Tucson Social Nerds (20s, 30s, and 40s)

Come hang with the book nerds. Bring a book. Grab a drink. Brag about your 2025 reading list. What's on your TBR for 2026.
We'll also have a White Elephant.
Have any books that just didn't work out for you or need a need home? Bring one or two to swap. Wrap all books or place in a gift bag. Write the genre on top.

Thanks for another year of Books in Bars!

This is a Short Story "Book" Club that focuses on sci fi/fantasy and horror short stories or novelettes. This month's stories are The Head" by Bora Chung (2017) and Eric the Pie, by Graham Masterton. Warning: These stories contain elements of body horror and may not be to everyone's taste.

Links to the stories:
The Head 머리: http://samovar.strangehorizons.com/2019/09/02/the-head-%EB%A8%B8%EB%A6%AC/

Eric the Pie: https://www.grahammasterton.co.uk/pdf/eric.pdf:

Graham Masterston is mainly recognized for his horror novels but he has also been a prolific writer of thrillers, disaster novels and historical epics, as well as one of the world’s most influential series of sex instruction books. He became a newspaper reporter at the age of 17 and was appointed editor of Penthouse magazine at only 24. His first horror novel The Manitou was filmed with Tony Curtis playing the lead, and three of his short horror stories were filmed by Tony Scott for The Hunger TV series. Ten years ago Graham turned his hand to crime novels and White Bones, set in Ireland, was a Kindle phenomenon, selling over 100,000 copies in a month. This has been followed by ten more bestselling crime novels featuring Detective Superintendent Katie Maguire, the latest of which is The Last Drop of Blood. In 2019 Graham was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Horror Writers Association. The Prix Graham Masterton for the best horror fiction in French has been awarded annually for the past ten years, and four years ago he established an award for short stories written by inmates in Polish prisons, Nagroda Grahama Mastertona 'W Więzieniu Pisane.' He is currently working on new horror and crime novels.

Bora Chung was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2022. She was born in Seoul in 1976 and is a South Korean novelist, translator, and activist. She completed her undergraduate studies in English and Russian literature at Yonsei University and holds an M.A. in Russian and East European studies from Yale University and a Ph.D. in Slavic literatures from Indiana University. Her first short story, "Meori" (머리 The Head) won the 1998 Yonsei Literature Prize. She won the 3rd Digital Writers' Awards' Distinction Award in 2008 for her novella "Ho" (호 The Fox), and her short story "Ssiat" (씨앗 The Seed) won second prize at the 2014 Gwacheon Science Center SF Awards. Chung's stories are often dark and magical narratives about strong women who fight to survive in an unjust, violent world. She is the author of the novels Bulgeun kal (붉은 칼 The Red Sword), Muni yeollyeotda (문이 열렸다 The Door Opened), Jugeun jaui kkum (죽은 자의 꿈 Dreams of the Dead); the short story collections Geunyeoreul mannada (그녀를 만나다 Meeting Her), Jeoju tokki (저주토끼 Cursed Bunny), Wangui changnyeo (왕의 창녀 The King’s Prostitute), and Ssiat. Her short story collection Cursed Bunny was shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize. Her translations include The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, The Seven Churches by Miloš Urban, and The Marriage by Witold Gombrowicz. She currently serves as president of the Science Fiction Writers Union of Korea (SFWUK).