The Doctor Is Out...

Well, the end of the year is fast approaching, so it's about time I listed my "top whatever". It's also about time I decided what I'm going to do with this blog, because, let's face it, things have been a bit dead lately.

Partly this was due to family and work-related stuff - this blog is a much lower priority than either of those - but I have had some spare time recently and still haven't been updating. I just don't really feel it any more. Even my reading in the genre has taken a plummet. And as for the "scene", good grief, it's probably best I don't say what I really think. Maybe late one night (probably while drunk) I'll serve up some shit, but not right now.

So, my top five in 2010:

• The Reapers Are The Angels by Alden Bell - yet another zombie novel, but it's a good one. It just goes to show that if the execution is good enough, then even a tired overdone subject is worth reading about.
• And this goes doubly for This Dark Earth by John Hornor. Another zombie novel, but this one is yet to be published. Goddamn it, it deserves to be.
• Southern Gods by, yep, John Hornor again. A goddamn excellent "Southern gothic mythos novel" coming to a book shop near you, courtesy of Nightshade Books.
• Dweller by Jeff Strand. Comedic and horrific, entertainingly light yet bittersweet deep, this was a surprise winner for me.
• Neverland by Douglas Clegg. A handsomely produced re-release of a superb novel. A modern horror classic.

I've read some other good horror books this year, but there have been many more mediocre ones, and, tellingly, I've read far more good books in other genres. And of the above "top five" horror novels, two haven't been published yet, one is a reprint of a novel I read years ago, one is (good) horror-lite, and the other seems to be distancing itself from the genre it takes from.

I'm reading some genre material right now, and damn it's a struggle. I don't think I'll finish it.

It's time to go. Time to read stuff for the enjoyment of it, rather than because someone else wants me to, or because I feel the need to be "up to date".

I've been very careful in accepting stuff for review. I've never had a large number of freebies, and I can count the number I haven't reviewed on one hand, but what I have accepted I've been very appreciative of. So thanks to those people who sent books my way. I won't be accepting anything else, but there are a few gift volumes that will always have pride of place on my bookshelf.

And thanks to the few people that have kept tabs on my blog. It's been very sporadic, and I apologise for that.

Adios!