Category: newsletter

As always, some of the things in the newsletter are time-sensitive. Or at least they were when the newsletter came out and all the subscribers got it. Now they’re historical events…
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Well, the past few weeks have been… days.

Absolutely.

Me word real good.

I don’t have as much for you this month. For a few reasons.

The big one is we sort of became a plague house over the past three weeks. My partner and I are still masking when we go out into the world, but I still somehow managed to catch a nasty cold at the end of April (just in time for my mom’s visit to California). Everything got raw enough that I ended up losing my voice for a couple days and then passed it to my beloved. Which really sucks because I’ve always had a pretty robust immune system, since I was a little kid, and she.. doesn’t. So I got over it in about a week and it took her, well, until about now. She’s still fighting off the last of it as I write this.

And of course this overlapped nicely (if we can call it that) with one of my cats needing surgery. My dear, beautiful Goblin has been suffering from glaucoma for almost a year. We’ve been managing it with eye drops for most of that time, but it would still swell occasional, and it finally became undeniable that he’d lost all sight in that eye. So we made the decision to have the eye removed. It was extremely nerve-wracking for me because I have a pile of eye-issues related to a childhood trauma of my own. And it didn’t help that it was a whole process of appointments before the actual surgery.

Goblin came though it fine, don’t worry. I probably stressed about it way more than he did. He didn’t like wearing a cone for two weeks, but it’s off now and he’s happier than he’s been in a while. Plus he was dealing with diminished vision for so long that losing the eye hasn’t slowed him down at all. Really it’s just me feeling guilty I took so long to do it because of my own fears.

Fear stops us from doing a lot of things. And I’m not just excusing myself when I say… that’s understandable. It all comes down to facing our fear and doing the right thing. Taking that next step, even when it makes us really uncomfortable. Like they say, courage is when you’re afraid but you do the right thing anyway.

So it’s okay to be scared. Just don’t let it stop you from being brave.

I mean, Goblin’s got one eye now and no depth perception, but he threw himself up on top of the wardrobe this morning.

In other news…

God’s Junk Drawer is done with copyedits. Levi, the copyeditor, went through the whole manuscript with notes, grammatical corrections, some questions, and a few suggestions. And then I spent about a week and a half going over all of his notes (while also juggling a sick beloved and a depressed cat forced to wear a post-surgery cone).

Quick explainer, which I probably should’ve done a while ago. Some of you probably know this, but there’s a few different types of editing. The editing I do in early drafts, and then do again later with an editor, is usually called developmental editing. It’s when we’re actually trying to shape and form the manuscript. Tightening some parts, adding others, changing some altogether. Some books don’t need much of this. Some need a lot. It all depends on the writer’s individual style and how polished a book they tend to turn in. I’ve turned in some manuscripts that I felt were really solid, but also one or two that were, for various reasons, not solid at all. Bordering on liquid. One may have assumed a gaseous form. I think one editor would completely agree with that.

Copyediting, on the other hand, is the nuts and bolts phase. It’s when someone– a copyeditor– goes through and makes sure all the spelling and grammar’s correct. That all the dates and names and other random facts line up. It’s a meticulous, line-by-line job.

It’s also a tricky one because, on the writer side of it, a lot of us play with grammar and sentence structure and sometimes even spelling to make the story do the things we want it to do. If you’ve read any of my books (like, say, The Broken Room) you know that I like a certain pace to action. I want it to read fast, like you’re seeing it happen. Or trying to see it happen, but sometimes it’s so quick we just see the blur and put it together after the fact. It’s not unusual for me to deliberately create a run-on sentence to help sell the quick, breathless speed things are happening at. And this often means breaking a bunch of “correct” rules. A good copyeditor will see this and the reasoning behind it. I’ve shown them I know the rules and I also know how and why I’m breaking them, and what that breakage is going to accomplish.

Point is, I had a good copyeditor on God’s Junk Drawer. Levi saw what I was trying to do in a lot of places, but also caught a few spots where maaaaaaybe it should be this? Or that?

The next stop… layout! And then ARCs!

We also have a cover now and it’s… it’s pretty damned cool. I can’t show it to you yet, but I’m pushing to make sure all of you subscribed to the newsletter are the first folks to see it.

