Oct. 12, 2025

063 - Top 5 Reads 2025 (so far) Plus Podcast and Patreon Updates

063 - Top 5 Reads 2025 (so far) Plus Podcast and Patreon Updates

An interview I had scheduled fell through due to tech issues and so this week I am going to try boosting my channels Patreon along with adding updates and future plans. I then go into my faviourite five horror books read during the summer and first half of autumn.

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WEBVTT

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Hmmmm, Hello and welcome.

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I'm Jason White and this is Weird Reads, and today

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I'm going to be doing a bit of a solo

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thing for people on YouTube. You'll just be seeing the video,

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but everyone else this will also be a podcast episode

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as well. So basically what I'm going to be doing

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is I just want to talk about the year I've

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had so far doing Weird Reads, the podcast and all

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the interviews, and a look ahead when I'm planning on

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including some Patreon updates and what I've got going for

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the future. Also top five books that I've read during

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the summer. I read some really good ones, and instead

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of going through all the books, I thought I would

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just condense it into what my favorites were. Just because

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a book isn't there, it doesn't mean it wasn't a favorite.

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But I read some mind blowing books this summer and

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in the early fall, so I thought I would comb

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over them a little bit. So, as I mentioned, it's

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been a great year so far. I've talked to like

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Jonathan Jan's, John Pallisano, so many great guests. But we

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have a lot of really interesting guests coming up in

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the future. You know, I'm gonna save those for a

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little bit. I want to jump into the Patreon. I

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would the only reason why I'm running a Patreon is

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because it costs money to produce these podcasts what you

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listen to. It doesn't cost money to put videos up,

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record them and put them up on YouTube, but it

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does for the podcast, and I would like to I

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would like to make that a little more even so

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I'm not paying so much, excuse me. So I've set

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up a few tears here and also equipment like Patreon

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so far helped me buy this new microphone, which I

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absolutely love, so you know, the upgrade and stuff like that.

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And you know, if there ever comes to a point

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where I have some extras, extra money, I can use

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it to buy books. Everything is so far. The plan

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is everything will feed right back into the podcast and

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the YouTube channel, and I do plan on making videos

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again soon, like regular videos. All right, So getting onto

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the Patreon here, there's three tiers. One of them is

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very cheap. It's like buying me a coffee a month,

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and it's about a dollar American, about dollar dollar ten

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somewhere in there. And what you get a fair amount

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of stuff here. It's the weird reads Appreciation Tier, and

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I'll just read you what I got here on my description.

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Thank you so much for your support. Every little bit helps,

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and the money, as I said, helps pay for the

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services I use to bring bookish podcasts and videos. So

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what do you do? You get all the Weird Reads

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content here except for the free fiction and the Stephen

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King stuff. To get the free friction and Stephen King

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content together, you can join the Weird Reader tier. So

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I'll get to that in a minute. So what do

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you get? You get AD free episodes, because as you

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may have noticed, I do run a lot of ads here,

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and I do that for the exact same reason that

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I'm running a Patreon. I want to. I want to

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I want the channel to pay for itself and upgrades

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and all that fun stuff. So you get AD free episodes,

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you'll get a shout out, you get Patreon exclusive videos

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and podcast episodes. You can ask me a question and

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I'll answer it in the Patreon And so far that's it.

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But that's a fair amount of extra stuff that I do,

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and it's also it's only for a dollar and I've

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been adding to it a lot. So the next tier

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is the Stephen King Deadlights Club and for that it's

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for approximately three dollars a month. You get a lot

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of Stephen King content and of course my thanks, but

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you get a short shout out on the Short Bites

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a Stephen King podcast. You also receive extra commentary for

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me and guests regarding adapted Stephen King short stories. Plus

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there's videos and not videos, there's a lot of audio there.

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It has its own podcast. It's called the Dead Lights

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Club as well, and I record my thoughts on certain

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short stories and Stephen King related stuff. What else is there? Yeah,

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that's that's pretty much about it. So member shout outs,

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exclusive content and of course the ad free content. So

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that's the Dead Lights Club. And also if you have

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any suggestions, feel free to write something down deep down

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there in the darkness and let me know what you

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would like to see on here. And I'll add it

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next as the Weird Reader tier. And this is about

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five point fifty American around there. All my prices here

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in Canadian, so I haven't converted them as six dollars Canadian,

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which probably is about five something American, and you get

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everything in this tier. You get plus free fiction such

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as such as this. I gave away the ebook. If

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you go join now you can go find that post

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and download the epub for this well technically for free,

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but you also get you get shout outs at the

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beginning of a podcast episode. You also get access to

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exclusive videos and podcasts and Patreon only live streams. Now,

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I haven't done any live streams yet because there's not

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very many people on my Patreon, but if there ever

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is a lot of people there and they are interested

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in me doing a live stream, then I'll do that.

