Weekend Lounge ~ Are Heroes Dead?

Welcome to the weekend!

Been quite the scorcher around here since July started. I hope you're managing to keep cool. The heat doesn't look to be easing up anytime soon. But enough of that, let us get to today's topic!

Let us talk about heroism.

For a long time, ever since at least the 1990s, there has been a problem in understanding the purpose of heroes and heroism in storytelling. Before that decade that believed subversion was the future (a vision that eventually lead downhill to complete bottoming out completely in the 2010s), writers and authors had a clear vision for what it meant to be a White Hat in a story. That was eventually lost. Now, because of this modern misunderstanding, it has taken an entire industry of people divorced from the mainstream to basically figure out how to get that lost notion back. The 2020s has been a real relearning experience over this and many other subjects. As has been said, a lot of it is like relearning to ride a bicycle.

The above video by The Second Story channel (the same one that exposed "Fantasy" as being a Del Ray formula, not a genre) has decided to weight in on the muted nature of heroism and good in stories these days. What happened to what was once so obvious an idea and why can even a series with such wanton death and subversion like Attack on Titan still manage to understand heroism more than our comparatively simple superhero movies. It is a good video that seeks to answer the question we've all been asking for years now. What even is a hero anymore?

As has been mentioned before, the modern obsession with villains and "anti-heroes" came about because morality was thought of as simplistic and lame. This was brought about because out culture had lost what made a hero so admirable and worthy of imitating. Heroism became a weak frame that holds do-gooders back from "doing what is needed" and keeps them one note "paladins" who have to meekly follow whatever law that binds them. They're all weak and feeble-minded dupes who can't possibly be as cool as the rogues who do whatever they want, morality be damned!

Of course, none of this is what good actually is (nor what real paladins actually do, believe, or act like), but it has been a misunderstanding festering for decades now. In fact, the source might be traced way back to the age of Saturday Morning Cartoons when Peggy Charren told parents that heroes shooting villains is uncouth and it is a moral duty for heroes to spout textbook catchphrases and government approved laws directly back at the viewer so that they don't forget to become a good citizen. School never ends for children, after all.

This generation then grew up, and brought this mutation of morality to full flowering in mainstream storytelling, whether by aping it or by subverting it, but neither side seeming to understand that the entire frame is warped to begin with. That is what has lead the current industry to have such a superficial version of Good and Evil as concepts: it is all filtered through the ACT, and few from back then have realized its influence on every corner of modern life. "You are what you eat" doesn't just refer to food.

It is much how you come across people who speak like sitcom characters or use internet vernacular in real life. It is learned behavior, and it has affected everything.

That's right, much of the modern idea view of heroism, and it being entirely western in creation, comes from the already backwards understanding of morality embedded in the heads of the Saturday Morning Cartoon generation, a medium that was deliberately heavily neutered and watered down to get children to understand the importance of recycling, listening to teachers, and preventing the third (and first) world from breeding by equivocating them to rats (Captain Planet & the Planeteers still airs on TV, by the way), and how all villainy in the end is just one-note buffoonery or evil for evil's sake. To the Saturday Morning Cartoon generation, you either are good by doing what the Good Guys say, or you are an evil scourge to be eradicated. It is this absurd now because we let absurd people talk us into this.

And now you also know why the modern political climate is the way it is, and why a whole generation cannot seem to understand the motives of people they see as cartoon villains needing to be thwarted like the heroes in their cartoon shows always manage to do. Don't you know Sonic the Hedgehog shares my thoughts and beliefs on the constitution! It's this ridiculous now for a good reason. None of this came out of nowhere, and it is not normal or natural to think like this.

Regardless, everyone used to know why The Shadow gunned down villain and why Mack Bolan went on his revenge quest, and they were not called "anti-heroes" at the time, because they weren't, and aren't. They only come across that way when filtered through Saturday Morning Cartoon logic that was picked up by generations under the Baby Boomers who then carried it into other mediums like comic books and video games as they grew older, as well as the ever-popular video essay on YouTube. This misunderstanding of morality has poisoned everything in the west. This is why heroism is so massively misunderstood today. For generations, this was seen as normal and The Way It's Done, which is what lead to the dead end we cornered ourselves into. We had an artificial morality as a frame and we've yet to fully cast it aside into the dustbin of history.

But it is being cast aside. Slowly and deliberately, it is being done.

There is a realization here and that's that we don't live in the Saturday Morning Cartoon era anymore. A generation of kids have come of age never experiencing that mutation of morality and are now working on their own stories without even considering those once expected rules. That leaves the rest of us to make a decision to finally decide whether we want to continue down this path, or finally admit we might have been wrong all along. Heroes are not what we thought they were: they really are so much more.

Heroes were never boring, we just became boring and forgot what heroes were supposed to be in the first place. Once we rediscover that lost art, we'll be on the right track again. It's going to take some time, and a lot of arguments and butting heads, but it will eventually happen. You can see the change everywhere outside the mainstream.

The future is as inevitable as the Truth prevailing in the end. Good always wins, just not always in the way we might expect it to.

In other news, there's only a few days left to get two of my books for a buck! You can get both The Last Fanatics and Y Signal on Amazon for some quality summer reads. I particularly recommend The Last Fanatics if you only read the blog version. It has been edited quite a bit to fit into book form, and those are my preferred version of the texts. Either way, enjoy yourself! Summer should be a good time.

That's all for this week, and I will see you next time!

Check out two books for $0.99 right now! Sale ends in a few days!

Weekend Lounge ~ The Other Genre That Doesn't Exist

Welcome to the weekend!

It's been rather crazy recently, hasn't it? Not much time to just sit back and smell the roses, as it were. So lets just dive into it today.

We've talked a lot about how fake modern genres are, but we tend to focus on the 1940s when such things were starting to be solidified. That was when the eggheads seized control of the industry to give shape to artificial frames that no longer exist. In fact, as I wrote about in The Last Fanatics, by the 1970s it was already starting to die out in the wider culture even as said Fanatics tightened their grip on their then-dying sector. All of this stems from a game of definition dodgeball that has never truly been won, despite their claims otherwise. The game is long since over, and they lost long before the first ball was even thrown. It was never going to end any other way.

