Thanks to Studio Moonfall for putting this together! You can find all my books on the shelf there: 5031 7th Ave., Kenosha, WI. If you haven’t been there before, it is the tiny bookstore you dreamed about discovering while on a walk one day.
Song of the Week
The Decemberists, “Won’t Want for Love (Margaret in the Taiga)”
Good morning!
This week, I’ll be finishing up Episode Three of The Well Below the Valley and working on an outline/script for the first issue of the comic, which now has a title: Chrysanthemum Dawn. In case you missed it, Episode Two of The Well can now be read for free here.
My first event of the year will be Saturday, February 22: the Spooky Frog Horrifying Book Fair! I’ll be amongst an eclectic collection of other horror authors and spooky artists at The Factory, 1120 S Barclay St, Milwaukee. Admission is only $3, and the event runs from noon until 5.
Also, you can find my books on the shelves at Storykeepers Books in West Allis! I’ll be there for a talk in March, so I’ll have more information about that later. I’m very excited to be working with another independent book store.
I am incredibly overwhelmed with everything that has been happening, but here’s something I can do:
Via Demand Progress: Block funding for the deporation machine
Via the American Friends Service Committee: Stop deportations now
Via Rep. Rashida Tlaib: Demand Palestinian self-determination and liberation
Via Action Network: Defend birthright citizenship
Via the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights: Hands off Palestine
The petitions I share are based on the roughly 200 emails I receive every day, and all the important issues are not covered (e.g., I’m very concerned with the stripping of rights from our trans friends and siblings). If you have some helpful things to share, please do!
Okay. That’s all for today. I love you, thanks for being here, be gentle with yourself and others this week.
The Well Below the Valley, Episode 2: Flora and Fauna
Dramatis Personae
(in order of appearance)
Dr. Howard COMPTON, remarkably cheerful coroner. Male, mid 50s, London accent.
Inspector ISKANDAR Meshkia, Scotland Yard detective troubled by poor sleep. Male, late 30s, strong Turkish accent.
Dr. ERNEST Wilde, University of London adjunct botanist. Male, early 30s, Northern English accent.
Richard PRYCE, grower of rare orchids. Male, early 40s, posh British accent.
Henry CARLTON, Ernest’s army buddy. Male, early 30s, London accent.
Two or three CULTISTS, all male; accents and age can vary.
Eloise “ELLIE” Westmont, intrepid lady detective. Female, mid 20s, posh British accent.
KURT Cross, her long-suffering assistant and face of the operation. Male, early 30s, New York accent.
Constable John TAYLOR, cog in the machine. Male, early 20s, London accent.
Chief Superintendent Winston PEMBROKE, Sr., Iskandar’s superior and keeper of a certain sort of peace. Male, early 60s, English accent with audible mustache.
William “WILL” Grey, bartender who regrets several of his life choices. Male, late 20s, London accent.
NIGEL Blackthorne, a man who has read too many tomes of forbidden knowledge. Male, early 30s, posh British accent.
The memory of HALIME, Iskandar’s young daughter, now deceased. Female, seven years old, could speak with an English or Turkish accent.
Mrs. JUDITH Rosenfeld, Iskandar’s landlady. Female, late 40s, slight Yiddish accent.
Scene 1: Int. London hospital – Day
Continue reading “The Well Below the Valley, Episode 2: Flora and Fauna”Sketch – comic protagonists
Special thanks to my D&D group for the very good boys
Working on anatomy and proportions here, as well as making the faces distinct. In the days to come, I hope to practice enough to make my linework less shaky. I turn the smoothing on in Photoshop, but it isn’t enough.
More info on these characters and their world will be forthcoming!
Song of the Week
Lord Huron, “The Yawning Grave”
Good morning!
So, to recap, the second episode of The Well Below the Valley is on Patreon now. It will be here for your (free) reading pleasure on Wednesday. The scripts have three different sets of formatting now: one in the original Google doc, one on Patreon, and one for WordPress, and it’s a huge pain, so I appreciate your patience as I put new episodes out.
I’ll be starting the third episode this week. They’re considerably longer than my usual serial chapters (6,000 to almost 9,000 words, compared to the normal 2,000), so I’m thinking I’ll have a new one for you every other week rather than weekly.
I did not manage to get more art out last week, but I’ll have it for you in the next couple of days. I’m working on some sketches of the protagonists. That will be available here as well as Patreon, so no paywall. Next up will be deciding on a title and outlining the first issue.
