Quick Update: What I’ve Been Up To

It feels like it’s only been a hot minute since I last posted on my website, and in that short span of time, not much happened. But then the gears in my brain finally turn. As they grind and creak, as the dust bounces off, I realize… a lot of little things happened between my last post and this one.

For starters, my wife and I took a vacation that saw us driving through Cologne, Bonn, Dusseldorf, and more of the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany, with stops in The Netherlands and a final sendoff from Paris.

A shot of Claude Monet’s garden in Giverny, France.

I also finally got back into the swing of interviewing again. This time, I chatted with a colorist whose work I greatly admire. We chat about his work on the most recent Defenders of the Earth miniseries from Mad Cave Studios, as well as a recent The Phantom one-shot.

My most recent newsletter about Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, and the drive to keep creating also dropped on Substack. I’ve been holding pretty steady at one a month for my main Because We Can newsletter, which is and will always be free to subscribe to.

You can read the most recent post here.

I’ve also not only brought back my Books & Boards newsletter, which also releases monthly, but I made it into its own newsletter and added a few changes.

Read Adventure #4: City Lit Books here. In both this adventure and the previous write-up, Adventure #3: Harvey’s Tales, I’ve added a new component to these little bookstore and game store visits. Whatever I pick up, I plan on reviewing something from these stores in video format.

The first of these videos is a review of War on Gaza by Joe Sacco. It’s rough, but I’m working on making graphics and building this out a little better. I’m also not going to limit these reviews JUST to bookstore purchases. Any indie book, comic, etc., that I really enjoy… I’m going to try to add more reviews here and there. I think it’ll help elevate and give voice to authors and other creators who don’t have the luxury of a crackshot marketing team or powerhouse publisher.

At any rate, those are the new things happening in my neck of the woods. I have a few more interviews in the works, as well as some more comic book updates that I can’t talk about just yet.

Stay tuned, keep creating, and let me know about all that wonderful new-ness in your world. Got a new book? Tell me about it. Had a story published? Share it please.

Messy, Discordant, Entirely Human

Friends,

Ever look at your Internet presence and feel “cluttered?” It’s a weird vibe, particularly since it’s all digital, but I feel it nonetheless.

For context, I have an Instagram, a Threads account, a Bluesky handle, a Reddit account, this website, TWO Substack newsletters, a budding YouTube channel, and a StoryGraph account (I ditched my GoodReads and traded for something non-Amazon).

This does not account for my work published in various Internet magazines, nor my comic reviews, podcasts, and interviews at The Batman Universe, as well as my comic reviews, podcast appearances, and interviews (forthcoming) at Chronicle Chamber‘s website and YouTube channel.

Team, I have a lot of virtual… stuff. It’s exhausting to read back that list (and not have it sound like a stanza in Weird Al’s “Hardware Store” song).

But I’m trying to consolidate and link these various pieces of me together. I’ve spent more time within the last month working to web my “digital presence” together, with this site as the hub.

My YouTube is the newest piece. I started it because of my Chronicle Chamber work, which is mostly hosted on YouTube. It seemed like a great way to channel those comic reviews and videos toward a new space where I can stretch BEYOND the pages of Phantom-related books, as well as add a video to my “Books & Boards” newsletter (which was just spun off onto its own list).

Anyway, it’s a lot. I’m still here. I’m still working on book two for my Space Opera series. I’m also struggling to find a home for a short story that covers a sensitive, but important, topic. It’s received some phenomenal feedback, but no takers so far. In the coming months, I’ll be stringing things together even tighter.

For now, if you want to see what I’m up to, I would point you two my Substack newsletters. “Because We Can” is my monthly motivational newsletter (new issue dropping in a couple days). “Books & Boards” is my adventure newsletter of visits to bookstores, game stores, etc., with reviews of books or games I purchase.

Also, StoryGraph (handle is writer_scott) is a really neat, well-conceived GoodReads alternative. You can download your GoodReads history and port it over, too. There are some features behind a paywall, though there’s plenty of cool free features.

Defenders of the Earth Issue 1 – Trying Something New

Defenders of the Earth Issue 1 by Dan Didio, Jim Calafiore & Carlos M. Mangual. Image courtesy of Mad Cave Studios.

For about five years (or more) now, I have been writing comic book reviews and podcasting over at TheBatmanUniverse.net. It was a gradual development, starting at first with a review or two, then moving up to editing duties and finally podcasting/interviewing duties. Today, I review anywhere from 2-3 titles per month, host the bi-weekly podcast, and edit a majority of the reviews and content that hits the site. To say it keeps me busy is an understatement.

In the course of getting a feel for the writing of comic book reviews and “chiseling upward” on my podcasting duties, I realized how much of a thrill it is to host a show. Seriously. It’s grown into a creative outlet that’s energizing. Before recording every other week, I get a hit of fear, adrenaline, and excitement all at once. That feeling is tenfold whenever I’ve had the opportunity to interview creators and Bat-fans.

If I’m being honest though, I never set out to be a guy who hosts a podcast. If you asked me several years ago if it was something I ever thought about, I would have told you no. The same can be said for the interviews. Never in my lifetime would I imagine that I’d be emailing comic book creators, Batsuit doubles, movie producers, and more for a chance to talk to them for 45 minutes.

But now that that door has been open, I feel the need to continue my journey and take on a new fear – putting my face in front of the camera.

