Easton Connell

Another year gone and another list of books read and reflections on the passage of time left in its wake. I didn’t read nearly as much this year as I have in recent years past. My slower pace was well-founded, however. After nearly twenty years of interest I finally began playing Dungeons & Dragons. A few months into playing as a character I started running a second game with another set of friends. Building the world, populating it with interesting NPCs, and fleshing out the bones of the narrative has been a sheer delight and ultimately has gotten my creativity flowing more liberally. Who would have guessed that the trick to writing more is to write more. The collaborative storytelling style of D&D feels so much lighter than sitting down and staring at a blank page, and getting my flexibility back as a writer has been invigorating. Expect to see more of me here as I get my writing chops back up to snuff.

I also started playing guitar again after nearly a decade long break. It’s been wonderful getting back into playing an instrument. I’ve been studying and practicing in a much more thorough way than when I first picked it up as a teenager. I’m looking forward to continuing to improve and playing more and more in the coming year.

My year was filled with other good things that kept my nose out of books. I got to check out the Big O roller derby tournament in Eugene, OR and had my mind blown by the strength, agility, and talent of the women (and men! MRDA is gnarly!) who play what must be the gnarliest sport this side of buzkashi (look it up). I started contributing to Into the Void, a sonic fanzine on the heavy underground. I got to interview Ruby the Hatchet and Slow Season and look forward to more interviews in the coming year. I got to see Sleep for the first time, and then two more times at the close of 2018. Leigh Barudgo, one of my favorite authors, kicks off each year with her Begin As You Mean To Go On initiative on social media (see #baymtgo) and I can’t imagine a more auspicious launch to 2019 than seeing Matt Pike, Al Cisneros, and Jason Roeder transmit their complex sonic conjurations straight from the weed dimension.

On the note of Leigh Bardugo, let’s turn to the subject at hand.

The Language of Thorns – Leigh Bardugo

Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse is one of my favorite fantasy worlds. She’s developed her world over a trilogy, a duology, and now in a collection of fairy tales from the various cultures within that world. The book itself is gorgeous – lavishly illustrated like an illuminated manuscript with a beautiful dust jacket to boot. If my repeated recommendations of Bardugo’s work pique your interest I’d suggest starting with Six of Crows and circling around to The Language of Thorns after reading everything else. The cultural contexts of the stories provided by her other novels make these tales even more fun to read.

The Hazel Wood – Melissa Albert

Supposedly it’s bad form to judge a book by its cover but choosing a book based on the allure of its cover has yet to steer me wrong. I’m quite happy that reworked fairy tales are en vogue right now. I suppose we should all thank Neil Gaiman for proving to publishers that the format is commercially viable. I love this storytelling style and everything an author can do with it, the way they can so easily get you reflecting on your own story. The Hazel Wood is a refreshingly inventive addition to the form. Albert’s heroine, Alice, is the granddaughter of a mysterious author whose most famous work is a collection of dark fairy tales set in the cruel Hinterland. Cultish fans of the tales and a plague of bad luck keep Alice and her mother moving from place to place as Alice grows up, but when her grandmother dies Alice’s mother finally settles them down in New York. That’s when Alice’s mother disappears and Alice learns that the Hinterland and its horrors may be responsible.

Creative Quest – Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson

Questlove’s book on creativity is more a manual to get your juices flowing than anything else. It took me forever to read because I’d read a passage and then get inspired to pick up a pen or my guitar. He shares some interesting thoughts on the nature of creativity and suggests practices for training your mind, finding sources of inspiration, and working through a lack of inspiration regardless of how you feel about it. Questlove is one of the hardest working “professional creatives” out there – if there’s a reliable source for a book on creativity he’s our man.

Good Omens – Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

I bought a copy of Good Omens years ago and held off on reading it. There are only so many Gaiman books I still get to read for the first time. I dove in this past October and man oh man, I’m so glad I did. I could describe it as Douglas Adams writing Dogma but no one could have written this except Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Surreal, hilarious, and steeped in religious imagery come to life, this comedic adventure toward the apocalypse kept me glued to its pages. I can’t wait for its television adaptation starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen, set for release later this year.

