Welcome to the100th issue of Vicious Shivers!

Well, it’s the 100th issue since I started taking my e-newsletter a little more seriously and tried to keep it coming out on a regular basis. There have been plenty of changes along the way. The format is always in flux. (I’m not necessarily happy with the current look, but I am happy with the simplicity of putting it together.) I’ve tried sending it on different days. (Sundays still have the best open rates.) I’ve used different platforms. (I switched to Revue in order to save myself $50 a month.) And there will continue to be changes as we move forward. There have been a couple of lulls in the schedule, too, mostly due to my life getting upended more than once in the last year. Here we are, though! I’m still putting these newsletters out, and I appreciate you joining me as I try to figure it all out!

In future issues, I’m going to be pointing you in the direction of OTHER e-newsletters and blogs and such that I enjoy. Some of them have been around hundreds of issues. Others only have a few installments so far. Most of them will be writing or horror or comics focused, but there will be a surprise or two in the mix. I’ve started building a list and I’ll share a few at a time starting next newsletter!

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It’s been a bit of a weird week, writing-wise. (Aren’t they all?) I worked on some books I can’t tell you about. Lots of outlining and plot summaries and corrections and lettering passes. I scripted some pages of a bigger project, which feels a little anti-climactic since I haven’t yet reached the end! Projects I worked on (and here are some hints) featured Shadowman, the Eternal Warrior, Punk Mambo, crumbling haunted houses, cows with human heads, surgeries gone wrong, and packs of dire wolves.

At the urging of the wonderful Cindy Bunn, I ordered a new ReMarkable tablet before the tax year runs out. I’ve had my current ReMarkable for a few years. It took me a bit to really get the hang of it and to make the most of it, but I love it now. It saves a ton of paper. It’s easy to carry around. And, most importantly for me, it keeps me organized. I do a ton of outlining and planning in longhand, and before I started using the ReMarkable, I was always writing in different notebooks, then misplacing those notebooks, then scrambling to find them.

When the new tablet gets here, I’ll do a full review for ya!

And, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m still trying to figure out putting a new writers’ group together. I was once a member of a regional horror writers group that met monthly or so, and I loved it. It was focused on prose, which is fine considering some of my goals in the next few years. My buddy Josh and I have been talking a lot about writing (specifically short stories) and it’s really got me jonesing to do another real gathering of like minds.

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Speaking of next year, I’ve been developing a Goals List for 2022. It’s a pretty big list covering a wide range of topics, from Writing to Family to Finances to Fun. I’ve got some big dreams I want to make happen. I’ll share (most of) the list with you in my next issue!

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Ready for some cool stuff? Some news? A free comic? Interviews and event information? Well, you’re in luck! Keep scrolling!

What’s a 100th issue without a bit of news? So… here ya go!

I’m writing the GODZILLA VS. THE MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS series! As you may know, I wrote GODZILLA: CATACLYSM a few years back, and I’ve been itching to get back to the King of the Monsters ever since! And the Power Rangers are pretty cool, right? This is a crossover event I don’t think anyone was really expecting!

And news is not enough! How about a brand new comic?

As we move toward the end of the year, I thought it might be fun to share an all-new 8-page horror comic with the world. Consider it a gift. Amazing artist Federico de Luca messaged me a few weeks back asking if I had a short script he could work from to try a new art style. I have had the script for “The Feast” in my scripts folder for well over 12 years. It was originally written to be part of a small horror anthology, but that never happened. So, I’m so glad to see Federico’s take on the story. I love the way it turned out! Hmm. There was another story written for that anthology. Maybe I should have that one drawn, too. Anyhow. Patreon patrons and newsletter subscribers get to read “The Feast” first, then I’ll share it with the world starting next week. I hope you enjoy it!

Here’s the link to the PDF - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UG61nTbGlV44bAlwC9RjTTSvQFFVaXRl/view?usp=sharing

Check out this awesome giveaway Valiant is sponsoring! It is open until Tuesday the 21st… so time is short. Get to it, folks!

Finally we have some events to announce! There will be more throughout 2022 (though I’m not doing a ton of shows), but here’s the first! Keep in mind, all scheduled events are subject to change, especially these days!

It’s been a minute since I posted the things I’m reading, listening to, watching, and playing. I thought I’d start checking in with those glimpses into my ever-changing obsessions again.

This week, I’m watching GAME OF THRONES with my son. It’s the third or fourth time I’ve watched the show. It’s his first. His review so far? “That’s her brother!?!”

I’m also watching some old DR. WHO episodes. Haven’t watched these Tom Baker episodes since I was a kid, watching on PBS in the evenings after school. Great fun. The nostalgia is strong. I’m sure I shared this story before, but once upon a time, at the North Carolina State Fair, I stumbled upon a Dr. Who museum. The Doctor’s car was parked out front. The first room looked like the Tardis control room. And the rest of the exhibit was like a wax museum of Dr. Who villains. I must have walked through it dozens of times. So many times, in fact, that the people running the exhibit stopped charging me admission and just let me go in over and over as many times as I wanted. Anyhow, watching these old episodes now have gotten me interested in all the episodes, old and new, that I haven’t watched.

I decided that I was going to re-read Stephen King’s Dark Tower series in 2022, and I got a jump start on that. Love those books, and you’re likely to hear a lot more about them in the coming months.

I’ve been listening to a lot of Concrete Blonde in the last few days.

And I’ve been playing some video games (some of that will was work related) and rolling dice with friends as we played CTHULHU WARS over the weekend.

Here is a quick and dirty list of upcoming projects. In most cases, I’m only listing projects that are definitely on the schedule with a published. Oftentimes, I will not be able to share much information, but I can at least tease the future! Everything here is, of course, subject to change.

This year, I wrote–

Thanks again for joining me. I hoped you enjoyed this issue. I’m wishing you the very best holiday season (no matter what you celebrate) and a Happy New Year!

WEBSITE - If you haven’t been there lately, you should check it out. I’ve started posting a lot more content and news on the site.

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PATREON - Here, I post a serialized novel, a serialized comic book, short stories, and other cool materials.

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