Here is a list of books and stories I have read. I’ve read a lot more than are listed here, obviously, but I started posting in October 2012. Most recent reads are at the top.

What I’ve Read

2021

The Ultimate Hero’s Journey: 195 Essential Plot Stages Found in the Best Novels & Movies – Neal Soloponte
The End of the Night – John D. MacDonald
Writing with Emotion, Tension & Conflict: Techniques for Crafting an Expressive and Compelling Novel – Cheryl St. John
The Art of Perspective: Who Tells the Story – Christopher Castellani
The Anatomy of Story – John Truby (3x)
Buried Beneath the Boarding House – Ryan Green
On Moral Fiction – John Gardner
Understanding Conflict (And What It Really Means) – Janice Hardy
Mastering Plot Twists: How to Use Suspense, Targeted Storytelling Strategies, and Structure to Captivate Your Readers – Jane K. Cleland
13 Steps to Evil: How to Craft Suberbad Villains – Sacha Black
The Twenty Worst Fiction Writing Mistakes – Jim Driver
Plot & Structure – James Scott Bell
Point of View – Leslie Watts
The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master – Martha Alderson
The Four Core Framework: Needs, Life Values, Emotions, and Events in Storytelling – Shawn Coyne
Conventions and Obligatory Moments: The Must-Haves to Meet Audience Expectations – Kimberly Kessler and Leslie Watts
Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing – Elmore Leonard
How to Write a Novel the Easy Way!: Using the Pulp Fiction Method – Jim Driver
Plot Perfect: Building Unforgettable Stories Scene by Scene – Paula Munier
Outline Your Books or Die! The Secrets of Writing Fiction That Sells – Jim Driver
How to Write the Million Dollar Story: Complete Step-by-Step Guide to Story Structure – Jim Driver
The Writer’s Brainstorming Kit – Pam McCutcheon and Michael Waite
20 Master Plots: And How to Build Them – Ronald B. Tobias
It’s Alive: Bringing Your Nightmares to Life – Joe Mynhardt & Eugene Johnson, eds.
Plotting Your Novel: Idea and Structure – Janice Hardy
Create Story Ideas That Beg to Be Written – John D. Brown
Finding the Core of Your Story – Jordan Smith
Generating Story Ideas: Tips and Techniques to Hatch Book Ideas from Scratch – Rachel Shane
The Idea: The Seven Elements of a Viable Story – Erik Bork
Where Do You Get Your Ideas? – Fred White
The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface – Donald Maass
Super Structure: The Key to Unleashing the Power of Story – James Scott Bell
Editing Fiction at Sentence Level – Louise Harnby
Making Sense of Point of View – Louise Harnby
How to Plot Romance Fiction – Nina Harrington
Dynamic Dialogue: Letting Your Story Speak – William Bernhardt
Excellent Editing: The Writing Process – William Bernhardt
What Writers Need to Know – William Bernhardt
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
Sizzling Style: Every Word Matters – William Bernhardt
Perfecting Plot: Charting the Hero’s Journey – William Bernhardt
Book Blurbs Unleashed: Advanced Publishing and Marketing Strategies for Indie Authors – Robert J. Ryan
Story Structure: The Key to Successful Fiction – William Bernhardt
Writing Blurbs That Sizzle–And Sell! – Karen S. Wiesner
Powerful Premise: Writing the Irresistible – William Bernhardt
Thinking Theme: The Heart of the Matter – William Bernhardt
Strangers to Superfans: A Marketing Guide to the Reader Journey – David Gaughran
Newsletter Ninja: How to Become an Author Mailing List Expert – Tammi Labrecque
Crank It Out! The Surefire Way to Become a Super-Productive Writer – C.S. Lakin
Strategic Series Author: Plan, Write and Publish a Series to Maximize Readership & Income – Crystal Hunt
Writing the Fiction Series: The Complete Guide for Novels and Novellas – Karen S. Wiesner
Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within – Natalie Goldberg
Making Sense of ‘Show, Don’t Tell’: Transform Your Fiction – Louise Harnby
Intuitive Editing: A Creative and Practical Guide to Revising Your Writing – Tiffany Yates Martin
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book on Novel Writing You’ll Ever Need – Jessica Brody
Crooked Litttle Vein – Warren Ellis
Writing Deep Scenes: Plotting Your Story Through Action, Emotion, and Theme – Martha Alderson
The Moral Premise: Harnessing Virtue & Vice for Box Office Success – Stanley D. Williams
Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for Page, Stage, and Screen – Robert McKee
How to Write a Page-Turner: Craft a Story Your Readers Can’t Put Down – Jordan Rosenfeld
Writing Vivid Emotions – Rayne Hall
How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method – Randy Ingermanson
The Word-Loss Diet – Rayne Hall
Writing Fight Scenes – Rayne Hall
Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel Revised and Expanded Edition: The Complete Guide to Mystery, Suspense, and Crime – Hallie Ephron
Fiction-Writing Modes: Eleven Essential Tools for Bringing Your Story to Life – Mike Klaassen
Story Idea: A Method to Develop a Book Idea – Jesper Schmidt
Scenes and Sequels: How to Write Page-turning Fiction – Mike Klaassen
Dialogue – Marcy Kennedy
Writing Vivid Settings – Rayne Hall
Track Down the Weasel Words: And Other Strategies to Revise and Improve Your Manuscript – Angela Hunt
Story Engineering – Larry Brooks
Creating Character Arcs Workbook – K.M. Weiland
Creating Character Arcs: The Masterful Author’s Guide to Uniting Story Structure – K.M. Weiland
Grammar for Fiction Writers – Marcy Kennedy
The Author’s Checklist: An Agent’s Guide to Developing and Editing Your Manuscript – Elizabeth K. Kracht
Writing Horror Fiction – Guy N. Smith
The Ten Day Outline – Lewis Jorstad
Writing Your Story’s Theme: The Writer’s Guide to Plotting Stories That Matter – K.M. Weiland
365 to Vision – Ron Lieback
Description – Marcy Kennedy
Internal Dialogue – Marcy Kennedy
Show, Don’t Tell – Sandra Gerth
Writing a Novel in Seven Days: A Hands-on Example – Dean Wesley Smith
Deep Point of View – Marcy Kennedy
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke – Eric LaRocca
The Nothing That Is – Kyle Winkler
Point of View in Fiction – Marcy Kennedy
Lifelong Writing Habit: The Secret to Writing Every Day – Chris Fox
How to Write a Dynamite Scene Using the Snowflake Method – Randy Ingermanson
Mastering Showing and Telling in Your Fiction – Marcy Kennedy
The Author’s Guide to Marketing Books on Amazon – Rob Eagar
Six Figure Author: Using Data to Sell Books – Chris Fox
5000 Words Per Hour: Deliver a Book that Sells – Chris Fox
2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love (2x) – Rachel Aaron
Relaunch Your Novel: Breath Life into Your Backlist – Chris Fox
The 10% Solution (3x) – Ken Rand
Writing in the Dark – Tim Waggoner
The Story Equation – Susan May Warren

