now. We have one week left to go. I recommend Fields or Vinaver. You get used to the language. I highly highly recommend reading it and listen along with the Critical Readings Podcast series on it. One of the hosts are a professor on medieval literature and wrote his paper on it. It has been fantastic to read along with. I recommend it for anything else they have covered too for that matter. I would say give Malory time. It took me some time to get used to the dense writing and also the older English. Now I just read it so it’s just a matter of pushing through. Hope you enjoy 😊
Great video as always - you might be tempted by my "Spooky Shorts" in October....great seeing a JK Potter cover for the Ramsey Campbell book. That "More Macabre" book looks great.
As Zoltar wisely says "The smallest good deed is better than the grandest intention. Take it from me, the great Zoltar, intending will get you nowhere, but doing will get you much, much reward!" I think that applies to books as well, so don't worry if things don't quite work out. 😊
I struggled with keeping up with my original reading plans for this year as well. I’m definitely attempting a rethink for 2025. I thoroughly enjoyed Forever War despite my few qualms with bits of it. I absolutely recommend it as a classic of the genre. Your dog is lovely, I love the Mohawk. 😍 Good luck with your plans, I hope you get in the reading you hope for.
You are so organised in your reading Michael. I just look at the unread books in my book cases and select one. I try to alternate between SF, Horror and Fantasy and to get through books that are part of a series without letting too much time pass between volumes. Otherwise there's no real planning, although I do write down the title of each book as I finish it in my notebook. Conan on vacation next year? You've inspired me, "Conan The Vacationer" must be the next great Conan novel! I mean, where did Conan go for his holidays after he became king of Aquilonia? Skiing at a resort in the Cimmerian mountains? Sitting poolside with a mojito in just his swimmers in the tropical south? On safari through Punt? Haggling at street markets in Vendhya? Oh the potential! Rhonda's cameos are always welcome here, even when she's a bit naughty.
Just remember, that Dunsany FM volume has the first book in the series (i.e. Gods of Pegana) at the *end* of the book. It's an incomprehensible arrangement that persists in the ebook version. So remember to read Gods of Pegana first THEN you can read the rest of that collection in order. Chandler is someone I'm also overduedue to reread at some point. I was planning a whole classic crirme binge a couple of years, but moodreaderitis got in the way, as it will.
Definitely looking forward to Rocket Summer, Cimmerian Sept and Horror in December. And of course your comic projects! I might also continue with Sherlock Holmes in February and Spring into Adventure as well.
If I may, I'd like to recommend a classic crime and detective author, Dashiell Hammett. Lot's of good stuff, classics like The Maltese Falcon and great short fiction with the Continental Op stories. Red Harvest is the one I'd like to really plug, it's so influential and it rarely gets discussed to my knowledge. Anyway, fun channel, I love pulp and weird fiction a ton. Glad I came across your videos.
This video is really useful...I think planning for 2025 is too far but it has reminded me to start buying for Christmas. Don't want to be last minute this year. I love all of the Bachman books by the way
2025 plans .. June on the Range and wild west Ghost Rider comics, Rocket Summer will probably be more Kuttner and the dean himself Murray Leinster, Cimmerian September definately.. what will I read .. not sure yet but it'll be Robert E Howard. The rest of the year, more Moorcock, some Dragonlance, probably something Greek, and comics.. maybe the ROMnibus set, some 2000AD collections, no doubt more golden age and vintage comics.
Great video, I’m not on RUclips but I’m doing Noir November where I read detective novels in November. Also you need to bump Gene Wolfe’s Book of The New Sun high on ur TBR!
I was one of the few reading along with Roger's cheap ol' books, but sorry, I didn't say much in the discord, because there didn't seem to be a lot of folks talking about them. But they were all great books! I do recommend The World Set Free for next year. It's nuts.
I'm with Grady Hendrix when it comes to The Tommyknockers...it's actually terrific. But this is not the widespread opinion, I know that. I would say don't read it too close to reading The Puppet Masters. Anyway, until any re-reading of Stephen King books I read decades ago takes place, The Tommyknockers is actually tied with Dolores Claiborne for my fave by the author. Believe it or not. That's a very interesting H. G. Wells book - hope you get to it, It doesn't always act like a novel. But when I read a lot of lesser-mentioned or not-as-loved H. G. Wells last year, in a short amount of time, The World Set Free was memorable. I actually enjoyed every book, with The Food of the Gods emerging as a surprise candidate for my favourite by Wells. Ramsey Campbell - my favourite Horror writer. One of my favourite writers, actually. I don't have that particular book; I'll be reading his Three Births of Daoloth trilogy, before we get to Nov. 1st. I hope you get to Raymond Chandler - maybe specifically The Long Goodbye, or The High Window, two I loved. But I suppose it will be The Big Sleep, short stories, or even Farewell, My Lovely first, for you. Going in order, and all that. And Clark Ashton Smith is a treasure trove - so I'm all for any of that.
