Another Update from the Wasteland

Welcome back to another super-exciting update post. After a series that took a lot of time and energy to put together you might have assumed I would be taking it easy. It isn't entirely wrong. That series of posts did take over two months to cobble together.

Nothing much has changed. I'm still alive.

I'm currently off of social media for the next month and change and focusing on writing and editing stories. One novel is very far down the line and I still want to finish editing another back into shape. I have one more short story to write in order to finally cobble together a short story collection themed around my superhero stories. By the end of April I'm hoping to have a lot of that done and ready for publication later this year. So I need to buckle down and concentrate.

In regards to my other works I can give you a quick sum up.

Gemini Warrior, the first in a series, is complete and at Silver Empire right now. What happens next is up to them. I will update you on when that is out, but as of now I don't know its release date. Nonetheless it is only a matter of time.

I've also gotten some solid ideas for a follow-up (two!) to Grey Cat Blues. I hope to keep them short and punchy like the original, but at the same time I don't know how long it will take me to get to them so I'm not going to go into what they will be about. Nothing is more annoying than teasing a story that takes forever to come out. If you haven't yet read the original book, I highly suggest it! It tells a complete story so you won't be left on any sort of cliffhanger for anything that comes out next. I'm still proud of that one. Those who have read it have left some rave reviews.

I've written a flurry of other short stories that I still have to give the once-over twice to, including one done in the giant robot oeuvre that is much different from modern military fiction or the Gundam mold. Yes, I'm not done with short stories yet. I'm still waiting to hear back on a few other stories I've submitted but have heard nothing back from yet. Again, once I have news I will share it.

This year, as I've mentioned before, is going to be a novel year instead of one focused on short stories. I'm still a little annoyed I didn't get a novel out last year and I want to make up for it this time. Short of real life very probably getting in the way I will have more done.

Outside of that we've just hit season 4 in Cannon Cruisers and I've been getting more and more interested in '80s cinema because of it. Despite the revisionism in what remains of pop culture currently trying to make the decade out to be some new sort of terrible era I'm discovering more and more things storytellers simply aren't allowed to do anymore. Especially when it come to smaller films, the '80s were pretty impressive. For those that want to know we are planning to take the podcast up to season 6 and into the '90s when Cannon closed so we are more than halfway through.

My personal life might be having some changes of its own soon, though to what extent I am still not sure of. That's life. Nonetheless, I will still be writing and posting here regardless. It's what I do.

2018 wasn't the best year, but 2019 is shaping up to be a solid end point for a decade that started off pretty terribly. There's a lot coming down the pipeline that should hopefully make it out in time. I'm going to make sure I get more out there.

And I'm not alone.

I started this blog as an outlet to see if I could understand the growing divide inside and outside the arts and how it got so bad. Turns out there were many factors to that. I think I've gotten past that point, and now I want to focus on bringing it back together again. Throwing out the Fanatics and the True Artists and bringing the creator and customer together for a conversation again is paramount. We're still living in a wasteland separated from the sky, but at least we could try to reach a little higher.

Mainstream culture is still dying, and I don't suspect it will live out the 2020s, but those of us outside of that wheelhouse are still going strong with plenty of energy to spare. The Pulp Revolution is here and it's not going anywhere, folks. We've got the fire.

It is funny that in 2009 I had no hope remaining at all. The ensuing decade of Hollywood's implosion and geek culture becoming a religion also meant that anything was unlikely to change for the better. I wouldn't have considered looking to the past and seeing what we're missing and apply it to what we need today. Collapse was inevitable. Still is. Most of us were just taking what we could get and reluctantly indulging in material that would make us cringe today. The '00s were just a long downhill slide into the mud pit that was the '10s.

Now in 2019 there is no shortage of newpub books, middle market and indie video games, Retrowave music, and a growing number of creators and customers who now know what they are being robbed of coming together to build something far unique. Creators and customers have both had enough. I discovered much new that I didn't expect to. Not to mention the old pulps, games, and movies I missed back in the day help even more. There is a surplus of wondrous escapism and not enough time to go through it all. Who needs what the shambling old relics of corporations are putting out now?

Times really are strange, and they're about to get stranger. Hard to believe where we are now. I can't imagine where we will be in the future. The '10s are just about to end.

Spring's just a little while off, and I can't wait.

Sorry for the shorter post, but there is a lot going on behind the scenes and not just from me. We're going to end this decade off strong, so stick with us.

We're coming for you!