This Was 2012
So, it's now been 2013 for a little over twelve hours here. I slept most of those, and spent the others watching Castle, though we did ring in the new year last night with a handful of friends from college, all of whom are now paired up, even though at least one pair didn't get together until years after we'd all graduated. That was very pleasant, and seems thematically appropriate for auld lang syne in a way that didn't occur to me until I sat down to type this. So thanks everyone for coming over, and making a very nice new year for us. I'm glad that we're all still friends, after all these years and, in at least one case, all these miles of separation.
Now is the time of year when a young man's fancies turn to year-end recaps and best-of lists, so that's what this post is going to be all about. 2012 was a big year for me, as anyone reading this probably already knows. My first two books both came out this year, one as author and one as editor. Never Bet the Devil & Other Warnings is my first collection of weird, spooky, and supernatural tales, and Fungi is the anthology of fungal stories that I co-edited with Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I'm extremely proud of both of them, and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. You've already heard a lot about them, and you'll hear more in the coming year.
In addition, I had a few short story sales this year, the biggest one of which was my reprint appearance of "Black Hill" (originally from Historical Lovecraft) in Ross Lockhart's The Book of Cthulhu 2. I also got asked to write an introduction to a forthcoming Valancourt Books reissue of J.B. Priestley's Benighted, which I'm extremely excited about both because it'll be my first time writing an introduction and because I'm very excited about the release itself.
This year saw some major changes in my daily life, as I changed positions at my day job (a couple of times, actually) and we did some work on the downstairs floor of our house, which resulted in me having a fairly nice office, from which I'm typing this right now. There's still a little work left to go on the office, but expect pictures when everything is done.
But that's enough news about me, now it's time for the obligatory year-end lists. I'm not going to do top tens or fives or whatever, in no small part because there's too much stuff that I wanted to get to that didn't happen, but I'll mention a few high points, and apologies in advance for anything and everything that I leave out. Starting with movies, 2012 was a good year for me and the cinema. I saw a pile of good stuff in theatres, with a few of my favorites (in no particular order) being Avengers, Cabin in the Woods, Looper, and Skyfall. I was also surprised to really enjoy Men in Black 3, which I saw on DVD, and which was actually better than either of its predecessors. (Also, that makes two movies featuring time travel in the main plot that I saw this year and really liked. Mark it down, because it is unlikely to happen again.) I also saw The Innkeepers in theatres back at the beginning of the year. Though it technically came out in 2011, it might just be my favorite of the whole bunch, so I'm making it a point to mention it here.
As good as 2012 was for movies, it was even better for books. I read a pile of great books in 2012, an unprecedented number of which actually came out during the year. My top reads (from books released in 2012) were Molly Tanzer's bizarre debut A Pretty Mouth and Ian Rogers' superlative collection Every House is Haunted, along with the aforementioned Book of Cthulhu 2 and the latest book in Holly Black's Curse Worker series. 2012 was also the year that I was introduced to the crime writings of Dashiell Hammett for the first time, and I've devoured pretty much all of them in the course of the year, and loved them all.
As many great books as I read in 2012, though, there were more that I didn't get the chance to crack open yet. Chief amongst them Richard Gavin's latest collection At Fear's Altar, Jesse Bullington's The Folly of the World, Ross Lockhart's Chick Bassist, and Stephen Graham Jones' Last Final Girl. 2013 is looking just as impressive (and damaging to my bank account), with a plethora of exciting releases on the horizon, including a new collection by Laird Barron, a long-overdue debut collection from Nathan Ballingrud, a YA novel from John Hornor Jacobs, and a brand new book by Holly Black. There's also a new collection by John Langan on the way, entitled The Wide Carnivorous Sky & Other Monstrous Geographies, which I don't have a way to link to yet, but am very eagerly awaiting. And that's all just off the top of my head.
