Hi. I’m Kit Power - author, blogger, podcaster, reviewer, and all-around genre freak. You're receiving this email because you signed up to my newsletter. Thank you for that.
The plan is simple; a monthly one-stop shop where you can find out what I’ve been up to in the past month, what my plans are for the month ahead, and, most importantly, pictures of my frankly adorable pets. Really glad to have you here. Let’s get to it.
Sound life advice from my recent holiday
What happened in August
Written:
The school holidays have been a really challenging period in terms of finding time to write. Kiddo is 12, and if I’m booking leave to spend time with her, I want to actually spend time with her. That said, I did manage to get some work done on our break: specifically, a huge My Life In Horror essay on the 1953 Marlon Brando biker movie, The Wild One. I was borderline shocked by how much I had to say; I think there’s a novella-length book in my emotional reaction to this movie, if anyone wants to pay me to write it. Patreon backers got this a couple of weeks back, Jim’s going to run it on Gingernuts of Horror later in the month.
I also got a new chapter written for the novel James and I are working on, which responded to critical reader feedback and effectively killed four birds with one stone. It’s important enough that I’m kind of mystified that it wasn’t there before, which is probably a good sign. Patron backers got access to this today.
I also reviewed Johnny Main’s new project, an ambitious and, IMO, quite brilliant novel-told-in-three-novellas called A Man At War. Patreon backers got that one last week, and it’ll run on Gingernuts sometime next month. The book is out in September.
And I broke ground on another review, of a book that may not even be out this year. So I’ll say no more about that for now, except that it was brilliant and nearly made me cry.
Recorded:
Busy podcasting month. Writeopolis took a break at the start of the month, but made a triumphant return on 21st August thanks to fantasy author Ed Mcdonald, who was brilliant. Writeopolis Patreon backers got access today, with public access going live a week later. Season 4 of the show launches this Sunday, 4th September, 8:30pm, and will be a host-only special. You can join the live server here, and all of our podcasts are available for free here (and, soon, on podcast catchers - more on that next month).
We also got the 6th block of The Backer Street Irregulars recorded; this is the Patreon exclusive show featuring Jack Graham, Daniel Harper and I talking Sherlock Holmes. And we finished off The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes collection with episodes on The Beryl Coronet and The Copper Beeches. The first of these has gone live to our backers, and The Copper Beeches should go out shortly. A reminder that this show is Patreon exclusive; just backing Jack, Daniel or I for $1 a month will give access to all back episodes, as well as, in my case, new content every single week. Thanks to all of you who support us making that show possible.
I also recorded the first two episodes of a new show - I know, just what my life needs, another podcast - this time with George Daniel Lea. We’re going to cover Clive Barker’s seminal Books Of Blood collection, story by story. In the first block, we recorded conversations about the introduction and The Book Of Blood and The Midnight Meat Train. I’ve got a good feeling about this show; I’ve never read these stories before, and George is a megafan, and I think the two perspectives make for good conversation.
George and I also recorded an epic, spoiler-filled chat about Predator and the new movie from the franchise, Prey, along with related concerns. That’s up on YouTube now, under the What The Hell Is Wrong With Us banner. Check it:
Published:
In addition to the above, the My Life In Horror essay on Insane Clown Posse’s ‘classic’ ‘97 album The Great Milenko went live on Gingernuts Of Horror. So far, I’m surprised at a relative lack of pushback on that one; I expected it might be as controversial, in its way, as my infamous The Lost Boys post. I guess maybe y’all are used to my eccentricities at this point :)
Also on Gingernuts, my review of Simon Bestwick’s searing short story collection And Cannot Come Again.
And over on my podcast feed, one from the vaults; George Daniel Lea and I discussing the epoch making video game, Half Life.
Announced:
A reminder that Shadow Seasons, a 6 week online writing school for horror writers starts on Thursday 8th September. The last few tickets are available here. I’ll be running a workshop with the title Anything Can Be Horror - Idea Generation and the Horror Mentality on 22nd September, and I’m excited with how it’s taking shape. It’s also a huge honour to be delivering this alongside such an amazing array of talent.
