May Newsletter
It wasn't what I wanted but...
The drifting, wandering sphinx.
He takes flight by night - beneath the waxing crescent,
Who blooms at midnight.
.
He nests upon my shoulders as the sun,
peeks over the horizon,
Solar flares unfurling,
Like great arms of the spoken system.
.
Dear friend, let me warm you,
Give you a home,
To call your own.
.
I picked this flower
- just the other day -
For when you came home.
.
Its nectar is ample for you.
.
Its color is lustrous to me.
.
Perhaps I’ll have another tomorrow
If I may pander, dear,
To you.
- Untitled
This is written in my poetry notebook that I take everywhere with me and while I can’t guarantee quality, I can guarantee a lot of feeling. This one is dedicated to one of my favorite moths, the pandorus sphinx moth. Flipping to this page had me feeling nostalgic, but otherwise, it’s a lovely little reminder of the last few years of my life. I’m grateful one of these little guys took a nap on a window at my place of work and I could admire it for hours one day. That was a different life though.
Anyway, we are back at it! It’s been a big month in writing, and I’m quite pleased with it! So much so, that I honestly lost track and only realized this afternoon that I never made this post yesterday like I typically would, so here we are! Anyway, let’s hop into the updates!
What are you working on for Substack?
There were quite a few fun releases in the month of May! My personal favorite is going to have to be By Light of Last Call. Thank you to everyone who told me it was Magical Realism! I wasn’t familiar with the term, but it makes sense! I’m really proud of that post, without a doubt.
Following that, we had a new Sci-Fi Today on Chemogenetics, and that did wonderfully well, so thank you to everyone who gave it a look! There were quite a few eyes on that one that were new to the page, so thank you for stopping by!
Lastly, we had my last story, barely making it in under the wire, Light Show! I hope if you’re reading this you give it a read as it came out just a couple days ago! I’d like to play around with the idea more moving forward, but we’ll see!
I have plans for a serial on Substack revisiting the world of Astra! I’m not sure when I’ll get to that, but it’s coming so stay tuned!
What are you working on outside of Substack?
Almost all of my creative energy has been focused on the final book in the world of Astra! It is coming along beautifully! We’re sitting at 86k words, and I’m almost done! I plan to have a second draft done by the end of next week at the latest, but I’ll be travelling for a job interview in the coming days, so that might get pushed back. Still, once that’s done, I expect the ideas to really get flowing again!
How’s your dissertation going?
Well, the dissertation is done, right, so I guess we need something new here… or maybe we don’t, who knows? I haven’t decided what to do with this space yet. So uh… we’ll see about that!
What are you reading right now?
I have an anthology collection of Folk Horror stories I’ve been gearing up to read, but haven’t started it quite yet. I’ve been so focused on writing, I’ve been neglecting my reading this month. That’s okay, I’ll be back on the reading train again real soon. I miss talking about books with you lovely people after all!
What are you playing right now?
I am FINALLY playing Mass Effect and I’ve gotta say… I think I understand why people have been telling me to play this game for so long. It’s like the thing was practically made for me. Not really, but wow… anyway, I was gifted the Legendary Edition, so I’m going to make the most of it while I have the time to!
What are you listening to?
Oh no, the vibes have switched AGAIN!
The Yearn by Brume (Give it a chance, it’s beautiful)
Spare no Man by Ragana (Ragana deserves way more recognition than they get. I also recommend Waiting/The Tower if you have 15 minutes to spare on a song)
Towers by Dvne (The guitar in this song is just soooo… wow. Wow.)
Beneath the Crown by SubRosa (I was super bummed to find out this band broke up back in 2019, but gosh they’re really good!)
Okay, that’s it from me! June is going to be a really weird month, so I’ll catch you when I can! All the best, gang!
Lots of cool stuff there! I’ve been on vacation the last couple of weeks so mostly offline and haven’t had a chance to read your latest story and article yet, but looking forward to diving in when I’m back home!