Check here for the latest updates and announcements.
Y’know, new blogs, publications, events… stuff like that.

2024

…And We All Die Static Age EP review

11/6/2024

Wandering musician Raymond Burton Estes’s latest release is a four track EP consistist of two versions each of two Misfits covers.

Drinking Boys and Girls Choir interview

10/29/2024

I interviewed the South Korean punk band Drinking Boys and Girls Choir for In the Loop Magazine. The founding members also happen to be old friends. They’re, like, all famous now. It was fun. Just like the show will be. So, if they’re playing in your city, or near your city, you should go.

Jesus Lizard show review for In The Loop

9/30/2024

Got to see The Jesus Lizard perform at the Salt Shed in Chicago. It was my first time at that venue. The band was promoting their new album Rack, their first in 26 years.

Awkward Nerd Punk Panel time and place

9/11/2024

Date: Sunday, September 22

• Time: 11am - 5pm

• Venue: Tripoli Shrine Center (3000 W Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53208)

• The Punk Panel will be in the Billard Room from 1:00-1:45pm

BEASTII album review for In The Loop
9/4/2024

I reviewed the upcoming album for the Chicago dance-punk band BEASTII. It’s called Follower and it is clearly inspired by all the stuff I listen to in college.

Awkward Nerd Book Fair. September 22nd.
9/1/2024

I will be at the Awkward Nerd Book Fair in Milwaukee on 9/22/2024.

Korea Times article: past self

8/9/2024

I collaborated on another article with Fleurette Estes for Korea Times. This one is about a Las Vegas-based goth band fronted by a Korean immigrant called past self.

OFF! Show review

7/22/2024

More farewell tours from punk bands. Also for In the Loop.

X show review

7/16/2024

I got to see X play and then write about it for In The Loop Magazine.

Precocious Neophyte Stony Review

7/9/2024

Another review for In the Loop. This time it’s to Precocious Neophyte’s EP Stony.

Show Review: Echo & The Bunnymen, Chicago 5/26/2024

5/28/2024

Checkout my review of the Echo & The Bunnymen show at Chicago’s Riveria Theater. This was another collab with Fleurette Estes, who did the phography. It was for In the Loop Magazine.

New Band, New Album
5/13/2024

So, I have a new band. Which, in its current iteration, is a spoken-word art-punk thing called The Head Caution. Check out our debut EP Half My Friends Are Pharmacists on Bandcamp.

Drinking Boys and Girls article in Korea Times
4/14/2024

Back when I was living in South Korea one of the few other punk bands in Daegu was Drinking Boys and Girls Choir. Not only are they still together 12+ years on, they’re finally blowing up. I collaborated with Fleurette Estes on this Korea Times article about Chicago’s response to the band’s show at Thalia Hall.

New Alex Damage short story in Shotgun Honey
3/29/2024

Shotgun Honey specializes in noir and crime flash fiction. Their word limit is a lean 700. They published the new Alex Damage short story, which can be found at the link below.

Dying Scene Interview
3/12/2024

I was interviewed and had a photoshoot with Dying Scene a little while back. It went live today!

Reading Event
3/7/2024

I'm opening for some bands. I will be reading poems and stories with some musical accompaniment by Bad Chemicals bassist Dave Labedz.

New Blog!
2/24/2024

Okay, I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not the best at churning out regular content on here. But I wrote a blog that’s based on a typical rant I’ve gone on about the statement “The book is always better than the movie.” Which, to me, is like comparing apples to oranges or paintings to sculptures. Objective statements about subjective topics are a bit of a pet peeve of mine. Check out the blog and see how much.

2023

Dying Scene Photo Gallery
12/31/2023

Back on Guy Fawkes Day Bad Chemicals played Chicago’s (in)famous Liars Club and opened for Octopoulpe. Fleurette Estes documented the evening for Dying Scene and just posted a baller photo gallery.

VOTING IS LIVE!
12/13/2023

Best Novelist and Best New Novel!
Voting is on until 11:59pm January 14th!

VOTE NOW!

PM Press Holiday Sale!
12/11/2023

Since it’s the holiday season, PM Press is offering 50% off orders with the code: GIFT
So if you haven’t done your shopping yet or were, like, still waiting to buy a copy of This Rancid Mill… now’s the time. Offer ends 1/1/2024.

