|
Halloween is now cold and buried as the promise of Christmas looms on the horizon, blinking brightly with green and red hues growing ever closer.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a pretty long November, and with that comes plenty of updates to share in this month’s issue of The Recap—from debating potential story names and sharing this new short story with my beta readers, to developing marketing materials and getting prepped for the release alongside a condensed holiday-themed marketing blitz.
Don’t worry, I’ll be sharing a few exclusives in this issue before I upload them to social media, giving you those juicy, exclusive looks that you only get as a Recap subscriber!
Alongside a plethora of writing news, there’s been a few things going on AFK for me as the weather gets ever colder and I ready myself for Christmas—and the extortionate cost that entails. The past few weeks have seen me revisiting old stomping grounds whilst wrestling with a pretty major change as we start to stride towards the end of the year of our lord 2025.
So, what are we waiting for? Grab a hot drink to stave off that chill (or beverage of your choice, natch), settle in, and let’s catch up, man! |
|
|
What’s in a Name?
If you’ve been reading The Recap for a while, you’ll know I’ve been diligently working on a Steen short story. Not only that, but one that takes place at Christmas. From drafting it during a heatwave in London to losing my notebook and finally writing the thing from its skeletal beats, one thing had somewhat eluded me throughout: what to call the damn thing!
I struggled with what I wanted tonally. It’s a sombre, lonely depiction of a person struggling at Christmas—sadly, an all too common occurrence—and so I didn’t want to detract from the seriousness of that issue.
That being said, one of the first titles that really resonated with me, although fitting, could perhaps have been too dark. That title would have been Concrete Halo—a perfect name for a dark, brooding, almost noir-esque tale of a depressed, isolated demon hunter during the holidays. It fit, was thematically strong, and would click when you’d read the entire story and understood where Steen ends up.
But was it too dark?
Perhaps.
But I quite liked that.
However, in an effort to get a list of potential titles, I brainstormed several alternatives whilst adhering to one specific rule: I didn’t want anything too cute. A little cute is fine. But not overly cute or saccharine.
Eventually, I whittled down the ideas to a very short list that still included Concrete Halo before ultimately settling on something both a little twee whilst staying in keeping with Steen and that world’s overall tone…and so, with that said, I’m stoked to reveal that the name of this festive story is:
Hark! The Fallen Angels Scream
Who knows, Concrete Halo may appear in some form in the future…but for right now, H!TFAS felt like the more organic fit for Steen, his world, and the version of London he inhabits, demons and all.
Cover Love
But a name isn’t enough, right? You need a cover to go along with it! And, although this particular story isn’t going to be uploaded to Amazon—and will, instead, be free to subscribers of this very newsletter!—I didn’t necessarily want it to go without (after all, if you think back to my Temporary parallel event short story, Shell, that had an amazing cover).
So I decided two things:
- I would try to design it myself
- I would try a new Photoshop alternative to do it
Back in the day, I designed the cover to my lockdown horror short story, I Must Scream On Deaf Ears. Because of its pandemic roots, I made the creative decision to subvert the COVID-19 posters the UK government had created at the time. This meant I could somewhat easily turn an existing poster into a unique cover for my little pandemic horror short story (which is available here if you’ve never read it).
This task would be a little different.
I’m by no means a graphic design expert, and am far from one of those “graphic design is my passion” folks—but I’ve got a pretty good eye and usually have a few decent ideas worth exploring, even if my technical know-how doesn’t always allow me to realise my vision every time.
With this project, however, I wanted to do my best and try to create as professional a cover as I could with my somewhat limited means and (basic) knowledge, which brings me on to the second point…
All my previous marketing materials, from IMSODE to Burden, were produced using an old version of Photoshop that currently chugs along with some difficulty on my 10-year-old iMac. So I decided to try and utilise my laptop instead—not because I needed to, but, frankly, to see if I could.
And so I found myself downloading a copy of Affinity, an app that (I discovered after the fact) has existed as a Photoshop alternative for quite a while. One that was recently purchased by Canva. One that was recently purchased by Canva and boldly made completely free with the longterm promise that it will always be free.
