Jan. 3, 2026

070 - Year End Review + Top 10 Reads of 2025

070 - Year End Review + Top 10 Reads of 2025

Please rate and review on Apple Podcasts! I observe what 2025 was like for the Weird Reads podcast. Spoiler: I'd say it's the best year yet! I also go through my top ten reads of 2025. It was a great year of growth. What's next? Listen and find out!...

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Please rate and review on Apple Podcasts!

I observe what 2025 was like for the Weird Reads podcast. Spoiler: I'd say it's the best year yet! I also go through my top ten reads of 2025. It was a great year of growth. What's next? Listen and find out! Now on to 2026!

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WEBVTT

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Hello, and welcome to Weird Reads. I'm Jason White, and

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today I'm going to be doing my best books read

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in twenty twenty five plus a year in review. I'll

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be starting with that first. I just want to start

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off with saying that I didn't do any videos I

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think in twenty twenty five regular videos. I did all interviews,

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and I apologize for that. But you know something I

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don't know. I've just been busy and tired, and I'm

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hoping to change that. I have a bunch of video

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ideas and podcast episode ideas extras, but it's just a

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matter of finding the time to get there. So twenty

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five was a great year, though, excuse me. I read

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a lot of great books, but I also talked to

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a lot of great authors. I talked to the likes

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of hang On Here Jonathan Jan's, which was a real treat.

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I talked to him twice, both on the Weird Reads

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podcast and short bites, Glenn Wolf, Amanda Hedley, Candace Nola,

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John Pallasano, Chris Panetier, Richard Thomas, Catherine Silva, Todd Keasling,

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Jeffrey Thomas, and Eric S. Brown. And I even wrote

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a book with Eric S. Brown called Killer Bears, and

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that book is pretty crazy. I think I think you

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should check it out. It's it's just fun. It's not

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meant to be like anything deep. But I had a

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lot of fun writing it with Eric, and I went

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by really quick, and so yeah. So I also had

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some returning guests. Some of my favorites came back, and

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people like Daniel Brahm, which I talked to earlier in

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the year, and there's an episode coming up where we

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talk about his latest collection of stories, Phantom Constellations. Look

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for that that'll be out soon. Nicholas Kaufman and David

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Michael David Wilson, and Robbie Dorman. They were returning guests

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as well. Those last two were their second appearance, and

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I always love talking to them. I always get a

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little nervous talking to Michael David Wilson for some reason.

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He's just such a stalwarts within the podcasting community and

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talking to horror authors. He's talked almost everybody, and Robbie

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Dorman's he started his own podcasts talking to a lot

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of authors as well. And I have my own plans

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for the show, and honestly, I want to kind of

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I said this last year and it didn't happen. But

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I want to take a step back a little bit

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from talking to authors. I don't want to just be

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about talking to authors about their books. I want to

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do more exploration into genres, stories authors. I want to

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do showcases and stuff about authors and maybe genres, definitely genres.

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So hopefully I will do that. It's just when people

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email me saying they want to be on the show,

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I have a real hard time saying no, and so

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that's why that hasn't happened yet. But I'm going to

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stop sending out invitations except for maybe people who I

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feel I'm close to, and well, you know what, I'm

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going to get into all this later. I don't know

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why I'm going into it now, because I have a

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hard time raining myself in, I guess. So overall, I

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am incredibly pleased with how last year went, and so

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how about we get into the books? Is my top

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top ten list of twenty twenty five. A lot of

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these books are actually were released in twenty twenty five,

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and that's because I talked, as I said, to the authors.

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So I don't think all of them were no, definitely

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not all of them, but the majority, the majority of them,

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you might be surprised with what came in at number one,

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you might not be. It was one of those weird

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years where I really enjoyed when I read, but nothing

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I would say blew my socks off, like I'm talking

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Project hil Mary type style of blowing my socks off.

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And my December reading got really strange too. I ended

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up going into a lot of classic literature, especially Russian

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classic literature of the likes of Fyodora Dustayevski and Anton Chekhov.

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I really like a Canton Chekhov short stories. They're very

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they're very minimalist, but they tend to pack a bit

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of a punch. And speaking of minimalist writing for short stories,

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Raymond Carver, who I also started reading in December. He

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is incredible and I'm not going to stop reading. Horror

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is my home. My walls are built with horror. But

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I've been craving more contemporary type stuff lately. I don't

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know why that is, but I'm really loving it, so

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I'm not gonna I'm hoping that I can just work

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it in and just read contemporary classics and horror. Maybe

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that's my new jam, my new jam all right, Top

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ten lists turn top twenty twenty five books read. Not

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all of them were released in twenty twenty five, but

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a lot of them were. So how about we start

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with book number ten now this but in the tenth

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spot here, I tried to get this author on as

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a repeat guest to talk about this book. We tried twice,

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two separate times, and during both those separate times, we

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tried multiple platforms and we just couldn't connect. Pretty sure

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that the issue was something to do either with his

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cell phone or his Internet connection. I don't know, but

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it failed miserably. It was one of the worst fails ever.

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But I'm hoping. I'm using a different system now and

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I haven't invited him back yet, but I'm going to.

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I'm just going to give it a little while because

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you know, he's probably thinking it's not going to work,

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and I think the same. Maybe I don't know, but

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I'm talking about Mark Allen Gunnells. I love talking to Mark.