Oh, I also finished that comic script and the editor said… it was actually pretty solid for a first try. He suggested one tweak and, yeah, it was a good suggestion and makes a few things work better.. As I’ve said, it’s a new format for me so I’m still stumbling through it, but we’re moving forward.

What else do I have for you…

Cool Stuff I’ve Been Watching
I’ve got to be honest…. not a lot. Well, not a lot I didn’t talk about in the last newsletter. Doctor Who is still fantastic. The Grimm rewatch continues (we’re almost done with season three) and I have many, many thoughts about it. We’ve also been watching the last few episodes of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur and godDAMN that show should’ve run for four or five seasons. And of course, as I write this tomorrow’s the premiere of Murderbot. And some point soon I’m probably going to binge all of Andor in two or three nights.

Cool Stuff I’ve Been Reading
With all the sickness and cat stuff… not much, I’m ashamed to say. I read an early draft of a friend’s clever and very timely book. Currently reading Overgrowth by Seanan Mc *cough* Mira Grant and I’ll be talking with her about it next week at Mysterious Galaxy (if you happen to be in the area). Next up for me… Well, I just got another blurb book, but I may dive into this Godzilla novelization/ translation. And then Staircase in the Woods is just sitting there…

Cool New Toys
I’m in that part of the year where I try not to get much for myself because my birthday is coming up. But a bunch of preorder stuff showed up, and I took advantage of a few sales. The biggest one is that I finally got my Marvel Legends Rom, an action figure I’ve essentially wanted since I was nine. I haven’t even taken him out of the package yet, and I have some plans for once he’s out (expect many photos). I also ended up building my own custom Four Horseman demon. He doesn’t have a name yet, but he looks really cool.

And I think that’s all I’ve got for you right now. As always, thanks for reading. See you again in thirty days or so.

This was supposed to be up a week ago. So sorry it’s late. Of course, y’know, it’d never be late if you subscribed…

Anyway…

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Oh, hey! There you are.

We’ve been having a few long, wet weeks here in southern California. The kind where the rain sucks all the heat out of the air and leaves you with a deep chill. In some ways, it’s great and reminds me of growing up in New England. And in other, much more current ways, I’m reminded that I live in a sixty-year old house built when the idea of needing insulation in southern California was just ha ha ha ha ridiculous. Also that I need to get the roof fixed in the garage. And also that we have half a dozen cats who think the sound of central heating means a street sweeper has somehow gotten into the house and we should all RUN IN TERROR!!!

And speaking of running in terror…

The world is an awful place right now. There are so many things to—rightfully—be angry or worried or openly scared about. I wish I could put an optimistic spin on it but… man, my optimism tanks are pretty much bone dry after the past few weeks.

What I can tell you is that being angry and scared all the time is exhausting, physically and emotionally. It’s unavoidable at points, I know, but try to give yourself permission to just breathe. Toss your phone over there and go for a walk. Go for a run. Play with your pets. Play a game. Read a book. Watch a favorite movie. Work in the garden. Make something. Seriously, do whatever you can to give yourself a couple minutes of peace and joy—and try not to feel guilty about it. We’re all going to need to be strong for the foreseeable future, and it’s easier to be strong when you’re not exhausted.

Thus ends the monthly pep talk.

In other, happier news…

Just as I sat down to start scribbling up this newsletter, I got an email to let me know God’s Junk Drawer is heading into copy edits a.k.a. line edits. The editor and I have already traded a few emails about scientific nomenclature vs casual conversation. Because that’s how my books roll, folks.

Also, a reminder that you can preorder the book right now from your favorite local bookstore. Or request your library grab a copy. Or both! Both is good, as the gif says.

On a related note, I know I’ve mentioned the west coast/ new England book tour a few times. After talking to a few folks, I’m probably going to let that simmer for a few months. Most places aren’t going to be start setting their fall schedules until mid-summer at best, so trying to plan a lot before then is kind of silly. But I’ve made note of the places some of you suggested, and I’ll probably be asking you all again in… July? August? Somewhere around there.