With all those factors in play, I was eager to give it a go and see if it was the alternative it claimed to be. I’ve tried others in the past in my attempts to update and move away from my ancient version of Photoshop, all to no avail.
Until now.
Because Affinity is fucking amazing, man.
And free.
Not only that, but apparently free—as the nWo would put it—4 life*.
And, with a little bit of playing and getting to grips with Affinity, I was able to utilise my decades-worth of partial Photoshop knowledge to create something that is, in my opinion, pretty freakin’ cool: a cover that I hope not only captures the tone of Christmas and the holidays, but also manages to convey the sense of a man, isolated and alone during a time that encourages togetherness at every turn.
So, as an added exclusive bonus, you’re not only getting the name of the short story, you’re getting the cover, too!
I hope you like it.
*Apparently.
You Beta Know
Alongside the title quandary, getting to grips with new photo design apps, and creating a whole-ass cover for this short story, I’ve also sent H!TFAS to a few of my beta readers for their notes, thoughts, and opinions.
Now, with the story clocking in at approximately 9k words, it’s pretty short in comparison to a typical manuscript. It is, after all, a short story. So I’m curious to know what insights they come back with and how I can implement them into a final rewrite before the story goes live.
Oh, on that note, be sure to keep an eye on my social media (@stevetendo on Instagram, Twitter, and Bluesky) as I’ll be announcing the release date in early December.
November Numbers
The final Write Steve Write update for this issue is another positive I want to share with you: Steen did great numbers in the run-up to Halloween!
I guess actually putting my money where my mouth is paid off somewhat.
Unsurprisingly, people were obviously on the lookout for a horror read during spooky season, and my demonic thriller seemed to fit the bill, given the number of orders and KU reads throughout October…that extended into November!
Yes, despite Halloween’s end, Steen proved readers are still interested in our favourite Canadian demon hunter even past spooky season, as the book has continued to have decent traction on Kindle Unlimited throughout the month.
If you happen to be one of those readers who has since signed up to my newsletter, thank you so much for checking it out! And thanks again for being a Recap reader! That kind of support really helps motivate me to continue chasing this wild indie dream of mine, and I love communicating with you all and hearing back through social media or replies to the newsletter itself.
And, believe it or not, as a multi-genre, punk rock author, there are more Steve Russell stories to enjoy beyond Steen, which you can check out here.
If you like superheroes, you’ve got my Ultraverse series (with the sequel in the final throes of editing as we speak). And if you are a fan of slightly bleaker narratives (think The Road or The Last of Us…just…minus the infected/virus element) you could always check out my post-societal novel set in a collapsed England, Burden.
No problem if those don’t sound like they’re for you, but I’d really appreciate it if you could recommend them to the people in your life who are fans of those genres!
|
|
|
Stomping Grounds
I recently returned to my old SE London stomping grounds to visit my parents. Whilst there, I was able to make plans with one of my oldest friends, who subsequently sent out a rallying call to see if anybody else from the ol’ gang was around to meet up for a drink or two.
It made my heart glad to see so many people turn up on a cold Saturday night for a drink and a catch-up as my parents babysat Austin.
Now, although my old friends all still see each other regularly, I have become the friend who ended up drifting away from the group over the years. Not on purpose or design, just…life taking us all in a different direction, I suppose. It would have been easy to lose all contact with them, especially once I moved away from SE London, but I’m so glad that I’ve maintained an open line with a few of them—and one specific friend in particular. He’s always been a major connective glue of the group, and so, because of him, I was able to see so many old faces, reconnect, and catch up as though no time had passed whilst being fully aware of just how much life had been lived in those intervening years.
Friends within the group began dating and got married. Thea and I had a son who is now five. Life marches steadily onwards and days become weeks become months become years…but on that Saturday night, we were all connected again, if only for a few wonderful hours. We even closed out the pub (something Thea had apparently never done before!) and enjoyed a drunken stumble back to my parents’ house—a true anchor point in my life since moving to the United Kingdom.
That house, located on London’s doorstep, allowed me to go to so many gigs, wrestling shows, writing and filmmaking events in and across London, helping me discover who I was during my formative years.
Through it all, there’s always been that house in south east London. The house that made me a Londoner in the first place, all those years ago.