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He's a great guy. And in the top, in the

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very tenth spot here is his latest thriller, horror Imposter Syndrome.

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This book really, uh, this book was really good. It's

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about you know, I'm bad with names, so don't expect

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me to come up with any character names during any

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of these synopsis is that I spew out through my

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bumbling voice. Imposter syndrome is about a guy who his

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father is like he wrote children's books, and he was

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a very very big children's book writer, and he wants

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he wanted to become a writer himself, but he failed,

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and one reason why he failed was because his dad

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even betrayed him and helped ruin his career. And so

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now his dad has died and the only thing he

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left his son our protagonist is the house in which

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he lived in. And so our hero here moves back

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in and starts to experience some pretty strange things. And

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the imposter syndrome is very on point to what this

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story is about. Imposter syndrome. If you're an artist or

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a writer, or a creator of any means, then you

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know what imposter syndrome it's like. It's comparison. Comparison is

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like the killer of all joy, as it's been said,

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And I've heard people say it's about greed, and I disagree.

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It's not just about greed. Yeah, you can look at

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another artist and say I want what they have, and

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ultimately it is about greed, but it's not always about

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what they have success wise, like I often when I

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suffer from imposter syndrome, it's not necessarily there's the person.

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If I'm comparing myself to another person, I'm not comparing

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my success versus another person's success, though I do suffer

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from that as well. Sometimes I just wish I was

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as good as the other person. I wish that my material,

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my writing, or my podcasting was as good. Is just say,

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I don't know Stephen King or Neil McRoberts, you know

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from Talking Scared, but I'll never be that I myself,

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and I think that's the important thing, right And I'm

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getting off on a tangent here. Wow, Okay, so let's

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not go into a tangent Let's get back to imposter

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syndrome here. Imposter syndrome deals with all those issues. But

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there's something going on that could be a ghost or

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it could be just our main character going and say,

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you have to read the book to find out. I

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really love that angle. Mark Allen Gnos really nails that

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sort of and you know it spoke to me obviously

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because I want on a tangent here so I think,

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you know, people who are artists or writers or podcasters, whatever,

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anyone who can possibly suffer from imposter syndrome would get

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a kick out of this book, because this book really

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goes deep into imposter syndrome and it brings out the

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absolute worst in people and just how you can uh,

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you know, uh take down somebody else's career when maybe

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the imposter syndrome isn't imposter syndrome, it's betrayal. I don't know.

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Leave it at that, Okay, just let me have a

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sip of my coffee here. Next up is number nine,

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and that is Undead Folk by Catherine Silva. I'm kind

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of cheating here as I'm adding the trilogy that this

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book is from into the number nine spot. Excuse me.

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Catherine Silva is new to me. I remember talking to

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Todd Keasling and and he mentioned that I should read her.

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When I asked, when I when I used to ask,

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who do you who do you suggest? Who do you suggest? Uh?

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Who do you suggest? I'm starting to sound crazy because

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I just realized I didn't. You know, this whole thing's

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going to ship real quick, all right, So, uh, Catherine Silva,

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Undead Folk is it's supposed apocalyptic story, and it's it's

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very much a story about uh longing, loss and grief

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and all those things that that we deal we have

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to deal with at some point, uh, but it's all

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wrapped up in a weird apocalypse where the world has

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kind of run out of water, and it's it's honestly,

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it's it's a fascinating look into uh these topics, and

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it's it's not just about loss and all that. It's

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also a very strong story about revenge. If you like

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revenge stories, I think you will enjoy the uh, the art,

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the overall arc of the trilogy. It kind of blew

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me away and I really enjoyed it, and it's definitely

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highly recommended. It's fun and it's written very well. The

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prose is something that is really what gets you in

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the gut. The Catherine Silva's way with words is she's

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got a real handle on how to touch you with

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with her words. And that's I think what I like

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the most about those books or that trilogy, and so

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I definitely recommend the Undead Folk trilogy. Moving on here,

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number eight, I have Shit Show by Chris Pennettier. I

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had him on as a guest. You're gonna notice that

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a lot of these books were a results of guests

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on the show. And one reason for that is because

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I am pretty I want to read the books. I

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want to read the books of the authors who come on.

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Sometimes I want to read more than just one. So

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it really occupies the majority of my reading time. And

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that's another reason why I'm wanting to let up a

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little bit on the guests. I am first and foremost reader.

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I absolutely love reading, and writing kind of comes second

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to that. Honestly, I've learned that about myself over the years.

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So The Shit Show is a crazy episode, crazy episode,

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crazy book. It's not like absolutely a shit show of

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a crazy episode crazy book. It's just a lot of fun.

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But it has some pretty serious themes, themes dealing with

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illness Alzheimer's disease or dementia. It deals with learning to

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cope as you know, a person who loves his mother

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who's suffering from this illness, learning to cope with your

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parent who has this. But I think that's the whole arc,

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is learning to cope or learning to come to terms

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with the fact that you're going to lose your parent,

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your mother whom you love dearly and you've been taken

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care of during this illness. What happens is there's a

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porta potty somehow becomes like a portal to a hellish

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sort of carnival like dimension where his mother kind of

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falls in there, and he figures out a way to

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find her. And it is quite entertaining how he struggles

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to find her, and when he does, he struggles to

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make her come home. And there's some interesting things happening

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in the story that really were deeply felt. I found

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the characters kind of landed the the emotions, you felt

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what the main character was feeling. And I absolutely loved

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this story. And it like there's some serious laugh out

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out loud moments too, especially when he's putting on the

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scuba gear to go into the porta potty to go investigating.

