The 42nd Post.

Not sure what to say this year really. 

It's been tough one.

After losing my younger sister at the end of 2024, I helped my Mum through her chemo treatment for Breast Cancer this year but after getting through that (and it was really tough) my Dad died. We were with him in the hospital when he passed, which was very difficult but important as I believe he knew we were with him at the end.

Everything else kind of falls into insignificance.

The comics that have been a mainstay in my life, and helped get me through a number of things in the past, have helped again.

Having something creative to focus on has been really important.

The day job is all well and good, keeping me to a regular schedule of waking, working and sleeping but it's not where my passion lies. Writing comics, seeing the magic artists create from my words, chatting with other creators and readers... it all helps more than a lot of people will probably believe. 

I'm focussing more on WesterNoir at the moment and have even written issue 1, plus a few bits from the WesterNoir Tales, as a novella. My daughter Jemma, co-creator of Cassidy McRae, is currently editing it. It has been a much more difficult experience than writing comic scripts but I quite enjoyed the challenge. I'm not sure I'm ready for the feedback though, but I'll take it positively. Jemma has edited a lot of my work now and it's always the better for it.

I'm also working on something new with Joseph Parangue, the artist on the first Cassidy McRae story plus a few other things here and there (SCAR and a WesterNoir Tale being things that you will have seen). I'm keeping it a little quiet at the moment but I'm sure I'll let it slip out over a pint or two at the end of a convention day.

Kia Wordsmith is picking up again after Ian Ashcroft's absence, due to his amazing work with Pat Mills on Hellbreaker - Fire in the Blood. It's been a while since I've focussed on Kia so this week (before heading back to the day job) I'm going to endeavour to flesh out most of the script, at a high level at least. Kia is central to all of my stories  set in the 'Westiverse' (as we call it) and links Stephenson's Robot to WesterNoir, so I want to do her justice.

Well, all the best to everyone in 2026. 

There's a lot going on on the world stage that we have no control over, all we can do is be respectful of others that we meet in our day to day life and hope that the powers that be don't make a mess of doing the same.