Alan Baxter's Blog

Never apologise for loving good stuff

Hello fiends!

How the hell are you? I hope this finds you as well as possible, despite everything. Remember, finding joy and chasing your dreams is punk as fuck in times like these, so never apologise for looking for the good in the world.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about this stuff. Numerous times I’ve seen people saying something like, “Look, sorry, I know it’s all too much right now, but I have a book coming out” or something similar. And to that I say, fuck that noise. Never apologise for singing out about something you’ve done. Especially in times like these. Otherwise, what’s the point in fighting at all? Art and expression and freedom of thought and freedom of action—literally the freedom to exist as exactly who you are—are what it’s all about.

The more people try to crush the arts, the more arseholes try to destroy anyone deemed “different”, the more we stand up. The more we stand together. Remember that line from that movie, “We are the weirdoes , mister”? That’s us. And the beauty is, we don’t have to be all the same kind of weirdo. The fact that there’s a huge variety of weirdo out there is our strength. When it comes to these cookie-cutter white supremacist fascist shitstains, our individual weirdness is our strength and our vastly superior numbers is why we’ll win. Weirdoes together!

So never apologise for promoting something you’ve made, never think there’s no point. Every voice adds to the cacophony that, in the long run, will drown out hate. It always has and it always will. It pisses me off that we have to suffer again in the meantime, but we never quit.

Anyway, I didn’t actually intend to start this newsletter with a rant, but seeing someone apologise for mentioning their new book is what reminded me it’s been a while since I sent one of these. So there you have it!

Let’s talk about what I’ve got going on. First of all, the anthology of horror stories inspired by great action movies of the 80s, I’ll Kill You Last, edited by Cullen Bunn, is in the last few days of its Kickstarter campaign. Honestly, things aren’t looking good. Cash is tight right now and anthologies are expensive bastards, but if you can find a way to back this one and get it over the line, that would be great. Look at that line-up!

I’ll Kill You Last promo graphic listing contributing authors.

My story in this is inspired by the heist movies I love so much with a bit of historical archaeology repurposed into horror to spice things up. I had great fun writing it, so I hope the book goes ahead. You can find all the details and back it right here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1330509990/ill-kill-you-last-an-80s-inspired-action-horror-anthology​

Another thing I dropped hints about recently was this.

Promo showing The Gulp and The Fall and a third book blurred out with a ? on it.

I’ve written another official volume in the Tales From The Gulp series. The title and cover have already been revealed to patrons, but I’ll share those things publicly once I get a better idea of a release date. I’m hoping it’ll come out this year, but it might be early 2026. We’ll see how things go.

I’m super nervous about it if I’m honest. The Gulp and The Fall got such a great reception and I always thought about whether or not I’d go ahead with this third instalment. I had good ideas for the stories, but was nervous about rising to the standards of the previous two. In the end I decided to dive in and see what happened. I’m really happy with how it came together. It’s five novellas again, including the two longest stories so far in the series. And it includes one of the darkest things I’ve ever written. Funny how that goes!

More news on this as I get it through beta readers, editors, and so on.

One more thing. The 2025 Ditmar Awards are open for nominations, for work first published in the 2024 calendar year. (That includes my novel, Blood Covenant, if you thought that worthy of a nom.) This is a fan/reader voted award, which means the more people who get involved, the better a representation of good work we’re likely to see on the shortlists. Official wording says:

Nominations will be accepted from natural persons active in fandom, and from full or supporting members of Conflux 19 or Swancon 49 (no official Natcon took place this year due to circumstances beyond control). You may nominate as many times in as many categories as you like, although you may only nominate a particular person or work once.

Nominations close 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time Thursday 21 August. And you can nominate very easily with an online form. Click to submit a 2025 Ditmar Awards nomination: https://form.jotform.com/252001685025851​

There’s also an unofficial eligibility list, so you can remind yourself of all the good stuff published last year: https://scifi.fandom.com/wiki/2025_Ditmar_Award_Eligibility_List?veaction=edit​

If you feel so inclined, please get nominating! And Blood Covenant is eligible in the Best Novel category, did I mention that?

