113:at least three funny jokes

June 5, 2019

Hullo. Just the facts this one. There’s a bunch of free writing linked in this one, so a newsletter is extraneous, right? Contents! DIE ALSO DIE YET MORE DIE...

112: conversations in pub toilets

May 30, 2019

Hullo. I woke up this morning, having finally escaped DIE 8. I am now looking around confused, not quite sure what to do. I’ll do this. Contents! Better is a...

111: notes on the Temple of Tharglethloop

May 22, 2019

Hullo. This is the sort of week when an artist dropping a line saying that they’re behind is a cause for relief, because it means there’s one less thing I...

110: obsession and math

May 15, 2019

Hullo. How come I didn’t know about Crocodile’s mash-up cover of Groove is in the Heart and California girls until now. You’re a fool, Kieron. Contents!...

109: the cold hard calculation

May 9, 2019

Hullo. I write this on a plane, suffering in turbulence. I won’t pretend that doesn’t make me nervous. I’m not superstitious, but I look sidelong at...

108: like a voice in the back in my head

May 1, 2019

Hullo. Prediction: history will look back on this period and call it Bad Hot Takes week. I’m going to save my own for later, not least as I haven't seen...

107: abandoned shelf of shame

April 24, 2019

Hullo. I’m not sure how I lived to be 43 years old and not seen Smokey Robinson being harassed by the letter U on Sesame Street, but I’ve now seen it, and I...

106:neither future, nor fad, but present.

April 17, 2019

Hullo. Yes, I had a week off, in which I discovered that when people say “I’m looking forward to it like root canal surgery” they were actually being ironic....

105: the characters are the dungeons

April 3, 2019

Hullo. My body, having failed to make a script emerge from me, made do with making pus emerge in a tiny red hill on my nose. But the script is done, and so...

104: my mutant power.

March 27, 2019

Hullo. I’m going to keep this tight today, as I’ve got a lot of work backing up, and really need to leave space to get on with it. Or, at least, leave space...

103: so happy I'm scared

March 21, 2019

Hullo. I flew back from Seattle, had to immediately to a dentist where my jaw was pumped full of drugs, and then proceeded to not actually go to sleep at...

102: literary bar room gleeful racket

March 13, 2019

Hullo. I’m writing this in a plane next to a nose-drooling man who I hope has allergies as otherwise I’m sitting next to a plague-bearer and will be patient...

101: a colourful metaphor

March 6, 2019

Hullo. I just did a “I'm very glad the church have decided to join in the celebrations of the release of DIE 4, by hailing its lead with their Ash Wednesday”...

100: Oh, Carlolina

February 27, 2019

Hullo. I've been wincing since I started this list that I only put three zeroes at the front. 001: looks great. 010: and upwards looks great. 100: loses the...

099: daubing things in hot pink

February 20, 2019

Hullo. Today's music is Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, which comrade Rossignol forwarded to me. Their GNT is delightfully Calligulan rock. Contents! DIE DIE...

098: The Ghost Of C-Monster

February 13, 2019

Hullo. Last week, I was finally told that I still had "2018" at the end of my newsletter. I have had broccoli in my teeth for the last year. Contents!...

097: Laura Brannigan’s Absolute Banger

February 6, 2019

Hullo. I’m writing this in a bar in London, around the corner from the pub which Mike Carey used as John Constantine’s local. I would go and write there, but...

096: The house needs milk.

January 30, 2019

Hullo. At this time of night, I would like to settle down with a nice chianti and a slice of Television Golden Age and/or a podcast about boardgames. But...

095: I suppose it would make Hemingway a swooper

January 23, 2019

Hullo. I write from a house of plague. Do not approach. Do not inhale. Wear gloves to interact with the screen. Wear protective glasses. Wait, you're...

094: neeerrrrrrrd

January 16, 2019

Hullo. This week's obsessional record has been SOPHIE's Immaterial, which was in last week's tracks of the year, but would climb about ten places if I re-did...

093: nothing but precision engineered ennui

January 9, 2019

Hullo. It's 2019. As it's 2019, I plan to be more sensible, and not do throwaway joke introductions. No, really. Okay, maybe just this once. As well as the...

092: Shouting at clouds. Mushroom clouds.

December 12, 2018

Hullo. Last week was hectic. This week, let's just sit back and toast marshmallows. On the smouldering ruins of a democracy, admittedly, but you can't have...

091: neediest of the needsters.

December 5, 2018

Hullo. Hello, my name is Kieron Gillen, and I'm selling these fine leather jackets comic products. Contents! Something New Something Old Something Signing...

090: Joan Wilder from Romancing the Stone

November 28, 2018

Hullo. I've just finished a bar of nougat so may be in a sugar-rush mode again. Don't worry, I'll be brief, to i) not annoy and ii) finish before I collapse...

089: I'm eating the cake now

November 21, 2018

Hullo. I've just had an actual snooze in the afternoon, so I'm a little loopy and this newsletter is going to be powered by a heroic team up between...

