Overview
And here we are! The big month!
With December upon us, I figure it only fair to officially declare the Issue 7 release date. Rollout for our Winter 2023 installment begins December 18th and ends on the 22nd. A shake later than anticipated, but to coin an old phrase, if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well!
As always, art, audio engineering, and the writing/editing process rolls on at a pace. While we wait to share more, here’s a little teaser of things to come in the story of The Hunt, where the true nature of mysterious scavenger Glenn Atwood will yield devastating consequences for Valentina and her Hunters…
Before we go into our little diatribe of tastemaking, I do want to remind one and all that exciting things are happening over at IronAge Media.
ANVIL #3 is available for preorder, packed to the brim with 11 thrilling short stories and two dynamite comics, across all genres from fantasy to science-fiction to all-out adventure. And there might be a yarn by a certain metalhead worth reading as well!
Also of note is our very first music project, the compilation EP “First Strike” featuring the talents of such friends of the Force as JVP, Evaleigh, A.C. Pritchard, and ChillKid, plus music by yours truly! You can find it all at anvilmagazine.com.
Now, on with the cultah!
Streetwise Caviar
Let’s talk SEGA.
My reason for doing so is a bit of a weird, ephemeral one. I’ve had the privilege of playing some of the classics thanks to the collection of Genesis & Mega Drive titles on Steam (before the bastards delisted the classic Sonic titles, thank you very fucking much), and also have a gazillion titles I want to dredge up. Things like Moonwalker, Contra: Hard Corps, Chakan the Forever Man, and so on. But I often find myself not only bumping 80s & 90s SEGA music more nowadays, but also pining to incorporate, for lack of a better word, the aura of the company’s classic arcade and Genesis output into work on 365.
Part of it is that simple, sweet coziness of 16-bit gaming. The dazzling pixel art, the (largely) simple, straight-ahead gameplay, and of course, those soundtracks. That kind of universal nostalgia even the “always forward” boomer progress blinder-types can’t ignore. But part of it comes from my own curative instincts.
Everything about this particular sweet-spot period, where what started in 80s arcades with classics like Galaxy Force and OutRun and continued into 90s homes with beloved series like Streets of Rage and Sonic the Hedgehog carries with it a vibrancy and edge-of-your-seat quality I can’t get enough of. Part of it was the “attitude” element, a 90s staple, but the nonstop thrill-ride backed by pounding tunes and relayed via eye-watering color is an atmosphere of absolute intoxication.
All of this is a fancy, pretentious way of saying I love this shit to death and want more of it. Part of that may be a game or two set in the wonderful world of 365 Infantry, but I’d like to also figure out the alchemy of imbuing some of that feeling into my prose. When people try to use video games and movies as inspirations for their writing, it often becomes a reliance on tropes and contrivances that muddy up the story, or more often than not, the story reads more like a screenplay.
What I’m looking for is capturing that breathtaking color, that free-spirited, rollicking joyride, and getting those sensations down on the page. Maybe I already have it, maybe I’m on my way there, but in any case, it is one of things aspire to capture in my work. I’ll leave you with a little taste of the action from Contra Hard Corps so you can get that second-hand sensation.
And yes, I chose a longplay starring Brad Fang because…well…who the hell else would you expect for a series about CYBERPUNK WOLVES?
Byte of the Week
This week’s tale is a bit of a reflective piece, appropriately adorning the title of “Confessions of a White Coat”
It concerns an unknown hound who works for that most important task-force of scientists, taking a moment to just let his displeasure with the whole situation out. A life spent always at the beck-and-call of a grand machine and network. Her importance paramount, but her demands unwavering. Perhaps a bit of subconscious therapy on my part, but hey, who knows for sure?
May God Bless You and this Force. See you next time!