Vocal Highlight Reel: 2025

Well, it's official. 2025 has almost ended, and I wanted to wrap up the year by looking back on my writing and sharing a sort of highlight reel. I'm not sure where this is going to go, but we'll play it by ear and see what happens.

Let's get started, shall we?

Land of Pulp Magazines #1

Murder in the Cheap Seats was the first installment of the Land of Pulp Magazines series. It was published around October (I think) and was an exploration of pulp magazines from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. Now, I didn't have a grand plan for this one, I was looking for something new and interesting to write about. I was also scrolling through the Internet Archive's pulp magazine collection and...well...the rest, as they say is history.

Speaking of...

Exploring History - Spectral Sails

History was always a personal favorite subject when I was in school. When I started branching out into new content, I wanted something interesting that would complement my Crime Chronicles series. With that in mind, I started brainstorming and decided to start with shipwrecks and ghost ships and see where I landed. This gave us Spectral Sails.

I also wrote an article about Olga of Kiev, which was fun.

Lara-Mania

So, in 2021, I reviewed the original Tomb Raider I as part of the Tomb Raider series' 25th anniversary. I later reviewed both II and III before taking a bit of a break from the series. This year, I returned to the series with a review of the Last Revelation.

I reviewed the other Tomb Raider games from Chronicles all the way to Underworld - including a piece on the remastered series. 3 games left and I've played all the main entries.

A Bit of Self-Trauma - Crime Chronicles

If you're a lover of true crime stuff, and you're a long-time reader of mine, you may have been enjoying my Crime Chronicles series. It's no secret that this is definitely not a family-friendly series, and I've covered some truly disgusting people in this series.

This year, however, I wrote about Albert Fish, the Werewolf of Wysteria. To say that I felt violated and traumatized after reading and writing about this sicko would be a huge understatement.

Top Story - TWICE

I think it's fair to say that having an article ranked as one of the top stories of the month is a fairly big deal. So, when I reviewed Batman: Arkham Asylum, and it was given the 'top story' star in February 2025.

Getting one Top Story rating is great and all, but what's better than that? How about two ratings? That's right, in October 2025, I was doing a marathon of Hammer's Mummy movies. The final entry in that marathon, was 1971's Blood from the Mummy's Tomb.

That review was up for about two days before the 'Top Story' star was granted. I was beyond stoked because I'd never gotten more than one Top Story ranking in a year. I reviewed a few films this year, but Blood from the Mummy's Tomb was probably my favorite one to cover.

I have Big Plans for the New Year

As 2025 winds down, I have some pretty major plans for next year. The Tomb Raider series is turning 30, I'm turning 32, and probably gained weight again - thanks chocolate. My ultimate goal for 2026, writing-wise, is to hit my 200-story mark. Of course, some of my projects will have to be serialized (you'll see what that means soon enough, I'm not spoiling), but that's just because putting them in single articles won't work.

Anyways, I'm just rambling now and I don't want to spoil any surprises. May the post-Christmas chocolate hangovers be worthwhile and the new year be a good one.