An update about the Jonah of Olympic paperback, Ask Nat, and an author of dark fiction
First thing out of the gate for the July update is that I am working on the paperback for Jonah of Olympic. This week I managed to get a satisfactory interior made up and the cover needs just a few more tweaks, minor things. I have a proof copy that came in Thursday that looks absolutely fantastic. It’s so cool finally having the book in hand and I can’t wait for you all to have it in yours as well. Fun fact: the books will make a rainbow on your bookshelf eventually. We are in orange territory now and the next novel will be yellow. Here is a fun little gif that shows the first three Mercedes Masterson Detective Stories tales to date.
The first three books in the Mercedes Masterson series — Jonah of Olympic coming soon to paperback. And a Mercedes Funko Pop.
💬 Ask Nat answers and microblog.
Something I’ve been thinking about since the beginning of the year, but not sure how I wanted to implement, was to make a microblog on the site for myself. Something akin to having your own Bluesky or Threads on your own site. I finally had a brilliant idea and have merged the Ask Nat answers and microblog idea. You can subscribe to the Ask Nat answers and microblog via your favorite RSS feed and comment on the answers and posts using the same commenting system we use on the newsletter. You can click Ask Nat in the menu to find it. I will not be sending each of these to your email inbox, because that would no doubt annoy you. Though, I may sometimes link to one or two in a newsletter. Check out it out here and be sure to subscribe via the RSS feed.
🌀 The Twist and Shoutout! 🌀
I enjoyed doing a shoutout to Victoria in the previous update, so I wanted to make it a recurring thing. The goal will be to point ya’ll to a blog or newsletter, not just their social media.
Yolanda Sfetsos, dark fiction author and blogger.
Yolanda is an author in Sydney that I met on Bluesky and who writes dark fiction. She is a wonderful human being who has been writing so much this year that it’s inspiring to read her blog updates on how much progress she has been making on her vampire stories. As of July 19th, she has written ten stories this year in her vampire universe she is building, which also has two novels at 90,000 words each. She also has numerous other published books and stories of the dark fiction variety. Below is a message from Yolanda:
“Hello everyone! This is Yolanda Sfetsos and I'm an Aussie author who writes horror stories that blend into other genres. I'm also a bibliophile, a horror freak, and I love cozy games. It's great to meet you. Hope you're enjoying Nat's newsletter!”
🍿 Currently watching…
Here is a list of movies I’ve watched recently and one I’m aiming to watch.
The Bat. A movie starring Agnes Moorehead and co-starring Vincent Price. It’s fun, if not a little cheesy by today’s standards. Moorehead plays an author who travels to an old house in a small town to write her next novel, but it is just in time for a serial killer called The Bat to begin his story. I watched this one with the wee lad.
The Kennel Murder Case. A detective whodunnit that starts with a dog show starring William Powell, who I love. The interesting thing about this film is it’s almost like an early police procedural and they do spend the majority of the film analyzing the scene of the crime, Powell doesn’t touch anything without gloves on, and so on. Watched this one with the wee lad, as well.
The Thin Man. This is one of my favorite movies of all time, and stars William Powell and Myrna Loy. The book by Dashiell Hammett that its based on is excellent as well. The movie is far more hilarious and does some things that make it more fun than the book, like the ending scene where they gather all the suspects around the dinner table. I highly recommend this one for a taste of bizarre and hilarious 1930s slang, a murder mystery, and an awesomely charismatic couple and their dog, Asta. Fun fact: It went over so well, they made a whole franchise out of it. Showed it to my wee lad.
Oldboy. Rewatched this remake of an original Korean film of the same name. The remake stars Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Olsen, and is directed by Spike Lee. It’s enjoyable, in its way, though I’m sure people who saw the original first prefer it. I still haven’t seen the original, unfortunately. In short, it’s about a raging a-hole and alcoholic who is a deadbeat dad who gets kidnapped and held hostage for 20 years in a small room with a bathroom — his meals are fed to him through the door. When he gets out, he has to find out why he was kept prisoner for 20 years. Did not show this one to the wee lad.
Final Destination: Bloodlines. Another to the Final Destination franchise. My wife and I have loved the first one for years — she showed it to me when we were dating. This one was quite enjoyable. I especially enjoyed the opening that takes place in the 1960s. It was so good seeing Tony Todd one more time, and it was so good that he got to play his original character from the first film. Rest in peace, Candyman. The wee lad did not watch this one.
Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter. This is the one I haven’t watched just yet, though it will be a reviewing. I first watched this one in the early 2000s. It’s a 1970s Hammer Horror film that did not perform well when it was released, and was supposed to be a series of films, but it wasn’t to be. The film’s bad performance added to Hammer Horror’s decline. I’ve been building up an assortment of movies to watch before I begin the first draft of The Affairs of Lady Blackwater. This is one I want to revisit before I begin writing. My Lady Blackwater idea originated as an homage to Universal monster and Hammer Horror movies. I will be watching some of the Universal monster films as well. Wish me luck with this one.
Have you seen any of these movies? Do any sound interesting? What have you been watching lately?
