Hot Dang, it's July

July 2025 edition of the Boopish Newsletter

R.E. Holding

Jul 01, 2025

Topics (click the link to go directly to the thing):

Interview with Neil Mach about Reaper’s Gamble
Hillbilly Vamp’s cheap copy
Short story competition results
ALS Fundraiser
Book 3 title and cover teaser
The Artist’s Soap Making Workbook
Indie book deal 1: The Sky Place
A soap competition??
Indie book deal 2: Any Job in a Haze
Fantasy freebies

Check out this interview I did with an author from the UK, Neil Mach:

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Or, visit the link HERE.

I sat down with Neil Mach to discuss Reaper’s Gamble, along with magic systems and the trouble with worldbuilding. It’s a short listen (especially if you speed it up haha)! The interview starts at 1:20.

So I decided to keep Hillbilly Vamp at $7.99 for paperback, even on Amazon.
I know, I know, I need to stick to my principles. And trust me, I waffled about it for too long. The reality is, my goal (and thus, my principle) is to share accessible stories to everyone, and if someone chooses to spend their hard earned money on a book I wrote, I want them to feel comfortable doing it.
Maybe that’s not the “hustle mindset,” but I love my stories and I want people to read them.
Terminal Vow made it through to the top 64 in the Writing Battle for spring! While not a traditional winner, people had a lot of great things to say about it, so I’m happy about that. I got a little pixelated trophy on my profile for my efforts.
Yay me!
So, this story will be included in my anthology later this year. However, I did get feedback that mentioned how the title was somewhat boring… I kinda agree, so I’m thinking of changing the title for the anthology.
Digital Reverie, on the other hand, did NOT make it to the finals, but made it through 7 rounds of professional judging, which is quite a lot! This is out of 9 rounds I think. This particular story is one of those that feels like it could be something larger, and I was proud of my world building here.
Again, another story for the anthology!
Speaking of anthologies, I’ve been recruited to write a cosmic horror short story for an upcoming collaborative Kickstarter campaign. When that link becomes available, I’ll definitely share it!
Also, later this month on the 26th, I’ll be participating in a 5K run to support ALS (a.k.a. Lou Gehrig’s Disease). I’m actually doing the 1 mile because I’m out of shape.
While I don’t have any personal anecdotes related to ALS, I do feel great empathy for those who do. You can learn more about ALS and it’s debilitating and fatal effects HERE.
If you’d like to support the cause and help raise funds for my team, I have a nifty link on this banner below!

BOOK UPDATES

Reaper’s [LEGACY]

There are a few Wordle players in the audience, aren’t there? Haha! A few people guessed right away what the title was last month, so I can’t really hide it anymore.

So, there you have it! The title for Book 3 of the Northern Roseaarde series is called Reaper’s Legacy! I’m getting through the story pretty quickly (first draft), so I hope to have this one done and dusted by this year. Then comes the prequel! Well… in time…

These cover teasers are a little cheesy, but people have fun with them, so who am I to protest ;) Here’s a sneak peek at the cover I’m crafting… it’s not the final thing, and obviously you can’t see all of it, but it’s probably pretty close to what it’ll end up being:

The Artist’s Soap Making Workbook

Here it is, in all it’s fancy glory! This is just a mockup, as the actual copy that I have is perfect bound in an Amazon author proof (so there’s a gray bar going through the center).

I’d like to set this up as a Kickstarter so I can get better quality paper, a more durable cover, and the spiral binding. All of those cost a little extra and I need to get it through a special printer. I can get as few as 10 copies made at a time, but obviously, greater discounts happen with more. I’m aiming for at least 100 backers!

I am going to be setting up a launch campaign very soon, and I’ll be sure to announce it here with links when I do!

LH Soaps & Sundries updates

I bet you didn’t know there are actual soap making competitions, did you?

Well there are, and I participated in one! The goal was to make a marble soap, which I’ve only successfully pulled off once, and that was my Loren soap.

Here’s the post if you want to see some pretty soap pictures: