The Trail Cam of My Heart
I closed my eyes in bed and heard a distinct voice saying “you need to listen to the movements.” Movements on movements. Squiggly vibrant lines wavered beneath my eyelids like a summertime hallucination. I pictured a black jazz musician saying this with a ‘70s cool cadence that can’t be replicated in 2024.
This happened a few nights ago when I was hovering on the bridge between sleep and wakefulness. I’m in a strange transitional time. This would be the 6 of swords if you were to ask the tarot deck. Picture me wandering through a dark forest, eye blazing with a fiery light, my heart the only compass giving me a dim sense of direction. I know the sun will rise and the weird sounds will fade away, but we trudge forward, branches scratching my exposed skin and strange creatures squirming through the grass.
Creatively, I continue to experience major shifts. There are multiple projects on deck, but I’m taking my time with everything. Every book that I’ve dropped is high quality, but could they have been better if I gave them the proper time and space. Now, this doesn’t mean I’m going to work 10 years on something, but I’m taking that imaginary pressure off myself and allowing the work to grow organically. I truly believe the end product will be so much better for it.
With that said, please believe The Motorpapi Chronicles Book 2 will still be dropping sometime this summer. So take that as an incentive to scoop up book 1 Melancholy’s Finest in the meantime.
Mongrels
I recently finished riding Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones and it was an incredible experience. I can’t tell you how many times I cried during this novel. Jones approaches the werewolves trope with such sincerity and a tender touch, it’s shifted my view of horror writing in a variety of ways. Werewolves always seemed somewhat pulpy to me, but he answers all the questions you never had surrounding the lore, biology, and family dynamics. SGJ is a great teacher without directly teaching me in the classroom or a workshop. One of my favorite reads of 2024. I can’t stop thinking about this damn book…
Talismans
Usyk is bringing a unique talisman into his upcoming battle against the Gypsy King Tyson Fury. It only makes sense— his daughter is uncorrupted by certain belief systems and I guarantee you that stuff Eyore is super charged with pure luck and positive intentions. Usyk might have the secret sauce, but we’ll see what happens when he steps into the ring May 18th.
Foul Black Rookeries
“Foul Black Rookeries is a small collection of short stories with a brilliant yet uncompromising imagination and colossal prose. You’ll find an intermingling of urban grit with old school horror sensibilities that only Simmons could cook up. These stories will cut you with a surgeon’s precision and unearth emotions you didn’t even know were lying dormant."
-- Grant Wamack, author of Bullet Tooth & God’s Leftovers
The fifth volume in the BRUISER Zines series, Foul Black Rookeries is a collection of four stories by Baltimore writer David Simmons. Printed and assembled in Baltimore, this limited edition zine is a startling portrait of Baltimore as seen through Simmons' grimy lens, taking the warts-and-all approach of crime fiction and pushing it somewhere stranger and more terrifying.
I had the pleasure of blurbing David Simmons’ latest collection. You can buy it here.
Bullet Tooth Love
Buy Bullet Tooth here.
Currently Watching: Love, Death & Robots Season 3 & Blue Eye Samurai
Currently Reading: Cosmic Horror Monthly #3 & Less Than Zero by Brett Easton Ellis and Bedlam by Charlene Elsby & Bad Foundations by Brian Allen Carr & Writing Screenplays that Sell by Michael Hauge & Gemini Rising by Justin Lutz
Currently Smoking: CLCS Darker Side of the Berry preroll
Listening: The Danny Brown Podcast, Back from the Borderline, The Higherside Chats, Agitator, Mutual Aberration Society, Victory Light, and Lost Xplorers
Saba linking up with NO ID is an incredible fusion of musical forces. “head.rap” is a celebration of black culture and Saba’s own journey with his hair. A beautiful song that is both empowering and uplifting. Good vibes all around.
Larry June is on his luxurious smooth shit as usual with “Meet Me In Napa.” Here he raps about meeting his side piece in Napa Valley where it’s safe to assume they’ll be having sex and sipping wine. He thinks about the prospect of her being his main girl in another life, but not this one.
This beat sounds like you’re taking a elevator down into the second level of hell and the anticipation/tension is at an all-time high. EBK Jaaybo floats on the beat and lets you know he’s the true boogieman in true Cali fashion. Throw this song on repeat in the gym.
The flat-earther B.O.B. has been missing from the game for a hot minue and pops back out on “Steve Harvey” to answer all of your questions. B.O.B. glides on this jazzy energetic beat while every dances in the club. Ghetto exuberance and digestible conspiracy raps.
Until next time…
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For business inquiries & blurb requests email grantwamack@gmail.com
