The Weekly Digest is a weekly (no shit?) update that captures highlights from the week that was. At the end of each week, I share a collection of thoughts, recommendations, and links. Like everything else I write, it's awesome, but it may be too long for email so make sure you click through.
šāāļø Miss Me?
Daddyās home. Hereās your milk and cigarettes, kiddos. I know you missed me and Iām glad to see you didnāt burn the place down while I was away.
Jesus tap-dancing Christ, did I have a hard time getting back into writing this update. This was initially meant for last week, but inertia is a helluva force. I have this sort of āactiveā lethargy. The stuff I want to take care of slides down the list, so the stuff I āneedā to take care of rises. Of course, āneedā is relative and subjective. The past several generations didnāt āneedā to do a lot of the bullshit we āneedā to do today.
Anyways, what Iāve been up toā¦
We took a family trip to Florida to visit my folks. Kiddo got to visit his first zoo and get up close with a tiger. We also too him on a pirate cruise, complete with sword-fighting and 10am rum drinks for his parents. Air travel with a 3+ year old is its own special kind of hell, but it was definitely worth it.
The day after we returned, a couple friends from Boston stopped by for pizza and drinks. Theyād been spending the month in Stowe, wrapping up the ski season. And the next day, we loaded the humans and dogs into the Reads-Mobile for a trip to Cape Cod to visit my in-laws. This was for Kiddoās school vacation week, which the Mrs. and I had to work through, so her folks helped watch Kiddo.
And the day after we got back from that trip, we had a different pair of friends visit from Massachusetts. My best friend, his wife and kiddo were vacationing nearby so we got to have them over to catch up and grab a bite to eat before collapsing after a few whirlwind weeks.
During my hiatus, both the Celtics and the Bruins1 managed to get themselves eliminated from the playoffs in ignominious fashion. This freed up a lot of my evenings after work, so I binged the Timothy Olyphant series, Justified, or as it should be called: Qualified Immunity (h/t to lchristopher). It was good-guy-with-a-gun junk food, but Olyphant is just so damn charming. Itās based on āFire in the Holeā by Elmore Leonard; I really enjoyed it and loved noticing all the character actors pop up in it, including a villainous Margo Martindale. The series is also Walton Gogginsā coming-out party. He gets better and better each season. Iām probably going to rewatch Deadwood next to continue my Olyphant arc (fyi for Deadwood superfan, Tom Schecter).2 I did also download Justified: City Primeval but much like the newest Matrix movie, Iām turned off by the first 15 minutes or so.
Iāve also spent a few hours a week plugging away at Crimson Desert, dumping just shy of 50 hours into the starting area of this game. Iāve been āaltering my state of consciousnessā and then just vibing my way around the world of Pywel. Cutting down trees, hunting animals, robbing houses⦠normal hero stuff. I already have two pet dogs and Iām about to adopt a third. My character fit, though, needs significant work. The combo of CD and Justified is making me realize I need to go back and finish Red Dead Redemption 2. A cowboyās work is never done.
And Iāve been working through my transition plan at the bill-paying job, even though theyāre well and truly fucked no matter what I do now. With all the pinballing between states and airports, ups and downs, Iāve been leaning heavy on my usual vice to pump the life-brakes at the end of each day. Usually not a recipe for productive output.
Long story short: Iām back, and worse than ever.
šBook Bits
Statues to Silence by James Ryan
My assignment for the The Substack Review which I delayed for far too long.
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
Not bad, but my least favorite Ellis to date. I prefer The Shards over LTZ, Iāll probably crack into Imperial Bedrooms at some point.
Carlās Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman (Finished)
The Dungeon Anarchistās Cookbook by Matt Dinniman (Finished)
The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman
Iāve fallen into the abyss of Dungeon Crawler Carl, specifically the amazing narrated/acted audiobooks. A better, funnier Ready Player One meets Hitchhikerās Guide to the Galaxy on acid. Thereās a high likelihood that I will finish this series before moving on to anything else.
Recent Book Haul:
Bloodline by Lee Clay Johnson
First book released by County Highwayās Pan-America imprint. I feel like this will be a nice chaser to my recent Justified binge.
Rough House by Alison Lyn Miller
Picked this off the free ARC rack at my local bookstore; itās about pro-wrestling so right in my wheelhouse
Blondie by Joyce Carol Oates
Musashi: Book One by Eiji Yoshikawa (trans. Alexander Bennett)
Beau Watson wrote about the Book of the Five Rings recently and reminded be that Iāve wanted to read this since I finished Shogun a few years back3
If you notice the book haul start to peter off, itās because I am trying unsuccessfully to read from my existing stacks. I have a sneaking suspicion my books are producing offspring without my knowledge, because the stacks never stop growing.
š”Substack Spotlight:
So much! I am digging myself out of the massive deluge of Substack posts I saved from over the past month. Itās difficult to pin down a handful to highlight, but here goes:
Sum Flux v6 Open Call - Stream of Consciousness
Live Read of Cherry Kills by Sean Thomas McDonnell.
Featuring Haly, the Moonlight Bard āļø, Hippie Drillsgt, Emily S Hurricane and Tom Schecter
will christopher baer has been on a tear with his essays lately:
Nightingale Pressās Ambassador Spotlights
Hereās the one for Lila and the rest are linked on NGP.
Edward.Marlo.Ruizās Paragraph series - EMR is sharing short writings from various different authors and voices on Substack on different topics. Hereās a smattering:
If youād like to be featured in this section, you know how to find me. And if you donāt, youāll learn.
šļøWriting
I missed three weeks of journaling which might be the longest break Iāve ever taken from writing, since 2010ish. I mentioned last time that I was interviewing for jobs and that was soaking up my mental bandwidth. That, at least, is in the rearview but with great power a new role comes new responsibility. Weāll have to see how that shakes out.
I will say that I did sit down with my scratch notebook and start to write out some ideas. Iām trying to habituate myself to more unstructured āplayfulā writing, and to start āwriting throughā my story challenges. Constantly battling that internal perfectionist.
There will be a number of reviews coming over the coming weeks as well, so eyes peeled for that.
šøFleeting Thoughts
Spring has finally come to Vermont, and with it a nigh-endless supply of projects to do around the Reads Compound. Spring is a big audiobook season for me since Iām already wearing earplugs for the lawnmowers, leaf blowers, sanders, and chainsaws Iāll be using. I was recommended the Red Rising series as an audio series to dive into post-Carl. Iām always open to audiobook recs, if youāve got any.
Random Thoughts that fit nowhere else is this update:
Iām working on a purposeful de-optimization of my life.
AI is an atomic bomb, built by socially damaged narcissists. None of them have read the Bhagavad Gita.
š»+š¤,
ā V
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If you have not seen Santa Clarita Diet on Netflix, Olyphant is hilarious in it opposite Drew Barrymore who I generally find borderline annoying but is also great in SCD. Big recommend.
Iām obsessed with Samurais, Cowboys, and Knights⦠because Iām 6 years old.






Welcome home! And yeah I think LTZ doesn't hold up so great, or at least it doesn't interest me anymore. Imperial Bedrooms is my favorite by a longshot and I think you'll kill that in a day or two.
Appreciate the love Vinny! I vastly preferred Musashi to Shogun, though the latter has a more ācinematicā pace. Good roundup as ever :)