Welcome back to the Sam Flynn Experience with Sam Flynn, I’m your host Sam Flynn here to recap all things Sam Flynn in the first quarter of 2026 with you.
Book News:
Production on my next book Dweller in Darkness continues apace for publication this fall. Greg Chapman returned to design the cover as he did with The Mystery of the Pale King and of course he delivered and then some. I can’t wait for all of you to see it soon.
In the meantime, I’ve been slowly crafting the final draft of my sci-fi-mystery novella Apocalypse Auditor with the aim of taking it to market this spring. After that, I have some short story ideas I’d like to revisit, another pass on my epic fantasy novel The Darkest Fate, and a new novel idea waiting in the wings codenamed Hallow.
On the shorter side, my latest Patreon story is the anti-romantic sci-fi flash fiction I Am Not Your Closure, published in celebration (or spite if you prefer) of Valentine's Day, about a bride whose wedding day turns from dreamy to nightmarish over the course of a single conversation with her husband-to-be, the revelations challenging not just her relationship but her entire identity.
Recent/Upcoming Events:
L-R: My wife Angie, me, brother-in-law Joe, nephew Joey, mother Kate, sister Hannah, and father Chuck at Back to the Books on January 31
I’m pretty proud of the fact that I’ve had events every month of the year so far. Back to the Books in Medina by Black Cat Books & Oddities was my most successful fair sales-wise since my book’s release. I was thrilled to chat with Robin Yocom at Bellaire Public Library’s first Author Festival.
And last weekend was my return to the Hocking Hills Book Fair at Fairfield Fairgrounds. Next up is the Apple City Book Fair at the Jackson City Library on Saturday, April 11 and RathaCon in my hometown Athens a week later on April 18.
Speaking of Athens, I’m also looking forward to Ohio University Literary Festival where one of my favorite authors Jeff VanderMeer will visit for a lecture on March 25 and a reading on the 26th.
What I’m Reading & Watching:
Over on Patreon, I wrote about the new 28 Years Later duology, which manage to smuggle in a smorgasbord of symbolism in a zombie movie package. The films’ introspective and experimental nature may have worked against them at the box office but like plenty of great movies (Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter and John Carpenter’s The Thing are my favorite examples) I think they will stand the test of time, particularly if they get around to make the trilogy capper teased at the end of The Bone Temple.
My most recent reads were She Rides Shotgun, the first novel of crime writer Jordan Harper (made into a movie last year starring Taron Egerton) and the recently-released haunting novella In This City, Where It Rains by Lyndsey Croal. I highly recommend both, the former if you like stripped down, gritty neo-westerns, the latter for the best of Gothic haunted house stories. As it happens, I love both.
That’s all from me! Send your comments/questions/suggestions on the newsletter to [email protected] and sign up for more updates via Patreon.
With authorly affection,
Sam