2020

We Are All Monsters – Cassie Carnage
Intensity – Dean Koontz
Wakenhyrst – Michelle Paver
The Evangeline Heresy – M. Thayer Berlyn
Behind Her Eyes – Sarah Pinborough
Ghost – J. N. Williamson
They Kill – Tim Waggoner
The Girl on the Glider – Brian Keene
Childgrave – Ken Greenhall
Jimmy – William Malmborg
Burnt Offerings – Robert Marasco
Fever Dream – Samantha Schweblin
Plunder Squad – Donald Westlake
The Sentinel (3x) – Jeffrey Konvitz
The Withering Skies – Betty Rocksteady
Gypsy – Dan Foley
Halloween – John Passarella
The Painted Bird (2x) – Jerzy Kosinski
In Watermelon Sugar (3x) – Richard Brautigan
The Atrocities – Jeremy C. Shipp
The Folcroft Ghosts – Darcy Coates
Penpal – Dathan Auerbach
Sour Candy – Kealan Patrick Burke
Jar of Hearts – Jennifer Hillier
Slayground – Donald Westlake
Hate Inexorable – Mike Duke
Screechers – Kevin J. Kennedy and Christina Bergling
The House on the Borderland – William Hope Hodgson
Hallowe’en House – Bob Freeman and Greg Mitchell

2019

The Ballad of Black Tom – Victor LaValle
Offspring – Jack Ketchum
The Quick and the Dead – Louis L’Amour
The Green Eagle Score – Donald Westlake
The Sound of Midnight – Charles L. Grant
Magic – William Goldman
The Elementals – Michael McDowell
Beasts – Joyce Carol Oates
Brotherkind – J.N. Williamson
Wicked Angel – Taylor Caldwell
The Black Ice Score – Donald Westlake
Horror House – J.N. Williamson
The Black Carousel – Charles Grant
The Haunted – Bentley Little
Playmates – J.N. Williamson
Dagon – Fred Chappell
Jordon’s Wager – Frank C. Strunk
‘Salem’s Lot – Stephen King
Black Wings – Megan Hart
Let’s Go Play at the Adams’ – Mendal Johnson
Body of Christ – Mark Matthews
Superstitious – R. L. Stine
HEX – Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Charnel House – Graham Masterton
The Bloodwind – Charles L. Grant
The Longest Night – J.N. Williamson
A Head Full of Ghosts – Paul Tremblay
Spree (3x) – J.N. Williamson
The Criminal – Jim Thompson
Smack (2x) – Melvin Burgess
A Respite for the Dead – Lucy Taylor
The Manningtree Account – Becky Wright
The Butcher of Cardiff – H.T. Torres
Little Dead Red – Mercedes M. Yardley
One-Way Ticket – William Cook
Blanky – Kealan Patrick Burke
Warm, Dark Places Are Best – Mike Duke
Savaging the Dark – Christopher Conlon
Sand Dweller – Matthew Samm
“Patient K” – Barbie Wilde
“Dirty Paws” – Dean M. Drinkel
Stirring the Sheets – Chad Lutzke
Husk – Rachel Autumn Deering
Cold Dead Hands – Jeff Strand
How to Write a Novella in 24 Hours – Andrew Mayne
Crafting Fiction: Hard-Boiled Outlines – William Miller
Sweetlings – Lucy Taylor
The Cold Spot – J.G. Faherty
The Followers – Greg Chapman
The Suicide of Jeremy Price – Shaun Hupp
The Book at Dernier – Samantha Lienhard
The Twilight Pariah – Jeffrey Ford
Gnawed – John Grover
Dr. Morgan: The Sleepers Do Not Dream – Terry M. West
On Writing: Advice for Those Who Write to Publish (Or Would Like To) – George V. Higgins
Something Wicked This Way Comes (2x) – Ray Bradbury
Baby Teeth – Zoje Stage
Killer Concepts for Fiction Authors – Stacy Buck
A Soundless Dawn – Dustin LaValley
The Deceived (2x) – Dustin LaValley
Haunt – Laura Lee Bahr
The Seventh – Donald Westlake

