Red Light Bytes: 7-28-2023
Catching Up on the Latest with 365 Infantry
Overview
As July comes to a close, we’re nearing the finish line with first drafts for Issue 6, and revisions, recording, and illustration all yet to be done. We’re working hard here at HQ to deliver another exciting collection of terrific tales, and we can’t wait to share more as we get closer to September.
ICYMI: I recently did an interview with the great Nicky P of Iron Age Marketing chatting all about the work done here as well as the marketing side of things. I consider this to be one of the best interviews I’ve ever given, warts and all. I hope you enjoy, and don’t forget to support Iron Age Marketing on YouTube.
With all that said, let’s get on with the main event!
New Releases!
Steeled Spies #4: One Hacked Reality - The hound once thought both a friend (and dead) not only reemerges, but is the catalyst for a brain-breaking set of revelations that may very well change the nature of Steele’s mission. Read on to learn more!
Solar Joint Stories #3: The Tale of the Med-Hub Hound - Sit down, have a drink, and lend an ear as a working wolf tells all about the life of a medical worker in the 25th century. It’s anything but business as usual…
Renegades Reconstructed! The Original Concept for 365 Infantry - For the very first time, rediscover the original 2017 plans for what ultimately became the wolven cyberpulp series here today, including the original setting, story concept, and all elements retained in the final living product as it stands!
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!
Now, for the first time ever.
Inspired by the likes of
at with Talestack News and with the terrificit’s our latest addition…From the Frontlines!
A quick rundown of all the cool goings-on in the wonderful world of indie entertainment. No preamble, no pretenses, just awesomeness.
RAISE THE HAMMER! - ANVIL #2 is officially fundraising over on FundMyComic. The breakout fiction magazine has been garnering a great deal of love and support from those who believe in the Iron Age of entertainment, and we want to keep that train a-rolling. For full disclosure, I’m one of the three work-horses over at the IronAge Media foundry, so there is plenty of self-interest in seeing this bad boy through, but we’ve culled from the very best to make a thrilling and macabre issue. Back it ASAP.
INVINCIBLE UNDER HEAVEN! - Friend of the Force Kit Sun Cheah is back at it again on Indiegogo with the climax to one of his best-loved series. Books 4-6 of the Saga of the Swordbreaker are crowdfunding now to bring to an action-packed end to a tremendous journey. In a cyberpunk twist on Xianxia, Li Ming looks to regain his purpose and continue his cultivation through martial training. Cheah is also cross-promoting with fellow anthro production Jiao Tu's Endeavour by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt, a space-set wuxia series starring a lagomorph warrior on a colony ship adrift in space. Get out there and show some love to two maestros of pulp magic!
LAST CHANCE, HEROES! - The days are growing short and the deadlines coming fast. If you haven’t already, go back Cirsova Publishing’s thrilling new anthology The Mighty Sons of Hercules over on Kickstarter. Eight warriors, eight riveting tales, all penned by eight talented craftsmen. For those who love the sword-and-sandal escapades of old, or those in need of hot-blooded peplum-fueled pulp adventure, this is the collection to beat, and it CANNOT happen with out YOUR HELP! Campaign ends on July 31st at 10 PM EST.
DEMOING HEAVEN & HELL! - Argentinian unfiction project Valle Verde released Part 2 last week (Part 1 available here) and I consider it to be an absolute paragon of the power of dedication to one’s craft. Faithful in the extreme to its PSX aesthetics and bold in its mixed-media approach, Valle Verde is an on-going horror story about a corrupted game that always zags where you think it will zig, relaying biblical concepts in a way never before seen as we see scores of play-testing footage go awry. A tremendous passion project worth watching and supporting. Lend a hand to the creator Alluvium over on Patreon and don’t forget to subscribe to their channel!
Streetwise Caviar
This week’s playlist is “Rocking in the Old World”
Ten tracks of old-time rock-n-roll from as far back as ‘56 all the way up to ‘71. Equal parts rhythm-and-blues, British Invasion and psychedelia, this playlist could very well be a tape slammed in a hot-rodder’s car stereo somewhere out on the Wasteland plains.
This week’s recommendation comes from a place of both speculative fiction and animation. A story of technology, ever the obedient servant, finally forced to reconcile the absence of the people it once tended to.
The 1984 Soviet adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains.”
Pulled from the legendary science fiction tome The Martian Chronicles, director Nazim Tulyahodzhayev rips out any of the whimsy inherent in other presentations. Here, the hour is not metronomically doled out in five-second jingles. Here, a long arm descends upon the bombed-out house to tend to the ashes of those once there, and now no longer. And where an accident ultimately damns the dependable machines to their fate in prose, here, the lone sign of life in the form of a dove-like bird sends the arm into a fit of madness, destroying itself as it finally realizes that it is alone.
A distinct, unique, and sobering take on the original story in the heat of the Cold War. Props to YouTuber Deviant Studios who remastered the short and opted to matte it in 2.35, resulting in a beautiful, quasi-CinemaScope quality to the film.
Conclusions
Just here to say thank you one and all for the support. It means the world to me and everyone involved here. As always, May God Bless You and this Force.
See you in August!