September 2024 in Review
Hello Funny People,
Two Cents Logo by Devora Johnson
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Personally, I think this may be Lindsey's best album (as a full album) since Shatter Me. Don't get wrong. I've enjoyed many of the tracks from Brave Enough and Artemis, but this in a way brings her music back to her roots. Most of the tracks, save two, are lyricless and don't feature guest collaborators. But the problem with doing that, especially given that Lindsey isn't primarily a vocalist (though she's pretty good as a singer), is that it pushes her artistry aside. In Duality, it's front and center again. Also, it makes the tracks where she is playing alongside a vocalist, "Inner Gold," and "Survive," stand out more. Personally though my favorite track is "Untamed," which to my ear sounds almost like a piece of Celtic Rock. I stumbled across it by accident when I was looking for a background track for an Instagram post, and I've loved it ever since I'm glad Lindsey is making music again, and I hope she continues to do so for years to come.
As nice as last month was at it's start, this month began was an equally cruel steel-toed kick to the gonads.
A Brief Recapitulation
I usually enjoy Labor Day weekend, if only because of the in-built irony of it. As the late comic, Ralph May (RIP, gone too soon), once observed, "Labor Day is the biggest crock of crap of them all: in honor of all those who are working, we're not going to."
However, this Labor Day weekend was, to put it mildly, less than pleasant.
The Friday of, my mother and I had to go attend the funeral of my cousin-in-law, Becky, who passed at the age of 65. She was the widow of my cousin, Roger, who'd passed away two years ago in July, after a long battle with diabetes and depression. I hadn't seen much of her since the COVID Lockdown, as she was immuno-compromised and her siblings, who'd become her primary caregivers and guardians, kept her under close watch. But she was still family.
In the years before their passings, Becky and Roger were frequent guests at the house. They were avid Cardinals fans, and, though I'm sure it was a stretch for them to afford, they nearly always came to at least one home game each season. Roger loved coming to Busch Stadium with Becky, if only because they always got good seats (Becky had mobility issues, so she could always get a good spot). They slowed up on that over the years, but they could still get the games on TV during the season. The one upside was that Becky at least got to see two consecutive Super Bowl wins for her other favorite team, the Kansas City Chiefs.
Another shard of my childhood, gone. I'm getting tired of attending funerals, but I also know that as the years pass, more will appear on the horizon.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the only piece of shitty news I got this month (I'll get to those), which lead me to falling into something of a minor depression for much of the start of September.
However, by the second week, I'd climbed out of that wallowing hole and gotten back to somewhere close to my normal. I can only hope that it stays that way for the rest of the year.
The Writing Life
#AmQuerying: Dispatch from the Query Trenches
Part one of what precipitated my depression spell.
Both of my outstanding full requests finally got a response, the gist of which is encomoassable with one word: no.
According to the feedback on the fantasy novel, the main reason the agent turned it down was because they felt the setup wasn't yet tight enough. Considering that I'd gotten no feedback from.any other agents thus far, this was welcomed. I'm in the process of consulting a developmental editor about how I might change that in the (perhaos vain) hopes of getting this book out into the world.
The real heartbreaker though was the reponse to the space opera full request. The agent apparently had a field day with their open call and ended up turning mine down in favor of a couple of others that had better prospects (read: likely other competing offers). That one hurt more mainly because the request had been so long-outstanding, but I guess I should've seen it coming. After all, if the agent had been more enthused by the book, they would've gotten back with an offer sooner.
So, I'm back to square one. Sort of. Once I emerged from my depression, I made a decision: I would make 100 queries and then call it quits for the year. This process has been a sandbalster to the soul and has probably done more damage to me than any short story rejection ever has. That said, I'm not giving up. Perhaps these books were doomed from the start to never seen the light of day via the traditional route. But I had to try anyway.
To my surprise, I managed to make those last few queries to make my goal before the middle of the month. So, 100 queries, and that was that. After 9 months and 100 queries, I've withdrawn from the trenches
Here's hoping the part if my soul eroded by this process recovers.
