The air quality danger is down to “very unhealthy,” so I can probably go for a walk!
I’m still going to a rock concert tonight (Temples — very good!).
Hey, now I can use some of my leftover N95 masks! Or maybe I can really get stylish and break out my old cloth masks!
Are we getting used to the kind of thing we used to read about in dystopian novels and post-apocalyptic films like The Road Warrior?
People often ask me if this kind of thing inspires me to write. Honestly, what it inspires me to do is to retreat into a popcorn video game like Marvel’s Midnight Suns or an optimistic TV show like Ted Lasso. Ah… fictional England, all they care about there is the next soccer football match!
I have been working, slowly, on a new novel. I am not addressing the COVID-19 pandemic or our imminent environmental doom. Those are great topics for other authors, but not much of an escape for me.
Yes, I’m still writing in the dystopian genre, and it’s not another comedy (though writing a political satirewas a great escape from a depressing series of years!). I’m having a good time figuring out what makes my characters tick, as well as spending more time on the world building as well. In other words, I’ve been taking a lot of notes. However, I’m feeling optimistic that the end product from all this will be worth the effort.
So, I got off of Twitter. You probably know why. I think I just couldn’t stand all the toxicity and chaos, and honestly I was getting worried about the privacy and security of staying on, too. I know some people are waiting for the ship to literally sink all the way beneath the surface of the water, but honestly, I didn’t see the point of holding out another month or two. It’s not like there aren’t any lifeboats.
Respect to the folks playing out the sinking ship, I guess!
One lifeboat? Mastodon! You can find my brand new profile at https://sunny.garden/@WatchAdam. I look forward to chatting with you there! I’m also still on Instagram and Facebook, but finding myself spending less time there due to the never-ending barrage of ads and sponsored content. I’m going to try to do better to keep this blog updated and be more regular with my newsletter. Those are probably the best ways to keep posted on my current projects.
Speaking of, I recently blew the dust off a first draft of a short story I wrote years ago called “Six Straight Roads.” It’s not dystopian or sci-fi like I usually write. It’s kind of a nostalgic piece about playing Capture the Flag with my friends when I was kid. I brought it to a local writers’ group about a year ago, and got a lot of great feedback, but then I procrastinated on actually revising the thing. That was, until a couple weeks ago when I got COVID-19 again and got in some quality quarantine writing time! (Note: I do not recommend getting COVID-19; quarantines are the worst). Long paragraph short, I made a lot of progress getting “Six Straight Roads” into shape. I just need to do another proofread and it should be ready to go. I’m considering submitting this one to some mags before self-publishing it, so that could delay its release a bit more. However, my goal is to have it out to you all in some form this spring. Stay tuned!
I’m also in the early stages of writing a new novel. I’ve done a whole lot of notes and outlining, and have even written a few chapters, but it’s still pretty early days. I hope to share more soon.
For those of you looking to pick up one of my books on the cheap, Smashwords is about to launch their end-of-year sale. It runs Dec. 15 to Jan. 1. I will have some great deals on eBooks for all my novels, including my debut duology We, The Watched and Divided We Fall for free! You’ll also be able to get The Wanderer and the New West and Utopia PR for less than $1.50. That means you can get all four of my novels for the price of coffee, and maybe less, depending where you get coffee!
I’m from Philadelphia, so let’s get this out of the way…
GO PHILLIES! WOOOOOOOO!!!!!
The one and only Philly Phanatic / Credit: Sports Illustrated
OK! Thank you for your indulgence. In case you didn’t know, or you’re reading this in the future and have forgotten most everything about 2022 (that must be nice), the Phillies are in the World Series! And last night, they took Game 1 from the Astros in an improbable, come-from-behind victory in Houston. Down five runs! With an amazing game-saving catch from Nick Castellanos! So yeah, I’m pretty excited!
Oh shoot, I’m still talking about the Phillies, aren’t I? Once again, I thank you for your indulgence.
All right, moving on for real this time! It’s Halloween, so I thought I’d share a cool article from the Washington Post about why haunted houses are Victorian in so many books and movies.
I haven’t written much horror, other than a kind of silly short story called “The Roommate.” But I’ve always loved the genre. My favorite recent haunted-house thing was The Haunting of Hill House miniseries on Netflix. The Haunting of Bly Manor (Mike Flanagan did both but they’re different stories) was also pretty good. I’m hoping to check out Flanagan’s Midnight Club real soon, once I finish all the other peak-TV shows in my queue.
