Happy Halloween!

Hello, and welcome to Halloween and the day before the weekend comes! I hope you're all settled in and ready for some fun.

Though I shared it on the Cannon Cruisers blog and Spotify like always, I wanted to make sure everyone caught our extra long special where we talk about the Exorcist films, particularly the second and third entries, and why they might (and might not) be worth seeing. Of course we also touch on the first in context to the others, but it's kind of needed considering the subject. Regardless, it was quite the episode and we go for nearly an hour.

In other news, you might have missed it but Cannon Cruisers also has a Letterboxd page where we input all the movies we covered on the show over the years with our most recent ratings averaged out between the two of us (this is why you see some half stars when we deliberately do not do them on Cannon Cruisers proper) as well as links in the reviews to the episodes themselves! Be sure to check out our page here!

To be honest, I'm surprised Cannon Cruisers has been going on as long as it has. I thought we might have gotten bored and dropped it, but it's still going strong, even after we ran out of proper Cannon episodes. Seven years down is quite the run. Here's to many more!

If you want an update on the writing front, there's not much to add right now. I have some posts on the Patreon I'll get around to posting here eventually, and I've still got the next part of the serialization to edit after I finish writing the pair of short stories I've been tussling with. Aside from that, things have been going the same as usual on the production front.

My next story should also be announced for release very shortly. We're still just waiting on the artist to deliver the final piece. I can't give an estimation, but it should be soon. As always I will update when I can do so.

That's all for today. Have yourself a great Halloween, a fantastic Friday, a fruitful All Saints Day, and I will see you again for our usual weekend posting!

Today is the last day for the Dream Lords Kickstarter! Check it out for three classic books of weird adventure from the 1970s!

Weekend Lounge ~ Missing Hyperborea

Welcome to the weekend!

The weather's getting colder (in some areas), and Halloween is just around the corner, so let's cover something more fun and a bit spooky today. Instead of the usual tales of blood, gore, and chaos, lets us look into one of forgotten pasts and obscure lands. Where is Hyperborea?

A lot has changed attitude-wise since the 20th century ran out, but one of the things that has changed is our consideration for how weird history and the paranormal are actually quite entwined with normality in ways we never really considered. Dry materialism has never been a good enough explanation of the strangeness we see around us, only religion even bothers to point towards it and show that it is far more natural to the state of how things are than we have considered. When you stay in your daily routine or automatic thinking you tend to blind yourself from the possibility of any existence outside your dulled narrow scope. What lies out there? We might never know, but that does mean we shouldn't forgo curiosity.

That in fact has been one of the underlying themes of some of my recent stories like the ones in Cirsova #20 and Sidearm & Sorcery Volume 3. When things finally do go sideways, things you never imagined possible will be revealed as very much possible. And once that happens, the times can never go back to what they once were.

Then we will have to move on from this neutral state of waiting for normality to return or for it to spring out of thin air like magic. In many ways we were living in a dream world before--that is what the 20th century was meant to be, after all. We were to have a new normal, a new base, that would shield us from our natural state and nature. As it has fallen apart, we now know we've been missing too much of us to continue on the way we have. You can't go home again.

But, then, was it ever actually home in the first place? If not, then which is actually the dream world, and which is reality? Or maybe there's more to connect them than we originally thought. Maybe it is more complicated than 20th century materialism thought possible. In fact, that's a big part of the stories in Star Wanderers. Even in a future where we supposedly know more, there will always be much that is still out of our grasp. It's just the nature of things.

 

As the above video from the YouTube channel Midnight Broadcast shows, people have been considering this subject for a long time. It is a good reason why the writers of Weird Tales are still the most influential of the 20th century, even a century removed from the magazine's formation. They were the few still considering these questions while the pocket protector set were attempting to force convert everyone to dated Science that would rule our every waking moment. Of course, I already wrote about them in The Last Fanatics. What we are dealing with now is what they were trying to replace for their own new world order of eggheads.

So as you get closer to Halloween, consider just how much we don't know about what is waiting in the between, and how much we'll never know in this lifetime. Such a thing might seem frightening, but I consider it amazing. It gives off a sense of awe about just how wild all of this really is. We don't know anywhere near as much as we think we do, and that's great.

Have yourself a good weekend and get ready for November!

The cold is almost here.

And don't forget to pick up the recent issue of Cirsova for Halloween! I've get a creepy story inside that will make your skin crawl!

Weekend Lounge ~ Welcome to the Wolf Town

Welcome to the weekend! Hope this season has been going well for you despite the weird weather shifts. I have a few treats for you today! The first is a song. As you can tell, I've been playing around with generators.

The above is a song I generated in the newer Udio song generator I was introduced to by TheQuQu. Yes, it's a skabilly song (Ska + Rockabilly) because it's a sound I like and a sound no band seems to want to play anymore, so I decided to cobble one together. Please enjoy it at your leisure. It was a fun one to put together as an experiment, and it's not like you're going to hear it anywhere else. Perhaps these generators have more purpose than you might think.

Regardless, it exists now!