What we don't tend to mention too much is that there was just as much nonsense in the decades after the 1940s that helped warp definitions even further. While I tend to bring up the phrase Science Fiction Doesn't Exist in regards to the Futurian crowd, what I don't bring up enough is the other side of this non-existent coin they forged: so-called Fantasy Doesn't Exist either. In fact, the term itself is already meant to be disparaging, the lesser, nonsense-fueled half of the superior materialist fiction genre . . . even though its hinged on the frame of a philosophical worldview that is deader than disco. (Literally deader, disco has more influence on modern underground movements than "Golden Age" siffy has on its medium.)

For an example of what I mean, check out the above video that goes into how Lester Del Ray's marketing in the '60s and '70s not only created a trend, but then inadvertently birthed a "genre" that centered on then-common surface level clichés that were then flipped and then flipped again in the decades to come, all to create an endless string of subversion capping off at where said "genre" is today: dead.

Much like the "Science Half" of the "genre" it is built upon a division that is not relevant to today, just as it wasn't for the several thousand years of recorded civilization from before eggheads were given paper crowns and a seat at the table. It has no relevance to today, and the case could be made that it never actually did--we all just had to pretend otherwise as those in charge declared what their subjects had to think about certain subjects and where their limitations lay.

The fact of the matter is the reason so much of the old literary space and store shelves is cluttered with generic "genre" fare is because the Thor Power Tool Case from 1979 cleared out the backlog of stories from before 1980 and kept them out of print while the shelves were then filled with pumped out factory belt-line product to make up for the loss. It's how important and influential authors like A. Merritt and EE "Doc" Smith were memory-holed over night. What you went from having is timeless tales of myth and adventure at your fingertips, to having a shelf of product created to fill a quota of checkbox fiction to match advertising trends of the 1970s decades afterwards.

This is why the lack of new or fresh literary "trends" in the 1980s and 90s are non-existent. As a consequence to all of this, readership dwindled over time and those that remained were more interested in the tropes being fed to them over and over again instead the wonder or the creativity of the stories themselves. It was a massive dead end, and we all recognize it now.

By the 2000s, all we were left with was subversions of subversions and endless mashups of tired tropes originating from the 1960s because that was the only frame OldPub had left to work from. There was nothing exciting or new to come, just more of the same originating from those ancient advertising campaigns. And that is essentially why the industry hasn't had a breakout hit since Harry Potter took everyone by surprise back in the '90s. How could they have another one, when everything they produce has to follow a strict formula from over half a century ago to appeal to an audience that doesn't even exist anymore? That is why nothing is coming out of that system.

And that has lead them to where they are today: dead and irrelevant, just like their made up genre boxes that ran out of steam long ago. All that's left is the future: NewPub. The only place you'll get anything new is among those who have no cap on their imagination, no quota to fill, and no boxes to check. The only thing left is the story itself.

That is what the future holds.

Some have taken to calling Oldpub "Deadpub" instead, and it's easy to see why. The only question is how long has it actually been dead for, and when can we finally admit the corpse is stinking up the place? It's only a matter of time before the remains crumble away. In the meantime, Newpub has a lot of work to do to fill the hole. Here's hoping we can manage before it all collapses in on itself. It's gonna take some time.

In related news, I also just released a new podcast episode on the Patreon on this very topic! It's over an hour long and I talk about the future coming down the pike and how much things have changed since the Fanatics failed to see any of it coming. Listen now to learn just why Science Fiction Doesn't Exist in the first place! I bumped the preview to 10 minutes for this episode, so jump in and listen for yourself to see just what that means.

We're going to have to change our entire frame in order to find a new way forward. I think we can do it. The only question is when, not if, that will occur, because it's coming. Time to prepare accordingly!

That's all I've got for this week. Have yourself a good Father's Day and a comfortable start of summer coming up. Things are getting better, just not in the most obvious ways. It's especially difficult to se it these days, but it is happening. Just keep your head up and you'll eventually be able to see it coming.

Have a good weekend, and I'll see you soon!

Check out Rock and Roll Mercenaries and my story Spirit Rock! 15 Tales of Hard Rock adventure await inside!

Weekend Lounge ~ Full Collapse

Welcome to the weekend!

Much has been said over the years about how the entertainment industry is currently suffering. Much has been written about how those on the inside, including actors actors and unions have destroyed both themselves and their credibility. However, I'm not sure there is a direct and obvious example to point to in order to really nail down the trend.

Until now.

I've mentioned this before in works like The Last Fanatics, and I'll say it again here. There is a certain breed of person that gets into the arts and entertainment not because they wish to connect with others but in order to put themselves at a higher class over them. A long time ago you could get past this for several reasons. The mainstream being the only viable choice and having a monopoly, putting yourself at the head of subcultures by weaseling your way through and saying the right platitudes, and the old favorite of simply buying credibility (like Bethesda saying they invented the First Person Shooter), were all popular choices.

However, it doesn't work anymore. Not in a fractured culture where no one really belongs anywhere unless your personality is to consume or to listen to people who consume more than you or to obey the company throwing its consumers pet treats every now and then. Too many people see this and have turned away, and the the ones with the power either don't notice it or are too far deep up their own rears to realize the problem. As a result, it all just implodes on itself.

Take the recent Writer's Strike, the strike you had to support no matter what or else you hated art. Remember that one? You weren't allowed to question what the terms really were, or how it benefited you as someone outside the industry, customer or artist yourself, or even if it was all just for show. As I covered in an earlier post, it was all more or less a shadow play. And with today's example you're about to see it unfold for what it is.

You will also see where the more recent vitriol around voice actors comes from. Again, it didn't fall from the sky. See how they involved themselves in this and only made themselves even more disliked by the people they are supposed to entertain. Lies, ego, unreality, and hate, are all plentiful, all to fight a cause that shouldn't threaten them in the first place. However it does because the audience have been pushed against them and they have to choose a side. Obviously, their employer is going to come first, but many don't want to accept it. These aren't valiant warriors doing battle for the Cause, they just want to look noble while making money.

All of this combines to make an industry of people that customers simply don't want to support. And, increasingly, they're not. The only way to turn this around is to overturn everything as it is. Unfortunately for them, it's looking less and less likely that it's ever going to happen. Not when there are too many alternate options.