JOLLY SNOWFLAKE DAY, EVERYONE! (If you get the reference we can be friends)

Chicago Reader Best of 2023 Nomination!
12/6/2023

I somehow managed to get myself nominated in two categories for the Reader’s best of 2023. I’m nominated in both “Best Novelist” and “Best New Novel by a Chicagoan”. Voting starts at noon on December 13 and goes until 11:59 pm January 14, 2024. Rest assured I will post voting links here on the day.

Bucket O’ Blood Book Signing Event
10/16/2023

Come on to the continued celebration of This Rancid Mill at Bucket O’ Blood in Chicago.

Pre-Sale for Bad Chemicals, Octopoulpe & more at Liar’s Club
9/26/2023

What the headline said. $16.50 after fees. Don’t sleep on this one.

Short Story in Punk Noir Magazine
9/24/2023

Well, considering my body of work, it’s pretty kismet that I would eventually publish something in a magazine called Punk Noir. That said their theme for September was “The Mixtape”, and they asked for stories inspired by songs. My short story was inspired by the Murder by Death song “Brother”. It’s the second story listed.

Upcoming Events!
9/23/2023

Just a reminder that I will be at Wauke-Con next weekend (Sept. 30-Oct 1). Roll on over to the event pages for dets on that.

Also, a couple of announcements. I will be signing books at Buckets o’ Blood in Chicago, IL on Friday November 3rd from 5-7pm. Info on that will be coming shortly.

Bad Chemicals will once again be stepping out of the pages of This Rancid Mill to open for the legendary one-man band Octopoulpe at Liars Club at 8pm on Sunday November 5th. Presale tickets will be available soon. So stay tuned.

Another Korea Times article
9/16/2023

A couple members of Korea’s indie music scene moved to Chicago a few years back and have since formed a shoegaze band called Precocious Neophyte. I was there to cover their LP release party for their album Home in the Desert at Sleeping Village in Chicago on September 1st

A virtual conversation w/ Jim Ruland, Daniel Weizmann, and Kyle Decker (hosted by Jeremy Kitchen)
9/9/2023

I helped put together a virtual interview with a few fellow writers. Both. of whom have their own backgrounds with punk rock and punk history. This was a lot of fun.

This Rancid Mill is “one of the best historical fiction books of 2023 (so far)!”
8/17/2023

Last week CrimeReads listed their favorite historical fiction novels so far this year and This Rancid Mill made the cut! It sits alongside such heavy hitters as Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead and American Psycho scribe Bret Easton Ellis. In fact, since the list is chronological based on setting, TRM sits right between them.

Printers Row Lit Fest 2023 Panel

8/12/2023

I am super excited that I will be part of a punk rock author panel at Printers Row Fest on Saturday, Sept 9th at 12:30 pm at the Center stage in the 600-block of S. Dearborn.
”Anarchy and Ink” will also feature Heather Augustyn, Jen B. Larson, and Jim Ruland.

Upcoming events!
8/4/2023

I got a whole mess of events coming up, and more coming down the pike. Keep a close eye on the events page as details get more…um…detailed…

Korea Times article
7/29/2023

Korean indie band Say Sue Me finally got to return to Chicago for the first time since CoViD delays and your boi was there to cover the evening.

New Blog

7/3/2023

I recently rewatched the extremely quirky, black-comedy, murder mystery Drowning Mona from 2000. I liked it then and I still like it now. It was hated when it came out, but the kind of quirky that it is got a lot more popular in the years that followed, and I feel like it deserves a revaluation.

This Rancid Mill in bROKe in Korea #33
6/21/2023

The Korean punk ‘zine bROKe in Korea has been going strong for I dunno how long. Something like 15 years now, I think. I used to be a frequent contributor when I was living over there. So it was cool to be featured in the special issue for the Korean punk festival It’s A Fest. I’m interviewed on page 13 and there’s a review on Page 25. A blog review of Hongdae Fire was also reprinted with my permission,

New Blog

6/14/2023

I just posted an open letter to various entertainment/streaming CEOs regarding the WGA Strike. Check it out in the Musings section of the blog.

Book Signing w/ Kenneth Wishnia @ Pilsen Community Books (6/29/2023)
5/31/2023

June 29th (Thursday), I'm doing a book signing with fellow PM crime novelist Kenneth Wishnia. So if you haven't gotten a book yet, come get one. If your friend doesn't have a book yet, bring them. Seriously. Don't be afraid to knock them out and stuff them in the trunk of your car.