2018

I read no fiction in 2018. Instead, I read a lot of non-fiction and theological studies.

2017

Her Halloween Treat – Tiffany Reisz
Columbella – Phyllis A. Whitney
Cane River: A Ghost Story – Scott A. Johnson
Morning Is Dead – Andersen Prunty
Ghosts Know – Ramsey Campbell
Our Lady of Darkness (2x) – Fritz Leiber
The Doll Who Ate His Mother (2x) – Ramsey Campbell
Thrall – Mary SanGiovanni
Dark Matter – Michelle Paver
Crimson Peak – Nancy Holder
The Handle – Donald Westlake
A Prayer for the Dying – Stewart O’Nan
68 Kill – Bryan Smith
Hour of the Oxrun Dead – Charles L. Grant
Grave – Charles L. Grant
Whispers – Kristin Dearborn
Sacrifice Island – Kristin Dearborn
Lady Afraid – Lester Dent
Revival (audio) – Stephen King
Joyland (audio) – Stephen King
The Score – Donald Westlake
The Outfit – Donald Westlake
The Mourner – Donald Westlake
The Man with the Getaway Face – Donald Westlake
The Hunter – Richard Stark (Donald Westlake)
Nineteen Eighty – David Peace
Nineteen Seventy-seven – David Peace
Nineteen Seventy-four – David Peace
The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
Shane – Jack Shaefer
Boy in the Water – Stephen Dobyns
The Hook – Donald Westlake
Beautiful Joe – Marshall Saunders
Call of the Wild – Jack London

2014

The Friends of Eddie Coyle – George V. Higgins (1970)
The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold (2002)

2013

The Sorrow King – Andersen Prunty (2011)
The Revelations of Preston Black – Jason Jack Miller (2013)
The Art of Description: World into Word – Mark Doty (2010)
A Perfect Day (audio) – Richard Paul Evans (2003)
Life of Pi (audio) – Yann Martel (2001)
The Auld Mither – William Meikle (2013)
HYSTERIA: A Collection of Madness – Stephanie M. Wytovich (2013)
Too Late to Call Texas – Trent Zelazny (2013)
The Not So Simple Life – Alayne Adams (2010)
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers – Mary Roach (2003)
Trout Fishing in America – Richard Brautigan (1967), 3x
Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut (1963), 2x
The Art of Time in Fiction: As Long As It Takes – Joan Silber (2009)
The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman (2008)
The Wounded and the Slain – David Goodis (1955)
The Baby Jesus Butt Plug – Carlton Mellick III (2004)
Spinner – Dustin LaValley (2012)
Writing Subtext: What Lies Beneath – Linda Seger (2011)
The Menstruating Mall – Carlton Mellick III (2005), couldn’t put it down!
Angel Dust Apocalypse – Jeremy Robert Johnson (2005), mindsuckingly awesome!
The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot – Charles Baxter (2007), 2x
The Haunted Vagina – Carlton Mellick III (2011)
Zombie – Joyce Carol Oates (1995), 3x
Sexual Homicide Patterns and Motives – Ressler, Burgess, and Douglas (1988)
The Killer Inside Me – Jim Thompson (1952)
Hellbender – Jason Jack Miller (2012)

2012

Trauma – Patrick McGrath (2008)
A Requiem for Dead Flies – Peter N. Dudar (2012)
Butterfly Potion – Trent Zelazny (2012)
Ghost Writer – John Harwood (2004)
Merlyn’s Raven – Rose Vanden Eynden (2012)
“A Warning to the Curious” – M. R. James, from The Haunted Dolls’ House and Other Ghost Stories (2006)
“The Pines” – Karl Edward Wagner, from Where the Summer Ends, vol. 1 (2011)
“Sticks” – Karl Edward Wagner, from Where the Summer Ends, vol. 1 (2011)
“A Toy for Juliette” – Robert Bloch, from Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper (2011)
“A Most Unusual Murder” – Robert Bloch, from Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper (2011)
“Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper” – Robert Bloch, from Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper (2011)
Night Sisters – Sara Rath (2008)