Regardless, watch the above video and discover more details of the strike you were not supposed to know (because they didn't think anyone would bother looking) and understand just how little those in charge think of you. If you didn't know it before, you'll sure learn it now.

That's all for this week! June's here and summer is on the way, and with it, hopefully, the heat. We've got a lot coming to be excited for!

See you soon!

Psycho Mission has been completed! Check out the Patreon right now to read the serial of Book Two of Phantom War! What lies in wait in the corners of Menace Beach, and why exactly is the sky on fire? Read it today!

Year Start Signal Boost!

Back it Here!

Welcome back! It's been a little bit, but I've finally got something new for you. It's the time of year when NewPub creatives finally start rolling, so lets dig into it.

Now is the start of the year when crowdfunds finally begin in earnest, so here are a few campaigns to get you started!

The first is the above Catch the Lightning: The Art and Craft of Writing Romance campaign! Want to know how to write romance, or just want to know more about it? Then check out this campaign today. You're guaranteed a lot of great advice.

Learn more about it below:

"Our previous course, The Art and Craft of Writing, taught authors how to bring their writing to the next level by understanding the nuts and bolts (Craft) of writing to bring out the grace and beauty (Art) of it. Now, The Art and Craft of Writing Romance will do the same, focusing on the core of romance stories: the emotional arc bringing your hero and heroine together.

"In simple and clear language, this course explains what makes a romance work (Craft) and how to bring this work to life (Art) on the page of your manuscript. Discover how to catch the lightning of desire so as to electrify readers; weave obstacles so daunting as to wring readers’ hearts. Learn how the more your hero and heroine resist their longing for each other, the more the reader yearns to see them through to their happily ever after. Learn to pull your readers in and help them feel the rollercoaster of your hero and heroine's emotional ride!

"About the Instructor:
L. Jagi Lamplighter is a published author, a professional editor, and a writing teacher with decades of experience analyzing stories and figuring out what makes them work. She has written everything from hints of sweet romance at a magical school to the complicated loves and lives of Shakespeare's fae in the modern day, and edited everything from far-future science fiction with a sweet romance subplot to contemporary romances set in Texas."

For those who don't know, Jagi has been my main editor for around a decade now. You can be certain she is very knowledgeable in what she's talking about when it comes to anything to do with writing and creativity. Therefore, this project is guaranteed to be a great one.

Once again, you can back it here!

Now let's move to the next project:

Back it here!

That's right, it's the return of Mongoose & Meerkat! This time it's a complete series deluxe release for anyone who might have missed it. This is the ultimate release of the NewPub sword and sorcery series and meant to be an easy place to collect it all.

Cirsova and Jim Breyfogle have been a double team of great storytelling for years now. A good reason why I approached Cirsova for Star Wanderers was because of how well the two of them worked together on their projects. Therefore, if you missed out, I can promise you that this is the perfect place to jump on.

The description:

He's a brash young bravo, eager to prove his worth with a blade. She's a mysterious rogue with a head for history and razor cunning. Together, they are the Mongoose and Meerkat!

Whether they're looting haunted dungeons, fighting demons and necromancers, or just settling labor disputes, this swashbuckling duo is ready for anything! Mangos would love nothing more than to earn a name for himself and keep himself comfortably in coin. Kat, however, has more far-reaching plans for her wealth.

The City State of Alness has fallen to a band of mercenaries and brigands who have ravaged the north lands. Amidst the rumors that an Alnessi royal may have survived, the Mongoose and Meerkat must navigate all manner of intrigue and betrayal to win the fame and fortune necessary to restore the once-mighty city.

Originally serialized in 18 installments from 2017 through 2023 in Cirsova Magazine, Jim Breyfogle's Mongoose and Meerkat became one of the iconic Sword & Sorcery teams of the Pulp Revolution. Now, you can have all of their adventures in a single gorgeous volume!

Plus, this collection includes an all-new side-story, Chasing the Cat Sword, featuring the mercenary sisters Daini and Kairi and has world-shaking implications for the Mongoose and Meerkat lore!

Once again, you can find it here!

Next, let us go into weirder territory, as we usually like to around here.

Back it Here!

For those who remember the scandalous Sword & Scandal campaign, comes the follow-up: Jungle Scandals! The previous hit campaign was based on the idea of Sword & Sorcery tales that get a little too close for comfort. This one aims for the lesser-known these days jungle tales. Stories of the deep dark that get a little deeper and darker than might be comfortable.

I've always had a mixed relationship with NSFW stories because of how one-note they tend to be, but J. Manfred Weichsel always manages to make them interesting in a way that has me considering a new angle on a topic. So while such things are not usually easy to recommend, I would always do so here for those who want to try something a little bit off the beaten trail.

The description:

"This time around, we're touring the jungles of the world, taking stops in Africa, Indonesia, and the Amazon, and we'll be taking our inspiration from the likes of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Joseph Conrad, Rudyard Kipling, and H. Rider Haggard.

"But, while those writers all had more or less Victorian sensibilities, we'll be filling the pages of our book with more gratuitous nudity, sex, and gore than you can possibly imagine! Some today find the old writers problematic. We think they're not nearly problematic enough!

"These stories will retain the sense of fun and wonder from the jungle adventures of old. But they will be absolutely insane with all the sex! If you read our last book, then you know we don't hold anything back.

"Just like Sword & Scandal did, Jungle Scandals will have an open call for submissions. The submission guidelines will be posted in various places around the web where authors go looking for open calls. This process makes selecting the stories democratic, and ensures the anthology gets the best writing it possibly can.

"Last time, we received 47 submissions, out of which we selected 11 stories totaling 60,000 words, plus the 5,600-word story author and editor J. Manfred Weichsel wrote with the backer who selected the design-your-own-story tier. Including the editorial material, the book totaled almost 70,000 words.

"Because we are a little more established this time around and have a bit of buzz, we expect Jungle Scandals to receive even more submissions than Sword & Scandal did.

"Unlike other publishers who tend to play it safe with their selections, we will be looking for the wild, strange, and outrageous. We want to publish off-beat and off-the-wall fiction that would never otherwise get to see the light of day.

"Humor is also a big part of what we do. We will actively look for stories that incorporate a similar sense of humor as ours: dry, sardonic, and satirical. We enjoy humor that is character-driven, dark, and surreal. But we also like farce."

You can find the campaign here!