It’s good to know some things in life never change.
Until they do…
A Life in Boxes
It’s an odd thing returning to your old hometown, your childhood home (at least since moving to England), knowing that things are on the precipice of change.
You see, my parents are moving away from the area they’ve called home in SE London for the past 26 years to be closer to my sister in Wales. They will no longer be Londoners, and will instead become…Welshy Welshes. Oh, wait, Welshmen. That’s it, I think. Yeah, Welshmen. Welshers?
All kidding aside, the area they will soon be calling home is truly lovely, and it’s great that they’ll now be in such close proximity to my sister and her family—but there’s such a tangible end in all of this that’s hard not to dwell on.
Seeing my old friends (and having such a wonderful turnout) only highlighted how important that area was and those people were to my formative years, and now, soon enough, that entire area will no longer be one I frequent, as there will be no immediate need to. No more holidays or Christmases or birthdays that might have brought us back to London to stay a few days. Doing that will soon require a trek across the country and a longer stay to justify the journey!
But the core reason behind the visit (besides seeing my folks, naturally) was to start removing my old boxes from the attic (filled with comic books and video games. You know, all the awesome stuff) and packing down hangovers that were still in my old bedroom despite my moving out forever ago (DVDs, other video games, etc), scouring myself from the room to allow them to then break down their lives into boxes and leave the house ready for whatever comes next.
Antiques and heirlooms, some more than 30+ years old are being given away, donated, and sold as their new, downsized property can’t facilitate the sheer amount of stuff a lifetime in London accumulates, and so I found myself not only packing my belongings, reminiscing on every little thing as I did, but also saying little farewells to objects, ornaments, and other items that have somehow always been in my life in the background, watching me grow, learn, fail, dream, and succeed. Things that sailed the seas when we moved to the United Kingdom to still be with our family that will now just…not be. And who knows where they’ll end up. So yeah…as stoked as I am for my parents to be embarking on this new journey and next chapter, it’s been an introspective month.
A life packed into boxes only has so much space, after all, and the things left behind are imbued with stories no one else knows. |
|
|
Better Days, Yellowcard
The past few months have seen some of my favourite bands release new albums. The Starting Line, Motion City Soundtrack, and Yellowcard have all dropped new music, so I’ve been well and truly spoiled by this fantastic resurgence of old-school pop punk bands finding their second (third?) wind as they reinvent and rejuvenate their sound. It’s been amazing to see these now-elder statesmen in the pop punk scene come back and showcase that this genre no longer has to be so strictly contained and defined by girls, friends, and lost romance.
These bands, like blink-182 with One More Time…, have actively shown that, instead of trying to hold onto past glories by rehashing a working formula, they would rather push themselves musically and write about things that affect them now, capturing introspective lessons only 20 more years of lived life can provide: loss, growth, change, and everything in between. It’s no longer just about writing songs about/for girls—it’s about reflecting on how life has turned out, the failed expectations one perhaps didn’t manage to meet, and what it means to be a good person and parent who wants to sing about how much they love their kids.
And so, with that out of the way, this month’s recommendation is Yellowcard’s Better Days. A fantastic, no-skip album that really took me by surprise and has refused to let go. By all means, check out the others from TSL and MCS, as both are great for their own reasons, but out of the recent spate of elder pop punk returns, it’s this one that truly captured me.
There are still prevalent themes of growing up, loss, regret, and accountability, but the timeline and experiences have shifted. These songs are no longer about growing up as a teenager, feeling hard done by because of parental rule, desperate to escape your hometown or scream at the top of your lungs that you love somebody, as only a headstrong teenager is wont to do. Instead, these songs are about wanting to develop as a person, to accept change and growth, and to embrace adulthood without necessarily losing the sense of who you were during those halcyon teenage days.
Better Days also ends with a track titled “Big Blue Eyes” that is an ode to singer Ryan Key’s son, who just so happens to have big blue eyes, just as my son does. So, yeah…
Standout Tracks
Better Days
Love Letters Lost (feat. Matt Skiba)
honestly i
Bedroom Posters
Skin Scraped
Big Blue Eyes
|
|
|
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, and all the best! |
|
|
