Hello there!
Welcome to the new folks who have joined in the past month!
Winter has arrived here in central Ohio. The once fall leaves of orange and red are gone, and it’s dark at 5:30 in the evening. As a gardener, there isn’t much to look forward to until after the new year when my wife and I can start plotting out our fruit and vegetable beds, get some starters going under our grow lights, and stare out the window waiting for spring to arrive.
But that’s okay because the big news is…
THE RED SKY IS DONE!
WRITING
The first draft of THE RED SKY, the sequel to THE BLACK SKY, is officially complete. Getting to type “The End” after about ten months of work felt very good. All this means, really, is that I’ve entered the editing and beta reading part of the process. There are parts I want to flesh out, add some more color and description for characters and locations, but the improvements will come from the beta readers.
I will again be sending my manuscript to Kat Howard, who I worked with on THE BLACK SKY. She gave me great notes that helped with both story clarity and character work, and if you are a writer, I highly recommend reaching out and working with her. I’ve also got my friends and family beta readers, who each give me different feedback. Some like to read for character arcs, others for grammar, so it’s a good opportunity to get differing perspectives.
Now that I can see the thing as a whole, the influence of reading a handful of John le Carré novels this year really helped me shape the suspense/thriller aspects. While there is still a post-apocalyptic setting, the military sci-fi aspect is dialed back for what I would call a more grounded approach.
My guess is that based on a couple of months of editing, rewriting, more editing, polishing, and then all the other aspects of putting a book together, THE RED SKY will be out sometime in the fall of 2022.
Next newsletter I’ll be sharing some of the new book with you, so stay tuned!
For THE RED SKY playlist on Spotify, here is what I added last month: Stochastic by Carbon Based Lifeforms, Legacy Of Lies soundtrack by Arkadiusz Reikowski, and Music For Psychedelic Therapy by Jon Hopkins.
RECENT READS
DAVID BOWIE’S LOW (33/13 SERIES) by Hugo Wilcken
While I appreciate the author discussing the relevance of "The Idiot" by Iggy Pop, and Bowie's previous "Station to Station," there were times this felt more like a chapter in a longer book rather than a steel-eyed focus on "Low." That said, there is a lot of interesting material and history covered, though some terms that are thrown around (i.e. "autistic" and "schizophrenic") seem rather loose rather than clinical, which is troublesome.
A DELICATE TRUTH by John le Carré
This is not like le Carré’s cold war spy novels and offers a nice change of pace. Set in a post-9/11 and Iraq war world, A Delicate Truth explores the dark edges of twentieth-century private military contractors, murky jurisdictions, and the depths nations and corporations will go to cover up deadly secrets. It’s less about good and bad, and more what can you tolerate in the name of perceived security and potential profit.
RECENT TV/MOVIES
DARK MATTER (S.3, Netflix) - Another fun season that unfortunately ends the show on a cliffhanger.
THE NEXT THING YOU EAT (S.1, Hulu) - Thought-provoking David Chang show about the future of food.
THE LOST SYMBOL (S.1, Peacock) - Fun but occasionally slow adaptation of the Dan Brown novel.
FOUNDATION (S.1, AppleTV) - Less than a faithful adaptation of the novel but entertaining.
THE GREAT (S.1, Hulu) - Hilarious and raunchy loose retelling of Catherine The Great’s rise to power.
OUR KIND OF TRAITOR (Amazon) - Solid adaptation of John le Carré's novel with a good cast.
RED NOTICE (Netflix) - Everyone looks nice and surely got paid well, but rather dull and uninspired.
THE RUSSIA HOUSE (Amazon) - Good performances from Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer in a slow-moving John le Carré adaptation.
MUSIC
If you like guitar rock and haven’t heard Big Wreck, this is as good a place to start as any.
A few reminders before you go:
READER REVIEWS! If you read and enjoyed THE BLACK SKY (or any of my books for that matter), I would be grateful if you left a positive review or a rating at Amazon or GoodReads. Reviews help other people find the book.
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!
There’s a “music inspired by” soundtrack written specifically for THE BLACK SKY you can listen to at your favorite streaming sites like Spotify, Apple Music, TIDAL, etc.
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.
Stay Safe!
Tim
Listen to my 90s music podcast: Dig Me Out