One more to go:

Back it Here!

Lets end it off with something a little different. This is the coming On My Ghost by Ghostmaya. This is comic romance series currently running on Webtoons, and this it the most recent crowdfunding campaign for it.

To explain all the intricacies of the story would take some time, so I'll just cut to the chase with the overall gist of it.

The description:

Oh My Ghost is a wholesome Action Comedy Romance Supernatural Horror Mystery webtoon series that is currently 7 seasons with 1000+ episodes ~

The narrative is about a human guy, (Loi), a poor guy who is desperate to find a place to stay. So, Loi decided to live in a very cheap haunted house where he will meet Maya, the ghost, who is scared Of ghosts and other scary stuffs. and who likes to eat. Yes, you READ IT RIGHT~! This ghost can eat because logic is useless here in this series~

For more information, you can be here!

And that's all for this time. The year's just starting but already you can find a little bit of everything just waiting for you. February has just started but I can promise you many more surprises ahead, including from myself.

Until then, just dig in for yourself and enjoy the wild world of NewPub. There's plenty to go around, and it's not stopping anytime soon.

Before I go, check out this art book from my Gemini Man artist, Manuel Guzman! He's got a lot to show, and the campaign is almost over!

Thanks for 2024!

One last go for 2024! It's been a strange year for me so I'd like to go over some of it. Enjoy the wild video above and then stay for the rest of the post.

I should also say that the next episode of the Letters from the Wasteland podcast is up on the Patreon. The topic is AI and it's both an hour long and the first of a two-parter, so be sure to check that one out. It went on a bit longer than I was expecting it to. The second part will be out next week.

Also, in case you missed the recent update, I'm in the next issue of Cirsova out next month. We're starting 2025 off with a bang!

All that aside, the last year has been a bit wild for me. I had a very unexpected upheaval in my personal life the exact moment I put up the Patreon and yet at the same time still tried to simultaneously keep this place updated (keeping Cannon Cruisers, Wasteland & Sky, AND the Substack all updated was a bit of a time sink) along with making sure I was writing wasn't the easiest. You know what they say, everything always seems to hit at once.

Though, despite all of that, I did manage to put out my two books for the year. The first was Star Wanderers (please leave a review on amazon if you have not) and the second was Phantom Mission on the Patreon, on top of the short stories in Sidearm & Sorcery Volume Three, Cirsova #20, and Silence & Starsong #4. Despite the increase in distractions, my output remained more or less the same. I've also got stories coming for 2025, as well as others in the can for 2026(!). Yes, I plan on doing this for the long haul.

My plan going forward for 2025 is going to be a bit different, though not that crazy or out there. I'm planning to take the early months of the year, which are typically dead activity-wise anyway, to focus purely on writing and editing. For my two books in 2025 I'm planning to finish off Phantom War on the Patreon with Book 2 and 3, and finally release Book 1 wide on places like Amazon after getting to the edits I've still got to attend to. Like I said, there's a backlog of stuff I have to get through and some things I still have to figure out. Perhaps a Kickstarter for Phantom Mission to get a nice illustrated cover? We will see. That is still a bit of a ways out as of this writing.

On the other side of the spectrum, I have a few short stories already submitted and waiting to release, and others on the side waiting for submissions to open (including some by request, so it's really a waiting game for a lot of this). Writing-wise, I have a few short stories I absolutely must get done ASAP to complete a few projects and then start planning on the next ones. The first quarter of the year is going to be a heavy focus on all of those above all else, then hopefully business as usual once spring rolls around and my schedule can return to normal. Or I suppose as normal as a writer's schedule can get, anyway.

In other words, there is a lot on the way, and a lot I've got to get through sooner than later. That's a warning that blog posting will still be a bit slower for awhile, in order for me to catch up with myself, but it'll still exist. I enjoy the weekend lounge posts, and I hope to continue those. Longer posts will still go up on the Patreon first before coming out here at least a month later. Keeping all of this in balance is going to be a bit of a challenge, but that's part of the fun.

Otherwise, the plan is business as usual. 2025 will feature me still chugging along, God Willing, and putting out some projects I've been very excited for. There's a few things I'm very eager to get done and show you. It's going to be a fun time.

That's all for this year. 2024 has been a weird one, and I am a bit sad to see it go, oddly enough, but there's good times ahead. I'm excited to see what's coming down the pike.

Also, before I forget, thank you very much for 10 years of Wasteland & Sky! Yes, it's been over a decade since I started this journey. I never expected my original stomping grounds would last so long, even with alternative sites like the Substack around now.

I appreciate anyone who has taken time out of their day to stop by, even if you haven't been around long. It's been a long ride this past decade, and I hope to continue on for at least another ten years more. I've got plenty of things to do, and I hope you'll join me as I get through it.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years, everyone!

Have a great holiday. You deserve it.

For more of my writings, you can support me on the Patreon! There's a lot on the way!

Weekend Lounge ~ Writing Odds & Ends

Welcome to the weekend!

For those who missed it, we reached funding on Star Wanderers with two weeks left on the campaign and are now working for stretch goal rewards for all readers. This means the more who back and the higher we go, the more extras every backer will receive. So if you haven't yet hopped aboard the space and sorcery train, now is your chance!

Of course, there is other recent news to go over. The above video features a rare interview with dynamite write of the mythic, Schuyler Hernstrom. There he talks about both his writing and what makes him tick as well as what his future plans entail, should he have the opportunity. Be sure to give it a watch and pick up his books if you have yet to. He is quite incredible and has a good deal to say.

Another recent project you might have missed was J. Manfred Weichsel's Sword & Scandal anthology project on Kickstarter. A short explanation: Weichsel is a controversial writer who tends to use explicit and dark material to bring greater light and clarification on issues you might not expect. While his work is not for everyone, and especially not the young, it is very unique and one of a kind. And now he is funding an anthology meant to bring others along for the ride. Be sure to give the campaign a glance. It's 1/3 funded already and on its way.

I would also be remiss to not bring up a new market for short stories. High Tower Magazine, a new project by several Superversive alumni, just recently started up. You can visit the site here and learn everything about who is involved and their submission guidelines. The goal is apparently to start out slow and roll out from there. Give it a look over and see if it's your thing. We need more markets for short stories, after all.

