Tot for Tot
also: let’s keep bustin’ them krakens
ok, let’s just stipulate that it’s still been a while—too long—since I put one of these out. Many irons in the fire, and also an 90-pound furry hooligan running around trying to pull irons out of the fire with his mouth. Just know that I perpetually feel bad for not doing these more often! I’m still reusing this stipulation because it’s still true!
Hey, There,
So the idea was always that this newsletter would sometimes veer into me talking about art that I’d made, instead of other people’s art. And this is one of those times! I have two things cooking that I’d like you to know about.
The first of those is a ridiculous autobio comic about eating 152 tater tots. Here are the first two pages:
The rest of the strip—three more pulse-pounding (and stomach-churning) pages—is over on my home website. As I said on twitter: everyone who spent the past 40+ years telling me I have various types of potential, this comic strip about eating 152 tater tots is for each of you.
THING 2: KRAKENS!
You might remember that back in 2021 I had a podcast called The Kraken Busters that was (and it hurts me to break character here, but this is an honest space) a fictional recounting of the alternate-universe history of a conflict between the US Navy and an ocean full of sea monsters after World War 2.
It went over pretty well, people dug it, etc.
Well! It actually went over well enough that people asked for a second season… so I spent a chunk of last year writing said second season, and it’s been running again on the podcast feed. If the first season was a long-view, magisterial history of action that spread over several years, the second season, which focuses on an outbreak of sea monsters in the North Atlantic in 1987, has a much different feel- less Ken Burns, more Tom Clancy with a head full of laughing gas. If you’re a fan of adventure on the high seas, or just my general brand of weirdness, you should pop open your favorite podcast app and search for “The Kraken Busters.” Just look for the battleship shooting an octopus:
Alternately, you can stream all episodes directly from the website.
Right on. Stay safe.
CLOSING STUFF
OK, so here at the bottom, sorry for the ragged copy editing; my deal with myself was to keep this fast and loose, which is gonna mean typos. On the other hand, that also means it’ll actually come out, instead of being obsessed over.
If you have any thoughts/reactions/what have you about this, I’d love to hear about it, either by email or on Twitter. And if you know anybody who might dig this, please forward it on to them, or send ‘em the signup link! And thanks!