June Updates & Reading List


JUNE (11 books | 1,756 pgs)


14.) The Wolf Wants Answers by Joshua Mohr (Novel, 236 pgs) | 4/5

15.) Storyforge: Advanced Writing Prompts for Seasoned Storytellers, Book 1 (Workbook, 100 pgs) | 0/5*

16.) Storyforge: Advanced Writing Prompts for Seasoned Storytellers, Book 2 (Workbook, 100 pgs) | 0/5*

17.) Alfred Hitchock & the Three Investigators #20: The Mystery of Monster Mountain by MV Carey (Young Adult, 172 pgs) | 3/5

18.) Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca (Stories, 281 pgs) | 2/5

19.) Alfred Hitchock & the Three Investigators #21: The Secret of the Haunted Mirror by MV Carey (Young Adult, 172 pgs) | 3/5

20.) Alfred Hitchock & the Three Investigators #22: The Mystery of the Dead Man's Riddle by William Arden (Young Adult, 145 pgs) | 3/5

21.) You Should Have Left by Daniel Kehlmann (Novella, 128 pgs) | 2/5

22.) Strange Houses by Uketsu (Novel, 208 pags) | 4/5

23.) Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones (Novella, 108 pgs) | 3/5

24.) The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw (Novella, 106 pgs) | 3/5


* I initially ordered books 15 & 16 for a friend and wanted to read through them to see if they were worth gifting as I'd never heard of the series before. When they arrived, I recognized they'd used AI art for all the imagery inside the books (they have that AI effect to them that's easy to spot). They also didn't credit any artists, so my assumption is that they also used AI to create the content on the pages as well. When inspecting the rest of their website, I found more of the same lazy garbage created for other genres and returned the books immediately. I would sincerely and actively avoid giving your money to the people that create this low-value crap. 


*



Life got a real weird real quickly this month. 

I've been working a second job as a tour guide for a local whiskey distillery in a fun part of town. I get to chat with locals and out-of-towners, give them a little history about the company, the building we're in, and the surrounding West Bottoms area (much of which I had no clue about and is pretty fascinating). 

This past weekend was my first weekend doing the full tour completely solo and without shadowing anyone else. Thankfully, all three of my tour groups were great and, while it was a super busy and mildly stressful day, everything went pretty smoothly and without any complications. 

Even had one gentleman on my last tour of the day buy my latest book while I was in the middle of giving a tour, so that was an unexpectedly cool moment. Got to sit and chat with him and his wife afterwards. Fun couple. 

You can find the company here: West Bottoms Whiskey
You can book a tour with me here (Saturdays are your best bet): Tour with Bucho

Other things are happening elsewhere, but that news will come later as I get things figured out for the months to follow. 


*




I've got a couple of literary events coming up, but the only one I can talk about at the moment is the summer edition of the Boozy Book Fair happening at the Crown Center Sheraton Hotel in downtown Kansas City on Saturday, July 26th from 4pm to 9pm. 

I was fortunate to get a spot at the last one in February and had a fantastic time getting to meet a ton of new local authors as well as many others I've gotten to vend next to at various other events around the city. The last event had about 3,500 people in attendance and I'm betting this one will probably have more since the weather will be significantly nicer (though much, much hotter). 

There will be something close to 80+ vendors, creators, and authors there, all with something very literary for sale. If you're a word nerd near the Kansas City area, you've honestly got no reason to miss this.

You can find that event link HERE ON FACEBOOK. 
You can buy your event tickets HERE. 

I don't know where my table will be stationed in the exhibit hall yet, but if you follow the event page (and the organizer's main page), they'll post up a viable version of the event map in the next week or so. 


*


That's all I've got for now. Plenty of weirdness happening now and on the horizon, but those are thoughts for another day. 


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