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It’s a little late, given that The Recap drops at the end of each month, but Merry Christmas! I hope you all had an amazing time with your friends and/or family and that you have an awesome New Year’s to boot. You’ll be getting this issue on NYE, so that greeting comes in just before the buzzer!
Either which way, I hope you’ve had a great holiday season and are rightfully celebrating the end of one year in your preferred style as we prepare for the next.
This issue of The Recap will be a little different compared to other versions as I’ll be looking back a bit on the year’s accomplishments and misses—reflecting, reminiscing, ruminating, and…um…revelling in them all, whilst also keeping a casual eye on what’s to come in 2026.
So, with that said, as always, grab yourself a cup of cheer and let’s go! |
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That Was the Year That Was
There was plenty to celebrate this year, but, as is so often the case, it wasn’t until the end of the 365, on the cusp of collective global celebrations and united reflections, that I also turned to look at the path travelled to appreciate the distance covered, pitfalls stumbled over, and obstacles overcome.
From post-societal survivalism and a horror short set within a supernatural art gallery, to enjoying some belated marketing success and eventually developing every aspect of Hark! The Fallen Angels Scream, there’s been plenty to celebrate in 2025—all of which I shared with you every month in The Recap!
Burdensome
Burden came out in May 2025 and, although it failed to connect with an audience in the way I had hoped, I’m still very proud of this novel.
It’s an obvious departure from Steen and my Ultraverse series, with the subject matter and atmosphere being much darker and bleaker than either of those series (and Steen isn’t exactly chipper), leaning into a hopelessness akin to The Road and The Last of Us, both of which were thematic and atmospheric influences.
I knew certain readers would struggle to connect with the book because of these creative choices. Not everybody wants to read something that will challenge them whilst also making them feel bad, after all. But those who did connect seemed to have enjoyed it immensely, and I’m grateful for that.
Burden was an emotional challenge to write, a fact I shared in my interview earlier this year with Fanbase Press. It is a harsh, difficult world to immerse oneself in. That being said, if you enjoy stories that feature challenging characters and complex shades of morality, there’s plenty to sink your teeth into if you haven’t read it. It also features a fucking awesome cover, if I do say so myself. For real, my cover designer really knocked it out of the park.
Regardless, I’m glad I pushed through with Burden. The story currently works as a standalone of sorts, though, I must admit, I do have ideas and loose plans about how to expand and grow that world and its story. Whether they’ll ever see the light of day is another matter entirely, however.
Opening Night
Earlier this year I was asked to provide a short story for Your Paper Quest, the indie book subscription service that provides themed boxes every month to its subscribers.
Steen was part of its October ’24 box, and I was thrilled to accept the challenge of writing an original story for an anthology. The premise was simple: each author received a word count and a collective thematic idea; within those two elements, we were free to explore any idea or story we wanted. So I wrote a horror tale called Opening Night.
I’m excited for YPQ subscribers to eventually get their hands on this anthology, and I hope they enjoy meeting Leon as he struggles to comprehend the madness of the gallery he finds himself trapped within.
Marketing (Money Where My Mouth Is)
This year saw me share my fears in marketing my work—specifically in the ‘but it costs a lot of money’ department. Because, well, it does. And for an indie author that doesn’t have Big Trad behind him, investing that kind of moolah is a big commitment, especially when it could be funnelled into, say, cover design or editing, etc.
But, as the old adage famously goes, you have to spend money to make money. Right?
Well, turns out there’s some truth to that.
You see, being indie anything is a hard ol’ business.
Being an indie author, indie musician, indie filmmaker, indie whatever tends to mean one thing: you don’t have corporate backing in helping people find your ‘thing’.
You know…the ‘thing’ you slaved away at, believed in, and poured your heart and soul into. The ‘thing’ that potentially exists right now but isn’t gaining much traction or attention because of all the other ‘things’ released every single day competing for attention, many of which may have dedicated budgets to ensure eyes fall onto their ‘thing’ and not your ‘thing’.
And so marketing becomes a necessity for the struggling indie creator, regardless of industry and creation.
I finally budgeted some money and put my money where my mouth is a few months ago in the run-up to Halloween, and saw the difference almost straight away.
Not immediately, mind.
No, the Algorithm Gods still needed to do their adjusting and deciding on whether the keywords used, etc, were to their liking before pushing the ads to the right people. But…ultimately…playing the game meant a chance of connecting with the correct, organic audience. Not doing anything can only ever lead to one outcome, unless a person is particularly savvy or perpetually online with a social media presence.
