Last Watch Before Dawn: Volume 1, Page 6

Making progress! There must be a better way to format speech bubbles, but I have yet to discover it.

Large image below the cut:

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Song of the Week

Hozier, “Empire Now”

Good morning!

In case you missed it, The Book of the New Moon Door is now available on more audiobook platforms. It may also be available from your library’s digital catalogue! If it’s not, you can always request to be notified if and when it’s available. If enough people do that, the library will buy a copy.

I’m working on another page of Last Watch Before Dawn, and I should have it ready by Wednesday. I’m hoping to get to a pace of two or more pages per week, so as to finish the first volume before the heat death of the universe.

On Saturday, I’ll be at Story Keepers Books in West Allis, WI for a Meet the Author event! The address is 7035 W Greenfield Ave, and the event runs from noon until 3. Bring books for me to sign! The shop has a few, also. More information can be found here.

A couple of petitions:

Via Women’s March: Abolish ICE

Via IfNotNow: Stop home demolitions in Umm al-Khair

Via CHN Action: Governors must demand SNAP funding

Via Civic Shout: Call for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan

That’s all I have for today! I’ll be back later with more comic, and I hope to see you at the bookshop on Saturday.

Last Watch Before Dawn: Volume 1, Page 5

Dialogue! Finally!

Edited to add: WordPress’s suggested tags on this were “Bible,” “Jesus,” and “Christianity.” Why, WordPress? Your AI is drunk.

Below the cut to spare your RAM:

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The Book of the New Moon Door: Audiobook now available!

Digital audiobook cover of The Book of the New Moon Door. A dark, distorted cityscape featuring a church, several houses, and a plaza paved in a spiral. By Madeline Crane, read by Beni Vaganov and Rachael Brolin

IT’S HERE!

Here are all the places it’s available right now (10:15 Central US, Monday, November 3):

Barnes & Noble/Nook
Libro.fm
Chirp
Bookbeat
Kobo
Apple Books

Edited 11/6 to add:

Google Play
Storytel

Edited 11/10 to add:

Audiobooks.com
Spotify

More platforms should carry it soon, including hopefully some libraries. I’ll do another round of searching in a week or two and update you.

Song of the Week

Chasing Abbey, “Íorónta”

Good morning!

I hope you had a happy and safe Halloween. I would like to report that my baby was extremely adorable in her dragon costume.

I was hoping to get some drawing done last week, but the audiobook ended up taking up all my time. In related news, THE AUDIOBOOK IS LIVE! I’ll be back shortly with links and things for you!

So, I’ll be drawing this week, and will hopefully have a page for you by Wednesday. Now that the audiobook is done, I will try yet again to get back to a good working and posting schedule.

A couple of petitions for today:

Via CHN Action: Governors must demand SNAP funding for November

Via Win Without War: Tell governors to resist occupation of our cities

Via No Business With Genocide: Stop the UAE from fueling genocide in Sudan

I think that’s it for now. I’ll get to work on those audiobook links.

Audiobook news!

It’s happening!

As it turns out, audiobook platforms have some very strict file requirements. Over the course of this week, I have gone from knowing nothing about audio editing to learning about RMS, noise floors, compression, and loudness normalization. All the files are now submitted and queuing up to be released to retail platforms!

Unfortunately, I don’t have a release date for you. Unlike my print books, I wasn’t given the option to set one, so for now I’m just watching and waiting. I’ll let you know as soon as I learn anything.

Special thanks to Beni and Rachael for lending their voices to this project!

Song of the Week

Guante & Big Cats, “Dog People”

Good morning!

I am almost done uploading The Book of the New Moon Door to Author’s Republic, which appears to work similarly to IngramSpark in that it distributes audiobooks to various platforms such as Audible, Libro.fm, and so on . After that, the files all undergo a validation report, to make sure they meet the platform’s requirements. If that all goes well, we could see a release as early as next week!

Other than that, I’ll be working on Last Watch Before Dawn, and I hope to get a couple of pages finished this week for your reading/viewing pleasure. The Well Below the Valley will also resume, slowly, as it doesn’t seem to be attracting many readers, but I still want to get it done.

