So far, 2025 has seen two new plays find publication, and I’m gunning for a third as I type this. I’ve also been casting around for an agent, so far without success, although my queries often draw compliments and what I hope are not merely form letter regrets. Perhaps I’ll be the next Norman Maclean, commercially successful at last in his seventies with A River Runs Through It.
Not that I know much about fly fishing.
Perhaps it’s time to learn?
Vinyl Wonderland continues to make new friends. The recent review in Oberlin Magazine finished with these words: “The supernatural premise adds intrigue and leads to plenty of surprising plot twists but never overwhelms the novel’s main theme: exploring the emotional highs and lows of being human and trying to pick up the pieces after your life falls apart. Vinyl Wonderland is an affecting, thought-provoking read that lingers after you’re done reading.” – Annie Zaleski.
My two new plays are Techies and The Wizard Delivers (and Pinky Stays the Course), both of which have enjoyed productions previously, but now have a print and licensing home at last through Gitelman & Good Publishing, which I’m very pleased about. You can read both plays at the G&G site HERE.
Meanwhile, I’m shopping a Midwestern Gothic and a comic second-world Space Opera. Do I stay in my lane? No. Are feral pigs dangerous? Yes. Do planets burp? No––except in the particular universe of Beethoven’s Fifth (No, Not That One, the Other One).
I’m also recently back from an adventure that took me and my family to the Czech Republic, Poland, and Austria. No package tour this: we ventured onto local trains and buses and got ourselves thoroughly out of our comfort zone more than once. But, now I can say that I don’t speak Czech in Czech, while simultaneously (and politely) asking for the check. Pun intended.
So, on I go, trying to make a dent in a political landscape gone mad, all while tending the garden (native plantings = healthy pollinators) and getting my work done. Have I got four chapters of a whole new novel-length project up and running? Oh, my, yes.
To check out Rich Horton’s very positive review of Vinyl Wonderland, click HERE. (Some spoilers contained; the final paragraph or so is what matters assessment-wise.)
To explore some pre-release positive press on Vinyl Wonderland, click HERE.
And finally, if you’re looking for a short piece of contemporary fantasy, maybe check out my story, “True Songs of the Pennyrile,” from Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet. Click HERE for a link to a highly positive review from Paula Guran, with a link from there back to LCRW in case you want to purchase. It took me about a decade to place this piece (submissions are so slow!), and while I love all my story-children equally, this does stand as one of my personal favorites.
Onward.