That led me to Chronicle Chamber, an Australian-based fansite and comprehensive archive devoted to The Phantom. For those unfamiliar with the character, though he was created as American newspaper comic strip character in 1936, he’s seen much larger popularity across the globe than in the United States. An opportunity presented itself to review a State-side revival of the character, and I leaped at the chance.

My first review is attached at the end of the video below. Watch the Youtube clip, or head over to ChronicleChamber.com to see it.

Bear with me as I work the kinks out. As I keep trying out this whole video review thing, I will continue chisel upward. For the second video I just filmed, I already added a ring light tripod to my equipment.

July 2024: What’s the Latest?

It’s been several minutes since my last update. I apologize. These last few months, there have been many irons in many fires, and my time has been limited. When I do have the opportunity to write, it’s either in service of a review or podcast or a few moments to eek out some more words on my sci-fi novella sequel that, for now, I’m just referring to as Bellamy (I’ll post an update in the next few weeks).

As for the first scifi novella (the robot book), unless some publisher scoops it up last-minute, I am planning to release it by the end of the year. It’ll be digital/ebook-only at launch. That doesn’t mean a print edition is out of the picture, it just means one will be coming much later.

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New Interview With Movie Producer Michael Uslan

I recently had the chance to interview one of my personal heroes. He’s a big supporter and nurturer of the comic book community, and during his college years, he bought the film rights to Batman. He spent the next decade trying to pitch what would ultimately become the first Batman film starring Michael Keaton.

Feel free to check out my interview with writer, professor, and movie producer Michael Uslan here.

For those who want to watch the video on Youtube, the video can be found here.

New Short Story: Night Sky

It’s been a minute since my last update. I’ve had a busy couple of months over at TheBatmanUniverse.net and at work. As always, I’m continuously carving out time to work on my comic series and that next novel.

That said, a new short story of mine was just published this past month over at Drunk Monkeys. It’s called “Night Sky,” and it’s one of my personal favorite sci-fi pieces that I’ve written. I won’t gab too much, but I hope it is enjoyable and means as much to you as it does to me. In some ways, I feel like it’s something we can all relate to.

Read “Night Sky” here.

And don’t forget to check out the rest of the June Drunk Monkeys issue here. There’s a stellar lineup of writers, poets, and artists.

In other news, I’ve been busy with TheBatmanUniverse podcast. A couple of months ago, I interviewed The Carver Twins about their roles in The Batman, and this past month, I invited Pat Grimes of Wires Don’t Talk on to talk about the music of The Batman. As always, I continue to cohost the regular podcast, but these two featured episodes are part of a larger initiative to branch out and interview more creators involved with creating Batman comics, movies, etc.

As always, if you want to hear more of what I’m about to, I do have a monthly newsletter, and the new issue should be dropping in the next couple of days. Check out the last issue, and consider subscribing (it’s free).

That Took 5 Years, But It’s Done (For Now)

Over the past 5 years, I’ve been living with with my latest novel. Originally conceived as a social satire about two robots who accidentally bring about the downfall of mankind, it has grown and evolved in ways I couldn’t predict.

In the past 5 years, I started a new job, got married, took on more household chores as my wife completed both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work while working full time, purchased a house, and grappled with a lack of direction with my own existence. Through all of that, the book and these characters strapped themselves in for the ride. What started as a social satire evolved into a tale about a mid-level robot disillusioned with his lot in life. He feels useless, rudderless, and unimportant, grappling with the idea that the world would exist just fine with or without him.

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We’ve Come a Long Way – New Short Story

Hey friends,

I’ve got a new scifi short story up as of yesterday. It’s one I’ve been sitting on for about a year or so. I’m proud of it, and I hope you enjoy it.

It’s called “We’ve Come a Long Way,” and you can find it here. The story was born out of disillusionment at what we call progress, at how we, as a species, seem to run away from our problems, and in turn, bring our problems, our diseases of the mind and body, with us.

Thank you, as always, for reading my work. I appreciate it. I appreciate every single one of you who takes time out of your busy day to catch up on what little old me is doing.

Also, let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks again!

The Dream

It’s been two months too long since my past post. This isn’t a unique statement, but the pandemic caused me to bunker down a bit more than usual. Work picked up, and I ended up spending more hours at the day job (working from home, of course) because ad rates were low and the revenue return was good. This led to a chain reaction of tiring myself out, which was fueled by how little sleep I allowed myself night after night. As a result, I fell into a funk (and not the good kind).

When overtired and without sleep, my mind goes to dark places. I bear the weight of my role within society. That is to say, when I’m tired, I’m suddenly aware of how inconsequential I am to the world at large. But I’ve been writing my way out of it. After a week or two of wallowing, I threw my feelings in my robot character that I’ve been working and retooling over the past three or four years. I’ve introduced him before. His name is Rocket, and he is a machine cog in a human world. You can read more about him here.

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A Year With Cinema: Tracking My Favorite Time Vampire

A little over a year ago, I decided that the best way to wean myself off of buying movies was to list them. It was a perfect way to feed that need to habitually collect without doling out cash for things that would otherwise sit on a shelf and gather dust.

Physical media is archaic, I know, but when you grow up dreaming about a Rex Harrison-sized library, you can’t help it. 

Rex Harrison-Sized Library

It’s even more glorious than this picture lets on

I started a list on April 29, 2017. The rules were simple. I’d add every movie I actively watched 30 minutes or more of into the list, note the year it came out, and go on my way. Unlike my personal writing, I was actually regimented and consistent with updating this movie list, too.

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