Hints about the books I may be writing in 2013

I have quite a few books in mind that need to come out of my head and onto my keyboard in 2013, and then make their ways to your eyeballs at some point after that. I don't want to give anything away, but here are a few hints about the books bouncing around in my brain right now:

1. A nonfiction graphic novel (for lack of a better term) very closely tied in to one of the subjects for which I am best known as a journalist.
2. A book-length instruction guide for people to interested in taking action in another area for which I am well known. 
3. A slightly risque (depending on your viewpoint) illustrated humor book, somewhat akin to (but at the same time nothing like) the fantastic All My Friends Are Dead and its sequel. 
4. A creative nonfiction kids' book that an award-winning author and I started writing last year but had to set aside while other deadlines loomed.
5. A second kid's book, this time fiction, for which I have written -- and illustrated -- the first page. (Now I just need to figure out where it goes from there.)
6. An incredibly short and weird graphic novel. (I've already written the first and second drafts of this one, but I need to tweak a few pages in the middle before I'm comfortable taking it to the next step.)
7. I'm not sure yet, but I think the seed of a new idea is about to sprout. I know it's there, but I can't quite see it yet. The anticipation is killing me!

Will it be a busy year for me? I sure think so -- but I wouldn't have it any other way!

The books I read in 2012 (and some backstory from 1982)

My grandparents never threw anything useful away. My grandfather worked in a machine shop and my grandmother was a school librarian. Their home was always full of great stuff that still had a potential purpose. What I remember most about this was that there was always plenty of paper for us grandkids to draw or write on whenever we came for a visit. A great deal of that paper came from leftover journals or ledger books, and one item in particular has been in my life since 1982.

That was the year my grandmother gave me an old library binder full of pages that were designed to log in books acquired by the library. I -- a geeky kid if there ever was one -- started using it to keep track of every book that I read.

Here's a picture of that wonderful journal (a bit worse for wear, but not too bad for something I have owned and used for more than 30 years and transported from one home to another at least a half-dozen times):

And here are the first few entries from 1982. (As you can see, this was during my science fiction phase.)

(I should scan all of these pages one of these days -- some of the ink is starting to fade with time -- but they're much bigger than my current scanner, so that will have to wait.)

Anyway, a few years ago, I transitioned from this hand-written journal to using Goodreads, a great website (I'm sure many of you already use it) that lets you log in, rate and review any books you read and/or own. I still refer to the journal fairly often -- most recently to figure out which Max Allan Collins and Joe R. Lansdale novels I have read in the 1990s and which ones I still need to read -- but for the most part, Goodreads has now taken its place.

Yes, that's sad, but the good news is that both Goodreads and the old ledger have a big role in my life and are pretty tightly linked to my reading life, which remains as important me as ever.

Looking at Goodreads this New Year's morning, I find that read an amazing 115 books in 2012. That's way, way, way above the number of books I have read over the last few years and much closer to the number of books I was reading in the 1980s, when I often approached 100 books a year.

(I think you can see all of the books I read here. I'm not positive that Goodreads will share it with you if you're not my friend there, but give it a shot.)

I credit a few things with this massive increase in books. First, we moved in 2011 to a bigger, brighter house where it's just physically easier to read. Second, I read a lot of graphic novels, which are shorter and can usually be read in one or two sittings. Third, I read most of the physical books I acquired this year as soon as they came into the house, rather than letting them sit around for years like I used to. Fourth, my Kindle -- which I bought shortly after we moved here -- made reading novels a hell of a lot easier. The vast majority of my physical books are still in boxes after several moves and a lack of space to display them. Even though I still own hundreds of physical books that I haven't read, sorting through those boxes to find any of them is next to impossible. With the Kindle, I can quickly find the next book I want to read and dive in.

Oh yeah, and fifth, we live kind of in the middle of nowhere and we never go anywhere, so that leaves plenty of time to read. And sixth, I just flat out made more time to read in 2012. Go figure.

So what were my favorite books of 2012? Here are a few I would highly recommend:

• Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller by Joseph Lambert
• Simon's Cat: Beyond the Fence by Simon Tofield
• My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf
• Stolen Away by Max Allan Collins
• The Hot Rock by Donald E. Westlake
• Horrors! Cults, Crimes and Creepers by Stephen R. Bissette
• The Last Kind Words by Tom Piccirilli
• Here Comes Trouble by Michael Moore
• Snarked (volumes 1 and 2) by Roger Langridge
• Zoo Story: Life in the Garden of Captives by Thomas French
• All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky by Joe R. Lansdale
• Available Dark by Elizabeth Hand
• Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov

That's a pretty good list. I could go on, but 14 is enough.

I don't know what 2013 will bring, but I'm sure that my future holds more than a few books, for which I am eternally grateful.

My favorite articles of 2012

What a year. I published just over 400 articles in 2012, including more than 110 about endangered species, as well as hundreds more covering a variety of other environmental topics, a few dozen covering bleeding-edge technology, and more than a few about great people doing great things around the world. Here are my favorite articles from the past year:

Should YouTube Ban Videos of the Adorable but Endangered Slow Loris? (Scientific American) - The first of several endangered species articles on this list, and the one that generated the most discussion.

