2025 in review

Wow, I haven’t done this since 2022, have I? Well, here goes nothing.

university

I graduated! I now have a BA in Communication from Texas A&M University (and a minor in English), and as much as I had fun and learned a lot, I’m glad to be done.

If I had to describe my “focus” in my studies, I’d label it as New Media and Independent Publishing.

And, now that I’ve finished with that, I’ve moved back to my beloved home in the tropics for at least the next year.

writing

My plan for 2026 is to spend it as a full-time writer and see if I can make that take off as a career by this time next year. Exciting!

I did have a notable publication this last year by Nantucket Lit: my story “Those Who Breathe Easy” appeared in the Overscan anthology which was published this August. Also keep an eye out for my writing in the new First-Class Fiction postcards, which will be sent out throughout this coming year.

I have some writing ideas that I’m working on, including a very cool publishing project, but nothing ready to announce yet.

coding

Besides the secret publishing project I mentioned above, which still has a fair bit of coding work ahead of it, my main projects at the moment are Writing Month and Clew. Clew, in particular, I’ve put thousands of lines of code toward in the last year, but I haven’t finished the refactor I’m working on so the changes aren’t public yet.

consumption

Want a brief summary of what I’ve been reading, listening to, playing, and watching this year? Here you go!

books

Not going to list everything I read, but here’s a brief summary of the highlights (mostly from the second half of the year, when I really got back into reading):

  • The full The Expanse series
  • The full Murderbot Diaries (which I read through not once but twice
  • Life After Cars, which I pre-ordered and loved
  • Here Comes the Sun, by Bill McKibben
  • I reread The Gift of Rain
  • Many texts for my “Literature for Children” course
  • Many issues of Clarkesworld Magazine, as well as Beneath Ceaseless Skies, which I just began subscribing to

Some things I’m now reading:

  • Ben Bova’s As on a Darkling Plain
  • Leo Tolstoy’s The Kingdom of God is Within You (slow going, but I did write my final paper for my “Religious Communication” course this semester on chapter three)

I also acquired a precious copy of The Internet Phone Book, which I have only lightly perused so far but can’t wait to dig into.

games

Some games I completed this year:

  • Dead Cells - I beat the secret final boss and all the DLCs (except Return to Castlevania, which Joel just gifted me)
  • Chained Echoes
  • 1000xRESIST
  • I Was a Teenage Exocolonist
  • Pyre

Though released in August of 2024, I didn’t do a review that year and need to also mention World of Goo 2, a lovely sequel to one of my beloved childhood treasures.

Some games I’m currently actively playing:

  • Replaying CrossCode with Joel and Steffo
  • Astral Ascent (a current favorite)
  • Noita
  • Rogue Legacy
  • Citizen Sleeper (another gift from Joel; I’m currently taking a break from it though)
  • Hollow Knight, which I’ve reached the final boss of

music

I acquired 109 albums in 2025, but I’ll endeavor to list a few of my favorites:

blogs

Some favorite RSS feeds from the past year, which you should check out:

Check out my blogroll for more.

That’s it for now. See y’all in the new year!

by benjamin hollon on

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