The Pixelvania Publishing Proclamation o’ Progress is a semiannual post detailing what’s going on around here, and what might show up in the future. It also includes reviews of shows, books, games, products, etc. you may also like. It’s only posted twice a year so as not to clog up your valuable, beautiful brain space.
Cute kitty photo at the end.
Recap
Here’s what’s been published since the last post:
- Steel City, Veiled Kingdom PAPERBACK editions! WHOOOO! Big thanks to Colleen over at Ampersand Bookery for making them look STONKING AMAZING.
- My story The Witching License joined the Here Be More Magic Bundle.
Coming Soon
Chrystine’s Sleep Solution
This BRAND NEW freaky midlength horror story is well on its way! Ebook formatting is complete and the paperback is in production. I’m aiming to release it September 2021, October at the latest. Since you’re reading this, here’s a couple early-access goodies:
Read an excerpt from CHRYSTINE’S SLEEP SOLUTION
Get emailed when CHRYSTINE is released
Currently in Production
The Guests of Crooked Neck
Formerly titled The Bad Host, this (vastly shorter) followup novel to Steel City, Veiled Kingdom has been a ton of fun to work on. It might be the most complicated book I’ve written to date! Wheee! The story’s done; now it’s in the proofing stages. Then comes the cover and the paperback formatting.
Future Plans (AKA Plotting and Scheming)
After Crooked Neck, there’s another kitty horror story I want to write as a break. Then I’d like to get the second Magic Fashion Frenchies (Salute a Pooch!) book written. After that, I’ll probably pop on back to the nosferatu novel(s).
While all this is going on, I have a backlog of production tasks I’d like to finish. Getting my final two backlist books into paperback is one of them—The Purrfect Christmas’ illustrated paperback stalled last year, along with releasing Love Potion Commotion! in paperback with a new cover.
Bad Tidings from Queen Sophie, another kitty horror story I mentioned last year, is also making rounds at the magazines. It’s very short, so I hope it will find a home soon!
Everything else is sort of on pause for now, but they’re not forgotten! (Just listed in my planner, lol.)
Recommended Reads, Watches, and Products
The Heist, by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg
First in the Fox and O’Hare series, this hardcover was loaned to me by a friend. BOY was it a fun read! Very light, but very entertaining ensemble adventure-comedy—think of a show like NCIS in its prime or even an episode of Lupin the Third (more on him later. tl;dr when I read Nick I hear Lupin), but in book form. Books 2-4 were just as much fun as the first. 4/5 Pixels Snackies.
Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre, by Max Brooks
Not for kids! But if you’re a Stephen King fan (or if you liked Brooks’ previous novel World War Z), you gotta read this one. I started a few chapters just to test it, then couldn’t put it down.
Devolution does what I think all great horror stories should do: it makes you think. The horror doesn’t come solely from scary sasquatches showing up, but in realizing how dependent you are on things like delivery and manufacturing, and how ignorant you are about basic survival. The first few chapters may seem a little slow for some (I thought they were fine), but they’re setting up for an absolutely knockout finale.
5/5 Pixel Snackies.
Lupin the Third, Part 4
(TV show, dubbed, watched on Amazon Prime). Lupin the Third is a long-running anime about a playful, globetrotting gentleman thief and his crew. The show plays like James Bond but with more humor and heists.
In terms of continuity Lupin is less like can’t-miss-a-season Lost and more like jump-in-anytime Scooby Doo–once you’ve seen the first 2 or 3 episodes out of any part/season, you’ll know the crew and can sit back and enjoy.
PART 4, THOUGH, has my favorite cast for Lupin (who dubbed Part 2, which is an awesome dub with pitch-perfect humor), beautiful art, and a great mix of intrigue and humor. And if you like this series, good news—there’s plenty more to enjoy in the form of previous seasons AND entire movies (try Castle of Cagliostro!).
5/5 Pixel Snackies
Going Postal
(Two-part miniseries, watched on Amazon Prime). My husband and I are both fans of Terry Pratchett novels. Last year, he discovered Amazon’s (allegedly) Pratchett-inspired series The Watch, but we couldn’t get through it…it had none of the charm or wisdom of an actual Pratchett story! So I nosed around and found an older Pratchett movie that was soooo satisfying—Going Postal. In it, a con man is finally caught and, for punishment, is forced to revamp the local post office system, which is in utter disarray.
This is a really grounded prodution of Pratchett (despite the protagonist’s parole officer being a giant stone golem) full of wit and humor and A Christmas Carol redemption vibes.