In lieu of petitions for today, here are a couple of useful things:
The ADC (American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee) has launched an emergency legal hotline for Arab and Muslim Americans to help with discrimination, harassment, immigration concerns, etc. You can call 844-ADC-9955 (844-232-9955) or email legal@adc.org. If you know someone who might need it, pass it along!
The administration has opened a “snitch line” to report secret DEI work. I’m not sure what “secret DEI” entails, exactly, but you can flood the line with nonsense to make it unusable. You can use Eko’s automated tool here, or you can look at that page for the tip line and send your own nonsense.
That’s what I’ve got for you today. Stop by again for some art and the next episode of The Well Below the Valley. Have an excellent week!
New Patreon Post/The Well Below the Valley, Episode 2
The Deep has claimed him.
Mark my words: it will soon be revealed that his death was closely tied to the sea and its foul inhabitants.
I’ve done a bit of cleanup over on Patreon, and now everything is organized into collections. Collections and individual posts can be accessed for a nominal fee ($3 or $6), or you can subscribe for $3/month. Subscribers will get early access to new episodes of The Well Below the Valley before they show up for free reading here, as well as new pages of the comic (pretty soon), and exclusive unpublished concept art and sketches. I’ll be working on some more rewards, also.
I mostly spend the money on acquiring inventory for markets, but with some upcoming collaborative projects (don’t tell anyone, but the audiobook of The Book of the New Moon Door is or will shortly be under way), it will also help me pay fellow creatives for their work.
You may notice that all the previously published episodes of The Well are gone. You also may not have noticed that, because I think one person ever opened them. This new version is better in almost all regards (pacing, editing, characterization). I still have copies of all the old annotated PDFs, and when the script is completely done, I’m looking forward to re-adding all the marginalia for the print version. In addition to the eventual audio production, I want the script book to be a bit of an art piece in itself.
Formatting is a NIGHTMARE on Patreon, but I have done it for both the first episode and this new episode to make them available for you because I love you. If you’re interested, or just want to take a look around, here’s the link again.
If you can’t spare the $3, fear not: this episode will be up here to read for free sometime next week.
Song of the Week
Tarja, “Poison” (Alice Cooper cover)
I remembered this song existed last week, so enjoy! Once upon a time, I had a beautifully curated iTunes library, but two laptops and a bunch of other devices later, it’s long gone.
The next episode of The Well Below the Valley should be finished and up on Patreon late this week or early next week, depending on how much time I have between my many appointments that somehow all piled up this week. I should also have some more art up for you both here and on Patreon.
Petitions for this week:
Via Win Without War: Block arms deals that enable atrocities in Sudan and beyond
Via Amnesty International: Join the call for a permanent ceasefire
Via the Friends Committee on National Legislation: Support the UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act
Via No Business with Genocide: Save Uyghurs from imminent deportation to China
Take care of yourself today. I hope you stay warm, wherever you are.
New Patreon post: some concept art
You can see all of this image, unblurred, on Patreon. My Patreon is only $3 a month, and you can support an independent creator and her cats while getting some bonus art, new chapters/episodes a week before blog readers, and some other stuff that’s still in the works.
Song of the Week
Depeche Mode, “Personal Jesus”
On Saturday, I discovered that my orange boy, Solaire, had swatted my Bluetooth earbuds off the table. He then proceeded to chase one of them to places unknown. Because it was out of its case, the earbud connected to my phone, so in a rare stroke of genius I decided to turn the volume all the way up and play something loud so I could find it. This was the first song that came up that fit the bill.
Since the small object had stopped moving, Solaire was only mildly interested in the proceedings.
Anyway, my headphones have been recovered, and it’s Monday again. It’s horribly cold here, and the air is so dry that my nose keeps bleeding, so I hope you’re staying warm and have enough lotion to submerge yourself.
I’m also feeling my baby move! Relatedly, I have increased in size enough that a nice man held both doors open at the post office for me.
This week, I’ll be working on the next episode of The Well Below the Valley and doing some prep work for my comic, as well as a long-overdue Patreon cleanup. I’m hoping to have some good stuff over there soon–extra art, maybe stickers?–as well as the usual new chapters/episodes in advance.
Petitions have been thin on the ground lately, but here’s what I’ve got:
Via People for the American Way: Urge the House to reject anti-trans rules bill
Via Justice Democrats: Tell Biden to use the rest of his presidency to end the genocide in Gaza
That’s all for today. Thanks for stopping by!
I’m on Bluesky!
Let me know if you’re on there! I need people to follow. You can find me at spacewhalespress.bsky.social.
Space Whales Press 