Well, that was 2024. One day left but I’ll be happy to see the back of it.
Putting aside wider world events… difficult as that is at this juncture…2024 was a very different year to 2023 for me. I ditched Substack, after investing probably a year’s worth of grind into building it up. I worked m day job without much time off. I also did a fair bit of editing for IPI Comics on books like Superhumanity, the Human Fly and Sherlock Holmes: the Dark Detective. I wrote a lot of words, but I didn’t see much actually published besides two short stories, which appeared in these two late-in-the-year anthologies:
My short story “Grizzle” in Spawn 2: More Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies (edited by Deborah Sheldon) is a psychological horror story about a sleep-deprived widower trying to look after his newborn son. I wrote a bit about it for Ginger Nuts of Horror here: https://gnofhorror.com/spawn-2-behind-the-scenes-part-3/
“No Paradox” in the Time Machine: Australia Bound (edited by Chris Sequeira and Steve Proposch) is an SF/horror story about an IT admin who uses a time machine to prosecute an unending cycle of vengeance on the serial killer who murdered his little brother.
I also wrote a non-fiction piece for the Jewish Independent, the Fake Jew Furphy, which is my first serious attempt to write a non fiction, current affairs piece. I hope you learned something from it. I learned a lot from writing it and I’m very proud of it.
I wrote a lot of stuff that’s not out yet. The sequel to Bloody Waters is with my publisher Outland for appraisal, and there’s a bunch of other stuff I wrote that’s complete but needs polish. A novelette, some short comics, the third issue of Frankenstein Monstrance. An issue of The human Fly, with another to come. A Killeroo graphic novella for Darren Close, which Ben Sullivan is illustrating. Register your interest in the Kickstarter here to be notified when it’s live!
I also completed a middle grade science fantasy novel co-written with Jason Banico. I’ll speak more about this when we have news. And of course I have other stuff germinating.
It’s been a tough year, but I know plenty of folks who have it much tougher than I do. Some friends passed away. Others have been struggling with illness or trauma. We’ll just keep on going, making art and making it through.
Peace through superior comics power,
— Jason
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