“What do you like to read?” Strangely, this cocktail-party attempt to chat will come from someone who rarely reads fiction.

The genre labels ‘science fiction’ and ‘fantasy’ are useful for bookstores, but I don’t like using these labels with someone who doesn’t read genre fiction.  I’ll use the term ‘speculative fiction’ and wave my hands, defining my tastes toward fiction that has futuristic or fantastic elements.  This description seems obvious to me, but when my listener looks puzzled, I’ll mutter “like science fiction and fantasy.”  “Ahhh,” they say as the little gears begin to click behind their eyes, making assumptions based upon the Harry Potter movies or the last special-effects blockbuster they saw.

So what do I like to read?  You’ll see my eclectic choices as we go through my reading pile...  I worried about having less time to read after I started writing under deadline, but that didn’t happen.  Instead, I slacked off on entering books into this journal.  I apologize, but until I develop better time management skills, these entries may be posted sporadically.  I hope they’ll still showcase the variety of speculative fiction we have available today.