Issue 186: Community
Vicious Shivers is the official newsletter for fans of my work. Thank you for subscribing. Please share it with others if you think they might be interested!
Another week, another instance of almost forgetting my newsletter! Actually, I can’t claim that completely. I was thinking of the newsletter yesterday and even started setting it up. For some reason, though, my desktop HATES Substack. I lost everything. I can only get the platform to work on my iPad. So I blame this one on technology.
Over the weekend, I trekked over to Columbia, Missouri, to do a signing at Distant Planet Comics and Collectibles. I had a tremendous time. I met a lot of terrific folks and had many terrific conversations. And I’m so glad the shop invited me out.
It’s been a minute since I’ve done a signing in a shop, but one of the things that always strikes me at a really amazing store is the sense of community the shop fosters. Unless they had never been in the store before, the store owners knew everyone who walked through the door. They knew their names. They knew the books they liked. They knew the books they didn’t like. They knew what to suggest and recommend. This is a hallmark of a great store.
That feeling of community is something I want to illuminate in my own work—with social media (if I can figure out the new landscape), with this newsletter, with my Patreon, and with my Discord. I truly value and appreciate all the support readers have thrown my way. I hope that shows. And I want to give some measure back. If you have other suggestions for things I can do, please sound off!
Last week was crazy busy for me. Not a Scriptpocalypse, though maybe it should have been. I was exceptionally productive, not only with scripting, but with several other projects, too!
I’ve been working on a role-playing/prose/horror project for Outer Shadows called THE GALLERY OF WHISPERS (so far, I’ve been calling it PROJECT: GALLERY, but no need for secrecy here). I managed to make a TON of headway on that front. It’s very close to moving forward.
I also did a lot of work on THE COMPLETE SHORT FICTION OF CULLEN BUNN, pouring over almost every short story I’ve ever written. I think there are nearly 100 in the mix, 300,000 words or so, most of which have been published but a handful that have never seen the light of day. Maybe, just maybe, that’s been for the best. But—caution, I cast thee to the wind! When the complete collection comes out, it will include many of the first stories I ever tried to write. Every story will be accompanied by some thoughts on where the piece came from, what I remember about writing it, and how I feel about it these days.
In addition, I started outlining a few new projects, one of which just got the go-ahead a few days ago.
And I responded to a ton of emails, interviews, and other non-writing/creating responsibilities.
All in all, I can’t complain about the amount of work I finished up. I’m hoping I can do it again this week!
Last night, I posted the first in a new series of livestreams. It was a little clunky for me, as all livestreams are at first, but we had a lot of questions from my Patreon supporters and then still had time for questions from other members of the audience! I think we covered a lot of great ground! We’ll be doing it again in a couple of weeks. If you missed the stream, you can watch a replay here—
Tomorrow, my kid starts 10th grade. Wow. He’s got his learner’s permit now, too. Double wow.
I was talking to my pal JimmyZ a couple of days ago, and he said something that really stuck with me. “Cullen,” he said, “I’ve had birthdays, school reunions, anniversaries. None of it made me feel older… or even older. But when I found myself sitting in the passenger seat of my own car with my oldest child driving—that’s when I felt old for the first time.”
To other parents whose kids are starting school this week—I’m wishing you the very best during this hectic time.
Aw, Hell.
This means the coffee shop is gonna be crazily busy in the mornings for the next week.
Thanks for reading! I’ll see you here again next week!
MAGIC: THE GATHERING - NOTORIOUS #1
Two of the most popular Planeswalkers in Magic: The Gathering history- fan favorite vampire Sorin Markov and the incomparable necromancer Liliana Vess, come together for a team-up that's not to be missed!
On a mysterious, unnamed plane, the two must work together to prevent a diabolical figure from unleashing hell on not only the residents of their plane of imprisonment… but other planes as well.
Superstar writer Cullen Bunn (Basilisk) brings his love for Magic to the page alongside a story featuring the incomparably mysterious Planeswalkers Oko and Calix by acclaimed writer Rich Douek (Breath of Shadows) and artists French Carlomagno (The Dead Lucky) and Carlos Pedro (Elephantmen 2260)!
