Lets Go for a Ride!

Find the project here!

Welcome back, everyone! Have I got a special post for you today.

We've been talking a lot about fresh ideas and new blood in the entertainment space. It's easy to point out defects and flaws with the way things are now, but few ever try to point out solutions to move forward. This is mostly because there isn't a one-size-fits-all answer. The fact of the matter is that we are more divided than ever, and creating art and entertainment that can link us together is a much more difficult feat than ever.

The only thing to do is to work for it. It's just a natural consequence of the state of the modern world. Without shared culture, it's more or less a free for all.

But one thing the state of things allow for is new ideas and new approaches to art in a way we never considered before. See today's example, one I wanted to highlight for myself, that being Jacob Calta's 365 Infantry project. It's quite ambitious, so I'd like to talk about it today, because I don't think anyone is really giving it the views it deserves.

I first caught attention of creator Jacob Calta floating around PulpRev and Iron Age spaces, a creative guy with a lot of love for art and entertainment and a million different ideas rolling around in his head. Not only does he also compose music (I hired him to not only create the Star Wanderers' themes, but also for the ongoing Phantom War serial on the Patreon, for a very good reason), but he is also a writer of action, adventure, the weird, and everything in between. so when I discovered his project, 365 Infantry, I was surprised with its scope and ambition.

The best place to learn about it would be on the official site here, so I will also include some choice quotes as well as the above primer video for newcomers. There is much to discuss.

"365 Infantry is multi-narrative digital magazine like no other. It concerns the many friends, foes, and dangers of the 365th Infantry, a fighting force for freedom waging war on A.C.E.S., a computer network gone mad with power in the last city on Earth. The series stars a cast of hellraising wolves and their magnificent machines as they take on all manner of dastardly villains and bizarre creations in a future of post-atomic anarchy and technological tyranny.

"Born from classic sci-fi, film noir, westerns, and more, 365 Infantry tells of paradises lost, psychological torture schemes, gruesome frontier justice, and at the heart of it all, a war with a computerized goddess, all realized through vivid prose and striking illustrations.

"The series is broken up into five “branches,” covering two serials, two episodic stories, and one anthology, with a wide cast of fun and unique characters exploring this strange anthro future through pulp thrills and thought-provoking concepts and storylines."

Welcome to 365 Infantry!

At the heart of the project is a world where the machines have won, chaos reigns, and all that remains to fight it are anthropomorphic wolves who love of guns, bikes, and being cool. there are different main strands of stories for the project, but they can be overwhelming if you are new to it all. I knew I was a bit flummoxed where to start with it.

However, there is a simple answer. You can either read the serials on the site, or you can do what I did and buy the yearly anthologies which include all the stories released that year in order and you can read it for yourself without getting lost in the weeds. The very first collection is not only available for purchase on amazon, but it's also available as an add-on for the Kickstarter.

Yes, that is the highlight of today's post. Mr. Calta is looking to grow his project and keep it going, and the easiest way to do that is to introduce new readers. Jump right in and enjoy them all, or pick the style that most suits you. Whether it be the war against the machines, urban chaos and violence, or high speed action, each strand has its own character. However, the main character is the setting and figuring out just how all of this fits together.

If you are interested in dipping your toes in for a quick read, I might recommend the one that first caught my attention called Acc Cult. It gives a good framing of the world, the threats, and the sort of thing one has to watch out for in this wild world. It's also a very quick read.

And then after that, you can check out the Kickstarter here!

It's an entire world of action and adventure to explore (there's even an audiobook radio show!) which has no shortage of stories to dig into and explore. As someone who has been following Mr. Calta's progress for a long time, I asked if I could write a post to highlight his project, and I hope I am doing it justice with everything I've showed you so far.

Truth is that the world is an exciting place with much wonder to discover, and it feels like our art used to reflect that more than it does now. With the limiting shackles of outdated genre expectations holding us down we are free to do anything, and yet we choose nothing most of the time. I for one would like to highlight a project that instead does everything.

And you do have everything. There are many different tiers available in the project's Kickstarter, all of which offer many stories for you to enjoy. Explore for yourself to choose what looks most interesting, though I personally recommend the yearly collections as the best place to begin. you will also see Mr. Calta grow as a writer along this journey with us.

Whether you prefer physical, digital, or subscription, you have your pick of format. As said, there is much to choose from!

There is something for everyone.