Report from the Short Fiction Front
Part two of that bout of that depression: Ray Daley was right again, damn him and may he rest in peace.
Both of the hold notices turned out to be nos as well.
That said, there is some good news on three fronts.
1) Fall Into Fantasy 2024 is out and available
After being months in the works, you can now read my high fantasy/mystery "Boltstone and the Black Cat." If you've bought a copy, thank you. If you plan to buy one, thank you. I hope you enjoy my story or any of the other 13 featured in this collection.
2) Inter Librarian Loan is heading to the printers
After months of prep work, the next installment in the saga of the Librarian is heading to the printers. It will feature a remix by yours truly based on the original tale "Fahrenheit 1500," in volmue 2. When it's out in the world, I hope you'll enjoy it.
3) 42 Stories will finally see the light of day some time this year
Back in 2021, I submitted a piece of microfiction to the 42 words project. After being in-progess for three years, the final book will be out before year's end. It will feature my sole piece of historical fiction, titled "When William Walker Faces the Firing Squad."
#AmDrafting: The Novel Arena
After so much starting, stopping, restarting, and slow progress, I've finally hit a new milestone on the portal fantasy.
Part 4 is completed with the completion if Chapter 40. As of September 21st, current total word count stands at 65,512.
The week leading up to that big milestone was the first I'd managed to consistently write 1000 words or more each session. I put that down entirely to the fact that I'm no longer so focused on querying. Querying is a thief of joy and productivity. However, with that done, my love of writing appears to have returned. Here's hopingni can finish the last 20 chapters by year's end—maybe even well before that, but I'm holding myself to that.
Miscellaneous
With two exceptions, most of my viewing time has been fixed on various HBO Max series. The first was the second season (and a season one rewatch) of My Adventures with Superman.
Unlike last year, where I made the mistake of watching it weekly, this time, I waited until the season had concluded before watching the show. And what a great season. Hearing Michael Emerson (whom I know best from playing Finch in Person of Interest), clearly having a blast portraying Brainiac, as well as seeing the introduction of Super Girl was excellent. Here's hoping the pinhead in suits at Max don't try to ruin it.
Next up was Deadwood. This series was one of those that I'd meant to watch for years because of how highly regarded other had spoke of it. And it.lived up to the hype.
The cast was astonishingly good. I could listen to Ian McShane call people c*cksuckers all day. Of course, the use of that word stands out as marking it a product of the early aughts. Nobody uses it any more (likely because it's considered a queer slur). Still, that aside, it's wonderfully well-written.
I must admit, my favorite secondary character of the show was Doc Cochran. He was one of the few characters who was sympathetic to all in the camp, even the non-white characters. And he could also tell the more ruthless and powerful characters to go fuck themselves when necessary.
I have to admit, I didn't enjoy the film as much as the series. Yes, it gave us viewers the satisfaction of seeing Hearst get his ass handed to him near the end, and yes, it gave us a chance to see Jane be brave. But there was something...off about it. I know there was a ten-year gap between the end of the series and the release of the film, and David Milch, who gave the show its voice, was suffering from Alzheimer's he's slowly dying from even now and wasn't as involved, but it felt...too neat. Too tidy. Too un-Deadwood like. Deadwood was a messy place. And even though the film tracked with the history of the real town, it's ending should've better reflected that, rather than tie everything up in a nice bow. One viewer's opinion, of course.
I also have been enjoying The Penguin, all two episodes that have aired so far anyway.
If I hadn't know that Colin Farrel, who I know as the guy who played Bullseye in the Ben Affleck Daredevil from years ago, was the one portraying my favorite Batman villains, I wouldn't have believed it was him. He's completely vanished beneath the makeup and prosthetics they've made him wear for this show. I only hope the writing remains the same quality all the way through. Fingers crossed 🤞.