Also, my early readers for TOS have given me their thoughts and notes and overall they’re… really good. They don’t think it’s flawless (everybody had a few critical observations, and most of them were spot-on), but for the most part they were creeped out at the right points, laughed a lot at the right points, and… well, got misdirected at all the points I’d wanted them to be. So I’m going over the manuscript again with a lot of their notes in mind, then a quick polish, and… well, my agent will probably have this before the next newsletter.

I finished that comic script (finally) and the editor and I are bouncing around a few artist names. It’s still a ways off, but I thought some of you might want to know.

Thanks to all of you who came out during the mini-signing tour for Combat Monsters. Was great to see people and talk about Carter & Kraft. And I think some of those talks actually got me thinking about another story for our two intrepid WWII heroes…

On a related note, at the end of March I’m going to be at WonderCon in Anaheim. I’m part of a Sunday morning panel on Writing Blended Genres, then a book signing right after that, and then I’m probably going to be wandering the floor, talking to folks and looking at cool things. Maybe I’ll see you there?

What else can I tell you about?

Cool Stuff I’ve Been Watching
A couple days after sending the last newsletter we watched Flow, the now-Oscar-winning animated movie about a cat and a capybara and look it’s just amazing, okay? The movie itself and the story behind the movie. Academy Award very well-deserved. My beloved and I are caught up on Severance and holy crap what amazing show! Also, it’s not so much “watching” but we’ve been binging Midnight Burger off a friend’s recommendation. It’s about the staff of a time-raveling, dimension-hopping diner, and if you like my stuff I think you’ll really enjoy it.

Cool Stuff I’ve Been Reading
I’m late to the party, but my to-read pile finally coughed up Assassins Anonymous and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Currently about two-thirds through Craig DiLouie’s new one, My Ex-The Antichrist, which comes out this summer It’s about a guitarist who discovers her ex-bandmate-and-boyfriend is the actual son of Satan destined to destroy the world. After that I’ve got a blurb book and then (also long overdue) John Wiswell’s Someone You Can Build A Nest In.

Cool New Toys
Not a lot of new toys physically in hand this month. My beloved gave me a Gundam Guncannon model for Valentine’s Day, because somewhere along the line she started giving me a red robot every year. I took advantage of the Spero warehouse sale and grabbed a few Animal Warriors figures to customize and/or add to my Horrid army. I preordered a few things and backed a fun Kickstarter for Space Zombies from Mars action figures because, hey… who doesn’t like zombie astronauts, right?

Okay, I think that’s all for now. As always, thanks for reading. See you next time next month.

This issue of the newsletter was a little date-specific, so some of it may not be relevant anymore. You could avoid this horrible faux pas by subscribing to The Uncanny Cosmic Horror Zombie Almanac and then the newsletter would be delivered to your inbox in a timely fashion.

Just sayin’…

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A little early this month. For reasons. Which I will explain.

Eventually.

You’re probably reading this the day before Valentine’s Day, a holiday that can get a bunch of different reactions from people for a bunch of different reasons. I hope you’ve got someone to celebrate it with. Somebody who, in one way or another, makes you feel a little more complete or whole and a little less… well, less. A lover, a friend, or even a pet. Heck, even if it’s a place or an activity or a hobby. Something that makes your days feel a little lighter and easier.

In other news… about two weeks after the last newsletter I was finally done with Instagram. Locked down, no longer updating, no long replying. The only reason I’m not deleting is because A) I don’t want some rando grabbing my name/account and posting who knows what and 2) I mean, seriously, it could be a month before half my followers even see the announcement I’ve left. Which right there is, y’know, a pretty good argument for leaving.

That said, I was pleased to see a bunch of names I recognized from Instagram show up on Bluesky over the next week or so. A couple old friends (old in the sense of we’ve known each other along time—not that any of us have gotten old, ha ha ha ha, no). One or three toy-related folks. Heck, my publisher, Blackstone, has started an account there (which I think makes them the biggest publisher on Bluesky).

Speaking of social media, I also finally deleted my Twitter account. Well, deactivated, and now I’m waiting for Twitter to actually delete it. Like I mentioned last month, it’s been two years. More than enough time, and the past month has established it’s never coming back. Plus, y’know, all the Nazi stuff from Musk That made it easy, too.

