The Big Book Sale Strikes Back!

Find the sale Here!

Welcome back, all! Hope you're doing well.

This week we're going to take a look at the newest big book sale created in time for Based Con! There are a handful of these sales a year, and few that I'm involved in, so I thought I would point them out for those who might not have noticed. There are plenty of works on sale for this week and it is hard to go through and pick some of them out.

But I'm going to try and do just that!

Firstly, My book in the sale this time is Grey Cat Blues, one of my earliest (and in fact my second released), and was the one that fundamentally changed how I saw writing. For those who missed it, I recommend now as the jumping on point.

"Siege on the Shadow Planet!

"Ex-punk Two Tone is left for dead and his friend is taken. His assailants: men of mud from some place darker than Hell!

"The inscrutable Sarpedon has slithered from the depths to rule a planet that has long abandoned hope for a better tomorrow. With no one to stop his spree of violence, it is only a matter of time before Two Tone’s world is overrun.

"Old friends and a mysterious beauty gather by his side, but are they enough? Is it too late for this dying world? If all cats are grey in the dark, will anyone see the panther stalking its prey? Two Tone will find the answers the best way he knows how—through his fists!

"Grey Cat Blues tells the tale of a distant planet at humanity’s end. In this place, a man must choose between love and hate. And where his choice leads him might not be where he expects . . ."

You can find Grey Cat Blues here!

This one is pretty fast and action packed. I'm still amazed at how much I packed into that one. Be sure to give it a go if you haven't, and leave a review! Let others know what you thought of this strange book of mudmen on the rain planet.

But enough about me. Let us now go through the above list and pick out a few titles you might have missed out on. There's just so many to parse through I'm going to pick ones I have not covered in previous sales and in posts like this, so please be sure to keep an eye out if something strikes your fancy.

Also, some of the ones I mentioned in previous sale posts like this are on here once again, so if you missed out on those in other sale periods, I highly recommend picking them up this time. You never know what gem might slip under your radar. There's just so many to go through in the wild world of NewPub!

And we're about to go through some now!

Groom of the Tyrannosaur Queen by Daniel M. Bensen

Find it Here!

First let us start with a new school take on a classic adventure premise that was popularized by the king himself, Edgar Rice Burroughs! You can probably tell from the cover, but this one isn't exactly a typical premise these days. For this book, you have to set your mind to the classics. It's time to go to another world, or in this case, a brand new timeline!

I hope you like time travel, dinosaurs, and stone age madness, because that's exactly what you're getting in this one!

"Former soldier Andrea Herrera isn’t happy with where her life’s taken her. Specifically, Hell Creek, Montana, 65 million years before the present. As far as careers go, making sure the dinosaurs don’t eat her paleontologist clients comes in a pretty dismal second choice to serving her country. But when their time machine malfunctions, Andrea and her team are trapped in a timeline that shouldn’t exist with something a hell of a lot more dangerous than terrible lizards: other humans.

"Kidnapped by the stone-age descendants of a lost time colony, Andrea finds herself stripped of her technological advantages and forced into a war against the implacable armies of the Slaver Empire. Even worse, the Slavers have captured the time machine and the mission's one surviving paleontologist, using his futuristic weapons for their own ends.

"Andrea's only hope lies with the ferociously intelligent and violently insane tribal war-leader, Trals Scarback. Armed with his mystic sword, his trained velociraptor, and his herd of war-triceratops, this former slave has the resources and motivation to take on the empire. But can Andrea persuade him to see her as a partner rather than a tool for his ambitions? Only if she beats the barbarian at his own game and becomes the Tyrannosaur Queen."

You can find Groom of the Tyrannosaur Queen by Daniel M. Bensen here!

Dreams Within Dreams by M. D. Boncher

Find it Here!

As an example of exactly the kind of breath of fresh air that NewPub can give you, I would like to point out this work by author M. D. Boncher, which is hard to describe without just pointing to the official description. Would you consider this typical boxed up siffy as we know it from OldPub? I can't say that you could.

Check it out below:

Enter a world with no stars… no sun… no moon… no Earth. Only “the Dream”…

“An imaginative, action-packed tale that reads like a vision. If you like a bit of cyberthriller in your sci-fi... you’ll enjoy this one.”

- Kerry Nietz. Award winning author of “The Dark Trench Saga” & “Amish Vampires From Outer Space”

Winston Harper is a sky trucker down on his luck. Years of numbing his past trauma has whittled away his reputation. Blacklisted and back to the wall, Winston’s only hope of survival is a no-questions-asked contract offering pay high enough to make him forget his own name. What could possibly go wrong? When the client changes the deal and imperial security crashes the party, he’s on the run caught between the empire and a rebellion. Hauling ten containers of contraband cargo, and guided by a mysterious femme fatale who holds all the cards, death may be the better way out…

Set in a post-apocalyptic future where the lines between technology and biology have become blurred, humanity survives on the remains of the solar system scattered about in a sky of endless twilight, ruled by an alien entity. Follow Winston Harper as he becomes entangled in the struggle against the cosmic empire and potentially, the secrets of humanity's lost past… and perhaps its future?

"Dreams Within Dreams" is the first novel in a rollicking retro-futuristic Sci-Fi serial merging cyberpunk and old school pulp adventure with a touch of neo-noir intrigue. It's "Flash Gordon" meets "Smokey and the Bandit" meets "The Matrix" meets "Talespin".

You can find Dreams Within Dreams by M. D. Boncher here!

Mech Bunny by J. M. Anjewierden

Find it Here!

For those who wonder just how much influence old school anime has had on some NewPub writers, I would point out the premise to Mech Bunny. Not that it is a bad thing, one of the reasons the medium caught on on this side of the world was  how fresh it was compared to the stale atmosphere of OldPub at the time.

All you really have to do is check out the below and you'll understand why this sort of thing resonates with so many.

