It’s that time again! Here is a list of what I read over the last few months of 2014. It occurred to me that I also read a number of magazine articles, blog posts, and other bits throughout the day, which up until now I’ve never bothered to catalog. If it’s possible, I’ll try to include more of THAT stuff in my next reading list. For the record, I’m currently reading a bunch of stuff, but I don’t add anything to the OFFICIAL list until I’ve finished it. (Just a rule I made up for myself, but it seems to be more fair!) Anyway, on to the party!!!
Reading List 7:
(4 Sep. ’14)
Finished reading Edith Birkhead’s THE TALE OF TERROR – A STUDY OF THE GOTHIC ROMANCE (1921). Many names that I didn’t recognize, which is what I was hoping for, but Birkhead likes to drop a lot of spoilers as well. Luckily, my memory is bad enough that I won’t remember what she said about most of these stories by the time I get around to reading them.
(17 Sep. ’14)
Finished reading John Wyndham’s THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS. Pretty fun. I haven’t seen the film in decades, but the book seemed to have a lot less to do with the triffids than the movie did. This was much more about social commentary than monster plants. Oh well.
(6 Oct. ’14)
Finished rereading Stephen King’s WOLVES OF THE CALLA, book five of THE DARK TOWER series. This was the first Tower book I read, years ago, and it’s not a bad book. However, it is a LONG book, and I don’t know if I’m quite ready to move on to book six yet.
(12 Oct. ’14)
Finished reading KLF – CHAOS MAGIC MUSIC MONEY by JMR Higgs. It is a wild and humorously written biography of the creation and destruction of the techno-pop band, The KLF, but it also involves the connections between punk, Dada, Alan Moore, rave culture, Robert Anton Wilson, Situationists, art, magical thinking, conspiracy theories, Dr. Who, and so much more… Very fun.
(29 Oct. ’14)
Finished rereading William Shakespeare’s THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH. Still funny! Plus is has ghosts and witches and powerful supernatural creatures and weird spirits and psychosis and hallucinations and MURTHER! (That’s the way old Will liked to spell it, so it’s good enough for me.)
(2 Nov. ’14)
Finished reading Stephen King’s SONG OF SUSANNAH: THE DARK TOWER VI. Not bad. A fairly qick read for 500+ pages, but it does feel like the “warm up” before the story gets going more than a tale in its own right. Oh well. The next book is the end. Not sure I’m ready to start that one just yet.
(9 Nov. ’14)
Finished Fitz-James O’Briens tale “The Pot of Tulips” from the OCCULT DETECTIVE MEGA-PACK, which I found on A-zon. (Edited by a big group of people, according to the intro.)
(10 Nov. ’14)
Finished reading Frank Belknap Long’s “The Hounds of Tindalos,” another story in THE CTHULHU MYTHOS MEGAPACK.
(27 Nov. ’14)
Finished reading Robert Bloch’s “The Faceless God” from THE CTHULHU MYTHOS MEGAPACK.
(1 Dec. ’14)
Finished reading “The Children of Burma” by Stephen Mark Rainey, which is also part of THE CTHULHU MYTHOS MEGAPACK.
(3 Dec. ’14)
Finished rereading David J. Skal’s DEATH MAKES A HOLIDAY – A CULTURAL HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN. Still good, even if it’s getting to be a bit dated. (It was published in 2002.) Lots of “culture” has happened since then…
(15 Dec. ’14)
Finished rereading H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu,” this time as part of THE CTHULHU MYTHOS MEGAPACK. Not sure if that’s my third time reading this story or fourth…
(16 Dec. ’14)
Finished reading John Glasby’s “The Old One,” and yes, it is another story fom THE CTHULHU MYTHOS MEGAPACK.
(18 Dec. ’14)
Finished reading Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson’s THE EYE IN THE PYRAMID, which is the first book in THE ILLUMINATUS! TRILOGY. The book I read about that band, The KLF, inspired me to read this series. Book one was pretty fun.
(19 Dec. ’14)
Finished reading Herman Melville’s “The Piazza,” the first story in THE PIAZZA TALES collection. Sure. Why not? It’s an okay tale.
(20 Dec. ’14)
Finished reading Tim Krabbe’s THE VANISHING. It was loaned to me by a friend (Shane), and the book was very short but extremely creepy, unsettling, and believable. (Nothing supernatural, just insane and sick.) I enjoyed the style and story, but it was VERY unsettling. [And contributed wildly to my travel anxiety while spending a week in Las Vegas with my younger daughter!]
(21 Dec. ’14)
Finished reading “The Holiness of Azedarac” by Clark Ashton Smith from THE CTHULHU MYTHOS MEGAPACK. Much more of a fantasy story than a horror tale, if you ask me. (Not really my favorite.)
(26 Dec. ’14)
Reread Gary Larson’s first collection of THE FAR SIDE. Read it while sitting at the airport waiting to get on a plane to Vegas. Still a fun read.
(31 Dec. ’14)
Finished rereading Richard Sala’s THE CHUCKLING WHATSIT. Creepy, noir, graphic novel, mystery story. I’m a huge Sala fan, and this weird book, with lots of Dick Tracy style characters and a massive body count, is a classic!
And that was it! Maybe there’s a story or book in that list that you might want to check out!
—Richard F. Yates
The Primitive Entertainment Workshop 
Writing about the things you’ve read is such a great idea! Must be awesome coming back to this and re-reading how you felt about books… also I forget about some of the books I read, so what a cool way to remember them.
As a looker of your art, now I get to look into your mind and I’ve also got a bunch of really cool books I might end up checking out.
For some reason it shocked me that your read so many dark, “freaky”(?) things.
Ha, and Macbeth. How classy
Yeah, I honestly can’t remember what I’ve read, most of the time, if I don’t keep track. In addition, I’m a firm believer in sharing influences. If something really moved me, it might move someone else! Why keep that to myself? But, yes: Macbeth. Super classy! (Although if it came out today, it would definitely be considered a horror story! So much blood…)