2021 Smells Like Sex to Me
New Year, New Fascinations | Ghost River Born in Barbed Wire Edition Available for Order | MOAR Cowbell, I Mean Video | Stuff I Like - Episode Zero, Poems for Trees, Dark Goddesses, and more!
New Year, New Fascinations
I normally disappear this time of year, but 2020 feels like a year for defying your expectations at every turn. Besides, my coping mechanism has always been to create harder when things are uncertain or scary.
Ever since I was a boy, hiding from my father underneath the stairs, I’ve retreated to whatever quiet spaces I could find to make sense of the world around me. There, with my imagination, I waited for the storm to pass.
Sure, the storm isn’t over with a new year, but I feel a transition in progress. Personally. Spiritually. Artistically, as well.
Personally, I need to shrug off the bad habits of quarantine. Find a new routine that inspires mental and physical health. Clean up my diet. Drink less. You know.
Spiritually, I need to peel off the nihilism and cynicism I wrapped myself in to cope with a nihilistic and cynical worldview that we elected to make us great again. This submission to a living nightmare was the lifeblood in the heart of Ghost River.
Artistically, I want to tackle mature and diverse subjects - taboo - kinky, the kind of sexual energy that drives people to either create or destroy themselves in pursuit of. Meaningless in the end, but everything in the duration.
I want to dig further into the muddy depths of the human condition and explore the red hot attraction to those things we both fear and want to fuck. There’s a specific energy I’m looking for, and its animalistic in nature. I feel it all of the time.
We all do.
In marketing.
On social media.
In our own veins when we see something we want to dominate or become submissive to. What does any of it mean?
I don’t know yet, but in 2021 I intend to find out.
Allow me a moment of personal privilege, if you would.
I’d like to thank everybody who supported, took a chance with, and explored Ghost River this year. I’m humbled by the response to Ghost River and by those who dared to see the love that hides beneath the rust and the bloody sand there.
I wrote a challenging work and am grateful for those who wanted that kind of an experience, horrific as it was.
As I prepare to embark on my next creative endeavor, I sincerely hope you’ll come along with me for the ride. My hope is that we all have a reinvigorating New Year together. That we heal in heart, mind, and body.
I’ll try not to let you fall apart, but if you do, I’ll be here to hold your pieces.
-Chad
Ghost River Born in Barbed-Wire Edition
Order Your Copy! Limited Release.
The ultimate Edition of Ghost River, signed and numbered by me is now available for order directly from Lost Boys Press. I’ve long been fascinated with hardcovers, but with printing and distribution hurdles and costs, they’re hardly economical, so I wanted to make a special one for collectors and hardcore fans.
This edition includes:
a custom-designed dust jacket featuring original cover art by Micah Chaim Thomas, full author photo, and extra goodies on the dust jack flaps
the art on the hardcover boards is done by me, and the Born Barbed Wire Edition of Ghost River includes no content warning (as intended). Instead a “Salvation is Suffering” signature page, where I’ve signed and numbered each book.
To see all of the goodies and pictures, visit the Lost Boys Press Bookstore.
Please note, you can order this edition until the end of February 2021 and then orders will be closed. Besides some copies I decide to vault for myself, it will not be available again to the public and definitely not at this price.
MOAR Cowbell, I Mean Video
So, I’m trying to incorporate more video communication in my world. I’m typically a shy, introvert but online marketing demands a visual, engaging presence, and I love to talk about the stuff that interests me. So, going forward, I will be doing much more video and FINALLY use my WritingisWar YouTube Channel to host it.
Follow me there, if you’d like:
I’ll be doing readings, musings, reviews, offering tips and insight into my creative process and even convert my newsletter, Broken Window, into a video release.
Want a taste? I just recorded a 30 minute reading of the first chapter of Ghost River, so check it out for A VERY socially-distant author reading!
Stuff I Like
Signed Paperback Copies of Ghost River and Map to the Stars (Lost Boys Press Titles) are available for sale in the bookstore. These are the retail versions.
Episode Zero - A new, free form podcast presented by Micah Chaim Thomas. I was luckily enough to guest on the first episode. Wild times.
The Witching Tree - a book of poetry about trees benefitting the Eden Reforestation Project. I know all of these talented poets and they are the best of the best. Do support this project and help plant more trees.
The Rise of the Dark Goddess - A dreadful collection of poetry that dances the fine line of horror and romance. From the macabre mind of gothic horror author, Cassandra L. Thompson.
Ghost River Featured Review: Zev Good
Here is where I share my favorite reviews of my own work. I get particularly giddy when writers I admire like my work too. Zev Good is one of them.
Check out Zev Good, and his amazing literary finesse here.
Thanks for your support
As always, I am grateful for your friendship and support. When you buy books and art from indies you help build dreams (like mine).
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