I also, when it dropped unexpectedly on YouTube, took the chance to watch Kathy Bates's new pilot, the opening episode of the Matlock reboot. This ain't your granddaddy's Matlock, folks. It does what network TV does best: give you a standalone beginning, middle, and end episode while also introducing, in the most subtle unexpected way possible, an overarching storyline. Kathy Bates, of course, is a delight. I only hope this show gets taken to the hearts of others so it stays on the air for a while. It might actually give me a reason to watch network TV again. I love me my mysteries, and I love me my good legal dramas that inject nice bits of character humor into them. If that’s your thing, go check it out. The last 20 minutes especially will blow your mind and make you rewatch it again. If I'm being honest, I don't even think of this show as a reboot of Andy Griffith's show; it's an original show disguised as a reboot, using a known brandname and an Academy Award-winning actress of Kathy Bates's caliber to get the show on the air. Very clever, honestly.
Finally, there's the ongoing season 2 of Rings of Power.
Like many Tolkien fans, the changes the show made to the lore did grate on me last season, as did the slightly clunky writing. That I attribute to all of the set up the previous season had to accomplish to establish the stage for this season. Perhaps it's due to the writers having a season under their belt and gotten to know the characters better, or perhaps it's due to there no longer being any mystery of who Sauron is; this season's writing has improved a couple of notches. The various storylines feel more deftly balanced, the stakes are rising, and we get to see Annatar at his most deviously manipulative.
The visuals, as well, have been incredible. Everything that happens in the first episode, showing Sauron's death and gradual rebirth, was stunningly disgusting. And of course there was that incredible visual transition in episode 6. I'm eager to see how this season concludes, but I am certain it will end as ominously as last season.
Sadly, we must address this:
There is a reason why so many St. Louisans say, "I'm from St. Louis," not "I'm from Missouri." This is one reason. We live in a state with a government that can be unbelievably cruel to portions of its citizenry at times that we truly wish we could cease to be part of it. Our state legislature has a long and irksome history of undermining the will of the people they purport to represent, just because they don't like something in the legislation that clashes with their ideologue. Recently, I found this below image listing every significant piece of legislation undetermined or overturned by the MO legislature since 1940:
It's even worse when you see it written out. But, as Harry S. Truman once observed, "We get the government we deserve." We live in a state filled with a majority of people who don't mind this kind of cruelty, don't think about it, don't care about it because it doesn't directly affect them. Yet, at the same time, they'll happily invite you to their church social with a plastic smile on their face.
The only explanation I can surmise was this was a form of symbolic revenge on the part of the MO GOP. Despite their hardest efforts through the courts to overrule the will of the people, Amendment 3 to enshrine abortion rights into the MO State constitution is still on the ballot 🗳 for this November. That's all thanks to a ruling by the State Supreme Court (the same one that vote NOT to stay Williams' execution). So, they felt they needed a win. Sadly, that win was one they found only in the spilling of possibly innocent blood.
At 6:10pm on September 25th, 2024, the State of Missouri murdered Marcellus Williams. We murdered Marcellus Williams. There's no undoing that.
My only hope is that this spurs activists into action. It's time to take up another petition for signatures to enshrine into law the abolishment of that heinous institution, the Death Penalty. And I aalo hope it encourages the truly politically active here in the state to pay closer attention to Jeff City...and perhaps consider running for office themselves.
As for this month's reads, I appear to have gotten back into my usual eclectic swing.
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris
Morris' Pulitzer Prize-winning biography covers the first 42 years of Theodore Roosevelt's life. In those first 42 years, he did much to achieve the reputation he brought with him when he entered the white house. Writer, author, biographer, historian, naturalist, ornithologist, big game hunter, cowboy, rancher, Assemblyman for the state of New York, Civil Service Comissioner, Police Comissioner for the City of New York, Soldier, Colonel of the Rough Riders, Governor of the Etate of New York, and finally Vice President. They don't make them like TR any more
Extinction Machine by Jonathan Maberry
The next installment of Joe Ledger's adventures sees him and his fellow agents of the DMS face a three-pronged attack. The first barb come courtesy of an old adversary, the sitting Vice President of the United States, who once again takes the absence of the POTUS to act against the DMS. The second comes from yet another egomaniac industrialist, hellbent on using his power and wealth to take power for himself. The third, however, comes from the strangest place of all: the actual Men In Black, working to gain control of actual alien technology. Seems Joe and his cohort never get break.
