Subscribe today so you don’t miss out on the new novel! Become a paid subscriber and get access to my two other novels and the entire archive of my work. Hi Folks, I’m happy to feel back among the living here as I close out a week of being sick with COVID. This was actually my first bout with it. I was starting to believe that maybe I had some freakish immunity, but I think it just took a few years to grind me down. COVID was biding its time, waiting until I was completely stressed out while simultaneously enjoying a highly productive period of creative flow which I wrote about last week.Today’s post will be brief but important. I’m officially announcing the release date for the new serial novel I’ve been working on for the past month. “Departures” is a story that’s been percolating in me for more than eight years and I’m so excited I’ve found the right place and time to tell it. The first fifteen chapters are written and I have good momentum and a vision for where we’ll end up but there’s still plenty of mystery which is the thing that keeps me engaged.The first episode for “Departures” drops on Tuesday, July 23, 2024!While trying to write this week with COVID brain was like eating soup with a slotted spoon, I was able to exercise some other creative muscles by creating the video trailer for the novel which you can watch above. The video gives you a little teaser of what the book is about and a fun visual of the library in Wilder Thorne’s apartment above the historic old theater in midtown Atlanta. I had a lot of fun creating all the artwork and animations for the video. I took full advantage of COVID voice to channel Sam Elliott too. You’re welcome ;-)The music you hear in the background is the product of a new collaboration with FogChaser that I’m super excited about. His music is so beautiful and soulful and he brings such rich and vivid sounds to the guitar-based score I created. This is the beginning of what will be the musical soundtrack for the audio narration of the novel. Check out Fogchaser’s most recent post to enjoy even more of his music.I hope you’re as excited for “Departures” as I am. I think the story is going to be a satisfying ride with something for everyone. At its heart “Departures” is a love story and I think we all need a few more of those in these dark times.How You Can HelpIf you hadn’t guessed by now, I’m pretty much a one-person promotion machine for the enterprise that is Catch & Release. If you’re excited about this book, it would be a HUGE help if you were to tell a few thousand of your closest friends about it in the real world, and also on Substack, and anywhere else online you do the socials. Thanks so much for all your support. I couldn’t do it without you.I lovingly sweated over every pixel, note, and word in this video trailer in hopes that you might share it far and wide. Thanks in advance. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.catchrelease.net/subscribe