Reading Room

I have always loved reading. When I was growing up, my mom was always fussing at me to put the book down and go outside and play instead (or come to the dinner table or go do chores). I was one of those kids who would "go to bed" only to read away half the night. When I was about 12 or so I read Madeleine L'Engle's "Wrinkle in Time" and then Anne McCaffrey's "Dragonsong" (the first book in her Harper Hall series) and those books ignited a love of fantasy and science fiction.

I do a lot of my reading these days on an e-reader. I have an old Kindle Keyboard which I just loved and I used to say that I would never give up my little Kindle. Well, the Kobo Libra 2 has called to me with its siren song of a backlight while still having physicial page buttons and the same small size (although different dimensions). I have not used my Keyboard in quite a while. I feel a little guilty, like I broke up with it. But having that backlight is so nice!

I own actual books, too. I used to be like a miser hoarding his gold when it came to books. I kept everything! I usually read fairly quickly so that meant I had a LOT of books. Now I've pruned through my collection and I try to only keep books that are really special. Maybe it's a series I enjoy rereading, or a set of books that would be hard to replace. Or it's special because someone gave it to me.

2024 Reading Log

January

  • The Door into Fire (Diane Duane) - First book in The Tale of the Five series. A sorceror has power but can't use it, a prince lost his throne and is seeking to regain it and a fire elemental is intrigued enough by humans to not only want to travel with them but learn what it is to love.

  • The Door into Shadow (Diane Duane) - Second book in the Tale of the Five series. Freelorn still seeks his throne, Herewiss has learned how to use his power and we meet Segnbora who has a past trauma in her life preventing her from accessing her Fire. Also, dragons. This book has a pretty graphic rape scene which was put in there as part of a character's development and the way it was worked - I just didn't feel right about. Other than that, the book was enjoyable.

  • The Door into Sunset (Diane Duane) - A kingdom regained, an evil power vanquished, a land restored. This is the third book in the Tale of Five series.


You can find all sorts of interesting reading on the web. There are lots of publications (Lightspeed, Clarkesworld, Uncanny Magazine to name just a few) that publish stories online, for free, with no need to sign up or in to anything. Here are some stories I enjoyed. I hope you do, too!

If your appetite has been whetted for finding more short form science fiction/fantasy then take a look at this list of online magazines/publishing sites that some enterprising netizen has created.

There is also this listing of almost 80 science fiction/fantasy magazines with regular publishing schedules. A lot of them offer their material for free online but magazines like these are having a hard time surviving these days. If you find one that really appeals to you, maybe help them out and subscribe if you're able to.