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It's just it's just it's a blast, honestly, all right.

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Next up, I have a Requiem by John Pallisano. This

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is at the number seven spot. Requiem Requiem was I

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just picked this one up on my own. I remember

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back in twenty and seventeen, somewhere in there, I had

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talked to John Pallisano twice. I believe once on the

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Great Lakes Horror Come podcast and once for the Darkness

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Dwells podcast, and I really enjoyed talking to him, so

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I thought i'd go see what he had out. I

225
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came across his book Requiem, and it was space horror,

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and I was really in the mood for space horror

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at the time, so I thought, you know, this is

228
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a great time to go and read it. And so

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I read it and I loved it. I was about

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halfway through and I decided to contact him again and

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see if he had come on the show and talk

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about it. It was a great book. It's about it's

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about it's a futuristic book, and it takes place in space.

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Like I mentioned, what we have here in this story

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is a space station that's it's a graveyard. So I'm

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assuming I can't remember exactly, but I'm assuming that rich

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people can because there's a there's an issue on Earth

238
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in terms of land and free space for us to

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bury our dead. So so there's a space station, a

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giant one where you can in tune you're dead and

241
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you can go visit them anytime you want. But there's

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00:17:05.799 --> 00:17:09.680
something wrong with the with the place, and so we

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00:17:10.119 --> 00:17:13.279
follow a crew that's sent up there to go fix

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what's wrong, and they run into some serious issues. This

245
00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:25.920
story goes into some philosophical ideas involving existence, and it

246
00:17:26.039 --> 00:17:30.160
also uh, it's definitely a piece of weird fiction. In

247
00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:34.240
my opinion, I don't think John gets the recognition for

248
00:17:34.519 --> 00:17:38.680
being a weird fiction writer that he can be, and this,

249
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this book kind of proves it to me. Next up,

250
00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:45.920
I have The Sundowners Dance by Todd Keasling. Now this

251
00:17:45.960 --> 00:17:51.440
book here, I I there was another one that I

252
00:17:52.359 --> 00:17:56.720
wasn't planning on having Todd on the show. I picked

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this one up. I got the audio book. I was like,

254
00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:01.480
I want to read some Time Keysling. And I knew

255
00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:05.599
he had released discs. He's on Facebook. I'm on Facebook.

256
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I see his updates all the time, and this just

257
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sounded like it was up my alley, and like I said,

258
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I wanted to read some Todd Keysling. So I was

259
00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:16.119
about halfway through The Sundowners Dance when it was like,

260
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oh my god, you know I have to talk to

261
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Todd about this book. And so I contacted him and

262
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he was good enough to come on and talk to

263
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me about it. And I really love this book. It's

264
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about getting old and losing the ones you love, mainly

265
00:18:32.920 --> 00:18:36.079
your spouse, and what to do with the rest of

266
00:18:36.119 --> 00:18:39.400
your life when that happens, especially when the road ahead

267
00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:42.279
is so much shorter than the road behind you. What

268
00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:45.160
do you do with that time? So he moves into

269
00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:51.200
an old age it's like a subdivision. It's it's a community,

270
00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:56.039
an old age community, and there's some weird happenings in

271
00:18:56.079 --> 00:18:59.240
this community. There's people who die and then come back

272
00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:02.880
to life, and there might be a cult. This book

273
00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:05.599
was a lot of fun, as I said, and I

274
00:19:06.039 --> 00:19:10.359
want to reread it. Honestly. I love stories about old

275
00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:14.599
people dealing with their age. And I think the reason

276
00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:17.440
why is because, you know, assuming I don't die of

277
00:19:17.480 --> 00:19:20.599
a heart attack or in a car accident or something,

278
00:19:21.079 --> 00:19:23.359
I'm heading there just like we all are, and I'm

279
00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:27.440
going to get old, and I might outlive my spouse,

280
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and I might even outlive my kid. I hope not,

281
00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:34.960
but you know, it's all a possibility, and I don't

282
00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:37.799
want it to be that way, of course, but it's

283
00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:42.880
still there as a possibility. So I like exploring, and

284
00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:45.440
that was what Todd Keaesling was doing in this book

285
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as well. So definitely check out The Sundowners Dance by

286
00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:53.640
Todd Keasling. Next up at number five, here we have

287
00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:57.920
Daddy's Boy by Michael David Wilson. This book, I would say,

288
00:19:58.240 --> 00:20:02.440
is batshit crazy. This book, it goes for the third

289
00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:05.680
it's it's somewhat laugh out loud moments that had me

290
00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:11.559
go fining and I really enjoyed my time. It's about

291
00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:15.000
a young man who's reacquainted with his dad, except he

292
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.079
doesn't know quite right away that is his dad. Now

293
00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:24.039
this book his dad is. He's a deadbeat dad, he's

294
00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:29.640
an alcoholic, he loves his sausages, and he takes his

295
00:20:29.720 --> 00:20:33.799
son for quite a ride. I know even at that.

