Hello there!
Welcome to the new folks who joined last month!
May was an absolute blur.
My daughter finished fifth grade. In my day (yeah, I wrote that) moving from 5th to 6th grade was not a big deal. For me, specifically, going to the same school from kindergarten to 8th really meant it was not a big deal. But she’s changing schools, and she’s been at the same school since she was three years old, so some fanfare was in order.
The thing to do these is the clap out. Not familiar? Basically, on the last day of school, all the other grades line the hallway and the 5th graders walk through on their way to “graduation.” Lots of clapping, hooting, hollering. At my daughters school, there was a ceremony and then each student rang a bell outside to signify the end of their elementary education and onto middle school.
A little bit of sadness on her part leaving the place she knows so well, but she’s moving on with her friend group and excited for what lies ahead in the next school year.
This month has been very productive on the writing front. As previously mentioned, I’m involved in the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association mentorship program as a mentee. My mentor and I have been working on JANET, and I’m very excited about how the process is going. This has truly been a month to level up my writing skills, thinking about more than just plot and characters but digging deeper structure (and subverting it), voice, tone, and other elements that help take a book from okay to good or good to great.
Spring has sprung here, so made our regular trek north to Amish country and the dozen or so garden nurseries for a variety of new acquisitions. The past few years of gardening have taught us what works and what doesn’t in our yard, so we went with a much more focused eye this year.
Not pictured is the four-foot tall Monstera our friend got for ridiculously cheap. It was so large it was like having another person in the vehicle, and the leaves blocked out the rearview mirror.
On the dog front, we can finally say we have a pack. Honey has fully integrated with the other dogs, and no longer needs a pee pad in the house. She runs outside just like the others to do her business, an either very late or very early Christmas miracle.
RECENT DIG ME OUT
Here are the April episodes of the Dig Me Out Podcast:
Marvin the Album by Frente!
Cracked Rear View by Hootie & the Blowfish
Tip by Finger Eleven
More Sad Hits by Damon & Naomi
In The Beginning by Malice
BulletBoys by BulletBoys
RECENT READS
Boss Of Bosses - The Fall of the Godfather: The FBI and Paul Castellano by Joseph F. O’Brien & Andris Kurins
I’ve been on quite a run of very good mafia-centric books, and this one was definitely one of the most entertaining. Told from the perspective of the FBI agents who took down Gambino crime boss Paul Castellano in the 1980s, it gets into the day-to-day activities of what it takes to build a case against such a massive organization like a New York mob family. For the true crime fans, there is much to dig into, but some of the most interesting material is the simple face-to-fact interactions between O’Brien/Kurins and Castellano and his crew. The layered conversations, the begrudging respect, the playful banter, some of it seems straight out of a mob movie, and elements were probably lifted.
RECENT TV/MOVIES
Thank you, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story (Hulu)
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga - Went to the theater for the first time since Barbie, and was not disappointed. Mad Max - Fury Road is one of my all time favorite movies, and while it’s not possible to replicate that masterpiece, Furiosa is a very good movie on its own. It’s always hard with an origin story because you know the end point for the main character and that they will survive, possibly minus a limb. But George Miller is smart in introducing us to Dementus, played fantastically by Chris Hemsworth, as the wild card in the Citadel, Gas Town, and Bullet Farm alliance we’re familiar with from Fury Road.
RECENT MUSIC
Meat Beat Manifesto - 99% (1990)
Bowery Electric - Lushlife (2000)
Red Snapper - Making Bones (1998)
A few reminders before you go:
Help spread the word - leave a book review at Amazon or GoodReads!
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
Spotify Playlists! I made them for when I was writing THE BLACK SKY, THE RED SKY, and there is also a special one for “The Dank” bar that is in THE BLACK SKY.
If you like instrumental electronic music, I have soundtracks for THE BLACK SKY and THE RED SKY available at most streaming services, along with several other releases.
Stay Safe!
Tim