Welcome to the new look Midnite Gazette
New site, same old newsletter. Nothing will change for existing subscribers, only that it will be on another website/app but if you read in email it won’t make a difference. I’m a little hungover so this might be a bit of a ramble but I just want to get a post out there with some updates. Going forward I want to put out a monthly newsletter with updates and maybe some essays or short stories included but they are extras. With the old newsletter I would only put out an instalment when I had something to talk about, an interesting topic etc. That was fun but meant consistency was difficult so going forward I will still be including essays about topics but if I have no topic I’ll just give updates.
Updates:
I’m working on two projects at the moment: Osaka S.P.D. and a novella that we will give the working title of Project Tentacle. I’ve written chapter one of Project Tentacle and began chapter two but I need to take a break to focus on S.P.D. I finished the first draft of issue #3 this week so I need edit that of course and send it to my editor Clare. It is a five-issue series so I have to focus my time on getting issue #4 and #5 written so we can hit the planned release date of later this year. Issue #1 is completely finished, art, letters and cover art. Issue #2 is with Hugo at the moment, I’ve seen the progress and it looks great which is no surprise as Hugo is a hell of a talent. The art should be ready for lettering pretty soon. My focus for this week is to get #3 edited, sent to Clare and then edited some more then I’ll move onto #4.
I had a goal this year to read a lot more than I did last year, I wasn’t happy with my reading last year and want to rectify that. It has been going well so far and I’ve been trying to expand my reading to different mediums, topics and genres. I’m currently reading Ireland’s Immortals by Mark Williams which is a book about Irish mythology, it’s a captivating book and I’ve been learning a lot about Irish history and mythology as well as how little we know about Pre-Christian Ireland. I’ve also read Declan Shalvey’s Old Dog recently, I’d been meaning to get round to checking the project out and I watched Blake’s Buzz’s interview with Dec recently which reminded me to check the book out. I’m really enjoying the series so far and looking forward to the next issue, Dec is the writer, artist and colourist on the project which is a hell of a feat. Doing one of these things well is difficult enough but Dec is firing on all cylinders. I’d recommend anyone who hasn’t read it already to jump on it. The interview by Blake can be watched HERE. I’ve also began reading 20th Century Men by Deniz Camp, S. Morian and Aditya Bidikar and the first issue blew me away, Camp’s writing and Morian’s art work perfectly together and Bidikar’s letters are top notch as always. I believe Aditya Bidikar is the best letterer in comics at the moment, when I see his name on a book I know that I’m in for a treat. Really looking forward to reading the rest of the book, the series is finished so thankfully I can do that today.
So that’s that. I hope you all have a lovely day and if you enjoyed this or are interested in reading more then please subscribe and share with friends and enemies. I leave you with a short story that I wrote the other day on my phone while I was on the train after the wind had blown a packet of crisps out of my hand. Cheers and as always stay safe and keep it sexy.
The Tragedy of Tírechán Thomas
In Wexford Town lived a man known as Tírechán Thomas, his father, an Irish history lover insisted on a historical name. His mother’s family, with a tradition of the first-born son being named after his father, objected, so they met halfway and a unique name came to be.
Tírechán Thomas hadn’t many friends, only a hobby and a passion. Hiking be the hobby, crisps be the passion though they often intertwined. Hiking trails peppered with the crumbs of Taytos, Walkers, Hunky Dorys and the like. It was a simple but utopian lifestyle for Tírechán Thomas. If he could hike or eat crisps, he was happy. If he was doing both, he was euphoric, but an enemy would arise to tear his euphoria from the palm of his hands. Tírechán Thomas found himself on a coastal hike, crisps in hand and a smile on his face. Along a cliff path came the blustering winds of the world, a gluttonous gust pulling his packet of crisps from his hand and over the cliff edge. Anger swelled in Tírechán Thomas. Falling to his knees, he pummelled the earth with punches, exacting revenge upon the very nature that took his friend. After a barrage of punches did nothing but hurt his fists, the crispless hiker climbed to his feet and left. His revenge denied.
Three-hundred-and-sixty-five days would pass from that day before Tírechán Thomas returned to the path. A changed man, a man denied his crisps. Punished Tírechán Thomas had become a man of singular focus over that year, training his body and mind with the one goal; destroy the wind. He had battered bushes, destroyed ditches, clobbered cliff-faces and terrorised trees, but now it was time for nature’s heavyweight champion. He wandered the path until he found himself at the exact spot of the tragedy. Tearing off his shirt, he stood in his custom Tayto packet Muay Thai shorts and screamed into the wind. The battle began and Punished Tírechán Thomas flung kicks, knees, punches, chops and headbutts. He felt the wind wane around him. The heavy huffs of Mother Nature slowed to a sigh. Gale force wind beaten to a breeze. His enemy there for the taking Punished Tírechán Thomas flung himself into a front-flip kick, slicing through the air and tumbling to the ground.
Confident of his victory, the combatant stood up and walked to the edge of the cliff. Looking over the sunshine covered sea surface and smiling, he had done it. The wind would take no more crisps. But as he turned to leave for the last time, the injury-feigning act ended. A gargantuan gust blew through the air and clattered into the crisp-loving warrior, picking him out of the cliff’s hand and carrying him out to sea. Never to be seen again.