Weekly Roundup: October 9th - October 14th
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 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 various versions of The Little Mermaid and which one is best.
Wednesday: Paying subscribers received Chapter Twenty Three of Emrys the Fool and free subscribers received Chapter Twenty One. If you received neither, there are instructions here on how to get these in your email.
Thursday: I interviewed Redd Oscar.
From the Archives
Since they’ve announced a sequel to Prey, you may as well revisit my essay about Prey and Predator.
I’ve always liked this essay and it became, I think, my most popular essay of all time, which sure is something!
Listening
Reading
Here’s an interesting histroy of Del Rey books that ends in sort of a nonsequitur.
Two weeks mired in the history of the Anglo Saxons and the Norman Conquest by Marc Morris and I cannot recommend these books enough. Marc Morris has an effortless quality to his writing.
I’ve read a fair amount of books about this time period and it’s always difficult to really summarize a book that sweeps through several centuries of history, but I prefer Morris’ books over all the rest.
This upcoming week will involve me reading more Old English poetry along with a long awaited reread of Bram Stoker’s Dracula because I have some vampiric things I want to discuss with all of you.
Probably Halloween is the right time for that, yeah?
Watching
Along with that vampiric talk, I watched Castlevania: Nocturne on Netflix.
It’s pretty good!
Makes me want to go back and watch the other Castlevania series. Especially since I’ve spent the week playing Castlvania: Symphony of the Night.
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.
is running a new kickstarter after some frustrations with the traditional publishing process. Looks pretty cool. A duology of fairy tale-esque thrillers, which sounds like the kind of thing ready made for me, and probably some of you. You can read the first seven chapters here.Iron Wolf and Sleeping Giants are still newly out and could use reviews!
Also Dadpod Gamescast released its ninth episode last week! 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.
Spent the week editing Season Two of The Shattered Stars, so you can expect these quarterly for at least the next year. Of course, by this time next year, we’ll probably be finished writing Season Three, and on and on forever, or until we lose the fun.
And then I caught up on Morktober, which is a fun way to spark some worldbuilding. Most of this is spilling out of the RPG I designed last month, or maybe the month before.
Who knows when anything happens.
Come see me today at the Twin Cities Book Festival at the State Fair grounds! I’ll be selling books at a discounted price and you can talk to me and junk and stuff and whatever. I’ll be there from 10am-5pm.
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.
Thanks for the mention :) Can't wait to get the book into your hands.