Adrift in a Sea Full of Fashion Forward Thoughts
Art by Mars Black
Earlier this week we had a new moon in Capricorn, Jewish tunnel chaos, Katt Williams exposing everyone in the comedy space, and supposed alien sightings at the mall. 2024 is off to an interesting start…
I’ve been having a plethora of fashion-based dreams mainly because I’ve been immersing myself in this space for research purposes. I reached out to a fashion columnist who gave me an extensive list of media to check out geared toward the type of book I want to produce. Fashion documentaries, fashion books, fashion influencers, fashion everything. I want Project Drip to be longer than my other books, more expansive, more emotionally charged, and sprawling.
Bullet Tooth preorders went live last week and I’m extremely pleased with the public reactions, love, and overall engagement. People are ordering the ebook, the normal edition as well as the Dark Oblivion edition. Just another reminder that only 50 of these bad boys will be printed so if you’ve been thinking about ordering a copy, I advise you to do so soon. A number of copies have already been ordered so get yours if you want a Wamack collector’s item.
Reviewers can download Bullet Tooth on BookSirens here and it was recently added to Netgalley here. I’m incredibly happy and thankful for the amount of people downloading it and showing interest. A couple of amazing reviews have come in and this one below made me a bit emotional.
Kusama-Infinity
I first learned about Yayoi Kusama’s existence last year thanks to her collabo with Louis Vuitton. I wanted to cop one of the wallets she designed, specifically this one, but it was insanely expensive. Nonetheless, this taurillon cowhide leather wallet with red dots opened me up to her world of hypnotic pop art. Her story is fascinating and her come-up in a male-dominated space was admirable/inspiring.
This documentary doesn’t overstay its welcome and helped me gain a deeper insight and understanding of the artist. It was cool seeing her love life with Joseph Cornell before he died and the evolution of her art. Another aspect of her story has to do with a core part of Project Bunny Bloodbath and it helped me figure out more aspects of the book. The pieces are coming together.
Less Than Zero Endeavors
So I’ve decided to finally read Bret Easton Ellis this year despite owning a copy of American Psycho for a million years. As a cool reading challenge to myself, I decided I would start with his first book Less Than Zero, which was released when he was still 21 and attending college. I would have called him a prodigy if I knew him at this time. I’m still in the first quarter of this book but damn can Ellis write his ass off, and I love the inclusion of fashion in just about every scene.
The other crazy thing is he nails the essence of LA from the jump. You would think a book written in 1985 would feel dated, but 2024 LA feels surprisingly similar. This aspect really surprised me. I’ll probably whip up some essays on each book, but so far I’m onboard with Ellis and can see why there’s endless hype about him.
Writing Updates
I’ve been thinking about what Broken River Books’ head honcho JDO said on TikTok about “the hangout principle” or you can read his post here. This idea that bestselling books have a certain rhythm and flow, but more importantly characters hang out a lot and this is what separates bestsellers from the average book on the shelf. The beginning of Project Bunny Bloodbath feels a bit rushed, but this principle is helping me slow down the narrative and consequently, allows readers to get know the characters on a deeper level.
Also, I had the weird realization yesterday that I might have to write a sequel to Bullet Tooth at some point. People seem to be fucking with it already and the idea of writing Bullet Tooth 2 gave me a severe wave of anxiety. Why? Because I had no idea what the concept would be. However, I processed my emotions and about an hour later the core concept came to me. A new city, a new set of characters ready to be sucked into Bullet Tooth’s seductive song. I’m excited though. So yeah, I’ll be writing this sometime this year as well as finishing up The Motorpapi Chronicles 2. Two sequels in production for your headtop.
Currently Watching: Love, Death & Robots Season 3 & Lost Season 1 & Invincible Season 2 & Ballers Season 4
Season 4 of Ballers has gone off the rails. It’s almost cartoonish at this point, where they try to up the stakes every season, but it’s beginning to lose my interest, sadly.
Currently Reading: Full Throttle by Joe Hill & Cosmic Horror Monthly #2 & An Altar of Stories to Liminal Saints by Rios de la Luz and Pedo Island Bloodbath by Duncan Ralston & Less Than Zero by Brett Easton Ellis
The OG herself, Charlene Elsby, sent me a BIG box of books and candles earlier this week so I made a video on tiktok, documenting the experience. I guess you can say it’s an unboxing video. You can watch it here.
Currently Smoking: CLSCS Pre-roll
Listening: The Danny Brown Podcast, Back from the Borderline, The Higherside Chats, Agitator, Mutual Aberration Society, Victory Light, and Lost Xplorers
I love eem triplin’s overall aesthetic—the vibrant colors, the cool fonts, soulful production, and melodic raps about his love life. I don’t see many young artists coming to the table so fully formed and in control of their vision.
This song is so hard, I almost couldn’t handle it. The dreamy yet hypnotic production sucks you into TiaCorine’s laidback flow and I’m a sucker for laidback flows. I also appreciate the golden retriever leaning on the window ledge like he’s trying to hear ole girl spit too.
I haven’t heard the name Johnny Polygon in ages, but it’s good to see him still making music. He’s still go the juice and sometimes one minute is all you need to make a good song.
Rome Streetz is a such a natural spitta, I can’t help but respect it. That boy said santeria in your speakers while talking about conspiracy theories and street politics. The video is dark, muddy, and beautiful.
Until next time…
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