Sell or Keep - One of two articles on this list written for Lion magazine, although it was actually written in 2011 but published in January 2012. Putting this article together gave me the opportunity to speak with Lions Club members around the world as we looked at a subject many clubs are struggling with every day. This also includes my first published magazine photo.

Mini Livestock - My first article for Conservation magazine. A great, potentially game-changing idea.

Kalamazoo ospreys get safe new roost thanks to enterprising filmmaker (Mother Nature Network) - A nice article about some people who saw a chance to make a difference and embraced it.

First Responders Since 1951 - Another article for Lion magazine, and a very personal one. My dad was a member of this Lions club, and I probably rode on one of these ambulances on my way to being born.

3rd Annual Antelope Die-Off in Kazakhstan—Was a Spacecraft to Blame? (Scientific American) - I'm the only journalist in the West who has been following this story (except for the billion bloggers who ripped me off after this was published).

How do horses travel overseas to the London Olympics? (Mother Nature Network) - I had a chance to cover the horse-racing industry a few times this year. It's a weird, messed up industry populated both by scumbags and people who really, really care about their animals.

Every Engineer is a Green Engineer (Today's Engineer) - I interviewed some incredibly interesting and passionate people for this one.

Okapi Conservation Center Recovering after Militia Attack that Killed 6 People and 14 Animals (Scientific American) - Heroes and villains.

Romanian Teen Wins IEEE Presidents' Scholarship (IEEE's The Institute) - What a cool kid. You're going to be reading a lot more about this young man in a few years.

Cost to Prevent All Future Extinctions: $11 per Person? (Scientific American) - I love outside-the-box thinking. This was reprinted (and copied) in a few places and generated a lot of discussion.

What if climate-change doubters held a debate and nobody came? (Mother Nature Network) - I still laugh about this one.

Video: 2 Rhinos Fight for Life after Their Horns Are Chopped Off  (Scientific American) - I still cry about this one.

And my favorite article of 2012?

Prosthetics: A Career That Changes Lives (Today's Engineer) - Writing this article was an amazing experience. The scientists and engineers I interviewed for this article really touched me with their passion, compassion and drive to help people. That would have been enough in and of itself, but several readers have told me that this article made them decide to go into the prosthetic field. I can't imagine a better compliment.


You can find links to all of my 2012 articles here. Take a look -- and if you have any of your own favorites, I'd love to hear your picks!

A few words about quite a few movies

We watched a LOT of movies on Netflix streaming over the past few weeks, most of which I'd recommend. In no particular order...

• Stake Land - A rather inventive apocalyptic vampire movie. Maybe nothing new plot-wise, but tonally it's unique.
• Bank Shot - A goofy but clever 70s crime caper movie, based on a novel by Donald E. Westlake. Not great, but enjoyable if you like George C. Scott in comedy mode and can stand the godawful laughing of Joanna Cassidy.
• Reel Injun - Fantastic documentary about how "Native Americans" are portrayed in film, and how that portrayal affects the very people the movies depict. (I put "Native Americans" in quotes because a single quote by the great John Trudell in the middle of this movie really opened my eyes about something. Don't let me spoil it for you: watch it.)
• Happy - Another great documentary. What does it mean to be happy, and what -- scientifically -- makes a human being happy?
• Sleepwalk with Me - An astonishing fact-based drama by star, writer and director Mike Birbiglia. This movie embodies humor through pain.
• Craigslist Joe - A documentary about a man who decides to live exclusively off of Craigslist for a month. Odd and inspiring. 
• FDR: American Badass - Pure B-movie pulp and the latest work of "art" "inspired" by Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Barry Bostwick has never been funnier (or raunchier). It's a truly awful film, but everyone involves knows that and has fun with it.

So, what have you seen recently?

Starstruck

I found myself quite literally starstruck last night. I took the pups out for their last walk at about 9:30, looked up, and stopped dead in my tracks. What seemed like billions and billions of stars hung above us, shining brighter than I have ever seen them before. For that moment, surrounded by their peaceful glow, I felt at one with the universe.

The dogs were not as impressed.

What's inside this little red notebook?

This little red sketchbook was my constant companion for most of September and October. Two nights ago, I filled the last page. Between its covers now sit 232 new cartoon ideas, all awaiting their opportunities to be drawn into final form.

Well, maybe not all. Out of 232 ideas that I sketched out, I'd estimate that 50 or so are funny to me but probably wouldn't make a lick of sense to anyone else. Another 50 of them are just brain farts: ideas I had to get out of my head so I could move on to the next (and hopefully better) ones. Maybe 25 or so would have been funny to the rest of the world on the day that I drew them; now, not so much. More than a few are too dark and angry to share with the world (I get my anger out of my system with a pen and paper). A half-dozen or so are too ambitious for my meager cartooning skills and may need to be handed off to other artists.

But the rest? They're gold, Jerry, gold!

So, some time soon (depending on when I complete my latest batch of writing deadlines) I shall sit down with these sketchbook and start transforming some of these 232 sketches into finished artwork. I'll also be tapping into the huge file of other cartoon ideas I have sketched out. I've got enough gag ideas to keep my busy for another few years -- especially at the rate at which I draw.

But meanwhile, the idea pile keeps getting thicker. I started a new sketchbook last night. That one only has three sketches in it so far, but there are 119 more pages to fill.

I love a challenge...

Bespectacled Buddha

Bespectacled Buddha, a photo by JohnPlatt on Flickr.