296
00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:35.640
There's a bit of a crime story here, a bit

297
00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:40.799
of money that's owed and people coming to collect type idea,

298
00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:45.599
and some robbery attempts that go horribly wrong with you know,

299
00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:51.039
running into female Samurais and angry female Samaraize me. I

300
00:20:51.079 --> 00:20:56.000
had this book, Like I said, this book deserves how

301
00:20:56.039 --> 00:20:58.240
of a lot more attention than it's getting. It's not

302
00:20:58.279 --> 00:21:01.400
really horror, but there is a a strong horror element

303
00:21:01.480 --> 00:21:04.359
right at the end, and it doesn't lose a bashit

304
00:21:04.480 --> 00:21:07.200
craziness with that horror elements. When you come to what

305
00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:10.079
happens at the end, you're scratching your head thinking, what

306
00:21:10.119 --> 00:21:13.200
the fuck did I just read? And that's what I

307
00:21:13.240 --> 00:21:18.000
love about Michael David Wilson. He surprises you all the

308
00:21:18.039 --> 00:21:21.839
time and it's fantastic. You gotta go read that Daddy's

309
00:21:21.880 --> 00:21:24.799
Boy seriously. At number four, I have This Is How

310
00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:29.720
a Villain Is Made by Amanda Hedley. This one I

311
00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:34.839
scheduled with Candace Nolan Nola, Sorry did I say Nolan?

312
00:21:35.240 --> 00:21:39.599
Candace Nola? I scheduled this book with her to talk

313
00:21:39.640 --> 00:21:42.400
to Amanda Hedley, and I'm so glad I did, because

314
00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:45.559
This Is How a Villain Is Made is a fantastic,

315
00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:49.079
fantastic book. It's about a young woman who's trying to

316
00:21:49.079 --> 00:21:51.799
get away from her father and she ends up getting

317
00:21:51.960 --> 00:21:56.079
trapped with a man who is a doctor, but he's

318
00:21:56.119 --> 00:22:01.359
also a killer and he sort of holds her prisoner

319
00:22:01.559 --> 00:22:03.359
and I'm just going to leave it at that. That's

320
00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:08.160
maybe even that's going too far with the plot because

321
00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:09.920
I went into it blind. I had no idea what

322
00:22:10.039 --> 00:22:12.400
was going to happen in this book, but it was

323
00:22:12.839 --> 00:22:16.680
all a very much a pleasant surprise, and it's very gory,

324
00:22:16.799 --> 00:22:21.440
like very very gory and disturbing. There's some very disturbing

325
00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:23.640
scenes in this book, and there's also a thing that

326
00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:27.720
happens around the middle part that really surprised me, but

327
00:22:27.799 --> 00:22:31.480
it made perfect sense for the story, and I applauded

328
00:22:31.960 --> 00:22:34.759
Amanda for that when I talked to her, because I

329
00:22:34.759 --> 00:22:37.640
don't think and too many authors could have pulled that off,

330
00:22:37.640 --> 00:22:41.960
but she did really well, very well. All right in

331
00:22:42.039 --> 00:22:45.319
at number three here, I have a Stephen King entry.

332
00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:48.519
I read a lot of Stephen King, but I only

333
00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:52.920
like doing one author per top ten list when I'm

334
00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:56.839
doing my Top twenty or my top yearly reads. So

335
00:22:57.440 --> 00:23:01.480
this is I think my favorite Stephen King of the year,

336
00:23:02.200 --> 00:23:04.079
and it's one that a lot of people didn't like.

337
00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:07.440
I remember when it was released. I think it was

338
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like twenty eighteen around there. Everyone on that I know

339
00:23:11.480 --> 00:23:15.680
on Facebook tore it up, including some people who I'm

340
00:23:15.720 --> 00:23:18.759
friends with, and I don't get the hate for it.

341
00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:22.400
I loved it. And I'm talking about elevation by Stephen King.

342
00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:27.200
Is it? It's definitely different for Stephen King, but if

343
00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:33.200
you've read his work over all his decades of writing,

344
00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:35.759
it's not that far fetched for him to write this.

345
00:23:37.160 --> 00:23:43.160
It's definitely a lighter side, a sad ending, but it's

346
00:23:43.160 --> 00:23:46.480
spilled with hope at the same time. It's about a guy.

347
00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:49.440
You probably know the premise. It's about a guy who's

348
00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:54.400
losing weight without losing mass, so he stays the same size.

349
00:23:54.440 --> 00:23:57.920
He's not getting skinnier, but he's getting lighter and pretty

350
00:23:57.920 --> 00:24:01.119
soon he's just going to float away if it keeps happening.

351
00:24:01.680 --> 00:24:05.000
And in the story sort of comes to grips with

352
00:24:05.480 --> 00:24:10.839
his life that he led and sort of makes amends

353
00:24:11.039 --> 00:24:15.480
with the people he may have hurt or whatnot. So

354
00:24:15.480 --> 00:24:18.000
it's just one of those type of life stories, you know,

355
00:24:18.039 --> 00:24:21.599
a slice of life stories that Stephen King writes, and

356
00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:24.240
I'm a huge fan of his slice of life stories,

357
00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:29.039
and this one is no exception. It's if you go

358
00:24:29.079 --> 00:24:31.640
to Stephen King for the nasty, you're not going to

359
00:24:31.640 --> 00:24:35.160
get it here. Don't go into elevation expecting that this

360
00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:39.440
is completely different. And it's it's a piece of literary art.

