Hey, y’all,
So this thing’s drifted. I guess I’m here to bury it, not to praise it, although I’d also like to let you know about some other stuff that’s up.
When I kicked off this newsletter, I was red hot and full of ideas and stuff to say. It’s wild to think about this, given, well, everything that came after, but December 2019 and January-Feb 2020 were a time of wild energy and optimism for me. And then, y’know. I kept it going, and kept enjoying it, but rounding the corner into 2021 I had the feeling that I had less and less to say on the matter of art. Maybe it was pandemic brain; maybe I’d just actually run through the initial store of ideas. Either way, I just kind of found myself in a position where if I sent a newsletter out, it would have been purely because I felt like I *should* send one out, not because I had something to say, and I never wanted this to be like that.
But! I’ve been busy with other stuff! Stuff that you might like, if you’re generally into *waves hand at own head* this.
The biggest single thing: I’ve started another podcast. Depending on how you want to classify it, it’s either fiction or “history.” It’s called The Kraken Busters, and it recounts the somehow-mostly-forgotten conflict between the United States and an ocean full of angry sea monsters right after World War 2. Written with the rhythms of “real” history, it’s got sea monsters, adventures on the high seas, and (if you care about such things) stuff to say about shared sacrifice, societal disruption, and what it’s like to think you’re about to return to normalcy and then have it ripped away. I think it’s a lot of fun. You can stream it straight from the website or go to any of the usual podcast places, search for “the Kraken Busters,” and look for the battleship shooting at the giant octopus:
C’mon. A battleship shooting at a giant octopus. How can you not be on board for this?
If I’m doing any other writing these days, it’s going up at my main website; not that there’s a lot, but there’s some. Worth keeping an eye on! I’m also extremely active on Twitter and Instagram--including the Iowa City Police Log comics that I post more or less daily to both places.
I can’t say for sure that this is the end of the newsletter here. You never know! The insane froth of ideas that I had running in January of 2020 might come back. So I’m not going to officially kill this account or anything. But there’s a pretty decent chance that this is the end. But just of this. I’ve got all of those other irons in the fire, and I invite you to come sit next to me and watch them glow.
Anyway: thanks for having been interested enough to have signed up for this thing in the first place!
Adios,
Keith