Do you have Merch Demands? 💥Update on Finding Bela Lugosi: you hear it here FIRST!!️

Do You Have Merch Demands?

This year I’m getting serious about merch to support my readers, so just tell me what you demand and I’ll make it for you! 🥰

You can choose more than one item, and please do! This form won’t save your email address, and is totally private. Taking a moment to tell me what merch you’re interested in will really help — thank you! 🙏

“Finding Bela Lugosi” is ALIVE ALIVE ALIVE!

My tongue piercing was new!

In college, in front of my

Bela Lugosi’s Dead poster

As you may recall from a previous newsletter, the story behind this story is longer than, well, the story 😂😭 But there is an update that ties it all up in a nice knot! 🎁

One of the readers of this newsletter works in a music rights company, and reached out to help me get a happy ending to this story.

This is the power of you readers. I can write the stories, yes, but so much of getting the stories out into the world is actually something you can control. Usually, it’s something like pre-orders or Kickstarters, but this reader of the series got a bit more hands-on, and helped me find the actual lawyer who works for Bauhaus in this capacity.

Harry, the lawyer, turned out to be not only a delight to correspond with, but someone who actually wanted to help things along. (This is the more-fiction-than-fiction part of the story…) Anyway, Harry sent the story to the lads in Bauhaus, sent them occasional reminders to read it and get back to him, and at the end of last week, wrote to me to say that all the members of the band had signed off on me using the lyrics in my story!

This is the first place I’m announcing it, because you newsletter readers are the best of the readers of the series—as made clear by this story! I cannot express strongly enough how exciting this is for me: first off, Peter Murphy, Daniel Ash, David J, and Kevin Haskins have all read a story by me, now! And not just that, liked it enough to say, “We approve: go ahead and use these lyrics in your story!”

“Finding Bela Lugosi” is going to be a free story for everyone who signs up for the newsletter, which means that you will get your copy automagically, as you’re already signed up.

It would be ready to put in this very newsletter, except that I got so excited by the news that I asked the amazing Kwasi to make a cover for this story. I had made a rough-and-ready one of my own, when I was unsure if I could even use the Bauhaus lyrics. But after the lads gave their OK, I decided that a proper Kwasi cover had to happen, so he is in the process of drawing it as you read this, and so “Finding Bela Lugosi” will likely show up in the next newsletter. And maybe I should have saved the whole announcement until then…but I was just so thrilled and excited and need to tell you about it!

Answering Reader Questions: Send Yours In!

I’m starting a new series of videos answering reader questions. You lot always have the best questions, stuff I could only dream of readers asking, because you are a bunch of inquisitive, smart (and smart-alec!) free-thinkers whose brain-hamsters definitely run on some really cool wheels! So hit reply and email me (or send me voice messages in the IG or Facebook messaging apps) and I will will make a video just for you!

Those Lesbian Vampire Pirates are buckling some swashes! (Also Friggin’ In The Riggin’ 😉)

I’m well-stuck in to taking that short story up to a novella. Basically, my editor sent the story back to me and told me that it needed to be about double in length. We all know that writing short fiction is truly painful for me, so padding this bish up instead of cutting it down is an honest treat that I will probably never experience again.

One of the things being added is a second naval battle scene (at my editor’s unambiguous demand… and if you can call a raw amateur boat attack on the Hudson River a “naval battle” 😂) So I’m living in a world of jibs and gaff-rigged sloops and the deck moving under my feet as I try to choreograph the fighting. (Don’t worry! While this wee skirmish is a riverine affair, a real blue water pirate battle happens later in the story, promise!)

Some of this is being made more accessible by me relistening to the Patrick O’Brian “Aubreyad” (yes, all twenty-one books!) I know there are a few fans of that series who read this newsletter, and “A glass with you!” For those who have never dipped their toes, you’ll see the influence on my writing in the brisk action scenes and the unexpected humor and the untranslated use of foreign languages—although I do offer that nice glossary at the end of the books! Basically, Patrick O’Brian added at least 30% more nerdery to my series. I highly recommend them in audiobook read by Patrick Tull.

Master and Commander Audiobook on Libro.fm

It is the dawn of the nineteenth century; Britain is at war with Napoleon’s France. Jack Aubrey, a young lieutenant in Nelson’s navy, is promoted to command of H.M.S. Sophie?, an old, slow brig unlikely to make his fortune. But Captain Aubrey is a brave and gifted seaman, his thirst for adventure and victory immense. With the aid of his friend…

libro.fm/audiobooks/9781501992551-master-and-commander

I was going to write more about my writing process, but I find I just want to get back to that actual writing, and this newsletter is long enough, so I’ll save that for a future one. Just know that new stories are almost in your hot lil’ hands!

Publish and Sell Books Your Way

Lulu makes it easy for creators like you to publish their work. With affordable, high-quality print-on-demand books, you can grow your brand, reach a global audience, and keep 100% of your profit.

Create Your Free Account Today

To everyone who made it this far, you’re fucking amazing! Until next time, be good or be good at it! 😘

💭 I’d love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: drop me a note 📨

💞 Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here.