Work begins on my first 2017 release... shortly. I have the somewhat 'large' event - Tattoo Jam - to attend to from Friday to Monday, so even with the best of intentions, I know I'm not going to get anything done between now and the end of that. It would be foolish to even try, so best forget all about it in the physical world. In the mental/spiritual world however, it will still be going on... what to do, how to do it - those kinds of things.
I’m going to release The Family Of Noise in early October - which is not so far away, six weeks or so in fact, which will give me some time to mock up proofs for checking over as well. Being as it’s finished and has been sitting here for the best part of a year, I figure it needs sending out into the wild to fend for itself. I decided a long time ago that what happens to it then is not up to me. It’s up to those who read it and love it enough to tell others about it to give it life or, if they hate it, to grind it into the dust and kick it into touch.
My job is to send it out to school in the correct uniform with a packed lunch, make sure it has a few friends to prop it up in the early days and have a snack ready for it when it gets home.
It will be released as a numbered limited edition hardback run of 100 (which will only be available directly from Bad Hare right here) as a softback (also available here but also available to order on amazon and from bookstores if you so wish) and then, soon after, across all digital platforms to suit whatever e-device you happen to be wielding. I'll post details and links as soon as I cement them into the floor.
Maybe that hardback variant will also have some bonus material - I’d like that a lot and hopefully, so will anybody who picks it up.
So that's a plan, right? It feels good to get moving again. Meanwhile, in the gaps of all that and the magazine, I've been hitting the guitar hard. It's the best use of my time whenever the pen gets too heavy because no matter how much you improve, there will always be somebody who can whup your ass into a small suitcase.
Meanwhile, out in the world that's not mine, my buddy Sean Herman mailed over some of his zines - which are great - from Serpent's of Bienville out in Mobile, Alabama:
It's kind of hard to explain what they do over at Serpent's - it may be easier to describe what they don't do! The one thing I do know is if ever you're down that way, you should go check out the place. The man even sent me a preserved alligator paw in the mail.
(That's right... if you cast your mind back, I was writing a column for them called Beautiful Creatures. Now look down to the floor and you will see all of the balls I dropped on that front. I must get back on top of that because I'm starting to feel bad about it.)