Hey everybody! I hope y’all are doing well. Sorry it’s been quiet for so long—I feel like I owe you some updates.

Everything’s good here, just busy—between being a husband, a dad, a full-time IT analyst, and an author, things have fallen through the cracks, such as this newsletter. With limited time available, I’ve been focusing on Black Coral instead of trying to come up with things to write about for a monthly newsletter. And honestly, I think I’ll be pulling back from the monthly model for the time being, forgoing the reviews and recommendations to focus my creative efforts fully on my writing, using the newsletter more as a means to give sporadic updates and release information than anything else.

I’ve also been pulling back a bit from social media—to be honest, I’ve just found it exhausting. Having to constantly fight the algorithm for views, to churn out content, it’s just too much for me right now with everything I’ve got on my plate AND with what’s going on with the world. I became a writer to write stories, not make posts trying to grab people’s attention so they’d read my stuff, so I’m going back to focusing on just that: the writing. I’ll still be using my socials to promote my stuff when I need to, and to promote the work of my writer friends and acquaintances when I can, because, you know, we do want our stuff to find readers. (Is that a Catch-22? I’m not sure. Should probably read that at some point…)

Anyways, some updates!

As I said above, I’ve been working diligently on the final draft of my dark fantasy novel, Black Coral, and I’m happy to say it’s coming along nicely. I hope to have it finished by May or June at the latest, and then I’ll begin querying agents and publishers with it.

At the end of February, I turned in final edits to Madness Heart Press for my upcoming novella, Pallbearers, which will be releasing this year! Last I heard it will be releasing in August, but I’ll definitely keep y’all updated on that. I’m so excited for Pallbearers to be out in the world, and I can’t wait for you all to read it!

So I’m finishing up Black Coral, Pallbearers is releasing this year—what’s next, you ask. Well, while I’ve been finalizing Black Coral, I’ve also been brainstorming/daydreaming about/pre-writing for my next project, which is looking like it will be another novel. I think it’s going to be an absurd conspiracy mystery-thriller set during the height of the Satanic Panic, but, we’ll see. I don’t want to give too much away, especially because things can change so much during the writing (as the case has been with Black Coral, which is much different—and frankly, better—then what I originally envisioned), but that’s the idea I’m working on for now.

Okay, well, that’s it for now. I’ll be back when I’ve got more updates for you. Until then, be kind to one another, take care of yourselves, and stay strange.

—Austin

If you enjoyed this newsletter, please subscribe—you’ll get a free eBook of my short story, “Magus,” available EXCLUSIVELY for subscribers!

I’d also love it if you considered checking out my weird fantasy noir novella, City of Spores, or my illustrated sci-fi thriller chapbook, Goodly Creatures.