Weekly Roundup: October 2nd - October 7th
I’m e rathke, the author of a number of books. Learn more about what you signed up for here. Go here to manage your email notifications.
This Week’s Posts
I did something sort of random but inspired by something
mentioned somewhere. I started a new substack that will just republish obscure or forgotten works in the public domain. For the month of October, I’m posting daily chapters from Carmilla by J Sheridan la Fanu, which is a pre-Stoker vampire novel with strong lesbian undertones.You can read the novel beginning at the Prologue.
Tuesday: Wrote about the dangerously addictive game Katana Zero, which is both more fun and tells a better story than you’d expect.
Wednesday: Paying subscribers received Chapter Twenty Two of Emrys the Fool and free subscribers received Chapter Twenty. If you received neither, there are instructions here on how to get these in your email.
I love Chapter Twenty, by the way. I’ve mentioned it already in these weekly roundups but it really is my favorite thing I’ve written all year across all my various projects.
Thursday: Wrote a brief writerly lesson about tension and narrative flow.
Also Dadpod Gamescast released its ninth episode! It’s about Super Metroid, one of the greatest games of all time.
I hope you give us a listen. Like and subscribe and review and all that. You can subscribe here at substack or at wherever you like to listen to podcasts, like Spotify and Apple.
From the Archives
Thinking about this essay again because of something I read, which I’ll link down below.
Listening
I love Kail Baxley but forgot about him for a few years.
Reading
This essay about A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce is an interesting juxtaposition to my essay, I think. Check it out.
Just finished Marc Morris’ history of the Anglo-Saxons and am now reading his book about the Norman Conquest because of chronology and all that.
Watching
New episode of Survivor was great. Kaleb is the player to watch. The 90 minute episodes add so much texture to the game, which I love.
Like almost always, we’re sort of rewatching Community.
Also, the Harry Potter movies. The reviews for these will be collected in a forthcoming book and it will be the only place to read them!
The book is coming at the end of October and is probably called Last Train to Hogwarts.
Might write a response to this.
What Else?
is running a workshop next month!
If you’re a writer—whether beginner or not—this is a great opportunity to work with one of the best.
Iron Wolf and Sleeping Giants are still newly out and could use reviews!
Finished writing the Iron Wolf sequel, which you can expect sooner than you’re probably expecting.
I’m in Wisconsin at my best friend’s wedding so don’t expect to hear much from me. Or, well, when you read this, I’ll probably be driving home from the wedding.
Next weekend, I’ll be at the Twin Cities Book Festival. So come meet me if you’re around. I’ll be selling books at a discounted price and you can talk to me and junk and stuff and whatever.
Still tinkering around with designing a few games but I’ve also begun a gargantuan essay about AI, which is not unrelated to the many translations of Beowulf and Gawain and the Green Knight I read this summer.
Expect that to make sense before the end of the year.
That’s it from me.
Anyway, read my books that are currently out. Then review them.
Thank you.
Read the first three chapter of Sleeping Giants.
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
Some free books for your trouble:
Wolf.
Howl.