So at this point I’m on Bluesky. Right now there, here (the newsletter), and my website are probably the best places to reach me. I’m still trying out Pixelfed and Cara for more visual stuff. No idea which one, if either, will be the one to pass that all-important critical mass point. I like Cara more, but it does feel a little more art-oriented. I get this weird vibe that my random toy photos or book covers are pushing some sort of invisible line. Pixelfed seems to be a little more open and has a lot of features I like, but like so many federated things (see: Mastodon) it’s kind of impossible to find anyone/anything unless you know exactly where to look, so it also feels very empty right now.

No, this isn’t an invitation for anyone to explain how inherently better and simple federation is, you just need to…

Anyway, let’s get to the real reason you signed up for this newsletter…

As I mentioned in the surprise mailing, God’s Junk Drawer is now up for preorder. I think everything’s updated/ rolled over/ rebooted/ whatever so it should be available to preorder everywhere now. I’ll probably bug you about it in the next eight or nine newsletters because preorders are so important and you wouldn’t believe how low the numbers usually are. Folks were stunned (and very happy) when my book, The Fold got around (if memory serves) 1300 preorders. I’ve been told Stephen King rarely gets more than a few thousand. If everyone reading this newsletter preordered it (and there’s only about 500 of you at the moment), it’d make my publisher giddy. Seriously.

So I’m going to keep mentioning it.

THAT SAID… Now that we’ve got an actual release date and preorders, I want to hammer out details for that west coast signing tour I mentioned last time. Starting in San Diego and then tentative stops in LA, San Francisco, Sacramento, Portland, Seattle and… I don’t know, you tell me. Is there somewhere else in there I should stop? I was thinking of San Luis Obispo at one point, but I don’t really know the town. Feel free to toss out suggestions for specific bookeries in these cities or other places I should consider stopping by (and yes, some of you already have).

There’s also New England. Hoping to be out there just after Thanksgiving. I think I’ve got a slightly better sense of bookstores out there, but if you’ve got a local indie you think would be open to me scribbling, please let me know. My hope is to do a stop in each state, with maybe a signing in eastern and western Massachusetts. And yes, some folks have already offered suggestions here, too.

Again, none of this is a guarantee—it’s possible stores might not be able to make my schedule work for them (completely understandable), plus… I mean, who knows what’s going to happen between now and then. It’s the undiscovered country. But once we get these nailed down (hopefully in the next couple of weeks) you could switch your preorder to your friendly local bookstore, give them some business, and then we’ll all see each other this fall.

In other news, TOS is off with a handful of trustworthy, brutally honest friends and so far the response is… positive? I’m feeling really good about this one, which could very likely be massive self-delusion or… maybe it’s actually good? Hoping to have notes/ comments/ critiques back from everyone in another week or two, which means I’ll probably have more thoughts on this for the next newsletter.

Also– Combat Monsters came out this week and is available everywhere. yes, everywhere! It’s got a new Carter & Kraft story from me, “The Night Crew,” and if you live in southern California I’ll remind you that a few contributors (including me) are going to do a sort of mini signing tour over the next few weeks. We’re going to be at- Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego this Saturday (the 15th) at 1:00, then Dark Delicacies in Burbank (3pm, Feb 22), and Artifact Books in Encinitas (3pm, March 1). Preorder the book through one of them, then come by and get it signed by us when you pick it up. And if you’re a few hundred miles away and can’t make it, I’m pretty sure they all deliver. Just sayin…

Also-also– I’ll be at WonderCon at the end of March. Possibly doing a few panels. Probably more on that next time, too.

Wow this has gotten long. Okay, not much more…

Cool Stuff I’ve Been Watching
Finally started watching Severance, which I’ve been hearing about for a while. Only knew the premise, very little of the actual plot or story so this has been fantastic. We’re probably four episodes in as you’re reading this. Also The Dragon Prince is back and we’ve been enjoying that a lot, as always.

Cool Stuff I’ve Been Reading
Got an early peek at Fantastic Four: Solve Everything by Jonathan Hickman and Dale Eaglesham and that was really great. Also finally got around to Eight Billion Genies by Charles Soule and Ryan Browne and it’s simple phenomenal.