So this year saw me put some money aside, investing in Meta ads and, although I didn’t exactly break even, there was a definite uptick in traction and sales for Steen, both with books sold and pages read via Kindle Unlimited.
I won’t be retiring off those earnings, but it’s good to know the money wasn’t frittered away as was my fear, and, hopefully, acts as a long-term investment where those readers enjoy Steen and come back, whether that’s for more Steen or my other stories.
Steen Success and Brick & Mortar
What surprised me the most this year, however, wasn’t necessarily the correlated uptick of ‘money spent + advertising = $teen sales’ formula, but the fact that Steen did relatively well throughout the year. Lowkey sales here and there, a bump and spike in reads, etc.
To ignore the marketing push for a moment, Steen remained my most consistent story of 2025, connecting with readers and finding new fans throughout the year, mostly through Kindle Unlimited. Some read the whole thing in a day, others spread it out over a few weeks, and some, I’m sure, didn’t make it through as it ultimately wasn’t for them, which is fair enough. But the continued simmering success of Steen has been both pleasant and reassuring.
On top of that, my books were also stocked in a brick and mortar store (Lighthouse Comics) and, after an extensive wait time, finally became available within my local library! Both of these are massive personal achievements that I still can't quite believe.
There’s plenty to look forward to going into 2026 and beyond, and Steen is going to be a major component of that growth, starting with a brand new short story…
(Oh, I’m getting good at this segueing stuff…)
Hark! Hark, I Say!
If you’ve been reading The Recap for a while, you’ll know that the whole process of creating Hark! The Fallen Angels Scream began in the summer, during a London heatwave no less, which feels a million years ago compared to the cold I am currently doing my best to stave off as I write this.
From plotting out the story beats in a London pub, listening to Christmas music at a, quite frankly, inappropriate time of year, to making the switch to Affinity, designing the cover from beginning to end myself, and creating marketing materials to help promote the short (as I do with all my stories), the creation of H!TFAS feels both incredibly long and, yet, seemed to happen in no time at all.
It’s all very timey-wimey, but I’m grateful to Past Steve for preparing enough track and leeway for what was, ultimately, a comfortable Christmas Eve launch.
A prequel story to Steen, I’m genuinely stoked with how Hark! turned out, from the story to its cover. The creation process of the short was probably longer than the writing of the story itself, mostly due to all that pre-planning. I am, after all, a massive plotter in how I approach narrative and writing, and with my beats and skeletal frame in place—coupled with massive amounts of overthinking and wallowing in the story for months—the story simply flowed out when it came time to actually write it.
I sincerely hope you enjoyed it.
Last Reflections
So, yeah, 2025…a year with releases, growth, learns, and a few stumbles.
True, not all of it hit or connected how I would have liked, but it doesn’t change the accumulated accomplishments along the way—even if I’m not particularly good at seeing them for what they are in the moment.
I’ve learned that in order to grow my audience, marketing needs to become a more serious, consistent factor compared to, say, releasing it and just hoping people find it. ‘Cause, turns out, pushing something out there into the chaos and hoping people find it on their own isn’t really a thing. Who knew?
To be candid, the internet is so oversaturated in every conceivable way it sometimes feels impossible to the point of wondering why it’s worth even bothering. But, and I genuinely believe this, if enough people adopted that attitude, there wouldn’t be any new books, music, movies, or video games to experience, as the creative people needed—those dreamers who grow up wanting to make them—would eventually stop existing.
‘Why bother?’ has become such a prevalent online argument in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds this year.
Being able to stand out and be discovered in the first place is an age-old challenge—a potentially costly one at that as already discussed—and with the looming threat of constantly improving AI and people’s willingness to use it, it’s a hard time to write and create…let alone dream of somehow leveraging that ambition into something sustainable, especially in a world that is becoming more and more resistant to reading.
Still, if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s persevering.
In 2025, I’ve embraced new techniques and programs, made adjustments, pivoted, put my money where my mouth is, and have made progress…even if it didn’t exactly feel like it at first blush.
I’ve shared stories I’m proud of, and, as in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, am willing to embrace loss as a lesson, wherein I can apply all that I have learned for the next round. And then again. And then again. Because, despite the odds, the obstacles, the difficulty, and concerns over AI, I am, at my core, a storyteller. It is what I am. It is what I will always be. And it is why I will always strive to share my stories.
