Posts Tagged With: book-review

2025 in Books (Part 2): Recommendations and Reviews

Posted on December 29, 2025 by B.C. Johnson

It’s December, so time to show off some of the novels I’ve read this year! For the second time.

My plan this year was simple: read 24 books (double what I read last year), and only pull books I already own but haven’t read yet. One, to actually get to some of the books I’ve been gifted over the past couple decades, and two, because money.

You can read how the first six months went here.

Overall, for the back half of the year, I didn’t remotely reach my goal. Neither in number nor in sticking to only books I already owned. But as they say, it is in how we strive that our soul is revealed or something don’t listen to me I failed.

Alright, here we go:

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Categories: Books, Review | Tags: anne rice, book recommendations, book reviews, book-review, books, brandon sanderson, cthulhu casebooks, fantasy, fiction, ian fleming, james bond, james lovegrove, live and let die, max barry, nick cutter, providence, queen of the damned, reading, sherlock holmes and the miskatonic monstrosities, stephen king, the near witch, the running man, the troop, the way of kings, ve schwab | 2 Comments

The Games That Inspire My Writing (Part 3)

Posted on August 6, 2025 by B.C. Johnson

Last time we talked about my abiding love for the Legacy of Kain/Soul Reaver series, and how it taught me the courage to go nuts with stories (and how it partially inspired my Deadgirl Saga).

This week I’m casting the net a bit wider, with a trio of unconnected but stylistically related games that made me want to write my own epic fantasy series. Alongside a heaping helping of D&D and fantasy novels in my youth, of course.

Let’s get into the business with three beloved 90’s classics: THE SECRET OF MANA, ILLUSION OF GAIA, and the FINAL FANTASY series.

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