What I read this year

Because I started tracking how many I watched in a year, I started doing the same with the books I read. From this list, I can find a lesson or two.

I need to read more outside of the horror genre.

I need to read more non-fiction.

I just need to read more.

(This list does not include short stories, stories read online, magazines, comics, graphic novels, etc. * indicates that I've not completed the book yet, but that I started reading it in 2009.)

All the Rage by F. Paul Wilson
Black Train, The by Edward Lee *
Blood and Thunder: The Art and Life of Robert E. Howard by Mark Finn
Blood Blade (Skinners, Book 1) by Marcus Pelegrimas
Blood Will Have Its Season by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.
Complete Making of Indiana Jones, The: The Definitive Story Behind All Four Films by J. W. Rinzler *
Conspiracies by F. Paul Wilson
Creature From The Black Lagoon: Time's Black Lagoon by Paul Di Filippo
Dawn of the Dead by George A. Romero, Susanna Sparrow
Dead Walk, The by Andy Black, Steve Earles
Homemade Hollywood: Fans Behind the Camera by Clive Young
Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard, The by Robert E. Howard
Indiana Jones and the Army of the Dead by Steve Perry
Indiana Jones and the Peril at Delphi by Rob MacGregor
Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils by Rob MacGregor
Infinite, The by Douglas Clegg
Isis by Douglas Clegg
Mall of Cthulhu, The by Seamus Cooper
Memories of Hammer by Gary Svehla, Susan Svehla *
Poe Must Die by Marc Olden
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! by Jane Austen, Seth Grahame-Smith
Profoundly Disturbing: The Shocking Movies that Changed History by Joe Bob Briggs
Razored Saddles edited Pat Lobrutto
Shatnerquake by Jeff Burk
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks *
Zombie Apocalypse: How the Living Dead Devoured Pop Culture by David Flint

What I watched this year

I haven't done this every year; I only started keeping real track of my movie-watching since launching Mail Order Zombie. Not surprisingly, this list is zombie-movie-heavy. Would I have watched as many zombie movies if I wasn't producing Mail Order Zombie? Probably not . . . not that I'm complaining! (I haven't seen Avatar as of the time of this posting, but I will be seeing it before midnight tonight, so it still counts!)

I don't know if there's a lesson to be learned by looking at this list. Maybe I don't watch enough documentaries? Not enough non-genre films? Foreign films? Meh . . . I don't know.

