Storycomic Weekly Newsletter: March 21st
ALWAYS POSTED A WEEK EARLIER ON PATREON
🚨 Storycomic Patreon Update for Creators 🚨
If you're an author, indie comic creator, game designer, or storyteller looking for more visibility, the Storycomic Patreon is one of the easiest ways to get your work in front of a growing audience.
For just $5 a month (about the price of a cup of coffee), you get some real promotional benefits:
🎙 Front-of-the-Line Recording Access
I’m often booking podcast interviews three months in advance, but Patreon members jump to the front of the line. This is especially helpful if you have a time-sensitive launch, Kickstarter, or new release coming up.
🔗 Permanent Show Notes Promotion
Your website or project link will be included in the show notes of all interviews as long as you’re a member.
📣 Social Media Promotion
We’ll regularly help promote your projects across Storycomic’s social media channels.
And remember, the Storycomic podcast has over 30,000 downloads, so it’s a great way to get your work discovered by readers and fellow creators.
For the cost of a coffee each month, you get promotion, visibility, and priority booking.
If you’re a creative looking to grow your audience, it’s a pretty great deal.
👉 Join us on Patreon and let’s share your story with the world.
Founders Club patrons include amazing creators like:
Michael Winn, Higgins802, Von Allan, Stephanie Nina Pitsirilos, Marek Bennett, Donna Carr Roberts, Andrew Gronosky, Simki Kuznick, and Matt & Therese.
Explore their work:
Lauren Ennis on friendship, survival, and writing history for young readers
In my newest interview, I’m joined by author Lauren Ennis, whose work brings young readers into history with empathy, tension, and real emotional truth.
We talk first about her new graphic novel Daughters of Attrition, set during the fall of Kabul. The story follows Noor, a ten-year-old girl sent to a Kabul orphanage after her father is killed while assisting American forces against the Taliban. At the orphanage, Noor bonds with Laila, a rebellious, artistic friend who helps her hold onto imagination and courage as the outside world grows more dangerous.
We also dig into Lauren’s middle-grade historical novel A Boy’s Best Comrade, set in Moscow, 1938, where the NKVD arrests a family and leaves young Yuri and his dog Sasha to survive on the streets. It’s a story powered by loyalty and love—Sasha’s promise to protect Yuri becomes their lifeline as they face hunger, fear, and hard choices.
If you’re looking for books that respect young readers, honor resilience, and still deliver a page-turning story, this episode is worth your time.
Project Update: Still Slow Going
Things are still slow going with Appliance. With basketball season just wrapping up and everything else on the work front staying busy, I haven’t been able to dedicate long stretches of time to it lately.
That said, I’m still keeping the project moving along in small ways—reviewing sections, making notes, and thinking through some of the revisions that need to happen next. It may not be rapid progress, but it’s enough to keep the momentum alive.
For now, it’s a slow and steady approach, and I’m okay with that. The important thing is that the project hasn’t stalled—it’s still moving forward, even if just a little bit at a time.
Book Review: A Mischief of Monsters: A Book of Noises and Actions – Bedtime Turns into Monster Mayhem
Bedtime stories don’t always stay calm and quiet, and that was definitely the case this week when my five-year-old and I read A Mischief of Monsters: A Book of Noises and Actions. Instead of the usual wind-down story, this one turned bedtime into a full-on monster performance.
Illustrated by Lisa Barlow and Damien Barlow, the book introduces groups of colorful, silly monsters that each make their own sounds and movements. The idea is simple but brilliant—kids are invited to growl, stomp, wiggle, roar, and generally act out what the monsters are doing on the page.
Of course, my five-year-old took this invitation very seriously. Every page became an opportunity to try out the monster noises and actions, which meant our “quiet bedtime reading” turned into a room full of giggles and goofy monster sounds. Honestly, that’s exactly what makes the book work so well.
The illustrations are bright and full of personality. The monsters aren’t scary at all—they’re the kind of creatures that look like they would rather play than frighten anyone. Their exaggerated expressions and energetic poses make it easy for kids to jump right into the action.
What I like most about this book is that it turns reading into a shared activity. Instead of just listening, kids get to participate, move around, and have fun with the story.
A Mischief of Monsters might not be the quietest bedtime book, but it’s definitely one of the most fun—and sometimes a little monster mayhem before sleep is exactly what’s needed.
Personal Update: One Last Breath of Winter
This week gave us a little taste of spring—at least for a few days. We had a stretch of unusually warm weather and most of the snow melted away, which always feels like a small victory this time of year. Of course, Vermont being Vermont, winter wasn’t quite done with us yet. By Friday and Saturday we got another round of snow. It always seems like there’s one last gasp of winter before the real thaw begins.
On the work front, this was an exciting milestone. It was the first week we put the paper together entirely on our own since the previous owner officially wrapped up last week. I have to say, the first draft of the paper came together really well, and I’m genuinely excited about how it looks. It feels like we’re stepping fully into the next chapter.
I’ve also been spending time moving the newspaper’s website over to a Squarespace account. The goal is to make it more interactive and easier to connect with different apps and tools. It’s a bit of a project, but it should make things much smoother once everything is in place.
Outside of work, it was nice to take advantage of the warmer weather and spend a little time hanging out with the kids in the backyard. After a long winter, those simple moments outside feel pretty great.
Part of the new website for the paper has a collection of column headers to click on