What I’ve Been Enjoying

I’ve been consuming heaps of TV and stuff lately. I won’t go into huge detail, but here’s a bunch of stuff I really recommend. I watched the rest of Andor, which is one of the best Star Wars spinoffs out there. It leads directly to events in Rogue One, which is both one of the best Star Wars films there is and a brilliant war movie in its own right. I highly recommend watching Andor, then going right away into Rogue One (again, if you’ve already seen it, like I did). Another great show is Secret Level, based on video games, from the people behind Love, Death + Robots. Some crackers in that series. The TV adaptation of The Three-Body Problem is also outstanding TV with some truly great performances.

Squid Game finally wrapped up. It hits a pretty satisfying conclusion. And you know that I loved finally catching Sons Of Anarchy a while back? There’s a five season spin off called Mayans that I’m watching now and really enjoying. I’m only just at the start of season 2, but it’s good stuff.

Lastly, for watching stuff, the people who made that amazing horror film, Talk To Me, are at it again with a movie called Bring Her Back. It’s genuinely superb and really intense in places. Hard-hitting, but well worth it. And Australian!

With reading, I’ve loved recently Road of Bones and House of Last Resort by Christopher Golden and Among the Living by Tim Lebbon. A couple of masters at work, and showing no signs of slowing down. Both these guys never miss for me, and these books are great.

Okay, that’ll do from me for now. Remember to back I’ll Kill You Last if you’re able to, and please do drop some nominations in the Ditmar Awards. Meanwhile, take care of each other and especially yourself. Kindness and empathy will get us through.

Big love to you all

Al

The post Newsletter 28th July 2025 appeared first on Alan Baxter.

The 2025 Ditmar Awards are open for nominations, for work first published in the 2024 calendar year. (That includes my novel, Blood Covenant, if you thought that worthy of a nom!)

This is a fan/reader voted award, which means that the more people who get involved, the better a representation of good work we’re likely to see on the shortlists. Official wording says:

Nominations will be accepted from natural persons active in fandom, and from full or supporting members of Conflux 19 or Swancon 49 (no official Natcon took place this year due to circumstances beyond control). You may nominate as many times in as many categories as you like, although you may only nominate a particular person or work once.

Nominations close 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time Thursday 21 August. And you can nominate very easily with this online form:

Click to submit a 2025 Ditmar Awards nomination: https://form.jotform.com/252001685025851

There’s also an unofficial eligibility list, so you can remind yourself of all the good stuff published last year: https://scifi.fandom.com/wiki/2025_Ditmar_Award_Eligibility_List?veaction=edit

Get nominating!

The post The 2025 Ditmar Awards are open for nominations appeared first on Alan Baxter.

I’LL KILL YOU LAST has had a few delays along the way, but it’s finally coming. This anthology will be an absolute banger, packed with stories by amazing authors that celebrate everything great in the high-octane action movies of the 80s. Larger than life heroes! One liners! Car chases! Big guns! Bigger muscles! Muscle car chases with even bigger guns!

Do you love bloodcurdling terror? Vampires! Demons! Werewolves! Demonic vampires who turn into werewolves by the light of the full moon!

Do you bleed Cannon films? Do you bleed horror?

If so, this is the anthology for you! Edited by the amazing Cullen Bunn and featuring 22 stories, including one from me.

But it needs to be Kickstarted, which is essentially pre-orders. Sign up for your copy here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1330509990/ill-kill-you-last-an-80s-inspired-action-horror-anthology

 

The post I’LL KILL YOU LAST is coming! appeared first on Alan Baxter.

Reassurance and travel plans

Hello, fiends. How the fuck are ya?

