Before I get into what happened in April, here’s the big news: Fast Break, a story about the gay rookie basketball player Seb Sato and his struggle to become a superstar, debuts on my Patreon this month. If you subscribe at the $20+ level before the tenth, you’ll get the first chapter. I send out links to each chapter every month rather than leaving them posted up on Patreon (because of piracy concerns), so you can’t really subscribe in a few months and catch up on the backlog.
If you can’t afford the $20/month, I understand! This is a bonus for people who can afford to support me and who want to see a first draft. Fast Break will be offered for sale the regular way when it’s done, in a few years. In the meantime, since Ty the Knot wrapped up, I’ll see about getting that out to the bookstores next year.
In April, we got another image commissioned from Hibbary for The Price of Thorns (purchase links below). Here we have a pretty terrifying dead bat guarding the entrance to Scarlet’s volcano lair:
April was a fun month! We caught a showing of Zootopia at Disney’s El Capitan theater, which was unexpectedly fun. I still love that movie, but I’ve gotten used to watching it on a small screen, when you can pause it to take a break anytime. In a theater—and with an audience as into it as we were—it was a more intense, engaging experience. I was glad to have the chance to see it again that way.
From a writing standpoint, I finished up edits on Dead Right and am getting ready to put final touches on Squeak Thief so that both of those can come out this year. Then it’ll be on to Azure City edits. Next month (June) I’m going on a writing retreat where I hope to work out what the next Wolftown book will be. I’ve also been writing a craft book provisionally titled “How to Novel” where I’m writing down all the stuff I’ve learned about writing novels, in case it’s of use to anyone, and I’m really pleased with how it’s going.
And in June, we’ll be launching a Kickstarter to fund an audiobook for Dude, Where’s My Pack? We’re hoping to get Zeke Tiger (who did Dude, Where’s My Fox?) to narrate this one, too. I’ll include details here, but also keep an eye on my socials for info!
Next convention will be AnthroCon in July! I’ll be doing panels and selling books, like usual. Hope to see many of y’all there. I don’t get to AC too often, so take advantage of this chance!
Books:
The Price of Thorns: OUT NOW, buy at Argyll and review at Amazon or GoodReads. In a fantasy world where stories are woven into the fabric of magic and life, Nivvy the thief is hired by a mysterious woman, and this job will change his life in ways he could never have anticipated.
Audiobooks: The Mysterious Affair of Giles is the latest audiobook to hit the stands, as it were. I’m thrilled that you finally get to hear Huskyteer’s lovely narration of this Agatha Christie-like story.
Winter Games is done and available now! Check it out. We’re very happy with this new recording and hope you’ll enjoy rediscovering that old title. As Kit read through it, he kept coming back to me with little bits we’d both forgotten about and enjoyed remembering.
As for the others: We are working on getting Titles and Love Match 2 done and available to you. Both have been recorded and are now under our review to send back to the narrators for minor corrections. And we are working on a Price of Thorns audiobook! Because we have been traveling so much, production has paused, but we’re eager to get going again and hope to have this out early next year.
Other upcoming releases:
Squeak Thief: Summer 2024. A rich mouse hires a fox thief to steal from his own family, but the job quickly spirals out of control. (Novella)
Azure City: 2024-25. A book full of blank pages might be the key to another world, but the more Athos reads, the more he disappears from this one.
Dead Right: Late summer/fall 2024. Jae gets tangled in the life of a ghost activist who endangers his relationships and his future.
In progress: Fast Break (on Patreon), craft book, untitled fantasy world project.
Streaming:
I’ve finished two seasons of Resident Alien (Netflix/Peacock) and I feel comfortable recommending it. It reminds me of Northern Exposure, but smoothed over a bit. Alan Tudyk is great, but the whole supporting cast is terrific as well. My only complaint with the second season is that a few plotlines come up kind of out of nowhere sort of to give some of the cast something to do, but they’re fun to follow anyway. It just gives the second season a kind of chaotic energy.
We watched Fallout (Amazon) and enjoyed it immensely. Everyone brings their A game to this show, and even though I never played the game, I had a great time learning about the world and meeting these new characters. Walton Goggins is a treasure, and the cinematography and set pieces are lovingly designed. Jonathan Nolan brings some of that Westworld touch to the show (multiple timelines, hidden mysteries), but unlike in Westworld, information is paced appropriately. If you can stomach cartoony gore, it’s worth checking out.
After Fallout, we moved on to Shōgun (Hulu), which has been excellent so far. It reminds me a lot of early Game of Thrones in its pacing and politics, and in some of the episodes that build up a sense of dread in what’s about to happen. All the acting is great (I particularly appreciate Anna Sawai, in a much different role than she had in Monarch—did I tell y’all about Monarch? Can’t remember.) and the production is gorgeous.
Related, a friend recommended I try Blue Eye Samurai (Netflix), which also deals with Japan and the intrusion of white people into its culture, but in a later period than Shōgun. It’s a very different show, but also great so far.
Hope you all have a lovely May! Happy belated May Day, May the Fourth, and Cinco de Mayo, all who celebrate any of them!