It’s November, and Autumn has well and truly arrived here in Ireland. One of the joys of living rural is that I get to watch the landscape change throughout the seasons, surrounded as I am by fields and forest. The colours where I live are magical at the moment. Deep brown and orange leaves are in abundance, and crimson berries are everywhere. I love that smell of rotting leaves as well, especially when I’m out walking my dog.

Just look at how beautiful the Irish countryside is at this time of year.

What I’m Reading

As research for my latest novel, I just finished reading a very entertaining book about video games, written by a popular YouTuber who I had never heard of before now. The book is called Fuck Yeah Video Games: The Life and Extra Lives of a Professional Nerd, and is written by Daniel Hardcastle. As I said, I had never heard of this guy, but I laughed a lot reading this book, as Hardcastle is a very funny and entertaining writer. I have played plenty of video games over the years, but I wouldn’t class myself as a gamer by any means. Even still, I could relate to many of the stories the writer told in this book, and the book really helped me get into the mind of a gamer. If you are into video games, I highly recommend this book.

What I’m Watching

Right now, I’m watching Yellowstone. My wife and I love this show. It has great characters and even better drama, being very hard-hitting at times. I’m a big fan of the writer, Taylor Sheridan, who also wrote one of my favourite movies, Sicario. Sheridan is known for his very simple plots, but he has a knack for wringing a shit-ton of drama from those simple stories, and using them as a framework to really explore the characters in-depth. At its heart, Yellowstone is a show about family, in much the same way that Succession is. All the actors are great in this show, especially Kelly Reilly, whose character is one of the most brutal I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing on screen, but still somehow sympathetic once you learn her history. Oh, and Kevin Costner is in it also. You can’t go wrong with Costner.

Other shows I’m watching right now: Narcos Mexico Season Three, Dexter: New Blood, and Y: The Last Man.

What I’m Listening To

Besides lots of synthwave because it helps me get into the story I’m writing, I’ve also been listening to the new Massacre album. A most enjoyable slice of old school 90s death metal that is basically a follow-up to their classic From Beyond album. As with their debut, every song on this album is inspired by H.P. Lovecraft. If death metal is your thing, you’ll love this album!

What I’m Writing

You’ll be pleased to know that work on the new series is well under way. I’m 40K into the first book, which means I’m about half way done with writing it.

Initially, I set out to write something a little less dark, but obviously I can’t help myself because it has turned out as dark as ever. It still has my trademark dark humour, however, and I will be introducing characters who will lighten things up a bit.

The main character’s name is Zack Schade, and he’s a bit of a dork who gets magic abilities thrust upon him. There will be a lot more magic than usual in this book, and a bit more world building because there are effectively three different worlds in this universe.

So far, I’m happy with how the story is progressing. I’m sure you will enjoy it when it comes out, which will hopefully be before end of year.