We’re halfway through the year. That’s just amazing to me. Then again, the past decade has pretty much destroyed my internal clock and I have no sense of time anymore, so…
What can I tell you about?
I finished that last short story. Finally. I know I’ve told you about a few I’ve done lately, but the truth is I’m not great when it comes to short stories, especially for anthologies. I can come up with lots of great short story ideas, yeah, but a lot of the time I tend to freeze up. Especially when they’re very specific. “We’re doing an anthology about cyborg vampire motorcycle gangs—you in?”
In this case the specific aspect of the anthology came from, well, history. It’s a Carter & Kraft story, which have all been set during World War II, but this is the first time I’ve tied one to a very specific historical event. And that meant flexing and stretching and doing my best to make the story work within that framework. Fortunately the editor read the first draft, made some suggestions, and also assured me we didn’t need to be super-rigid with regards to history. So it got done, we’re both happy, and I can’t wait for you to read it. To read all of them, really.
And all of this means I’m back working on TOS, which I’ve mentioned here once or thrice. I’m thinking this could be really solid by the end of the month. At least a big chunk of it done. Which would be very cool.
In other news…
As I’m writing this, we’re mere days away from San Diego Comic-Con, and this is the first time in well over a decade I’m not going. And I live here in San Diego! I was thinking about it a few months back, and the sad truth is I haven’t had a release in over a year at this point (yeah, I know! Imagine how I feel about it). So if I went, I’d have nothing new to show anyone, just be taking space away from someone else, and—truth be told—probably not doing a lot with that space. Plus, to be totally honest… I wasn’t really thrilled about the safety protocols during last year’s SDCC (or at least, the lack of enforcement), and now that they’re just throwing the doors open, well…
(although on Friday the 21st I’ll be doing my own mini-panel on Instagram– all day Ask Me Anything. Old projects, new projects, film work, toys, cats, whatever)
Then again, with the film industry strikes (go union, burn this friggin’ system to the ground), this might be the best con in years for writers and artists. Who knows? All I know is next year I’ll be pushing to have a much bigger con presence wherever people want me.
And one more thing. I’m thinking of migrating this newsletter over to a different service. I’m really not liking the Substack business model, as I’ve mentioned once or thrice before, and after a few months of trying to balance things I’ve just come to the conclusion… they just don’t balance. Not for me, anyway.
That said, we’re all trying to be a little safer with personal information, so I just wanted to get a general vibe if most of you would be okay with me just shifting your email address over to another system (and then shutting this down). Generally yes? Absolutely not? How did I get on this mailing list?
Anyway…
Cool Stuff I’ve Been Watching— Still enjoying Strange New Worlds (as I type this, we’re less than two weeks from the Lower Decks crossover episode). Skull Island was surprisingly fun—I was expecting something much more kid-oriented.
Cool Stuff I’ve Been Reading— I got to read the new one from Kristi Charish (which you’ll all probably get to read next year). About to dive into The Endless Vessel by Charles Soule and then another book to blurb.
Cool New Toys – I got the Spinnerette figure that was part of a Spider-Man two-pack. It’s basically “what if Mary Jane also had spider powers,” and I think we even glimpse her in the Spider-Verse. Through eBay I stumbled across a toy/ game/ comic shop (KC’s Rockets) which is ridiculously close to me and has been here for years. So I picked up the Red Guardian (from Black Widow), a classic Ravager Star-Lord, and Toybox versions of Cap and Spidey.