"Humans won the war against the Blues, thanks in large part to the neural link they stole from the aliens. Few people can use it properly, though, and anyone with the right kind of brain gets conscripted immediately -- even ordinary high school kids.

"All Sophie wanted to do was be a dancer. She definitely hadn't planned on piloting a sixty-foot ANGEL mech with only a cranky rabbit mechanic to talk to, or fighting the genetically engineered foxes and wolves that had turned on the humans once the aliens were gone.

"She’s lost count of the battlefields she’s seen, but this next one is the worst yet. Ordered to defend a crucial forward operating base on a volcanic planet, forces are stretched thin, so she’ll have only infantry and artillery support, no other ANGELs.
One girl, one rabbit, and one giant robot up against creatures designed to be relentless soldiers.

"Creatures who have mechs of their own.

"Great."

You can find Mech Bunny by J. M. Anjewierden here!

Rattan by TJ Marquis

Find it Here!

Formerly a serialization, Rattan gets straight to the point, as all of Marquis' works do. Are you interested in high action in a far off place far from the mundane? Then this is exactly what you've been looking for.

Rattan is certainly no exception!

"Rattan was born to build.

"She’s even bolted together her own custom robot.

"There’s nothing she’d rather spend her days on…

"But she’s happy to to report to academy for her nation’s military draft of all second-born children.

"After all, isn’t a model citizen eager to serve her elites?

"She dives into the harsh tutelage of Master Koscha, willing to give her all to comrades and country.

"But when her best friend is murdered, Rattan is set on a path that she may not return from.

"Rattan is a science fantasy survival story for teens and up, with a melancholy vibe but no shortage of heart.

"Originally published on Kindle Vella."

You can find Rattan by TJ Marquis here!

From Barsoom to Malacandra: Musings on Things Past and Things to Come by John C. Wright

Find it Here!

For a bit of a different selection, let us try some essays. And not just any essays, but those by the unparalleled John C. Wright! If one has spent any time reading his blog over the years then you know you're in for a treat with a work like this.

This book in particular covers wonder stories, so you know it's perfect for NewPub, never mind just this sale.

"Peek into the heart of Science Fiction!

"From John Carter’s Mars to that of C. S. Lewis, Science Fiction astounds us with wonder.

"Science Fiction Grandmaster John C Wright here presents essays on topics both deep and trivial surrounding the strange and wonderful worlds of science fiction and fantasy. Thoughtful, humorous, deep, or absurd, Wright travels the width of the cosmos and plumbs the deeps of eternity through the lens of simple space adventure stories to say what these flights of fancy say about life on earth, and the secrets hidden in the human heart."

You can find From Barsoom to Malacandra by John C. Wright here!

On top of the above, there is a new feature this time--a sidebar! Click on the sidebar and you can scroll through just the titles and click on them to be brought to their summary on the page and check the title out for yourself. It's a handy feature to help parse through the unbelievable selections on offer. Give it a shot and see for yourself! You might be surprised just how many gems there are, especially compared to the shriveling up scene of OldPub.

That's all for this post, otherwise it would go on forever, but I do highly recommend spending a bit of time perusing the sale for yourself. There's so much great work out there by so many talented writers that really do deserve the support. Judge for yourself by looking over the exciting covers and descriptions for yourself.

The sale page is here!

Thank you for reading, and I will see you next time!

In other news, we're reaching the climax of Phantom Mission! An underground city rising up? What madness lies in the depths of Peace Island?! Become a backer and find out today!

Down in Miami II

In the distant future, Earth is trapped in ruin from excessive decadence. The only thing that can break it out is discovering a truth long buried and forgotten. What are the Phantoms, and what do they really want? What is the secret to this state of decay?

Find out today!

What you are looking at is the trailer for my current serialized story, Phantom Mission. The music was composed by one Jacob Calta of 365 Infantry fame, who did a killer job. I wanted to get the vibe of the story off in a small minute and a half preview, and this is what came out. The full version of the track is available to backers on the Patreon, so if you want more you get it here. Trust me, the whole thing is a banger.

We are rounding the bend on the conclusion of the first part of what is looking to be three in the overall serialized Phantom War story. If you want to back to read Phantom Mission, which is the opening act, you can join the Patreon right now and have access not only to that, but also exclusive updates and podcast episodes you can't get anywhere else. While I'll still be posting here, backers will get more on top of what is usually released to the public.

If you want to read this ongoing epic before anyone else (because it will be a long time before I can get it out to the public), then be sure to back the Patreon today! It'll really help me in getting more material out faster for everyone involved.

In other news, as recently revealed to backers, I just passed 30 written short stories. That's a crazy number to reach, and I've still got more on the way.

As for any new news on that front, my story "Mirage Carousal" will be in the next issue of Cirsova coming out in September!

Here is the cover:

Preorder it here!

The description of "Mirage Carousal":

Mirage Carousal
By JD COWAN
When a coven of witches all but ushers in the end of the world, Nick seeks the one dissenter in an illusory wasteland of violence and degeneracy, offering redemption!

If you read my piece in Sidearm & Sorcery Volume 3 then you might recognize the name of the main character here! There is a good reason for that. If you have not read either I would recommend starting with Mirage Carousal first then moving onto What's it Like in There? in S&S3. The reason for that will become clearer once you read them both.

Related to new stories, I've also got a few more completed and submitted to different markets, but have no idea of their current status, so I will keep you posted when I am able to. At the same time, I'm also working my way through other pieces, as well as the sequel to Phantom Mission. There's quite a bit on the way.

And I've got even more on the way.

I guess it was little more than a small update today, but I think it's a solid one worth sharing. The year's not done yet, so keep an eye out! You're bound to see a few more surprises before it's up.

Don't forget Star Wanderers is out! 8 Tales of sorcery, bullets, and fighting back the dark!

Weekend Lounge ~ Angry Gamer Rewind

Welcome to the weekend! Hope it's been a good week for you. I've been tinkering with a lot of stuff behind the scenes for various projects, so there isn't much to report on this week.

