Hi there. It’s me. Jack. We’re back after a little break. If I’m honest, I’m not sure I’m ready to be back. But it seems the world isn’t going to stop being on fire anytime soon and we just have to get used to our country’s downward spiral.
I mean they’re literally omitting sections of the constitution on government websites.
That along with US troops in US cities, a never-ending list of sexual offenses committed by the current President, and the suspension of due process in the rounding up of people with brown skin who’ve been tossed into concentration camps kind of makes it difficult to figure out a solid way to get you folks interested in my little stories.
I mean, I guess I could say it’s an escape, but I don’t think it’s time to escape.
For more on where this newsletter is going and how you can help choose where it goes, read on.
Tip Jar
Since the beginning of my newsletter, I’ve been trying to find a simple way you can support my work without having to fork over $50 a year. I appreciate all of my paid subscribers. (And those subscribers will be getting a physical copy of Bad Pennies in September if all goes as planned.)
I recently discovered Ko-fi, a simple tip system that lets you support my work at whatever financial level you’re able to.
What I’ve Been Watching
Andor Season 2 (Disney+): With Tony Gilroy leading a murderer’s row of writers I knew this series would be exceptional before the first episode ever aired. But what they’ve made isn’t just a good piece of Star Wars. Where the first season was a slow burn, the second season hits the ground running and never lets up. It’s an important piece of art made about today’s authoritarian threats. Like Patton Oswalt said real life politics is like a “shitty version of Andor.” This isn’t a show just for Star Wars geeks. It’s a show for the Resistance.
Dept. Q (Netflix): Like Tony Gilroy, Scott Frank has a hard time writing things that suck. On paper Department Q is a British police procedural that basically answers the question, “What if Dr. House was a cold case detective instead?” And if it were written by someone not Scott Frank, it would probably be entirely forgettable, but Frank and his writers make one of the most compelling first seasons of a crime drama since True Detective. It also helps that Matthew Goode leads a cast of well rounded and eccentric characters.
The Pitt (HBO Max): Thirty years ago a fresh faced Noah Wyle graced our Must See TV screens alongside Julianna Margulies and George Clooney on the mega hit ER. Now he’s back as an Emergency Room doctor, this time in Pittsburgh. And he’s got former ER writer, R. Scott Gemmill doing some of the best writing of his career. The show is told in 15 episodes that show 15 hours of the Shift From Hell. Noah does some of the best acting of his career as Dr. Robbie, the attending doctor trying to run an understaffed and overrun emergency department. But for me, the reason to watch the show is charge nurse Dana Evans played by Katherine LaNasa. She embodied that charge nurse persona my retired charge nurse mother has exuded her whole life. This show is both engrossing and intense. It makes ER look like a kid show.
Making Art While The World Burns
I recently read a great comic book by creators James Tynion IV & Martin Simmonds called The Department of Truth. The premise of the comic book is that human belief reshapes reality. If most of the world thinks something, then it becomes true whether it was or not. In their world, if you fake something well enough and convince enough people, it becomes real.
I bring this up because while our world doesn’t quite work like that, there are those who behave as if it does and that’s important. They’ve alter the Constitution of the United States on government websites. They cancel Stephen Colbert despite having the largest audience in late night and claim it’s because the show is the failing. They tell you Los Angeles is under siege in order to put Los Angeles under siege.
They’re trying to change your reality. The President fired the Labor Secretary because he didn’t like her accurate dismal jobs numbers. When asked by a reporter why we should believe any numbers that come out of his White House if he’s going to fire people when they give him bad news, his response was, “Don’t believe numbers.”
That’s their goal. If you don’t trust numbers, you’ll never know how much they steal, how many they kill, or how many they rape. Ignoring numbers is how you hide atrocities and ignore reality.
I read The Department of Truth and asked a very unfair question of the comic: Did this help or hurt the world? It’s a comic book. It doesn’t have to solve humanity’s problem with itself. But my reason for asking was more selfish than judgmental.
I’ve been doing the same thing with all the books, comic books, television shows, and movies I’ve been consuming. I’ve been thinking about art, its impact on society, and how much that matters.
I love writing, but I don’t want to simply write for fun. I want what I write to matter on some level whether that means keeping people informed or simply writing a story that resonates personally with someone. But when the world is on fire, I feel a little weird saying, “You really should spend your money on my stuff.” That is unless I feel what I’m offering helps.
I spent the last month thinking about what my options are given my interests, resources, and skills. I’ve narrowed down what I want to do, but I need your input to help me make an informed decision. The poll below will be open until August 16th.
Before we get to the voting, I should let you know that unless something gets zero votes, none of these options are going away entirely.
Historical Fiction - I got my MFA in Creative Writing with a heavily researched historical fiction novel. I’ve got other stories that didn’t fit in the novel (like THE GIFT). One of the advantages of writing historical fiction is the use of real past events to talk about events too recent to otherwise talk about.
Short Fiction - The advantage of short fiction is that they are one-shots. There is no prior required reading. It allows for a wide variety of storytelling genres and techniques. But it limits the scope of the stories that can be told.
Serialized Fiction - The majority of this newsletter has been serialize long-form storytelling. A BETTER LIE & BAD PENNIES are examples of this. It’s entirely possible to go back to this kind of storytelling. The difficulty of it is that there aren’t a lot of jumping on points for new readers and often needs prior required reading.
Reviews - I consume a lot of media and enjoy telling people what I think of it. Perhaps focusing on reviewing what I’m encountering is something I should devote more time to. That said, I don’t have much interest in negative reviews that that seems to be what people like.
Political Commentary - Unless you follow me on Facebook, you have no clue how political I can get when I really get going. I like to keep politically updated and I like writing about what I find. It may be that when it comes to fascism, I shouldn’t be writing stories that might help others who then fight fascism. Maybe I should be going at all of this more directly and make this an overtly political newsletter.
One of the best things about being my own boss is that I can do whatever the hell I want including change the direction of the newsletter.
BUT, most of you have been with me for years and I don’t take that lightly. So please let me know what you think. Where we go from here is partially up to you.
And if you’ve got more to say than just a poll response, hit that Leave A Comment button or send me a message.
The poll ends on August 16, 2025.
Things I’ve Clicked On
Even the Catholic Church isn’t sure about the Yeti Blood Oath some young seminarians were exposed to in Colorado.
Sig Sauer’s M18 or P320 has a BIG problem: Sometimes it fires without anyone pulling the trigger. One killed an airman last month.
Ukraine just stole all the plans for Russia’s most advanced nuclear submarines and they’re putting some of them online.
Speaking of Russian warships, did you know Pepsi once got paid in Russian warships? It’s true, learn that and other weird things in this brief history of Pepsi’s antics.
One Last Thing
Thanks to everyone who clicked the little heart. Please do that again.
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Thanks.
- Jack Cameron
A bit of everything. Art depicts life and life depicts art. Just don't ignore the horror around us. Thank you 👍