October 2021 Dispatch

I hope you all are keeping happy and healthy! September has (thankfully) not been very eventful here, so I’m going to keep it fairly short.

The big writing news is that Unfinished Business has a tentative release date, at TFF next year. This is contingent on me getting it done in time for the publisher to do the pre-release stuff they need to, but I’m pretty confident that can happen. And I’ve got a cover in the works that I’m excited to show off to y’all.

Here’s the blurb (may not be the final blurb):

Private Investigator Jae Kim is one of the few humans comfortable in Wolftown, where werewolves, vampires, and other extranormal people live. In fact, there’s only one “extra” he tries hard to avoid: his werewolf ex-boyfriend. But when a fake police report gets trigger-happy vigilantes chasing him, his ex’s house is the only refuge he has. Now his ex and his ghost-bear partner are his only allies in a desperate quest to find out who set him up—and his life isn’t the only one at stake.

So in October I’m going to be finishing that up and then I’ll probably get started on Return From Divalia, with an eye to getting that out in middle 2022.

I’m not going to BLFC. I appreciate the measures they’re putting in place, and I’m sure they’ll be fine, but personally I’m not sure I’m ready to be indoors in crowds for an extended period of time, and my partners feel the same. Besides, FC isn’t too far away and I am planning to be there. MFF is still up in the air for now. But because I’m now planning a book launch for TFF, that one seems more likely.

Things to watch:

I finished both The Kominsky Method (Netflix) and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (NBC/Hulu) and really enjoyed what both of them did with their endings. Brooklyn Nine-Nine has more emotional weight behind it, and in a difficult final season I think they nailed it. The Kominsky Method juggled various emotional arcs, and there’s a big gap between seasons 2 and 3, but I think it all works well. Would recommend both.

I watched Nine Perfect Strangers (Hulu) and while I appreciated the acting, the story in general left me wanting. I can’t comment on it too much without getting spoilery, but I thought that the very good emotional performances lacked a grounding in the story. It’s beautifully filmed and raises some really interesting ideas, so it’s certainly worth checking out to see if it’s your speed.

Only Murders In The Building (Hulu) hooked me from the first episode and has delivered on that promise through seven episodes. It’s funny but not as over-the-top as you might think a show starring Steve Martin and Martin Short would be; both of them play flawed, nuanced, engaging characters. And the mystery is—so far—engrossing.

Lastly, I’ll come back to Taskmaster only to point out that full episodes of the show are also on YouTube and are also very much worth checking out. The individual tasks are fun, but watching the running jokes that build through the course of an episode and a series is rewarding in a different way. Any of the series are great; kudos to the producers for finding a good mix of comedians in each one. There’s usually at least one with a dry sense of humor, one young earnest one, and one agent of chaos.

And a reminder! In a couple weeks I’ll be writing a writing advice post. If you have questions, send them to me on Twitter or in comments here (or on last month’s advice post).

Happy Halloween all!