Hello, world! Are you ready to kick some ass? Me neither, but life must go on.

In case you’re new here or have forgotten me, I’m author Vincent Lore, and this is my newsletter. I’m a 30-something trans guy living on the east coast of the USA (God help me). While a quick look out at the Bluesky shows everything is on fire, I continue to write my stories of horror and creeping dread. Why? I don’t know. I guess I have nothing else to keep my brain busy.

Since I last used Buttondown, I self-published two books: The Darkness in Old Bellblack, a noir-esque Cthulhu Mythos tale, and Friend of the Damned, the first in my Runner Owen project. You can find them both on my itch. And there’s gonna be a lot more where these came from! Assuming fiction about trans people doesn’t get banned in my country before I can finish anything else… All my fiction stars trans man characters, you see.

So, what are you in for with this newsletter? Whatever I want to talk about, I guess. Book reviews, writing advice, updates on my fiction and personal life, interesting videos or websites, general life encouragement, maybe even recipes. Yes, recipes, either stuff I’m making for myself or things inspired by my fiction. I mean, why not?

I’m aiming to get two emails out every week - one on Wednesday, and one on Sunday - with unscheduled updates through the week as needed/desired. I promise I won’t spam you! I want my writing to give, not take away. If you do want up to the minute updates on my life, you can find me on Bluesky, or Tumblr if you use that.

This Wednesday (tomorrow!) I’ll offer y’all a review of The Pearl by Martin Shannon. It’s a grim but engrossing cosmic horror novella, following an ambitious young woman with a front seat to the end of the world. If you want to read it yourself, you won’t have to wait long. Its coming to Itch and is already live on Kobo!

This Sunday, on the other hand, I’ll share my personal list of writing questions to help develop characters. And why not - I’ll throw in a recipe I modified from the back of a box, too. 100% egg free! Who knew disliking those would benefit me someday…

That’s about it for now, I’d say. Let me leave you with something fun to take your mind off things. Turns out some episodes of the old Dino-Riders cartoon are available on Youtube! Don’t know what Dino-Riders is? An (apparently?) obscure 80s toy commercial cartoon about future humans and aliens(?) traveling back in time and landing on prehistoric earth. Peter Cullen, voice of Optimus Prime, is in this, along with some others you might recognize (if you’re of the right age and/or are a nerd like me). I had a few episodes on VHS as a kid inherited from my big brother and I loved them.

Check out episode 1 right here:

Boy… That thumbnail sure sums it up!

Anyway, I’ll let you go now. Feel free to message me wherever if you have something to say! I’m always listening. Assuming I’m awake, of course.

Don’t give up!