Go read Allison. Just Sayin.

• The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
• Goblins by Charles Grant
• Tampa by Alissa Nutting
• Allison by Jeff Strand
• So Long, Lollipops by Sarah Lyons Fleming
• Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
• The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson
• Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille by Steven Brust
• Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

I had decided this month to lean into a few indulgences. ‘Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille’ is a book I read in college, and there were a few things about it that have adhered to my psyche. It's an odd little story about love and death and fear of disease. Ultimately it's the characters Brust created who were engaged in a complex web of friendships, alliances, and romances that have stuck with me. It's been said in a number of ‘how to write a story’ missives that the real key to writing a good book or short story or whatever is to start with good characters, and this book definitely makes that happen. I'll reread it several times I'm sure.

From there I turn to Allison by Jeff Strand, which was characterized for me as a modern retelling of Stephen King's Carrie, but I would say it stands on its own as a supernatural tale wrapped around a wholly believable and complex character. This book just sucked me in, and it was all because of Allison's life story. Her fears and choices and ultimately wondering about her future. Good stuff.