I’m trying like hell to blog more. It’s weird that I can write a daily column, post 1000 words of research to another blog on a daily basis, write a short story (at least) on a weekly basis, but I’ve never been able to blog consistently.
So I’m trying to develop the habit by just unreeling whatever comes into my head, instead of posting it on Facebook or Twitter.
The Caravans Awry project is still going great guns. We have additional writers — a slate of 25 people, old and young, familiar and unfamiliar, working on tales and poems. The fundraiser can always use some help. Pre-order books for less than the cover, get access to bonus material…
Here’s the list of contributors:
Michael Adams, Adam Bolivar, Frank Coffman, Scott Couturier, Ashley Dioses,
Sam L Edwards, John Paul Fitch, Maxwell Gold, John Linwood Grant,
Jill Hand, Shayne Keen, Ted Morgan, KA Opperman, Duane Pesice, Peter Rawlik, Ralph Rotten, Jayaprakash Satyamurthy, Alan Sessler, Russell Smeaton, Matthew St. Cyr, William Tea, Sean M. Thompson, Sarah Walker, Can Wiggins, and secret guests.
JB Lee and Derek Pegrist are still fashioning artwork for us. The volume will be out sometime between now and Christmas, depending on how soon it gets developed, proofed, and formatted. I have about a third of the book in hand, fully proofed, waiting for the overall edit (after which we plan to turn it all into a shared-universe story with judicious additions).
I’m just about to turn in the edited copy of Test Patterns: Creature Features, which should debut around All-Hallow’s. I proofed this edition as well, so it took a little extra time. This is going to be a killer volume. There are award-winners/nominees on board, a fantastic variety of themes and styles, tremendous artwork…Planet X Publications is up-and-coming, make no mistake.
Planet X is also likely to debut a novella and a novel by my hand, sometime in the reasonably near future. Both are in edits right now. I have all of the artwork already, so they’ll be quick releases once I have them done to my satisfaction and Mr. Adams agrees that they’d be good for his imprint.
The Forgotten God and Fear and Loathing in Innsmouth are their titles. I’ve spoken of them before. TFG was planned as a giveaway for the GoFundMe that purchased the batteries for my O2 machine…so I could attend conventions, of which I’ve attended exactly one…for various reasons, mostly related to my eternal poverty. My side-hustles are slowly but surely providing hedges against that, and I’ve quite a few projects nearing the finish line that might bring in a few shekels each.
Things take time. I work on dozens of projects simultaneously. It looks kinda haphazard but I stay prolific that way, and I keep interested. When something starts seeming like work, I move on to the next.
My modular approach helps with this. Most scenes can migrate to a different piece if needed, as they’re parts of the same overall story, with a singularity in the center where the separate narratives all converge. The characters wander from arc to arc, most of them oblivious.
I tend to write well-meaning dumbshits, victims of Dunning-Kruger. What that says about my self-image and view of human nature, I dunno. I also mostly write noir — everybody’s guilty. There are no heroes in my universe. Even the villains have some redeeming qualities or something redeeming in their backstory.
RetroGrade A 