4/5 Pixel Snackies
The Kid Who Would Be King
(watched on Disney+) Ever since I first saw the trailer for this movie, I knew I wanted to watch it. After what feels like forever, I finally got to see it! And it played just like I thought it would: great clean family entertainment that’s smart, funny, and sincere. 4/5 Pixel Snackies
Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy’s Law
(series, Disney+). Like Scooby Doo!, Phineas and Ferb was another show my husband had to pull me into. (I never liked that weird triangle head, what can I say?) I’m so glad he did. Ferb is an absolute achievement of animation storytelling—they take one pattern and turn it into this beautiful hilarious quilt, episode after episode, for, like, multiple seasons and movies. It’s like watching a magician pull an entire family reunion of rabbits out of the same hat for 129 episodes.
Best of all? There’s not a mean bone in its body—it’s a good-natured show (even Buford the bully is loveable), too busy being witty to ever become cloying.
Milo Murphy’s Law comes from the same makers of Phineas and Ferb, but has a different (but equally satisfying) flavor, featuring more mayhem and oddball characters as they deal with living around Milo Murphy, who embodies Murphy’s Law: around him, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
The show stars my hero, WEIRD AL YANKOVIC (who is a national treasure!), has a great animal character in Diogee the dog, and and incredible tunes (GOING TO THE ZOO).
The more people watch it, the more likely it is we’ll get a season 3, which this show so richly deserves. 5/5 Pixel Snackies (both shows)
Party in My Pants Pads
(This recommendation is for the ladies. If you’re a gent, feel free to skip to the next reco.)
I had a falling out with my menstrual pad’s parent company mid-2021 and was looking for another product I could use. Lucky me, I stumbled upon the Party In My Pants Pads (PIMP Pads) company. They make a super high quality cloth pads that you can just machine wash and dry AND THERE ARE SQUILLIONS OF CUTE PATTERNS TO CHOOSE FROM!
I was a skeptic at first (I’d considered cloth pads in the past and thought they’d be too much hassle), but I got the free sample and realized the Made in America quality was off the chain…and that it was INCREDIBLY COMFY. (Cozy, even, which isn’t an adjective I ever DREAMED I’d apply to a period product.) Way better than my crinkly disposable pads.
I bought a few PIMP pads more to supplement transitioning out of disposables and I am GAGA for them. (Drop me a question in my contact form and I’d be happy to tell you more about the pads I specifically got.)
I was really surprised at how it changed my attitude during my period. Before I was always like “GRUMP now I have to wear my ugly dull undies for a week!” but now I’m like a five-year-old child announcing, “I’m wearing my DINOSAURS!!!” very delightedly to my (patient) husband). 5/5 Pixel Snackies.
*AFFILIATE LINK ALERT, AFFILIATE LINK ALERT* This following link’ll get you 20% off after you make your first order (try ordering one of their free liners first, and maybe one of their cute bags), and gives me a little bonus on my next order at no cost to you!
Get a discount on your first Party In My Pants order
(But I’d recommend these to any ladies curious about cloth pads even if I didn’t have an affiliate link! They’re AMAZING!)
Enso Rings
My honey and I needed replacement wedding rings, but kind of forgot about it until we saw an ad for another company’s silicone rings. Inspired, I did some research and decided Enso Rings was right for us. The business is based in Utah and they do some really creative coloring with their silicone bands.
While these rings are frugal, the quality is luxe! We got contour-style bands in the color “Poseidon” (part of their “Legends” collection) and the iridescence is just lovely, almost like I’m wearing an antique bronze ring…but it never catches or knocks on anything or gets cold!
Even the primitive camera on my caveman phone is able to capture its MAJESTY
I definitely second the recommendation that you size down if you’re unsure. Even with measuring, I wound up ordering my first band too large and lost it one day when it slipped off. I thought customer service would replace it (since it was a wrong size and they’re supposed to cover that), but they said it didn’t count…But they did give me a discount on my replacement. So customer service is there!
I got my replacement right before they discontinued the extra-thin “Halo” width in my ring style and color (which I’m peeved about), so I guess if I need a replacement, I’ll have to get a slightly wider band…but after three months, this silicone Enso ring looks as good as the day I bought it, and there’s a lifetime warranty too, I believe. So I’m recommending these for people who don’t like metal rings or who want some style with their ring safety. 5/5 Pixel Snackies.
*AFFILIATE LINK ALERT, AFFILIATE LINK ALERT* This link (I think) gets you 15% off your order and I think I get something out of it, too? Idunno! But I want you to get a discount if you try this so do that.
Get a discount on your first Enso Ring order
That ends my recommendations for now! Have you seen/read/used any of these things I mentioned? Know of a show or book I should read? Drop me a comment about it below!
Our Mascot, Pixel J. Cat
TOE BEANS!!!! Eleventy Million/5 Pixel Snackies.