Let me start by reassuring folks. Last newsletter was perceived by many as a bit doom and gloom and several people checked in to make sure I was really okay. I really am! Honest. This business sucks balls sometimes, but taking the big picture into account, I’m really okay.

I will always be honest with you in missives like this because I believe you deserve truth, not some plastic façade, and I think it’s important to point out that it’s not all unicorns and roses. Most of the time people only say stuff when it’s good stuff, which gives a skewed perspective of how much good stuff there is. Even if there is a lot of good stuff – and I’m well aware of how fortunate I’ve been – there is at least as much, if not more, shitty shit too.

There is still a lot of inertia for me right now. I’m still waiting on any good calls from my agent. I’m still struggling to get things done and I don’t cope well without solid projects on the horizon. But right now, there aren’t any, so I simply have to fortify my pants and get on with things. Because getting the work done is how this works.

And there are some positives. One thing that was really getting me down last time was the looming general election. I was terrified of Trumpism infecting Australia. I’m very pleased to say that the idea of Trumpism was so soundly rejected by the Australian electorate that our conservative party saw their biggest defeat in the history of their existence and their leader lost not only the election but his seat in parliament too. Fuck off, you fascist. That’s just brilliant.

While I’m still waiting to hear about any of the work that I have out there (either with my agent or actually on submission) I’m working on something new which is quite exciting and I have a possible indie project coming up, which will be something good to focus on.

Also, the hardcover of ​Recall​ is available now, as well as the paperback and ebook. So if you’ve been hanging out for that, you can get it anywhere you buy books. Ideally, ​grab it from me​ or ​directly from the publisher​, as that’s always the best way to support authors and publishers.

I’m also getting out into the world again soon, and that can only be a good thing. I’m very excited to have been invited back as a guest at the awesome ​Supanova Pop Culture Expo​, this time in Sydney and Perth. Along with a plethora of movie, TV, comics, voiceover and gaming guests, I’ll be at the QBD Literary Legends booth along with excellent fellow scribes like Luke Arnold, Lauren Roberts, Lynette Noni, Juliet Marillier and a bunch more I can’t even remember right now. ​Check the guests on the Supanova page​. It’s amazing! If you’re near those cities, please do come along.

Meanwhile, I’ll just keep scribing away and hoping for news. Cross your fingers for me, sacrifice a chicken maybe, exhort the will of Elder Gods, whatever else you might consider worthwhile. I’m sure it helps, and even if it doesn’t, it’s all a bit of fun, right?

What I’ve Been Enjoying

Talking of fun, I’ve had loads recently with TV and movies. Thirty years too late, I finished watching all of Babylon 5. It still holds up, almost too well with the current rise of the right. About the only anachronistic element is they still read newspapers, which was pretty funny. I was solidly disappointed with how they resolved the Shadow War – I felt like that was weak as hell – but then the continued exploration of the alliance was really well done. The final episode made me cry, it was truly powerful stuff.

I’ve caught a couple of movies in the cinema recently too. For my mental health, I’ve been giving myself an occasional afternoon off where I head up to Hobart and catch a film. I saw Sinners, which is a superb blend of historical, musical and horror. I mean, blues and vampires, you can’t go wrong. In some respects, it was a fairly trope-following idea, but it was presented from a wonderful perspective that we just don’t see enough of. I loved it.

Then just last week I went up and saw Final Destination: Bloodlines, which is just bonkers fun. A while back I binged all the movies to date and thoroughly enjoyed them. I can’t remember the order I rated them now, but the Final Destination conceit is a stroke of genius, really. People escape death, so death comes for them in increasingly wild ways. Trying to predict the ridiculous Rube Goldberg death sequences is enormous fun. Then you leave the theatre and spot at least a hundred ways to die walking back to the car.

