April 2025 Wrap-Up

Writing

Word Count: The word count for In Plain Sight, Unseen is… Unchanged from last month because it’s FINISHED!

I’ve added a preface, copyright page, and some other bits, but the stories are done.

It has now been formatted, and a cover is nearly finished.

As far as publishing it goes, you’ll be the first to know. Look out for updates and the cover reveal in the coming months.

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I wrote my first essay in a while in April

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Since finishing the stories for In Plain Sight, Unseen, I’ve nearly finished an outline for my novel. I’ve mentioned the novel to you once or twice before, but never any specifics.

Until now.

It’s about two brothers, and we’re only following one of them as he reveals pieces of their interconnected life to us over several decades. It is a piece of Victorian macabre, and I will begin writing it very soon.

You’ll be hearing about this with little snippets of information and word count updates every month as I write it.

Reading

The extended Reading for The Dark Tower series, and the order I am reading in, is as follows:

• The Little Sisters of Eluria (collected in Everything’s Eventual)

• The Gunslinger (Dark Tower book 1)

• The Drawing of the Three (Dark Tower book 2)

• The Eyes of the Dragon

• The Talisman

• Night Surf (collected in Night Shift)

• The Stand

• Wastelands (Dark Tower book 3)

• Wizard and Glass (Dark Tower book 4)

• Jerusalem’s Lot (collected in Night Shift)

• Salem’s Lot

• One for the Road (collected in Night Shift)

• It

• Insomnia

• Everything’s Eventual (collected in Everything’s Eventual)

• Low Men in Yellow Coats (collected in Hearts in Atlantis)

• Black House

• Wolves of the Calla (Dark Tower book 5)

• Song of Susannah (Dark Tower book 6)

• The Dark Tower (Dark Tower book 7)

• At this point, I will read Wind Through the Keyhole if I can be bothered.

The Stand

The Stand is an extremely long affair, and I think it has more in it than is necessary. The reason I started reading Stephen King is that I want to improve my ability to write characters and character-driven stories. As well as being a good story, I was able to take a lot from it in terms of the characters, so it was a success.

Parapsychology

Some of the characters I’ve written, and a lot of Stephen King’s characters, have some sort of mental powers (telepathy, etc). At university, I could have studied a module in my psychology degree called parapsychology, led by Dr Ian Baker, though I chose another module instead. So I’m making up for that now, and giving this book by Caroline Watt a read. I’ve only read the introduction and some of chapter one, so I’ll tell you what I thought next month. After this, it’s back to the Dark Tower.

Watching

The Monkey

Unwatchable.

Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch

This is quality entertainment, and you must watch it.

It’s a massive ranch, which supposedly has Aztec gold from 500 years ago hidden somewhere on it, and a group of adult men with loads of money are looking for it.

Mobland

Mobland has a cast of big names (Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren, Paddy Considine) and has had a strong start. Get on it.