In case you missed it, Star Wanderers is out for everyone post-campaign! It's 8 stories of adventures between a galactic cop and a mysterious space knight. For those who read it, yes there will be more. In fact, I have some more in the can (one of which was released in Anvil #2, if you missed it!) and some yet to be announced. Aside from that, I do have other stories I'm working on, including a set I'm trying to get done ASAP for later submission periods. In fact, after this post is done I will most likely get back to them (unless something goes sideways, anyway).

On top of all that, Phantom Mission is still ongoing! We just passed an important reveal regarding the underground city and what the not-do-good doctor's plans might be for the future of this fallen place. Is the world really ending, or is there more to it all than we think? Catch up on this serialization by checking out the Patreon today! For those curious, I've also already finished up the first draft of the follow-up to this story (it's looking like it will all come out to be a total of 3 parts), so if you want to be the first to read it, sign up today!

That aside, for this weekend I wanted to cover a nearly forgotten time in internet history--early YouTube. It might be hard to imagine it now, but the first days of the site contained a very different world than the one we live in now. Said site was also tremendously more functional and less prone to backbiting and sabotage.

But I digress.

Before the western world became a series of shanty towns for subcultures spun out of control into cults and separated from the greater whole, the online world was once a window into what late 20th century life was rapidly turning into. Back then we were still mostly united and had very similar every day to day lives and experiences, and it shows when you watch early YouTube today. It might feel foreign to a kid today, but that's part of the point. That stuff succeeded back then because everyone could relate--not a hyper-specific minority of loud people.

It's hard to imagine now, but one of the earliest successes on the platform back then was the Angry Video Game Nerd (Originally "the Angry Nintendo Nerd") who mastered the early format of YouTube by keeping his videos short, concise, and relatable to the Gen Y teenagers and young adults hooking themselves up to the platform for the first time. He was THE star of early YouTube. His comedy videos focused on what it was like to grow up in the late 80s and early 90s, a world that was very rapidly disappearing, and filtered it through shared experiences in his work. His videos were very popular and more or less defined the early history of the site, even when doing battle with the diabolical copyright strike system of early YouTube who clearly had no idea what they were doing. When people say the early internet was the Wild West, this is the sort of thing they mean. It wasn't always as tightly controlled (though that is rapidly falling away) and formulaic as it is today.

This creator of the AVGN , James Rolfe, would eventually come to define what YouTube would eventually be used for, both good and bad, in the decade that followed. In essence, he was a pioneer of this new landscape and was the first to show others how it could be done.

Naturally, of course, this meant he would have many imitators and followers that would both ape what he did or go in their own direction using his example as a base. The most obvious example is Doug Walker, the Nostalgia Critic, who would instead focus on movies and TV shows from the past and rib them in a way similar to James. 

However, there is a bit of difference to how it began Vs what it turned into. If you paid attention to a lot of early videos back them from either James or Doug, or their imitators, they would frequently discuss what it was like for "us" growing up and how "we" felt at the time these things were made. In a sense, they were speaking to their generation and communicating both tongue in cheek observations and stray thoughts their cohort had growing up at the time. It was never meant to be taken seriously, but to the generation who were ironically raised on their videos, it was deadly serious. They just didn't understand  at the time how it would come to define them.

Before nostalgia became a weapon to either fire up subversives or traditionalists, it was entertainment itself. The above video focuses on just how many people at the time there were on the early days of YouTube trying to connect and express this discovery. At the same time, others were simply trying to get a piece of the pie for themselves. What "pie" that is, however, is not clear, since there was no monetization on early YouTube. There wasn't anything to gain except video views and attention. I personally believe a lot of this early fanfare was just an excitement that you could actually connect with others across the world on your shared interests--something you could not do before YouTube came into existence or the internet became more ubiquitous in everyday life. YouTube, much like the then-burgeoning social media, would change how the internet worked in the years to come. It would do this to the point that the world before it has almost entirely been erased.

I can't say whether that part of it was intentional, but there is a bit of bitterness in these spaces today that wasn't really there at the time. Getting drunk video responses arguing about how the original NES TMNT game was actually flawless from college kids showed just what sort of environment was. When that disappeared, much of the intent was lost. Instead of communication device, it became its own ecosystem.

It's a big goof now for the Millennials raised on the internet to lampoon or goof on the early days of what we have now, but it was taken surprisingly seriously at the time by the Gen Y teens and young adults who were trying to take advantage of this early landscape to communicate with their cohort. And despite how it would later turn out, it wasn't to share their love of the pop cult or let everyone know who world changing or terrible entertainment was--it was a desire to find your fellow wanderers through life and connect with them as the world was so rapidly changing post-9/11. It's hard to describe, or really get across today, but the site was very different before money and worldwide fame became a real factor.

That doesn't mean there weren't still coattail riders, though! Check out the above video and you'll see what I mean. Amidst the genuine angry reviewer wave of people like Armake21 (RIP) there were just as many who simply wanted to be James Rolfe with no idea of what made his material work. There is a reason few of them lasted beyond the early days of YouTube, though the fate of some is surely an interesting story in itself.

What is funny is that you can track the change and how fast it morphed by the time of the Blip.TV days with sites like That Guy With The Glasses to being an attempt at an industry that  thrives off not only milking nostalgia, but tearing down the past. By the time the 2010s hit, that early vibe and optimism was lost to the growing cynicism and greed that would come to define many of the "Content Creators" to come. Different world, different priorities.

Related to that, the same user as the above video also made one that features an in depth look at how the Nostalgia Critic came to be, showing the change from the mood of early YouTube into what it would become in the process. He also gives some perspective as a younger viewer at the time and how he processed a lot of this Gen Y attitude that comes across as strange to many young people today who take it for granted.