2012 (theater)
Against the Dark (video)
Alien Raiders (video)
Alien Trespass (theater)
Alphabet Killer, The (video)
American Scary (video)
Autumn (video)
Avatar (theater)
Bela Lugosi, The Fallen Vampire (video)
Beneath the Surface (video)
Beyond the Dunwich Horror (theater)
Big Man Japan (video)
Black Demons (video)
Black Scorpion, The (1957) (video)
Black Swarm (video)
Blood of the Zombie (aka The Dead One) (video)
Bonnie & Clyde vs. Dracula (video)
Brass Ring, The (video)
Business of Being Born, The (video)
Charles Beaumont: Short Life of Twilight Zone's Magic Man (theater)
Children, The (video)
Choking Hazard (video)
Church, The (video)
Creature from the Black Lagoon (3D) (theater)
Curse of the Cannibal Confederates (video)
Dark New World (video)
Dawn of the Dead (1978) (Blu-ray)
Dawn of the Dead (2004) (Blu-ray)
Dead & Buried (video)
Dead & Rotting (video)
Dead Air (video)
Dead Men Walking (video)
Dead Moon Rising (video)
Dead Noon (video)
Dead Snow (video)
Dead Summer (video)
Deadgirl (video)
Deadlands 2: Trapped (video)
Deadly Harvest (video)
Demon Resurrection (video)
Demon Warriors (video)
Demonic (video)
Destined to be Ingested (video)
Die-ner (Get It?) (video)
District 9 (theater)
Doomed (video)
Doomed to Consume (video)
Drag Me to Hell (theater)
Dungeon of Harrow (video)
Eaters, The/Eat Me! (video)
Eden Park (video)
Edges of Darkness (video)
Eegah! (video)
Erotic Nights of the Living Dead (video)
Evilution (video)
Fast Zombies With Guns (video)
Flesh Freaks (video)
Food, Inc. (video)
Friday the 13th (2009) (theater)
Gate, The (video)
Ghost Galleon, The (video)
Gothkill (video)
Grace (video)
Grave Mistake (video)
Grave Mistakes (video)
Graveyard (video)
Graveyard Alive (video)
Grey Knight (video)
Guardpost, The (video)
Hamlet 2 (video)
Hangover, The (video)
Hell of the Living Dead (video)
Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (video)
Hills Run Red, The (2009) (video)
Hillybilly Bob Zombie (video)
I Walked with a Zombie (video)
Indyfans and the Quest for Fortune and Glory (video)
Italian Zombie Movie, The - Part 1 (video)
Jaws: The Sharksploitation Edit (video)
Jesus Camp (video)
Johnny Sunshine Maximum Violence (video)
King Corn (video)
Livelihood (video)
Mad Max (video)
Mad Monster Party (video)
Mad, The (video)
Melvin (video)
My Bloody Valentine 3D (theater)
My Kid Could Paint That (video)
Night of the Creeps (video)
Night of the Seagulls (video)
Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film
(video)
Ninjas vs. Zombies (video)
Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (video)
O. C. Babes and the Slasher of Zombietown (video)
Of the Living Dead (video)
Orgy of the Dead (video)
Otto; Or, Up With Dead People (video)
Paranormal Activity (theater)
Pathogen (video)
Penance (video)
Phantasm (video)
Phantasm II (video)
Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (video)
Phantasm IV: Oblivion (video)
Pickman's Muse (theater)
Plague of the Zombies, The (video)
Plaguetown (theater)
Plan 9 From Outer Space: RiffTrax Live (theater)
Platoon of the Dead (theater)
Pontypool (video)
Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (video)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Drive-In)
[REC] (video)
Red Mist (video)
Relic of Cthulhu (theater)
Religulious (video)
Rendition (video)
Resident Evil (Blu-ray)
Resident Evil: Extinction (Blu-ray)
RetarDEAD (video)
Return of the Evil Dead (video)
Revenant, The (theater)
Rise of the Dead (video)
Ritual (video)
Road to Oblivion (video)
Road Warrior, The (video)
Road, The (theater)
Rock 'N' Roll Frankenstein (video)
Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies (video)
Seventh Moon (video)
Sick and the Dead (video)
Silent Night, Deadly Night (theater)
Stash (video)
State of Play (theater)
Super Hell (video)
Superman Redeemed (Fanedit) (video)
Swamp Zombies!!! (video)
Timecrimes (video)
Tombs of the Blind Dead (video)
Trick 'r Treat (video)
Uncle Sam (video)
Up (Blu-ray)
Versus (video)
video Dead, The (video)
Virginia Creepers (video)
War of the Dead (video)
Watchmen (theater)
What Would Jesus Buy? (video)
Yesterday (video)
ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction (theater)
Zombeak (video)
Zombeatles: All You Need is Brains (video)
Zombi 2 (video)
Zombi 3 (video)
Zombie (theater)
Zombie 4: After Death (video)
Zombie 5: Killing Birds (video)
Zombie Campout (video)
Zombie Cheerleading Camp (video)
Zombie Girl: The Movie (video)
Zombie Town (video)
Zombie Town (video)
Zombiegeddon (video)
Zombieland (theater)

Looking back on the old . . .

I don't know if it's a fault or not, but I constantly find myself looking back on my older stories, especially the ones that haven't found a home. Sometimes this gets in the way of my working on new stuff, sure, but there's a part of me that feels somehow held back by a piece of writing that never quite got to where I thought it should go while I was writing it.

So while I'm gearing up for my current novel, I find myself looking back at Memories of Home, my National Novel Writing Month novel from a few years ago. At the time, the NaNoWriMo folks had a deal with Lulu.com, and I was able to have one copy of my novel published for myself, and I went ahead and left Memories of Home available online for others to download and even purchase if they wanted to. A few websites reviewed the book, and I moved on.

