Strange Times

Before we get into this week’s issue, remember that Strange Times is moving to my Patreon. To keep receiving the newsletter, follow this link and click join for free. This is the last post that will be cross-posted on substack, so please subscribe for free to keep receiving this extremely important 123 year old news! Before we dig in, I've got a guest post up at a delightful new newsletter called On the Mends, which is all about repairing old clothes.

Before we get into this week’s issue, remember that Strange Times is moving to my Patreon. To keep receiving the newsletter, follow this link and click join for free. Click here to see how today’s post looks on Patreon. Issue 203 will be the last one I’m cross-posting, so make the switch today! Today we have three stories of women taking the law into their own hands. Shoot a cat 27,000 times on… Drunk on what he calls “good whisky,” Samuel B.

Before we get into this week’s issue, remember that Strange Times is moving to my Patreon. To keep receiving the newsletter, follow this link and click join for free. Click here to see how today’s post looks on Patreon. Issue 203 will be the last one I’m cross-posting, so make the switch today! Today’s issue is all about cops, baby—cops who are crying and cops who are hurt. Cops who are American and cops who are French.

Ever since it became clear that Substack has no interest in keeping white supremacists off the platform, I’ve been looking for a new home for Strange Times. When the Penflower Ink, a drawing newsletter I really enjoy, started publishing through the creator’s Patreon, it occurred to me that I could do the same. So starting with issue 200, Strange Times now lives on my Patreon.

Over at my Patreon, I’ve started a new, irregular series of baseball blog posts called The Deadball Diaries. The first one is about watching the Mets and being excited for no reason at all. Take a look and become a free (or paid!) Patreon member to get notified of further entries in the series. Today we have twin stories of horror in Louisiana. Fear mob justice on… When a trolley fails to stop for him, Bostonian James Stone smashes the car door, breaking the glass and bloodying his arm.

The Kickstarter campaign for Letters to the Stars thunders merrily along! The book is finished, save a final proofread, and the game is ready to play. The most popular reward been The Zine Pack, which includes an autographed hardcover rulebook and a full color zine scenario, “The Last Survivor of the Merriman,” that will never be available digitally. If you like stuff that is handmade and beautiful and rare— Today we have women who fight burglars and dukes who walk.

Letters to the Stars goes live on Kickstarter this Thursday! As part of Kickstarter’s annual Zine Quest, my highest level reward will include a limited run scenario zine that will not be available in any other format. If you think that sounds cool, ask Kickstarter to notify you when the campaign launches. I don’t know how quickly these zines will sell, but if you’re interested I’d hate for you to miss out.

I’m now planning on launching my new letter writing RPG, Letters to the Stars, on Kickstarter at the end of the month. I’ve just finished the layout and I think it’s the loveliest book I’ve ever made: If you think this looks cool, ask Kickstarter to notify you when it launches. Today we have historical injustice, skeptical aliens, mythical Turks and aquatic snakes.

The first season of I’ll Watch Anything went out with a seasonal bang last week, when Henry and I subjected ourselves to the nightmarishly mediocre 2000 thriller (??) Reindeer Games. We’ll be back in a couple of months with something far more interesting—listen to the episode to find out what! All right folks—this is an important one! In a couple of weeks I’m launching what I hope to be my biggest Kickstarter campaign of all time, for a scifi roleplaying game called Letters to the Stars.

When I was 13, I thought the movie 200 Cigarettes was pretty cool. A few years later I watched it with a group of friends and they hated it so much that I apologized afterwards. Now, an ostensible adult, I’ve tricked my friend Henry into watching it again. Was it good or not? The episode title might give it away. I’m currently working on a new roleplaying game called Letters to the Stars.