September 2022 Dispatch

Looking back at last month’s Dispatch, I note that I was excited about starting work on the Unfinished Business sequel. Ha ha! That sure is a thing that didn’t happen. The Price of Thorns is (I may have mentioned) twice as long as a typical book of mine—well, okay, let’s say half again as long, since my median shades more toward 120K than 90K. It is currently the longest book I’ve written, at 180K words, and I failed to anticipate the entirely predictable consequence of writing a long-ass book, which is that all the steps of the editing process then also take longer.

Anyway, I’ve been editing it for all of August and have only now started on the read-aloud proofread, which is at least the last step. It’s a good thing I like this book and can’t wait for you to meet Nivvy and all his buddies and enemies. I’m stoked about it, I love the cover, it’s got a freaking map of the world, and I just need to, y’know, get the darn thing done.

Once I do that I’ll start editing Return From Divalia, which also has a kick-ass cover in process, and which I am aiming to have ready for sale at MFF.

Hey! I’m gonna be at MFF! You know, provided I don’t get some contagious disease beforehand. My con schedule has been pared down, but I like MFF and it makes sense to go to the biggest furry con, especially when I have a book coming out there. So I’ve got my flight, got my hotel room, got my pre-reg. I don’t anticipate doing any panels unless my feeling about close indoor spaces changes between now and then, but I will try to be in the dealer’s room a bunch to sign books and chat with y’all, and if you have writing questions, bring ’em!

Book announcements: Unfinished Business is out! If you haven’t pre-ordered it, you can straight-up order the e-book at the publisher today, and print + e-book everywhere else tomorrow. Get in on the ground floor of this new queer werewolf urban fantasy series.

Return From Divalia and The Price of Thorns I discussed above.

Audiobooks: The War and the Fox is out on all audiobook sites now. Still trying to find time to review the Giles audiobook so I can get that out, and I have an agreement in principle to do an audiobook for Unfinished Business, but that hasn’t gotten started yet. Ty Game, Titles, and the rest of the Love Match series are in Savrin’s paws, waiting on them to have time to finish up.

Streaming: “Rutherford Falls” got canceled apparently. So much for one of the two indigenous voices shows on the air. “Reservation Dogs” is still going and is great, and you should watch both shows.

I watched “The Resort” on Peacock, the network that didn’t renew “Rutherford Falls,” and I enjoyed it a lot. Partly that’s because William Jackson Harper (“The Good Place,” “Midsommar”) and Cristin Milioti (“HIMYM,” “Palm Springs”) are great and fun to watch. But the supporting cast is also pretty stellar, namely Luis Gerardo Méndez, Gabriela Cartol, and Ben Sinclair, and Nick Offerman has a few good moments. The show itself is a trippy mystery, maybe a cross between “The White Lotus” and “The After Party,” with a dose of mysticism thrown in, and it’s got a pretty good setup and exciting middle act. Unfortunately, I don’t think it quite nails the ending, but it’s a fun ride to get there.

“Infinity Train” was one of the shows pulled from HBO Max by its new Discovery overlords, so fuck you Discovery. At least “Harley Quinn” is still on there.

We finally watched “Severance” (Apple TV+), which like “The Resort” is a trippy mystery, but unlike “The Resort” does nail its ending. Okay, it’s a cliffhanger ending, but it’s still extremely effective, and the whole last episode I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Just a master class in suspense. The whole cast is terrific but I really want to shout out Patricia Arquette, who is one of the few main cast not portraying two different people and still manages to convey a layered, complex, creepy performance. The series makes you think a lot about personhood, and the hints that we have of what’s to come in the second season promise another level of exploration of that. Great stuff.

“Physical” (Apple TV+) wrapped up its second season and hoo boy, people are messed up. If you like shows about broken people, this is the show for you. Rose Byrne’s Sheila, Rory Scovel’s Danny, Paul Sparks’s John Breem, Dierdre Friel’s Greta, and Della “young Judy Hopps” Saba’s Bunny are all supremely messed up, sometimes in very very 1980s ways. In this second season, they do make some attempts to work on themselves, but…in the meantime, there’s some great drama. Fortunately, Apple is one of the networks not cancelling shows (for the moment), and they have already ordered a season 3.

“For All Mankind,” also on Apple TV+, wrapped its third season, and it didn’t disappoint. This alt-history science fiction show has been sliding into soap opera territory for a while, but it has such strong characters that that genre fits. Besides the characters, the show’s what-if science is fascinating because most of it is probably achievable in our lifetimes, if only we’d make the decision to pursue it. But of course, as the show constantly reminds us, having better science wouldn’t make us better people. The LGBT themes the show has been toying with since the first season take a little more center stage this season, but human rights are not, alas, a field in which this universe has made any more progress. Definitely worth watching.

Summer is almost over, so it’s time for California’s September heatwave! I’m gonna go get a cold drink and sit in front of a fan to read my big long book out loud. Keep cool y’all!