I seem to remember a really bad period of the FF, which was most notable for Sue wearing a particularly dodgy version of her costume, with a cut out, where the circle with the FF symbol used to be. I can't wait for you to get to those. When was it, the late 90s?
Le Morte d'Arthur is very good but I wouldnt be able to read all of it at once. I read it over the period of several years taking breaks for other books.
2025 is where I am dedicating my time to reading as much Green Lantern as possible plus I hope to get into reading the John Carter of Mara book series that is what my 2025 plains are
I didn't like The Tommyknockers, just finished The Greenmile, which I loved. Working on reading every book but taking a little break and reading my mysterious that I love.
Just finished TOMMYKNOCKERS as part of my own SK reread. I read it in 1987 and hated it. On this go-round, it reads a (very) little better as an allegory about addiction knowing King's own struggles with drug and alcohol abuse during the time this book was written. I noticed the mini-series is on YT and may rewatch it.
Hey, Roger's Cheap Ol' Book Club has opened me up to many classics I never would have considered. Wait, are we forbidden to read Star Trek in any other part of the year?
I'd say it would be great if we could also have Roger's Rare Old Scroll Club, but I'm afraid ancient cyclopean, non-Euclidean cities might rise out of the oceans ... and their large, recently woken inhabitants, too!
The Kent Family Chronicles totally counts as trash. I read it when I was in middle school and high school in the early ’80s. Teenage me loved it. I like the idea of a month dedicated to one author.
I don't really know, but I think that series was a genuine attempt by Jakes to distance himself from trash. That fact that most of us would prefer he wrote more Brak, is neither here, nor there. I'm all for Blackwood, but for Occult Detective October. We need more months in the year!
Joe Haldeman is a one hit wonder... in my humble opinion 😜 However, I feel Mr. Haldeman was really embittered by his own experience. That disappointment, the feeling it was all for nothing dominates the book. It would be interesting to have a similar book written by a soldier that gathered his experience in a defensive war. Another problem with forever war is that it has not aged well. Before you reply, I do like the book and have read it at least three times.
It is definitely a good idea to include some detective and crime fiction next year. It’s fun to read a story in which the weed of crime bears bitter fruit. The Shadow knows. Hint, hint.
Hey Michael, Am a Big Fan. Since you read lot of anthologies and short stories so I just wanted to ask if we'll see something like your top 100 short stories?
John Jakes is trash? I have a ton of his books and didn’t give him any thought for Garbaugust. My mom loved the North and South tv miniseries when I was a kid in the 80s, so I read the trilogy and enjoyed it. Last year I went a little overboard on a bunch of his mass market paperbacks at an estate sale.
Tommyknockers would be fantastic....... if it was 300-500 (depending on edition) pages shorter and had less cocaine addled rambling about nuclear power and politics.
I'm sure you're been sarcastic, but The Price Of The Phoenix is probably the worst of the more than 2000 books I've read - though the sequel gives it a run for it's money. 🤢
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Well, it sent me down a rabbit hole of internet research where I learnt about the origins of Slash fiction and the existence of hurt/comfort. I suppose it can be argued that 50 shades is it's descendant....
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
The best thing about any plan is watching it go awry.
😂😂😂
I agree with the masses that "The Forever War" is a must-read; it is way up toward the top of my list of favorite books of science fiction. I love love love Raymond Chandler. There are so many great authors in your stack and so many great works. Thank you, Michael.
Rhonda looks epic on the thumbnail. I need this picture on a shirt
Le Morte D'Arthur! You've enticed me back to Booktube, my friend! I'm all-in on that!
A month of reading books from the middle ages sounds fantastic. We could call it Middle March!
... wait
Looking forward to these! You always plan great reading! As for next month...hither came Conan!
As the man who operated the guillotine said, "Plan a head."
@@w.adammandelbaum1805 😫
H.G. Wells would have loved the internet so much. He would have been such a pain in the ass on the comments.
The Bachman books are actually pretty decent if you like pulp fiction. They don't run on as much as most Stephen King books do.
Roger's cheap old bookclub is the BEST cheap old bookclub! Looking forward to seeing what you select for next year!
