Storycomic Weekly Newsletter: September 26th
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.
LeUyen Pham illustrates fear, bravery, and big feelings in Shrinking Violet
In my newest interview, I’m joined by LeUyen Pham, the Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator of Shrinking Violet, written by Laurel Snyder and published by Chronicle Books.
The picture book follows Violet, a girl who knows what it feels like to be afraid. But for Violet, fear is not only emotional — it becomes physical. When she is scared, she actually shrinks. Chronicle Books describes the story as a modern fairy tale about a brave girl who shrinks and grows depending on how she feels, showing that we are all bigger than our fears.
That premise gives LeUyen Pham a wonderful artistic challenge. How do you draw fear? How do you show a child becoming smaller in a world that suddenly feels too large? And how do you make bravery visible on the page?
LeUyen has illustrated more than one hundred books for children, including The Princess in Black, Real Friends, and Itty Bitty Kitty-Corn. In our conversation, we talk about scale, expression, movement, picture book pacing, collaboration, and how art can help young readers understand big feelings.
For families, teachers, librarians, and young readers, this is a beautiful conversation about courage, fear, and the power of visual storytelling.
Desi and Jon St. Amant return with Three Bee Honey Vol. 1
In my newest interview, I’m joined again by Desi St. Amant and Jon St. Amant, the husband-and-wife creative team behind Three Bee Honey Vol. 1, a new middle-grade graphic novel from Papercutz.
The book follows Claire, a lonely worker bee whose hive is in trouble. Claire and her sisters have not foraged enough food to survive the coming winter, and now the pressure is on. She has to keep up with the hive’s demands, avoid drones and predators, deal with the Queen’s bossy deputy, and train her sisters, Hannah and Abi. At the same time, Claire is discovering music, friendship, and parts of herself that do not fit so easily into the role expected of her.
Papercutz describes Three Bee Honey as a heartfelt middle-grade graphic novel about family, responsibility, friendship, perseverance, and finding your place in a world that expects a lot from you. Desi and Jon shaped the story from their years teaching tweens and teens, bringing real emotional pressure into a bright, buzzing bee world.
In our conversation, we talk about bees, music, middle school, creative partnership, graphic novel storytelling, and how this project grew from an earlier dream into a published series.
Eric Corbridge returns with BadWill Episode 2: Omaha
In my newest interview, I’m joined by Eric Corbridge, creator and writer of BadWill, a character-driven indie comic about a thrift store that only accepts donations from failed relationships.
It is one of those premises that immediately makes you smile: what would people donate if they could finally let go of the objects tied to heartbreak, awkward memories, and relationships that did not work out? But BadWill is more than a clever joke. Eric describes it as a character-driven dramedy about people trying to move forward after things do not go according to plan.
The first episode introduced the store, the premise, and the core cast, and successfully funded on Kickstarter with 141 backers and $7,737 raised. Now Eric is continuing the story with BadWill Episode 2: Omaha, which also successfully funded on Kickstarter with 69 backers and $3,612 raised.
In our conversation, we talk about heartbreak, comedy, character writing, Kickstarter, indie comics, and building a long-running series one episode at a time. For readers who like workplace comedy, emotional storytelling, and creator-owned comics, BadWill is a project worth discovering.
Lisa Melamed and Jessica Collins help families navigate pet loss in Where’s Big Dog?
In my newest interview, I’m joined by Lisa Melamed and Jessica Collins, co-authors of Where’s Big Dog?, a heartfelt picture book illustrated by Carla Naude and published by Indigo River Publishing.
The book follows a child grieving the death of the family’s older dog, Big Dog. At first, the loss feels overwhelming. But slowly, the child begins to notice Big Dog everywhere: in the clouds, in the trunk of a tree, in the swirl of a marble countertop, in memories, and in the loving presence of Little Dog. Kirkus gave the book a starred review and called it “a tender exploration of love, loss, and acceptance.”
The story grew out of real life. The Los Angeles Times reported that Jessica and Lisa began developing the book after Jessica’s family lost their dog, Lucy, and wanted a story that could gently hold space for a child’s grief while reminding families that love does not disappear.
In our conversation, we talk about children and grief, the special bond between kids and pets, writing with tenderness, and how picture books can help families find comfort after goodbye.
From Fibber McGee to a Golden Age of Radio Sitcom Setting
I’ve been doing some more work on the Fibber McGee and Molly FATE book, but the project has started to shift direction a bit. Rather than tying it specifically to Fibber McGee and Molly, I’m pivoting it toward a more generic Golden Age of Radio sitcom setting. That should give me a lot more room to draw inspiration from the broader style, humor, characters, and situations of classic radio comedy while making the setting easier for other groups to adapt to their own games.
I’ve also gotten another Fate Core adventure to the table with the kiddos. Besides being a lot of fun, it gave me a chance to get back into the swing of running Fate and being a Game Master again. Actually playing the system has been especially useful while I’m working on the book, since it helps refresh my memory about how the rules feel in play and what kinds of tools are genuinely useful at the table.
So the project is still moving forward—it’s just becoming a little broader and more flexible than the original concept.
Book Review: The Big Book of New England Curiosities by Susan Campbell and Bruce Gellerman
I have always enjoyed books that celebrate the strange little corners of New England, and The Big Book of New England Curiosities was exactly that kind of read.
This is not a book you have to sit down and read straight through. In fact, part of the fun is being able to pick it up, read a few entries, set it down, and then come back later for another batch of odd history, unusual places, and wonderfully quirky people.
The book travels all over New England and highlights the kinds of stories that make this region so interesting. You get unusual roadside attractions, local legends, eccentric characters, historic oddities, and places that make you think, “How have I never heard of this before?”
That was probably my favorite part.
Living in New England, it is easy to think you know the area pretty well, and then a book like this comes along and reminds you just how many strange, funny, and fascinating stories are hiding in small towns and along back roads.
There are entries about things like a covered bridge museum in Vermont, unusual cemeteries, bizarre landmarks, and people who have turned very specific interests into local institutions. Some of the stories are historical, some are just plain odd, and others make you want to get in the car and go see the place for yourself.
The short-entry format also makes this a very easy and relaxing read. It is perfect for those moments when you want something entertaining without committing to a long chapter or complicated story.
What I appreciated most is that the book has a real affection for New England. It never feels like it is making fun of the region. Instead, it celebrates the oddness, stubbornness, creativity, and personality that make these six states so distinctive.
For me, The Big Book of New England Curiosities was just plain fun. It is the kind of book that gives you a few laughs, teaches you something new, and leaves you with a list of places you suddenly want to visit.
And really, that is about all I can ask from a book about New England.
Internet Upgrades, Fall Weather, Birthdays, and Basement Progress
On the personal side, I spent some time this week working on getting high-speed internet installed at the FM tower. That should make things a heck of a lot easier moving forward, especially when we get the occasional power outage. Having a more reliable connection up there is going to be a big help.
Fall is also definitely underway now. We’ve probably seen the last of the really hot days, and the nights are getting noticeably cooler. It’s that time of year when everything starts shifting pretty quickly toward autumn.
This past Friday was also Iggy’s birthday—he turned six! It really does feel like the kids are growing up way too fast.
Meanwhile, the slow-moving project of cleaning out the basement and garage is still underway. It’s one of those jobs that never seems to move quickly, but progress is progress. I’ve also been working on getting WYKR Classic up and running, so there’s been plenty going on behind the scenes this week.
internet installed at the FM Tower!
Prepping for an eventual move of more technology to the tower site. Optimod installed