Welcome.
I’m not sure if this will be the first of many weekly posts to come, or just a one and done. Or “hit it and quit it” for you young people
It’s been three years since a new posting on here. And no, I’m not counting the casino hacking us to flood our blog page every day with spam posts. Although, I would’ve hoped it would draw more traffic to Vintage City Publishing books.
Alas, no. Guess compulsive gamblers don’t equate to avid readers.
This page was supposed to be a joint effort by all three (currently) of us Vintage City authors. We each promised to post something once a month, which ideally would have kept this blog active for three weeks every month, until we eventually welcomed new authors to the VCP community and could pawn off blog posts on them. As new authors joined the fold, we could whittle down our blog commitments to once every six weeks, then once every eight weeks, and who knows? Maybe we’d have so many new authors, we could contribute one blog post a year(!).
No new authors have joined VCP in the past three years. And us current authors? We’re not good at commitments. Just ask our exes.
Or maybe just ask mine. Anyway…
New year, new commitment.
I’m not active much online. I shut down my Facebook account for the second time a while back after it had become clear it was turning into a dumpster fire. That was after I shut down my Twitter account when the stench of burning trash was difficult to ignore. Then Musk bought it and turned it into his own personal blog, and gave trolls lit torches so they could run amok.
I don’t ever plan to go back to those, is what I’m trying to say, and I’m not on anything else, with the exception of Substack and YouTube.
Yes, I have a YouTube channel and I may (or may not) do something with it in the near future. You never know.
As for Substack: I joined because I thought it was going to be a good place to promote books and connect with writers and readers, maybe read the occasional interesting article or literary critique. Substack is those things, mostly, but it’s also fifty percent arguing/bitching about politics, which was one of the things that originally ignited the fires in the dumpsters we call Facebook and Twitter. And the troll population is increasing.
Onward.
Here is the first Monday Morning Dispatch from your pal, Slade Grayson:
1) As I said above, I’m on Substack, but I don’t know how long it will last. There’s lots of interesting content. There’s also lots of complaining about politics, which, as I said, was one of my problems with Musk and Zuck’s sites.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. Our country is in the middle of a shitstorm. I get it. But you know what? The last four years have been a shitstorm. The four years before that was a shitstorm.
Is it going to get any better? Nope.
Is there anything I can do about that? Nope.
Do I want to go online and argue with people about that or read posts like, “Can you believe what he just did/said?” Nope.
What I can do…is continue to write and read, watch movies and discover new voices and new artists.
No, I don’t have my head in the sand. I’ll still continue to vote every two years, even if I don’t like any of the candidates, because sometimes it’s going to be “the lesser of two evils,” whether I like it or not.
Unfortunately, right now there are only two main political parties. One is incompetent, and the other only cares about power and making their friends richer. Oh, and they both love undoing everything the other party manages to do. As if that’s going to make our lives any better.
What’s that? A voice from the back asked me, “What about libertarians?”
I don’t know. Everyone I’ve ever heard say they’re a libertarian was really a republican who didn’t want to admit it. Same with people who claim to be centrists.
2) As I said, I’m currently on Substack. No plans to try Instagram, or Bluesky, or Snapchat, or Quickcrap, or whatever else is out there. It all seems to devolve eventually into arguing and negativity.
Substack isn’t there yet, although I see the troll numbers increasing. Once the scales tip a certain way and/or the political arguing and complaining outnumbers the writers’ talk, I’ll leave that site in my rearview mirror. Like the day I packed all of my stuff in large, green trashbags and hightailed it out of my father and bitch stepmother’s house in the PA mountains, leaving tire ruts on her precious lawn. That was a good day.
3) Quick observation about Twitter: I love that Musk changed the name to X, but everyone still calls it Twitter. In print, it’s referred to as “X (formerly known as Twitter)”. Reminds me of when Prince changed his name to that weird symbol thing, so people started calling him “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.” Then he got tired of that and went back to being just Prince.
4) Neil Gaiman: Proves the old adage, “Either you die a hero, or you live long enough to see your creepy behavior become public.”
I loved his SANDMAN comics. I loved AMERICAN GODS. Couldn’t make it through GOOD OMENS. (Just didn’t connect with it. Sometimes British humor is like that for me.) Saw the movie versions of CORALINE and STARDUST, and thought they were just okay. Was kind of enjoying his MIRACLEMAN run, despite it taking decades to complete and part of me wishing they had just let it end when Alan Moore left the book.
Moore did have a perfectly good ending for the whole thing. Still…
I know this has hit fans of his work pretty hard. On an “ick” factor of behavior, I think Gaiman falls somewhere in between Louis C.K. (lower end) and Bill Cosby (off the chart end). Maybe around the Joss Whedon area of “ick?”
I don’t know. I think it’s okay to separate the art from the artist and not throw his books away. I think it’s also okay to read his older stuff and not feel like you’re doing something wrong. But if you’re going to spend money on new stuff, maybe look around for something written by someone with less “ick” associated. Just my opinion.
5) Neil Gaiman’s ex-wives: Funny that they were apparently aware of his behavior. Guess it’s easy to keep your mouth shut if your mortgages are being paid every month.
6) What I’m reading: Just finished up MFA THESIS NOVEL by Ian M. Rogers (don’t forget the “M” because there’s another author with the same first and last names). Funny and meta. Also, one of the rare instances where I started off liking one character and disliking another, and by the time the book ended, my feelings had completely reversed. That almost never happens.
7) What I’m watching: Finally caught KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON and thought it was great. Yes, it’s long, but it didn’t feel long to me. I would have watched it for another couple of hours.
Also caught A DIFFERENT MAN. Great acting and great story, and I was enjoying it up until… I don’t know. The last twenty minutes or so? That’s when the story jumped the track, careened down the mountain, and demolished the town in the valley below. Metaphorically, of course.
8) Speaking of movies… Why can’t we ever elect a president like we have in the movies? Someone like Harrison Ford. No, not Red Hulk Harrison Ford. I’m talking about “Get off my plane!” Harrison Ford (AIR FORCE ONE). Or Bill Pullman (INDEPENDENCE DAY). Or someone with a heart and a conscience, like Kevin Kline (DAVE).
Okay, that last one doesn’t really work because he was a guy pretending to be the president. Or a guy pretending to be a guy, pretending to be the president.
Hell, I’d even settle for Martin Sheen from THE WEST WING. Although to be honest, I rarely watched that show. The writing on it, specifically the dialogue, grated on me.
Morgan Freeman played the president, didn’t he? Let’s elect him
That’s your Dispatch for the week.