Cool New Toys
Weirdly enough, the cool new toys that stood out this past month were a bunch of old toys. See, back when I was in college my parents cleaned a lot of stuff out of my bedroom and accidentally (or so they claimed) got rid of, well, pretty much every toy I owned before the age of twenty. The only ones that escaped were some things I’d locked away or taken to college with me. As such, it kind of stung when, a few years back, my mom started talking about this box of Transformers she’d found that was probably mine or my nephew’s. I grumpily pointed out they couldn’t be mine since those were all somewhere in a New England landfill. She laughed it off and eventually asked my nephew, who looked at the box and said they weren’t his, either. Said box came up again when my folks were visiting back in November and I said, fine, send it to me. It’s be interesting to see what it was, anyway.

Anyway, I told you all that (this is so long, I apologize again) so you’d have an idea how stunned I was to open this box when it showed up and see that it was a random bunch of my old toys, including, yes, some G1 Transformers. Things I hadn’t seen in almost thirty-five years! An Optimus Prime. Two of my favorite Decepticon jets. A GI Joe B.A.T. And more! I just sat there kind of awe-struck for almost half an hour.

Okay, I think that’s all (ha ha ha) I’ve got for you for this month. See you next time. Thanks for reading.

And again, I hope you get to spend some time this weekend with someone or something that makes you feel more complete.

As always, rather than waiting until the end of the month, you could subscribe to The Uncanny Cosmic Horror Zombie Almanac and get the newsletter delivered to your inbox on the 15th. Or, y’know, close to the fifteenth. Within a day or two…
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Well, here we are in the far flung sci-fi future year of 2025.

The year of Pacific Rim. No, seriously. If you go off all the dates in the film, the main story is set in 2025. Seems kind of silly, in retrospect, doesn’t it? The idea the whole world would overcome differences and join together to fight a major threat. Ha ha ha ha haaa genre stories are so funny…

<<sobs>>

Anyway…

I hope you had a good holiday season and a peaceful New Year. Wasn’t quite as restful here as I’d hoped, but I’m feeling a bit more recharged and ready to deal with things.

And, wow, there’s already so much to deal with.

Let’s start with one of the easier (ha!) ones. Social media. Yeah, social media again.

I deleted my Facebook account seven years ago. It was getting harder and harder to do anything work-related there, and even social interactions were suffering because of the all-mighty engagement algorithm. A friend of mine died in a car crash and I didn’t know about it for almost six months because Facebook decided to hide all those posts from me. I figured she was just taking a social media break after the election, and then found out her family had been begging for help to pay for her funeral. But who wants to see downer stuff like that, right? Thanks, Zuck!

So, Facebook, gone. Elon made it very easy to delete everything I could and lock down Twitter… wow, like 20 months ago now. Almost two years. There was absolutely no way I was getting on Threads. And holy crap, with these new Meta-wide policies that are just bad for… well, 90% of people? With those in place there’s a good chance I’ll be deleting Instagram in the near future, too.

And on one level… yeah, so what. It’s just social media. It’s not like it’s something important. It’s like getting worked up about signing someone’s yearbook. Is it really worth getting so worked up over something so small?

But I think it’s important to note that. It is a small thing. And if I’m not willing to do the right thing over something so small, especially over something as minor and unimportant as social media, am I really going to do the big things? If I can talk myself out of going for a walk around the block, there’s no way I’m going to the gym. If I can’t write a few pages, there’s no way I’m writing a book. And if I’m not willing to stop using Instagram over their parent company’s absolutely horrible policies… well, what am I willing to do to protest horrible policies?

Anything at all?

And I get it. I’ve talked at length about how much of a pain it can be to start over somewhere new. My friends and family are all “here,” and so are my favorite artists and sports teams and pundits and toy companies (okay, that last one might just be me). Will they follow me? Will they find me somewhere new? Will I find them?

And the answer is, yeah, probably. Heck, if you explain why you’re doing it, a few folks might even join you. And then it’s all of you moving somewhere new together.

Plus, let’s face it. Sometimes starting over is good. It’s a chance to change how we do things and look at things. To shake off all sorts of bad behaviors and mindsets and form new habits. And isn’t that the big goal? To be better people than we were before?