Do whatever you'd like with the track, too. The whole point was to make a fun song to do fun things with that just doesn't exist anywhere else. Not like you're going to hear a new Skabilly band anytime soon since this sound is abnormally unpopular. I also slapped together two remixes of it on the side, one acoustic and one alternative rock, so give those a shot on the site if you're so inclined. Hey, someone's gotta do something with all these abandoned genres. If this bother you, then knock me down a peg by writing some skabilly and making me happy.

But of course, this is not why I'm writing this post today. There's more to discuss. You probably want to know about writing!

In more pertinent news, the new Cirsova lineup for 2025 was announced! Who is in it, you might be wondering? Well, there is quite a list! 

Let us go through it below:

Spring 2025
Flight From Reckoning (Part 1), by Michael Tierney
The American Dream, by Rodica Bretin
Salt Roses, by Jim Breyfogle
Waegnwyrhta, by William Suboski
The Siege of Verisa, by Richard Rubin
Void Railway, by JD Cowan
The Demacron, by Gary K Shepherd
Machine Dreams for Wired People, by Jaime Faye Torkelson
Cracking the Cyber Ziggurat, by Kevan Larson
In the Last Days, by James Hutchings
Paying the Doctor’s Due, by William Drell

Summer 2025
Flight From Reckoning (Part 2), by Michael Tierney
Tigers Dream in Color, by Rodica Bretin
Black Sand, by Jim Breyfogle
Heart of the Goddess, by Harold R. Thompson
Melkart and the Rich One, by Mark Mellon
‘Twas Bato Did It, by David Skinner
Threnody Bacchant for Ruins Demoniac, by Matthew Pungitore
While the Islands Slept, by J. L. Royce
Double or Nothing, by Michael Ray
True Destiny, by Paul Lucas

Fall 2025
Drown Melancholy, by Stanley Wheeler
Labyrinth, by C. P. Webster
Ghosts in the Green, by Mike Robinson
Rossoya, by Bob Johnston
She Who Was the Sea, by J. Thomas Howard
The Whole Wide World, by Tais Teng
Ghost in the Garden, by Jim Breyfogle
Troll Fen, by Ken Lizzi
What’s He Building In There? by N. R. LaPoint
Satisfaction, by Vincent Valkier
The Merchants of Maaaw, by Mark Pellegrini
Do You Wear a Bulletproof Vest, Lieutenant?, by Rodica Bretin
Flight From Reckoning (Part 3), by Michael Tierney

Winter 2025
Flight From Reckoning (Part 4), by Michael Tierney
A Serial Killer’s Diary, by Rodica Bretin
They Always Come Back, by Frank Sawielijew
Reborn From the Blackened Bayou, by Jacob Calta
Master of the Hounds, by Misha Burnett
The Gallowsport Resurrections, Daniel J. Minucci
Pact of the Ruin Witch, by J. E. Tabor
Dreams of an Eden, by Jed Jalico Del Rosario
The Fang of Yog-Bora, by Blake Carpenter
Cool Beans, by Teel James Glenn
An Elegant Adventure, by Jim Breyfogle

That's quite a lineup, but you might not have noticed one of the stories in the Spring issue is by yours truly. That's right, I made it into Cirsova for the third time!

But what is Void Railway about? You'll just have to wait and see! It won't actually be a very long wait for this one. Suffice to say, those who enjoyed Star Wanderers (please leave a review!) will definitely be excited. It is time once again to see what our old friend Ronan Renfield is up to. I assume more chaos!

Also, in case you missed it, I also have a story in the most recent issue of Cirsova! It is called "Mirage Carousal" and is a story of a man on a motorcycle with an Uzi and a mission to complete. Things get quite hairy and intense in this one. It's also a surprisingly explicit story from me, though you'll see why that is when you read it. The end of the world is a messy place.

And if you want more, the follow-up to "Mirage Carousal" is in Sidearm & Sorcery Volume Three. It's called "What's It Like in There?" and gets even more nuts. It's one of the longest short stories I've ever written. The end of the world goes sideways--or is there more to it than you think? Read on and find out!

At this point, it's safe to assume if you read a story by me, it's going to be crazy. I like to go all out after all. All these stories are also related in ways that are not always obvious on the surface level. Though these two are probably more obvious examples.

I also have another story that is very close to release, but the publisher is waiting on the cover to come in first before the announcement becomes official. When it does, I can go into further detail. Suffice to say, there is more to come from ,e. The year's not quite over just yet!

That's all for this weekend. I hope you're having a good one, and I will see you next time. Have a good spooky season!

Don't forget that you can read the entire Phantom Mission serial as well as podcast episodes and exclusive posts on the Patreon!

Weekend Lounge ~ Someone I Don't Know

Hey all, I've been kind of down in the last few weeks, by both life and health. If you've got some prayers, I could use them. Regardless, there isn't a lot to mention. I'm still working behind the scenes between recovery periods.

So today I wanted to share this video about a strange internet figure who didn't turn out to be some kind of creep. In fact, he only got more eccentric as the years went by.

All this is just to say that things don't always get worse. Sometimes you won't even know how much has changed until you wake up one day and see just how much has changed. You never know just what's going to happen.

Anyway, that's all for now! I hope you're having yourself a good October and I will hopefully see you sooner than later. Have a good weekend!

Don't forget, Cirsova #20 is out today and I've got a story in it! Pick it up for someone season Halloween spooks!