Book signing @ Block Sabbath Fest:

5/13/2023

I will be selling and signing copies of This Rancid Mill at Block Sabbath, a metal block party hosted by Jackalope Coffee in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago on Saturday, May 20th, from Noon until 7pm. Interestingly enough, I wrote a chunk of TRM in this very coffee shop. So, if you to snag a copy, swing on by. Entry to the block party is free. Books are $20.

Crime Reads co-interview with Daniel Weizmann
4/25/2023

Crime Reads has this super cool interview format where they pair up authors to interview each other. I got paired with Daniel Weizmann, who wrote the upcoming novel The Last Songbird. So we each read advance copies of each other’s books and then talked about writing and mystery novels and such. Turns out Daniel was an old-school LA Punk back in the day and could pretty much have been a character in This Rancid Mill. It was a lot of fun to do, so hopefully it’s fun to read.

This Rancid Mill on Crime Reads list

4/24/2023

Wow. I forgot to share this here. Crime Reads included This Rancid Mill on a list of Crime Novels Centered Around Musicians out in 2023. I actually have had the pleasure of reading one of them in advance (more of that in the coming days). Click below to check out the article.

NEW BLOG

4/3/2023

I wrote a new blog (finally). This is a reading list of punk rock novels.

This Rancid Mill release party!

3/6/2023

The release event for This Rancid Mill will be on April 29th at Live Wire Lounge in Chicago, IL. A Facebook event page will show up eventually. Meanwhile, here’s a flier. Flyer? I was never clear on that…

PM Press and This Rancid Mill at American Booksellers Winter Institute

2/21/2023

This Rancid Mill advance review copies are available at @AmericanBooksellers Winter Institute #WI2023 in Seattle with matching bonbons made by @sweetreleasechocolates. Visit the @PMPress tables in the "Meet the Presses" Room through this Thursday while they last. For more info go to pmpress.org.

Bad Chemicals show (for real this time (I hope))

1/17/2023

Bad Chemicals will be playing the famous (or infamous) Chicago punk dive The Liar’s Club on Sunday January 29th. We’ll be playing with Silvertone, Pray for Death, and Ricky Liontones Review. Shit jumps off at 8:00 pm and all for the low low cost of a portrait of Alexander Hamilton.

2022

Bad Chemicals show RESCHEDULED!
12/22/2022

Some shit weather has blown in through the midwest, so we pushed the event back to Monday, December 26th. Same time (8 pm) and Place (One City Tap in Chicago).

UPDATE: In fact, we had to cancel. CoVID is still a thing…

Bad Chemicals FIRST SHOW!
11/23/2022

Bad Chemicals, the band at the heart of This Rancid Mil, will have their songs performed live at One City Tap in Chicago, IL on December 22 at 8pm. Joined by The Human Trials, Dusty Turrets, and Executioner Mirallda. All for the low, low, price of $7.

Wauke-Con appearance and B.C. streaming!

10/3/2022

In honor of the 10th year Anniversary of Cannon Fodder (or the Secret Lives of Henchmen), I will be selling and signing copies at the 2nd Annual Wauke-Con at the 3-Bros Theatre in Waukegan, Illinois. It’s Saturday 10/8 - 10/9/2022 fro noon to 6 pm. I only have 25 copies on hand. They’ll be $15.

Also, the Bad Chemicals EP is officially streaming on all the major streaming services and online music stores. Hopefully, I can announce something about physical copies at some point.

Bad Chemicals EP now on Bandcamp!

9/4/2022

Bad Chemicals, the band at the heart of This Rancid Mill, has actual music. It should be available on streaming services soon, but you can check it out on Bandcamp now!

Story “Rust Never Sleeps” published in Hyphen-Punk Magazine

8/10/2022

I originally wrote this story back in 2018. It’s about a moderately successful rock musician preparing for a virtual concert. It was supposed to be “speculative”, but virtual concerts very much became a reality in 2020. Anyway, it finally found a home at Hyphen-Punk, a new sci-fi magazine founded last year. It’s live on their website and will be included in issue 5 of the quarterly next month.

Another Leftover Army Monsters Guest Spot

8/4/2022

I was invited back to do another guest spot on my good buddy Dan’s kaiju podcast. So I guess I wasn’t too big of an asshole on the last two. This time we discussed Godzilla 2000, Japan’s follow-up/response/damage control to the god awful 1998 US movie.