I’ve been fan of Magic for a long, long time. Way back when, I played with beta cards and then unlimited. In fact, it was because I started ordering the cards for myself that Waldenbooks started carrying the cards nationwide. It was a lot of fun playing in that universe, and the story absolutely calls back to some of my earliest adventures playing the game.
I started re-reading the R.A. Salvatore Drizzt books this week. I haven’t read any of them in 30 years at least. And there are dozens now that I’ve never read. I gotta say, reading the first of the bunch has brought back so many memories and so much delight for me.
Here is a quick and dirty list of upcoming projects. In most cases, I’m only listing projects that are definitely on the schedule with a published. Oftentimes, I will not be able to share much information, but I can at least tease the future! Everything here is, of course, subject to change.
AUGUST 2023
DEATH OF THE VENOMVERSE 1 - 5 (weekly)
DOOR TO DOOR, NIGHT BY NIGHT #8
DISPLACEMENT
MAGIC: THE GATHERING - NOTORIOUS
REANIMATOR: THE ETERNAL LIE, Part 2
SEPTEMBER 2023
BLOODBORNE: THE BLEAK DOMINION #1
OCTOBER 2023
REGRESSION: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION
BLOODBORNE: THE BLEAK DOMINION #2
THE MIDNITE SHOW #1
CULLEN BUNN’S BODY BAG #1
NOVEMBER 2023
LAMENTATION TPB
THE MIDNITE SHOW #2
BLOODBORNE: THE BLEAK DOMINION #3
DECEMBER 2023
INVASIVE #1
THE MIDNITE SHOW #3
BLOODBORNE: THE BLEAK DOMINION #4
JANUARY 2024
BEYOND MORTAL Trade Paperback
THE MIDNITE SHOW #4
INVASIVE #2
THE UNKNOWN FUTURE…
PROJECT: JUMP, a new comic book series in the Beyond Mortal Universe.
PROJECT: HEX, a supernatural/horror thriller.
PROJECT: HORROR, a licensed horror comic.
I’LL KILL YOU LAST - An 80s action/horror fiction anthology I’m editing.
GALLER OF WHISPERS - An RPG project I’ve been quietly developing.
PROJECT: PREHISTORY - More kaiju craziness
PROJECT: MEGA-BATTLE - Even More kaiju craziness
PROJECT: BOT - A sequel to a story of robotic mischief
PROJECT: WATER HEATER - An apocalyptic horror/fantasy maxi-series
PROJECT: RUSH - A horror prose anthology I’m editing
BLOODBLADE - An action/horror story of destiny and demonic blood
PROJECT: CONVOY - A horror/thriller I’m co-writing
PROJECT: ARCANA - a dark fantasy series
PROJECT: MONSTER - a new horror/action/comedy series
PROJECT: HOAX - a horror limited series
PROJECT: DEAD - a short comic story
PROJECT: VARIANT - a really cool one-shot project
PROJECT: G - a new ongoing series
130 pages of comic book scripts (1710 in 2022)
0 feature length screenplay (0 in 2022)
0 half-hour comedy pilot (1 in 2022)
0 short film script (1 in 2022)
0 short stories (9 in 2022)
0 novellas (0 in 2022)
10 two-sentence horror stories (10 in 2022)
0 new comic book series proposals (29 in 2022)
0 podcast proposals (0 in 2022)
0 essays (0 in 2022)
1 foreword for upcoming graphic novels (0 in 2022)
0 television series proposal (0 in 2022)
SEPTEMBER 9, 2023 - Signing at B&B Collections, Jonesboro AR
SEPTEMBER 16 - 17, 2023 - Extremicon, St. Roberts MO
SEPTEMBER 30 - OCTOBER 1 - Cowtown Comic Convention, Fort Worth TX
THE SHOCK SHOP - My online store, where you can find exclusive covers you can only get directly from me!
TWITTER - This is the best place to interact with me online. My handle is @cullenbunn
TIKTOK - A fun spot for quick videos about writing, comics, and collecting
PATREON - Here, I post a serialized novel, a serialized comic book, short stories, and other cool materials.
THE CULLEN BUNN DISCORD SERVER - A place for fans to hang out and talk about comics, books, movies, games, collecting, and whatever else strikes their fancy.
THE BUNNGALOW - Cindy and I talk about life, hot button topics, pop culture, being married to a comic book writer and EVERYTHING in between.