It’s Not Just Words All the Time

Well, it’s finally here. Fury, Part I: Tempers Rising is out in the world, ready to be consumed by anyone who has been dying to find out what happens with Tom, Ana, and Lindsey since 2020, when Famine was published. I would, of course, be remiss in my duties as an author and publisher were I not to harangue you with base pleadings to go ye forth to Amazon and buy my (new) novella! And I’ll get there, I promise. Have little fear that the next three months will be filled with a seemingly ceaseless litany of me begging you lovely readers to give over some small measure of your hard-earned coin in exchange for stories that may or may not have been concocted in a restroom.

But today is not that day. Today, I thought I should share something even more precious than new stories.

Today is about pizza. Specifically, cast iron pan pizza.

Since today is, as mentioned above, new release day, I figured that for dinner last night we should do something special. Normally I’d suggest a family trip out to local food and beverage establishment for that sort of thing, but Old Man Winter finally rolled into town last week, and he’s not messing around. We haven’t gotten the dumpsters full of snow that appear to have ensnared much of the rest of the United States, but when I looked at my phone for the local temperature yesterday, the weather app stubbornly refused to provide a second digit.

Nobody wants to warm up the car and go out in 8°F just for a Bloomin’ Onion.

Instead I thought it might be fun to channel the nostalgia of mid-80’s family trip to Pizza Hut. Luckily, sometime last year I read this recipe for foolproof pan pizza from Serious Eats (written by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt).

Look, the title of that article isn’t over-promising. This recipe is so easy even a slightly anxious, relatively unknown author can’t screw it up.

So, here’s what you do for an incredible January pizza night:

Read the recipeFollow the recipeEat the pizzaBe happy

Oh, and of course, post pictures of the entire project.

The first image shows what the dough looked like after I spent literally 7 minutes mixing it together on Sunday (manually, no specially equipment needed). Then, yesterday afternoon, I just had to separate it into two balls and set them in pans to proof. Two hours later, I whacked my oven up to 550—because that’s as high as it goes—and set about to actually construct said pizzas.

Under the watchful gaze of my management team (that is, Bandit, the Lab/Great Pyrenees mix seen in the background), I spread the dough out, then sauced and topped it. I briefly considered adding some vegetation to the affair, but remembered I was making Special Pre-Release Day Pizza. Mushrooms and green peppers need not apply.

The pans went into the preheated oven.

Fifteen minutes later, I pulled the two scorching beauties out, dropped them onto my very best cutting board, got out one of eight the pizza wheels we seem to have acquired over the last twenty years, and cut them into proper slices. There was nothing left then but the unceremonious stuffing of my face.

I may or may not have burned the roof of my mouth taking that impatient and wholly ill-advised reckless first bite. Sources are unclear, but the expectation is high.

Either way, it was 100% worth it.

Now then, what does this have to do with the release of my new novella, Tempers Rising, the first part of Fury, the complete novel? Nothing really. Except I thought maybe it might be fun to start making this blog a little more like an actual blog rather than just a place I shout at visitors to buy my books. In that spirit, I offer you a little slice1 of this writer’s life, on a day that’s not exactly just like every other day.

I hope you get yourself a little pizza soon, because everyone deserves a slice, no matter what today means to you.

Oh, and if you have a moment or two, why not check out Fury, Part I: Tempers Rising? I’d really appreciate it.