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I was thinking about hosting book club discussions on there.

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So you ask me a question and I'll answer it,

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and you also, as I said, receive free fiction. So

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just to run down the points here, you get live streams,

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digital book digital ebooks, member shout outs, ad free content, audio,

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Q and as, and behind the scenes content which this

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tier Weird Reader, which the Weird Reads appreciation level also gets.

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It's it's it's got its own podcast, and it's called

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the Weird Reader. And so I hope that some people

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will join and help me out, especially most importantly if

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you enjoy what I'm doing here. All right, so I'll

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get into some guests I have coming in the near future. Now,

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remember these are just scheduled guests. It's not necessarily meaning

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that it's going to happen. I've already had to knock

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back one of them. I was supposed to interview them today,

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but there's a lot of contact to read for this guest,

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and so I asked to give me a couple more months.

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I read every book before I before I go and

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talk to them. So I'm going to be having Jack Finn,

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Candice Nola is going to come on the show, Amanda

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Hedley is planned, Glenn Rolfe, Radardi Board and much more.

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Those are just five, I believe can't count. And yeah,

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so there's a lot more ahead. And I've also got

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some lined up for twenty twenty six, including Daniel brom So.

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So yeah, I hope that you guys will hop on

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board and help me out. You can do so for

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a dollar fifty that's Canadian, it's closer to a dollar

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in American a month. That is dirt cheap, and you

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get a lot of stuff for that. And like I said,

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if you have any recommendations of what you'd like to

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see in the Patreon, because I suck it coming up

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with these kinds of ideas, just let me know. In

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the darkness there and I will do my best to

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apply it. So I do have some future plans for

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the Patreon as well. I plan on doing more reviews

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of books and short stories on the Weird Reader tier,

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and this may include reviews of old science fiction episodes

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that sometimes come up during interviews. I want to start

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its own show on the Patreon for the Weird Reader.

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I want to start talking about The Outer Limits and

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go through the episodes of that. I was watching the

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very first episode a couple of weeks ago and it

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absolutely blew my mind. And we've talked about the Outer

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Limits with like Daniel Brahm and other guest I think

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Mark Allen Gunnell's maybe and other guests and the Twilight

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Zone stuff like that, Tales from the Crypt. So I

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just want to go into a series. It'll all be

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on the Weird Reader podcast that you can access through

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the Patreon, and it'll be exclusive to that. Also, like

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I said, short stories and whatnot, I want to sort

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of dig into some short stories maybe from like Caitlin Kiernan,

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Thomas Leggotti, stuff like that, and I'll I'll read them

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and then I'll talk about them. For the Dead Lights Club,

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which is the Stephen King tier. I would love to

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do a giant Stephen King read along where we go

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through all the books chronologically. This is an interesting project

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and I might need some people to hop on board

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with me. I don't know, but if there are people

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who are willing to join in on that fun, then

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I'll do it and there will be a discord specifically

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for that should it happen. As for the Dead Light clubs,

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Deadlights Club, I plan to discuss Stephen King short stories,

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novella's novels, along with movie adaptations and news. So lots

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of fun stuff coming up on the Patreon, so please

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join up. You'll get it all for free. Not free.

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You can join as a free member, but you can

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get it for dirt cheap and almost free. Just to

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go to my patreon is. I'm sorry this sounds so

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much like an advertisement, but you know, I don't have

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very many Patreons, and I would absolutely love it if

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I had more. And that's at www dot patreon dot com.

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Forward slash Jason Underscore White. That should get you there.

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The link is always in the show notes, so just

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go and check that out. All right, I'm gonna stop

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talking about Patreon Now, I'm not usually very good at

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self promotion, and so I thought i'd make this video

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to at least half of the video to be that,

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and then the next half to be about the books.

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So top five books that I read of summer and fall.

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So let me see here all these books except for one.

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It's Somebody for Somebody that I talked to, and one

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of the books isn't that book, So I'm gonna save

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that for last. I'm gonna be one of those pricks,

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all right, So I'm going to start off at Imposter

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Syndrome by Mark Allen Gunnals. I had some interesting technical

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difficulties getting Mark Allen Gunnals on the on the show,

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and technically I haven't talked to him yet, so that's

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supposed to happen tomorrow. But we're to talk about Imposter Syndrome.

