Hello there!
Welcome to the new folks who have recently joined. Hope your 2021 is fairing better than your 2020. A few quick notes upfront:
All previous newsletters are archived. Lots of stuff to check out including a link to the original 2011 screenplay of THE BLACK SKY, hints and helps to get started on the real work easter egg hunt teased at the back of the book, and more!
If you read and enjoyed THE BLACK SKY, I would be grateful if you left a review or a rating at Amazon or GoodReads.
There’s a “music inspired by” soundtrack you can listen to at your favorite streaming sites like Spotify, Apple Music, TIDAL, etc. If you prefer physical media, you can also grab the album on compact disc at Bandcamp.
For those that have read THE BLACK SKY, you may remember a mention or two of a bar called “The Dank,” the place Tessa worked at in college where she and Bishop met. I created a virtual playlist for this “punk rock bar,” which you can check out on Spotify. (Hint: this isn’t the last time you’ll be hearing about The Dank in a book)
You might have noticed that I didn’t send a newsletter on the 15th. After thinking it over, I’ve decided that a once-a-month schedule is probably best.
WRITING
I’m continuing to make slow progress on THE RED SKY. I’ve got a little more to do regarding the overall outline. The prologue has had multiple goes, and I think I finally landed on the right one, so I’m now into chapter two.
For THE RED SKY playlist on Spotify, new additions include Hans Zimmer’s WW84 soundtrack, Alexandre Desplat’s The Midnight Sky soundtrack, and 2WEI/Ali Christenhusz.
In addition to THE RED SKY, I’ve started writing bits and pieces of another stand-alone novel. It’s an idea I’ve had bouncing around in my head for a few years, but wasn’t sure what my POV/entry point was for the main character. After revisiting the first-person perspectives of THE HUNGER GAMES and OLD MAN’S WAR, I’ve got that figured out. A quick description is “Goodfellas on Mars.” Interested? The title is OMERTA SOL. Omerta being the Mafia’s code of silence, and Sol is the length of a day on Mars. So loosely translated, the title is “Days of Silence.”
RECENT READS
Finished reading WOOL by Hugh Howey at the beginning of January. Really enjoyed it. Since I had downtime between Christmas and New Year’s from work, I had extra time to read, and decided to give a Clive Cussler novel a try.
If you’re not familiar, Cussler was a prolific writer, notching about eighty books - twenty of which were best sellers. He wrote adventure books and techno-thrillers, but also founded the non-profit National Underwater and Marine Agency, responsible for the discovery of over sixty shipwreck sites.
I found a used copy of one of his NUMA Files Adventure Series books, THE STORM. It was a quick read, lots of promised adventure, some techno-thrills, and fairly light on character development. I read all of the Dan Brown “Robert Langdon” books years ago, and this is in the same space for me. As a writer, I think it’s worth having a solid foundation of reading both what is of interest to me, which does not always align with the broader market, as well as mass-market books.
After that, I decided to get in some gardening education for 2021 with DOWN TO EARTH by Monty Don. I stepped my gardening game up quite a bit in 2020 thanks to lockdowns and quarantines. Watching Monty and crew on Gardeners’ World, both new and old episodes, was like having the best teacher available. The book is great for both beginners and for people with a bit of knowledge, but looking to improve. You don’t have to read it all in one sitting. In fact, there are chapters dedicated to jobs you can do each month to keep your garden healthy and growing.
Lastly, I scratched my music bio itch with the Matt Walker book GAINESVILLE PUNK: A HISTORY OF BANDS & MUSIC.
TV/Movies
COBRA KAI / Season 3 (Netflix) - so happy to this one back, enjoyed the whole season, even when it got ridiculously over-the-top.
RAISED BY WOLVES / Season 1(HBOMax) - gave the first episode a try, didn’t love it. May return at some point in the future.
THE HISTORY OF SWEAR WORDS / Season 1 (Netflix) - Six quick, funny, educational, and entertaining episodes.
THE EXPANSE / Season 5 (Amazon) - Truly amazed how this show gets better with every season. Only one more episode to go!
LUPIN / Season 1 (Netflix) - French crime/heist show. If you dig the Oceans movies, check it out, though the overdubbing got a bit annoying.
SPYCRAFT / Season 1 (Netflix) - episodes could be longer, but the information is fascinating, especially regarding the Cold War.
WANDAVISION / Season 1 (Disney+) - four episodes in, and it’s the right kind of weird for me.
LOCKED DOWN (HBOMax) - a Covid-era dramedy with a heist. Good, but could have used more heist.
OCEAN’S EIGHT (HBOMax) - a worthy expansion of the Ocean’s brand. I watch these movies for fun and twists, and this has both.
THE LITTLE THINGS (HBOMax) - a serial killer movie set in 1990 with Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, and Jared Leto should have been better.
Music:
What are you watching, reading, listening to at the moment?
Stay Safe!
Tim