I have high hopes for 2013, and while I'm not really a resolutions kind of person, I think that as close as I have to one this year is to remember that what I'm getting to do is pretty awesome, and to behave accordingly. Thanks to everyone reading this, to everyone who picked up a copy of either of my books, to everyone who left a review somewhere or sent me some kind words, to all my friends and everyone who helped make 2012 a pretty great year. Here's to hoping that 2013 is even better, for all of us. Soupy twist!
Now is the time of year when a young man's fancies turn to year-end recaps and best-of lists, so that's what this post is going to be all about. 2012 was a big year for me, as anyone reading this probably already knows. My first two books both came out this year, one as author and one as editor. Never Bet the Devil & Other Warnings is my first collection of weird, spooky, and supernatural tales, and Fungi is the anthology of fungal stories that I co-edited with Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I'm extremely proud of both of them, and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. You've already heard a lot about them, and you'll hear more in the coming year.
In addition, I had a few short story sales this year, the biggest one of which was my reprint appearance of "Black Hill" (originally from Historical Lovecraft) in Ross Lockhart's The Book of Cthulhu 2. I also got asked to write an introduction to a forthcoming Valancourt Books reissue of J.B. Priestley's Benighted, which I'm extremely excited about both because it'll be my first time writing an introduction and because I'm very excited about the release itself.
This year saw some major changes in my daily life, as I changed positions at my day job (a couple of times, actually) and we did some work on the downstairs floor of our house, which resulted in me having a fairly nice office, from which I'm typing this right now. There's still a little work left to go on the office, but expect pictures when everything is done.
But that's enough news about me, now it's time for the obligatory year-end lists. I'm not going to do top tens or fives or whatever, in no small part because there's too much stuff that I wanted to get to that didn't happen, but I'll mention a few high points, and apologies in advance for anything and everything that I leave out. Starting with movies, 2012 was a good year for me and the cinema. I saw a pile of good stuff in theatres, with a few of my favorites (in no particular order) being Avengers, Cabin in the Woods, Looper, and Skyfall. I was also surprised to really enjoy Men in Black 3, which I saw on DVD, and which was actually better than either of its predecessors. (Also, that makes two movies featuring time travel in the main plot that I saw this year and really liked. Mark it down, because it is unlikely to happen again.) I also saw The Innkeepers in theatres back at the beginning of the year. Though it technically came out in 2011, it might just be my favorite of the whole bunch, so I'm making it a point to mention it here.
As good as 2012 was for movies, it was even better for books. I read a pile of great books in 2012, an unprecedented number of which actually came out during the year. My top reads (from books released in 2012) were Molly Tanzer's bizarre debut A Pretty Mouth and Ian Rogers' superlative collection Every House is Haunted, along with the aforementioned Book of Cthulhu 2 and the latest book in Holly Black's Curse Worker series. 2012 was also the year that I was introduced to the crime writings of Dashiell Hammett for the first time, and I've devoured pretty much all of them in the course of the year, and loved them all.
As many great books as I read in 2012, though, there were more that I didn't get the chance to crack open yet. Chief amongst them Richard Gavin's latest collection At Fear's Altar, Jesse Bullington's The Folly of the World, Ross Lockhart's Chick Bassist, and Stephen Graham Jones' Last Final Girl. 2013 is looking just as impressive (and damaging to my bank account), with a plethora of exciting releases on the horizon, including a new collection by Laird Barron, a long-overdue debut collection from Nathan Ballingrud, a YA novel from John Hornor Jacobs, and a brand new book by Holly Black. There's also a new collection by John Langan on the way, entitled The Wide Carnivorous Sky & Other Monstrous Geographies, which I don't have a way to link to yet, but am very eagerly awaiting. And that's all just off the top of my head.
I have high hopes for 2013, and while I'm not really a resolutions kind of person, I think that as close as I have to one this year is to remember that what I'm getting to do is pretty awesome, and to behave accordingly. Thanks to everyone reading this, to everyone who picked up a copy of either of my books, to everyone who left a review somewhere or sent me some kind words, to all my friends and everyone who helped make 2012 a pretty great year. Here's to hoping that 2013 is even better, for all of us. Soupy twist!