INTRO

I'm writing this from a hotel room in Strathblane, at the end of day one of a three-day walking/research trip. I'm here to see the hills change colour, to learn how to describe the stone and the sky and the rain, to feel connected to the ground and the water at this time of year. I'm also here to sit in hotel bars and write the beginnings of a book.

October was… good? Pieces I've been putting in place all year are beginning to pay off, and I think I can see more of a future than I have in a while. Also, Scream! Halloween Special 2026 came out, and the response has been great! Thank you for enjoying all our horrible stories.

THE NEWS

It's convention season! Fantasycon was a delight, full of interesting conversations with people from all corners of the industry. I learned a lot, made several new friends, and came home exhausted but creatively energised. I will absolutely be making this a regular part of my year.

Next weekend is Thought Bubble! I will be tabling for the first time, at table C19 in the Bubbleboy hall.

I'll have stock of The Restaurant at the Edge of the World, as well as both hardback and paperback copies of the American version, Off Menu. Also limited stock of SCREAM!, Mega-City Max, Red Sonja, and various other anthologies featuring my work. Please come and buy books from me so I don't have to carry them all home!

I will also be on a panel! On Saturday, 2PM, Panel Room 2, I will be on the Love Stories in Panels: Romance Comics Today panel, along with several other interesting people and also my official nemesis, Brandt&Stein. Will I fight Ted on stage? Will we simply cause so much trouble together that we're asked to leave? You'll have to come along to the panel and find out.

WHAT AM I WRITING?

Project V is finally as close to finished as it’s going to be any time soon! By that I mean, I've done what I can to it and sent it to my agent. Please cross all your available appendages for my little book and hope that she likes it!

I've got a couple of collaborative projects (a comics pitch and an illustrated prose project) still going, but those are both on the back burner; my collaborators are busy, so I'll pick those back up when everyone else has time.

So, it's time to start a new project in earnest. Welcome to the book I'm calling PROJECT TYRANT: a middle grade horror novel. I'm going to have fun here and see what happens.

It feels odd to not have any comics projects lined up at the moment. I've had such bad luck with scheduling over the last couple of years that I'm finding it easier to put my energy into working on things where I have full control over completion and scheduling, just so I can have a clear sense of progress. That being said, if anyone wants to team up and make some comics… well, you know where to find me. Now would be a great time.

WHAT AM I READING?

I've read a lot of things this month, but the one I want to talk about, so that perhaps more of you will read it and we can discuss it properly, is Paige Lewis’ Canon.

Canon is a story of prophets chosen by God to defeat the Bad Guys. It’s huge and sweeping and hilarious and full of big ideas about power and control and destiny.

This is an epic; the front cover identifies it as “a non-binary epic”. It doesn't mean that adjectivally, but rather in the most traditional sense. This is Homeric poetry, written by a poet, that just happens to be in the form of a prose novel. It's formally ambitious, reads like poetry, and might have been written for a target audience of just me.

It's a difficult one to talk about: the joy of this book is in the playful prose and structural audacity. It's a fast, funny read, and if you're familiar with ancient epic poetry, you owe it to yourself to give this one a go. You'll at the very least respect it for Trying Some Shit.

WHAT AM I WATCHING?

My first love, when it comes to artistic mediums, was stop-motion animation. As a British child of the 90s, I was raised on a steady diet of Wallace and Gromit, with occasional forays into older Postgate and Firmin shows. My brother and I spent endless hours making stop-motion film projects with lego, with plasticine puppets, with anything we could get our hands on. When I was 16, I spent an entire summer fully animating an adaptation of Aristophanes’ Frogs as a school project. This involved full mouth replacement lip synch, and the finished film was half an hour long. I was in the attic animating for 3 months.

All of this to say: Wildwood is the product of beautiful madness.

At 132 minutes, this is the longest commercial stop-motion project ever made. It’s taken a decade to make, driven absurd technical advances (the puppets have actual muscles in their arms now! Look at all that bare skin!), and stands no chance of making anyone any money. I love it so, so much.

Even without the technical side, this would be an all-timer of a fantasy adventure for 12-year-olds. It’s huge and fun and sincere and full of feelings and scares and adventure. With the technical side, though? It’s staggering.

A lot of people like to describe projects like this as “magic”. I want to push back against that. This is hand-crafted art, puppets being brought to living, breathing life in the hands of skilled animators. I think it's really important to remember that it isn't magic. It's artistic creation, and you can do that.

Laika themselves are keen to demystify the process. They're interested in showing you that this is human art, made by people, and part of our great shared skillset and cultural ability as bipeds with opposable thumbs and the power to dream.

Look, there's no magic here: Laika have been posting craft documentaries about the making of Wildwood for some time now, under the series title MADE BY HUMANS. Here, have six hours of in depth craft discussion entirely for free.

Made by Humans: Creatives in Conversation - YouTube

What does it take to make something magical? Artists from award-winning animation studio LAIKA are paired with fellow expert creatives to create a genuine di...

And then. Go and see Wildwood. It'll make you feel so much joy at the human power to create.

MY LINKS

Buy Scream! Halloween Special 2026

Buy The Restaurant at the Edge of the World (UK)

Buy Off Menu (US)

Hire me to edit your project

My bookshop.org reading lists

FRIENDS MAKING THINGS

Scotland's finest indie comics publisher, Quindrie Press, is shutting down at the end of the year. The lineup of books they've put out has been a remarkable collection of local talent, and there hasn't been a single weak point in their library. But, because they're closing down, there's a big sale on in which you can snag some of the best indie comics if the last few years.

Remaining stock is heavily discounted - these are some very good comics, at great prices. Check out the sale here and fill your pockets with books!

OUTRO

That's all for this month. I'm going to go down to the hotel bar now, have a well-earned drink, and start writing the first chapter of this book. I hope to see several of you at Thought Bubble next week!

• Ollie, Strathblane, November 2026

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