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 . . .