Leftover Army Monsters Podcast Guest Spots

7/2/2022

My childhood friend, Dan Hoeppner, hosts the kaiju-themed podcast Leftover Army Monsters. I did a couple of guest appearances for the two-part episode on the Rebuild of Neon Genesis Evangelion quadrilogy. Check out the links below.

Flash Fiction Published
6/5/2022

My hardboiled flash fiction story “Moral Threat” was published in Mystery Tribune as part of their Daily Fiction series. The story features Alex Damage, the protagonist from my upcoming novel This Rancid Mill and the previously published short “The Final Nail.” It’s free to read if you click on the link below and can be read in the span of a quick shit.

Uncharted Crime/Mystery Finalist

4/17/2022

My short story “Another Satisfied Customer” was a finalist in Uncharted Magazine’s first Crime/Mystery Short Story Contest. Unfortunately, I did not make the top 3. However, this shortlist accounts for the top 4%, and that’s not nothing. The story remains unpublished, though. So I’ll keep sending it places. Good to know it’s got merit. Check out the contest results by clicking the button.

New Publication

2/28/2022

It’s been about 4 years since seeing my name in print, given that all the writing I’d been doing was grad school papers, IEPs, and lesson plans. Anyway, Mystery Magazine has published my short story “The Final Nail”, which features the characters from my upcoming novel, This Rancid Mill. You can order a copy, digital or print, of the issue here.

Standing with Ukraine

02/26/2022

I’m disgusted by Putin’s actions this past few weeks. The only thing I can think to do at this time is to offer financial assistance to organizations that are helping the Ukrainian people. Head to the shop. Get a book. Get a shirt. Get some for your friends and families. After Threadless and Amazon take their respective pounds of flesh, I will be donating 100% of my profits from today (2/26/2022) until the end of March to Doctors Without Borders Efforts in Ukraine.

2021

Threadless shop open!

11/8/2021

I am trying my hand at some t-shirt designs too. So hop on over to my Threadless shop.

Short story accepted for publication!

10/31/2021

My short story “The Final Nail” has been accepted by Mystery Magazine. The issue will be released in early 2022. Stay tuned for more and I’ll let you know when it becomes available!

Big News!

10/14/2021

So, PM Press has accepted my novel This Rancid Mill for publication! The release date is sometime in 2023. So keep an eye out for news on that.

New Media Blog
4/16/2021

I finally got around to publishing a top 5 songs of 2020 blog I had been sitting on since January.

New Media Blog
2/13/2021

Brooklyn Nine-Nine will have its final season starting later this year. I made a few predictions for the series’ coda and pitch a couple of spin-off ideas.

2020

New (and revised) Microfiction

10/24/2020

I’ve started my new job as a high-school special education teacher last month, which is my current excuse for lack of updates. That said I recently gave them an assignment wherein they had to create a character and reveal three character traits without explicitly stating the trait. They needed to reveal the traits through the character’s or other characters’ words and actions. So I wrote a short story called “Mr. Tropper” as a model for what they’re supposed to do. So you can read that here.

The other thing that came out of this class was that I explicitly taught them the writing workshop process. As a means for them to practice giving effective feedback, I had them workshop an old flash fiction story of mine that I had actually posted here back in March. A short called “Ducking Out”. My students gave some feedback that the story needed some more drama, action, and a conclusion. So, I used their suggestions as a model for using feedback and actually liked it. So, I actually did go back and change it adding their suggestions. You can scope that out here.

New Blog Entry

6/14/2020

I saw a meme going around saying 2020 need an Oompa Loompa Song, so I wrote some lyrics. For the US anyway.

New Blog Entry

6/2/2020

A lot of pain from too many years of injustice in America have boiled over. This is what I’ve been thinking about. For what it’s worth…

New Microfiction
5/10/2020

Added a new microfiction story. It’s about reincarnation or something.

New Microfiction

3/9/2020

Added a new piece I wrote. I’ve started doing a thing with my students where were write for x amount of time each day. I try to write for that time too. So hopefully that means I can keep up this section more frequently.

But I said that three months ago, too.

2019

New Microfiction

12/3/2019

Jesus. It’s been over a year since I have done anything. It’s been a long year. A busy year. Grad school has robbed me of a lot of the time for projects not related to grad school. I did finish a novel, though. So hopefully, there will be more on that soon. Either way. New micro fiction!