Lastly, author and musician David V. Stewart put out a video in his recent Writestream series that shows the step by step project on how to publish a book on Amazon. He also does it live, which makes it invaluable for those of you struggling to figure it out.

He also had a recent video revisiting his opinions on the influx of Boomer Hate, which is also worth the watch. It is not as simple as both the young and old think it is.

We talk a lot about generational theory, mostly how it works on a spectrum, but the overblown nature of those who both think stereotypes aren't real yet go out of their way to act them out in great detail says a lot about why these discussions exist in the first place. There is much more to this than the growing desire among many to become a living cartoon character, and it is good to have more discussions where self-awareness is brought to the forefront. Kayfabe is one thing, but playing a part that isn't you is a recipe for disaster.

To be honest, despite leaving the 2010s behind, many of us have either clung stubbornly to old ways that were already dead then, or have turned against all we once knew in an attempt to be some sort of pseudo-Gen X style snarky revolutionary from on one of those terrible streaming series that fall out of fashion every day. Neither is ideal, but it's also a complex topic many have been going over for years.

Regardless, that's all for this week! It's a bit light in quantity but not quality. There were at least a few things worth sharing as we passed the halfway point of Star Wanderers.

What is exciting is the recent weather shift around my area. The cold is finally starting to give way to warmth, which is good to see with summer on the way. We're about due for some nice weather around here, and I hope you're getting some wherever you are.

Have a good weekend and I will see you next week!

Star Wanderers is funded and on the way towards its stretch goals! Check it out and get yourself 8 action-paced tales of wonder and adventure!

Small Update for 2024

This isn't going to be much of a post, you can read the one from a few days ago for that, but just for a quick update on current events.

You might have noticed posting has been a bit light this month. That will have to continue a bit for the foreseeable future. There are several reasons for that.

I'm currently working on a few writing projects at the same time and also trying to work through Lent. As a consequence, posts around here will be very light for awhile. That said, I'll still put out a few Weekend Lounge posts in the weeks ahead, but that will most likely be all. I want to focus more on getting things done in both a physical and spiritual sense in the time ahead.

That said, after this I am considering starting a Patreon of some sort purely for writing projects and updates for readers, including possibly having short audio updates and episodes much like I do for Cannon Cruisers. I am toying with the idea of making my next book a serialization, but am still deciding on just how to do that. 

Regardless, I also want to take this time to think that out as well. I want to be sure to give readers as much as I can in a way they can feel most comfortable getting it. Amazon is quickly looking like it won't be enough, especially with how broken the algorithm has gotten, so looking ahead and in new direction seems important in order to continue on.

As a reminder, my most recent release is available for $0.99 on Amazon as well as a Lulu-exclusive pocket paperback edition. It's wild to think about, but that ended up being my 12th overall book release. Of course, God willing, it will not be the last. There is more on the way.

Speaking of Cannon Cruisers, we just recently put up our lists of favorite Cannon movies after we put up our 300th episode and big finale. But that's not all for Cannon Cruisers. There will be an update on the usual day tomorrow about our future plans and what we hope to be doing next. Long story short, it's not over, but it won't be the same podcast you remember. Things will be a little different, but we enjoy the podcast too much to do too much tinkering. It's not quite over yet!

It's also bizarre to think about, but 2024 is also the 10th anniversary of Wasteland & Sky, by far the longest digital footprint I've ever left online, and it is weird too think about. I'm not quite sure what I'll do for said anniversary, but it's nice to have been able to make it this far. Here's hoping to many more ahead, assuming the internet doesn't die in the near future. Maybe I should collect some posts in an eBook or the like? Something to think about. I've done a lot here, much more than I ever expected I would, so I do have a soft spot for this place. I'll also be here until I can't be here anymore, if that makes any sense.

Of course, part of the reason for this entire update at all is due to you, the reader. If it wasn't for your support I wouldn't be able to do this at all and it still blows me away that anyone is reading at all. So it stands to reason that if you have any comments or suggestions that you should send them my way. Both the internet and the industry have changed so much over the last decade that deciding what to do next is going to take some time. As I've said, the '20s is the decade of change, so it's time to try to adapt to that in the best way I can. I want to be sure to keep moving forward in new and interesting ways.

Regardless, that's all for today. Not a big post or update on how things are going, but a bit of a teaser on possibilities for the road ahead. As always, feel free to send your comments and I'll try to get back ASAP. Otherwise, it's time to get back to the mines, both words and other.

Have a good rest of February and I'll see you in March!

There are only a few days left of Cirsova's Kickstarter of a this wild classic-style adventure story of the dead and the living! Back it for both a cool book and helping to fund the best short story magazine currently running!

Story Sheets: "Three Gifts of the White Wolf"

Surprise! We are already back with a new Story Sheets! Bet you didn't expect one quite so soon, but it was obvious it was coming, wasn't it?

After our last entry, it only made sense to jump right into the next one this week. As you well know, there are two stories (naturally) included in the collection Two Adventure Across Eternity, and you already know about "Duel On Dalpha" and the story behind that one, but what of the second story? Well, let us get into it.

As you might have guessed from just the title of today's story, this isn't another space opera tale of gun fights and mecha battles like the last one. No, it's very much the opposite. This is a story of swords, sorcery, and cursed lands. So why is it even here, being paired in a collection with a seemingly very different story? Well, I will explain that part a bit later on. For now, let us concentrate on the tale itself. What is "Three Gifts of the White Wolf" and where did it come from?

Believe it or not, it's actually a pretty old story I recently edited myself to completion. Since I was a much improved writer by the time I wanted to publish it, I sharpened this older tale up a good deal, though nothing in the piece itself has changed. That said, since this was never published before or looked at by other eyes, it is the readers who get to dive into this one fresh. Therefore I spent a good deal of time tempering this one up.

Anyway, enough of the technical details. What about where it came from? That is actually a very simple question to answer.

What happened is something that occurs every now and then where I will be writing or editing a story, novel, or even blog post, and I will be struck with an idea and have to put everything aside to write it down on the spot. For example, when I was editing Two Adventures Across Eternity to get it out by the end of 2023, I found myself in this same predicament. There was another piece I just had to write, so I dove into said story and came right back to editing again afterwards. When that story releases, I'll share the culprit that nearly delayed the collection. Either way, it happens more to me than I'd like to admit. I am not an organized writer in the slightest.

