Welcome!
Hi, I'm Max, and this is the first edition of my newsletter for my writing. If you subscribe, you can get these updates sent to your e-mail inbox. I plan to use this letter to let you know when I've published new pieces and share any other thoughts related to my writing as I feel like it. This newsletter is free, but I've set up some paid tiers in case anyone feels moved to contribute.
My short story "Reclamation" was recently published in an anthology called The Promethean Archives by The Word's Faire. It's an anthology of Gothic horror stories that focuses on man-made horrors. My story is about a lonely, insecure queer musician who falls under the spell of a mysterious and alluring woman who subjects them to an unsettling supernatural transformation. And yes, I named it after the Fugazi song because I'm me. This marks the first time my fiction has been published anywhere, so I'm quite pleased. The rest of the stories in the anthology are excellent, and The Word's Faire has been a wonderful press to work with.
Another of my stories was also selected for publication in an anthology. I'll send out another update with more information about that once the details are finalized.
My novel You Will See the Way as Emptiness is currently on submission. I have been submitting it to agents and small presses steadily since I finished it in 2023, though with a bit of a break when I was going through cancer treatment in 2024. I'm feeling at a crossroads about what to do with it. This novel means a lot to me and I'd like to figure out a way to get it into the hands of those who might enjoy it. I feel like it may be a long game. As much as I just want people to read my novel already, my current strategy is to build my name a bit with shorter pieces. I'm hoping this will either open some doors for small press publishing or give me enough recognition that self-publishing would be viable for me. I'm open to any advice on this.
That's it for this first update. Let's see if I stick to this. If there's anything you'd like to see in this newsletter, feel free to let me know. Thanks for being here.
With gratitude,
Max