Watching youtube a little too early in the morning, but hey I get to leave a comment for Michael and Roger! Happy reading!☕️
Started watching your stuff last month. Great channel! You and Roger inspired me to do a Robert E. Howard deep dive and I’m loving it. Thank you!
Life happens! I have two special-needs kids, so I'm well acquainted with the unexpected and how it derails even the best-laid plans. Thanks for posting all of the content that you do! I got into Garbaugust myself this year and had fun with it. I'm looking forward to Cimmerian September, another great reading event.
I’m almost done with Malory now. We have one week left to go. I recommend Fields or Vinaver. You get used to the language. I highly highly recommend reading it and listen along with the Critical Readings Podcast series on it. One of the hosts are a professor on medieval literature and wrote his paper on it. It has been fantastic to read along with. I recommend it for anything else they have covered too for that matter.
I would say give Malory time. It took me some time to get used to the dense writing and also the older English. Now I just read it so it’s just a matter of pushing through. Hope you enjoy 😊
I need to read Clark Ashton Smith and some Raymond Chandler too. Happy reading now and in 2025.
Some great plans for the year ahead. Can’t help but think Dec-membered or something like that for the horror event
Great video as always - you might be tempted by my "Spooky Shorts" in October....great seeing a JK Potter cover for the Ramsey Campbell book. That "More Macabre" book looks great.
I am a huge mood reader and I don’t know what I want to read next year. It depends on how I’m feeling what I decide to read.
So envious of your FF collections. Good stuff. It's been rare that there hasn't been a great team working on those no matter the decade.❤❤❤
As Zoltar wisely says "The smallest good deed is better than the grandest intention. Take it from me, the great Zoltar, intending will get you nowhere, but doing will get you much, much reward!"
I think that applies to books as well, so don't worry if things don't quite work out. 😊
Ross McDonald's three Library of America volumes are outstanding. Ed McBain's 87th Precinct novels are enjoyable too (mostly).
I struggled with keeping up with my original reading plans for this year as well. I’m definitely attempting a rethink for 2025. I thoroughly enjoyed Forever War despite my few qualms with bits of it. I absolutely recommend it as a classic of the genre. Your dog is lovely, I love the Mohawk. 😍 Good luck with your plans, I hope you get in the reading you hope for.
You are so organised in your reading Michael. I just look at the unread books in my book cases and select one. I try to alternate between SF, Horror and Fantasy and to get through books that are part of a series without letting too much time pass between volumes. Otherwise there's no real planning, although I do write down the title of each book as I finish it in my notebook.
Conan on vacation next year? You've inspired me, "Conan The Vacationer" must be the next great Conan novel! I mean, where did Conan go for his holidays after he became king of Aquilonia? Skiing at a resort in the Cimmerian mountains? Sitting poolside with a mojito in just his swimmers in the tropical south? On safari through Punt? Haggling at street markets in Vendhya? Oh the potential!
Rhonda's cameos are always welcome here, even when she's a bit naughty.
Yes for a medieval reading event and a double yes for getting David Wiley back to Booktube
Sounds like a plan!!! Simple is best......Dark December!
Just remember, that Dunsany FM volume has the first book in the series (i.e. Gods of Pegana) at the *end* of the book. It's an incomprehensible arrangement that persists in the ebook version. So remember to read Gods of Pegana first THEN you can read the rest of that collection in order.
Chandler is someone I'm also overduedue to reread at some point. I was planning a whole classic crirme binge a couple of years, but moodreaderitis got in the way, as it will.
@@inanimatecarbongod I wonder why they did that?
Definitely looking forward to Rocket Summer, Cimmerian Sept and Horror in December. And of course your comic projects! I might also continue with Sherlock Holmes in February and Spring into Adventure as well.
Dreadcember!
The winner! 🏆
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 yay!!
Hah, had a crazy busy August also, Michael. Hoping you get some more free time next year!
If I may, I'd like to recommend a classic crime and detective author, Dashiell Hammett. Lot's of good stuff, classics like The Maltese Falcon and great short fiction with the Continental Op stories. Red Harvest is the one I'd like to really plug, it's so influential and it rarely gets discussed to my knowledge. Anyway, fun channel, I love pulp and weird fiction a ton. Glad I came across your videos.
Yeah, I agree. I’m a big fan of Dashiell Hammett.
Roger's enigmatic smile reminds me of the Mona Lisa.
@@leematthews6812 they do look remarkably alike.
