Red Light Bytes: 7-21-2023
Catching Up on the Latest with 365 Infantry
Overview
Welcome back to our humble little corner of the internet, where I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. And it’s not even December!
We’ve made progress, we’ve got awesome things to share, and we are living our best life here at HQ, thanks to a supremely gracious donation to our Ko-fi fundraiser which has taken us to 66% FUNDED for the year. It’s been slow going, but Godspeed to General Weefy for keeping the ship afloat.
If you love what we do, please donate what you can over on Ko-fi! Donations start for as little as $1 USD and your contribution helps keep the main series free for all. Don’t forget to check out the “Supporting the Force!” section of these newsletters for all the ways you can keep our tanks full in these trying times.
Without further ado, let’s dive in.
Updates
WRITING! - All six stories for Issue 6 (better not slip a third one in there!) have been spearheaded, alongside work on our monthly series “Solar Joint Stories” and the latest edition of “Steeled Spies.” This clinically deranged workload is currently being addressed via the proper means.
COMICS! - Lead artist Kevin John Jacob just delivered roughs for pages 2 and 3 of our short one-shot “The Avenger’s Creed.” Work will be halted on it once we start production on Fall 2023 art, and then picked back up afterwards. We aim to have it done before the year’s end for both publication here and in our 2023 Annual Collection. Stay tuned on the funny book front!
What are you looking forward to seeing most in this next round of electric excitement? Let us know in the comments below!
Supporting the Force!
Here are all the awesome ways you can help us out and keep us rolling in the fight for quality independent entertainment:
FOR SALE
Subscription on Substack - At just $5/Month or $50/Year, gain access to all exclusive stories, comics, audio adventures, behind-the-scenes content & more! Founding members under our “General of the Armies” plan ($100/Year) gain access to free digital products like eBooks and music.
The 2022 Annual Collection - Collect all 24 of last year’s electric tales and bonus novelette “Lions Among the Lambs” in this special print collection.
Alan Firedale: Original Soundtrack Vol. 1 - Dig into the wild world of a young loner and his magnificent machine with this half-hour blend of vintage electronica and classic orchestral radio scoring. Buyers get THREE FREE MONTHS of 365 Infantry’s paid membership.
Available on Bandcamp ($5 USD)
Wolves of Steel - Rock hard and ride free with the official anthem of the 365th Infantry, an epic metallic instrumental in the killer tradition of classic acts like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple.
Available on Bandcamp ($3 USD)
Merchandising, Merchandising! - Buy our quality range of designs on everything from shirts to mugs to posters and more!
NO VICTORY BONDS? NO PROBLEM!
Donate via Ko-fi - Our goal is to raise $900 USD to cover all basic production costs for the rest of 2023. This includes three issues worth of art. We have raised $100 of our goal, with $800 left to go!
Minimum Amount on Ko-fi is $1 USD
Donate via PayPal.Me - All donations made here will count towards our goal on Ko-fi. Big or small, we welcome them all!
No minimum amount on PayPal.Me
We encourage contributions of 25 cents ($0.25 USD) to keep in the spirit of our pulp magazine roots. If everyone subscribed to 365, as of today, dropped us an American quarter, that would be over $65 USD alone! More than a full annual subscription!
Streetwise Caviar
This week’s playlist is both an addendum to our behind-the-scenes article Upping the Irons! and a request from reader Xavier.
This week’s theme: The Voices of Metröpolis!
Ten kickass tracks to better help reflect the musical identity of each member of the fearsome power trio. The Motörhead tracks reflect Nic Ridgefield’s Lemmy-inspired style and the overall feel of the band, the W.A.S.P. tracks featuring the monstrous Blackie Lawless summarize the hellion shriek of Rory “Madskins” Armstrong, and the remainder of tunes from Alcatrazz, Rainbow, and MSG reflect the planet-smashing power of Graham Bonnet, the inspiration behind guitar god-in-the-making Harry “Richter” Garret and his iron lungs.
This week’s recommendation is a broad one, but also something of a footnote for our behind-the-scenes article Stand By for Action! It isn’t a series by England’s own Gerry Anderson, but one inspired by him. From 1980, it’s Go Nagai’s X-Bomber, best remembered by UK fans as 1982’s Star Fleet!
From the godfather of modern mecha comes a series equal parts Star Wars, tokusatsu, and Anderson-influenced. A puppeteered space opera serial following the crew of X-Bomber, an experimental craft from the Earth Defense Force (EDF! EDF! EDF!) sent out to discover the mystery of F-Zero-One, powerful force hunted by the villainous Commander Makara who will stop at nothing to obtain it for the Imperial Alliance!
I’ll refer to it as Star Fleet from here on out, but whether you dig the Japanese original featuring music by the great Bow Wow or the charming redubbed English release that would inspire Queen’s Brian May to round up some rock legends for this insanity, Star Fleet is an electric blend of stylish puppetry, action-packed storytelling, and classic Japanese effects magic is a joy to behold.
runs an amazing tribute blog here on Substack called that everyone should subscribe to.
While the Japanese original seems to have gotten memory-holed after a super limited run from Discotek Media, you can still find the Fabulous Films Region 2 set out in the wild for fair prices, and joy of joys, Brian May has finally rereleased the Star Fleet Project!
And if you just want to experience Star Fleet for yourself, you can find the English-language version on both YouTube and the Internet Archive.
Before I go, I want veer out of the sci-fi genre to shout-out friend of the Force Cirsova Publishing! They are in the process of raising funds for their latest anthology The Mighty Sons of Hercules, a salute to classic Italian adventure cinema of the sword-and-sandal variety. Eight pulp tales of strongmen in times long since past waging war on horrific monsters and dastardly villains, and featuring cover art by our very own Kevin John Jacob! You got 10 DAYS to get in on the action-packed fun. Show them some love and support in the ongoing fight for killer independent entertainment!
Byte of the Week
This week’s story is something I want to get better about writing: straight-up adventure stories. I don’t write nearly enough of these, especially as flash form.
In the white-knuckled escapade Pop Was a Rock-Climber, gray father Buck Sterling and son Junior get caught in a terrifying scavenger trap. What no one counted on was Sterling’s skillful driving and how far he’d go to keep his son safe. A short, sweet little chapter in the Dudes Rock canon of fiction, and another example of Wasteland parenting at its finest.
Dig in and enjoy!
As always, May God Bless You and this Force. See you next time!