Ok, major updates on the release of my new novel SKULL SLIME TENTACLE WITCH WAR incoming!
FIRST, we have a release date: JULY 8.
Yeah, it’s a little later than I hoped. But I would rather a small delay that lets us make sure the book is pretty much perfect instead of rushing things.
Shout out to Anxiety Press for putting out this weird little book!
If you’re a subscriber to this newsletter, you’ll be among the first to know when purchasing a copy is possible.
SECOND, part of what took so long was finalizing the THIRTEEN full-page illustrations that appear in the book, including SLOPP, pictured above.
I’ve been drawing weird little creatures and shit since I was a little kid but never thought of my stuff as good enough to put out there in the world for others to see. Then all this A.I. crap started happening, so I decided to get over my anxieties and put my 100% human-made drawings out there, flaws and all. Consider my art a loogie in the eye of A.I.
THIRD, oh my god, I’ve been lucky enough to get blurbs for this book from some of my favorite authors. I kind of can’t believe it – authors whose work is truly inspiring to me not only read my demented little book, but also wrote nice things about it! I’m a twerpy nobody, y’know? THEY DON’T HAVE TO DO THAT. But they did.
Here’s one from Oliver Zarandi:
“Rick Claypool’s latest is a sort of mucosal fable. Dark, gloopy and hilarious, imagine 80s Verhoeven body horror meets the knife-sharp staccato prose of James Ellroy, with a dash of Beckett for absurd measure. A very funny and very weird book.” -Oliver Zarandi, author of Soft Fruit In The Sun
If you’re not familiar with Oliver’s work OH MY GOD stop everything and read “Blood!” over at X-R-A-Y Lit and buy his book.
I’m still working out the details for the book launch reading party thing — I’ll share more as July approaches!
THE FORAGED STRANGE
Here’s some stuff I’ve loved that’s all kinds of steeped in absurdist horror flavors:
GRIME TIME by IVY GRIMES - hilarious, succinct, and upsetting, I loved this collection and now I want to read everything by Ivy. She has a rad newsletter too.
BEAU IS AFRAID - wouldn’t normally put a Hollywood movie from last year in here but HOLY SHIT this was incredible (except at three hours I think it would have worked better as a TV mini series than a movie).
PETE by DT ROBBINS - what a story! Gross, upsetting, horny, and heartfelt, this is one of the most fun things I’ve read in a while. The end is perfection.
OK THAT’S IT!
Catch yunz all later.
Rick
P.S. OH WAIT ONE MORE THING! Psycho Holosuite did a wild little speculative writeup about Skull Slime Tentacle Witch War based solely on the title. How right or wrong about the book is the writeup? You’ll find out in July!