I’ve been reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. It’s my first Murakami book though I’d been hearing good things for a while. It’s a fairly strange, yet gripping novel. It’s got a little of that David Lynch vibe where a lot of it is dream-like and you’re not entirely sure what’s really happening. If that doesn’t scare you off, I’d recommend giving it a try.
You might know I’m kind of a comic book geek. I found really fascinating a biography of Stan Lee called True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee by Abraham Riesman. It’s not exactly a glowing depiction of Stan The Man, revealing that the guy probably didn’t create the Marvel Universe all by himself as many people think. It also chronicles a lot of truly crazy sh** that happened in Lee’s later years. Even if he didn’t necessarily create all those classic superheroes, though, you definitely get the sense that Lee was a master marketer and that Marvel probably wouldn’t be what it is today without his passionate self-promotion.
On the gaming front, I just picked up Mario+Rabbids Sparks of Hope on Nintendo Switch and am absolutely having a blast playing it.
Mario+Rabbids Sparks of Hope / Credit: Nintendo
I loved the original Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle, and I’m happy to say the sequel has the best parts of that game with a whole lot more polish. Seriously, they couldn’t have been 100% confident when developing the original that people would embrace an XCOM-style strategy game teaming gun-wielding (ray guns, but still) Mario characters with weird bunny-things from Ubisoft’s Rayman series. However, it was obviously a winning concept, and the powers-that-be clearly gave the developers a big budget to run away with it in Sparks of Hope. It’s a pretty addictive videogame, and just writing about it makes me want to leave you mid-sentence to—
This is my first as a dad myself. My son Rishi will be turning one next month and I couldn’t be prouder! At this time last year, I don’t think I knew quite what to expect. Would I be a good dad? Would he think so? Well, 11 months later, I wouldn’t say I’m an expert at this, but I think I might be at least starting to get the hang of it! He’s a great kid and I’m looking forward to many more Father’s Days ahead!
It all makes me appreciate my own dad even more! There’s a lot of great things to say about that guy, but for brevity’s sake, let’s just highlight one — he’s one heck of a musician! The elder Bender plays guitar, banjo, harmonica, mandolin and more, and he’s always recording when he’s home. I think you’ll dig it if you like folk music, or artists like Bert Jansch, Mark Knopfler and Richard Thompson.
Earlier this month, he released a new digital single called “If You Could Convince Me.” It’s available now on Apple, Spotify, Google/YouTube Music and all the other usual suspects! Here it is below on YouTube and Spotify.
You should also check out the album he released a few years ago, Terrain!
Hope you enjoy! Happy Father’s Day, Dad! And to all the other pops out there, have a super-fantastic day!
It’s never great practice to start out a blog with, “It’s been a while since my last blog post.”
But it has been a while, hasn’t it?
I have a really good excuse, though! On July 15, I became a father, and so my son Rishi has been the priority for the last three months. I am writing this as he takes the lightest of naps, threatening to wake at any time to demand a cuddle. So if this post cuts off suddenly, you’ll know where I went.
So, quickly then, a writing update! I am editing the manuscript for my next novel, UtopiaPR. It’s a satire following Blake “The Hammer” Hamner, a public-relations specialist who struggles to find work-life balance while responding to crisis after crisis for a dystopian leader.
The first draft is written, and now what I’m largely doing is figuring out what parts either don’t work or need strengthening. Sometimes after months of writing, you have to pull back and look at it from 10,000 feet above (or however many feet is customary). In this story, for example, I realized that I needed to make the bad guy’s threat a little bit more convincing. And just yesterday, I cut a scene that was too much like a previous one (though obviously I saved it for the special edition). Gotta cut the fat!
When am I finding time to write? Oh, you know, the other night I found some time between Rishi’s 9:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. meals…
Long story short, Utopia PR is shaping up quite nicely and I think it’s my most fun novel to date — this, coming from a Dystopian author! Can’t wait to share it with you.
By the way, I am looking for reviews of the new audiobook edition of The Wanderer and the New West. If you’re interested in listening to a free copy for review on your blog, Goodreads or even a popular online bookstore, please apply here!
