Welcome to my first post of 2023! I’m back from my December break and I’m eager to dive into creating videos and blog posts, again. I’m going to kick things off with something pretty straightforward and simple: a reflection of 2022. I experienced a lot of stories in 2022, and I experienced some substantial community growth as well! We’re going to dive into all of that and talk about what stories are coming up for me in 2023.

The first thing I did when I got my house? Paint it black. Everything. Walls, ceiling, and trim, all black! It was a lot of work, probably the most work I've done on a house in my life, just given the sheer scope of it. I haven't even touched the second floor yet, but the second floor needs significantly more help than a mere coat of paint can give to it.

The Light Fantastic by the remarkable Terry Pratchett is the second novel in the vast Discworld series. It starkly contrasts with its predecessor, The Colour of Magic, yet follows it up wonderfully. In today’s read-along discussion, I’m going to talk about how The Light Fantastic improves the Discworld formula, what the book is really about, and then I’ll provide my thoughts on it before moving on to your thoughts on it, which were shared via polls. Let’s jump into this in-depth discussion of Terry Pratchett’s The Light Fantastic.

Like many, many others, I was left disappointed and angry at the end of Game of Thrones. I haven’t seen a more perfect example of phoning it in than I did with the end of that show. That final season was absolutely abysmal. So when HBO announced a prequel series based on George R. R. Martin’s history book, I wrote it off and figured it would be a disaster. I wasn’t even going to bother picking it up.

Today, I’m going to hit you with ten reasons audiobooks don’t count as reading. That’s right, we’re doing this. I don’t want to delay it, so let’s dive into it right now.

Continuing on with my series of fantasy recommendations for all ages, I'm moving beyond my recommendations for small children to works by the likes of Garth Nix and Bruce Coville. The book recommendations I’m providing today are for ages eight through twelve, not for middle schoolers, though I’m sure some of them will hold up for older ages.