Joshua Reynolds's Blog, page 25

February 2020 Update

GENERAL UPDATE:
I spent most of this month finishing up the first draft of Poison River. I’m experimenting with a slower schedule this year – one big deadline at a time, and working on smaller projects in the evenings and on the weekends, if time and inclination permits. So far it’s been a big improvement on my previous method of working non-stop all the time. As a result, I’m more satisfied with the work I’m doing, I feel a bit more in control of my schedule, and I’m feeling much less stress. I’ve even begun playing in a second RPG campaign, and I might finally get a Warcry campaign up and running in the next few months…

CURRENT PROJECTS:

Poison River. Legend of the Five Rings novel. SMITE! Lore Chapter.

NOW AVAILABLE:

Kal Jerico: Sinner’s Bounty. Necromunda novel. Available for Kindle and in print. 

FORTHCOMING:

Their Coats All Red. Includes my short story, “The Disagreeable Bridegroom”.Sherlock Holmes & the Occult Detectives. Includes my short story, “The Ironwood Wardrobe”.Occult Detective Magazine, issue 0. Includes my short story, “The Mere”.Wrath of N’kai. Arkham Horror novel. Poison River. Legend of the Five Rings novel.Manflayer. Warhammer 40,000 novel. 

LISTENING:

All Get Out, Nobody Likes A QuitterOld Gods of Appalachia PodcastThe Conception of Terror: Tales Inspired by M.R. James

READING:

Alan Baxter, The RooChico Kidd, Summoning KnellsElizabeth Peters, Crocodile on the SandbankManly Wade Wellman, Lonely VigilsTheodora Goss, The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s DaughterRandall Garrett, Lord Darcy

WATCHING:

Picard, Season 1Van Helsing, Season 1Free Fire (2016)Draug (2018)

January 2020 Update

GENERAL UPDATE:
This month I’ve  been busy working on the first draft of Poison River. In preparation for the project, I spent most of December getting to grips with the background for Legend of the Five Rings. A new IP always provides its own challenges, and Lot5R was no different. I’ve also been working on pitches for several short stories, as well as a new novel. 

CURRENT PROJECTS:

Poison River. Legend of the Five Rings novel. “The Pale Lady”. Andre du Nord short story.SMITE! Lore Chapter.

​​​ NOW AVAILABLE:

Monmouth’s Giants. A Royal Occultist short story collection. Available for Kindle and in print. Darkly Dreaming. Warhammer Horror audio drama. Available as CD and MP3 download. SNAFU: Last Stand. Includes my short story, “Midnight in the House of Bats”. “Devil’s Bridge”. A new Baron Vordenburg short story. Available only on Patreon. 

FORTHCOMING:

Their Coats All Red. Includes my short story, “The Disagreeable Bridegroom”.Sherlock Holmes & the Occult Detectives. Includes my short story, “The Ironwood Wardrobe”.Occult Detective Magazine, issue 0. Includes my short story, “The Mere”.Wrath of N’Kai. Arkham Horror novel. Poison River. Legend of the Five Rings novel.Manflayer. Warhammer 40,000 novel. Steel Soul. Age of Sigmar novel.

LISTENING:

Doomtree, No KingsMagic Sword, AwakeningVoluminous: The Letters of HP Lovecraft PodcastThe Confessions of Dorian Gray Series 05

READING:

Andrew Hussey, Paris: The Secret HistoryJohn Sandford,Bloody GeniusJohn Connolly, A Game of GhostsVarious, The Averoigne LegacyGeorge Mann, HallowdeneDan Weatherer, The Tainted IsleAnthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential

WATCHING:

Bob’s Burgers, Season 4Inspector Montalbano, Series 1New Girl, Season 5

Looking Ahead

There’s going to be some changes coming next year. I know I say that every year, but this year I mean it. For starters, it’s time to admit I’m bad at this whole updating a blog thing. Finding the time, not to mention the energy, to write posts for this site is beyond me at the moment for reasons I won’t go into.

So, come January and for the foreseeable future I’m going to replace this blog with a static page. Posts such as my film write-ups will be archived or slowly transferred to my Patreon page. These posts – and any future ones that I make – will remain free, but I think having all of my writing in one spot for the time being is a good idea. As ever, I reserve my right to change everything on a future whim.

You’ll still be able to stay abreast of my comings and goings by following me on Twitter and Facebook, or by signing up to my new TinyLetter.

The TinyLetter will go out at once a month, at the end of every month, starting in January. It’ll bring you up to speed on what I’ve been working on that month, what’s available and various others bits and pieces – it’ll be fairly bare bones, with little in the way of commentary. The basics, and nothing more. It will also be available to read without signing up for it, if you’d rather not receive it in your inbox.