That's all for today! Thank you for letting me share this project with you and I hope I successfully showed a side of the NewPub sphere you might not have considered before. There is a lot out there, much to sift through, but much more than we could have imagined even a decade ago. 365 Infantry is a result of this new space.

With over three years of stories currently out and about there is no shortage of 365 stories, so take a look and see what satiates your curiosity. There's simply too much to go over, even in a post like this. All I can say is to just dive right in!

Back the 365 Infantry Kickstarter here, and have a blast. It's a good time. That's all I've got today so I'll see you on the next post!

There's a lot of cool stuff on the way! I can't wait to show you when it's time.

Check out the Psycho Mission serial on the Patreon! We've just reached Chapter 7. Join and get the first book as well as a slew of podcast episodes and extra posts!

Psycho Mission is Go!

Find it Here!

Finally, it's begun!

The next instalment of the Phantom War series, Psycho Mission, is now starting on the Patreon. Join now and you can catch up with part 1, as well as get the full version of the track composed by one Jacob Calta, on top of the near 20 episodes of the podcast. Quite the bang for your $5. Right now, three chapters are up, and will be coming two a week until we reach the end by May. Join up now, because it's going to be wild!

After the events of Phantom Mission, Menace Beach has only deteriorated further with the gangs now turning even more violent. A large group called the Dead Heads are now throwing their weight around, demanding loyalty from the others. They even arranged a big brawl to decide which gang gets to be king of the city!

But is that all there is to it?

Trash is a member of the 47th Street Psychos, a young man with no way out but through. With a collapsing city, a mysterious girl missing someone of her own, a detective with more guts than sense, and a creeping menace hiding in the shadows, can he fight against a world that wants to exterminate itself?

And why is the sky rumbling?

The Phantom Mission is over.

The Psycho Mission has begun.

Read it here today!

Chapter 2 is already up!

As you can tell, I haven't posted much recently because I was trying to get all of this together. After this instalment, there is one more book to go, Final Mission, which I have only begun outlining. In the meantime I am also planning for a crowdfund for a physical release of Phantom Mission. The plan for that is this summer. We'll see how it all shakes out!

In case you couldn't tell by the description, this series is my most bizarre one so far. There's a lot of action, a lot of weird, and odd turns I did not expect when I began this journey. As a consequence, the last book is probably going to end up longer than the first two. It's just unavoidable with how out of control it became.

I wanted to thank everyone here and on the Patreon for your support. It's been quite the journey over the years, and I never would have expected doing what I'm doing now without you.

At the same time, there are other surprises on the way. I have a book in the works with a publisher, a few short stories coming down the pipeline (and others still waiting for submissions to open), and of course the Phantom War serial. On top of it there is a big unannounced project I've hinted at before that is shaping up in crazy directions.

I've got a few more ideas for a serial after Phantom War is done, and there are many short stories I have to get to on top of it. you might wonder just what I could possibly do once that one finishes (Trust me, it gets nuts in ways I did not anticipate), but there is a plan. I might not always know what it is, but my muse seems to. Regardless, there's a lot of cool stuff coming up.

I hope you're having a fruitful 2025 so far. We're almost a third of the way through already. It's been a strange one, but it really does feel like we are in the midst of a shift. Who really knows what it'll be like when we come out the other side?

Anyway, have a good week and I will see you again soon enough. The next Psycho Mission chapter should also be released tomorrow, so look forward to that.

We've got a lot of surprises ahead! As OldPub crashes and burns, NewPub soars over the remains into a whole new world.

I 'm eager to see just where it ends up!

Read Psycho Mission (and more!) on the Patreon!

Phantom Mission has Begun!

Note: my next book has begun serializing on Patreon! Check it out here!

Hey all, I'm sorry that I've been focused on this one project so much recently, but as you can tell, there is a good reason for it. And we've got an update in time for the weekend! As of Friday, the first chapter of my next book, Phantom Mission, is now out for patrons of the brand new Patreon! It's been a long time coming, but it is here.

What I wanted to do with today's post was describe what exactly Phantom Mission is, what it's about, and why exactly I've decided to release it this way. I'll try to not get too into the weeds about it, after all, reading is part of the fun, but I still need to get across the general intent.

First off, this is that "crazy project" I've been teasing for awhile on the blog and elsewhere. I'm finally able to unveil it to you all today. It started as a lark one day, a decision to make the most "me" story I ever could, tempered with my interests as a kid, teenager, young adult, and even now, and turn it into a book. In other words, I wanted to put out the most high octane weird adventure action tale only I could. Every single trope and cool thing that stuck with me, recontextualized and made into something original and exciting.

