It’s hard to believe that 2019 is about to come to a close. Last year around this time, I posted my best fantasy reads, writing books, podcast episodes, and articles of 2018, except that I hadn’t bothered to catalog any of them along the way, leading to a very trying memory exercise.
I remedied that for 2019 by starting a monthly best-of post and now a year later, I present to you the best content of the year!
Best fantasy books I read
- The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy, by Robin Hobb: I started reading the 16-book Realm of the Elderlings series in 2015, one trilogy/quadrilogy per year, so it’s been a long-ish journey, although not as long as those readers who have been there since the first book came out in 1996. I capped it off with the final(?) trilogy earlier this year. Highly recommended if you like classic fantasy, as it features a great combination of characters, world-building, and magic.
- Senlin Ascends, by Josiah Bancroft
Best writing books I read
- Story by Robert McKee: Although the movie references are a bit dated and the material is very dense, this is a foundational work if you’re an author or screenwriter.
Best writing articles/podcasts
- Nicholas Erik’s three core book marketing principles
- Creative ways to boost reader engagement
- David Gaughran’s How to sell books in 2019
- Two-part interview on Facebook ads with Maria Luis on the Spa Girls podcast
- K.M. Weiland has a 22(!)-part series on The Do’s and Don’ts of Storytelling According to Marvel, where she breaks down a different storytelling lesson from each of the MCU films.
- 10 Top Book Advertising Tips from RWA 2019
- Shane Parrish of Farnam Street interviews Hugh Howey
Best of everything else
- Disney and the Future of TV
- How Ron Gilbert pushed back against bad adventure game design in The Secret of Monkey Island
- #TheTwoFriends over on the Blank Check podcast did a great interview with the screenwriters of Detective Pikachu.
- The Problem Solving of Filmmaking: David Sandberg, the director of Shazam, discusses how a seemingly inconsequential derivation from the script set off a multitude of unexpected problems and how he solved them
- Starbucks, monetary superpower
- The below tweet encapsulates everything that is great about The Mandalorian:
When Werner Herzog learned the Mandalorian team was considering replacing puppet Baby Yoda with CGI, he had a devastating response: “You are cowards. Leave it.” https://t.co/2xwyoEVTqn
— kateyrich (@kateyrich) November 26, 2019