I sometimes wonder if I need to come up with better titles for some of these. Who knows what sets off spam filters these days. I mean, sure, if I sent out a newsletter titled “100 Pills, Go All Night” it’s a pretty safe bet none of you would ever see it (okay... most of you would never see it). But at one point is the title too generic or cutesy or obscure.

And let’s be honest. We’re all kind of inherently spam filtering at this point. If I see am email titled “What can I say to convince you...” or “Photos from last year” they go straight into the trash. You’ve probably got your own list of things that you get spammed with. I wonder how often what I thought was a clever title made someone hit delete without a second thought?

Anyway, that’s the kind of thing I think about as social media continues to crumble around us and I wonder how I’m going to be telling people about book releases a year from now.

Sorry this is a little late. I had jury duty on Thursday. I wasn’t seated, and they even sent me home at lunch (well, not just me), but it still managed to mess up my week a bit. As these things do.

Anyway, let me dive straight into book stuff this month. I think if I start to ramble this could end up waaaaaay too long and, well... there’s a chance of one or two bonus newsletters in the near future. You’re going to be sick of me soon enough.

First off, the next book! Not The Off Season, but the one after it that I’ve been calling ATCS. Last newsletter I was just about to head back to it after some time off and... well, the time off was worth it. It let me look at the current draft with really fresh eyes. There are parts that could be clearer. Some could be shorter, others could use more detail. There’s also a few plot threads that could be, well... rewoven? That metaphor got away from me. I got a note from Kristi Charish (who’d taken an early look at the book) and I poked at said note a few times, but now I could really see how a) she was right and 2) how I could work in a few fixes that would strengthen several parts of the story.

This also worked out well because my editor also read the book, and we were going to sit down and talk about it. But then he got hit with a few things at work and then got hit with a bug at home and so... well, we’re going to talk soon. And then I’ll dive into a new draft of this which’ll (hopefully) go into the publishing pipeline very early next year.

In the meantime I’ve actually started poking at the next-next book. Maybe... 7000 words worth of poking so far. A rough outline. I think, for now, we’ll call that one TPM.

Also, my agent’s hammering out a deal for something else book-related that some of you have asked about. Well, he and I talked about what we want out of it and what we think we could get out of some parts of it and... look, I’ll talk about it a bit more once everything’s finalized. But I think a lot of you reading this will be happy.

Oh, and one last thing! So, last time I talked a bit about pre-orders and why they’re good. And also a bit about God’s Junk Drawer, which (coincidence!) is coming out in paperback in two weeks so you could preorder it now. And if you preorder it from Mysterious Galaxy, my friendly local store, I will be signing copies. So grab yours now. They’re also very kindly trying to figure out if there’s a way to set it up so you can order personalized books, either to you or maybe with a quick message. If that gets worked out, I’ll send out another quick email with the new link (if necessary).

Okay, actually, one last-last thing. After I talked about preorders in the last newsletter, a few folks asked if preordering audiobooks also helps. Short answer is, it’s usually complicated and often changes book to book, but in this specific case (The Off Season) yes it does. Sorry i wasn’t clear on that first time around.

And I think that’s all the cool book news. What other cool things can I tell you about...?

COOL STUFF I’VE BEEN WATCHING
We watched Toy Story 5 and it was wonderful, of course. I’ve been watching some Halloween classics, and decided to give Goosebumps a try (the Jack Black one) and it was entertaining, as someone who’s maybe read two or three of the books ever. Haunted Hotel is back, still ridiculously funny, and we’re trying to space this season out to last the whole month. Watched the first two episodes of Visionquest which were very well done, but I’m not sure it’s super-compelling. And we’re doing a Leverage rewatch, too.

COOL STUFF I’VE BEEN READING
I read a couple very early things for friends just to offer some feedback. Finally sat down and devoured It Was Her House First by Cherie Priest (highly recommended for the season). there’s a comedian I really like, Sashi Perera, and she wrote an autobiography called Standstill: The Art of Evading my Problems Across Three Continents. It’s funny, informative, a little dark at points, and overall kind of,,, reassuring? I really liked it, maybe you would too. And right now I’m about fifty pages into Premee Mohamed’s Wickhills which (so far) is sort of like an urban fantasy noir spy thriller. It grabbed my immediately she’s such a good writer it makes me feel very self-conscious about so much of my work.

COOL NEW TOYS
I’ve picked up a few things and had a few preorders come in, but very few things have actually gotten unpacked yet. Like, the Bossfight Hellboy and Lobster Johnson are both sitting here in my office, still in the box. So’s the GI Joe Classified Action Man, who’s sort-of-not-exactly a crossover figure. I’ve been working on a giant robot out in the garage, but that probably won’t be done until later in the week so... look for photos on Bluesky? Which means the one thing I’ve got to show you is something I bought on a whim to go with some of my “cool folks in tuxedos” figures, a Fortnite guy I found on eBay (who I just found out is being re-released!)...

Okay, managed to keep this kind of under control, yes? Hope you have a Happy Halloween and I’ll talk with you again next month.