Reading is my favorite form of entertainment. I enjoy reading over TV and movies. I enjoy it more than boardgames. Although I might actually enjoy eating more than I do reading. The waistline is difficult to ignore.
There is, though, one problem I have as a writer with reading. It takes over my mind. As a result, if I am writing a horror story, problems develop if I start reading mysteries, for example. Suddenly my brain leaves the monsters behind and I’m thinking whodunit. Something of a problem that!
Recently I received a three month Kindle Unlimited trial for 99¢. Unfortunately, it ran over the holidays so I didn’t get as much of an advantage out of it as I would have liked. Nevertheless I did read 7 novels/novellas, 7 short stories, and 1 short story collection. Which means I did get my money back with interest.
Most of the novels I read were mysteries, and therein lay the conflict with my novel writing.
I’m currently at work on Pierce Mostyn #7, but with all those mysteries passing before my eyes my horror novel started looking a little bit like a murder mystery. I’ll undoubtedly have some fixing up to do.
However, don’t take the above as complaining. I’m just saying. Because quite a bit of my KU reading was, in fact, horror related. The short stories were from the Occult Detective Quarterly, Issue #1 (Fall 2016). Six of the seven stories were excellent reads. So good in fact, I’ll probably buy all of the issues. The short story collection was The Abominations of the Nephren-ka and Three More Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos by Mark McLaughlin and Michael Sheehan, Jr. All four of the tales were quite serviceable reads with which to pass a couple of hours.
With the KU trial over (I didn’t renew), I’m now back on my own resources for reading, which includes the works of several indie authors of my acquaintance I wish to promote.
I think it is very important for indie writers to read the books of their fellows. Because we indies are all in the same boat pulling at the same oars. The least we can do to help each other is to buy, read, and review each other’s work.
Over the weekend, I read In Agony Again by Ernestine Marsh. Ms Marsh has to be in the running for the title of Queen of Comedy. She’s that funny.
With the writing of Pierce Mostyn being bent all out of shape due to my recent reading, I have to get it back on track. So for the rest of the month, I’ll be focusing on horror, the supernatural kind.
Aside from the KU reading, I’ve read this year “The Call of Cthulhu” and “The Nameless City” by Lovecraft, and The Horror from the Hills by Frank Belknap Long. Having thus far read only one Clark Ashton Smith Cthulhu Mythos tale, maybe I’ll spend some time with Mr Smith. “The Tale of Satampra Zeiros” may be a very good place to start.
Now to you. What book or books have been in your hand of late? I’d like to hear about them. Especially if the authors are indie writers such as myself.
With over 3000 new books appearing on Amazon each day, that’s a lot of books to sort through. And if we consider that four years ago there were 3 1/2 million ebooks in the Kindle store — that’s a heck of a lot of books to look through for some good ones.
So please share some of your good reads with me, and you can bet I’ll do the same back with you.
Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!
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I’m with Crispian (above) in that when I’m writing my reading takes a back seat. I, too, return to it when I need to step back from my writing for a couple of days and mull things over.
I tend to read thrillers and crime mostly, but I also like a change and enjoy a variety of genres. I’ve just finished reading Ten days in paradise by indie author Linda Abbott. A romance (Not the Mills and Boon type) which was extremely well written, the setting so evocative it made me want to go there. I’ll definitely be giving it a 5 star review.
Thanks for stopping by, Brenda! Always interesting to see how other writers work. 🙂
Book in my hand is Something Worth Saving by Sandi Ward this one is in paperback and on kindle the book in hand is My Brothers Keeper by SS Bassett . I have a backup on my kindle of 522 books. The grand children I am raising all are readers as well so we grab alot of the free kindle ebooks. I like mystery and horror the most.
Thanks for stopping by, Carla! And thanks for the book suggestions! 🙂
For someone who writes horror I bounce around with genres quite a bit when it comes to my reading choices. Currently I’m reading “Uh-Oh” by Robert Fulghum but just finished “Elevated” by Stephen King as well. When it comes to choosing favorite authors anything H.P. Lovecraft (his collected short stories) or Edgar Allen Poe. “The Picture of Dorian Gray” will remain in my heart forever. And ghost stories, no specific authors in mind though I am particularly fond of Irish ghost stories. Oh and “Carrie”. That book was amazing and I think I read it more than ten times when I was a kid. I feel like everything we consume influences our writing whether it be book, film, or even youtube (I keep trying to convince my fellow horror writers there’s a treasure trove of true scary stories on there). I certainly am with you though in that reading is, always has been, and always will be my absolute favorite form of entertainment.
Thanks for stopping by, Katherine! And thanks for the YouTube suggestion!
I’m with you on that… but the opposite. If I’m writing fantasy. I can’t read fantasy. If I’m writing horror, I can’t read horror. I have to read something different.
I also find my reading slows whenever I’m focused on writing. I might go for a few days or even weeks without picking up a book to read. Then whenever I hit a bump or I need to step away, I grab a book and devour it. Consuming something different from what I’m writing seems to do the trick and give me a different perspective. Not always, but most times.
The book I have “in hand” at the moment continues to be ‘Dracula the Un-dead’ by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt. I loved the original ‘Dracula’ and was intrigued by the idea of this. It’s okay, but not in the same league as ‘The Historian’ by Elizabeth Kostova, which has to be one of my favourites in the genre.
Having the mirror problem at least gives you a broader selection of reading material. 😉
Good, good! Two new books to add to the TBR list. I too love “Dracula” and look forward to these reads!
Yes, I’ve had Kindle for a while, and have about a 100-book backlog, thanks to Amazon’s bundles (13 horror stories, a dozen mysteries, etc., usually for 99c). The book in my hand at the moment is Chameleon, my own unpublished manuscript, which I’m copy/pasting to from WordPress to MSWord so that when I close the Riding the Blimp blog Friday morning I’ll still have a copy. When I get back to reading, I may do book reviews on my old, original blog . . . don’t really know yet. Best of luck with your own endeavors!
Thanks, Jack! And all the best to you, as you change gears!