2025 was a turbulent year, but some good stuff happened while my hair was blowing all around. Literally, in both cases. My family took flight to that was eight hours of non-stop turbulence which left us staggering around Bangkok airport in the early hours of the morning nauseous and disoriented. Then, a couple of weeks later, I had my hair cut from a 94-year-old barber in the remote north of Japan. Usually a haircut takes 10-15 minutes for me, but this time I spent 90 minutes in the chair. It was the slowest and most meticulous haircut I am ever likely to have. And no, I won’t show you a photo.While I was away I missed the news that I won Australasian Shadows Award for best graphic novel for my 2024 graphic novel Gourmand Go, so that was a nice surprise. Big thanks to the judges and the Australasian Horror Writers Association, and of course to the art team who made it real.
Publication-wise it’s been a slow year. I wrote two of issues of the Human Fly for IPI Comics and (#4 and #5) and the first issue of the new series, Vale of Tears, which I have adapted from a teleplay by Steve Kilbey and Nicol Madunic, has just come out. Vale of Tears is a historical fantasy series about Hannibal the conqueror in his years of exile after his failed conquest of Rome, lavishly illustrated by Keith Donald. I hope you’ll snag a copy.
While not my own work, I have been editing a feminist hillbilly-cannibal-slasher comic series called The Matron. Written by David Bowles and Drew Edwards, illustrated by Monica Gallagher, this book has it all. A vicious satire and a serious horror epic about family traditions, class warfare and a whole lot of axe murdering. We successfully crowdfunded two volumes of this book and the latest crowdfunder is still open for later pledges. You can get both books in this campaign if you missed the first.
I have three new works likely to drop in 2026. I’ll start with the big one:
Blackened Skies is coming! The long awaited sequel to my occult rock’n’roll novel Bloody Waters is back from the editor and ready to go. Where do you go from the pinnacle of rock stardom? Well, my friends. It is time for the heavy metal apocalypse. As of this year my situationship with Outland Entertainment is over, so this book will most likely be released world-wide under the banner of Argonautica Press. I am looking at distribution options, including Kickstarter, and I would love to hear your thoughts on how you want to receive it. I will commission cover art in the new year as I set about typesetting the book, so keep your eyes peeled.
I have two short stories lined up: “Swim, Walk, Jump,” a new science fiction story about a family of semi-amphibious people trying to survive day-to-day amidst airstrikes from an enemy and governance by a fanatical militia. This one is going to an anthology and I will let you know as soon as there is a formal announcement. Also, my fantasy pirate story, “Voyage of the Enbarr” in Rising Tides is under a new contract, so… presumably that will also appear.
And… comics. In addition to 3 more issues of the aforementioned Vale of Tears, my new Smiling Damned book will be most likely be coming to Kickstarter in February. There is still some minor production work to do but the interiors are done and I am incredibly proud of what the art team have accomplished here. Smiling Damned contains four stories of the Japanese mob, set in four different eras: the 1890s, the 1990s, the 2010s, and the weird post-apocalyptic fairy-tale cyber-noir future inhabited by my old character McBlack. Here’s a new page from the latter for you to look at. There’s more information, and art, on the pre-launch page, so be sure to check it out, and sign up to be notified when it launches.
That’s it for 2025. See you creeps and killers in 2026!
— JF
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