Kagen the Damned by Jonathan Maberry
This was a reread as I prepare to enjoy The Dragon in Winter. Kagen is the kind of fantay novel i hope to one day write myself. On the one hand, it offers the grittiness, gore, and action we find in S&S writings, such as those written by Robert E. Howard, C.L. Moore, and Fritz Leiber, but at the same time, you have the high stakes and incredible magic you find in high fantasy. Maberry then takes that careful balance, blends it with a clear deep knowledge of folklore and mythology, and brings his talents honed as a writer of thrillers to bring us a fast-paced, zero fat, fantasy novel. It's one of those novels I wished I'd written.
Pressfield's book isn't what I'd call a "how to write," book. It's more like a short book that explores means of dealing with the greatest inhibitor working against writers (and other artists), when it comes to practice their craft and trade. Pressfield calls it, not writer's block, but resistance. The little voice in your head telling you to start tomorrow, that you're not ready, or that you need to hold off until you finish the dishes? That's resistance. And the second you hear it's whisper or feel it's force trying to hold you back is the second you need to start work on your project at hand. Pressfield also notes that, while resistance can be detrimental to progress, it can also be useful. If you feel resistance, that's a sign that you're working on something important to you, which in turn means, it may end up being important to someone else down the line. Keep at it, and push back against rest when you feel it.
Mexicans on the Moon by Pedro Iniguez
My buddy, Pedro Iniguez, released this book through Space Cowboy Books earlier this month, and I've been leafing through it all month. I even did two recordings that I posted onto Instgtam of me reading two of the poems in voice over ("Migrations" and "Forever Elusive"). I'm not sure what awards are out there, besides the Rhysling, to benefit speculative poetry, but if any count collections, I can't imagine this book missing from their shortlisted next year. Though, I heard one of the big ones (the Hugo, maybe?) Is starting an award for speculative poetry, so perhaps Pedro will get to add an extra line to the cover of his next book.
My buddy, Pedro Iniguez, released this book through Space Cowboy Books earlier this month, and I've been leafing through it all month. I even did two recordings that I posted onto Instgtam of me reading two of the poems in voice over ("Migrations" and "Forever Elusive"). I'm not sure what awards are out there, besides the Rhysling, to benefit speculative poetry, but if any count collections, I can't imagine this book missing from their shortlisted next year. Though, I heard one of the big ones (the Hugo, maybe?) Is starting an award for speculative poetry, so perhaps Pedro will get to add an extra line to the cover of his next book.
On a last note, I want to drop a mention of an album I've been listening to for the last several weeks while i write.
Personally, I think this may be Lindsey's best album (as a full album) since Shatter Me. Don't get wrong. I've enjoyed many of the tracks from Brave Enough and Artemis, but this in a way brings her music back to her roots. Most of the tracks, save two, are lyricless and don't feature guest collaborators. But the problem with doing that, especially given that Lindsey isn't primarily a vocalist (though she's pretty good as a singer), is that it pushes her artistry aside. In Duality, it's front and center again. Also, it makes the tracks where she is playing alongside a vocalist, "Inner Gold," and "Survive," stand out more. Personally though my favorite track is "Untamed," which to my ear sounds almost like a piece of Celtic Rock. I stumbled across it by accident when I was looking for a background track for an Instagram post, and I've loved it ever since I'm glad Lindsey is making music again, and I hope she continues to do so for years to come.
This month may have been a steel-toed boot to the gonads, but the thing about such blows is that they typically don't kill you. Here's hoping I can regain my footing fully and make it through the rest of this year relatively undamaged.
— IMC 🙃
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