But it's always stuck in my head. And I always asked myself the big what if? questions. What if Memories of Home can be expanded beyond the 50,000-ish words I threw down during NaNoWriMo? What if I could turn it into a full-length novel and even shop it around?

I think I might give it a go. Of course, I hope it doesn't get in the way of the current novel and non-fiction project . . .

Catching my breath . . .

Most of you know I was fortunate enough to attend HorrorHound Weekend Cincinnati last weekend. It wasn't something I would normally would have been able to do, but Brenda scrubbed the internet, found one or two travel websites and shook them until they gave her a really good deal on airfare, and as an early birthday present, she sent me to HHW.

I had a great time meeting old friends and making new ones. The horror celebrities were incredibly friendly, and the hotel was extremely accommodating (although I would have loved to heard the conversations between hotel employees the day after we left - horror geeks, horror drunks, a wedding, celebrities, a random hula hoop session at 2:00am in one of the lobbies, lots of booze, folks dressed as zombies and monsters, women dressed in varying . . . degrees . . . it was definitely an interesting mix of occasionally loud folks!). And I mention in my HHW coverage in Mail Order Zombie #96, the coffee the hotel restaurant served was surprisingly good! (If you listen to the episode, or follow me on Twitter, you'll also find out how I almost didn't make it back on the plane to get home!)

I'll be posting my pics from the event in a few days. I've been running fairly nonstop since flying in Monday night and just haven't had a chance to fully catch my breath. Back to work on Monday, unpacking, catching up on laundry, getting ready for Thanksgiving, getting the guest room for Brenda's sister, producing MOZ #96, etc., etc., etc. . . . at least I got to sleep in today!

I'm off from work tomorrow as well, and I think I'll be spending that day programming the rest of this year's episodes of Mail Order Zombie, organizing the computer mess I've let build up over the past few months, and maybe even throw some words down.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Where do stories come from?

Bren and I are working on some writing projects together. We're not co-writing; we're both working on different similarly-lengthed fiction projects, and we had an interesting conversation the other night that still has me asking myself a few questions.

She identified a HUGE difference in our approaches to storytelling. She prefers to come up with an overarching story - she referred to it as the "fiber" of the tale - and then she'll start to flesh out the pieces inside that "fiber," tackling things like character, setting, etc.

My approach has evolved over the years. For a long time, an image or a visual would pop into my mind, and I would try to build a story around that. (My early movie-making efforts are filled with stories like this. "Wouldn't it be cool if I set myself on fire?" "Wouldn't it be cool if my friend Mike's face melted?") These days, I find myself building characters, and then finding scenarios in which to plug these characters.

I don't know if one approach is better than the other, but it certainly speaks to what might be a problem I'm running into with my own writing project. I've got a character - a character whose entire life story I could tell you over a few cups of coffee, a character I've been spending a lot of time with as I sketch his history and build his relationships with the world, a character whose been swimming in the murky depths of my dark imagination for years - and I want to take him out for a spin . . . but I'm finding myself questioning just WHERE I'd want to take that spin.

We spoke further, and Bren and I both think that maybe this approach to character-building-before-fiber-building comes from my history reading superhero comics in which the characters are typically reactionary as opposed to proactive, as well as my background as a tabletop role-playing game player, even though I haven't thrown the dice in years.

So to you few readers of this new blog, I pose to you a question - what comes first for you? The fiber or the character? Or something else all together?

Back to blogging . . .

I used to blog quite a bit, and my old LiveJournal page and my old MySpace blog are still around, as is my even older Blogger page, but I wanted to start fresh with something new so when I decided to jump back in, I decided to start with this page - House Improbabilia, the pretentious-sounding "official" blog of Derek M. Koch. Here, I'll blog mostly about my creative endeavors - my writing (of various types), my podcasting, etc., as well as anything that inspires me.

I imagine I'll post something new here two or three times a week. Feel free to point your reader at http://feeds.feedburner.com/improbabilia to subscribe if you're not a Blogspot user.