I recommend this one as well, though it is much longer:

You can see a lot of DNA here in what would soon become the madness of 2010s YouTube from political wankery to the ever-prevalent "Us Vs Them" narratives that more or less run the site now. Do whatever you can for those extra dollars, just like what wiped out journalists in the mainstream media. Eventually even the "Content Creators" will suffer the same fate. It didn't start that way, though, and it's fairly obvious when watching early footage from when it began that it was never meant to be anything other than a lark.

And yet, here we are today.

Regardless, that old world is gone now. Though James and Doug still exist and are still successful on the platform, as we barrel towards their 20th anniversary as video creators (yes, we're that close), it seems clear that where we are now is not where we imagined we'd be back then. What exactly we imagined is still anyone's guess, but with how unstable formerly stable things have gotten, how the internet went from being a sure thing to being ready to fall apart at a moment's notice practically over night, it's strange watching a lot of this early material and remembering just how different it was back then--especially when you consider what happened to a lot of these people over the years and where we ourselves have gone.

When was the last time we could use the term "we" and feel like it could actually apply to a cohort? It feels like it's been ages.

Of course, none of that is ever coming back, but this current present also isn't forever either. No one really knows what's coming next, though I don't think we've ever been quite so uncertain about it before. This makes looking at a lot of this past work so fascinating from the perspective of the unstable '20s. We never saw any of this coming. Would things have changed if we had? Maybe. There is no way to ever know.

We were born before the internet was even a factor in anything. What will it be like when we return to that state? What will we have have learned and applied from this experiment that just didn't work out? I don't rightly know, but it is interesting to think about. Today isn't eternity.

That's all for this week. I hope you're keeping cool as we head into the final stretch of August. Summer is almost done, but we're not. There's still plenty to look forward to.

That is one thing that will never change.

8 Stories of swords, sorcery, guns, criminals, danger, and crime! It's Star Wanderers!

Weekend Lounge ~ Ninja Insanity

Welcome back! I hope you've had a great week.

As you might have been able to see by last week's post, Star Wanderers is out mass market and available for all! At the same time as that, if you missed out on the soundtrack by the very talented Jacob Calta (who currently has a crowdfund of his own going on!) then you can find that right here. Personally, I think he did a fantastic job nailing the strange feel of the stories and making tunes that will stick in your head long after they've ended.

One last thing, I put out a new podcast episode, but this one is available for free. The reason for it is that the subject is very general to the point I think it would benefit anyone. The subject is about becoming a writer and just getting started. The idea was to create a free alternative to the plentiful How-to book industry that tends to throw out confusing and contradictory advice which waylays a lot of aspiring and beginning writers from starting proper. Be sure to give that a listen here. Again, this one is free, even though it's on the Patreon.

We also just past Chapter 10 in Phantom Mission and have passed the two third mark. It's just only starting to get wild, though, so be sure to join the Patreon and catch up! This is one the oddest stories I've ever written.

On topic, today's subject is a fun one. This is a video detailing the rise of the ninja archetype in film, starting from its beginnings in early Japanese cinema to its utter explosion and dominance of action films in the 1980s. It's a long video that goes over 150+(!) movies, so get your notepad handy. You're going to want to jot some of this down.

I can't really say what is it specifically about the ninja that attracts so much attention. Is it their mysterious nature? Is it how invincible they seem? Is it how they can be anywhere and seemingly do anything? Who knows. But they did make smorgasbord of movies about them over the decades and it doesn't seem like they're ready to stop anytime soon. Even the fall of action movies hasn't stop ninja flicks from coming out. They are truly immortal.

Anyway, it's a long video, so I recommend grabbing a snack, sitting back and lounging, and putting aside some spare time. You might be blown away by what you see.

August is only halfway over, and there's still a month of summer yet to go, but we've got some fun surprises coming up even still. I know I've got more than a few irons still in the fire (and yet others I need to get to after this post is out) so I will leave you here for today. As always, thanks for coming by! I really do appreciate it.

Have yourself a good week and I will see you next time!

Check out the 365 Infantry crowdfund for ongoing stories of action, adventure, and motorcycling wolves! It doesn't get more wild than that!

Star Wanderers is Out!

Out on Amazon Here!

In case you missed the Kickstarter campaign, Star Wanderers is now available wide! You can find it on Amazon right now. You can find it here!

This is a collection of eight stories featuring two protagonists wandering the far future where the cracks in reality are far more pronounced. What actually lies out there in the dark? Find out in Star Wanderers today!

The description:

Detective Ronan Renfield is a Galactic Enforcer sworn to protect the innocent and bring evil-doers to justice to maintain order throughout the stars.

The Agent is a nameless knight errant tasked with hunting the most brazenly wicked and blasphemous who threaten order and nature across the cosmos.

Alone, they face strange and diabolical horrors on backwater worlds and the corrupt and dangerous criminals who threaten civilization.

Together, they are the Star Wanderers!

This collection features eight thrilling tales of raygun adventure, swashbuckling sword fights, and cyberpunk mystery, including four never-before published adventures!

You can find Star Wanderers here!

The Star Wanderers soundtrack by Jacob Calta is also available if you missed it! Find that here! Check it out. He did a fantastic job.

In other writing news, I've already writing some new Ronan Renfield stories since Star Wanderers was published, so you can expect a sequel in the future. I've also got a few others in the can which officially means I've passed 30 total short stories completed. I know, I'm a bit stunned myself.

In regards to the next book, Phantom Mission is currently serializing on the Patreon and we're about 2/3 of the way there. Join and get yourself first in line to read new chapters! Chapter 10 released yesterday and the next one will be out next week.

As an aside, I've also recorded a new podcast episode, and this one will also be for free members as well. It's a good chance to see if the podcast is for you, because we talk about subjects like this quite often.

Anyway, that's a short update on what's been going on. 

In related news, Cirsova, who helped put out Star Wanderers is in the final stretch of their Wild Stars Kickstarter to both put out the next installment in the series as well as help fund for next year's stories. So jump in on that if you have yet to. There's not really much time left and they're about $300 away from the last stretch goal. You can find that here!