The problem with today's entry is mostly that I don't remember quite when exactly I wrote "Three Gifts of the White Wolf" because as soon as I was done I put it aside for later. I don't even think I properly self-edited it at the time. The reason for this is that, much like "Duel On Dalpha" and a few other stories I've written, there isn't much of a market for tales that fall in that novelette groove between novella and short story. Most magazines are desperate for space and the cost of eBooks makes selling them on their own against longer pieces look like a bad value proposition. So I decided to put aside until an opportunity arose where I could finally give it to readers.

And now you've got it!

I'm happy to finally get this one out because it marked a bit of a shift in how I consider writing stories. I believe I wrote it after reading a bunch of Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book because I wanted to write a tale in that vein but, obviously, not quite so short. That ended up being the story we are discussing as today's subject. Since then I tend to have a lot of fairy tale influence in everything I do, whether I intend to or not.

Custom cover similar to the one for "Duel On Dalpha"

As it might be evident from the above art, a classic painting used for the cover (the art is actually used for the back cover for the paperback version!) sets the tone for the story. For those curious, the painting in question is Eugene Boudin's "Coast of Brittany" work from 1870, only a bit darker and more twisted than the original piece was intended to be. This is because the setting for "Three Gifts of the White Wolf" is the same as an earlier story, "Inside the Demon's Eye" which ran in StoryHack Issue Three a while back, and the location is the same as that one.

You might be wondering if this means the stories take place in Brittany--why else would the cover be like this, after all--but that's not quite the case. No, these stories don't even really take place in the past.

I'll have to explain this the best I can.

I have to be careful here, because a lot of what the Black Lands are, the setting of these two stories, is properly revealed in this very piece, because it is the lynchpin to the tale itself. Please be patient if any of the following explanation sounds vague, as I like to avoid spoilers in this entries if I can. I'm assuming not everyone has read the subject of today's post yet and are perhaps deciding on reading them afterwards.

"Three Gifts of the White Wolf" is about a dying warrior named Sagest wandering the lands, searching for a place to die. His time is up, and he only wishes to stop his suffering and move on from this place where only horrors roam. What he meets along the way are challenges he did not expect and revelations he never considered, all before ending his quest in a way the Black Lands never would have allowed. It's a quest of a different sort.

I've not been very subtle in the past as to what I consider the true name of the Nameless Kingdom, (which has been mentioned in stories outside of these two) or where it comes from, but this tale reveals it all, so I will leave that bit of trivia for readers to discover for themselves. Regardless, the titular "gifts" are meant to be permanent, always there, even if not visible to the naked eye, and are obtainable by those who are willing to seek them out. There are always answers and paths we might not have thought of in our lives that can lead us the strangest of places. All we have to do is keep alert and always get up again. There's always another way out.

"Three Gifts of the White Wolf" is part fairy tale and part sword and sorcery story, but I don't consider those things all that separate from each other in the first place. Mainly, this is a story that needed to be told, and I'm glad I was finally able to finish it and deliver it to readers. As mentioned before, I'd been waiting for my chance for a while. The idea for this release thankfully came to me in a way that gave both these stories proper exposure to readers. And in this story's case, you can read it for yourself for the first time ever!

The original painting of the "Coast of Brittany" by Eugene Boudin, 1870

As for why this story was specifically chosen to be in a package with "Duel On Dalpha" instead of anything else, such an explanation is not quite so obvious on the surface. However, I can assure you that the two of them have connections under the surface.

Aside from the endings having much in common with each other, and both dealing with certain epic events of history that happened long before either protagonist were even born, each story is also about the fact that mistakes of the past, some of which said protagonists had no control over, will always roll out to affect the present in unexpected ways. How we deal with those mistakes also carries on into what the future will be like for those who come after us.

I am very proud of both of these adventures, and am more than pleased that I found a way to release them to readers in a unique package. For the longest time, it felt like I would be sitting on them forever. Thankfully, you can now not only get them in eBook form, but also in the unfortunately rare Pocket Paperback edition. Now anyone can finally enjoy two tales taking place across eternity from the other, yet both with the same general ethos and sense of place. All in all, I'm fortunate to have been given the inspiration to write them at all in the first place.

As for the Black Lands themselves, they might very well return in another story in the future, but the stories set in it aren't a proper series like say, the Galactic Enforcer or Night Rhythms stories are. They are, after all, hinted at in other tales I've written. Perhaps even in the first book I ever published. It is just a setting that may potentially be visited again in the future.

For now, however, we shall leave them behind.

Don't let this release or these entries fool you into thinking that I don't have plenty of material on the way. There are a few more pieces on the side, in production, and waiting in the pipeline still to be jotted down. I've got a lot to put out even still.

With the Star Wanderers publication coming in the near future in tandem with a tale in Cirsova issue #20, as well as other projects yet to be revealed, I am looking to having had put out around 25(!) total short stories by the end of 2024. This does not even include the novels still backlogged in the process. Suffice to say, I have many more on the way even after these, but I still have to get back to them and get them ready for you. That said, obviously more Story Sheets entries will be on the way when I do finally put them out. I look forward to sharing more stories with you when the time comes. This series is always a fun time.

That's all for today! Thank you for all your support and for reading these stories in the first place. It is only thanks to you that I can keep it up.

So lets reach even higher. Next time we'll stretch out touch the stars themselves. It'll be quite the journey, just you wait and see!

Three Gifts of the White Wolf is available in Two Adventures Across Eternity in both eBook form as well as an exclusive Pocket Paperback edition!

Story Sheets: "Duel On Dalpha"

Finally I'm free from the doldrums of January for a few moments! I don't know what else to say except there is a reason I try to put more uplifting and hopeful posts out this month because it tends to be a very lousy time both weather and morale-wise. So today we are going to talk about something a little different than we have recently.

I just realized in the last week that it's been awhile since I've talked about stories themselves around here. Mostly it's because I've been distracted writing about other things and dealing with current WIP projects, but that doesn't mean I can't spare some time to talk about a tale I've never really gotten around to discussing even though most of you are very familiar with it by now.

It's time to bring back "Story Sheets," my post series focused on the stories I've written. It's more than due.