I have similar memories about The Tommyknockers not being very good. Even the sight of the cover brings me awkward negative memories.
This video is really useful...I think planning for 2025 is too far but it has reminded me to start buying for Christmas. Don't want to be last minute this year. I love all of the Bachman books by the way
2025 plans .. June on the Range and wild west Ghost Rider comics, Rocket Summer will probably be more Kuttner and the dean himself Murray Leinster, Cimmerian September definately.. what will I read .. not sure yet but it'll be Robert E Howard. The rest of the year, more Moorcock, some Dragonlance, probably something Greek, and comics.. maybe the ROMnibus set, some 2000AD collections, no doubt more golden age and vintage comics.
Roger could become a style icon ! 😅 🧟♂️👻
Geez, Michael -- every time you make one of these videos, my. TBR list gets bigger and more urgent. I want to read all of these, too!
@@LiterateTexan sorry!
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 I'm not complaining. 😀
Use El Borak for whiter whites and more vibrant colors!
@@dbitgood1 😅
Great video, I’m not on RUclips but I’m doing Noir November where I read detective novels in November. Also you need to bump Gene Wolfe’s Book of The New Sun high on ur TBR!
@@gcpoulides that’s true
I was one of the few reading along with Roger's cheap ol' books, but sorry, I didn't say much in the discord, because there didn't seem to be a lot of folks talking about them. But they were all great books! I do recommend The World Set Free for next year. It's nuts.
Have you seen the Clark Aston Smith documentary? They interview Harlan Ellison about Smith in that documentary. It's worth taking a look at.
@@JereWilkerson I didn’t even know about it.
I'm reading 'The Tommyknockers' right now. So far I'm liking it.
I'm with Grady Hendrix when it comes to The Tommyknockers...it's actually terrific. But this is not the widespread opinion, I know that. I would say don't read it too close to reading The Puppet Masters. Anyway, until any re-reading of Stephen King books I read decades ago takes place, The Tommyknockers is actually tied with Dolores Claiborne for my fave by the author. Believe it or not.
That's a very interesting H. G. Wells book - hope you get to it, It doesn't always act like a novel. But when I read a lot of lesser-mentioned or not-as-loved H. G. Wells last year, in a short amount of time, The World Set Free was memorable. I actually enjoyed every book, with The Food of the Gods emerging as a surprise candidate for my favourite by Wells.
Ramsey Campbell - my favourite Horror writer. One of my favourite writers, actually. I don't have that particular book; I'll be reading his Three Births of Daoloth trilogy, before we get to Nov. 1st.
I hope you get to Raymond Chandler - maybe specifically The Long Goodbye, or The High Window, two I loved. But I suppose it will be The Big Sleep, short stories, or even Farewell, My Lovely first, for you. Going in order, and all that. And Clark Ashton Smith is a treasure trove - so I'm all for any of that.
I can't plan the next month that early, not even thought of next year! 🤪
Couldn’t Garbaugust segue into Slushtember?
I believe I forgot to mention how perfectly resplendent Rhonda is.
Magnificent!
That Clark Ashton Smith masterwork 😍
My vague memory of the Tommknockers is it was ‘Ok’. Not horrible. And how bout “The December of Dread”? Good stuff Michael!
Ghoul-tide December…
I'm a Project Gutenberg fan. I'm reading Upton Sinclair's _Oil!_ Worthy of Cheap Old Roger and his book club.
Trash is in the eye of the beholder.
The Middle Ages and Raymond Chandler are two of my loves...
I seem to remember a really bad period of the FF, which was most notable for Sue wearing a particularly dodgy version of her costume, with a cut out, where the circle with the FF symbol used to be. I can't wait for you to get to those. When was it, the late 90s?
@@davebrzeski yes, that was a very 90s costume!
Deranged December, Demented December, Ember December... this is worse that I thought.
Dire December is my suggestion. Doom-laden December.
Le Morte d'Arthur is very good but I wouldnt be able to read all of it at once. I read it over the period of several years taking breaks for other books.
2025 is where I am dedicating my time to reading as much Green Lantern as possible plus I hope to get into reading the John Carter of Mara book series that is what my 2025 plains are
So I’m not the only person making plans for 2025 already. 😂
And company man Bryne took Jack Kirby of the cover and left Funky Flashman as the one above all.
I didn't like The Tommyknockers, just finished The Greenmile, which I loved. Working on reading every book but taking a little break and reading my mysterious that I love.