That's all for today! I'll see you this weekend for the usual. Until then, thank you for all your support and have a good rest of your week!

Join the Patreon to get access to exclusive stories and podcasts as well as future content! We'd be glad to have you!

Weekend Lounge ~ X Generation

Wow, that's a throwback in many ways

Welcome to the weekend!

It's been quite a week. Here's hoping the weather stabilizes soon because it's been pretty rough in my neck of the woods. I hope it's been better where you are. If only I could pick one temperature and weather pattern and be able to keep it for a week straight that would be great. It's been a real pain to adjust to.

Before we start, I wanted to remind readers that both the next chapter of Phantom Mission is up for patrons and the next podcast episode is also out. Phantom Mission is on Chapter 9 and we're heading towards the climax at breakneck speed. In the podcast episode I talk about The Pulp Mindset for over an hour. It's close to the fourth anniversary of the book (Wow, it's already been that long) so I wanted to go into it a bit. You can find it all at the Patreon here.

For those who are curious about the podcast specifically, there will be another free episode of it in the near future to give you a better idea of what it's about for those who are still debating on joining. Regardless, if you enjoy talking and hearing about the world of art and entertainment it's a fun project to engage in.

That's all for that. Now, let us get into today's topic!

Part 1

We talk a lot about the art and entertainment of the late 80s and early 90s as sort of a transformative period, an era of uncertainty but hopefulness and experimentation before it melted into generic muck by the time the latter decade ended. For those of us who were born before the end, we experienced firsthand as we were growing this period that was almost instantly erased and paved over once the new millennium hit. However, it only stands to reason that as Gen Y, the last group that connected to that era, got older, we would also begin to forget as we aged ourselves.

And that's why blogs like this exist. We need to keep context, we need to remember what it was like, and we need to not be steamrolled by those who wish to throw out all that came before for the next trend. The only way to make good new art is to build on those who came before, and we can't do that if no one properly remembers what actually did come before.

So let us go all the way back to a period simultaneously the most cherished and most hated, the 1980s, as we begin this story. It's about that maverick generation, the one that faded away from the mainstream without a peep as the 2000s came along. Perhaps you remember them; perhaps you are one of them yourself. Today's subject is the lost Gen X.

You probably generally know who they are, but what you might not know, or remember, is their true legacy as artists. That image has been almost lost to time. Much of that disappearance has been a victim of intentional revisionism and self-mythicization from the cohort, but there is more to it all than you might expect.

The truth is that as Gen X kids were coming of age in the 1980s they were entering the art world and putting their stamp on it. They were going to outdo their Baby Boomer parents and take on the world, leaving their mark on it as they did so. However, that aforementioned stamp is not quite what the mainstream narrative sells it as these days. It wouldn't be as profitable to be honest about what Gen X was or what happened to them.

The video series we are discussing covers today's topic in its own story. The series is called "Gen X Hate Revisited" by a YouTube channel called Cartoon Aesthetics. This series is a three part exploration of that transitional time where Gen X kids, the last fully analog generation, came of age, put their stamp on the world of art, and then slowly faded away into the crowd almost overnight. Specifically, this series covers one artist as he rose to fame with his own creation during this very period and shows just how it all sort of fell away as time passed and the market shifted. In fact, his story contains the perfect encapsulation of that generation's story.

As someone born and labeled as a member of Gen Y (someone who falls in the crack between the fully analog Gen X and the fully digital Millennials), and was the first cohort who grew up on this of sort of material back in the day before witnessing it fading as the 1990s wore on to be replaced by bland corpo slop, I've always been fascinated with what exactly that group of young adults were trying to do. It wasn't as if you could ask them--Gen X were mysterious and cool, and prone to be embellish or talk around their own motives. If anything they truly are the unreliable narrator generation. Though unlike the Boomers, it's definitely a voluntary attitude they grew up with and put out of their own accord. They were the older brother generation.

Gen X weren't their parents, but, despite what the memes might say, they didn't full reject them, either. They weren't staunch traditionalists, but they also did not hate the idea of new approaches to old mediums. What they were doing back in the day had a lot of nuance that has been lost over time. What has been traditionally labeled as "cynical" in regards to this generation of so-called "slackers" might not have been anything like that at all.

At least, it didn't start there.

In the first part of this series linked above you can see the shift in comics, music, and, eventually, animation, as a younger generation filled with vigor and spirit to travel new trails took charge of industries that weren't yet subverted and locked up by washed up cliques. Truly, if you engage in Gen X art up until the early '90s you notice a distinct identity, an originality, that sticks out and puts its own unique stamp on the art world.

Then the growing swamp of pop culture noticed their existence.

The video series does a very good job tracing the changes of that transitional period as well as the attitudes of a lot of the people around at the time before self-awareness and ego took the wheel and sent everything down a path that would culminate in the dead-end known as Cultural Ground Zero. Of course, the series being discussed doesn't go into that mess, it's out of the scope of the subject, but it is fascinating to see some of the mentalities that would eventually lead their industries into the ditch before the 21st century hit.

A comic that perfectly encapsulate the uncertain Gen X era in question is the comic called Hate starring underground favorite character Buddy Bradley. This is a series about the young Gen-Xer in question as he moves away from home to Seattle in the early 1990s in the same period it all exploded to mass appeal. You might imagine how that goes. Though the writer was part of the cohort known as "Gen Jones" (a label rarely used today), it made his observations come from a slightly different perspective than you might think as he wrote his younger character living through the time period they all were living through at the time. It's a time capsule of an era few seem to discuss much anymore. Though perhaps there is a reason for that.

The second part of the series covers Hate itself more in-depth here:

Part 2

I recommend watching the videos for yourself, as it is a great look at a time period long gone and currently being sold as something it's not in order to both sell to Zoomers who have no context for it or for crusty Gen-Xers (and Ys) who have bought into the revisionism so they can consume more product and feel more important doing so.

