RED LIGHT BYTES: The Return
"It Is Happening Again..."
Welcome to 2025, and Welcome Back to 365 INFANTRY.
This is a bit different than last year. One, because I’m coming back earlier than usual, and Two, because of what this year will be bringing. To get the last of it out of my system, last year was a good year, but it could’ve been better. Naturally, that falls to a lot of things, but above all else, it is matter of approaching my work on this series with a healthy mindset. Approaching it with a completely changed mindset to how I was thinking last year.
While I’m intent on growing this series, I need to grow it in a way that ensures longevity without the burnout. Trend-chasing on social media and piggybacking off of big-name IPs whose most recent works I enjoy happen to predate my birth; that’s all gone. I’ll still be posting updates on X and banging the drum on stuff I do like and want you to support, but I am putting more focus on Substack, and on cultivating a better sense of community in Discord.
Even though I am currently juggling a lot of extracurriculars, from relaunching YouTube (again) to gigging on other people’s stuff, I can’t do the modern socials shuffle of “scream about [INSERT NEWS ITEM]” or strategically poach off replies. There are other people with far more stamina and far more established than I. One less “culture warrior” won’t implode the movement’s chances. The sheer volume of work I aim to do beyond this series can’t sustain those twitchy-eyed e-drama hysterics, and I myself can’t as a person.
Similarly, even with all the military lingo and action-packed attitude of the series, the Discord server is meant to be a chill-out clubhouse. A place to kick back, relax, chat about fun art, games, entertainment, what have you. My recent journey back into genuine mindfulness (not to mention the fever-pitch of last year in many respects) has made this matter one of utmost importance. If you need a place to slow down and gab with someone about that book you just read or a new album you dig, we’d love to have you on Base. Link expires in a week.
Now, about the series.
As mentioned in private emails to subscribers, I’ve got a LOT planned, hence why I’m pulling back from the frenetic nature of social media. A well-devised, nicely made ad campaign has a better chance of landing if I’m not spending a bazillion hours screaming into the void. We are remounting the Kickstarter to fund the rest of the series this year, working on a free version of our audio show Alan Firedale, and a series of video primers explaining the basics of 365 INFANTRY, its world and its characters. Something a little more eye-catching and digestible than two articles.
We also have our 2024 Annual Collection rocketing down the pipeline. While January came and went in the blink of an eye, we’re still intent on delivering it this month, and I am officially holding back Volume 2 of our Electric Anthology series of flash stories for the campaign, so it’s all about the big book this month. All 20 of last year’s riveting stories, plus our 100th story, and a very special exclusive, “Road to Renewal.”
This chronicles the adventures of my once-nameless road warrior Camionera as she and her adopted pup Corre journey to the settlements west, finding themselves a part of a new family and defending it at a great cost. This unique adventure tale combines full-page comic art and our classic brand of expressive prose expanding on one of my favorite creations last year in a rewarding, yet self-contained package. Kevin’s been hammering away on this to great results.
I do wish I had a finished date set in stone, but between delays in this and the cover art, I am going to say for now “it is done when it is done, and hopefully soon.”
Also ahead of our 12th issue and our fundraiser will be a serious shakeup to how we handle pricing and production on our books and magazines. I’m still working on uniformed formatting across our collections and quarterlies, and I have found a solution to the bane of my existence: Kindle Create.
My good friend and founder of Go West: Frontier Adventures, Spenser Rudolph, taught me a trick about how to make a “print replica” eBook, essentially using the Create software to code the PDF into a readable form on Kindle devices. I am going to undertake the effort of reformatting all our titles with this method. Not just to save me the future hassle (though that alone would be reason enough), but to also preserve my preferred layout designs for our various ranges.
Also, once these are created, my new rule for Quarterly eBooks will be to list all at the regular, everyday low-price of $0.99 USD. I am going to be bumping all listings down a cent in the spirit of this pricing shift, but the big reason I’m making the Quarterly eBooks that bare-minimum is because of the same-old commitment I’ve been badgering on about since this project’s inception.
REAL PULP FUN AT REAL PULP PRICES.
There’s a lot of talk about value in this business, about not devaluing your work. And to be blunt, a lot of cajoling in order to get people to cross your palms with silver. And truth be told, I do value my work. I put a lot of work, passion, and craft into 365 INFANTRY. Had any other guy been making this, they would’ve given up Year 1. I believe in these books being on people’s shelves, and so I make the best damn collections I can, and regularly work to improve them.
However, while I can’t control the cost of paper, printing, shipping and all the rest, I can still ensure that this magazine behaves in as close a manner to the rags of yore, the Doc Savages and Shadows of the Golden Age back when those pennies on the dollar really counted. And in the digital age, there is no closer equivalent than a cheap eBook. An old-time physical edition is a novelty act (one I’d pay to produce if I could get a genuine traditional painter for the covers), but the closest to a real pulp is putting out those digital versions for as low as I can go. I will be shouting this deal from the rooftops once everything is in place.
Lastly, astute readers may catch the reference made at the top of this newsletter:
This isn’t another eulogy or a special spotlight, but just a moment to remind you all why I handle this project the way I do. Why I hold it so dearly even when I let it burn my hands the way it did last year. Because a true passion project, a true work of intuition, of unencumbered creativity, is something to be cherished, treasured, and protected.
I didn’t realize it until that fateful day midway through last month, but the kind of freedom I afford myself with 365 is the kind of freedom I see in the works of David Lynch. Not that we hold stylistic similarities or thematic similarities (squint and you’ll find overlap in old-time rock-n-roll and classic cars), but because Lynch never gave less than 110% of himself to his vision, and he rarely compromised. His commitment to the fluidity of inspiration, his spur-of-the-moment orchestrating of ideas, and that all culminating into a singular, striking vision that still defies strict classification to this day.
I’m sticking with this project, and making room for plenty more, because it is through this that I’ve been able to find my creative voice in a myriad of mediums. And I’m sticking with this project, because I’ve seen what can happen when you stay true to that voice, and to your work ethic. You could become a David Lynch. I don’t have enough ego to say I’m at that level yet, but I got just enough to try for it. And so we shall!
As always: May God Bless You & This Force. Be seeing you soon!