361
00:24:39.720 --> 00:24:42.960
If you want my opinion, I love it all right.

362
00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:46.720
Top two here in it number two, I have Coffin

363
00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:50.119
Moon by Keith Rosson. Now I have to say that

364
00:24:50.200 --> 00:24:52.960
I struggled with these two top two books. I didn't

365
00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:54.680
know where I was going to put them, but I

366
00:24:55.200 --> 00:24:59.480
went with what Blew My Socks off More? And the

367
00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:02.319
number one obviously blew my socks off the most. But

368
00:25:02.839 --> 00:25:06.240
Coffin Moon was just a lot of fun. This one

369
00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:09.400
I picked up as well because it was a vampire

370
00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:13.079
story and I wanted to read a vampire story, and

371
00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:16.640
I was considering getting him on the show as well.

372
00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:19.079
I ended up not because he went on quite the

373
00:25:19.119 --> 00:25:23.799
run of podcasts and I just figured that he probably

374
00:25:23.839 --> 00:25:26.680
doesn't need I mean, what can I contribute to what

375
00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:30.720
he's already talked about, was my reasoning. But I did

376
00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:33.680
want to talk to him about it, but I don't know.

377
00:25:33.799 --> 00:25:37.559
Maybe in the future we'll see how all that goes.

378
00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:42.799
But I really loved Coffin Moon. It is pretty violence

379
00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:48.000
and bloody, and it's also a revenge story involving a

380
00:25:48.039 --> 00:25:54.359
pretty powerful vampire that scared me. Honestly, this vampire is

381
00:25:54.359 --> 00:25:59.039
scary and I like that. I don't really understand all

382
00:25:59.079 --> 00:26:03.799
the hate for the romantic vampires. I like the vampire.

383
00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:06.759
You know, the point of view vampire, I don't. I

384
00:26:06.799 --> 00:26:09.720
don't hate that at all. You know, I'm a big

385
00:26:09.759 --> 00:26:12.799
fan of Anne Rice. So, but I do like the

386
00:26:12.839 --> 00:26:16.440
scary vampires as well, you know what you know, going

387
00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:20.799
back to the romantic vampire. I did read Twilight. I

388
00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:23.480
didn't read the whole series. I just read the first book,

389
00:26:23.480 --> 00:26:26.319
and I didn't absolutely hate it. It wasn't a great

390
00:26:26.359 --> 00:26:31.799
book by any means, but uh, I don't understand the

391
00:26:31.799 --> 00:26:36.519
heat honestly. I mean, it's not too far removed from

392
00:26:36.599 --> 00:26:40.640
Anne Rice's work. I mean Anne Rice's writing is way better.

393
00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:47.680
Obviously she's a poet. But yeah, getting back to Coffin,

394
00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:54.480
Moon has got mean vampires that completely do what you

395
00:26:54.519 --> 00:26:57.759
would want them to as vampires. They're they're just monstrous.

396
00:26:57.920 --> 00:27:01.559
And this the main vampire and the bad the bad guy,

397
00:27:02.079 --> 00:27:04.920
he is the toughest analogy. He kind of don't know

398
00:27:04.920 --> 00:27:07.480
how he's going to be defeated because he's almost got

399
00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:12.079
like a super superman like quality about him. And so

400
00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:16.480
I highly recommend it. The characters are fantastic. I loved

401
00:27:16.680 --> 00:27:19.759
everything about this book, all right, And at number one,

402
00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:23.200
I'm gonna I'm gonna pause here, take a sip in

403
00:27:23.240 --> 00:27:26.920
my coffee so you can all sweat try to figure

404
00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:33.079
out what my number one is, all right? Sarcasm aside

405
00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:38.400
and that number one. I have Veil or Sorry Veil

406
00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:43.039
by Jonathan Jans. Yes, this book made it to number one,

407
00:27:43.200 --> 00:27:48.440
and I I'm not surprised because I talked to Jonathan

408
00:27:48.519 --> 00:27:52.359
Chance about it. I first talked to Jonathan Jance on

409
00:27:52.359 --> 00:27:55.519
my Short Bites podcast and that's why I invited him

410
00:27:55.519 --> 00:27:57.240
to come on the show. I knew he was releasing

411
00:27:57.279 --> 00:27:59.319
this book and I wasn't sure if I'd be able

412
00:27:59.319 --> 00:28:00.880
to read it or not, so I thought maybe I

413
00:28:00.880 --> 00:28:03.319
would read it and then invite him on the show

414
00:28:03.359 --> 00:28:07.200
after its release. But it was of Jonathan Jans on

415
00:28:07.559 --> 00:28:12.000
Facebook mentioned that it was available over at net Gally,

416
00:28:13.079 --> 00:28:16.200
so I decided to request it. And this was like,

417
00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:19.519
I don't know, it was two or three months before

418
00:28:19.559 --> 00:28:23.160
the book release, and I never get approved for net Galley,

419
00:28:23.240 --> 00:28:26.279
not for the books I really want anyway, and this

420
00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:28.319
one I really wanted and they approved me. I don't

421
00:28:28.319 --> 00:28:30.799
know if they just approved all the like so many

422
00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:35.359
first people. Maybe they only allowed the first hundred or

423
00:28:35.400 --> 00:28:38.119
something like that. I don't know how it happened, but

424
00:28:38.200 --> 00:28:40.480
oh yeah, I ended up getting approved, so that was awesome,

425
00:28:40.920 --> 00:28:43.319
and I read it and we were able to talk

426
00:28:43.400 --> 00:28:47.279
before the book even came out and anyways, I was

427
00:28:47.359 --> 00:28:50.160
really happy to talk to Jonathan Jance because I've been

428
00:28:50.200 --> 00:28:54.079
reading him since around twenty seventeen and I love his work.