The truth is actually not in the plentiful "Gen X is tough and younger generations are all weak" memes floating around like old Boomer jokes on Facebook, but in how they dealt with how rapidly the world was both changing through technology and, even though no one really noticed at the time, how it was breaking down socially. Things were "weird" and insane because the old ways were being forgotten and tradition and ambition was starting to fall through the cracks. It turns out it wasn't really a new era being born, but the beginning of the end of the old one. This is partially why it's been a subject of scorn and deliberate burial over the years since the '90s ended.

This is the trickiest part a lot of formerly Authentic (capital "A" like they would have wanted) Gen X era artists have when creating art today. They built themselves back in the day on Authenticity as the highest good and key to being Real, but so many have since bought their own hype and locked themselves into preset personality patterns that they forgot who they once were, where they started from, or why they did any of this in the first place, all to keep up with the Joneses of modern trends and attitudes. Their distinct identity is long gone and lost with the passage of time. I could name countless examples but I'm sure you can think of them yourself. There is no shortage of Gen X artists that have lost their edge for Safetyism and modern mainstream acceptability.

What the "Gen X Hate Revisited" video series does is present a good case with Peter Bagge's Hate just what that Authenticity would grow to be without the influence by artificial pop culture hype and untethered to nostalgic expectations of those who want this cohort to be a certain way in Current Year. Bagge remained authentic to his original vision and, as a result, managed to create a piece that works both well as both a time capsule and a series removed from it to stand on its own feet. You get to see that generation in a way you never really get to anymore and he does it by never forgetting where he came from in the first place.

This is mostly because, for all intents and purposes, as I hinted at before, that Gen X cohort doesn't actually exist anymore. Those people are all gone, the party's over, everyone got in line and marched in file out of town, into corpo world as the 1990s drew to a close. They deliberately made themselves irrelevant the very moment they could, almost like a final jest on their old image. Where they went, nobody knows, but the people left who still use that label are hardly who they used to be, and what they tend to be is unrecognizable to what the cohort once was.

So much Gen X art as a whole has simply vanished over the years and has since been absorbed into the safe muck of the ever-creaking corporate mainstream (See: Tim Burton. There, I gave an example) that it's hard to wonder if that Authenticity ever really existed in the first place or maybe it just needed a few bucks to be guided in the Right Direction. The question still remains: where did everyone go since the millennium pulled them all into a vortex of bland? Whatever happened to that distinctive identity? What did it become? Where are they now, and where are they going?

You might get some examples in the third part meant to wrap the Gen X Hate Revisited series up. You can watch it below:

Part 3

I'm not going to comment on the third part and will instead recommend watching it for yourself and coming to your own conclusions. There is little point making judgement on a generation that is still around and still young enough to really do anything or go anywhere. The point is more to see where they are now and where they might go while they still have the chance to do it. Baby Boomers might be locked in to their current path due to their age and inability to change. For Gen X, however, the road is still very much open.

I will say one thing before we wrap it up here, and that it is strange that the Authenticity displayed here, one that was so common with Gen X back at their peak, today feels even more like a relic of a generation that once refused to stay dead. They definitely aren't dead, but sometimes it feels like they were always meant to be, and clinging to the mainstream was the one way to avoid that fate. Does that make sense? I'm rambling at this point, just trying to figure it out. Regardless, they aren't dead, and they aren't done yet. No one really is. There's always a chance to change.

I don't want any of this to sound like I'm throwing stones here. Gen Y has done just about everything I talked about. Our "authenticity" was "objectivity" and leading the charge for materialism acceptance through long-dead trash like New Atheism. In pursuit of relevance and acceptable corporate trends to base our identities around we allowed ourselves to turn to bland inoffensive goo--our legacy is melting down in the 2000s to allow the current state of product worship to be the baseline in appreciating art and entertainment. We basically helped create the current monster of corpo slop worship. Anything negative I can say about Gen X can be applied just as harshly to me and mine. We have not been the preservationists we once saw ourselves as.

The generation that were the excited younger brothers of Gen X back in the '90s turned into wannabe Millennials, hipsters, and consoomers, over the last quarter century, clinging to dead childhood brands that are the last thing around to remember our existence from when we mattered. And all we want is to be left alone to die in the corner with as much cheap plastic crap as we can. What a glorious legacy that will be!

If anything, my generation is worse at all this. Gen X might have faded away, but we threw ourselves off the train before we even got to the stop we were being dropped off at. They still have much to offer, even today, that we could have passed on ourselves if we weren't too busy hoarding corporate products and useless baubles instead.

All that aside, it was an interesting look into generational trends of modernity. Nothing has really changed, it's just gone faster and faster beyond the speed of stability since the back half of the 20th century. Sooner or later (certainly sooner) the wheels will come off and the whole thing is going to derail and fly off a cliff. It's not sustainable, and everyone knows it.

Generations of people can't live separated from each other only to be disposed of when the next trend in line comes around to be cashed in on, rinse and repeat. There is more to us than what we can offer for some corporate monolith that doesn't care either way what happens to us. Whatever the future holds, it won't be in that. It can't be--the 20th century is over and that train is long out of steam. It won't always be this way, whether we want it to be or not.

But that doesn't mean there isn't plenty to learn from the past to help us carry forth to tomorrow. Even if the world ends, we can't stop. Art doesn't stop. We don't, either. We have to keep the torch alive and burning and continue passing it on. That is every generation's duty to the next. It will never change, no matter how different we see ourselves as.

Perhaps that's the question to ask in all of this. Can we keep that torch alive and burning, or are we destined to finally be the ones to fumble it into the ground and leave the future generations in the dark? Is there still time to adjust and recalibrate our aim?

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Be sure to check out Rawle Nyanzi's Venus Spectacular crowdfund! How does one fight a war without an army?