With reading, I loved the new Chuck Wendig novel, Staircase in the Woods. I wasn’t sure where he was going with it and it turned out to be a really cool exploration of friendship and flawed people. And I absolutely loved Christopher Golden’s novel, Road of Bones. That’s a genuinely scary book that will make you feel the cold of Siberia. I highly recommend both of those.

Righto, I think that’s all from me for now. Back to work, back to waiting on that email from my agent. Such is this business! If you’re keen to know a bit more about what I’m working on, I share a lot more of that stuff along with excerpts and other exclusive fiction ​at my Patreon​. I’ve only got a small following, but it helps towards at least one grocery bill a month and that really makes a difference, I’m so grateful for everyone who hangs out with me there. If you’re keen, ​go check it out​. You can try it for free.

Meanwhile, be kind to each other, fight fascism, stand up for what you believe and I’ll see you next time.

Al

The post Newsletter 28th May 2025 appeared first on Alan Baxter.

Hello fiends

I hope this finds you well. Or at least surviving. It’s a wild time out there, and most of us are just swimming along, trying to keep our heads above water. Every day is a new shitshow in the news, it seems, and here in Australia we’re heading into a general election, so it’s not going to get any better any time soon.

And honestly, things are not much different on the writing front just now. There’s a certain inertia that kicks in when nothing seems to be gaining traction. It makes the motivation to keep going hard to maintain. We’re in the middle of school holidays, so that certainly makes things tricky. I’m a creature of routine and I value time alone, both things that get blown out of the water during holidays. Of course, I make the most of that disruption and enjoy it for what it is, but it’s hell on the writing life.

I’ve also had a couple of projects collapse out from underneath me recently, which is always galling. It’s par for the course with his gig, but it still sucks when it happens. And other things that are out there are just… out there. Nothing happening right now. The waiting is the hardest part of a writer’s life, I think.

But, we persevere. Because that’s the job. There’s no point in expecting anything to come to you, no one owes you anything, you have to go out and get it. Sitting there waiting and not doing more work will just result in waiting forever, in my experience.

The above is not how to make things happen. Arse in chair, fingers on keyboard, do the fucking work. That’s how you get ahead. Despite times like this when it feels like there’s no more ahead to get, or that a peak has been reached and now it’s all diminishing returns. It’s important to acknowledge those feelings, which is why I’m writing about them now, but it’s more important to not give in to those feelings. Fuck that kind of evil brain worm. I’ve always said that if I fail at this gig it won’t ever be because I didn’t work hard enough. And the work is the literal only thing we control. Everything else is in the laps of the gods and those fuckers are capricious and mischievous.

But there is stuff happening. RECALL is out in the world now, so please do help me spread the word about that and grab your copy if you haven’t already. Signed copies available through my website now too.

There are still a few things out there on submission that I will hopefully hear about before too long, and with any luck the things I hear will be positive. In the meantime, I’m working on a new project. It wasn’t what I thought I’d be working on next, but it would appear its time has come. Watch this space for more news (or join my Patreon, where people always get advance notice of stuff like this, plus exclusive fiction and other stuff.)

Otherwise, this newsletter is simply to let you know I’m still beavering away in the word mines, as it’s been a while since my last missive.

What I’ve Been Enjoying

In terms of TV and movies, I got a boxed set Blu-Ray of all 5 seasons of Babylon 5 for Xmas. I watched the first season and a half when it aired in the mid-90s, then I went travelling around the world for two years, and subsequently moved to Australia. So I never got around to seeing the rest. I recently started watching those Blu-Rays from the beginning and now I’m into season 4 and really enjoying it. It’s great to finally catch up with it after all these decades. Although, it’s also a bit depressing how fucking relevant it is to the political climate today. Written off the back of Reagan, Thatcher and so on, here we are again.

My kid and I went to the the Minecraft movie and I enjoyed it a lot. So much fan service, so you’ll get a lot more if you know the game. And the hectic nature of the audience was something to behold. Like a modern Rocky Horror Picture Show only more teenage aggression. Very weird!