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Captain’s Log
Sitting down to write this month’s issue gave me pause as I considered what The Recap has provided me over the past 12 months.
Time, as always, is the rarest and most important of commodities, and there have been moments when I’ve grappled with the idea that the juice simply hasn't been worth the squeeze.
The Recap still acts as a direct catch-up, sharing the latest news and updates on my writing process and progress, as well as some cool life updates, etc. That’s remained true since I rebranded the newsletter. But, beyond that, it also acts as a journaling method, allowing me to collate, collect, and consider my journey month after month.
I’ve previously thought the newsletter could be a cool diary of sorts for my son when he’s older, if he ever wanted to delve into my creative process. A time capsule, of sorts. But, reframing the point on a more personal (and somewhat selfish) level, The Recap frankly has to give me something of worth and merit, too.
Turning this process into an exercise on reflection, journaling my progress, flips the script somewhat, if only because it changes the inherent purpose. I can look back, celebrate, and/or admonish myself. It helps me hold myself accountable, giving me a forced moment of pause that feeds into how I plan the next month so it can be more productive or creative or marketing focused, etc, etc.
Mindfulness, awareness, and accountability…that’s what The Recap gives to me in spades, and I hope you still enjoy keeping up to date with my behind-the-scenes updates as much as I like sharing them.
Upon the Mountaintop
Unsurprisingly, December has been primarily taken up with Christmas preparations, though there was one major personal update I want to share with you: After a 10+ year journey on the mats, I was awarded my BJJ black belt on December 10th, 2025.
I wrote about the experience on my Instagram, attempting to condense the experience into the character limit allowed, so, as you can imagine, it doesn’t quite cover the full scope, but I did my best.
I share this news now with a tweaked back (something that has been hurting for about three weeks and, yes, was triggered when I got my black belt) and the knowledge that through the ups, downs, injuries, successes, and failures, I remain incredibly proud of this particular accomplishment. I don’t usually have a lot of things to celebrate…but this was a huge personal milestone that I’d always hoped to one day reach, and I’m glad to be able to share it with you.
My love for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has weathered time and a goddamned pandemic—one that saw me avoid the mats for 19 months out of COVID fears. You see, with a newborn at home at the time, I didn’t want to risk anything that could make him sick. Past that, I had concerns about returning but was blessed to have a supportive team and gym that assisted my comeback. Without them, I probably wouldn’t have continued at all, let alone eventually been promoted to black belt.
I just wanted to thank everyone who’s been a part of my journey up to this point. Winning, losing…it ultimately doesn’t matter as long as training made me better by the end of class. I mentioned this in the IG post, but I am fully aware that the top of one mountain is often the bottom of the next, and so I find myself having scaled a nigh impossible challenge, knowing full well that another lies ahead. And that’s cool. I’m still basking in the relative afterglow of the promotion, but am eager to eventually take that next step—the first of what will be the next chapter of my BJJ journey. |
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Cyberpunk 2077
This game came out back in 2020, but I’ve only just gotten around to playing it for two reasons:
- I know CD Projekt Red worked hard to improve it compared to the nightmarish clusterfuck that was first released
- I wanted to see what the neon-coloured world of Night City would look like on my OLED
Part of this year’s ‘family’ Christmas gift to ourselves was a beautiful new OLED TV after our old (non-OLED) television developed issues a few months ago. I managed to snipe an amazing deal via Richer Sounds and really wanted to test the colours and screen quality out the gate with a game that’s universally known for its graphical fidelity and amazing lighting…and so Cyberpunk 2077 took over my life for a while.
I’m not a huge FPS gamer but still found plenty to like in this game, particularly in its RPG elements allowing a player to customise their V however they see fit—down to, it turns out, their private parts! That was a surprise.
The world is sprawling, the side quests engaging (which I don’t typically find to be true in long, open-world games), and although I have some thoughts and criticisms on the main narrative overall and Cyberpunk’s lack of conclusiveness, I still thoroughly enjoyed my time with the game, exploring the nooks, crannies, cultures, and sprawling, layered world of CD Projekt Red’s refined game. It took me a while to get into it, but once I ‘got’ it, I was locked in and had a great time up until the very end.
And, man, it looked gorgeous.
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UNTIL NEXT TIME
If you’re enjoying my books or The Recap, I’d love it if you'd recommend them to friends and family who might enjoy them too. Don't forget you can follow along on my socials for updates, and if you’d like to, you can even treat me to a cup of coffee on Ko-Fi.
Take care, all the best, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! |
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