Weekend Lounge ~ Signal Boost Slate!

Welcome to the weekend, let's get into some new books!

It's been a bit since I did one of these, but since we're neck deep in summer and a wave of crushing heat, now is the time to highlight some upcoming greatness you might not be aware of. We've got a bit of a list going for you all today, so check it out.

I'm just going to jump straight into them to give you a great list of upcoming adventure you might have missed out on!

Without further ado, here we go:

Silence and Starsong Volume 2

First up is the campaign ending in less than a week for Silence & Starsong Volume 2! For those unaware, this is a magazine of stories that aims towards the more Christian tradition of J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis of adventure tales with a bit of meaning packed in. I have read a bit of their work and it is definitely worth checking out.

They currently have three issues out you can check on Amazon to see if it's your thing, but they are also taking orders for issue four on their campaign page so you could check them out that way. Regardless, there are plenty of options to peruse their output.

Here is the campaign description:

"Remember a time when heroes were good and villains were evil, when characters wrestled with God and found meaning? Remember when a story had a good ending? It’s time to write and read those stories again. Now in the tradition of the great authors comes an anthology honoring the past and seeking the future. Silence and Starsong is proud to announce Volume 2 Issue 1 of our groundbreaking anthology.

"For today’s and future generations of adventurers, explorers, and pioneers, Silence and Starsong promises unique stories that meld the strength of faith with uncompromising imagination, spinning tales of meaning and excitement by the pens of some of the finest in fantasy, horror, action/adventure, science fiction and more."

You can find Silence & Starsong campaign here! Remember, it ends in a few days!

Lost Kingdom: A Fantasy Novel Set In Space!

Comic maverick Nick Gibson is the owner of Phoenix Press, but now he is moving into traditional style prose books. With this campaign he is hoping for editing and physical production to get his brand new book up and running. This is Lost Kingdom! But what is said book about?

According to the campaign it is a mashup of space adventure and distant mythic storytelling. The sort of thing that could not be published in OldPub today. But, as always, if you want the full picture you'll have to see the campaign page yourself!

The description:

Imagine a man who has forsaken all he once stood for.

Imagine a boy that is the literal hope for the Sol System.

These are the stakes as the former Captain General of The Kings Guard, Justen Lamont, is forced to come face to face with the thing he dreads most: his past.

But for the young boy, all of these are meaningless. It's only the present that matters, and right now, the present isn't looking too hot.

Set in our solar system far into the future. This is a story of Kings.

Of Honor and Regret

Of Love and Betrayal

And most importantly

Of being the person you wish to be.

Designed to be a mixture of Sci-Fi and Fantasy. You can expect to see medieval villages in a far-flung, drifter colony

A palace atop the lush green of Mars

Battles with giant Kappa atop a hill on Venus. The acid rain bearing down

Journeys through the wasteland that is Old Earth. Its surface long since abandoned.

But like all good tales, this is the story of people and the choices they make.

You can find Lost Kingdom here!

The Gold Exigency: Wild Stars VII

Cirsova's Wild Stars campaigns continue for Michael Tierney's 40 year old epic space opera series! We pass the halfway point here with Book VII, already funded, but still hoping to grab a little more both for the creators involved as well as for funding next year's Cirsova lineup! If you any of the above, this is the title for you!

I'm not sure how much I can really go into this beyond that this is the sort of thing mainstream publishing fumbled the ball with since it began, and it took until Cirsova coming around to finally give it the focus and attention it needed. This is the sort of thing NewPub exists for!

The description:

Welcome to the 40th Anniversary of the world of Wild Stars!

Thousands of years ago, Mankind was led on an exodus to the stars by an immortal warlord from beyond our galaxy to save them from an alien-caused cataclysm. Those who remained and survived the attack became the ancestors of modern humans; those who went into space became the Wild Stars.

Following their return to our galaxy, Earth's Wild Stars cousins observed and assisted in myriad crises, though largely from the shadows. As humanity took to the stars again on their own, it became time for mankind--the people of Earth, the space trekking terraformers, and the Wild Stars--to reunite as one race.

The peace talks, however, were the target of a terrorist attack that led to the death of Erlik, one of the foremost princes of the Wild Stars!

You can find Wild Stars VII here!

Ayla Rin (Novel & Comic!)

Author Jon Del Arroz is a controversial figure in the NewPub world, but that does not mean his work should be avoided. This campaign is for his Ayla Rin space opera series, which is simultaneously a comic book and a novel, though they are each original stories.

That's right, his campaign seeks to fund the production of a sequel to both his first Ayla Rin comic and novel, continuing both strands at once. It's an ambitious project and one that has gathered a lot of support for good reason. If you miss excitement of space adventure and traveling the unknown, you should be sure to check this campaign out! You can even catch up with what you missed if you're coming in late.

The description:

The Terran Imperium Chronicles is the universe in which Ayla Rin operates. She has adventures in both comic and prose novel form which makes this a unique multimedia experience in science fiction. The current reading order is: 

• OVERMIND (comic)
• The Immortal Edge (novel)
• The Hidden Emperor (comic)
• Into The Black (novel)

While each book is completely standalone and has its own full beginning, middle, and end, the series paints a broader picture of what's going on in the galaxy. Read the complete series to get an incredible experience!

You can find the Ayla Run campaign here!

365 Infantry: The Ride for 2025

I would also be remiss to mention a campaign that has not started yet but is scheduled for next week. This is 365 Infantry: The Ride for 2025 by NewPub journeyman Jacob Calta. It's bound to be a wild ride, indeed.

For those unaware, for a couple of years now, Calta has been putting out constant stories in his 365 Infantry series on Substack and even releasing them in bound paperback editions. It is a tale of anthropomorphic wolves in the distant future where a mad AI has taken over and our heroes and rogues must work together to beat it--though that's only part of the story. There is much more to it, as it's an entire world.