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And I read the book for that interview, and it

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was an incredible book. The book is exactly what the

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title suggests it is. It's about a young man who's

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he's not young anymore. Actually, I think he's approaching middle age,

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if not middle age. His father was a very well

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known writer. He was like one of the most popular

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writers in the world, and he tried being a writer himself,

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and he failed. He only failed really because he let

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himself fail. He suffers from imposter syndrome. And he also

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suffers from a terrible father. His father is a serious

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prick to him. And so his father dies and he

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inherits the house. He also inherits his father's literary series

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the book company. The publisher, the top five publisher who

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published his dad, wants him to finish off the series

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with the last book that his father had started writing.

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And so imposter syndrome sort of sinks his awful teeth

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into his neck and in jexit's venom and to his blood,

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and it just goes from there. The story, like I said,

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it's wild. You really don't know what's going on until

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the end, and even maybe at the end you don't know.

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It's very much you can't trust the narrator at all.

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There's some alcoholism involved, some suicide, suicidal ideation, and very

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much a lot of imposter syndrome. It's a psychological thriller

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slash horror, and I absolutely loved it. I hope you

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check it out. It's out now, I believe, and as

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I can't all these books, these books are going to

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make the top ten of the year, and I don't

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know where, but they're going to be there, and this

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one included, of course. Next up as Shit Show by

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Chris Pennettier. I saw Chris. He was on Instagram and

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he requested people to to Shit Show wasn't out yet,

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and he was requesting reviewers for the book, and I said, hey,

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I'll review your book if I get an e arc. Also,

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I be on my show if you want to talk

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about it, and he said yeah. So we got on

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the show and we talked about it. And Shit Show

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is a WoT it's about. You know, I forget the

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technical name, the sort of technician that the main character is,

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but he empties the porta potties that you see at

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work sites and concerts and circuses and whatnot. So that's

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his job. And people are going missing in the area.

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And his mother who's suffering from early on set maybe

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not early onset, but she has dementia, and she goes

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missing and he takes on a wild, crazy adventure to

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find her and bring her back home. I'm going to

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leave it at that. There is a dark carnival in here.

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It's very much a horror story, and like I said,

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it's a whot's very funny, but not in a I

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don't know it's I found it very funny and I

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enjoyed the humor in it. I kind of went off

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on that because I know some people don't like comedy

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in their horror, but I felt it worked very well

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in shit Show. I also read Requiem, which makes this list,

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where I talked with John Pallisano. This book, this book

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hits all the things for me. It's it's a science

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fiction story, and it's very philosophical in a sense, philosophical

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in the sense of existence and you know that age

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old question why are we here? That sort of thing.

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The premise is there's a graveyard space station, Yeah, a

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graveyard in space, and the main character is sent with

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a crew to go fix it up because there's some

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broken thing on there. And while they're at it, they're

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going to put on one of the world's biggest pop

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singers and she's going to write requiem for people to

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listen to while they're visiting their dead, and the song

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she there's something going on in this space station, something supernatural.

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And when I say supernatural, I mean it's like, take

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those two words super natural, it's not. It's maybe natural,

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but it's something we've never encountered before. Is it alien?

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Is it something else? We don't know, but it's it's

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it's fucking with everything. And this book is really weird

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and it's got some kind of scary and gory parts too.

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I really enjoyed Requiem because of all those you know,

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all the space stuff, like the ending. The ending kind

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of reminds me a little bit of Arthur C. Clark's

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two thousand and one I believe it is. I loved

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it and I can't wait to read more from John

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pallas Ano. The conversation I had with him was absolutely

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00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:13.759
mind blowing. It was one of those things where our

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conversations where you know, my brain was just firing on

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00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:21.359
all it was sparkling, sparkling. It was like, you know,

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like fireworks. I don't get to have those types of

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conversations in real life at all, so it was fascinating

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00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:30.759
to have him on. I can't wait to have him

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on again in the future. And Requiem is highly recommended

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00:18:37.480 --> 00:18:43.279
by me. Although don't go in expecting, you know, nasty horror,

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terribly scary, expect existentialism to be like the main focus

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on this story. I think maybe some people went in

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00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:59.519
with wrong expectations, and so if you go on good Reads,

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you'll notice that the rating is a little low for Requiem. Honestly,

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when I went in, I thought it was going to

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be space Zombies because of the description. When I read

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00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:13.000
the description, I thought immediately space zombies. But there's no

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00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:16.799
space zombies, so keep that in mind while you're reading.

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And the second last here, So number two on my

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list is Veil by Jonathan Jans. Jonathan Jans is a

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00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:28.319
guy I've wanted to have on the podcast for a

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00:19:28.359 --> 00:19:30.559
long time, and I first spoke to him on my

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00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:35.039
other podcast, Short Bites of Stephen King Podcast, where we

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discussed one of Stephen King's short stories for night Shift.

