Well, 2026 has been a hell of a year, but at least it’s finally over. And none too soon, am I right?

Hahahaaaaaaaaa. Ha. Ha.

<sobs>

It’s been a two weeks and it’s just... sweet jebus it’s been a lot. I remember when I was a very little kid in Maine, playing at the beach, and getting hit by a wave. Suddenly everything was just.. chaos. Getting tossed around, rolling underwater, the noise, not being able to focus on anything because it was all happening so fast. And then the wave was gone and I probably ran crying to my mom.

That’s what the past two weeks have felt like. For me anyway. Your mileage may vary.

Understandably, when things are this overwhelming, it’s tough to do anything. It’s easy to just huddle down into our usual ruts and, y’know, stay there. Definitely easier than doing something. Anything.

Whenever I feel like this, I always try to remember a piece of advice I got from Melissa Navia, the actress who plays Lt. Ortegas on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. To be clear, it’s not like we were hanging out and she said “Peter, y’know what...” (I feel safe saying she doesn’t know I exist). But when the show premiered I was checking out some of the cast members on social media (always with that quiet dread of “you seem cool, please please please don’t be a quiet right-wing antivaxer/ conspiracy theorist...”), and in an Instagram post she told a little story about getting to the gym that really struck home.

See, when my film career was winding up and my professional writing career was first starting I lived in a little apartment in Koreatown (trust me, I’m going somewhere with this). And parking there was nightmarish (I’m assuming nothing has changed). It was pretty normal at night to spend half an hour or more circling the neighborhood looking for parking, often two or three blocks from my building. I learned to parallel park in a space maybe six or seven inches longer than my car.

This also meant the entire neighborhood had to do this elaborate dance because of street sweeping. You had to keep track of where you were parked and what day street sweeping happened and on which side of the street and what time. Which, combined with the parking issues I mentioned, usually meant at least twice a week you’d have to run down at some point and move your car. Hopefully there’d be a space right there because half the folks had gone to work, but it wasn’t uncommon for this to be another ten or fifteen minutes of circling.

Thing is, it sucked and we all accepted it. Twice a week you woke up early, pulled your clothes on, and went to move your car before having breakfast or showering or whatever. From what I understand, Melissa Navia dealt with something similar. Maybe you have, too. And believe me, you have my deepest sympathies if you’re still dealing with it.

But y’see, Timmy, if I can drag myself out of bed for something like that, I can drag myself out of bed for something I supposedly want to do. I can hit the gym. I can get on the treadmill. I can write those two pages. I can call my reps. I can attend that protest.

I can do things. So can you. Don’t let the waves keep tossing you around.

Okay, after mashing two completely unrelated stories together into one hopefully semi-inspiring message, let me tell you some interesting stuff.

My editor and I worked on TOS through a lot of the holidays. Seriously, we were still on the phone discussing things two days before Christmas. We went through the whole manuscript discussing different plot points and dialogue bits and reveals and pacing and even had a fun talk about how much do you have to drink how fast before you start feeling it? Yes, it was for the book.

Anyway, since then I’ve been going through examining and implementing and re-examining all the things we talked about (I had about six pages of notes when we were all done). I like it. It’s been a good back-and-forth, and I’m feeling really good about this.

And we’ve already started talking about covers! Which sounds a little wild but then I realized holy crap we’re about a year out from TOS getting released. Yeah, this time next year (give or take a week or three) and you’ll have it in your hands. Or in your ears.

Hopefully I’ll get to tell you the title before then...

Hey, speaking of things in your ears... the audiobook release for God’s Junk Drawer is in six days as I write this. Less than a week. I’m personally very excited to hear how Ray Porter did some of the voices. No, I haven’t gotten to hear it yet either. In that respect, we’re all in the same boat.

This also means you’ve got five (5)days left to take advantage of the preorder offer. Preorder the audiobook, get a free short story from me. All the details are in last month’s newsletter (which is archived right here). I’m a little behind in getting the latest wave out—very sorry to those of you still waiting—but you will get them.

Oh, and if you might want a signed hardcover of God’s Junk Drawer, as it happens I’m going to be at Mysterious Galaxy on Thursday night (tomorrow as I write this!) talking with Jeff Rake and Rob Hart about their new sci-fi book, Detour, and I think there may be a few copies of my book as well. If you’re in the neighborhood, swing by and say hi. If you’re not in the neighborhood, give Mysterious Galaxy a call or check their website.

What else can I tell you about...

Cool Stuff I’ve Been Watching
Well, big shock, I watched a pile of Christmas movies. Some that were Asylum level (or worse) yes, but a lot of the usual standards and personal favorites. The Long Kiss Goodnight, Muppet Christmas Carol, Iron Man 3, A Prince for Christmas. We also watched Elio and really liked it. I discovered the last season of Resident Alien had come and gone, so we binged that. And it paired kind of well with the end of Stranger Things. Both shows end with the idea that sometimes the “happy ending” doesn’t necessarily mean “happily ever after together.” Friends go their separate ways, the gang breaks up, and you do your best to stay in touch.

Cool Stuff I’ve Been Reading
I’ve been reading pretty much constantly since Christmas. Matthew Dow Smith’s The October Girl is an absolutely wonderful take on the old “learning fantasy worlds are real” trope. Also enjoyed Tom Gauld’s Physics for Cats (a quick, light read) and volume two of Void Rivals (which I have to admit I’m liking a lot more than I thought I would). Weirdly enough, my favorite's been The Book by Keith Houston, which is a fantastic, in-depth look at the history and creation of, well, books. Writing, paper, ink, printing, illustrations, binding, covers-where it all comes from and how it all came together. Lots of historical notes and interesting trivia. It reminds me a lot of the old Connections show with James Burke, if any of you remember that.

Cool New Toys
Christmas was very good to me. My friend Marcus gave me the Total Anime MHA Shigaraki (I know that’s just a pile of letters to some of you) I’d been wanting since SDCC last year. I got two New Adventures of Batman figures (Scarecrow and the Creeper) from my friend John. And my beloved gave me a Super7 Force Commander (a retro Micronauts figure) and a ridiculously wonderful Stitch as Elvis action figure that’s been singing on my desk since I opened him (he also comes with a guitar and a microphone). Overall a wonderful holiday, in the toy sense. Also, feeling a bit moved and already nostalgic (retro-nostalgic?) I dug around online and found three of the Demogorgon figures from the Masters of the Universe/ Stranger Things crossover line. Which means they’re, well, pretty buff Demogorgons.

And I think that’s everything?

As always, thanks so much for reading. I’ll talk to you again next month.