Summer Reading List 2022

A collection of different science fiction and fantasy book covers

Summer is back, and so is Nuketown’s sun-drenched reading list! The 15th iteration of our annual tradition features 17 books (12 novels, 5 non-fiction books), 5 novellas, and 5 graphic novels. You can follow my reading list progress on GoodReads. Unlike in 2020, where I struggled to complete my summer reading list in the actual summer, … Read more

Summer Reading List 2021

A collection of science fiction and fantasy book covers

Welcome to Nuketown’s 14th annual summer reading list! This year’s list welcomes back Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet series, returns to Iain Bank’s The Culture books, re-reads Richard Adam’s Watership Down and tries out some new series, including Elizabeth Bear’s White Space books and Martha Wells’ Murderbot novellas. All in all, the list consists of 14 books (10 novels, 3 non-fiction books, … Read more

Off the Bookshelf: Early Summer 2018

Starships battle in deep space.

My 2018 Summer Reading List is under way. It’s been a mixed bag of inspiration, drudgery, endurance, and wonder. Personal Kanban I started off with Personal Kanban (Amazon) by Jim Benson and Tonianne DeMaria Barry. It’s the first-ever non-fiction book on my summer reading list and it was a useful one. The book’s all about … Read more

Summer Reading List 2018

A stack of three books, with a small garden and white string lights in the background.

Welcome to Nuketown’s 11th summer reading list! As expected, this summer’s list features lots of space opera and a smattering of fantasy, but it also includes the unexpected in the form of non-fiction books related to project management and self-improvement. The spring hit me like a hammer (or maybe like a sack of hammers. Dump … Read more

Fitness Update: Fall 2017

A close-up of a race bib.

It took two years of practice, but I finally ran a 5K. Specifically, I ran the Race’n Bacon 5K at Easton, Pa.’s BaconFest on November 5, 2017, completing the race in under 30 minutes with an average pace of just over 9 minutes per mile. Completing it was immensely satisfying. I was far from the fastest runner, … Read more

Nuketown’s Winter 2017 Reading List

A woman holds an enormous blade while standing against a fantastic, pillar-filed landscape.

Christmas vacation is coming up and bringing with it a glorious week filled with family, gifts, and lots of reading. I’ve compiled a winter reading list for the break, which is similar to my traditional summer reading lists except the list is shorter and my reading time runs from mid-December through mid-February. Like the summer … Read more

Off the Bookshelf: Summer’s End

A beautiful sunset filled with tinges of orange, red, and yellow. A baseball field appears in the foreground; a large tree is silhouetted off to the right in the background

The final third of my summer reading list proved to be more challenging than I expected, mostly because of the amount of time I spent on Kim Stanley Robinson’s dense-but-enjoyable 2312. The book dominated my August, and forced me to finish up the last book on my list, Forsaken Skies, after Labor Day. As for … Read more

Summer Reading List 2017

Several difference science fiction book covers shown side-by-side.

Welcome to Nuketown’s 10th annual summer reading list! As with previous years, this year’s list is heavy on space opera and military science fiction but includes a smattering of fantasy. It includes 17 novels, 1 novella, and 8 graphic novels. That’s one more novel than my Summer 2016 reading list. It’s a stretch, but I’m … Read more

Off the Bookshelf: Late Summer 2016 Reading

A saucer-like starship looms large.

It’s a more than a little strange to be writing about the last of my Summer 2016 reading list in Winter 2017, but damn it, I told myself I was going to write this column and I’m not letting myself off the hook. As I wrote in updates to my “Summer Reading List 2016” column, … Read more

Off the Bookshelf: Fractions, Words of Radiance, Shards of Honor

Two warriors face off in a desert land broken by plateaus. In the distance, an orange/yellow storm rages.

My annual vacation to Lake Champlain is still a ways off, but I’ve begun attacking my summer reading list with a vengeance. I’ve completed one book — Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold — have have launched into two more: Fractions by Ken MacLeod and Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson. I’ve also found one of the books on my list is caught in the Amazon/Hachette crossfire.