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I think it was night Serf. We talked about that

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in preparation for It's the End of the World as

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00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:47.680
we Know It or the End of the World as

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we Know It, that anthology of the stand stories that

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00:19:51.960 --> 00:19:56.079
recently came out. So I talked to him there, and

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00:19:56.119 --> 00:19:58.240
then when I was talking to him there, I asked

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him if he'd mind coming on Weird and you said, yeah,

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00:20:00.920 --> 00:20:02.960
you know what, we'll do it, and a couple of

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months passed by, and I shot him another message saying,

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00:20:06.039 --> 00:20:07.799
do you still want to come on talk about Veil.

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00:20:08.519 --> 00:20:10.720
A weird thing that happened was I did not get

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00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:15.200
an advanced reader's copy by Jonathan Chance. I got one

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00:20:15.240 --> 00:20:18.960
from net Galley. I never get approved for net gally,

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00:20:19.240 --> 00:20:21.839
but I was approved for this book and the next book,

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00:20:22.759 --> 00:20:26.720
which was interesting. So I don't know why I was

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00:20:26.759 --> 00:20:28.680
approved for that book. So I ended up writing a

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00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:31.519
review for it. You can find it on net Galley itself,

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00:20:31.559 --> 00:20:34.759
where you can find it on good Reads. But I

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00:20:34.839 --> 00:20:38.160
really enjoyed this book, especially well the whole thing, honestly,

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00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:43.200
but the first half really had me by the by

305
00:20:43.240 --> 00:20:47.440
the nether regions. I just loved the premise, the idea

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00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:51.079
of people just disappearing by mass, you know, on mass

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00:20:51.119 --> 00:20:54.440
like a whole thousands and thousands of people are going

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00:20:54.519 --> 00:20:57.960
missing at the same time, and this itself creates an epidemic.

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And in this story, we follow the main character his

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00:21:01.960 --> 00:21:05.200
name is John, and his fam his wife and his

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00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:08.599
son are both taken and then he's left to survive

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00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:11.960
with his daughter. I'll leave it at that, but there's

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00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:14.480
a lot of interesting things that happen in this book.

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00:21:14.920 --> 00:21:16.880
Very interesting things. I think it's best to go in

315
00:21:16.920 --> 00:21:19.799
as blind as possible because this book is a rollercroster

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00:21:19.880 --> 00:21:24.720
ride of emotions and so much more. I absolutely, man,

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00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:27.279
I love this book. It's I don't know, it's it's

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00:21:27.319 --> 00:21:28.960
gonna be tough if it makes number one or not.

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00:21:29.400 --> 00:21:32.839
I think it might. But the next book here really

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00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:38.640
really blew my mind. And that's Coffin Moon by Keith Rawson.

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00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:42.880
As I said, I got approved for this on net

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00:21:42.920 --> 00:21:46.440
Galley as well, and I never get approved by net Gilly,

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never mind two in a row and two bigger books.

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00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:53.119
Usually net Galley approves me only like with the smaller

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00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:57.880
independent writers, but this one two big ones in a row,

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00:21:57.920 --> 00:22:01.279
and I was like, holy geez. I thought about having

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00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:03.480
Keith Rossen on the show, but I noticed he was

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00:22:03.480 --> 00:22:08.039
getting on everywhere. He was on all the podcasts, and

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00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:10.000
I was like, I don't think I have anything else

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00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:13.480
to add to that, so I decided not to. Maybe

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00:22:13.519 --> 00:22:16.599
next time I might try getting him on the show,

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00:22:17.799 --> 00:22:20.519
because he sounds like a pretty awesome guy. I listened

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00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:23.799
to a lot of podcasts like this one where people

334
00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:27.519
talk to authors, because that's I don't know why. I

335
00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:29.680
think it's a great idea. Honestly, if you're a writer,

336
00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:34.200
you learn a lot. And it's like a slow burn.

337
00:22:34.359 --> 00:22:38.839
Learn a slow burn learn that kind of works together somehow. Anyways,

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00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:42.400
it's a slow burn learn, and it's a great way

339
00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:47.720
to learn about the craft of writing, to learn about

340
00:22:48.359 --> 00:22:51.519
that along with living a real life. It's a great

341
00:22:51.559 --> 00:22:54.480
way to learn how people get their stories because almost

342
00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:58.480
everyone asks that question that all writers, Hey, where do

343
00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:01.240
you get your ideas from? We all want to know

344
00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:03.400
where you got that idea from. And I think that's

345
00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:06.400
the most important differentiation between where do you get your

346
00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:09.039
ideas from? And how did you come up with this novel?

