Reading Report February/March 2026

Finished Bruce Campbell’s “Secret of Skeleton Island.” It’s fun and is worth a blog post in itself. Maybe paired with the similarly-titled Robert Arthur book. Likable characters, action and mystery with characters who seem just a bit older than their high school years.

Read Mack Reynolds’ “Dog Star” in one of the old Barnes and Noble anthologies “100 Astounding Little Alien Stories.” Those reprint books are wonderful and I think I have all of them.

Read Rachel Ried’s story “My Dinner With Hayden,” the extra in the book “Heated Rivalry.” Sweet moments along with Hayden and Ilya acting like jerks. Oh, and a sex scene.

Read the online offerings by E.H. Timms and Kaje Harper.

Read a fine flash fiction by J. Scott Coatsworth: “Vibe Science.”

Read stories in anthology “The Young Oxford Book Of Christmas Stories,” edited by Dennis Pepper. (a fine selection but the introduction is loaded with spoilers.)

Among the stories I read were:

“The Imperturbable Tucker” by A.M. Burrage. (Burrage’s “The Waxwork” spooked me over fifty years ago.)

“The Night Is Freezing Fast” by Thomas Monteleone.

“Night In Paris” by Patrice Chaplin

“The Carol Singer” by Chris Naylor (which was first published as a Christmas Card)

“A Very Merry Christmas” by Morley Callaghan (with a wonderfully sweet resolution)

“The Adventuress” by Frank O’Connor. Maybe my first read of the great Irish author and maybe the reason I ordered the book in the first place. (I don’t really remember)

“Josef’s Carol” by Alison Prince.

“Mary’s Story” by Margrit Cruickshank

“The Nativity Bell And the Falconer” by George Mackay Brown, (a fine Medieval Christmas story.)

All those stories excellent.

I don’t feel like I read as much this last period probably because I bought and ordered several more books including two of the fun Bruce Campbell YA books. “Campbell” was the pen-name of husband-and-wife team of writers Sam and Beryl Epstein, by the way.

Here’s a link to J. Scott Coatsworth’s story: https://www.jscottcoatsworth.com/point-of-view-a-new-flash-story/?fbclid=IwY2xjawQq_o5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe8N0BIpcc_qYfFj9Qu4Y74kYTGIhYm5KoJCwFabYO4Z3qHJJsIvBexMs6T4I_aem_TvBLLTU2z3y2QPpcDL6ZfQ&cn-reloaded=1

———jeff baker, March 20, 2026