Now you might ask why I’m bothering to close the blog down when I could just make similar updates as posts. The answer is simple – if the blog is active, I feel as if I have to provide content above and beyond the self-promotional. And when I don’t – or can’t – it adds to my already ridiculously high stress levels. A bit silly, I admit, but it is what it is.

In the coming year, I’m going to be attempting to moderate the aforementioned stress levels, to pare away anything that isn’t absolutely necessary for me to function as a professional – and that includes various forms of social media. While I won’t be getting rid of Twitter, Facebook, etc. I may be changing how I interact with them. Might be less, might be more, I can’t say at the moment.

But I do know that shuttering the blog for the time being is a necessary first step. My intent is to shrink my overall social media obligations to the minimum necessary, and to exploit things like Twitter and Tumblr more fully. Anything I’m not finding useful will get kicked to the curb. I’ll probably also be doing fewer interviews and appearances, because those things also stress me out, albeit in different ways.

I’m not becoming a hermit, though it likely sounds that way. I’m just…scaling back in certain ways. As I said, it might last, it might not. And all of this will be a work in progress. Things won’t flip over all at once at midnight on December 31st. But my online presence will gradually transition into something less accessible and yet possibly more informative. I hope you stick around for it.

Regardless, happy holidays folks. I know this year has been a right ball-ache for many of you so I’ll leave you with some cheer.

Reader Mailbag #9

Anonymous asks:

So stormcast have the human keyword. But what does this mean? Does this mean human as in their biology or or does it mean human as in their Humanity and Soul. Can they truly be called humans at all anymore?

That depends entirely on your definition of humanity.

Did you come up with the idea for the great. oubliette?

Nope. I believe Phil Kelly came up with that one.

How well did gravewild fare against the nighthaunt legions that attacked during the necroquake?

Not well, but better than most.

Do the freeguild have skyships and a Navy?

Some do, some don’t. The freeguilds vary in size and composition.

What does grave-silk look like? Does it have any special properties? And what is damask? Also what does stargleam taste like?

I’ve never given it much thought, but I imagine it looks like the hair of a corpse after its been in the ground for a few months. It’s as strong as steel, when treated with unguents composed of corpse-fat and shadeglass. Damask is a real thing. Look it up. And it tastes like moonlight.

In the free cities of Sigmar what is the development level of economics. Like does investing exist? joint ventures? Do Early stock market exist?

Different cities have different economies. Investment does exist, as do joint ventures.

With many of the Great cities of order being based off of Azyrhaim, which is a meritocracy. Is there a lot of social mobility in the free cities?

Depends on the city, and the people in charge.

How aware are the Gods of their aspects? We’ve seen Nagash is at the very least dimly aware of his other aspects sort of like you’re aware of your hands. But how do you think other gods like Sigmar or Alariele view them or the interpretations that Mortals come to when trying to understand them?

Some are more aware than others.

Why didn’t Archaon destroy the Black Pyramid after he seized Nagashizzar? And in the core book it says Arkham continued to oversee the building of BP, how could that happen if Nagashizzar was under the control of Chaos?

That I don’t know. A good question to pose to one of the loremasters, like Phil Kelly or Nick Horth.

Are you of the belief that once a man of woman falls to Chaos he is doomed forever, barring getting a haircut from Ghal Maraz? How far is too far gone if it exists? Is corruption complete or a series of events to damnation?

All of the above.

Reader Mailbag #8

Dustyn, on Twitter, asks:

Hey, Josh, what do you like to do to get you in the mood for writing 40k? Any stories, movies, music, or shows just pump you up for writing in the setting and set you in the right headspace?

Good question!

And the answer is – not a blessed thing.

Or, rather, nothing specific. I tend to find inspiration in music, but never anything in particular. I don’t have a set 40K playlist, for instance. Generally it’ll be whatever music I’m listening to at the time, which varies depending on my mood at the moment. I wrote one book listening almost exclusively to Earth, Wind and Fire’s greatest hits, for instance.

Now, once inspiration hits, I often assemble a rough and ready playlist from the songs that I find myself listening to on repeat at that particular moment. Such playlists might only have three or four songs, or it might have fifteen or twenty. Again, it depends on my mood.

I’ve made some of these playlists available for folks to peruse, if they’re interested.

Shadmocks and Shivers

Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes, England’s very own ‘Prince of Chill’, would have been 100 years old in 2019. To celebrate, Shadow Publishing has released a tribute anthology, Shadmocks & Shivers. It features fifteen stories inspired by the works of R. Chetwynd-Hayes, including my tale, “The Creeping Crawlers of Clavering”. 

