November Newsletter

I was planning a fairly basic “housekeeping” kind of newsletter, but then the unexpected happened: I won a Lunar Award! Needless to say, I’m a bit shocked. I’ve been writing for over 15 years now and it’s the first time I’ve ever won a contest. However, I think it’s a pretty good story, and it seems to have gotten some real traction since the awards were announced. I hope you’ll check it out if you haven’t already.

Because I devoted most of the month to “The Vigil”, I unfortunately haven’t made much progress with the novella as of late. Also, Storyletter XPress Publishing just announced a call for submissions for a horror-themed anthology coming out next year. I’m very, very tempted to submit a piece for that. However, I did promise you a novella, and I’ll keep working on it even if I do end up writing this other piece as well.

Last month was also Halcyon Horror’s second anniversary, so I’ve been thinking about my plans for this Substack. I’ve always resisted monetizing, for the simple reason that I don’t write fast enough to make it worth the reader’s while. However, I’m starting to get a decent back catalog, so maybe I’ll reconsider at some point in the future. Many of you are also writers and some of you have successfully monetized your Substack, so I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Thanks as always for your support!

What I’m reading:

RUOK? A Horror Story in Texts, by Andy Futuro

• This novella was recently published here on Substack. I enjoyed the innovative format and the realism of the characters. The ending was quite creepy as well.

1689, by Amy Cross

• This is the first book in a horror series with an intriguing premise, charting the history of a haunted house from the year it was first built. I’ll definitely check out the other books in the series. Be forewarned though. You need a strong stomach to get through parts of this book.

Words of Radiance, by Brandon Sanderson

• Not my usual fare, but the Stormlight Archive series has been very fun so far. The worldbuilding is cool and probably what Sanderson is most famous for. However, the viewpoint characters often seem more like video game characters interacting with NPCs and gaining new powers as they level up, rather than real people making real decisions. Don’t get me wrong. I love videogames, but the tropes that are fun to play through in a game don’t quite hit the same way in book form. However, considering how insanely popular Sanderson is, I’m guessing most people disagree with me.

Fallout: The Hiroshima Coverup and the Reporter who Revealed it to the West, by Lesley M. M. Blume

• Like most people, I learned about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in school. However, I wasn’t aware of the U.S. government’s efforts to keep the American public from finding out exactly what atomic radiation did to the mostly civilian populations of these cities. An interesting and disturbing read about a mostly forgotten aspect of this famous event.