There's no official description yet since the page isn't yet live, but it is meant to describe the more detailed plan in funding this ambitious project for 2025. You can save the project for now and get in on the ground floor when it launches in a mere few days!

You can find 365 Infantry: The Ride for 2025 here!

And that's all for now. I'm sure there are more campaigns coming up or out that I've missed--there are just so many of them these days, and they're all funding in record time. The NewPub space really is on fire these days.

That said, be sure to check the above projects out when you have the spare moment. Helping creators with their art is the first step to ensure they can make more and help overhaul the current scene that exists in its dilapidated state today.

That's all for this week, have yourself a wonderful start of August, and remember to stay cool! The heat isn't over just yet!

The Phantom Mission serial enters August with 8 chapters down! Join the Patreon for more goodness, including the upcoming podcast episode!

Weekend Lounge ~ Endless Franchise

Welcome to the weekend! We're back again, as always. Before we start, in case you missed it, the Patreon has both two new chapters of my newest book as well as a brand new podcast episode on genrefication! You can sign up to delve into it right here!

Following on from last week's subject, we take a look at what happened to the idea of the standalone story. In the '20s, unless you're doing endless sequels and franchises, no one wants to hear about it. It's either endless product, or nothing. This doesn't apply to even one industry, either. All anyone seems to want to produce or consume is endless amounts of bland products or content (neither of which is a very good name to describe anything of value, by the way).

It goes without saying that no only is this not sustainable, it's not even actually wanted. Talk to someone long enough and they will tell you that they prefer stories that end.

So instead, let's focus on one medium for today. Like last week, we'll stick with modern film, one of the biggest laughingstocks going.

When was the last time a movie was made without the idea of turning it into a forever series to be milked endlessly until the cow is dry? When was the last time someone just had a story to tell, told it, then moved on to a new story? Why does everything need to be part of the same tired formula as everything else with the same beats, the same crusty 20th century themes, or the same climax? Whatever happened to variety? Whatever happened to ambition?

Well, the machine itself is part of the problem. The rusting Hollywood mechanism has become too bloated, too fixed in one direction, unable to be flexible enough to adapt to the demands of a wider and less cohesive modern audience--the one they helped create in the first place. Therefore they will only continue to spread themselves too thin until all that remains are the diehards of the diehards who will never be pleased with anything less than perfection in their desired formulas. There is only one ending to this story and it's an ending we've seen before.

In other words, the industry itself both chose and created this very dead-end they are currently barreling towards. They have dug their own grave and are desperately avoiding the plot sitting underneath their lowering casket.

Of course this is just one of many problems they are currently suffering from, but its an attack on multiple fronts, all by problems they caused themselves years ago coming home to roost. It is why it is imperative that it be constantly reminded to audiences of how dead an industry it really is. It is important to remind the audience that no recovery is coming and the ship will not be righted. It would be in everyone's best interest to go elsewhere and let the ship crash into the very rocks it has always wanted to steer towards. We can find better ways.

You can do nothing but move on and let them to what the self-destruction they desire. This is the end they were always desperate to arrive at, and we should let them have at it.

A related problem to this is that of the remake--an attempt to cash-in on an old idea that once made them money when they weren't so desperate for more.

What many don't seem to get is that the remake is an excuse to make a new franchise out of something that has no room for a sequel. It's the real reason a failed product like Ghostbusters 2016 was made in the first place, especially given it was put directly into production to cash in seconds after the original creator died (after also blocking him from making a sequel to his own franchise for decades, by the way). Unfortunately, the executives eventually got their endless franchise by cloaking it in the ever-popular modern drug called nostalgia, despite the fact that with the creator is dead, this is all nothing but fan fiction. People are only watching it because of memories of the product, not because of story or the man who was the driving force in making it in the first place.

This is the true reason why remakes are so prevalent. The "late sequel" was once such a trend, but it was reserved for when there was still something left to milk. We are now too far along for this to be a relevant trend for modern audiences.

For those curious, the below video describes the process of the "late sequel" that is no longer much of a trend, for various reasons.

If you've been alive for long enough, you were probably around for Hollywood's Silver Age of success (the late '70s through late '90s) in time to see the fumes run out through the '00s and hit a wall in the 2010s. The fact of the matter is that it had its Golden Age before anyone alive today was born, and its second wind is now looking just as ancient as most of the properties the studios are still trying to suckle off of. Every human institution eventually dies, and those of us alive today are seeing just that. Putting your memories and nostalgia aside, you can tell what is happening.

We are witnessing a slow death that has been a long time coming.

Of course, modern Hollywood isn't the only source of moviemaking and never has been. It's also not the only place that has had its own rise and fall. When it comes to film there are always the classics, foreign movies, and the independents--though the creaky studio system is quickly crumbling as we speak. Despite the fact that the highwater days of the medium are over, it doesn't mean it's dead nor does it mean film can't still be successful or relevant. It only means the iron fist grip of out of touch executives from a polluted land of vice and debauchery has been lost--and no one should lament that long overdue shift.

We've got much change to look forward to in the years and decades ahead, especially as collapsing and unraveling old systems lash out on their way to the grave they were destined for, and while there will be some nostalgia popping up among our number as they finally go, in the end everyone is going to realize exactly why this all had to happen this way. It was always inevitable, even if we wanted to pretend it wasn't.

Until then, enjoy a classic, find an indie doing something interesting, or look to distant lands, and support accordingly. You won't find anything remaining in the modern zeitgeist (if such a thing exists) except a zombie system that refuses to be laid to rest in the grave it is already being lowered into as we speak.

Art never dies, but human institutions always eventually do. All we can do is prepare for what is coming next.

And something is always coming next.

That's all for this week, and I'll see you next time as we head into August! The heat isn't letting up, and we won't be, either!

Check out the Wild Stars campaign! The space opera adventure series has reached the 40th anniversary and Cirsova is putting out the seventh book! It's already two thirds of the way there. Jump in today and help put it over the top!