With reading, I’ve finally caught up on all the Charlie Parker thrillers by John Connolly. There’s 21 of them now and I finished the 21st last week. It’s a great series of books, but I hope he wraps it up soon, as there’s starting to be less payoff and the big arc he’s been hinting at all along is getting a little stale. A huge finale would be awesome sometime soon.

I also read and enjoyed recently Kosa by John Durgin and On A Clear Day You Can See Block Island by Gage Greenwood.

Okay, that’s all from me for now. Stay well, fiends, look after yourself and each other. Always happy to hear from folks, you know where to find me.

Al

(To get my email directly to your inbox, sign up here.)

The post Latest newsletter – 22nd April 2025 appeared first on Alan Baxter.

Recall, Blood Covenant and Sallow Bend paperbacks, all signed, only AU$69.95 for all three, including shipping*!

You know that old chestnut, “It’s my birthday, but you get the presents”? This is that exactly. It’s my birthday this week and the best present I can get is a continued career as an author. Which, let’s be honest, is getting harder instead of easier. But we persevere! So I’ve come up with a special offer here, to help me celebrate. *Please note: This is only available to Australian readers! I could potentially fulfill the same offer to anyone outside Australia, but the shipping would be extravagant and I’d need to add that on. If you are outside Australia and you want these three signed books, send me an email and I’ll figure out how much extra it would be to ship to you.

Meanwhile, Australians! If you’re keen for these three books, all signed and dedicated to you (or anyone else) just click below!

Recall, Blood Covenant and Sallow Bend signed paperbacks!

The post A special offer to celebrate my birthday! appeared first on Alan Baxter.

Hi friends! I’m excited to share with you that RECALL is out now!

Originally published as three novellas – Manifest Recall, Recall Night and Ghost Recall – now collected together for the first time. Here’s what it’s about:

Following a psychotic break, Eli Carver finds himself on the run in the company of a terrified woman he doesn’t know. As he slowly rebuilds his memories, layers of ugly truth are peeled back and dark secrets are revealed. Before long, the duo find themselves on the wrong side of Eli’s old criminal syndicate, in a struggle for survival against the most dangerous forces in their lives. They have to go back into the underbelly of humanity, laid bare and ready for the bullet or the knife. And all the way, Eli is haunted by the ghosts of people he’s killed in the past, haranguing him, a supernatural peanut gallery of mockery and hate. Recall follows Eli Carver’s downward spiral of psychosis, through the darker aspects of lost memories, human guilt, and the insurmountable quest for personal redemption.

“a fast, gritty, mind-f*ck” – Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts

“brutal, gritty fun” — Brian Keene, author of The Complex

“bottles the essence of impending doom that drives the most powerful noir. Vintage Baxter: fast, sleek, and bloody-minded.” – Laird Barron, author of Swift to Chase

Available directly from Sobelo Books (paperback or discounted ebook!) or wherever you usually buy books. Paperback and ebook out now, hardcover coming soon. This book is ultraviolent and intense, I really hope you’ll give it a go. And please do help me spread the word, thank you!

 

The post RECALL is out now! appeared first on Alan Baxter.

What’s up, my droogs? I hope this finds you well. I mean, notwithstanding literally everything else in the world right now, I hope you personally are managing okay. If nothing else, we’ve always got books to escape into, right?

You know, I had a weird experience on Bluesky recently, talking of books. For a while there, Bluesky was a really cool place to hang out. It’s still by far the best alternative social media, in my opinion, especially as the block function there is so powerful and I recommend blocking early and often to keep your peace of mind. But it is becoming more rabid as the number of users increases.

Which brings me to the weird experience I had. I posted, just casually and without expecting much discussion, that’s it’s absolutely fine to review a book you DNFd (Did Not Finish).