And that ended up being the project known as Phantom War.

If you're confused at the title, don't be. Phantom War is the name of the series; Phantom Mission is the name of the first book of what is looking to be three (though the second one has taken on a life of its own, so we'll see what comes next) and its kind of overwhelming me a little as to what this story seems to want to become. That's one of the reasons it took so long to release. That and everything else going on in the real world over the last couple of years.

The story covers a race of beings called Phantoms that landed on Earth half a century ago during the Dark Year when humanity slept, unaware of what occurred or why they were put there. Phantoms seem to be just like normal people only with a weird purplish tint to their skin, but there are rumors that there is more to them than originally thought due to their strange alien-like knowledge. They are practically human as it is.

However, despite nearing 50 years of supposed unity, things still seem to be falling apart at the seams. The fragile peace that has held things together is breaking down. Phantoms are starting to disappear, leaving half-bloods as the most common Phantom you will see, and an indescribable menace is bubbling below the surface of the planet. Were the Phantoms really the saviors of humanity, or are they something more sinister at play?

Phantom War takes place in Miami II, post-reconstruction, on Menace Beach (formerly Miami Beach before the new location was built and expanded over the ruins of the old) where the Outlaw Games are held. This legendary location, once a paradise for wanderers and starry-eyed travelers, is now little more than a slum for the broken down and forgotten, where gangs fight over territory and the old buildings are remnants of a better age that never came. Now, as the world looks to be ending--this Golden Age of unity might truly never arrive at all.

Phantom Mission stars a team of four Mavericks, participants in the Outlaw Games, who are tasked with going to Peace Island to find a mysterious doctor that should already be dead by now. The completely man-made Island, based on the reconstructed Menace Beach, at least initially, was formed into a walled city where the two races were meant to coexist as one. However, decades back a terrorist blew it to hell and everyone inside supposedly died, leaving nothing but an empty oversized city sealed off from the world. And now the four Mavericks are being sent in, unofficially and unarmed, to broker a peace with this supposed doctor.

What will they find on the scrapped island in the middle of the sea? Will it bring the peace they desire, or will they unearth a past that should have stayed dead with the old world?

You'll have to check out Phantom Mission and see for yourself!

But that's not all. For non-patrons, I've recorded myself reading the beginning of Chapter One. It's not the whole thing, but a decent chunk to get an idea of the tone of the tale and where exactly I'm planning to go with it.

This is also to help give you a tease of what is to come:

Please excuse my reading. I'm not built for voice work!

I hope that gives you all you need for now, because this one gets a little wild, and book two even wilder. But we're not there yet so please enjoy this sampling of the new dish I'm preparing for you all. I promise it's going to be worth the wait. Have I steered you wrong yet? After eight years of putting out books, and a decade of Wasteland & Sky, I'm not planning on stopping anytime soon. We've got more worlds to visit!

Regardless, if you want to read more, check out the Patreon! I'll also be talking more about Phantom Mission itself in the proper Episode 1 of the podcast which is coming out next week. And in case you missed that bit of news, Episode 0 was released for free on the 4th! Everyone can listen to that one right now on the Patreon!

Okay, that's all for this one, folks. I want to thank you for being patient with me as I get this new project sorted out. I've also had some personal stuff get in the way a little, but I'm still trying to put my best foot forward on this. I've been wanting to share this one with you all for years, and now it's finally happening!

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

You can check out Patron for both my new serialization & podcast!

Letters from the Wasteland is Go!

Hello, all! It's a short update this time. The reason for that is that I have an entire podcast episode to share with you today!

It's also completely free to give you an idea of what the podcast included in the Patreon will be about. So give it a listen and let me know what you think.

You can hear the premiere podcast episode for free on the Patreon here!

I'll also take this time to mention when of the things announced in the podcast regarding the next book, since it pertains to here as well. It's no big secret, but it's coming out this week.

On Friday, July 5th, the first chapter of Phantom Mission, my next work will be put up for serialization on Patreon. Every week after that, for all of July, there will be two chapters a week. Really getting into that summer spirit for a book that is very summer influenced. It will then drop down to one chapter a week until we reach the end. All of this is beginning this week! So you can see why I've been so quiet around here recently.

That's all for today, I hope you had a great fourth of July and I will see you again very soon!

Don't forget that Sidearm & Sorcery Volume 3 is out! Classic action in a modern setting!