[image error]

From the blurb:

Fifteen of the finest authors currently working in the supernatural genre have come together to contribute new tales of The Monster Club, Clavering Grange, Temptations Unlimited, Madam Orloff, Vampires, Ghosts and of course Shadmocks. Chetwynd-Hayes himself is represented by one of his classic Francis St. Clare and Frederica Masters stories.

I’ve long been a fan of R. Chetwynd-Hayes’ stories. There’s something about his blend of humour and horror that really hits my sweet spot. So when I was invited to submit a story, I jumped at the chance. Especially when the editor, Dave Brzeski , suggested that I write a Royal Occultist tale as well.

So, my contribution, “The Creeping Crawlers of Clavering”, finds St. Cyprian and Gallowglass investigating a most peculiar spectral manifestation on behalf of the new owner of Clavering Grange – Britain’s most haunted house. It was a fun story to write, pitting my characters against one of Chetwynd-Hayes’ greatest creations. It also gave me an excuse to re-read all of the Clavering Grange novels.

Shadmocks & Shivers is available as a trade paperback from the publisher, as well as via Amazon and its subsidiaries.

Satan’s Claw

Issue 8 of The Audient Void: A Journal of Weird Fiction and Dark Fantasy is now available and among other pieces of fine fiction, it includes a story by me. “Bruno J. Lampini and the Claw of Satan” finds the picaresque agent of eldritch acquisitions tramping through the wilds of darkest England on the hunt for the titular fossil. 

[image error]

“Bruno J. Lampini and the Claw of Satan” is a follow-up to “Bruno J. Lampini and the Boots of Frankenstein”, which appeared in an earlier issue of The Audient Void. Where the earlier story was a homage to the classic Universal horror films, “…Claw of Satan” is a loving tribute to folk horror films such as The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971) and The Wicker Man (1973).

Lampini continues to be a character I have a lot of affection for, despite having only two appearances so far. He’s very much an unreliable narrator, but he’s so cheerfully vile that you have a hard time not rooting for him. I’m already making notes for a third story, involving Egyptian antiquities and a mummified appendage of unspecified provenance, which I hope to write sometime next year.

Issues of The Audient Void are available via Big Cartel.  

Time and Again

There’s a new story available for patrons at my Patreon – “Ouroboros” is a bit of dystopian science-horror by way of Lovecraft. It takes place during the final hours of humanity’s final redoubt, as it crumbles before the onslaughts of the Crawling Chaos.

It’s also a sequel of sorts to “Eliza”, which is available to read over at the Lovecraft eZine. Why not go read that one for free, and then check out “Ouroboros” for a buck. And afterwards, why not take a look at some of the other stories available at the Patreon?

Unquiet in the Earth

Sockhops & Seances, the new anthology from 18thWall Productions, is now available. Edited by Nicole Petit (Speakeasies & Spiritualists, Silver Screen Sleuths) and including authors such as Kara Dennison and Jon Black, it also features a brand new Royal Occultist story by me.

[image error]

“Unquiet in the Earth” finds an older but no less pugnacious Ebe Gallowglass having taken over as Royal Occultist, with troublesome assistants of her own. When the Ministry of Esoteric Observation comes calling with reports of ghostly giants in Cornwall, Gallowglass and co. head to the seaside town of Mawgrus looking for answers to a sinister mystery.

This is the first Royal Occultist story I’ve written with post-WW2 setting, but hopefully not the last. I think there’s a lot of potential for entertaining adventures with an older, wiser Gallowglass and her two young assistants, Honoria Jobson and Albert Smyth.

Sockhops & Seances is available via Amazon and its subsidiaries, in both digital and print. 

Reader Mailbag #7

Scott Harper asks:

Is there any chance the Blood Dragon novel will ever be printed in any form?

Short answer: no.

Long answer: It is unlikely for a number of reasons. The foremost being because it never actually got past the pitch stage, due to scheduling conflicts with the End Times material. Essentially, the End Times happened and any Warhammer Fantasy novel that hadn’t already been contracted was never going to be.

Another reason is almost certainly the relatively poor sales of Master of Death. While Neferata earned out its advance fairly quickly, the sequel did surprisingly poorly.  Master of Death suffered a death of a thousand cuts, the most grievous of which were likely the sudden change in format from paperback to trade, as well as the utter lack of marketing it received upon its release.

Regardless the combination of timing and sales effectively killed any chance Blood Dragon had of being commissioned, or of an omnibus being assembled.

tldr; sometimes vampires don’t rise from the grave.