Daily Journal 1/29/26

A friend recently asked me what I think is going to happen in this country over the next few years. He’s a young father, and he’s worried about his family and security. His fears alternated between a second American Civil War and complete totalitarian rule like something out of V For Vendetta.

I don’t see either of those things happening, but I do see us teetering on the brink of something similar to Ireland’s ‘The Troubles’, except rather than an explicitly ethno-nationalist conflict, it will be a mostly sectarian asymmetrical conflict. In truth, I think we’re already in it. That’s the thing about such periods of history. Nobody realizes they’re in it until it’s already begun, and the start is written in history books years after it has ended.

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Kiddo and I got the shoveling finished yesterday, just in time for him to drive off to school. Thanks God and Cthulhu for two-hour school delays. That meant a return to the desk. Worked on a new short story with the working title of “In The Dark”, edited a story for OPERATION: LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK, worked on another short story with the working title of “East of Sidewinder, Right Next Door To Hell”, wrote up a pitch for a publisher, and started the process for trying to get a rights reversion on PRESSURE. Today will (hopefully) be spent fully on “In The Dark”. We’ve got filming for DEAD FORMAT this weekend, so I’ll be on set all day tomorrow and Saturday. I bring my laptop to set, and it’s good for working on edits or something like the newsletter, but I can’t get any real writing done there.

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Mary and I finally started the final season of Stranger Things. Verdict is still out with two episodes left, but overall — definitely the weakest season of the series. Most of that comes down to the writing, which feels like they were still writing it while filming. Lot of plot elements and character motivations that don’t ring true, and feel like they were hatched on the fly. That being said, the scene between Dustin and Steve regarding Dustin’s grief? That was worth the price of admission alone. And Sadie Sink as Max is absolutely crushing every scene she’s in (at least the ones that don’t involve her lying motionless and comatose). She’s definitely the MVP this season. Murray continues to delight. I like the addition of Derek. But that’s about it so far.