July 2025… Or, what you may have missed since… March?! WTF.
Time has been slipping by me faster and faster as I get older. It got really bad during the pandemic — I suspect it did for a lot of us — and has been wonky ever since. I’m never quite sure what day, week, or year it is anymore and find myself having to double-check just to make sure. I’ve caught myself dating things years that are wildly out of synch with the calendar, as if my body reflexively wants to write 2018 or 2019, forgetting that the whole last five or six years actually, you know, happened. It’s like those pandemic years at the height of covid exist in some kind of time capsule that is, itself, removed from time. Some of this has to do with the drudgery of living under an insane, dementia-addled, authoritarian regime and Trump’s unrelenting blitzkrieg upon the media and the country as a whole. Vox wrote about this effect during the first Trump administration, which feels like a hundred years ago, and we’re feeling similar effects again as we try to grapple with the fact that it’s only been six months and a handful of days since he was inaugurated again after a failed insurrection back in January 2020, which was at least a half-century and about 80 gazillion constitutional crises ago.
Of course, age has a lot to do with it, too, I think. Not that I’m particularly old, but I’m definitely not as young as I once was and my body is keen to remind me of that with some ill-timed injuries, like throwing my back out while putting on socks a couple months ago and leaving me bedridden and in pain for several days. I’ve had to pay much more attention to my health, and my heart especially. My workout regimen has helped me lose a ton of weight, but has also given me a serious case of tendonitis in my right elbow and some occasional shoulder pain. Some days, when the weather changes especially, my back acts up from when I fractured a vertebrae fifteen years ago, and my knees start to complain.
Last month I turned 46. My youngest has begun to note, with regularity, that I have more gray in my hair and in my beard than brown. I’m not bothered by the number or the gray hairs. I’m more shocked that my oldest will soon be 10 years old and I have absolutely no idea how that whole decade went by so quickly. Of course, I also recently saw some movie site put up their worst pictures of the last 25 years list and was both shocked and appalled that the 90s were entirely absent! How could that possibly be? Well, the list covered 2004 to 2024, and I was forced to realize that the 1990s was thirty years ago and that it is currently 2025. What the hell happened?
Probably a lot of the same shit that kept me from sending out this supposed-to-be monthly newsletter, which I’ve been absent from since the end of March. So, hi there! No, I haven’t quit writing (again) or reviewing, much to the dissatisfaction of my detractors. I’ve simply been existing and trying to be content, which isn’t always easy.
That last newsletter lost me some subscribers, possibly because I stand against AI, railed hard against Mark Zuckerberg for stealing damn near all my books via a pirating site instead of paying for them in order to feed his plagiarism machine, and being anti-Trump. Over on BlueSky I’ve been added to a blocklist called “AI-Hater Brigade,” which I’m quite proud of and hope to be blocked by many, many, many more techbros and talentless hacks and talentless techbro hacks soon! So, for those of you just joining in now, and who may have missed the obvious sentiments in many of my writings here and elsewhere, allow me to reiterate just so we’re all clear. Fuck AI. Fuck Trump. Fuck Mark Zuckerberg, and the rest of his traitorous billionaire class, and especially Elon Musk. (Reminder, too, that there is no such thing as an ethical billionaire, nor is there such a thing as ethical AI use.) If this bothers you, the unsubscribe button is at the bottom.
Phew. OK. Now that all that’s out of the way, what have I been up to?
Reading, of course, and plenty of reviewing. I’ve covered a heck of a lot books over at FanFiAddict since I last updated you all some months ago. You can get caught up on all that below.
But first, the obligatory book promo, because I am, first and foremost, a starving artist in need of some book sales and I hope you’ll find some stuff to pick up.
I’m excited to announce that my all of my books are currently heavily discounted as part of a promotion on Smashwords for the whole month of July as part of their Annual Summer/Winter Sale! This is a chance to get my books, along with books from many other great authors, at a discount so you can get right to reading. The bulk of my works are 75% off their usual retail price, with short stories available for the low, low price of absolutely nothing at all. You can grab those free. And you’ll be able to download the ebook file to save to your computer and keep forever, without the hassle of some corporate oligarchy deciding you no longer own the books you buy.
You will find the promo here starting today, July 1, so save the link:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...
Please share this promo with friends and family. You can even forward this email to the avid readers in your life!
Thank you for your help and support and, as always, Happy reading!
NEW REVIEWSIt’s been a busy few months for me over at FanFiAddict since the last issue of this newsletter, so let’s dive in. Here’s what I’ve read and reviewed over there since March.
Zombie Bigfoot by Nick Sullivan
Zombie Billionaire by Nick Sullivan
To Those Willing To Drown by Mark Matthews
Cathedral of the Drowned by Nathan Ballingrud
Stay on the Line by Clay McLeod Chapman
A Game In Yellow by Hailey Piper
Looking back over these last few months, there’s been some truly stellar reading. I have to give particular shoutouts to Janz, Piper, and Cosby for their phenomenal new releases. King of Ashes is available now, but there’s still a bit of a wait for Piper’s and Janz’s new books to drop in August and September, respectively. Do keep an eye out for those and, if you haven’t already, be sure to preorder. They are absolutely excellent books! One of these days, I’ll actually get around to crossposting those FFA reviews to my site…
As for what all else is keeping me busy, aside from work, wife, and the kids?
Currently reading: I just finished S.H. Cooper’s upcoming Bottling His Ghosts, which releases in two weeks from Raw Dog Screaming Press. I’m planning on starting in on my digital ARC of Tim Lebbon’s Secret Lives of the Dead. Beyond having absolutely killer cover art, this one’s been getting a lot of advance buzz and has been billed as a work of folk horror noir, which excites the hell out of me. Look for reviews on these soon!
Currently playing: Death Stranding 2 (PS5)
The first Death Stranding was polarizing amongst gamer and game reviewers, but I found a hell of a lot to love about it and thought those who derided it as being nothing more than a walking sim really missed the mark. I’m only a few episodes into the new game (each level is broken down by episode and I think I’m on episode 6 currently) and have been blown away by it. This is the first title I’ve played that feels like a next-gen console release that fully harnesses all the power and beauty the PlayStation 5 is capable of. The graphics are stunning, and at times completely jaw-dropping. There have been several instances already where I find myself staring at the scenery and appreciating the beauty of it all, particularly in the game’s Mexican desert-set opening. A few of the game’s moments have been just as emotionally powerful, as well. It’s the type of game that makes the case for videogames as art, and I am loving the hell out of it.
That’s it for now, folks. Presumably I’ll be back in August with more reviews to share with you, and maybe some other tidbits and/or rantings.
If you’re in the US, have a safe and happy July 4!
