October 2022 Dispatch
It’s creepy season! I like October a lot—one of my top two months of the year, maybe top three depending on how I feel about Christmas in any given year—and this is usually the time in California when we look back on those 90-degree days and say “see you in June!” Who knows this year, but we did get up to the high 80s recently and that’s all. Fingers crossed the temps keep going down.
Good news! The Price of Thorns is done and off to the publisher. I believe the plan is to do some pre-release review stuff with it, so it’ll likely be published next year in spring. Keep an eye out for announcements from Argyll as the process goes along! We’ll likely do a cover reveal sometime this fall.
Speaking of publishers, October is Furry Book Month! The Furry Writers Guild has a good roundup of the deals available this month.
I’ve been going through Return From Divalia and I believe it’s still on track to come out at MFF (where I will also be!). This is the first Argaea novel in over a decade; when I wrote Shadow of the Father, I was still at my tech job (in the last year of it, though I didn’t know that until the end of the year). I remember thinking that if I wrote a thousand words a day, I could finish a novel in three months. It more or less worked out that way, and the thousand words a day worked with an adventurey novel because I would always try to leave the day’s writing on a note that made me excited to continue the next day.
Return From Divalia was also written serially, at about 1500 words a week for my Patreon (currently I’m working on a Robin Hood fan fiction over there, which also lends itself well to an adventurey vibe). It’s holding together well and I anticipate being able to start the final proofing phase next week.
Still working on that Ty Game sequel, also at the Patreon ($20+ tiers). It’s maybe halfway through now so I think it’ll be a while until it’s finished.
The Furry Writers Guild’s online convention, Oxfurred Comma, is this month! Rukis and I have recorded a panel on writing series that was cut short to half an hour thanks to neither of us having a reliable online conference recording mechanism, but we still covered some cool stuff. Keep an eye on the FWG’s Twitter for announcements.
Book stuff! Unfinished Business is the latest book I’ve released, and it’s out (under my other name) on all your favorite online stores. Buying from Argyll directly (e-book or physical) keeps the most money in our furry community.
Upcoming releases:
Return From Divalia: Scheduled for MFF 2022. A sequel to the novelette “Stolen Away” (in Weasel Presents, but the novelette is included at the beginning so don’t worry about missing it), this story follows a poor Argaea farmer in his quest to make right a mistake from five years before.
The Price of Thorns: Scheduled for spring 2023 (TFF or AC). 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.
Squeak Thief: Complete but not scheduled yet, maybe late 2023. A rich mouse hires a fox thief to steal from his own family, but the job quickly spirals out of control.
(Have I been writing about thieves a lot? Maybe.)
In progress: Robin Hood fanfic and Ty Game sequel (on Patreon), Unfinished Business sequel, untitled fantasy world project.
Streaming:
I’m almost finished with the first season of “Killing It” (Peacock, ugh), and it’s pretty great. Craig Robinson is a good emotional anchor to the series, and while he has funny moments, it’s not only a vehicle for him, and some of his best moments are the dramatic ones. The rest of the cast has plenty of time to shine, especially Claudia O’Doherty (Mary Bonnet from “Our Flag Means Death”), who is sensational as the practical, desperate Jillian Glopp.
We finished “Our Flag Means Death” (HBO Max) and I know I’m late to this based on how many people have told us about it, but we enjoyed it a lot. I love Rhys Darby anyway, and he’s note-perfect here as Stede Bonnet the Gentleman Pirate. The first few episodes set up the world and the crew, and then the real story starts, and it’s even better.
We are currently watching season 2 of “Only Murders In The Building” and season 4 of “What We Do In The Shadows,” and both continue to be pretty stellar. More when the seasons are over, but in both cases, they are doing an excellent job growing the characters we have previously gotten to know and love.
We are continuing to enjoy “She-Hulk,” too, and are excited to see how it ends!
A friend showed us “Belle” and “Wolf Children” by director Mamoru Hosoda, whose film “The Boy and the Beast” we had previously seen and enjoyed, and we liked both of these movies very much as well. They have the same beautiful art and delicately rendered characters and are both well worth seeking out and watching.
Coming this month: “The Midnight Club,” this year’s Mike Flanagan entry, the last “Halloween” movie, and more. How are you all celebrating Foxtober?