Let’s see… what have I been up to…?

Oh right, I recorded a couple of episodes of the Non-Outrage Comics podcast. Then I proceeded not to upload them at the speed of light.

Honestly, I was kind of hoping there would be a perfect storm of promotion and timing to get these out, but eventually I realized there was no such thing and I should probably just upload these.

With Substack I guess I can only put one podcast in here at a time, but I have episode 3 out as well. I’ll upload that in the next newsletter, but you YouTube junkies can see it early over on my YouTube Channel.

LOCAL MAN #1

A couple of weeks back I picked up a comic called Local Man #1, from Writer/Artist Tim Seeley and artist Tony Fleecs.

I really got caught up in the story, and I wanted to talk about it — so I did. Hit play above to hear my thoughts.

This might be my ongoing format of “one week, old comic — next week, new comic”, but I’ll see how it’s received.

I think if there’s something burning up the charts in the here and now then the older stuff can wait.

For a brief rundown of this one:

“Crossjack” was once a famous, up-and-coming superhero, but after a public indiscretion he’s canceled and has to move back home to his mom and pop’s farm in (shudder) Midwest America!

But the fates don’t seem to be quite finished with Jack, so I think it’s the start of a good story.

Bottom line I loved the cover, so I bought it, and I’m glad I did. Definitely recommend.

Check it out here if you’re interested:

https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/local-man-1

THE LIFE-TAKER

I’m still plodding along on the sequel to my first full-length novel, The Life-Taker.

To be honest I’m experiencing technical difficulties.

I use a writing app called Scrivener to write stories and scripts. the thing I like most about it is that you can export the same document into many different formats - manuscript, ebook, web page, pdf, markdown, etc.

The biggest drawback of this program is that in this day and age it has no true “cloud” function.

For example, you’d think that you could write for awhile on your desktop, then go out somewhere and pick up from where you left off on your iPad.

Or if you wake up in the middle of the night you could grab your phone and tap in a few notes or paragraphs and have it be there at your laptop when you’re ready to work again.

Well, you can’t.

The only half-assed cloud feature they have is syncing via Dropbox. Meaning your file has to essentially live in a Dropbox folder.

Then, you have to pay again for the mobile app, and not $2.99(U.S.), but a full $23.99(!)

Wow, man. Brutal.

Then the worst part of all… not only is it clunky, but sometimes it eats your revisions!

I’ve opened up my manuscript on the desktop and my changes aren’t there. then I go back to my iPad and they aren’t there either.

Why can’t it do something the Notes app has done seamlessly for over 10 years?

If you check the reviews on the mobile app, the complaints date back years. So I don’t expect a fix for this issue anytime soon.

Oh well, enough complaining. Gotta find a new app is all there is to it.

On a slightly more positive note though, I’ve decided to pay for a Kirkus review for The Life-Taker.

Kirkus are an industry standard and are well respected. The reviews look to be about $450, and take about 6 months to come out.

This should dovetail nicely with the completion of the second book, and hopefully be a good tool in promoting it.

Now, the elephant in the room…

…just because you purchase a review, it doesn’t mean it will be a good review.

However, if I don’t believe in it, then who will? So I’m willing to take a risk, invest in it and try to get the book seen a bit more, as it could lead to better things.

Wish me luck!

UNCHARTED! DRAKE’S FORTUNE

Here’s something else I finished a long time ago - a complete walkthrough of my favorite video game - Uncharted! Drake’s Fortune!

Many of you probably saw the movie with Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg. It was ok, but it didn’t really capture the game that well, in my opinion.

Regardless, I always wanted to do one of these walkthroughs, just to see what it took to do it, and man, it takes a lot!

I stuffed it onto another channel to keep it separate from my other doings. It may serve as an only try on my part, or I may even finish the series eventually.

Either way, you can watch me fumble through this entire game in true non-expert fashion. I won’t win any speed-gaming awards, that’s for sure.

I recorded on PS5 and even edited the videos on there. It was a bit cumbersome but it got the job done.

If you’re ready for an adventure, go check it out!

Alright, that’s all I got for now so thanks for reading, and I’ll see you guys next time…!

-John G.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johngarrett.substack.com

LifeTaker Stuff, Video Game Stuff & Non-Outrage Comics Episode 002!