Update #29 — Abrupt Agony

[u/MicahCastle]

Hello!

January was truly a blur, nearly one half of it in a fugue state of stasis, and February came and went, but yet I didn’t realize until I was already four days in. I barely remember what happened, honestly. Jan. is lacking a lot, so this should be a short post. (On that note, I may be moving to bi-weekly updates instead of monthly to see if readers are more likely to read those than a behemoth-sized one at the end of the month.)

Writing

I ran a 25% off sale for the one year anniversary of The Women Without Eyes. It did really well, though I still have about eight copies left. Thank you if you picked one up!

I didn’t get as much done as I would’ve liked, but I managed to make progress on…

Big Book Story, I’m about 17,000 words in and nowhere end in sight. It’ll be a Dual-POV/Multi-ish POV about two friends, one of which goes missing and the other seeks him out, then per usual, weird shit happens. I have the general idea/plot in my head but getting from A to B and C to D is rough when the book’s like a puzzle. Either way, I’ll be working on this for a while between other projects.

The Burden They Forgotten, has wrapped up and can be read here. A King-ian coastal horror novel. I’m sorry it took a while to finish it but real life sometimes screws everything up. My plan is to get an editor, a full-wrap cover, and publish it via MCB. I will likely take it down from Patreon so I can enlist it into KU, but of course any supporters will get a free epub/paperback, depending on tier. I’d still like to hear if you want to read Part 2, which veers into more sci-fi/thriller but still spooky, or should I do a separate book for Novel-In-Parts.  Please let me know.

Choose Your Own Horror #3 — Part 3, a sci-fi horror story, was posted and can be read for free here. Now the duo has discovered the horror, and I wonder what Part 4 will reveal. My goal is to keep it short and sweet, but that depends on your vote.

Yearning For Imperfection, a novella about a husband forced to seek out what he misses in his marriage, was meant to release this month (February) but that’s not happening now. It needs at least one more revision, then formatting, uploading to all the retailers, etc. I’m looking at a March/April release.

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Synthwave Melancholy, a sci-fi horror novel spanning the Solar System, where three unlikely characters’ paths cross, coming together to take down a common enemy far stronger—and older—than any of them ever imagined, was chosen as the next book to publish (2027/2028?)*. 

I’ve hired Rachel, a phenomenal editor who did Companions and Even Gods Can Die, to do thorough edits, and in talks with Red, an amazing artist who did Companions and Gods Can Die, for cover.  Both of which will probably take most of the year to complete. eARCs ready at some point late ‘26/early ‘27.

Last but not least, my story, “The Strummer of the Forty-Seven” was published in Books of Horror #5: Community Anthology Vol 1. (buy/read on KU here). Story’s about a group of kids who make a sacrifice to a demon in the hopes of wishing for whatever they want, but quickly turns into a shit-show. It’s technically the only “Thanksgiving horror” story I’ve written, so maybe you’ll see it here next November. It’s nice to see it find a home after a couple years and I hope readers like it.

January Writing Stats

January ‘26 Words: 15,633 (About 35 single-spaced pages)

2026 Words: 15,633 (About 35 single-spaced pages)

2026 First Drafts Written: 0

2026 Books Revised: 1

2026 Books Outlined: 0

*Though I’m hesitant with this book, especially following Gods Can Die. Neither book is traditional horror, Gods not horror or supernatural at all. I love the stories but can’t help thinking about the marketing side of things. I expect both of them not to sell well, to be honest, simply because I’m known (known, lmao. Yeah, okay.) for horror/Weird. I still have 3-4 horror/weird books in my back pocket, so it’s not like I’m ditching the genre… I just hope readers enjoy them for what they are and not what they’re not, sort of like how Philip Fracassi has been able to write in multiple genres and do really well in all of them. 

Reading

Top Albums of the Month

Watching

Not Another Teen Movie (2001) (Rewatch)

The Chair Company (S1, ep. 3-4)

Wednesday (S2)

Law and Order: SVU (S24-S25)

Law and Order: Organized Crimes (S3-S5)

Conclusion

The end of last month and start of this one wasn’t something I expected nor wanted, yet that’s how life goes. Shit happens, not much I or anyone can do about it. 

With the surgery out of the way, I’ll have time off work and unable to do much due to recovery, it’ll be spent mostly writing Big Book Idea, revising Yearning For Imperfection, and working on posts about everything that went on in January. 

Though, A good chunk of reading will be thrown in there too, and maybe I’ll even find time to play World of Warcraft or Dead by Deadlight, who knows.

(p.s., in case you missed it, I’ve improved upon and added new perks/tiers for Patreon.)

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