“… and it all mattered because none of it did.” - Unknown

Hi. I’m Lucas Mangum, and this is the tenth issue of Less Than Pulp, a newsletter for fans of my work. You can check out previous issues here.

I’m writing this newsletter on Monday morning. That’s when these usually go out, but this week it’s going out late because it was a packed weekend.

On Saturday, I took a day trip down to Scares That Care in Williamsburg, Virginia. Between stopping for gas and food, I was on the road for over six hours. That was okay, though, because I had THE BLACK TAPES PODCAST to keep me company. I’m excited but also a little sad that I’ll be done with it soon. THE BLACK TAPES is one of the few recent pieces of media to genuinely scare me. I highly recommend listening to it if you happened to miss it as it was airing from 2015-2017.

Only Brian Keene and Wesley Southard knew I was coming to Scares That Care, so I caught a lot of people by surprise. Hopefully, it was a pleasant surprise. This was my first time in a while where I attended a con without having a table set up for selling my books or talking on multiple panels, though I did get to read that night. Going to one of these simply as a fan felt like a crucial step toward falling back in love with the genre and the creators who work in it. It’s been a difficult couple of years, full of self-doubt and frustration, but attending purely as a fan reminded me how much I love the art of it. I’m glad to call many of these creators my friends.

For my reading, I read a chapter from DIGITAL DARKNESS alongside Todd Keisling (author of SCANLINES). People responded nicely to it. Todd’s piece was great too. It was my first time meeting him. He seems like a good dude, humble despite his obvious talent.

I also got to keep time during the Grossout Contest. I’d elaborate, but as Keene says, “What happens at the Grossout Contest, stays at the Grossout Contest.” ;-)

Other highlights include getting dinner with Jeff Strand, Kenzie Jennings, Bridgett Nelson, Mark Sieber (of the Horror Drive-In Bookstore), and Jason the primatologist (whose last name I didn’t catch), catching up with John Wayne Comunale, Wile E. Young, Stephen Kozeniewski, Kristopher Triana, and Wesley Southard, chatting with Jamie Benedi (who won the Grossout Contest) and Candace Nola, and meeting Samantha Kolesnik for the first time (her book TRUE CRIME is one of my all-time favorites). I’m sure there are things I’ve left out, but it was a packed day.

Tomorrow, we fly back to Austin, Texas. Back to the routine, Jean says. I’m looking forward to it, but I’ll miss spending days with the kids. I’m interested to see how our fish and plants are doing. I’ll also have copies of DIGITAL DARKNESS on hand, for those who want to buy a signed copy.

The latest episode of MAKE YOUR OWN DAMN PODCAST looks at TOXIC AVENGER PART II. You can listen to it here or click on the video below.

That’s it for now. Expect updates to be more regular once I’m back home.