I will be back with updates soon! In the meantime, here are some petitions:

Via Amnesty International: Free Palestinian pediatrician and hospital director

Via the ACLU: Protect our free press

Via The Intercept: Don’t deploy the National Guard

That’s all for today. Take care of yourselves, and stop by again soon.

The Well Below the Valley, Episode 13: Daybreak

A bleak, leafless tree against a sepia-toned sky. Text reads: Space Whales Press presents The Well Below the Valley, an audio drama

Table of Contents

Dramatis Personae
(in order of appearance)

KURT Cross, private investigator who has already seen too much. Male, early 30s, New York accent.

Inspector ISKANDAR Meshkia, who still remembers how to use a sword. Male, late 30s, strong Turkish accent. 

Father John WHITNEY, slayer of sacrifices and summoner of monsters. Male, early 50s, Northern English accent.

Eloise “ELLIE” Westmont, who always comes prepared. Female, mid 20s, posh British accent.

Three or more CULTISTS and residents of Whitmoor. Male or female, 30s or 40s, Northern English accents. 

Sheriff Norbert OAKS, unofficially the second in command of the cult. Male, mid-40s, Northern English accent.

MARIE Campbell, not quite sacrificed. Female, early 20s, Northern English accent. 

Dr. ERNEST Wilde, determined rationalist. Male, early 30s, Northern English accent. 

JASMINE Indrani, staunch defender of the women’s shelter and its residents. Female, late 20s, could have a British or Indian Accented English accent.

JONATHAN Martel, butler and caretaker of the Westmont estate. Male, mid-50s, Northern English accent. 

MARJANI Kaur, physician and practical optimist. Female, early 30s, could have a British or Indian Accented English accent.

CLAIRE Cooper, holy vessel. Female, late teens, Northern English accent.

Scene 1: Ext. Fields outside Whitmoor – Night

MUSIC: OPENING THEME.

The music fades into the howling of the wind over Whitmoor’s dry fields. In the distance, a copse of dead trees shake and rattle. Underneath the noise, a drone is present, steady and pervasive. 

Something enormous and heavy is coming into being among those trees. A heavy footfall shakes the ground, and a dry branch snaps. 

Continue reading “The Well Below the Valley, Episode 13: Daybreak”

Song of the Week

Mazan Poshtarov, “Steppe of My Homeland”

Hello and happy Monday.

I had a lovely time at both Spooky Frog and What the Hex this past weekend! What the Hex was interrupted by a church group handing out flyers about how we’re all going to Hell, but they were eventually driven off.

I also realized that I’m seeing a lot of people who have already read one or more of my books! It is really great to recognize faces and be recognized in return, but I need to get some new material out! To that end, I’ll be trying to focus more on the comic than The Well Below the Valley for a little while, though you should expect new content from both to gradually make its way to you.

Last week’s episode of The Well Below the Valley will be up here on Wednesday for free reading.

The recording of The Book of the New Moon Door is finished and edited! I’ll be uploading it to the audiobook platform this week. Expect a release date soon.

Here are some petitions:

Via RAICES: Medical care is a human right

Via Justice Democrats: Hold Israel accountable and end the occupation of Gaza

Via Demand Progress: End violent ICE raids

Via Hip Hop Caucus: Stop using military troops and ICE to invade American cities

That’s all I’ve got for today. Stop by again soon!

New Patreon Post/ The Well Below the Valley, Episode 13

KURT:

In order to make any sense of what happened back at Milton’s, I had to start believing in magic, I guess.

It’s not regaining some childlike whimsy. I think it was more giving up on anything ever making sense again. 

ERNEST:

I’m…sorry. 

KURT:

Nah, don’t be. 

It’s weirdly freeing. 

As promised, there’s a new episode of The Well Below the Valley on Patreon! We’re concluding this arc (Chapter Two of the module) with a lot of violence, an escape in the dead of night, and a strange encounter.