The Wonderful World of Was: October/November
Howdy, howdy!
It’s been six weeks since my last newsletter, and what a six weeks it’s been. I spent one of those weeks away, which coincided nicely with when I’d ordinarily get this little newsletter out into the wild. It was a great week off with family, enjoying a warmer climate, and recharging from both the day job and writing. And prior to that, I caught the Whitlams and Custard playing live. For all of you not sharing a continent with me, they’re a pair of entertaining bands best known for their music from the late 90s. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve seen the Whitlams play, but it was the first time I’d seen Custard.
On the writing front, it’s been productive, even if my word counts aren’t quite showing it. Before heading off, I got a little ahead with book reviews, and officially finished the short story. It’s live on the website now, and you’ll see me plugging it down below. You’ll also see me plugging the third part of my reread of The Sandman, which has been out for a while now (I’ve also written the fourth and final one, so be sure to check the website for that, so you’re not waiting for the next edition of this newsletter to come out).
The most exciting news on the writing front is something you won’t see for a while: I’ve started the next round of edits for Till Death Do Us Party, tweaking it into draft four. At the time of writing (which is close to a week before you’ll get it), I’m six chapters down… with only thirty more to go!
Before we jump in, I’ll flag that rather than hit you up in a fortnight with another edition of The Wonderful World of Was, I’ll skip the next edition, and send the next one in another six weeks or so. To leave you with a horrifying thought, that means the next edition will be available on the first Sunday in December. Yep, that time of year is right around the corner…
September and October Writings
With my focus being predominantly on book reviews and my taking a holiday, September had my second lowest word count of the year at 19,631 words, beaten only by May’s 12,000 odd words. Editing was a little better, with ten hours spent editing… the third lowest of the year. October’s word count isn’t looking much better so far, with 7,583 words as of yesterday. Editing’s looking a little healthier at 13:45 so far, thanks to a focus on Till Death Do Us Party’s edits.
Other than edits and book reviews, I wrote another article about The Sandman, which will go live in a week, and also started writing a short story before heading out of town, but found it a little difficult to crack, so I’m leaving it alone for the timebeing. Hopefully, I’ll get to writing an all-new, all different short story before the next newsletter, and I’ll have an update for you on that, then. I’m also hoping to have another blog article—or even two—written before the next newsletter goes live, but we’ll see…
Prime Ministers and a Dessert
As I mentioned earlier, I saw the Whitlams, named for the great Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, and Custard, named for the ingredient that makes any dessert better (and let’s be honest with each other, it can easily hold its own as a dessert without anything else) playing live.
Custard was the support act, with a good fifty minutes of music. I’d never noticed it when listening to their music before, and maybe it’s because he’s gotten older, or maybe because it was live, but lead singer—and dad of Bluey, for any of you with young kids—Dave McCormack has a certain Buddy Holly quality to his performances (not that I can imagine Buddy singing any of Custard’s songs).
The main event was the Whitlams, with their 25th anniversary celebration of their seminal album, Eternal Nightcap. They performed the album in full over the first half of the show, with assorted songs from their history in the second half. At a little under two and a half hours, is was an entertaining set.
If you’re interested in listening to either band, check them out on YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you get your tunes; they’re both worth the time. Back when I first started listening to them, the only option for finding their music for free was Napster, which is a sad reminder of just how fucking old I am.
Freak Out in a Moonage Daydream, Oh Yeah
As entertaining as Custard and the Whitlams are, they don’t compare to David Bowie, an artist who’s, well, incomparable. If there’s one thing everyone must do while away, it’s take in the sights of the… cinema. Okay, that mightn’t be the greatest tourist attraction, but when it’s showing a documentary about David Bowie, I’ll take it.
Bowie isn’t just my favourite musician; he’s my favourite artist, period. As someone as obsessed with him as I am, Moonage Daydream is a phenomenal experience. It’s marketed as a documentary which might not be the most apt description (though it provides a visual documentation of his career, so I guess it fits)—it’s an audiovisual experience covering off his career, interspersing footage of music and footage to loosely tell its story. It’s one I found quite affecting knowing his history, but even to those who don’t, it’s a beautiful extravaganza of sound and vision (see what I did there?). If you have the opportunity to see it, you should do so. It’s hitting home media later in the year, but with its sights and sounds, it’s designed to be taken in on the biggest screen with the best audio you can find.
Your Monthly Reminder About The Sandman
Take this as your latest reminder about The Sandman, or more importantly, my articles about The Sandman. I’ve pointed you towards my first and second articles about it (which I just did again with those sneaky links), but with a third article, I’m pointing you to that now.
With a subtitle like “The End,” you’d think it would be my last article about the subject (it’s not), but it instead looks at the final act of the original series, as published in volumes eight to ten. You should read the article, but more than that, you should read The Sandman. If you’re a fantasy fan, you’ll be absolutely taken in by Neil Gaiman’s world; a story about stories and the importance of dreams. It’s a beautiful, operatic tale that I implore everybody to read.
Holy Cinematic History, Batman!
On my holiday, I visited Warner Bros Movieworld, one of Australia’s greatest theme parks. Full of rides, street performers and huge fucking crowds, it’s certainly an experience.