347
00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:12.039
And I love learning about that, and almost everyone asks that,

348
00:23:12.200 --> 00:23:14.319
and I'm glad they do because I think it's an

349
00:23:14.359 --> 00:23:21.480
important question. It's interesting anyways, So yeah, Keith Rawson Coffin Moon.

350
00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:26.279
Coffin Moon is a vampire story, and it's a revenge story.

351
00:23:26.839 --> 00:23:34.119
It's about a family who after their parents, her parents die,

352
00:23:33.799 --> 00:23:37.759
they adopt their niece. I think it's his niece, the

353
00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:45.759
male protagonist and the whole setup. It's basically about a family.

354
00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:49.279
It's his family, his wife. No, No, it's her family.

355
00:23:49.319 --> 00:23:52.559
I forgot about that. It's his niece, but her family

356
00:23:52.599 --> 00:23:56.599
and they that they live with or they live near.

357
00:23:57.759 --> 00:24:01.960
Kind of butchering this, but the basic premise is they

358
00:24:02.039 --> 00:24:05.400
operate a bar with her family, the wife's family. I

359
00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:08.480
can't remember any of the character names, which is very

360
00:24:08.519 --> 00:24:11.359
typical of me. Anyways, so they help run the bar

361
00:24:12.079 --> 00:24:16.200
and his mother in law who's like the owner along

362
00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:21.319
with her husband. The husband has cancer and he's going

363
00:24:21.400 --> 00:24:27.960
to die, and so the mother in law has a

364
00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:32.599
solution to maybe keep him alive, but that involves some

365
00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:36.440
sketchy characters who the son in law, our main character,

366
00:24:36.480 --> 00:24:40.839
our hero doesn't like because they're bikers and they're dealing

367
00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:43.440
drugs in the back room, and he's like, this is

368
00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:44.880
going to catch up to us and we're all going

369
00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:46.799
to go to jail. Do you really want that? And

370
00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:51.880
so he kicks them out, and maybe these bikers weren't

371
00:24:51.960 --> 00:24:56.640
human and maybe they do some terrible things, which leads

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00:24:57.519 --> 00:25:02.480
the father our main character, and his niece to go

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00:25:02.519 --> 00:25:09.559
on exact some nasty revenge. I've spoiled enough with that terrible,

374
00:25:10.200 --> 00:25:15.920
terrible synopsis. But it's an awesome book. I did not

375
00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:16.799
do it justice.

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00:25:17.319 --> 00:25:17.720
It is.

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00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:24.240
Really high end contention with vail and requiem for the

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00:25:24.319 --> 00:25:26.960
number one spot. I need to take the next couple

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00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:30.240
of months and think about this, all right. So that's

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my top five books of the summer and early fall.

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00:25:35.519 --> 00:25:39.599
You can email the show at Weirdreads podcast at gmail

382
00:25:39.640 --> 00:25:44.839
dot com let me know what your top five reads

383
00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:47.880
so far of the year are. And if you're watching

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00:25:47.920 --> 00:25:50.400
this on YouTube, you can just do so by writing

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00:25:50.440 --> 00:25:53.160
deep down there in the darkness. And I want to

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thank you all for watching and putting up with my

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00:25:55.359 --> 00:26:01.039
advertising here. I really you know, you don't need to

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00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:05.720
join the Patreon to help. Just watching and listening helps

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00:26:06.680 --> 00:26:09.880
hitting the like button. If you're listening to this on

390
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.039
Apple Podcasts, you can easily help the show by rating

391
00:26:14.119 --> 00:26:18.559
and reviewing the show. Doing so let's Apple know there's

392
00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:21.160
interest in the show, and they're then more willing to

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00:26:21.160 --> 00:26:24.039
share it with others. So that's the goal here. The

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00:26:24.039 --> 00:26:26.880
goal here is to grow. But I'm having a blast

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00:26:26.880 --> 00:26:29.720
doing it regardless, and I want to thank you for

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00:26:29.799 --> 00:26:34.720
joining me and coming along. And so I'm done here

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for now. Thank you for listening or watching, and until

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00:26:38.319 --> 00:26:42.400
next time, keep being weird because weird is so important

399
00:26:42.440 --> 00:26:47.480
these days, and keep being creative and safe, keep being

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00:26:47.480 --> 00:26:50.759
all the things that are positive and good, and I'll

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00:26:50.759 --> 00:27:27.759
see you guys in the next podcast and or video