As I wrote before, I’ve left social media. Thank you for following me into newsletterland. I could write at great length as to why I pulled the plug, the fears for my career, the loss of connection, out of sight out of mind, etc… but I have no regrets. It’s done, and I feel free. Time to move forward.
To start, I thought I would let you know what this newsletter will be, but more importantly, what it won’t be.
WHAT THIS NEWSLETTER WON’T BE:
This newsletter will not be a constant exhortation to buy my books and art (although, you know, please buy my books and art). If you would like just the facts, the “I have a book coming out today, please buy it” and “here’s a nice review of that book I keep telling you to buy” posts, then the blog I’ve set up on my website may be what you’re after. The blog will be terse, rather formal, and hopefully informative of the major events of my career. My agent, Alison Eldred, also has a blog worth visiting as well.
WHAT THIS NEWSLETTER WILL BE:
The thing I will miss most about social media, aside from feeling connected to friends, will be seeing the things that people are excited about, the books and films and comics and art that they love, that influence their own work, that provide a peek behind the curtains to see how their lives are shaped. So I will try to do some of that here, providing not only glimpses of projects in progress but also the things that I am excited about, that are influencing, teaching, and inspiring me in some way as I move forward with my work.
I’ll also be writing more in-depth about my projects - I miss the days when my favorite artists and writers had blogs. As some people say about short stories and novels, short stories need to be perfect, every word in its exact place, while novels can be baggy and capacious. I’m tired of shoehorning my work into 280 characters or less, of trying to craft the perfect short story. I’d like to be baggy, I’d like to roam and ramble around a bit.
So again, if you’d like short & sweet, here’s the blog, but if you’re okay with sitting down with me every now and again as I ramble along in my studio - this is the place for you, and welcome.
WHAT I’M WORKING ON:
A pitch for an illustrated book (that I think of, in some ways, as a follow-up to THE HERO’S QUEST), a graphic novel, a novel draft (but the novels always seem to turn into illustrated books at some point…), some book covers, and there’s an exciting comic collaboration on the horizon. More on that down the road.
BIRDS AND SWORDS
I’ve always enjoyed when writers and artists thread their work with recurring images or characters, weaving them in and out of stories. (For a wonderful example of how this can be almost essential for storytelling, check out Keith Johnstone’s IMPRO: IMPROVISATION AND THE THEATRE and his thoughts on reincorporation).
Back in 2005 I was in a band called National Eye, and wrote a song called Bird & Sword:
Yes, that’s me singing, playing the guitar, and sawing at the violin. (My musical career was deservedly short.)
My first book, NOTES FROM THE SHADOWED CITY, was about a researcher of magical swords who finds himself transported to a strange and magical land. As he seeks a way home, he encounters in a dream (spoilers ahead) a bird offering him the gift of a sword. In my second book, THE THOUSAND DEMON TREE, a lone warrior is drawn into a quest by a bird and a sword.
I don’t know why I am drawn to these two things together, why they resonate with me. I’ve been reading a book about George Miller and Mad Max and it says that Miller has been haunted by recurring dream images since he was a child, one of which is that of a man on horseback vanishing into a desert. Is that lone rider also Max? Miller isn’t saying.
Is THE THOUSAND DEMON TREE a sequel to NOTES FROM THE SHADOWED CITY? Are the lone warrior and lost researcher the same person?
I’m not saying. Yet.
If you’ve read this far, thank you again for following me here. Stay safe and healthy, and here’s to hope for the future. See you irregularly in 2021.
-j
Wise step doing what you've done. Congratulations!
I’m excited to see what’s next! New book? Great! I look forward to seeing the updates and continuing to get emails.