088: wine and cheese

November 14, 2018

Hullo. This week - mainly links and art, I think. I haven't ever done a big art preview here before. Let's do a big art preview. If you're reading on the...

087: a bag of holding, solely containing nerves.

November 7, 2018

Hullo. This week. This week. This week. Suffice to say, this one will lean short. It's been intense for everyone, and it's been intense for all the same...

086: we have cats.

October 31, 2018

Hullo. I'd say Happy Goth Christmas except my coven decided Goth Christmas is actually Christmas Eve, because on Christmas Eve 1764 The Castle of Otranto was...

085: in terms of artistic reach, I was basically a T-Rex

October 17, 2018

Hullo. I had so much stuff I wanted to get in this one I had to push some it to next, as otherwise none of you are going to read it, right? I mean, I barely...

084: moisture-wicking

October 10, 2018

Hullo. Back from New York. Obviously jetlagged. That's this week's excuse for typos, even though my x-key is still unfixed. The process to fix it has...

083: Project Boombastic

October 3, 2018

Hullo. I'm writing this on my flight for New York Comic Con, and I'm resisting the urge of posting it from here on the plane's wi-fi, if only because the...

082: Vampire Jump Game

September 26, 2018

Hullo. The thing which most efficiently describes how excellent Thought Bubble was is that I'm still tired from Thought Bubble. Contents! Catholic Apple...

081: an ideal Christmas Present and/or murder weapon.

September 19, 2018

Hullo. Everyone is talking about Batman's dong on twitter, but I keep on thinking about how much more dong Kris Anka provided in the WicDiv Christmas annual....

080: Spangly New Thing

September 12, 2018

Hullo. Part of me is tempted to just move the Spangly New Thing name to the latest project, and have whatever is my next book always known as Spangly New...

079: I give you humanity

September 6, 2018

Hullo. After last time's sprawl, this one is a little bit Just The Facts, if only because the next one is inevitably going to Go On A Bit with the likely...

078: “First It” and “Second It.”

August 29, 2018

Hullo. No books out this week. Just chat. Sit down. Have a biscuit. No, wait, that was the last biscuit. How dare you! We must fight. Contents! Once more...

077: nowt but a mass of insecurities with pop-songs as sticking plasters

August 23, 2018

I really should start writing these newsletters earlier in the day, when my brain is still mostly working, but it seems never to happen. Will there be a typo...

076: self-inflicted

August 16, 2018

Hullo. Arethea Franklin was just announced having died, and I tweeted: "I can't say anything to capture Aretha Franklin's greatness that isn't explained...

075: you are our pop Aslan.

August 1, 2018

Hullo. Music crushes these week is Imarhan's Tumast and Idles' Samartians. The latter is one of the best songs about toxic masculinity I've ever heard. I...

074: Her From Enchanted Meets Lovecraft

July 25, 2018

Hullo. I need to write this before cooking. In this case, a Simple Lamb Curry. When I am cooking, I always enter "Simple" into google before whatever thing I...

073: the power of ritual

July 18, 2018

Hullo. I started the last newsletter with first trying out Mitski's Nobody. I've been obsessively listening to it ever since, only alternating with Twilight...

072: plotted by a pack of drunk Labradors.

July 4, 2018

Hullo. I was going to write something serious here, but I just realised Mitski released a single last week, which has left me all excited. Join me! This is...

071: a comedy Kelvin trying to find absolute zero

June 27, 2018

Hullo. I forgot to say this last week, but I had several folk point out Olympia absolutely was released as a single. Thankfully Alex, the first, also gave me...

070: Lucifer as Nun

June 20, 2018

Hullo. It's me again. I had a brief break, for the dual reason of prioritisation (as in, I had nothing 100% essential to get out so other things took the...

069: a genre which left such deep roots and/or scars

May 31, 2018

Hullo. I'm writing this in a local coffee-shop drinking lemonade because I am such a rebel. Everyone is very impressed. Contents! Vegas Fairford Books &...

068: when is June?

May 23, 2018

Hullo. I like to think that every piece of writing poses a fundamental question that needs to be answered. This newsletter is an exploration of the question...

067: in the land of the feline elves, she was a hobbit.

May 17, 2018

Hullo. Today is very much the sort of day when I'm reminded of a bleak truth. I have a career not because of how I write when I want to write, but how you...

066: glycemic blitzkreig is my Waterloo

May 9, 2018

Hullo. Now, when I only sent the last one on Friday, do I skip a week, when I don't really have anything new to plug? Of course not, as I am driven by love,...

065: Dicey Moral Dilemmas

May 4, 2018

Hullo. Today's main thing has been watching the sort of memeic shuffle between people who still really like May The 4th as a thing, and people who are bored...

064: a little secretly-ironic arrogance

April 25, 2018

Hullo. How are you? I'm thinking about lines between the mid-period Clash singles, Marc Bolan and Destiny's Child's Lose My Breath. Because I remain me....