A weekly newsletter by perhaps the world’s oldest emerging author

by Christopher Ryan

“Be curious, not judgmental.” – Ted Lasso

Is there any pop culture quote that seems more anachronistic these days? So much of what is happening in our news is judgmental, not curious. And that continues to drive tensions up and happiness down.

Our thoroughly non-professional prescription for temporary relief from Toxic Politicalocity? Rebinging Ted Lasso. More on this later.

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Hi, I’m Christopher Ryan, a hybrid author with forty years of experience in journalism, education, sketch comedy, indie film, unions, community service, parenting, public speaking, acting, fiction writing, and podcasting. I’ve experienced a modicum of success (tiny modicums, honestly) in all of these, but I’m pushing to be more, to become one of the oldest breakout authors in the business. Together, let’s see whether I can get there.

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GOOD NEWS/CHALLENGING NEWS:

It’s Been a Privilege, my “horror story told in verse” is now published and available, which is thrilling news for me.

Hooray!

However, there are always challenges with every blessing, and this one ties directly to current events. See, my debut collection of narrative poetry is currently only available on Amazon.com which a sizable percentage of the world is currently boycotting. While I ache to have people read and enjoy my work, I would never force anyone to violate their beliefs just to support me. This complicates my fervent wish for the collection to find an audience.

Sigh.

Red, the publisher of Alien Buddha Press, said the book should eventually be available from other outlets. He also made a suggestion that I am announcing here: should anyone want a copy of It’s Been a Privilege, you can order a copy directly from me (DM me or tell me in the comments) and I’ll sign it and ship it out to you.

Another first for this ancient emerging author!

OTHER NEWS:

-Related to the ongoing Amazon boycott, I am exploring bookshop.org as well as other outlets to make my work available on more platforms so readers do not have to sell their souls for me. Updates as I accomplish them!

–Soul Scream Antholozine: Fear and Loathing pre-production continues. We have stories, poems, an essay, and initial cover photography completed. The theme here will be work inspired by the growing fear and/or loathing people are feeling in America and abroad either for or against changes being made by our current president. What will life be like after all these changes? Our authors offer some wild tales exploring a wide variety of possible answers. We hope for a publication date near the start of summer.

-Read a Mallory and Gunner adventure for free! As part of my website reboot, I’m offering a rewritten and edited version of the short story “Night of the Wolf” for free, in the “Free Stories from Christopher Ryan” section of the website, below all the available books. You can also find two links to short adventures featuring my character Penelope, both of which were published by the fantastic Shotgun Honey.

Here’s a link: https://chrisryanwrites.blog/books/

And if you want to check out the entire website, here’s a QR code for that:

-Production of the stand alone edition of Alex Simmons’ gripping dramatic mystery play Sherlock Holmes and the Hands of Othello nears completion. Cover photography is complete and we’re submitting materials to our cover wizard Matt Wildasin this week. Final editing of the “extra features” is also slotted to be completed this week, clearing the deck for what we hope will be a May 22nd release date.

If you want to know a bit more about it, here’s a review of the play’s stage debut back in the day:

Telling the Damn Story:

This week’s Tell The Damn Story podcast and YouTube show features the return of Omar Holmon, who is co-founder of Black Nerd Problems, a TikTok/social media star, a slam poetry world champ, and one of my beloved former students. If you haven’t seen him yet, check out this episode. It is wild, passionate fun.

Here’s a link:

Additionally, show co-founder Alex Simmons has been putting together some promotional materials to remind people just how rich our back catalog is – and all of it -ALL OF IT – is free for anyone interested in learning more about the writing process.

Here’s one of those ads:

CURRENT OBSESSIONS:

MUSIC: I had a birthday recently and among the gifts that Glorious spoiled me with was something I did not know existed. And I have been listening to this feast all week. Pete Townshend was one of my big three musical influences growing up (the other two being Bob Dylan and Peter Gabriel – top among the hundreds I still admire greatly). This collection of Pete’s solo studio albums allows me to load up the CD multi-disc turntable and listen all day while writing, editing, or proofreading. The box set is beautifully designed, sounds fantastic, and still thrills track after track.

Highly recommended.

Check it out:

TV: Glorious and I are enjoying shows at the opposite ends of the emotional spectrum. Daredevil: Born Again continues to be an exceptionally engaging dark noir adventure, while rebinging Ted Lasso has been a much-needed balm to our frayed sense of hope for the world. Both are highly recommended for very different reasons but also have these things in common: each offers top quality writing, acting, directing, cinematography, and sound.

BOOKS: My reading this week has been equally divergent. Jeremy Egner’s BELIEVE The Untold Story Behind Ted Lasso the Show That Kicked Its Way into Our Hearts is light pop culture non-fiction that digs deep into the philosophy and influences of one of my current TV obsessions. It is quick, fun, and informative. Tananarive Due’s The Reformatory is gripping, oddly timely (sad to say but true), and a unrelenting page turner despite its length.

Both are highly recommended.

ONLINE: Glorious and I were relieved and happy that Garron Noone returned to social media after stepping away due to attacks in his comments. He is hilarious and charming and often rescues us from the news of the day. How’r’ya getting on, Garron? So glad you’re back!

FREAK OUT: We all know what we’re freaking out about these days, and it only differs slightly depending on our political affiliations. So instead, I’m going to offer up two pics that will hopefully make you laugh at my expense.

First, my eldest brother sent this pic of me from the early 70’s and old pics always seem funny looking:

Secondly, back when I was a teacher, a gifted student drew a pic of me that I seem to have grown into in reality:

I hope you got a bit of amusement out of them. We could all use a chuckle now and then.

Thanks for coming by. Talk atcha soon.