Hello there!
Welcome to the new folks who have joined in the past month!
10 DAYS!
That’s right, THE RED SKY will be out in 10 DAYS! Currently, only the Kindle version is available for pre-order. Paperback will be available to order soon, but there’s a bit more set-up involved and I’m still working on it.
I would greatly appreciate a pre-order, so I’ve made the price only $2.99 for THE RED SKY and it will be a part of Kindle Unlimited. Also, THE BLACK SKY is currently only 99 cents. Pre-orders help bring visibility to the book so the Amazon algorithm will suggest it to other people.
Pro-authors will tell you it’s necessary to “level-up” each time you write, and I think I’ve done that with THE RED SKY. It took me a while to figure out how I wanted to tell the story, and hopefully, it pays off for readers.
The plan is to conclude the trilogy with THE WHITE SKY sometime in the future, but I have some other story ideas that have been percolating in my head for some time that will need attention first before I return to this series.
HERE ARE SOME FLOWERS
From around our garden, here are some late summer/fall flowers, including hibiscus, morning glories, cardinal climbers, cleome, and celosia.
BOOKS
A collection of short stories from one of the best crime writers of the 20th century, the title story is the basis for the TV show “Justified,” one of my all-time favorites. If you’ve read Elmore Leonard, or seen works based on his books, you know what to expect. If not, I’ll paint a picture - nine stories of human beings pushing against their boundaries - person, professional, legal, etc. Every character wants something, and every character has a different way of achieving their goals, though the outcome isn’t always something they can control.
RECENT TV/MOVIES
UNCOUPLED (S.1, Netflix) - Neil Patrick Harris in a gay Sex And The City from Darren Starr, a breezy watch.
NEVER HAVE I EVER (S.1, Netflix) - Teenage comedy/drama with an interesting take on high school from a young Indian girl’s perspective.
DARK SIDE OF THE 90s (S.1 & 2, Hulu) - Forty-five-minute episodes covering everything from The Viper Room, tabloid TV, and cults to Beanie Babies and Y2K. Some episodes are better than others; the Grunge episode skipped a lot of stuff.
MUSIC
Presto by Rush (1989)
The Painter by William Orbit (2022)
Noiseworks by Noiseworks (1988)
Out of the Cellar by RATT (1984)
Filterfeed by Ripe (1990)
Present Tense by Shoes (1979)
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.
THE RED SKY playlist on Spotify is all the music I listened to during the writing of THE RED SKY.
Stay Safe!
Tim
Listen to my 90s music podcast: Dig Me Out