I Am Almost Certain I Have Forgotten Something

Sponsored by

Hello from out here on the Thames Delta.

Last weekend was the final Konsztrukting Soundz event of the season - a local monthly experimental music night over in Old Leigh. They’re back for season three at the end of September, and I realised that evening how those monthly events quickly became the spine of my year. Whatever else was going on, I know that in any given month, there was going to be an evening of at least three hours of listening to things I’d never heard before, phone off and just open to new sounds.

(If you happen to be a local to the Thames Delta area, they’re running a crowdfund for season 3 right now)

I’ve spent the last few days convinced that there was something really important that I wanted to write down for you but I’m forgotten it. First sign of senility? LAST sign of senility? Am I already senile and I just forgot?

Signed an agreement with a major producer to try and turn one of my old books into a film. Did I mention that?

In this letter:

• do not explain

• Vincent Price wants to cook (you)

• The News, with Lordess Foudre

• COLLIDE

• strange noises from Finland

• Deliberate Disconnection with Rain DeGrey

• Todd Blackwood’s Graveyard Gallery

• a book and a record

• LTD

THE WORLD SERVICE

DO NOT EXPLAIN

Every week, I get a message from someone asking me a version of “did you mean X when you wrote that thing in that book?” And I try not to answer any of them. I try never to explain what I meant by anything I wrote in any book. Took me a long time to get to that point. Here’s my current position:

Once I’ve written something and it’s been published and released out into the world, I lose all control over how it is read and understood. It’s not mine any more, in a way - its interpretation is down to the individual reader, and I have no say over how you read and interpret any of it. I cannot and should not sit on your shoulder and tell you that you’re reading it wrong.

Resist the urge to explain when asked. Don’t police the work. People are going to read all kinds of stuff into your work, because that’s just where we are now. Just remember that nobody wrote long online screeds about how Thomas Harris loves killing and eating people. If people have forgotten that creators aren’t their characters, fictional characters can have different beliefs to their authors, and that events can have multiple interpretations… that’s on them, not you. Let it go.

David Lynch always said that magicians don’t tell how they did a thing. Be a magician. I feel like we could use more magicians and fewer creators doing customer service. Not least because very few people are happier after dealing with customer service.

OPERATIONS

VINCENT PRICE WANTS TO COOK YOU

So the British Film Institute shop was having a sale, and I picked up four blu-rays for thirty quid. And I’m afraid I included this:

Yes. Vincent Price did a cooking show on British television.

I was alive in the 1970s and it was NOT a “delicious decade.” From this review, a screenshot of one of the horrors herein, The Cheese Chess Set:

My thirty year old daughter frequently claims to not understand how we survived the Eighties. I look forward to sitting her down in front of this, the next time she’s home, to show her that surviving the Eighties was nothing compared to surviving the Seventies.

Find more Lordess Foudre work at her Instagram and Substack.

Jerome Eyquem is an artist and writer: here are his releases on GlobalComix.

ORBITAL

HARJU

Harju is a new band spun off from the glorious Finnish group Paavoharju, which longtime readers will have seen me mention multiple times over the years. I've been acquainted with them for a long time, and they sent me this video late last week. The video is the first piece off a forthcoming record that is the soundtrack for a graphic novel:

I fucking love this idea. Also that music and that video.

(And then they sent me the entire album!)

A message from our supporters this week:

AI Marketing Agent With Ahrefs Data Access

Most AI tools answer questions. Agent A by Ahrefs helps get the work done.

Research competitors, find content opportunities, track AI visibility, audit websites, and build strategies using Ahrefs data and pre-built marketing skills.

Learn more at ahrefs.com/agent-a.

Explore Agent A

Artist, writer and educator Rain DeGrey moved to the wilderness after a lifetime in California and this is the record of her discovery of the land and the seasons. This is her newsletter.

Todd Blackwood is the creator of NOSFERATU: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL. See more of his art on his IG.

If you want to work together this year, or if you’re doing something creative you want more people to know about, or if you think there’s something Orbital Operations should be covering, hit reply to this newsletter to shoot a note to the office.

I am particularly looking to add more serialised comics work to the newsletter. I already have some in train, but more would be good.

OPS

BOOKS AND MUSIC

"But she drowned, Rob. That’s all I can tell you. Some cases, I can divine that a victim was stabbed a hundred times with a toothpick so you can infer the dreaded toothpick killer has struck again. This time… She just drowned."

The ninth ROB MARSHALL novel by Ed James, CUTS BOTH WAYS, is not the place to start with the series. The books have been heavily serialized for a little while now, and its high-energy opening will make no sense unless you read the previous three or four. Also, this book is a backdoor pilot for a new series based around DI Sam Winter, and on top of that characters from other Ed James book series make appearances. Shockingly for me, one of them has ended up just down the road from me in Leigh-on-Sea. Ed has great fun connecting all his books into an Intercity Crime Universe, a term I just now thought of and which amuses me because it abbreviates to ICU.

I love the ROB MARSHALL series because they hit that sweet spot for me - an intelligent detective dealing with weird murders, horrible disgusting moments and some wit. This one is no different. I wonder if the next one, due in August, will be more of a jumping-on point.

CUTS BOTH WAYS, Ed James (UK) (US)

Anyone up for some haunted drone-driven avant-folk? I love Alison Cotton’s work, and her new record is out.

GOT MORE TIME?

LTD

I keep a digital writer’s notebook and you’re invited to read over my shoulder. You can subscribe to the site to get every post by email. The current format is between one and three posts a day. Like a more condensed yet more confused version of this newsletter. You might like it.

MORNING COMPUTER: things to start the day

• sunup

• ocean days

• hot world

• world computer

STATUS: the daily noon-ish roundup post

• konsztrukting sounds, media labs

• ana-digi temp

• commodore flip phone

• lunch

OTHER:

• Fritz Lang’s DIE NIBELUNGEN on blu-ray

• notes on the book THE BIG THREE by Neel Burton

• HAXAN on blu-ray!

• JUDEX on blu-ray

• Camel Trophy watch

• notes on the book THE REVOLUTIONISTS

This letter has been zapped to you via Beehiiv and is sponsored by:

Summer starts here (free gummies!)

The sun is here and we're back outside!

Longer days, lighter hangs, and THC gummies that fit the vibe. Grab a free pack of gummies from Cycling Frog! Just cover $4.99 shipping. Fruity, perfectly dosed, and made for campfires, park days, and whatever summer turns into.

Claim your free bag

Must be 21+ and only valid on 10ct bags of gummies.

NOT VALID IN OH, CA, CO, AL, LA AND NJ.

I’m off. I just had a notification that a friend has mailed me something and customs want £500 to let it through, so I presume I’ve been sent a firearm or a dead body. Every day is an adventure. Relax and see what the day brings you. See you next week.

W