Somebody to Love: The Life, Death, & Legacy of Freddie Mercury – Mark Langthorne & Matt Richards

I got really into Queen last year (so did the rest of the world, I know). I had long been a fan of their hits but after following a Queen-obsessed member of the instagram vinyl community I finally dove into their albums. I was surprised to find how many of their deeper cuts I was already familiar with and was not surprised that I quickly fell deeply in love with their music. I found a Freddie Mercury biography on sale at my favorite bookstore and picked it up to read at the start of 2019, in line with my usual tradition of reading about people who inspire me at the beginning of a new year to jumpstart my own creativity. Fast forward half a year – Bohemian Rhapsody hit theaters and promptly smashed all music biopic records. I decided to dip into the book early and wound up thoroughly enjoying it. I was a little unsure about the book at first as it begins with the birth of HIV in humans and then the birth of Freddie Mercury, which felt like an odd narrative structure. As I read further I began to understand why the authors framed the story of Freddie’s life with the story of the genesis, spread, and eventual pandemic of HIV. I was born after the height of the AIDS crisis and grew up without its shadow looming over my friends and me, a luxury that I never truly appreciated until this biography gave me a clearer understanding of the magnitude of the fear and dangers of that time. Somebody to Love was lovingly written and gave me a much more fleshed out appreciation for who Freddie Mercury was and how he lived than any film ever could. Freddie was a force of nature, a powerful soul whose love, kindness, extravagance, creativity, and showmanship couldn’t be contained in a mere human body for long. He might no longer be with us but he will never be truly gone.

Nick Cave: Mercy on Me – Reinhard Kleist

This fantastic comic uses solid black and white to paint a macabre portrait of Nick Cave’s life and work. The tone of the comic pairs beautifully with Cave’s music – majestic, ragged, and shot through with all the fatalistic despair and struggle of life on the frontier. Kleist blends fact with fiction in his telling and artfully blurs the line between the two. Some sections of the comic are straightforward biography, others an imaginative interpretation of events with the benefit of writing about the past, and still others are cinematic illustrations of Cave’s lyrics. I can’t recommend this enough for fans of Nick Cave. You can appreciate the artistry of the comic without being familiar with Nick Cave, but an intimate knowledge of his music and novels makes the story that much more meaningful.

Without further delay, the full list of books I read in 2018:

Rat Queens Vol 2 Kurtis J Wiebe

Rat Queens Vol 3 Kurtis J Wiebe

Rat Queens Vol 4 Kurtis J Wiebe

XMEN Grand Design Issue 1 Ed Piskor

XMEN Grand Design Issue 2 Ed Piskor

The Shadow Rising Robert Jordan, read by Michael Kramer and Kate Redding

Bitch Planet Triple Feature various authors

Orchid Vol 1 Tom Morello

Orchid Vol 2 Tom Morello

Orchid Vol 3 Tom Morello

Ghost Kelly Sue DeConnick

Sex Criminals Vol 3 Matt Fraction

Sex Criminals Vol 4 Matt Fraction

The Fires of Heaven Robert Jordan, read by Michael Kramer and Kate Redding

Lord of Chaos Robert Jordan, read by Michael Kramer and Kate Redding

Crown of Swords Robert Jordan, read by Michael Kramer and Kate Redding

Path of Daggers Robert Jordan, read by Michael Kramer and Kate Redding

XMEN Grand Design Treasury Vol 1 Ed Piskor

Winter’s Heart Robert Jordan, read by Michael Kramer and Kate Redding

Crossroads of Twilight Robert Jordan, read by Michael Kramer and Kate Redding

Creative Quest Questlove

Shadow and Bone Leigh Bardugo

Blue Eyes and the Beastling RC Young and Carla Wyzgala

The Fifth Doll Charlie N Holmberg

The Hazel Wood Melissa Albert

XMEN Grand Design Second Genesis Vol 1 Ed Piskor

Looking for Jake China Mieville

Siege and Storm Leigh Bardugo

XMEN Grand Design Second Genesis Vol 2 Ed Piskor

Rat Queens Vol 5 Kurtis J Wiebe

Ruin and Rising Leigh Bardugo

The Language of Thorns Leigh Bardugo

Kill the Farm Boy Delilah S Dawson and Kevin Hearne

The Haunting of Hill House Shirley Jackson

Good Omens Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Hocus Pocus & the All-New Sequel AW Jantha

Somebody to Love: The Life, Death, & Legacy of Freddie Mercury Mark Langthorne and Matt Richards

Sex Criminals Vol 5 Matt Fraction

Nick Cave: Mercy on Me Reinhard Kleist

Blood Sweat & Bears Lasse Lehtinen

Iron Man: My Journey through Heaven & Hell with Black Sabbath Tony Iommi