429
00:28:56.119 --> 00:28:58.640
His books are fun and this one is no exception.

430
00:28:59.200 --> 00:29:01.160
This one, I'd say it's his best book yet.

431
00:29:01.359 --> 00:29:06.119
It's it's an alien invasion story, but one that's really unique,

432
00:29:06.839 --> 00:29:10.839
where the aliens we can't see them, we can't see

433
00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:14.119
them when they take people and they take I think

434
00:29:14.119 --> 00:29:17.039
the first amount of people that the aliens take or

435
00:29:17.240 --> 00:29:21.880
it's like a thousand or two thousand people go missing worldwide.

436
00:29:20.880 --> 00:29:24.920
And it's people are like, what's going on, you know,

437
00:29:25.119 --> 00:29:27.640
like people went missing? And then the next one is

438
00:29:27.680 --> 00:29:30.920
like two hundred thousand people go missing go missing. When

439
00:29:31.000 --> 00:29:35.839
that happens, it's considered an epidemic. And what we saw

440
00:29:35.880 --> 00:29:39.200
with COVID kind of happens here. And it's very interesting

441
00:29:39.240 --> 00:29:48.279
how Jonathan Jan's wove all the controversies controversies with the COVID,

442
00:29:48.799 --> 00:29:57.400
the COVID situation into an alien invasion story. It's fascinating

443
00:29:57.880 --> 00:30:01.400
and I really loved that first half so much, and

444
00:30:01.839 --> 00:30:03.799
you would think that maybe I didn't like the second

445
00:30:03.799 --> 00:30:07.680
half so much when the main problem of the story

446
00:30:07.799 --> 00:30:11.480
is going to be resolved. Well that didn't happen because

447
00:30:11.559 --> 00:30:15.119
Jonathan Chance takes us to a different place in the

448
00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:18.880
novel that is so full of imagination and it's like

449
00:30:18.920 --> 00:30:23.960
a trip, honestly, and I absolutely had so much fun

450
00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:28.359
reading this book. It was and the beginning and the

451
00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:32.599
ending are both different, like it's part of the same story,

452
00:30:32.759 --> 00:30:36.880
don't get me wrong, but it's like a progressive metal song,

453
00:30:36.920 --> 00:30:40.319
you know, something like Tool maybe would have written. It

454
00:30:40.440 --> 00:30:43.319
starts off in one place and ends somewhere else. This

455
00:30:43.680 --> 00:30:47.079
book kind of goes there in that way. They're very

456
00:30:47.079 --> 00:30:49.519
different from each other, even though it's the same story,

457
00:30:49.599 --> 00:30:53.039
same characters. But I love the ending. I love the beginning.

458
00:30:53.400 --> 00:30:55.279
I think what I'm trying to say is I typically

459
00:30:55.359 --> 00:30:58.480
don't like endings in horror books, but this one really

460
00:30:58.599 --> 00:31:03.039
nailed it nailed the l ending, it did it. So

461
00:31:03.119 --> 00:31:06.480
I highly recommend Veil. It's one of my favorite reads

462
00:31:06.799 --> 00:31:09.000
I think of all time. And if one book blew

463
00:31:09.039 --> 00:31:13.480
my mind at all, it was Veil. And so that

464
00:31:13.480 --> 00:31:16.519
that's my top ten top ten books read in twenty

465
00:31:16.599 --> 00:31:20.160
twenty five. The majority of them is We're released in

466
00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:24.720
twenty twenty five, So there you have it, all right,

467
00:31:24.759 --> 00:31:30.319
so plans for twenty twenty six. So I want to

468
00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:34.319
put it a caveat here that I'm notorious for not

469
00:31:34.400 --> 00:31:37.960
sticking to the plans I make out for myself. I

470
00:31:38.039 --> 00:31:40.519
tend to follow the script laid out before me and

471
00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:43.200
not adding what I really want to do to that list.

472
00:31:44.119 --> 00:31:47.519
The reason for that is because circumstances, somebody will email

473
00:31:47.559 --> 00:31:49.240
me and say, hey, can I come on your show?

474
00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:51.359
And I'll go check out their book and I'm like, oh,

475
00:31:51.440 --> 00:31:55.960
you know, this book looks great, and so I end

476
00:31:56.039 --> 00:31:59.799
up saying, yeah, sure, let's do it, and then that

477
00:32:00.240 --> 00:32:02.039
because I only have a certain amount of time and

478
00:32:02.079 --> 00:32:08.079
whatnot and energy, of course, that puts my other ideas

479
00:32:08.119 --> 00:32:11.359
on the back burner. So I want to prioritize my

480
00:32:11.480 --> 00:32:16.440
ideas more so I can read more of what I

481
00:32:16.480 --> 00:32:21.000
want when I want, and the other things I want

482
00:32:21.039 --> 00:32:23.960
to do are shorter so it would take less time.

