My Three Favorite Reads of the Year

What were yours?

Last time I wrote you was on Halloween, and now Thanksgiving is in the rearview mirror. I just can’t get used to how fast this season goes by every year.

TRIVIA QUESTION: How many times did Count Orlok blink in Nosferatu? The answer is at the end of this newsletter.

THREE FAVORITE READS: Shepherd.com asked me to share my three favorite reads of the year (not necessarily published in 2023, though two of them were). I had fun putting this list together and hope you’ll enjoy reading it: https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023/f/nicole-willson

For the record, at the time I wrote the list I had not seen the movie adaptation of Killers of the Flower Moon; I’ve since fixed that. I really liked it, even though I preferred the way the book presented the story.

Last year, I did another list for Shepherd.com featuring my picks for the five best contemporary horror novels written by women. If you haven’t seen that one, it’s new to you! https://shepherd.com/best-books/contemporary-horror-written-by-women

WHAT I’VE BEEN UP TO: I’ve been working with Parliament House Press and artist Cho-hyun Kim on the cover of my upcoming novel The Keeper of the Key. It’s now finished, and I think it’s gorgeous. The reveal is not until February, and I can’t wait for you to see it!

I also spent most of the fall working on a short story for an anthology call I’d love to be a part of. I won’t say more because I worry about jinxing myself, but if you’d like to send me and my story some good luck vibes, I’d appreciate it.

WHAT I’M WATCHING: With depressingly little fanfare, the fifth season of Fargo started last week, three years after the fourth. So far, this season feels like an alt-universe retelling of the movie with the car salesman’s wife as the central character. I can’t tell where this story is going to go, but so far I’m enjoying the ride. It’s been too long.

AWARDS ELIGIBILITY: It’s the time of year when people start nominating stuff they liked for awards. I believe the only eligible work I had this year was The Shadow Dancers of Brixton Hill. But I’m really proud of that one, and I’d appreciate any consideration for awards for novella/long fiction works.

REVIEWS, REVIEWS, REVIEWS: If you’ve read The Shadow Dancers of Brixton Hill or any of my books or stories, please consider leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, and any other review site you use regularly. It doesn’t need to be a long review—“I liked it!” will work. It doesn’t need to be a good review—“Bleah, that sucked!” will work just as well. There’s been a recent uptick in authors attacking reviewers for anything less than five stars; I promise I’m not one of those. Never have been, never will be.

TRIVIA ANSWER: According to Mental Floss, the Count blinks only once in the entire film. This question is mostly a good excuse for me to mention how excited I am for the upcoming remake of Nosferatu by Robert Eggers, due in 2024.

Thanks so much for reading, and if you know anyone who might be interested in my work, please feel free to pass this along to them.

Stay spooky and safe,
Nicole