May 2024: Furry Friends
Good afternoon folks,
I don't really know where May went - I blinked twice and suddenly we're staring down the barrel of June and the midway point of this year. Yikes!!
It's been a pretty busy month - I've spent most of it low-key panicking about how much I need to get done in various areas (day job and the data apprenticeship that Iām doing through work, the toilet book, Brigantia Vol. 2) and trying to put things in some kind of mental order. A LOT of stuff is going to come together in September/October time and I'm sure it'll be perfectly horrendous and stressful, but oh well..!
On the brighter side, I just got back from another visit to a prospective new member of our family - Zena, a rotty/staffy cross who's currently being looked after by Dogs Trust. She's a bouncy, lovable ball of energy and we're going through the adoption process at the moment - I'm slightly worried about whether our house will be okay for her (and about the million other responsibilities of dog ownership) but it'll be nice to have a fur baby around again.
Anyway, let's get to it:
The Usual
The big news (if you missed it last month) is that Brigantia Vol. 2 is firmly on the way. All the pages should be lettered this coming month and I've already started on the layout/design work (as well as writing an essay for this volume which made my partner a bit teary-eyed, so that seems positive). The campaign page is šRIGHT HEREš, so please do go and sign up to be notified when it launches - a big first day is going to be vitally important for getting this book funded and made, and on a purely selfish level, I'd love to give Brigantia a big send-off for the final chapter of her story.
As enticement, here's an exclusive first look at one of the prints/pin-ups that will be available on the campaign, by the phenomenal Alfie Gallagher:
And that's not all - Alfie's original inks for this will also be up on the campaign as an incredibly limited, one-item only reward!
I'm sort of hoping nobody pledges for it so that I can put it up on my own wall... š
Besides that, we're 90% there with Secrets of the Majestic - I've assembled a rough cut PDF to get the stories in a semblance of order and figure out page turns/extra content, and scrolling through it is a delight. I know the concept of the book is a big joke, but the stories themselves have absolutely smashed it out of the park - every creative team has done fantastic work and I'm excited to share it with people! Expect a digital PDF in the very near future, Kickstarter backers...
It's also been a pretty creatively fulfilling month on the music side - Ba'al's new EP came out at the start of the month and we've had some fantastic responses to it and a shedload of very positive reviews. It's very gratifying to see the praise for something that I contributed a bunch of riffs and energy to, so hopefully we can parlay that into a steady upward progression (like some big festival slots!)
The Record
I haven't kept count of exactly how many, but I've lettered a good chunk of pages for Secrets of the Majestic this month and have written nothing (except the aforementioned Brigantia essay, and an editorial foreword for the toilet book). C'est la vie!
The Tunes
Very much a playlist of two halves this month - we're starting off on the heavy side of the spectrum with The Sun's Journey Through the Night (who I supported with Ba'al at the start of the month and who were fantastic), followed up by new High On Fire (always a treat) and an extremely anti-cop death metal anthem from a new discovery of mine called Terminal Nation. Still metal-adjacent after that is Devin Townsend with this uplifting power ballad, and then it's into electronica/ambient territory with Observers (also featuring Devin). From there we're staying quite chilled with Janelle Monae's excellent Dirty Computer and a new Childish Gambino track with a striking music video, as you might expect, acting as a bridge into C418 - I don't even play Minecraft but I appreciate this OST! After that is a new track from Warrington Runcorn New Town Development Plan, a fantastic project with a ridiculous name - the whole new album is very good indeed. And to close things out, we have the impeccable Things Can Only Get Better by D:Ream - UK readers will probably understand the significance of this, but for anyone outside the UK, this song was the anthem of choice for the centre-left Labour Party when they won a landslide majority over the Tories back in 1997, ushering in an era of hope and progress (which the Tories have since done their best to destroy.) It's been 14 years since we last had a non-Tory government, and to say that I'm itching to boot them to the kerb is a Herculean understatement. Today's Labour aren't 100% the party I want them to be, but you'd best believe I'll be blasting this song on Election results night as scores of crying Tories (hopefully) lose their seats in humiliating fashion š¤
The Links
Going to break from tradition here and dedicate the links section to, you guessed it: Kickstarter campaigns!
First up, Brigantia Vol. 2 pre-launch:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chrismole/brigantia-volume-2
(I know that's two plugs in one newsletter but I don't want to be accused of burying the lede..!)
Next, throw your attention at the next Sagas of the Shield Maiden book by my good friend Asa Wheatley and a host of fantastic artists:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/asawheatley/sagas-of-the-shield-maiden-book-four
His campaigns are always Kickstarter mega-hits, so don't miss out!
Lastly, there are 6 days left to go on Nick Bryan's "Collected Letters of Courier Z" campaign which I contributed a little blurb to - don't miss out on this one either if you like wacky sci-fi:
Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend (plus sign up to the Brigantia Kickstarter kthxbye..!)
All the best,