483
00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:26.799
I want to focus on a lot of short stories,

484
00:32:27.640 --> 00:32:31.240
like I'm doing with the Short Bites podcast, which is

485
00:32:31.279 --> 00:32:34.920
on a small hiatus. I should mention I haven't scheduled

486
00:32:34.920 --> 00:32:36.759
the next guest yet. I'm all cut up on all

487
00:32:36.759 --> 00:32:40.519
the people I've talked to for that episode for that podcast,

488
00:32:40.720 --> 00:32:44.960
I'm going to restart in early twenty twenty six. So,

489
00:32:45.319 --> 00:32:50.920
just as another side note, so I want to start

490
00:32:51.640 --> 00:32:55.640
tackling classic horror and weird short stories by the likes

491
00:32:55.640 --> 00:33:01.559
of people like Shirley Jackson, Charles Beaumont, Robert Aikman. I

492
00:33:01.559 --> 00:33:04.920
want to start with those three, definitely, starting with Shirley

493
00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:08.920
Jackson first. I just want to talk about her short stories.

494
00:33:08.960 --> 00:33:11.559
I don't want to go through like the order and

495
00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:15.640
where they were released. I just want to have my

496
00:33:15.720 --> 00:33:19.279
guest pick a Shirley Jackson short story or two, and

497
00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:23.480
we'll discuss it, discuss it or them, and we'll get

498
00:33:23.519 --> 00:33:26.279
in some history, We'll do some digging here. We'll try

499
00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:30.680
to be a little more academic. I'm not an academic by

500
00:33:30.720 --> 00:33:34.440
any means. I'm pretty sure that shows. But I want

501
00:33:34.480 --> 00:33:37.880
to be a little bit more intelligent with those types

502
00:33:37.920 --> 00:33:41.480
of conversations that I have with my guests. So I

503
00:33:41.519 --> 00:33:43.880
want to talk to more authors in twenty twenty six,

504
00:33:43.960 --> 00:33:46.039
of course, but as I said, I want to cut

505
00:33:46.119 --> 00:33:48.680
back a little bit with that. I'm hoping to just

506
00:33:48.720 --> 00:33:51.880
a little bit. I don't have any aspirations to like

507
00:33:51.960 --> 00:33:54.480
talk to all the authors or anything like that, like

508
00:33:54.960 --> 00:33:57.200
Robbie Dorman, I think, told me he wanted to talk

509
00:33:57.240 --> 00:34:00.440
to all the authors, and I was like, wow, that's intense,

510
00:34:00.559 --> 00:34:03.000
Like I can't. I don't want to do that. I

511
00:34:03.039 --> 00:34:05.240
just want to talk about books that I like reading.

512
00:34:05.319 --> 00:34:09.599
This is my bubble here, my bubble. I'm not I'm

513
00:34:09.639 --> 00:34:14.719
not really I'm not really trying to advance anywhere. And

514
00:34:14.800 --> 00:34:18.920
I'm not accusing anyone of of having those aspirations when

515
00:34:18.960 --> 00:34:22.519
they start a podcast, But I'm just saying, like, this

516
00:34:22.679 --> 00:34:26.039
is my my little bubble. I want it to reflect

517
00:34:26.119 --> 00:34:29.880
more of what I read rather than and what I

518
00:34:30.199 --> 00:34:34.039
what I enjoy mostly, so that's why I want to

519
00:34:34.079 --> 00:34:38.440
fit these things in. Short stories are something that fascinates

520
00:34:38.480 --> 00:34:42.199
me either, you know, I have a love hate relationship

521
00:34:42.199 --> 00:34:46.440
with short stories. There's some authors who are really good

522
00:34:46.519 --> 00:34:50.079
at the short story, Stephen King and Shirley Jackson, Mark

523
00:34:50.119 --> 00:34:56.320
Allen Gunnell's they're all, of course, Daniel Brahm Uh, They're

524
00:34:56.599 --> 00:34:59.880
freaking good. And I've discovered some newer short story right

525
00:34:59.880 --> 00:35:02.360
now who are fantastic as well. I might fit in

526
00:35:03.039 --> 00:35:06.320
because why not. Like Raymond Carver, He's got some stories

527
00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:09.599
that could be kind of considered on the thriller side

528
00:35:09.840 --> 00:35:14.679
or horror side, so I might ask somebody to come

529
00:35:14.679 --> 00:35:19.239
on and talk about those stories. Like I was surprised

530
00:35:19.280 --> 00:35:22.679
by one of Raymond Carver's stories that I read this

531
00:35:22.840 --> 00:35:26.280
month or not this month in December. It was brutal,

532
00:35:27.599 --> 00:35:31.760
the tension was high, and there was two men who

533
00:35:32.400 --> 00:35:38.360
murdered two young women. It was horrifying. It's not slice

534
00:35:38.360 --> 00:35:41.199
of life all the time with Raymond Carver, I'm sorry

535
00:35:41.280 --> 00:35:44.679
to say, but it's not. And I'm also been reading

536
00:35:44.719 --> 00:35:50.239
like Anton Chekhov, a classic Russian literature writer, and he

537
00:35:50.320 --> 00:35:54.159
is definitely more slice of life type stuff. But I'm

538
00:35:54.199 --> 00:35:57.559
just fascinated with that kind of storytelling. I used to

539
00:35:57.639 --> 00:36:00.320
read this type of stuff back like twenty years ago,

540
00:36:01.079 --> 00:36:03.360
and I stopped. I don't know why I stopped, And

541
00:36:03.400 --> 00:36:07.320
there was this huge gap in my life, in my

542
00:36:07.400 --> 00:36:09.760
reading life that I didn't realize. I think I was

543
00:36:11.119 --> 00:36:17.599
maybe book Tube was tilting my influence a little bit,

544
00:36:17.639 --> 00:36:20.280
because I do like fantasy, but I was forcing fantasy

545
00:36:20.280 --> 00:36:22.719
on to myself when I didn't want to read it.