Life’s too short for bad books, for one. If something isn’t working for you, quit and find something better. And it’s perfectly fine to review that book. Something like “This book was terrible, I couldn’t even finish it” is perfectly valid. Equally, something with a bit more information would be better. “This book was so badly written” or “This book was full of plot holes” or “This book was so violent and disgusting I threw it against a wall”, etc. All fine and reasonable reviews.

But I had so many people come yelling at me that you can’t review a book you didn’t finish. That it’s somehow doing a disservice to the author. The really bemusing shouts, and there were a lot of these, were the ones along the lines of “What if it all came together in the end and was actually a great book?” Yeah, I don’t think so, Chad. If I’m eating a steak that’s rancid and disgusting, I won’t keep going in case the last bite is delicious. Everything that came before is a pretty solid indicator of where it’s going. And even if somehow the book has an absolute banger of an ending, the author should have put more care and attention into the rest of the book if they want to keep readers. That’s literally how this job works.

Anyway, by all means DNF books that aren’t working for you, and by all means review them, even mine.

With that in mind, I really hope you won’t DNF my new book, which is actually three old books in a trench coat.

If you read the Eli Carver novellas back between 2018 and 2021 as they were published, you might not be interested in this one unless you fancy a copy to look good on your shelf. If you didn’t catch those back then, now is a great time. Manifest Recall, Recall Night and Ghost Recall have been collected into a brand new omnibus edition, called RECALL, coming on February 25th from Sobelo Books. The original cover artist from Manifest Recall, Wendy Saber Core, has absolutely knocked it out of the park with this new cover for the collected edition. Check it out:

​

​

I love this cover so much. All three novellas have been reformatted to read as a single novel in three parts, following Eli Carver’s journey from psychotic break to… whatever life holds for him and just who or what the ghosts all around him might be.

​You can see the cover in more detail here.

This book is by far the most violent and high octane thing I’ve written, with more action even than the Alex Caine books (I think, maybe? The Alex Caine Series is a trilogy of novels and this is essentially one novel, so the pace is more intense by that definition alone, I guess.) Anyway, I love the Eli Carver story and I’m so happy it’s coming back into print. That also means I may get to write more Eli Carver stories, so please grab a copy if you’re keen and please do help me spread the word so more people find Eli’s exploits. I’d love to write more about him and his ghosts.

RECALL will be available in paperback, hardcover and ebook from February 25th 2025, with audio hopefully to follow sometime before too long.

You can read an excerpt and find all the links you need here: https://alanbaxter.com.au/my-books/recall/​

Or you can pre-order the paperback direct from the publisher here: https://sobelobooks.com/shop/p/recall​

Right now there’s not much other news, as we’ve been simply getting through the Xmas season and surviving the long summer school holidays. But please keep your fingers crossed for me as I have few irons in the fire publishing-wise and it would be great to see one or two of those land before too long.

What I’ve Been Enjoying

Many years ago, we started watching Sons of Anarchy, but for some reason we stopped after the second season and never got back into it. Just recently I’ve been correcting that and bingeing the thing. There are seven seasons overall and I’m now up to season five. No spoilers, please, and I’ll probably talk more about it in the next newsletter, as I’ll have finished watching all seven seasons by then.

With reading, I enjoyed Finishing Touches by Thomas Tessier. It’s an old book, brought back by the Valancourt Paperbacks From Hell range. It’s a slow burn of a horror novel and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. It’s really well written. I also caught up on a Josh Malerman book I hadn’t read before called Pearl, which is absolutely bonkers and Malerman at his unhinged best. And a shout out to Night Bleeds Into Dawn by Graeme Reynolds, a crime/horror hybrid that I had a lot of fun with.

I guess that’s about all for me right now. Look after yourselves and each other, resist in every way you’re able to and remember that joy and enjoying art are acts of resistance in themselves.

Big love and catch you next time.

Al

The post Newsletter 31st January 2025 appeared first on Alan Baxter.