It’s my goal, anyway.

This is probably where I remind you I’m currently on Bluesky and Cara. I also just opened a Pixelfed account, so we’ll see how that goes.

What else do I have for you…?

Just before everyone went home for the holidays. my editor, Toni, and I worked on some marketing material for God’s Junk Drawer. Well, she did most of the work and I offered maybe half a page of suggestions/ edits/ corrections. I haven’t heard anything different from anyone, so I believe the book is in copyedits now.

I’ve also been planning out a (currently very tentative) signing tour for when the book comes out. Probably up and down the west coast. Maybe five or six stops in New England. Again, all very bare-bones right now because I can’t really schedule anything quite yet. But if you’ve got a favorite bookstore in that area, let me know. Or let them know and they can let me know.

As for TOS, I think this editing draft is almost done. I have maybe a page and a half of notes to myself left to tweak/ double check/ fact check. Maybe another week of work? This weekend I was going to be nudging the usual suspects and seeing if they’d be interested in reading it.

No, you’d know if you were one of the usual suspects. Let’s not make this awkward for both of us.

And then I’m going to do some serious work on the comic project I swore I was going to do, ha ha ha, almost exactly a year ago.

But seriously… there’s a ton of stuff I want to get done this year. My birthday’s in May and the goal is to have TOS done and out making the rounds by then, the comic book project done and making the rounds, and me… well, either second-book deep into the huge potential project I mentioned last time or working on another thing I’m going to be bouncing off my agent in the next week or two. And all that will decide how the second half of the year goes.

We’ll talk more about all that next time.

Oh, also– Combat Monsters is out in a little less than a month and you can preorder it from your favorite local bookery. It’s got my new Carter & Kraft story, “The Night Crew,” and if you live in southern California I’ll remind you that a few contributors (including me) are going to do a sort of mini signing tour. We’re going to be at- Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego (1pm, Feb 15), Dark Delicacies in Burbank (3pm, Feb 22), and Artifact Books in Encinitas (3pm, March 1). Preorder the book through one of them and get it signed by us. Or you could be there and talk with us about it. And if you’re a few hundred miles away and can’t make it, I’m pretty sure they all deliver.

What else do I have for you…?

Cool Stuff I’ve Been Watching
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl has to be one of the absolute best movie-watching experiences I’ve had in ages. My beloved and I were laughing and excited and giddy through the whole thing. It’s just fantastic. I also binged all of Dan Da Dan in about two days, and it’s the best kind of complete, ludicrous madness—like someone jammed fifty genre tropes in a blender—but somehow it works and it’s so much fun. Skeleton Crew was delightful—good for kids, some fun deep-cut references for hardcore Star Wars fans.

Cool Stuff I’ve Been Reading
I ended last year with The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed. I know it’s gotten tons of hype and praise, but… wow, it’s so much better than I could’ve imagined. Just seriously fantastic on so many levels. Somehow stumbled across Pixie Trix Comix online and binged all of their main strip plus Menage A 3 (a sort of spin off or shared universe strip) over two weeks. They’re basically soap operas about artists and wrestlers with some geekiness and a fair amount of sex (fair warning). Read a screenplay for a friend which was really fun and hopefully we’ll all get to see it on the screen someday. Currently in System Collapse the latest Murderbot book from Martha Wells.

Cool New Toys
Santa, my beloved, and my friends were all very kind to me. My friends gave me Road Pig, the supersized Dreadnok. My beloved gave me a Spider-Man (in his “spraypainted” suit from Into the Spiderverse), an Animal Warriors Feral Beast to join my Scavengers squad, a gorgeous sort of Mayan jaguar gladiator, plus the LEGO set for the Hoopity, Captain Marvel’s ship. And after Christmas I shamelessly took advantage of a few sales to grab myself a small squad of Chunari (more Animal Warriors) and a few other things that haven’t show up yet. Oh, and a beautiful big allosaurus (it’s actually 12” scale!) for business purposes. Really.

And I think that’s all I’ve got for you for this month. There’s all this sort of slow-trickle stuff and I’m hoping sometime soon I’ll get to hit you with two or three bigger things. Y’know, make this feel worthwhile.

See you next time. Thanks for reading.