SBOs, keep an eye out for spam
December 2025 edition of the Boopish Newsletter
Topics (click the link to go directly to the thing):
A bunch of competitions
New works in progress
Space Horror novella by RW Duder
We went to the theatre to watch Bugonia on Nov 15th. It drew my interest because it’s a Yorgos Lanthimos film. If you don’t know who that is, he’s directed several very unique, utterly strange, but thought-provoking movies that have a tendency to get under your skin in that, “my gums are throbbing from this spicy dish, but I like it” sort of way. Maybe that’s just me.
You may have heard of some of his movies, with some of the more recognizable ones below, 3 of which I’ve seen. The Favorite is another one that I’d like to check out sometime soon (not pictured):
As for Bugonia? I’d give it an 8 out of 10.
In other news, I had an interesting moment this past month where I got a ping to my email that said I received an order through the soap website. When I checked, it was for a single soap, and the buyer chose a pickup option to bypass shipping. I was confused, because the “buyer” was located 5 states away.
When I looked into it, I noticed my site had been targeted for scammers to test stolen credit cards, trying to push a single soap order through every 10 minutes, and it’s been happening since September!
There were roughly 5000 orders that had gone through and failed.
The unfortunate outcome of something like this was for me to install reCAPTCHA on my site, which I know no one likes. According to my web host provider, this type of scam activity is pretty typical on small business websites.
So, if you’re reading this and have your own a small sales website, look into getting the free reCAPTCHA plugin through Google or CloudFlare. I am happy to say that it has stanched the influx of bad actors… for now.
Writing Updates
For those of you on my comp forever list, I’ve sent the short story, Terminal Vow back on Nov. 18th. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, or you were added to the comp list after Nov. 18th, check it out here:
I didn’t win anything for the rhyming story challenge, not even an honorable mention (and I’m not terribly surprised). So, I’ll be posting that one sometime next year. Keep an eye out for Wayward Captain!
For all my competition submissions, I plan on posting them here, as well as (soon) on my website. I can’t post them before I get the results, per the rules of each competition. Sometimes I can release a story through the Writing Battle debrief, but I think I’ll just post them here for now.
A Misplaced Justice: I got 2 points out of a potential 8 on this one. I was a little shocked by that considering I got a character trophy for it. At any rate, writing is an art, and art is subjective, so I’m sure this story has an audience. I’ll post it soon!
I Understand: I did not make the long list for this one either. I’ll be posting it in 2026 here. I wish I knew more about what they liked/didn’t like… this was a new competition platform for me, ran out of Australia.
Concerto Memento Mori: This was a peer judged Writing Battle entry, so I won’t know how it did until the end of this week.
Last Light on a White Night: First round results aren’t going to be revealed until January 7th.
BOOK UPDATES
The Northern Roseaarde Series OMNIBUS
I posted a note recently that I wanted to discuss here too. I said that I was thinking of pulling my query from the trenches because I’m having way too much fun putting together an omnibus.
I have dreams of a Kickstarter campaign, selling hardcover special editions of all 3 books together in one, plus some additional character chapters. I’ve also been learning how to create interiors in Adobe InDesign (because frankly, Atticus has been driving me crazy).
Anyway, I have 13 queries left out there, and I’m not super hopeful, and I’m not submitting any more. If I get all of these Kickstarter items in order before I hear anything, consider this project a go. I’m very close to this, so it’s seeming more plausible at this point.
With that said, the series itself is called “The Northern Roseaarde Series” with individual book names still being brainstormed. I’m also considering taking advantage of Cyber Monday deals and commissioning new covers through a professional service (therefore, lower risk of artist ghosting).
Current Work In Progress
For my horror novel, I used Novel November to get a leg up on the word count. It’s been a success, and now is the time for the grueling task of self edits!
LH Soaps & Sundries updates
VISIT THE SOAP PAGE HERE to check out the “final call” soaps and/or the scrub bars.
I also have some first edition paperback copies of Metaxysm and Hillbilly Vamp listed on my soap site if you’d like to CHECK THOSE OUT HERE.
Anyway, that’s all for now, thanks for being awesome!LINKTREE | YOUTUBE | BOOKS | RED BUBBLE
