Fall Update - Ethan, cosmic horrors, and the fine art of puzzling

Happy post-Halloween sadness, everyone.

Kidding, mostly. Hope everyone had a great Halloween and was able to enjoy something fun, even if that was just arguing about Halloween Ends with people you thought were your friends until they revealed that they did or didn’t the third act of the Haddonfield Players. (I have an opinion but I’m staying out of this one.)

A few updates: the long-awaited second Ethan March novel is done. Sitting on it for a few weeks before finalizing the cover art, final tweaks, etc., but she’s a done deal, and come March, you can have the bleak existential horrors of Nothing to Kill or Die For and Ethan’s latest foray into confronting the worst parts of humanity rattling around in your brain.

Before that arrives, I have a special treat hitting my shop around the start of the new year, the first in a series of small, pocket-sized tracts (a form that has always appealed to me, more on that later) that I’ve been working on in conjunction with the forever-in-development podcast. Speaking of the podcast: it’s slow-going, but we’re getting there. Should have some concrete updates on that in the next few weeks. In the meantime, this little toe-dip in the universe I’m building should whet your whistle. (What the hell kind of phrase is that, anyway?)

As far as puzzles go, I’m currently in the midst of Light in the Mist from the amazing PostCurious. Beautiful art, slick puzzles, and a wonderful distraction from the dystopia of our everyday lives. Beyond that one, Stockholm 17 dropped a doozy of a sea-based adventure puzzle called The Eye of the Ocean a while back, and it has even my puzzle-obsessed brain a little daunted. Cain’s Jawbone remains in my sights as well, though the odds of defeating that sumbitch before I die are slim. Once you parse out the verses, where do you go from there? Who can tell. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, look it up, it’s fun stuff. I press on, regardless, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly and all that.

Take care, raise a glass, pet your cats/dogs/raccoons/whatever, talk soon.

C.