November 19, 2025
I mentioned in my first blog post from January 2023 that I’m not much of a blogger, and I think the nearly two-year gap is as much proof as anyone needs. I’m going to try to get better at it though. Where to start? A lot has happened in two years - too much to spill here, but if you’ve been following me on Twitter*/BlueSky, then you’re likely up to date, but I’ll do a quick recap:
*Twitter is updates only now, even then I haven’t used it in a while.
My wife and I went to StokerCon 2023 in Pittsburgh, where I got to meet my writing group in person for the first time. It was an incredible time to say the absolute least. Not to mention, I met loads of other new friends. About a week before the con, Alex said, “bring something to pitch to me. Make it weird.” I was under the impression she clued Matt into this. (She did not). I ended up cold-pitching TRVE CVLT to Matt while Alex no doubt enjoyed seeing her rouse come to life. That moment was one of those life-changers. They liked the idea and I wouldn’t be here without it.
The rest of the summer of 2023 was finishing a project that would become something else (I’ll get to that in a sec). Then I hauled ass and wrote TRVE CVLT starting fall 2023, wrapping it up by March 2024, releasing it in September 2024. Two days after the release, I flew to Ohio to meet my buddy David Corse, and drove to West Virginia for Voidcon. It was a lovely surreal fucked up weekend. Met a ton of good folks. Got to touch Mothman’s juicy ass in Point Pleasant, and meet up with our other writer buddy Matthew Pritt. He showed us around all the good local food joints. The rest of 2024 was doing local events and reveling in the release of my debut.
Yeah, that project I mentioned? That was the cornerstone novella for my forthcoming scuzz-cyber-noir collection Midwestern Chrome. I’d been working on those stories for a while at that point. It finally came together and I fired that bad boy like a bullet straight to Tenebrous Press’s inbox. Matt n Alex liked it enough to give it a home. I can’t show you yet, but I’ve seen the cover art and - holy pulp sci-fi-noir fucking smokes - I can’t wait to show ya! It’s slated for summer of 2026, so stay tuned, and get your neural implants ready.
I floundered for a while after finishing TRVE CVLT. I wrote some short stories, a couple failed attempts at a new novella, and a lot of this n that. I wrote a drabble collection that may or may not exist outside of my hard drive soon. Not one hundred percent sure yet on how I’ll put that into the world, but I have some ideas. By the time I got down to it, I started a new novella in February of 2025 that would become Help! I Can’t Stop Shitting Snakes, a literary-bizarro-body-horror story that was picked up by CLASH Books. It’s still early in the process, but we’ll have a cover for you in the coming months. It’s slated for release January 2027.
Those are the main bullet points, and really, that’s so bonkers to see written out. I feel very accomplished, though I could not have done it without the help of my writing group, Matt and Alex at 10p, the folks at CLASH. The friends I met at Stoker, the Void collective - truly. Writing is incredibly isolating and it kind of needs to be. At least for me. It plays a vital role in the writing process, but the community and support systems are vital for the long-haul writer. I think it’s also important to note that between all of these wins and successes, there has been a nearly-constant deluge of rejection. Short stories. Novels. Novellas. Poems. Everything. It’s a revolving door, but it’s part of the deal.
Other cool notable things:
Valkryie Lowcrewe and I (with recording help from my buddy Ryan) wrote a promo song for TRVE CVLT’s pre-release trailer. You can find it on Bluesky somewhere.
Ryan and I wrote another song for TRVE CVLT’s one year birthday, complete with a photo shoot and music video. Corpse paint. Swordcaine. The woods. The whole fucking bit. It was great.
Ryan and I have multiple projects tangential to some writing projects in the works…
Last summer, Ryan and I flew out to Portland to Tenebrous HQ to meet up with Matt. Then we roadtripped out to Montana for the Fire in the Mountains heavy music festival. The whole experience was profoundly impactful.
One more quick list:
Been reading From the Belly by Emmett Nahil and The Buffalo Hunter by SGJ.
Been listening to a bunch of shit. Really too much to list, but some stand outs are Agriculture’s new album “The Spiritual Sound”, Hexvessel’s “Nocturne”, Ulver’s “Liminal Animals”…yeah. Lots of good stuff. Been revisiting a lot of Sixteen Horsepower too, which has also led me back to Agnostic Gospel Mountain Choir. Got into those two back in college, but kinda fell off the Americana/folk train for a while.
Been watching the new season of Dragula and a whole lot of stuff on Tubi. Old anime. Hong Kong crime. Good/bad sci-fi. really, if you aren’t on Tubi, you’re missing out. It’s a wealth of some really good stuff.
Been playing…not a ton of games. I wrapped up the first two acts of Dragon Quest XI, but I need a break. 70 hours of a JRPG doesn’t hit me like it did when I was 12, ya know? Don’t get me wrong, DQ11 is gorgeous. The characters are great. The story is perfectly JRPG Campy. I just need a break. I may start a replay of Metal Gear Solid 1-3 soon, and uhh yeah. Also been playing MtG. Hard not to love laying some cards down.
Anywho, that’s all I’ve got in me for tonight. I promise to try and do this more often than every two years. Sorry this is mostly list upon list of updates and bullshit, but it’s what I’ve got. I’ll try and think of something with merit next time. Speaking of, until next time - stay weird, be kind out there.