Ebb Tides from Hersham Horror is out on 10th September, and features my very disturbing short story All Hands On Deck. I’m really proud of how this one turned out, and obviously it’s an honour to have a story appearing alongside such amazing writers as Iain Rowan, VH Leslie, JL George and Tracy Fahey. You can pre-order this one now.
Also, in addition to the Books Of Blood show, George Daniel Lea and I have roped in Steve Shaw, editor in chief of Black Shuck Books, for a 7 episode podcast series, taking on US biker show Sons Of Anarchy season by season. We’re in the process of setting the date for the first recording now, so hopefully the first part will be out by the end of the month.
Baby Cat, supportive as ever, with brother Rocky glaring in the background and sister Lola sprawled out. It’s a wonder I get anything done TBH.
Reading:
Finished Jack Of Thorns this month. Not much to add to what I said last time; brilliant stuff, and a real breath of fresh air for me, being almost entirely outside of my usual genre reading.
Whilst on holiday, in addition to Johhny Mains's A Man At War, I also read James Ellroy’s Widespread Panic! Really tough one to evaluate, honestly; it’s intentionally self-parodic, which is A Bold Choice, but on the other hand, I’m trash for Ellroy so… I dunno. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it felt very inessential, which is not how I normally feel about his work. A good holiday read.
Still picking at This Isn’t Anywhere You Know by Gary McMahon and By The Light Of My Skull by Ramsey Campbell. Still enjoying both. And as you’ll expect, Books Of Blood Vol 1 - 3 by Clive Barker is still on the TBR pile. And right at the end of the month, I finished Keene/Gonzalez collaboration Clickers III, as part of my big Keene reading project. Comfortably my favourite of the series, pure splatterpunk pulp glee from start to finish.
Ziggy and Rocky. Not Friends
Watching:
With Kiddo, we’re watching She-Hulk (loving it) and Stranger Things (the S3 finale last night, and I had forgotten just how much fun that was). We also finished Miss Marvel, which I still think was just delightful.
Me, turning it up to Eleven. Yeah, I went there.
I’m also rewatching Sons Of Anarchy (for obvious reasons), as well as Mayans M.C., which is also on Disney Plus, and which I’d missed first time around. I struggled with the setup, but I’ve made it to Season 2 and it really feels like it’s building a head of steam. It’s a more complicated and thoughtful show than Sons Of Anarchy was, but it’s also slower and less adrenaline-fueled.
The missus and I also watched Prey (which you’ll already have gathered I loved), We Own This City (superb limited series from David Simon, returning to The Wire territory, but based on a depressingly true story), and we’re currently most of the way through The Terror: Infamy, which I’m not seeing a lot of chatter on but am finding kind of amazing in terms of quality.
Mum’s rescue greyhound, hanging out. Landed on his feet. Well, his side, but you know what I mean.
Book of the month: Voices
Voices is part of the Black Shuck Books Shadow series; a beautiful collection of pocket-sized paperback tomes containing single-author short story collections. I was honoured to be asked to contribute a collection to this incredible series, and decided on a theme of first-person narratives. Containing some of my favourite previously published stories alongside some brand new chillers, Voices is a brilliant place to get started with my short fiction work. This sucker goes dark.
Voices was recently reviewed by Happy Goat Horror. You can pick up your own ebook or paperback copy here.
September Plans:
Really, crunch time for My Life In Horror. If I’m going to run the crowdfunder for Volume 2 in October, I need the text in place by the end of this month. Three essays still to write. Gulp. And then there are the revisions of the essays. And getting quotes for the editing work. And the cover art and formatting. And working out the reward tiers for the crowd funder.
Shit. Better get on with it, really.
Kiddo, representing the inside of my brain
Song of the month:
Had an amazing car ride with Kiddo, listening to a metal playlist I’d put together for her. She’s digging it, which makes me very happy. So let’s go with her favourite band from the session, Skunk Anansie, and their debut album closer, the scorching-yet-uplifting Rise Up. Crank it up loud!