Glory, Glory, Clear the Road

And so far, the reviews from ARC readers have been very positive! The RELIEF I felt when it wasn’t immediately hated is nearly impossible to convey. I can’t wait to get my hands on the physical copies.

Note from editing Sirius: I am very tired (and it’s that time of the month) and it has taken me almost an hour to write this newsletter. Please note that my excited for On Air’s release is severely understated in my writing tone. I am very excited. I know I don’t sound like it.

Insert my quarterly rant about how miserable they make everyone who touches them. They sent out an email right after I had placed some orders for On Air copies that said they were suspending rush shipping and that their only options are 7 day printing for paperbacks and 15 day for hardcover (and they almost always, always take longer unless the gods favor you). That being said, my goal for the House this year is to make enough money that we can keep IS for retailers but also stock our books in bulk from a different printer. It’s so expensive in terms of upfront costs but when I tell you it would make my life so much easier. ✨Manifest with me✨ if you will.

It’s just all extremely frustrating. I am hoping for a minor miracle when it comes to stocking up for our events and filling orders in a timely manner.

My short story “Where Overcast Visions Are Obscured by Stars” was recently published in Masque and Maelstrom, Vol. 2. This story is ghostly coastal horror with a character tie-in to a couple future projects (more on those below).

My short story “Pick His Bones Clean” was recently published in More Monsters Next Door. This story features a hurricane, a trailer in Florida, and a swamp siren.

I am still waiting to hear back about a short story that I submitted in December for a publication that I really really want to be a part of. Why do so many things have April as a response time? 💔 (April is going to be busy enough 💀 )

I’ve been posting a lot on Ko-Fi including character sketches and artwork for the Uncrowned TTRPG, some blog posts, and some writing (including Company Man’s first chapter). After this newsletter gets sent out, I’m going to update it with some short stories and more chapters, maybe (likely) the first chapter of On Air with the Devil and (I’m thinking) a preview of Disinherited. My blog posts are where you get even more rants and rambles that I think are just a little too stream-of-consciousness for the newsletter. Currently, I’m trying to stay informed and active by staying on social media (because at the end of the day, I also need to work), but that’s really hard on my mental health. So, my newsletter and my Ko-Fi are the best places to get unfiltered information.

ON AIR WITH THE DEVIL BOOK SIGNING: MARCH 15TH in Raleigh, NC.

SPRING SIP & SHOP: APRIL 11TH in Raleigh, NC.

TRIANGLE TERRORCON: SEPTEMBER 26TH in Durham, NC.

I am still waiting to hear back about a few events that I applied for. If you see a North Carolina event with a crowd that you think we would mesh well with, please send them my way! You can always email me at [email protected] or shoot me a message on @palestarsirius or @thelaughingmanhousepub Instagram!

I don’t have a release date for this one yet, but Split Pew Soup is going to be a collection of short stories I’ve written over the past few years that are either part of the Dread South universe or are responsible for kicking it off into what it is today. The reason I don’t have a release date is because I haven’t finished combing through old contracts to make sure I’m not in violation of anything. Rest assured, though, I’ll be posting about it shortly. (I also posted the cover in the Horror Church Discord, where you can go and take a look. If you aren’t a Discord person, I’m posting it over on Ko-Fi later today).

I’ve started working on a background/lore expansion story for the dark carnival that Buttons is a part of in Happy Face and Funny Little Town (and the Devil’s Night Grind Show short story, of course). So Merrymaker is a kind-of prequel, and the dark carnival that used to exist as it does in the DNGS short doesn’t really exist in the same way once you get to FLT, but you know, why? I’m going to show you. Honestly not sure if I want to LMH Pub this one or query it. Mostly because I’ve already got so many other things on my publishing schedule already.

The dark carnival lore is tied into both the Where Overcast Visions Are Obscured by Stars short story and my future CCP release, In Brutal Slumber Drowned. I’ll be able to talk more about that one hopefully in the near future once I have more information.

I have re-titled this work so many times and I still don’t think any of the titles are going to stick. I’m back to querying what was previously under the title ITYIWS. It’s gone through so many revisions that it’s basically not the same story anymore, but of course, I hope that’s a good thing (I hope it’s better). I won’t say much more about it because I’m superstitious, but the query game sucks and I’m not sure how long I’ll keep at it before I inevitably cave.