546
00:36:23.320 --> 00:36:27.440
And so you know, there were so many times I

547
00:36:27.519 --> 00:36:29.599
tried to read fantasy over the years, and I don't

548
00:36:29.639 --> 00:36:33.440
think I like fantasy right now. Every fantasy book I've

549
00:36:33.480 --> 00:36:36.159
tried to read in the last year or two just

550
00:36:36.360 --> 00:36:40.119
utterly failed. I kind of either I hated it or

551
00:36:40.159 --> 00:36:42.119
I just thought it was good, but it wasn't enough

552
00:36:42.159 --> 00:36:45.559
to really keep going. So maybe I'm just not a

553
00:36:45.599 --> 00:36:49.440
fantasy guy anymore. I wouldn't be surprised to see me

554
00:36:49.599 --> 00:36:53.360
reading fantasy to say, a year two years down the road,

555
00:36:53.719 --> 00:36:56.559
and really enjoying it again. But right now, I just

556
00:36:56.599 --> 00:37:00.000
want to stick to my guns where I come from.

557
00:37:00.239 --> 00:37:05.800
I guess I really like contemporary literary type stories, and

558
00:37:05.880 --> 00:37:08.239
so I want to sort of dig it more into that.

559
00:37:08.280 --> 00:37:12.400
And it kind of happened this year when I had

560
00:37:12.400 --> 00:37:15.679
a really nasty craving to read some John Irving, and

561
00:37:15.760 --> 00:37:20.480
so I read some John Irving and I loved it.

562
00:37:21.159 --> 00:37:23.599
I felt like I had returned home after a very

563
00:37:23.639 --> 00:37:27.039
long absence. And so I'm going to try to fix

564
00:37:27.119 --> 00:37:30.039
all this put all this stuff into the Weird Reads mix.

565
00:37:30.320 --> 00:37:34.760
I even just thought maybe I would add a sort

566
00:37:34.760 --> 00:37:38.440
of like a name or a word to the weird

567
00:37:38.480 --> 00:37:42.159
Reads podcast weird Reads, et cetera. But I'm not too

568
00:37:42.159 --> 00:37:44.199
sure if I'm going to do that just yet. It

569
00:37:44.239 --> 00:37:48.480
depends if we actually ever get to talking about more

570
00:37:48.519 --> 00:37:54.079
contemporary type fiction on here. But until then we're going

571
00:37:54.159 --> 00:37:57.559
to be talking about Shirley Jackson and Robert Aikman and

572
00:37:57.599 --> 00:38:01.039
maybe some Charles Beaumont. I can't see me getting to

573
00:38:01.079 --> 00:38:03.400
all three of those authors this year, but it's a

574
00:38:03.440 --> 00:38:09.199
stepping stone, definitely starting with Shirley Jackson, so look for that.

575
00:38:09.199 --> 00:38:11.199
I've already talked to a couple of authors about that,

576
00:38:11.599 --> 00:38:14.599
and you can look for that. It's going to happen

577
00:38:14.639 --> 00:38:17.719
this year. And thank you for listening, and thank you

578
00:38:17.800 --> 00:38:21.280
for following me for all these years. As I said before,

579
00:38:21.320 --> 00:38:25.039
I hope to return to making some videos soon. I

580
00:38:25.079 --> 00:38:27.719
have some ideas. I want to do more audiobook top

581
00:38:27.760 --> 00:38:32.320
ten lists and other top ten lists. I like doing

582
00:38:32.360 --> 00:38:37.000
top ten lists. I know that some people accuse creators

583
00:38:37.119 --> 00:38:40.760
of making top ten lists simply because they're popular, But

584
00:38:41.559 --> 00:38:44.480
if you know me, then you know I scour top

585
00:38:44.519 --> 00:38:47.079
ten lists all the time. I love top ten lists.

586
00:38:47.360 --> 00:38:49.760
That's why I create my own top ten lists. So

587
00:38:51.679 --> 00:38:54.280
you know, some of my top ten lists were pretty popular,

588
00:38:54.800 --> 00:38:58.199
some of them not so popular. But I like doing

589
00:38:58.239 --> 00:39:00.599
it because it's the best way to wreck men books.

590
00:39:00.960 --> 00:39:04.360
And that's why I scour top ten lists. I'm looking

591
00:39:04.360 --> 00:39:08.159
for recommendations. I love listening to people talk about their

592
00:39:08.159 --> 00:39:13.880
favorite books or their top recommendations. So anyways, thank you

593
00:39:13.920 --> 00:39:16.119
so much for listening. I'm going to get out now.

594
00:39:16.760 --> 00:39:20.199
So keeping weird because weird is so important in these

595
00:39:20.239 --> 00:39:23.760
strange times, and most importantly, keep being safe and I'll

596
00:39:23.800 --> 00:40:03.679
catch you guys next episode