014: Media Darlings
Probably our biggest media mention to date came out last week. I'll jump straight into that, right after...
Support my work
Work-Life Balance – the multi-award-winning prose/comics hybrid co-created with Benjamin Chee
Worlds Apart: A Conversation About Mental Health – a comic co-created with Nurjannah Suhaimi
HANTU – Spotify channel for the narrative series, Ghost Maps, and the talk show, Dead Air, both of which were co-created with Kyle Ong
Tales From Incredible Tales – a podcast by Kyle and I, looking back on the cult classic horror series, Incredible Tales
Sneak previews
Ben and I were interviewed for the Indie Edge section in the latest issue of Previews, Diamond's catalogue for comic shops all around the world.
There's something immensely wild and wonderful about our first piece of international press appearing in a publication with Doctor Who on the cover.
The interviews are meant to complement Work-Life Balance's listing in the same issue.
If you live outside of Singapore and want to get our book, visit your local comic shop now, flip to page 280 of their copy of Previews, point to our listing, and ask your retailer (nicely!) to order Work-Life Balance.
If they don't have a physical copy of Previews, you can send them the online listing instead.
Here's the catch
That's not the only interview with us that's come out recently though.
Ben and I spoke with Catch, to talk about Work-Life Balance, its origins and awards, and its animated series. There should be a video posted soon too, so if you haven't already, follow their Instagram page.
(Fun fact: the interview was conducted at G&B Comics—and, yes, right after we finished, I proceeded to pick up my shipment for the week. Totally didn't plan that. Totally.)
Not a subscriber yet?
If a friend forwarded this to you or you're reading it online, maybe consider signing up to receive long-form updates like this twice a month.
And now, back to your regularly scheduled newsletter.
Rethink and rework
I had a very important conversation the other week about my manuscript—one that's made me reconsider the novel's entire structure. Which isn't a bad thing. In fact, even though I'll be massively shifting its focus, it's all done to further refine the book.
What that means though is that my original deadline for a completed first draft by June might need some adjusting. Again, not at all a bad thing. The deadline's self-imposed and I would honestly rather shift the goal post than deliver something I'm not entirely happy with.
Since that conversation, I've not been writing as much. Part of that's to settle stuff for our flat, but also, some distance will do me good when I finally get back into the groove.
Tale end
The final episode of Tales From Incredible Tales' first season went online last week.
All of us—from Kyle, Raihan and myself to our guests and crew—are floored by the overwhelming support every one of you has shown the series.
We delivered fourteen episodes that we're immensely proud of, helped in our own little way to keep the love for supernatural stories alive—and got to hang out with Utt, probably the nicest man in show business.
A second season isn't confirmed, but Kyle and I have plans in mind. In the meantime, you can watch all of season one here.
Epigrand exit
Jason Erik Lundberg, fiction editor at Epigram Books, recently announced that he's left the company. I worked with Jason on my short stories, "Satay" for LONTAR #10 and "Down into the Water" for Fish Eats Lion Redux. He had a knack for suggesting a seemingly small change that somehow made my stories infinitely better.
He is—to me and, I imagine, to a lot of authors—as synonymous with Epigram as its founder, Edmund Wee. That said, whether under that banner in a freelance capacity or elsewhere, I look forward to eventually working with him again—and wish him all the best with his journey forward!
Voicing out
Nadia shared her story of being a primary caregiver in the new book, Our Own Voices. Its launch is happening this Sunday afternoon, at Book Bar. If you can, please join us and pick up a copy.
Too hot, hot damn
I don't have any new photos of Luca to share, so instead, I'll start to close off this edition with a pair of goobers that are equally cute in their own way.
Nadia and I had such a great time at the Bruno Mars show. If you ever get the chance to watch him live, go for it—even if you don't consider yourself a massive fan—and make sure you're prepared to party.
Bonus: the much younger couple in front of us who were also dancing their asses off said that we brought the vibes. We are officially certified cool by the young'uns.
Links and things
A piece that Marvel editor, Tom Brevoort, wrote in 2019 about the purpose of superheroes.
Actor, David Dastmalchian, speaks with Trent Reznor about addiction and creativity.
And that's it for now
Once again, don't forget to support my work...
And I'll see you in two weeks.