Hello fiends
I really am rubbish at this newsletter frequency thing, huh? If it’s any consolation, I’m even worse at keeping my YouTube channel up to date. That’s truly woeful. I mean, who has time? But I do mean to do more videos, so hit me up with any suggestions if there are things you’d like to see me talk about there.
However, I’m being forgiving of myself when it comes to not getting things done right now. 2024 has been a fucking wild year for us, including that whole interstate move thing. And while that’s the biggest thing that’s happened, it’s far from the only one. The last eighteen months or so has been truly tumultuous, if I’m honest. I would really like 2025 to be boring as fuck. That curse about living in interesting times? I get it. I want to live in genuinely boring times for a while, please. But I won’t hold my breath. I anticipate the bonkersness (totally a word) will continue indefinitely.
The world right now is wild. If all you’ve managed to do is survive, then pat yourself on the back. That’s a massive achievement, well done. Times are tough and berating yourself for not doing enough is self-destructive. Celebrate your survival and look to the future. Honestly, it’s hard to believe we’re already heading into mid-December. Here’s a pretty good representation of my year:
Yours is probably pretty similar, yeah? It’s okay, we’re all feeling it. Time is a stupid concept anyway and holding yourself to some arbitrary calendar devised by monks is kinda crazy. So what if it’s technically the end of the year? Today only one day later than yesterday. January 1st is no different in any significant way than April 6th or September 13th or whatever. Forgive yourself, there’s power in it.
But if we do look at the arbitrary calendar, I’ve had less than usual published this year overall. I had a new novel out, which is more than enough on its own, of course, so I’m not at all bothered. Blood Covenant came out in May and I’m really happy with the response it’s received. It didn’t hit as hard and as well as Sallow Bend, sadly, but I’m not complaining. The book has been well-received all the same. If you’ve read Blood Covenant and can spare a moment to review or rate online (Amazon, Goodreads, any social media, etc.) it really helps, thank you! And if you haven’t grabbed a copy yet, I really hope you do. I’m super proud of it.
Aside from Blood Covenant, the only other publication I’ve had this year is my short story, “Hunting By Moonlight”, in SNAFU: AI Insurrection (Cohesion Press). I’m really proud of that story too and the whole SNAFU anthology series is well worth your time. But for someone as driven as I am, seeing only one short story published in a year makes me wince a little bit. There are two others which were supposed to be coming out, but have both been delayed, so it would have been three. That’s something, right?
One of those two delayed stories is in The Time Machine Australia Bound which is up for pre-order now. It features stories of H G Wells’ famous machine, but all set in various eras of Australia, penned by a plethora of Aussie writing talent. I’m proud to have my darkly comedic crime yarn, “Slippery Hunt’s Big Score”, included. It will be in paperback, ebook or the always beautiful PS Publishing limited edition hardcover.
Pre-order it here in hardcover: https://pspublishing.co.uk/the-time-machine-australia-bound-signed-hardcover-edited-by-steve-proposch–christopher-sequeira-6443-p.asp
Or here in paperback: https://pspublishing.co.uk/the-time-machine-australia-bound-paperback-edited-by-steve-proposch–christopher-sequeira-6438-p.asp
Of course, we have no control over when stuff happens and I need to remind myself constantly that authors control literally ONE thing: the writing. Everything after that is out of our hands. We can work hard to help push things along, we can look out for opportunities, we can promote ourselves to whatever degree we’re comfortable with and all that stuff. But in the end, the only thing we actually control is the writing and that’s where our focus needs to be. Whatever else is going on, we need to do the writing.
When I stop and look at that, I realise I’ve achieved a lot more. So much of this job happens behind the scenes and takes ages to come around, if it comes around at all. For example, I’ve been working on a bunch of things that haven’t come to fruition yet. I’ve also put a lot of effort into things that have fallen over and won’t ever pay off. But it’s all work and it all moves me forward, however incrementally. And some good stuff is coming of it.
I’ve sent off a new novel and a new novella to my agent, both of which are out on submission right now. Please cross all your everythings for me on that front. I’ve got another new novel that needs a big rewrite and huge thanks to my pal, Jo Anderton, for spending hours on Zoom with me helping to get my head around how I can fix that book. I’m ready to move forward with it again now and that’s my next big project.
I was asked for a story for a book series I’m a big fan of and was thrilled to get the invite. I just recently heard that my story there has been accepted. That’s fantastic and I’ll be sure to tell you more about it next year when I’m able to.
And through my agent, I’ve also secured a new publisher for the Eli Carver novellas, which I’m really excited about. You may remember that those books were originally with Grey Matter Press, but I got the rights back and wasn’t sure what was happening with them. Well, the good people at Sobelo Books have bought all three novellas and they’re going to republish them in a collected omnibus edition called Recall in February next year. The amazing SaberCore, who did the original Manifest Recall cover, is doing the new cover for the omnibus, so watch out for that reveal sometime soon.
So this gig is slow and frustrating and filled with rejection and waiting and waiting and waiting, but things do happen if you continually focus on the writing. Hopefully 2025 will be a boring year in every way except publication success. Fingers crossed.
What I’ve Been Enjoying
I’ve been absolutely inhaling the TV series From recently. I’ve just got up to date with the final episode of season 3 and I think we have to wait until 2026 for season 4, but it’s brilliant television. I’m a little concerned that they’re going to pull a Lost and totally fuck up the ending, but it feels like they’re moving towards a planned ending and I hope they pull it off.
I’ve now started watching a new Korean show called Hellbound. I’ve only seen the first two episodes so far, but it’s pretty intense stuff. I’m wondering how much they’re going to lean into the Christian mythology for it and hoping they move into something more interesting, but we’ll see.
With reading, I mentioned last time that I was really enjoying The Reformatory by Tananarive Due. I finished that and it’s absolutely outstanding. Amazing book.
A couple of others I’ve loved recently have been The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias, a good supernatural crime/horror hybrid in Iglesias’s signature barrio noir style, and All The Sinners Bleed by S A Cosby. Cosby hasn’t written a bad book yet, I’ve really enjoyed them all. He’s a great writer.
Anyway, that’s about it from me for now. As anyone who knows me will attest, I’m a total grinch and hate this time of year. It’s worth remembering that Xmas can be pretty traumatic for a lot of us for various reasons and I always struggle with it. I try to see it through the eyes of my kid these days and find some new joy in it, but I’m always glad when we’re past it and into the new year. So if you struggle with this time of year too, I feel you. Hang in there, it’ll be okay and it’ll be over soon. If you’re a big Xmas fan, I hope you have a great time. Enjoy it, because it’ll be over soon. As ever, all things pass and all things are yet to come. Be kind to yourself especially and others as much as you’re able. Remember, time is arbitrary. You’re doing fine.
All the best and I’ll see you on the other side.
Al