Red Light Bytes: 7-7-2023

Back Behind The Wheel!

This Week

Overview

To coin a phrase:

But in all seriousness, welcome one and all! July is here, summer is in full swing, and pulp fun is back on the menu! And in case our Independence Day special 4th in the 25th wasn’t proof enough, I’ve got a little WIP that shows how our hands here at HQ weren’t idle during the break.

From The Avenger’s Creed. Art by Kevin John Jacob

While we keep plugging away on this beaut, we don’t have too much to share otherwise. All five of the stories for Issue 6 (Sept. 2023), have been roughly plotted, as well as the next episode of Alan Firedale: Desert Delinquent. Work continues on Steeled Spies as well.

On the subject of the week-long rollout, I’m gonna renege on the matter of polling. I’m quite content in making it the official method of releasing the magazine, if only because you all still showed up! We have been steadily growing in readership and not once did our numbers tank. Some stories were read more than others, but by God, were they all read. Thanks to all who showed up during that sweet week in June, and if you have any thoughts about the week-long rollout, leave us a comment down below!

In the meantime though, we do have a few more things to spice up the running order here on the newsletter…

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.

  • Available on Amazon in paperback ($10 USD) and eBook ($5 USD)

  • Available on Lulu in paperback ($10 USD) and eBook ($5 USD)

• 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!

  • Available on Teepublic

  • Available on Redbubble

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 $50 USD alone! A full yearly subscription no less!

Streetwise Caviar

Had you there for a second, didn’t I?

Yes friends, I’m bringing back my humble little corner of curation. Partly because I’ve had the chance to enjoy more wonderful works of art, and partly because of the immaculate job done over on fellow Substack magazine

Pulp, Pipe, & Poetry

, which I highly encourage you all to support.

This week (and every week thereafter), there will be a special Spotify playlist of tunes for you to enjoy. I probably won’t do the YouTube playlists again unless I have some major deep cuts to unleash.

This week, just a welcoming present. Ten tracks of metallic might, punk angst, and a splash of velvet-voiced New Wave, all bookended by the Voice of Rock himself, Glenn Hughes!

And because I’m riding on a special kind of high, I’ll also share a special little film, one of many.

One night, friend and series consultant Theo Schaefer and I were having a call. He brought to my attention a story by science fiction writer Ward Moore. It’s called “Flying Dutchman,” it first appeared in the 1951 anthology Adventures in Tomorrow (which can be loaned from the Internet Archive), and it concerned an autopiloted aircraft carrying out man’s unending wargame in their absence. A startling piece of speculative fiction that lodged in the back of my mind.

And it was with Moore’s haunting work in mind that I watched the strikingly animated 1977 Soviet short Polygon, directed by Anatoly Petrov and based on a story by Sever Gansovsky. It is a tale of automation, revenge, and the consequences of both in combination. And in a way, is a prelude to “Flying Dutchman.” Do enjoy this Cold War marvel!

Byte of the Week

What do you do when you don’t know what to write? Write what you know!

“Paging Mr. Winshaw” is probably the first real meta piece I’ve done for the series, and not without good reason. I thought it only fair that, since I introduced him in passing via the story “Festival Prelude” on the 4th that I acquaint you all with the in-world creator of our audio series Alan Firedale, Stan Winshaw.

This is a little snippet of his life. I hope you enjoy.

As always, May God Bless You and This Force. See you next time!