What better story to restart this series with than the recently re-released "Duel On Dalpha" in the collection Two Adventures Across Eternity that I put out as a bonus at the tail end of 2023? Discussing this one has been a long time coming.

Unfortunately, I'm not so certain I can reveal a whole lot beyond the surface level. It's honestly just a really cool story that I think more people should read.

To be real, I actually don't know why I never wrote a piece like this on "Duel On Dalpha" before. It must have either entirely slipped my mind, or maybe it was the fact I didn't want to spoil it for non-subscribers to the newsletter back then. It could be anything.

But that's enough of that, let us get into the heart of it. Where did this story come from and why exactly does it exist?

For that, we have to go back to 2020!

The original release, cover by ArtAnon

Those who have read any of the short stories I've written know that I tend to set them in obscure places in the corner of nowhere starring regular people. I frequently choose bizarre places one might never come across outside of their imagination, or maybe somewhere they do but never consider for anything other than what it is on the surface. I do this because it's fun to highlight that the incredible, the weird, and the amazing, can truly happen anywhere.

"Duel On Dalpha" is like that, but was a bit more ambitious for me at the time. If I recall correctly, I believe this was the first story I'd written that takes place on another planet. It hasn't been the last, but it definitely set the blueprint for the type of intergalactic tale I enjoy writing.

As a reminder, it was recently re-released in the $0.99 collection Two Adventures Across Eternity, due to the fact that I had no other outlet left to give it out to subscribers. Also, I wanted to get it in print properly.

But, back in 2020 (Wow, it's been almost half a decade), I put "Duel On Dalpha" exclusively out for subscribers. It ended up being very popular among subscribers, but it's also been nearly half a decade. It is time to both give it a proper look back and make it more readily available.

I said this about it in this post at the time it was first released:

"I was inspired to make this via many different sources. Mainly I liked the idea of a western horror in a swamp with aliens and giant robots. There's plenty of action, of course. Don't think that I don't know what my readers enjoy.

"To explain where this came from is a bit tough. Most ideas I have for stories are just ones that come to me when I least expect them. This is one I had a while back but had to put on the back-burner while writing so many other things last year. As I let it simmer I had more and more of an idea what it was to be about."

Even at the time, it was difficult to describe the origins of this story. Usually in "Story Sheets" I go through the entire process of what lead the tale to its final state, but there was no clear process here. The long and short of it is that it just came to me one day in a dream, as the saying goes. To be serious though, I just had the story pop into my brain one say and decided to write it.

The only thing I really remember about where this story came from was that I was listening to a specific track from the PC Engine Ys IV soundtrack and for some reason this setting came to mind. The game itself doesn't contain this location, it's just what arrived in my brain as I was listening to it. Inspiration can be difficult to describe, in this case it's more or less the entire background of the tale.

I saw a backwater planet, swamps, hidden temples, and a tucked away treasure deep inside the bowels of the world that was . . . alive? What the story eventually turned into, however, is still one barnburner of an action piece that still has those more eerie elements I first imagined. It was definitely different for me at the time, but the pieces of my older work are still quite visible.

"Duel On Dalpha" is one of the most straightforward stories in my style that I've ever written. Shootouts, monsters, mecha, and mystical weirdness, all packed together in the tale of one old sheriff who is running low on time to do the job he needs to do. At the same time, the world he knows isn't quite what it seems--and neither is he.

You might be wondering why I didn't submit this to a magazine or anthology. To understand that would have to realize that state of the market in 2020, four years ago. "Duel On Dalpha" is a full-on novelette, and there was just no market for those at the time. Much as I enjoyed writing this story, I didn't know how else to get it out to readers.

Unless your story was either sub 9k works or short novel length (40k words), any story that slides in that giant chasm just had no market to exist in. Even now I'm not quite sure there is one. Stories of novelette and novella length are too long for the short story market and too short for the eBook crowd. So, writers are kind of stuck here.

As I continued in that old post:

"I never submitted it anywhere, but I knew one thing for sure: nobody would buy this story. It is too long for the markets I usually submit to, and there is too much action for any of the other outlets to give a second glance to. This is pure entertainment, and doesn't exist to lecture the audience about anything. There wasn't any way to sell it, despite how much I love this story. That's just a reality of the modern market. Only certain types of stories are profitable, ones that fall in a specific formula, other types are simply out of luck. There is nothing normal about Duel On Dalpha, but I still wanted to get it out there."

You see, while "Duel On Dalpha" is normal for me, it's still not very normal for the market. Not that I am the most unique writer out there, but I do not write industry standard fare. Nothing I've written would be looked at twice by OldPub, and even smaller publishers would not appreciate the fact that I don't really write standard novel series. That's why this story could only really exist and be presented to you thanks to the way NewPub is now. If you want to know why I am more positive about the state of things than a lot of my peers are, it is because I've lived through this change in the market and see it more clearly now.

Believe it or not, selling action stories was a lot harder back then than it is today. I was also still new enough at the short story game that I didn't have that much experience with how it worked at the time. This led to me releasing it as a bonus for newsletter subscribers. Hey, I had to give it to them somehow, and what better way than as a thank you for their support? The only reason I'm doing this is thanks to them, after all.

After finally getting this tale cobbled out, I got Brian Niemeier to edit it for me and ArtAnon to do the cover, selling it as if it was on par with my normal size books, even though it was for free.

And I still think it is on par with my other works. When editing it over one last time for Two Adventures Across Eternity I was amazed at how well it turned out even back then, and it's still a blast to read today. In fact, I might say this would be the story to read if you've never read any of my stories before. And now you can get it with a bonus story packaged in.

"Duel On Dalpha" holds up very well, but I never managed to put it out in print and after moving my newsletter to Substack I also didn't have much reason to keep an older story like that up as a bonus. But I also didn't just want to start charging for something that was free before, therefore I bundled it with a new story (which I will talk about in another post) in order to justify the $0.99 it would cost on Amazon, as well as give me the opportunity to try out the pocket paperback option on Lulu. So now there are more ways to read it than ever before.

All that to get it out again and make it more easily accessible to readers again.

