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Books I want to visit with in 2020...

12/19/2019

Okay, so everyone knows how excited I am to read the new Martha Wells novel in the "Murderbot Diaries" series coming out this year, right?

I AM STOKED TO READ MORE MURDERBOT GIVE ME MORE, MORE, MORE MURDERBOT PLEASE!

Yes, I love Murderbot. I am looking forward to reading some other books this year, though. My girlfriend and I exchanged new Kindle's for Christmas, and I'm loaded for bear on ebooks. I have pre-purchased the aforementioned Murderbot novel, which will be released in May.

So here I present the main books on my 2020 Reading List, beginning with...

Network Effect, by Martha Wells. Ahem. Of course! The full-length novel continuing the Murderbot Diaries. Up til now, all of the four books in the series were novellas. Hope this one has some revenge against the Corporation in it to please my anti-capitalist heart. Haven't read the blurb. Trying not to spoil it.
I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson. This has been on my to-read list for a long time. I have not seen the movie. I hear it is very good, though, and I may watch the film after reading the book.
Walls and Bars, by Eugene Victor Debs. In 2019, I read Labor and Freedom and was astonished how much has not changed (unfortunately) for workers in the US. This year, I want to read America's most famous Socialist's account of his time in prison. I expect to be similarly astonished by the lack of our country's progress in the incarceration of citizens. Maybe more sad than astonished, really.
The Seventh Bride, by T. Kingfisher. A future bride must complete the magical tasks set her by a nobleman groom or else marry him. And his six previous wives are all imprisoned in the castle tower.
Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, by Irin Carmon & Shana Knizhnik. I want to read more about the people that inspire me. That being said, the next one is...
Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In, by Bernie Sanders. I know, it's hard to believe I have never read any of Sanders' books before now. So 2020 will see me start with his first one. Gonna get fired up and Bern it up! Hope to have a physical copy of this book in my hands soon.
My Best Friend's Exorcism, by Grady Hendrix. Okay, I confess. I got this one because of the title. Sounds pretty cool, though.
Hollow Kingdom, by Kira Jane Buxton. I love crows. Once upon a time, I was realllly into zombie stories. This is a story of a zombie apocalypse as seen through the glittery black eyes of a domesticated foul-mouthed crow. Can't f**king wait to read this one.
Invaders: 22 Tales from the Outer Limits of Literature, edited by Jacob Weisman. 22 stories by science fiction authors and authors of so-called "literary" fiction. W.P. Kinsella, Junot Diaz, George Saunders, Max Apple, and more. I just started this book a few days ago.

These are just nine books I hope to read in 2020. There will be more. I am continuing several manga series, Haikyuu!! (a story about a Japanese high school boys volleyball team's quest to win the Nationals), Noragami (the story of a stray god, his spirit weapon who is a young boy, and the teenage girl who becomes involved in their lives. I'm also re-reading the Thousand Year Blood War arc in the Bleach manga.

Happy Reading in the new year!

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The 2020 New Year, New Me, Forward-Looking Blog Post...

12/19/2019

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Yes, it's that time of year. Time to trot out the resolve and put it to the test, whether it succeeds (sometimes) or doesn't quite make it (more often than not). Resolutions this year are short and sweet. Some of them will be worked into what I'm calling my "Five Year Plan" (which, in all honesty, may take longer than five years to accomplish). More on that in another post.

THE 2020 PLAN:

Eat more veggies. Literally, for my bodies sake, I have to commit to this. Veggies make my body run more smoothly and since I received a diagnosis of diverticulosis this year, it's very important to keep things regular.
The Dreaded E-Word. Exercise. Our office building is now offering the fitness center free for use to all employees . I've filled out the forms and ready to get my butt back in there. I'm paying off my electric kit for my trike, but it's gotten a bit rusty from the rain so I will get it fixed and reconditioned, get the e-kit put on it, and start riding it around.
FINISH MY F**KIN' NOVEL ALREADY. I need to wrap it up, sit on it for a few months, then perhaps spend NaNoWriMo 2020 on first edits.
Start the process for creating an e-book collection of my stories. Was going to do this years ago but I lost the computer file of the story that was going to be the title story of the collection, a previously unpublished short piece called "Kill the Crow." I've been trying to recreate it. If I can't, I'll rename the collection based on my other black bird story that was published in our local writer's group anthology.
Write More Blog Stuff. I say this every year and every year I fall flat. I did do a lot of private blogging on a site called Penzu. It was mostly just political rants though, stuff too long and too radical for Facebook (yes, I write stuff even more radical than my Facebook posts).
Launch the new and improved The Were-Traveler. Even working full time now and editing as a second job (working on editing becoming a career in the future, but that is in my Five-and-Dime Plan) I still have the desire to publish and I hope I can make it work without getting unhealthy and burned out on it this time.
Write Longer Short Stories. In 2019 I wrote one of the longest short stories I've written to date. It was almost 6000 words and it was for an anthology about demons. It was rejected but the editors had said they liked it, if only it had been a bit more polished. Granted, I also need to learn how to "edit" my longer stories and that can only happen with practice, which I will. I also plan on editing this story (hopefully with some help and advice from some writer friends) and resubmitting it in other markets this year.
Write Some Poetry. I may take a break from Post-It-Note Poetry this year, in order to work on some editing projects and in planning my own writing stuff, and writing that stuff, but I definitely want to engage my inner poet this year. I did not write much poetry last year. Hope my poetic muse visits me a little bit more in 2020.
READ. READ. READ. Fiction, non-fiction and everything in between. My girlfriend got me a brand new Kindle so I need to hit the e-Books.

This is a lot of resolution making here, I know, and I know that less is more, so I stuck with the writing, editing, and publishing aspects of my life. These are the areas I want to grow in and make the most accomplishments in, as well as my health.

I wish you all the best in the 2020 year. Go out and kick the world in the ass!

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M. X. Kelly

Books I want to visit with in 2020...

The 2020 New Year, New Me, Forward-Looking Blog Post...

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