Weekly Roundup: September 11th - September 16th
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. For the month of September, I’m offering steep discounts on subscriptions.
This Week’s Posts
Tuesday: I analyzed the children from the HBO series Succession. Spoilers are everywhere, but it’s a good one.
Wednesday: Paying subscribers received Chapter Nineteen of Emrys the Fool and free subscribers received Chapter Seventeen. If you received neither, there are instructions here on how to get these in your email.
Chapter Twenty is going to wrap up this second mini-arc, but that chapter is about 10,000 words. But it’s also a real fun chapter. That’s coming in two weeks, so now is a good time to catch up!
Thursday: I interviewed Travis Blake.
Friday: Not posted at this here substack, but my children’s storytime podcast continues with Chapter Eleven of A Pirate’s Life. This is the story I’ve been telling my son for a few months and began recording for him on his Yoto Player. With that in mind, this is a story meant for children and so share it with a child.
A young boy named Carrot who wants to become a pirate. Chapter Eleven involves a heading back to sea and making curry.
Music by my good friend Bart Larsen.
Saturday: Ran a rather large excerpt from Sleeping Giants, the next episode in The Shattered Stars. You can pre-order now!
From the Archives
My Wong Kar Wai series has not been abandoned, but I’ve been working on the final essay, which is now combining In the Mood for Love and 2046, which I should have always known was going to happen. This essay will hopefully be out next month, so now’s a good time to catch up or start back at the beginning!
Listening
Reading
Vurt by Jeff Noon is one of the wildest books I’ve ever read. Sort of like if William S Burroughs wrote Neuromancer.
Not gonna be for everyone, but it sure is a delight to me.
Also read On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers, which was a whole bucketfull of fun! Definitely recommended, especially if you’re looking for some piracy in your life.
This isn’t linking properly into the post, but
did a great interview with Mark Kirkland, a prolific director of The Simpsons.Watching
Can’t even remember. Who cares.
What Else?
As a reminder, I’m offering a Pay what you want or Pay what you can subscription discount! This deal is only available until the end of the month.
Iron Wolf is still newly out and could use reviews!
I continue to remind you of the Dadpod Gamescast! Last week we talked about Mega Man. Next week, we’re talkin Beatemups!
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.
You can sample the RPG ruleset I made last week:
I would genuinely appreciate any feedback, especially if anyone decides to try playing it. I’ll keep tinkering away on it, but I think I’ve reached more or less my limit with what’s possible for me to accomplish without playtesting.
To send me feedback, respond to this email in your inbox or ejrathke at gmail.
Also, for you writers out there, I have a plan for this world that may be of interest to you. More on this later this month.
That’s it from me.
Anyway, read my books that are currently out. Then review them.
Thank you.
My novels, whose paperbacks are all $9.99 for the month of September:
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.
I've got some rpg feedback for you. I'll get it to you this week—hopefully tomorrow.
Loved the interview. Skipped Succession for now because I still haven't started watching it despite that I keep saying I'm about to start :)