The theme that originally inspired the story

There isn't much to talk about behind the creation to "Duel On Dalpha" because there wasn't any rational path or logic behind its creation. The story is based on a feeling, a notion, an emotion, and glimpse of a world far beyond this one that I want to catch in a passing moment in my mind. I'd like to think I did just that. When you read this one, you are transported to an alien place where things aren't quite where they seem and danger lurks about every corner. It's a glimpse of a world hidden just out of reach, but one we can find traces of if we squint hard enough.

The 2010s was not a very imaginative decade, in fact it was very bleak overall. One of the things I wanted to do with my writing was push through the darkness encroaching on everything and bring readers to those lands of the imagination that make life so very much worth living. A land of light beyond the black lands.

In fact, now that I think about it, this story is probably the one that most resembles where I would like to take my writing in the future, tone-wise. It's a sign of things to come. For now, however, I have other projects to get to. But that doesn't change how much "Duel On Dalpha" means to me as a story. It's why I wanted to put it out for readers again so badly, after all.

The setting is one I will probably return to for other tales in the future, too. The idea of legendary knights at the end of time that were actually giants fighting forces of decaying darkness across the entire galaxy is not one that will go unused, I tell you. There are more knights than Gawain, after all. Though, again, it'll probably be awhile.

Regardless, the world of "Duel On Dalpha" is one of wonder and mystery, danger around every bend. Come visit it and see for yourself.

"Duel On Dalpha is available in Two Adventures Across Eternity in eBook form & in print!

A Short 2023 Update

It's been a bit hectic around here recently, so I wanted to pause a bit on what's actually been going on behind the scenes. It's time for an update on some behind the scenes stuff!

As you can see above, I was recently on the Iron Age Marketing channel on YouTube talking about recent projects. The information a bit old since I was still crowdfunding at the time, but still is quite the discussion on just about everything story-related that I can remember. I don't get the chance to talk about this stuff that much so feel free to watch the episode for yourself! Nicky was quite the courteous host.

Speaking of stories, aside from the entire Gemini Man series being released this year (which are available on sale for only one more day!), you might not know what else I've been working on. That's mostly because I haven't had the chance to share it with you. Thanks to real world business and the online world really trying to implode on itself this year, it's been quite the time just trying to produce the work I've wanted to.

Though this year I have put out four books, the most I've ever released in a year before, I've also been working on other stories in the background as always. Let me talk about a few today, because it will probably be a while before I can do so again! I prefer waiting until stories are completed to discuss them in full, so I'll just briefly touch on them as projects in the pipeline. If you know me, you know I always find a way to give readers my stories. These will release, one way or another!

One of these tales, called "Mirage Carousal" will be in Cirsova magazine next year in issue #20. This has all the hallmarks you know from my stories, but it's bit weirder than the norm and, like "City Eater" from Sidearm & Sorcery Volume Two, more modern in its setting and apocalyptic in its concerns. That said, as always, expect the action packed and the bizarre in one place!

Another project is a story I'm currently polishing up for submission to another publication. This is happening at the very moment you are reading this, assuming you're not from the future. This one continues a recent theme I've been writing about, which you will probably guess by the time the above Cirsova story releases. That said, it's becoming surprisingly long . . .

After that is a sort of novella trilogy I want to begin writing this winter that is completely unlike anything I've done before. This won't be like Y Signal and it's interstitials, which were deliberately spaced and cover a year in time, or as loosely interconnected as Someone is Aiming for You, which forms its own narrative upon completion. This story is more or less a complete three part serial that goes right from one part to the next as if it ran in Weird Tales back in the day. This one will probably take me a while, and might even have to go on the backburner for a bit, but it's a project I am very excited to dive into. Prayers that I can do so!

I'm also working on another surprise, currently in personal editing, but first I want to polish the above short story and get it finished first. This will be my next release, if all things work out. Regardless, I am still not done for the year.

For those who missed the campaign, the paperback version of the Gemini Man series will be on Amazon shortly, I am just juggling many projects at once and KDP is slow to release things. That said, I will put out a proper announcement for it next week.

Those are my writing plans for the rest of 2023. But what about next year?

The first confirmed project to mention is that I am releasing a collection with Cirsova called Star Wanderers. I do not want to go into any details before they are ready to share them, except to say that I am very proud of this one, and it's not quite what you might be expecting. It's a perfect project to crossover with Cirsova.

Now that Gemini Man is finally wrapped up, you might remember that I mentioned a new series I was working on back in 2022 that I had to put on the backburner to get this one out. I don't know if I mentioned it since, but I even finished the first book and was ready to send it to an editor before I got hit with the Gemini Man series to be put out first. Thanks to the crowdfund backers (seriously, many thanks! It could not have been done with you!) I was able to put this one together all nice and tight and get the entire series assembled in a shiny package, as well as the stretch goal novellas compiled into Book 4, which allowed me to complete it as best as I could manage to. All of that, however, allowed me time to reconsider a bit of the new series.

I can let slip a few details, the first being that it will be four books long, much like the Gemini Man series. Unlike the Gemini Man, however, this series is not going to be very standard. I have different plans with each entry that will lead up to the finale in the final book. That said, the project is still on the backburner and will come off of it when I finally finish the above 2023 projects and can give it the focus it needs. I have a lot I want to do with this one, so it's going to take a little longer to finally focus on what I want to do.

Meanwhile I have a lot of things in the pipeline beyond that, but there's no point going into those until they are much further along. Needless to say, more Galactic Enforcer and Night Rhythm stories are still on the docket and are in production, as well as others beyond that. I've even updated my Neocities page to more accurately reflect the works I've put out thus far which should maybe give you an idea of what I want to do next. I'm working to fill that out a bit more next year.

2024 will also be the 10th year anniversary of Wasteland & Sky! I have to admit, I didn't think it would last as long as it has back when I started, but it's been quite a ride. Hard to believe its been so long since I decided on a whim to make this place, but we're still here! I'm not really certain what I can do as a celebration, but I'll see if I can think of something fun. If you have any suggestions of what you'd like to see, let me know.

That's about all I have to say for today. I wanted to thank you for all the support you've given me and I hope to continue writing as best as I can for as long as I can. I truly couldn't have done any of this without the readers. As a consequence you also deserve the best stories I can conjure up, and I plan to keep taking it to the next level with every project.

2023 isn't over yet though, so keep out for a few more surprises before the calendar changes over. We're not quite done, and we've got much more to see!

Reminder that the this is the final day the Gemini Man series is on sale!