Hello fiends

I really am rubbish at this newsletter frequency thing, huh? If it’s any consolation, I’m even worse at keeping my YouTube channel up to date. That’s truly woeful. I mean, who has time? But I do mean to do more videos, so hit me up with any suggestions if there are things you’d like to see me talk about there.

However, I’m being forgiving of myself when it comes to not getting things done right now. 2024 has been a fucking wild year for us, including that whole interstate move thing. And while that’s the biggest thing that’s happened, it’s far from the only one. The last eighteen months or so has been truly tumultuous, if I’m honest. I would really like 2025 to be boring as fuck. That curse about living in interesting times? I get it. I want to live in genuinely boring times for a while, please. But I won’t hold my breath. I anticipate the bonkersness (totally a word) will continue indefinitely.

The world right now is wild. If all you’ve managed to do is survive, then pat yourself on the back. That’s a massive achievement, well done. Times are tough and berating yourself for not doing enough is self-destructive. Celebrate your survival and look to the future. Honestly, it’s hard to believe we’re already heading into mid-December. Here’s a pretty good representation of my year:

Yours is probably pretty similar, yeah? It’s okay, we’re all feeling it. Time is a stupid concept anyway and holding yourself to some arbitrary calendar devised by monks is kinda crazy. So what if it’s technically the end of the year? Today only one day later than yesterday. January 1st is no different in any significant way than April 6th or September 13th or whatever. Forgive yourself, there’s power in it.

But if we do look at the arbitrary calendar, I’ve had less than usual published this year overall. I had a new novel out, which is more than enough on its own, of course, so I’m not at all bothered. Blood Covenant came out in May and I’m really happy with the response it’s received. It didn’t hit as hard and as well as Sallow Bend, sadly, but I’m not complaining. The book has been well-received all the same. If you’ve read Blood Covenant and can spare a moment to review or rate online (Amazon, Goodreads, any social media, etc.) it really helps, thank you! And if you haven’t grabbed a copy yet, I really hope you do. I’m super proud of it.

Aside from Blood Covenant, the only other publication I’ve had this year is my short story, “Hunting By Moonlight”, in SNAFU: AI Insurrection (Cohesion Press). I’m really proud of that story too and the whole SNAFU anthology series is well worth your time. But for someone as driven as I am, seeing only one short story published in a year makes me wince a little bit. There are two others which were supposed to be coming out, but have both been delayed, so it would have been three. That’s something, right?

One of those two delayed stories is in The Time Machine Australia Bound which is up for pre-order now. It features stories of H G Wells’ famous machine, but all set in various eras of Australia, penned by a plethora of Aussie writing talent. I’m proud to have my darkly comedic crime yarn, “Slippery Hunt’s Big Score”, included. It will be in paperback, ebook or the always beautiful PS Publishing limited edition hardcover.

Pre-order it here in hardcover: https://pspublishing.co.uk/the-time-machine-australia-bound-signed-hardcover-edited-by-steve-proposch–christopher-sequeira-6443-p.asp

Or here in paperback: https://pspublishing.co.uk/the-time-machine-australia-bound-paperback-edited-by-steve-proposch–christopher-sequeira-6438-p.asp

Of course, we have no control over when stuff happens and I need to remind myself constantly that authors control literally ONE thing: the writing. Everything after that is out of our hands. We can work hard to help push things along, we can look out for opportunities, we can promote ourselves to whatever degree we’re comfortable with and all that stuff. But in the end, the only thing we actually control is the writing and that’s where our focus needs to be. Whatever else is going on, we need to do the writing.

When I stop and look at that, I realise I’ve achieved a lot more. So much of this job happens behind the scenes and takes ages to come around, if it comes around at all. For example, I’ve been working on a bunch of things that haven’t come to fruition yet. I’ve also put a lot of effort into things that have fallen over and won’t ever pay off. But it’s all work and it all moves me forward, however incrementally. And some good stuff is coming of it.