Just finished TOMMYKNOCKERS as part of my own SK reread. I read it in 1987 and hated it. On this go-round, it reads a (very) little better as an allegory about addiction knowing King's own struggles with drug and alcohol abuse during the time this book was written. I noticed the mini-series is on YT and may rewatch it.
@@garyredman892 they made a miniseries on this!?
@michaelk.vaughan8617 Yup. It had some notoriety at the time because Traci Lords had a big supporting role in it.
Hey, Roger's Cheap Ol' Book Club has opened me up to many classics I never would have considered.
Wait, are we forbidden to read Star Trek in any other part of the year?
@@tonette6592 I hope not
I'd say it would be great if we could also have Roger's Rare Old Scroll Club, but I'm afraid ancient cyclopean, non-Euclidean cities might rise out of the oceans ... and their large, recently woken inhabitants, too!
I have owned a two-volume version of Le Morte D'Arthur for over 40 years, and I still haven't read it.
@@davebrzeski I don’t feel so bad now.
The Kent Family Chronicles totally counts as trash. I read it when I was in middle school and high school in the early ’80s. Teenage me loved it.
I like the idea of a month dedicated to one author.
You can always combine GarbAugust and StarTrek 😄 Novelizations galore!
What about calling the December reading event Winter Chiller ?
We're only making plans for Roger
Whee-ooo...!
We only want what's best for him
Whee-ooo...!
STATEly Von Manor! 😀
El Borak!
Desecrated December?
I don't really know, but I think that series was a genuine attempt by Jakes to distance himself from trash. That fact that most of us would prefer he wrote more Brak, is neither here, nor there.
I'm all for Blackwood, but for Occult Detective October. We need more months in the year!
Joe Haldeman is a one hit wonder... in my humble opinion 😜 However, I feel Mr. Haldeman was really embittered by his own experience. That disappointment, the feeling it was all for nothing dominates the book. It would be interesting to have a similar book written by a soldier that gathered his experience in a defensive war.
Another problem with forever war is that it has not aged well. Before you reply, I do like the book and have read it at least three times.
17:22 that’s actually the Modern Library edition thank you very much. But they are both Random House imprints so it’s ok 😎
It is definitely a good idea to include some detective and crime fiction next year. It’s fun to read a story in which the weed of crime bears bitter fruit. The Shadow knows. Hint, hint.
@@mediumjohnsilver hint taken.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 😊
Ah hahahaha she is soooo cute! 19:13
How about JB Priestley? The Old Dark House and time-warp guy.
Dreadful December?
If Jim Steranko is searching for his hair, I think your dog is wearing it in the thumbnail...😂
@@davidosborn6714 next thing you know Rhonda will be punching Bob Kane in the face!
Kane would claim that he won the fight with Rhonda and whine in a long fanzine interview about anybody that disagreed with him.
Hey Michael,
Am a Big Fan.
Since you read lot of anthologies and short stories so I just wanted to ask if we'll see something like your top 100 short stories?
@@hoaxhorrorstories8744 that is a really good idea
John Jakes is trash? I have a ton of his books and didn’t give him any thought for Garbaugust. My mom loved the North and South tv miniseries when I was a kid in the 80s, so I read the trilogy and enjoyed it. Last year I went a little overboard on a bunch of his mass market paperbacks at an estate sale.
@@amyschmelzer6445 I actually know Jakes mostly from Brak the Barbarian.
Do you think "Chandler in Jandler" could catch on...? No...? Okay...
Tommyknockers would be fantastic....... if it was 300-500 (depending on edition) pages shorter and had less cocaine addled rambling about nuclear power and politics.
Decrepit December? Deleted December? Devoted December?
I'm shocked, shocked, I say. You, I science fiction nut has not read Forever War? What's next, no Starship Troopers either!
@@jvon6074 Starship what? 😅
It's Elegant Trash.
I sure hope John Byrne is still getting paid by Marvel for how much they have milked his drawings to publicize themselves.
august was trashed
@@wburris2007 it really was
I'm sure you're been sarcastic, but The Price Of The Phoenix is probably the worst of the more than 2000 books I've read - though the sequel gives it a run for it's money. 🤢
@@vortimer2351 Steve Donoghue literally has three copies of it. It must be a masterpiece!
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Well, it sent me down a rabbit hole of internet research where I learnt about the origins of Slash fiction and the existence of hurt/comfort. I suppose it can be argued that 50 shades is it's descendant....
Heck YES to Horror Mayhem, JOTR, and GarbAugust! That’s my BookTube Trifecta! I’m so glad I’m not the only one looking ahead to 2025. 🫣