But another experience they currently have is Batman Legacy, a showcase of Batman’s filmic history, from Tim Burton to, uh… Joel Shumacher; from Christopher Nolan to, um… Zack Snyder. Full of the good and the bad, it features costumes, vehicles and props from throughout the movies. If you’re a Bat-fan or a film fan, it’s worth a look.
“I said round about 2011 that I thought that it had serious and worrying implications for the future if millions of adults were queueing up to see Batman movies.”
Naturally, one of my favourite authors, Alan Moore, doesn’t share my love of Batman movies. The Guardian recently published a great interview with him where he’s offered a number of witticisms about the world, writing, comic books, and the movies based on them, which make great soundbites for everyone who’s reported on his comments. You can check out the interview here—it’s fairly brief but incredibly entertaining. And the guy has a way of making some interesting points.
Shortly before flying out, I finally caught Moore’s debut film, The Show. It tells the story of a man hunting for an artefact, which leads him to Moore’s version of Northampton, a world where dreams and reality intertwine. It’s a wonderful film that will keep the viewer guessing throughout. Here’s a link to the trailer for your viewing pleasure.
At under two hours, The Show will take far less of your time than Moore’s recent novel, Jerusalem, which clocks in at over 1,300 pages. I loaded the Kindle version for the trip (the hardcopy would have blown my luggage allowance). Also set in Northampton, it’s a tale told across centuries, weaving in fantasy and science fiction elements. It weaves disparate threads together before coming together in the third act. It’s not a light read, but if you have the time, it’s worth making the effort.
Saturday Snippets
I generally tell you about my Saturday Snippets the day after I post them, but they’ve been up for a couple of weeks now.
This month, I have eighteen of them: nine from Till Death Do Us Party, and nine from my short story, The Liberation. Check them out here, it features the last lot of snippets from the third draft of Till Death Do Us Party, with the next lot featuring snippets from the fourth draft.
The Liberation
If you looked at the image greeting this section and thought, “shit, Was is throwing another snippet in my face,” you’d be entirely correct. It’s featured in the September Saturday Snippets, but it’s also a passage from my latest short, The Liberation which is now online.
I must say that of all the smartworld shorts I’ve written so far, it’s my favourite. It was a tough nut to crack; I had the story I wanted to tell, but it took me a little while to figure out how to present it. It’s a story about a war, told from the rose-tinted lenses of someone caught up in it, having grown up around the propaganda surrounding it.
Amasia is Amazing
The future my smartworld stories are set in is closer to now than it is to 200-300 million years from now, when a new supercontinent, Amasia, will have formed. SciTechDaily has a great piece about this, discussing the research that uncovered this.
How will this happen? Essentially, the Pacific Ocean will close, with Australia, Asia and America colliding together. It’s a great read which you can check out here.
Reviews
Over the last month and a half, I have published ten book reviews. There’s a wide variety to check out, all of them published by independent authors.
They all fit within the science fiction and fantasy genres, but there are a ton of different styles and subgenres throughout. Why not take a look at them and support an independent author with your next read?
The Enduring Legacy: The Martiniere Legacy, Book Four by Joyce-Reynolds Ward
A Dream of Death and Magic: The Chaos of Esta Anderson, Book 1 by Sarina Langer
Prince of the Fallen Kingdom: Book 2 of Arc Legends of Ellunon by C.A. Doehrmann
The Blood Brute, Volume 1 by Dixon Reuel
Emporium of Superstition: An Anthology of Old Wives’ Tales by various
Kingdom of Acatalec by S.M. McCoy
Echogenesis by Gary Gibson
Proxy by Gary Gibson
Amulet of Wishes: Chronicles of the Guardians, Book 1 by Rita A. Rubin
J.Luda.A
When I preordered Grant Morrison’s Luda, I thought I’d get it within a couple of days before release, rather than three weeks after the fact, thanks to that damn bookstore’s delays. It finally arrived the morning before I flew out of town. I contemplated taking it on the trip with me, but I’d already committed my mind to the fact that Jerusalem would be my holiday read. So before flying out, I put Luda on my shelf to read; I’m looking at its glorious yellow spine right now.
Upon getting back from the trip, I had to jump into some Grant Morrison goodness and started reading… the JLA by Grant Morrison Omnibus. At just over 1,500 pages it’s heavier than Luda (and even the Jerusalem hardcopy), albeit a lot lighter read. It’s about the least challenging work Morrison has ever written, but after about twenty-five years after the series’ publication, it’s still great fun. Balls to the wall superhero action, with a focus on ridiculously big stories.
I’ll get to Luda at some point, I also have Morrison’s Doom Patrol Omnibus, at a slightly more reasonable 1,200 pages, which I haven’t actually read. We’ll see if I get to that or Luda first.
So, What’s Next?
My top priority is getting through the latest round of edits for Till Death Do Us Party, which I’m hoping to wrap up by the end of the year. Actually, I’m aiming to get through this round, then draft 4.1, cleaning it up a little. But I’m getting a little ahead of myself.
Expect some more book reviews, hopefully another short story, and a couple more blog posts to round out the year. It won’t all be done by the time the December newsletter hits, but I should be able to provide an update and have some idea of how successful I’ve been.
That’s a Wrap
After losing a week to a holiday and having a bit to get through over the next couple of months, it’s time for me to get back to work. See you in six weeks for my end of 2022 extravaganza.*
TTFN,
Was
* Or not. Chances are it’ll be just like all my other newsletters.