I’ve sent off a new novel and a new novella to my agent, both of which are out on submission right now. Please cross all your everythings for me on that front. I’ve got another new novel that needs a big rewrite and huge thanks to my pal, Jo Anderton, for spending hours on Zoom with me helping to get my head around how I can fix that book. I’m ready to move forward with it again now and that’s my next big project.

I was asked for a story for a book series I’m a big fan of and was thrilled to get the invite. I just recently heard that my story there has been accepted. That’s fantastic and I’ll be sure to tell you more about it next year when I’m able to.

And through my agent, I’ve also secured a new publisher for the Eli Carver novellas, which I’m really excited about. You may remember that those books were originally with Grey Matter Press, but I got the rights back and wasn’t sure what was happening with them. Well, the good people at Sobelo Books have bought all three novellas and they’re going to republish them in a collected omnibus edition called Recall in February next year. The amazing SaberCore, who did the original Manifest Recall cover, is doing the new cover for the omnibus, so watch out for that reveal sometime soon.

So this gig is slow and frustrating and filled with rejection and waiting and waiting and waiting, but things do happen if you continually focus on the writing. Hopefully 2025 will be a boring year in every way except publication success. Fingers crossed.

What I’ve Been Enjoying

I’ve been absolutely inhaling the TV series From recently. I’ve just got up to date with the final episode of season 3 and I think we have to wait until 2026 for season 4, but it’s brilliant television. I’m a little concerned that they’re going to pull a Lost and totally fuck up the ending, but it feels like they’re moving towards a planned ending and I hope they pull it off.

I’ve now started watching a new Korean show called Hellbound. I’ve only seen the first two episodes so far, but it’s pretty intense stuff. I’m wondering how much they’re going to lean into the Christian mythology for it and hoping they move into something more interesting, but we’ll see.

With reading, I mentioned last time that I was really enjoying The Reformatory by Tananarive Due. I finished that and it’s absolutely outstanding. Amazing book.

A couple of others I’ve loved recently have been The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias, a good supernatural crime/horror hybrid in Iglesias’s signature barrio noir style, and All The Sinners Bleed by S A Cosby. Cosby hasn’t written a bad book yet, I’ve really enjoyed them all. He’s a great writer.

Anyway, that’s about it from me for now. As anyone who knows me will attest, I’m a total grinch and hate this time of year. It’s worth remembering that Xmas can be pretty traumatic for a lot of us for various reasons and I always struggle with it. I try to see it through the eyes of my kid these days and find some new joy in it, but I’m always glad when we’re past it and into the new year. So if you struggle with this time of year too, I feel you. Hang in there, it’ll be okay and it’ll be over soon. If you’re a big Xmas fan, I hope you have a great time. Enjoy it, because it’ll be over soon. As ever, all things pass and all things are yet to come. Be kind to yourself especially and others as much as you’re able. Remember, time is arbitrary. You’re doing fine.

All the best and I’ll see you on the other side.

Al

The post Time, what even is it anyway? Newsletter 9th December 2024. appeared first on Alan Baxter.

Announced in the PS Publishing newsletter today, The Time Machine Australia Bound is up for pre-order now. Featuring stories of H G Wells’ famous machine, but all set in various eras of Australia, penned by a plethora of Aussie writing talent. I’m proud to have my darkly comedic crime yarn, “Slippery Hunt’s Big Score”, included. Paperback, ebook or the always beautiful PS Publishing limited edition hardcover. Grab yours now!

Grab it here in hardcover: https://pspublishing.co.uk/the-time-machine-australia-bound-signed-hardcover-edited-by-steve-proposch–christopher-sequeira-6443-p.asp

Or here in paperback: https://pspublishing.co.uk/the-time-machine-australia-bound-paperback-edited-by-steve-proposch–christopher-sequeira-6438-p.asp

The post The Time Machine Australia Bound appeared first on Alan Baxter.