Storycomic Weekly Newsletter: May 23rd
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.
Jeff Gottesfeld on Honor Flight, a picture book about remembrance and the homecoming
In my newest interview, I’m joined by children’s author Jeff Gottesfeld to talk about Honor Flight: Celebrating America’s Veterans, illustrated by Matt Tavares and published by Candlewick Press (release date: March 3, 2026).
The book introduces readers to the real Honor Flight program, which brings aging U.S. veterans to Washington, D.C. to visit the memorials built in their honor—and to experience the kind of recognition many never received when they returned home. Jeff writes from personal experience: he served as a Guardian on an Honor Flight in 2023, and Matt Tavares has participated as well.
What makes the book stand out is its tone: it’s solemn without being heavy-handed, grateful without turning into propaganda, and clear enough for young readers while still respecting the subject. Reviews have noted that it avoids glorifying war, and the book includes back matter for readers who want to learn more.
In our conversation, Jeff talks about translating lived experience into a kid-accessible narrative, and how illustration and page design can carry emotion with restraint. If you’re looking for a meaningful picture book for older readers, this episode is a good listen.
Project Update: Still Chugging Along
Things are still chugging along with Appliance. Progress hasn’t been lightning fast lately, but the project is continuing to move forward bit by bit.
I’ve been spending time revisiting sections, tightening things up, and continuing to shape the draft into something stronger. It’s very much a “slow and steady” phase right now, but that’s okay. Every little bit of work keeps the momentum alive and helps the project inch closer to where I want it to be.
Book Review: The Middle-Grade Magic of Roxie in Color
Roxie in Color by Diane Debrovner and Stacy Cervenka is exactly the kind of middle-grade book I enjoy reading as a dad. I have two daughters, ages 12 and 10, and this story sits right in that spot where kids are starting to figure out who they are, what they want people to know about them, and what they are afraid people might judge.
Roxie is starting seventh grade at a new school, and she wants a clean slate. She is creative, artistic, and trying to make friends, but she is also carrying something she is nervous to share: both of her parents are blind. After being bullied before, she decides to keep that part of her life hidden.
That is what makes the book so relatable. Every kid has something they worry will make them stand out. Roxie’s story is specific, but the feelings are universal.
What I appreciated most is that the book does not turn Roxie’s family into a lecture. Her parents are capable, loving, funny, and real. Their blindness is part of the story, but it is not the whole story. That makes the book feel honest in a way young readers can understand.
There is also a wonderful use of Roxie’s mother’s guide dog in the storytelling, which adds heart, humor, and a fresh point of view. That is the kind of detail that would have hooked my daughters right away.
Roxie in Color is warm, thoughtful, and full of conversation starters. It is a book about friendship, family, courage, and learning that being seen for who you really are is better than being accepted for who you are pretending to be.
Personal Update: Full Schedules, Full Ad Slots, and a New Chapter
hings are plugging along nicely right now. On the newspaper side, one of our fellow local papers, GMTP, closed up shop recently. It’s always sad to see another local paper disappear, but we were fortunate to connect with some of their columnists, who are now coming over to The Bridge Weekly. I’m really excited about that, because local voices and perspectives matter, and it’s great to be able to help give them a continued home.
At the radio station, we’re continuing the work of transitioning over to the new broadcast software. We’re getting close now—just a matter of weeks away from fully making the move.
And in what feels like genuinely exciting news, our traffic manager told us something I honestly wasn’t sure was even possible: we are completely full for ads for the rest of the month. No more ad inventory left. It’s one of those milestones that, for a long time, felt more aspirational than realistic, so hearing that was incredibly rewarding.
On the personal side, it was a week filled with yard work and outdoor projects. Elizabeth decided she wanted to earn a little extra money and offered to mow the lawn as a weekly chore, which was both helpful and honestly pretty sweet to see.
And perhaps the biggest personal news of the week: I was elected to serve as Master of the local Masonic lodge. This has been a dream of mine for decades, and it’s still sinking in a bit. It’s a role I take very seriously, and I truly hope I can do it justice over the next two years.
Elizabeth mowing the lawn
A rare time when all the kids are getting along