Weekly Roundup: January 1st - January 13th
I’m still trying to decide if I should do these every week, every other week, or just once a month. So here’s the first roundup post of this new year.
But before we get to that stuff, I want to talk about Noir: A Love Story which is scheduled to come soon. Right now, the wait is just on the cover art, which may end up being rather late due to personal events in the artist’s life. But I’ve seen the sketch of it and it’s going to be great.
I think to begin to pave the way for Noir: A Love Story, I’ll begin sharing excerpts. So expect a few of those in the coming weeks. But, for now, a synopsis.
Noir: A Love Story is an oral history sparked by a woman burning alive in a crowded street and a man hanging lifeless from an ancient tree. Twenty-six narrators attempt to unravel and reveal the life and love of these two. From modern America to an ancient culture lost within it, a cacophony of men and women who never knew these two—and the few that did—tell the story of lives transformed, of a town that exists nowhere, and the beating heart of a dream carried in bleeding palms.
In other other news, my short story New Trees was listed by Tor.com as one of the best stories of December. That’s pretty neat, especially since it was rejected by all the major science fiction magazines.
Recent Posts
January 2nd: THE YEAR OF RATHKE. A recap of 2023 and a look forward to 2024 and my plans for the newsletter and beyond. This one’s full of announcements, so check it out if you haven’t yet and want to know what’s going to be happening here this year.
January 9th: The Boy and the Heron by Hayao Miyazaki. I discuss Hayao Miyazaki’s most recent and possibly final movie. This review was also picked up by Cha: An Asian Literary Journal in a slightly edited way. Was very happy with the reaction people had to this one. I have still more to say about this—there is always more to say—movie but I think I captured the feeling of experiencing it well enough.
January 10th: Come Read With Me. In which I announce my intention to read all of Berserk and write about each arc as I make my way through it. More importantly, I ask all of you to vote on a big reading project. A chapter by chapter, close read of a series. When I was thinking about this, I assumed that Lord of the Rings would win in a landslide. Like, not even close. Never once did I consider any of the other options winning. Even so, I put the other four in because I thought each of them would be fun to do (and I might do them anyway, eventually!). But I have been absolutely shocked that Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun is currently leading the pack! Now, there are still a few days to vote, so this may change, but I think this says very interesting things about my readers, that they would choose to do a close reading of a difficult, slippery science fantasy series about an executioner rather than Lord of the Rings. For that, I salute those of you who have voted so far.
If you haven’t voted yet, go vote now!
January 11th: My interview with
January 12th: A Worldbuilding Exercise. A little writing exercise.
From the Archives
I was not gifted Super Mario Wonder for Christmas so I’m just sitting here thinking about Cormac McCarthy’s legendary review of Super Mario 3.
Listening
A classic from the dark basement of youtube.
Reading
Finished reading Neuromancer for the first time this week. I’ll have a lot to say about it! Also read Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica, which is phenomenal and dark and weird and just straight up foul. One of the more interesting horror and dystopian novels I’ve ever come across.
I’ll be thinking about that ending for a long time.
Also, the day I started reading it, about an hour before I started reading it, I got the idea for an oral history novel about cannibalism, so this novel just fit perfectly into where my head was at.
Oh, too: BR Yeager’s Negative Space. I may have to write a whole review for this. Lots to think about, even still.
Watching
Just watched this and I love it.
What Else?
I started this substack last year and for the foreseeable future it’s devoted to Varney the Vampyre, the grandfather of vampire fiction.
The Dadpod Gamescast released our sixteenth episode! It’s about Dungeons & Dragons and you don’t even need to listen to me speak in it!
I may as well announce this here and now. Along with the plans for reading up above, I’m currently reading through House of Leaves with my Dadpod Gamescast cohost. The first episode of our read through, which discusses up to Chapter IX, is coming in two weeks. So if you want to join in with one of the most interesting and influential horror novels of this new century, come along.
And then here, on the as yet unused podcast section of this very newsletter, I’ll be discussing the works of William Gibson. I’m recording the first episode tomorrow with
. So expect about an hour of us chatting about Neuromancer next week. Maybe Thursday.It’s a bit of a trial run for me, since the Dadpod Gamescast is mostly edited and handled by Joe while I’m just along for the ride, baby. But this one will be all me. I’m also tinkering with some other ideas for the podcast.
But, yes, just to recap:
Reading and discussing House of Leaves at the Dadpod Gamescast.
Reading and discussing the works of William Gibson in the Wolf Podcast.
Reading and writing about Berserk at the Wolf Newsletter.
Reading and writing about a book series you get to help choose through voting here at the Wolf Newsletter.
What can I say? I like to read.
That’s it from me.
Anyway, read my books that are currently out. Then review them.
Thank you.
My novels:
Glossolalia - A Le Guinian fantasy novel about an anarchic community dealing with a disaster
Sing, Behemoth, Sing - Deadwood meets Neon Genesis Evangelion
Howl - Vampire Hunter D meets The Book of the New Sun in this lofi cyberpunk/solarpunk monster hunting adventure
Colony Collapse - Star Trek meets Firefly in the opening episode of this space opera
The Blood Dancers - The standalone sequel to Colony Collapse.
Iron Wolf - Sequel to Howl.
Sleeping Giants - Standalone sequel to Colony Collapse and The Blood Dancers
Broken Katana - Sequel to Iron Wolf.
Libertatia; or, The Onion King - Standalone sequel to Colony Collapse, The Blood Dancers, and Sleeping Giants
Some free books for your trouble:
Wolf.
Howl.
I vote for once a month if you're taking votes. With that depth of perspective, it's easier for you to know what's important.