Coming Soon: Grimoire

My short story collection Grimoire is now available for pre-sale at the Rebel Satori website (and I presume it will be available on Amazon at some point in the future as well). Expected release date is March 27th. For those who enjoy the weird fiction of H.P. Lovecraft and Thomas Ligotti, the dark and absurd music of Current 93, or the occult philosophies of Kenneth Grant. More details to come in the future.

http://www.rebelsatoripress.com/grimoire-james-champagne/

Skeletons on my Bookshelves: Books Read During My High School Years (1994-1998)

Due to lapses in memory, this list is incomplete: I'm especially hazy as to what I was reading in the 9th grade. It's not exactly by order as well. Books marked with an * indicate that they were required school reading. I very rarely read the books I was assigned however, choosing instead to pursue my own literary tastes. Plays I read during this time period (mainly various works by William Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams and some of Arthur Miller's work, such as "The Crucible" and "Death of a Salesman"), along with works of poetry, are not listed here: not that I read all that much poetry back then.

During the 9th grade and for the first half of the 10th grade I mostly just read Star Wars novels. During the second semester of 10th grade I became obsessed with Tom Clancy, which later evolved into a very brief interest with Robert Ludlum. By the 11th grade my two favorite writers were John Grisham and, later, Anne Rice. In the 12th grade I briefly became interested in the books of Elmore Leonard, mainly because one of my favorite film directors, Quentin Tarantino, had adapted his novel "Rum Punch" that year. An interest in indie films that began during the last few months of my Senior year led me to become interested in the Beats, and during my Freshman year at college in the Fall of '98 I read "Naked Lunch" by William S. Burroughs for the first time. And the rest, as they say, is history.

9th Grade (1994-1995)
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Star Wars: Heir to the Empire (Timothy Zahn)
Star Wars: Dark Force Rising (Timothy Zahn)
The Lost World (Michael Crichton)

Summer 1995
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Star Wars: The Last Command (Timothy Zahn)
Star Wars: Tales From the Mos Eisley Cantina (Various)
Star Wars: The Courtship of Princess Leia (Dave Wolverton)

10th Grade (1995-1996)
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Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura (Kathy Tyers)
Star Wars: The Crystal Star (Vonda McIntyre)
Star Wars: Jedi Search (Kevin Anderson)
Star Wars: Dark Apprentice (Kevin Anderson)
Star Wars: Champions of the Force (Kevin Anderson)
Star Wars: Darksaber (Kevin Anderson) Christmas Gift!
Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck) *
The Old Man and the Sea (John Steinbeck) *
A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens) *
The White Plague (Frank Herbert)
Goldeneye (John Gardner)
Patriot Games (Tom Clancy) Christmas Gift!
Without Remorse (Tom Clancy)
Debt of Honor (Tom Clancy)

Summer 1996
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Executive Orders (Tom Clancy)

11th Grade (1996-1997)
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The Road to Gandolfo (Robert Ludlum)
The Apocalypse Watch (Robert Ludlum)
The Scorpio Illusion (Robert Ludlum)
Airframe (Michael Crichton) Christmas Gift!
The Sum of All Fears (Tom Clancy) [did not finish]
Ethan Frome (Edith Wharton) *
The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne) * [did not finish]
The Runaway Jury (John Grisham)
The Pelican Brief (John Grisham)
The Chamber (John Grisham)
The Rainmaker (John Grisham)
The Dilbert Principle (Scott Adams)
The Partner (John Grisham)
Interview With the Vampire (Anne Rice)

Summer 1997
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Pulp Fiction: screenplay (Quentin Tarantino)
Lord Foul's Bane (Stephen R. Donaldson)
Conversations With Anne Rice (Michael Riley)
The Vampire Lestat (Anne Rice) [did not finish]
The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) *

12th Grade (1997-1998)
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The Illearth War (Stephen R. Donaldson) [did not finish]
Lord of the Flies (William Golding) *
Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) *
Servant of the Bones (Anne Rice)
The Witching Hour (Anne Rice)
Lasher (Anne Rice) [did not finish]
The Street Lawyer (John Grisham)
Jackie Brown/Rum Punch (Elmore Leonard) Christmas Gift!
Out of Sight (Elmore Leonard)
Riding the Rap (Elmore Leonard)
Maximum Bob (Elmore Leonard)
Get Shorty (Elmore Leonard)
The Tenth Justice (Brad Meltzer)
Insomnia (Stephen King) [did not finish]

Summer 1998
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I Shot Andy Warhol: screenplay (Mary Harron/Daniel Minahan)
Rainbow Six (Tom Clancy)