I was trying to figure out what to write about this week and noticed a bunch of reading lists on the main page, which sparked this crazy ass idea. Why don’t I recommend some books?

The first book I’m going to recommend is one of my all time favorites. It’s the first book I’ve ever re-read right after finishing it for the first time. There is just so much going on in this thing that a reader really does need to read it twice to understand it, but seeing as its entertaining as all hell and extra funny to boot – you won’t complain. It’s Kurt Vonnegut’s master piece SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE. I’ve read a lot of his books over the years, and this one stands out as one of his best, in my humble opinion. I also love Breakfast of Champions, Hocus Pocus, and Timequake – just to name a few.

Another book I’ll recommend, again one of my favorites, is Clive Barker’s THIEF OF ALWAYS. This is a beautiful, dark fairytale with great characters, suspense, and pacing. I cant’ even tell you how many times I’ve read the book over the years, but its one of my favorite books by the legendary author, which is saying a lot, because the dude has written a ton of fantastic literature even though he is mostly remembered for making Hellraiser. If you haven’t read this book yet, stop what your doing, like right now, and go and order it. You will not be disappointed!

The last book I’ll recommend on this list is another funny one – a book so funny, that while reading it, I broke out laughing out loud. I remember one time I was on the bus and I just couldn’t stop laughing at what was happening that everyone around me just stared at me, passing silent judgment. Though the author, Joseph Heller, is best known for Catch-22 (which is awesome in and off itself) his lesser known novel, God Knows, is fucking hilarious!

The death of books will not come at the hands of the digital age, like some doomsayers used to proclaim from atop their slush piles. Publisher’s forget that real book nerds (and you know who you are) will always purchase books. I’m one of them. I love going to bookstores and browse the shelves, checking out covers and reading blurbs in the hopes of finding my own white whale. A trip to Half Price books, my own personal Mecca, is always packed with customers – so the demand is there, its not diminishing.

What is diminishing is the quality of work as the the Publishing houses get more woke. It’s the source of the river poisoning the inhabitants downstream and as result, killing the business. And its not like we haven’t seen this self-destruction before – it started in the comic industry with diversity hires and woke politics. Who can forget the great creative idea they had when they reset all their titles and started substituting established characters with the opposite sex? How is that working for Marvel now as they do the exact same thing in their newest phase over at Marvel Studios? They love to blame the fanbase, without really knowing who their fanbase really is – dudes who are always thirsty for hot, ass kicking babes! Comic nerds eat that up. Hell, they live for it. What they don’t like is being attacked, called names, and being force fed feminism and woke agendas. Why would a paying customer buy a product written by people who hate them.

And this insanity isn’t just happening in comics, it’s spread like a virus into the video gaming industry, film, and now books. I’m going to show my age here, but does anyone remember the NOTHING from “The NeverEnding Story?” If you haven’t seen it, go do so at once – its bloody fantastic, but in the meantime, since you’re already here, there is a nothingness spreading across this fantasy world destroying it – that’s liberal wokeism today. You get these brainwashed, crazy eyed, far-leftist invading publishing houses as agents, slush pile readers, editors, and finally the upper brass and instead of looking for good books, no matter the skin color/gender of the author, they openly discriminate.

Not only do the discriminate, they call for books the majority of readers don’t want to read. Sure, there is a market for it, but its real niche. And then they take those niche books and try to market/sale them to an audience that doesn’t want it. What happens? It fails. When a publishing house continues to promote books that don’t sale – what happens? They go bankrupt and bookstores, like comic book shops, close.

In my humble opinion, if we don’t get this fixed – where we once again focus on story – this industry will also die a slow, agonizing death. And it already is. Right now, its on life support – mainly kept alive by old, established authors who are slowly dying off one by one. There are no new names to carry this industry on its back once other greats cast off their mortal coils. This past year we lost Ann Rice – what happens when other power players die – no Stephen King, James Patterson, J.K. Rowling, Dean Koontz, John Grisham, Danielle Steel, etc. It doesn’t help either that publishing is no longer building big names.

Let’s be honest here, the publishing industry is on its lasts legs if they don’t take their heads out of their ass and start focusing on producing better books. I’m not the savior. Who will be? If you think its going to be a Gender Queer, non-binary, cat lady from Washington who writes books about gay romances set in the backdrop of WW2 – you got to be dreaming. And let me just say there is nothing wrong with either that lifestyle or that writing, but its not what the masses want to read.