2018

New Micofiction

11/20/2018

I posted a short piece of fiction. It’s all dialogue.

New Blog Entry

10/25/2018

I’m back to rail against academic writing, the thing that’s been keeping me away.

New Blog Entry

9/8/2018

I visited Korea for a couple weeks this summer. I kept it short.

New Blog Entry

8/9/2018

Reflecting on how weird it feels to actually have time off after not having any free time.

New Blog Entry

7/24/2018

Some thoughts on the James Gunn firing. What is the statute of limitations on tasteless, provocateur type humor? Asking for a friend...

New blogs

7/12/2018

Hey! Two in quick succession! Head to the Musings section of the blog for "Very Bad Neighbors" and "Dreams"!

Food for Worms releases post-humous EP

6/27/2018

My former band broke up at the end of 2017. But we'd recorded on our final day. This, finally, is the end result: a 3-track EP called Robot Bears featuring the epic (for us) title track backed with "Model Citizens" and "Complacency." Check it out on bandcamp.

New Blog Entry

5/14/2018

It's been awhile, I admit. Grad school is a harsh mistress.  Before any underoos get twisted, yes this is about guns. While not advocating for the eradication of firearms, it picks apart the whole "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun" myth.

New Blog Entry

2/12/2018

First blog of the new year. I swear I've been anything but lazy these days. I have been readjusting to grad school and coming home from South Korea. So that's basically what this is about.

2017

New Blog Entry

12/27/2017

In music I list my top 5 anti-war songs in no real order.

New Blog Entry

12/08/2017

My band plays our final show this weekend. I have some thoughts on that.

New Blog Entry
11/14/2017

I've been accepted to the University of Illinois for a Masters in Special Education. I've got a lot going on in my head about it. Dive in. Swim around.

New Blog Entry

10/17/2017

I wrote up some of my thoughts about the #metoo movement that's been happening on social media. I reflect on some of my own experiences as well as some of past behavior. 

New Publications

10/11/2017

Everything's coming up Milhouse! My interview with Daegu ska-punk band Skaleton appeared in the most recent issue of bROKe in Korea  and my short story "Family Night" was accepted by the flash-fiction literary journal The Molotov Cocktail. An article about a killer new bar in Daegu will be appearing in the October issue of The Daegu Compass and I did some travel writing for The Korea Times and that article should appear soon as well. Check out the publication history section for the stuff that's there now, and check back soon for all the other stuff.

Fuck yeah, October!

New Blog Entry

08/28/2017

With season 4 of BoJack Horseman fast approaching I was reflecting on its themes of depression and happiness, and started to notice some subtle Buddhist themes as well. Then I wrote about 2800 words on it.

Check it out here.

New Blog Entry

08/24/2017

New blog entry about stand out moments from The New Generation of Ska Festival in Seoul. That's how it started anyway. But it turned into a meandering philosophical musing on the importance of giving positive affirmations or something. I dunno, that seemed to be the theme of the day. At least for me. I was in a good mood, after all. It's in the musings section.

New Blog Entry

08/13/2017

In Musings, I have shared some of my thoughts on the events this weekend in Charlottesville, VA.

Interviewed in Daegu Compass

08/07/2017

I was interviewed in the August 2017 Daegu Compass as part of their "Artist Spotlight" feature. I talk about writing, punk rock, and all that. It all starts on page 32. So pick up a copy if you see one or scope it online:

https://www.daegucompass.com/aug2017

New Blog Entry

07/20/2017

Finally a new blog entry. I've been busy and lacking the time to create new content. The new one is on "Creative Outlets and the Art of Coping." It's in the MUSINGS section of the blog.

New Blog Entry

05/29/2017

Read all about my experience preparing a guest lecture on gender inequality at an all girls high-school in South Korea. It's under Blog-Musings.

New Short Story

05/24/2017

It's not technically "fiction", per say. But head over the the "Microfiction" section of the blog for the super short story "Barefoot on a Tuesday."

New Blog Entry

05/23/2017

Getting the blog going again. Go take a look under Blog -Movies and Tv- for my take on the horror-satire Get Out.

Food for Worms interviewed by Angle Magazine.

04/27/2017

Kyle's band Food for Worms was interviewed by Angle Magazine, an arts and music magazine focusing on happenings in the southern half of South Korea. The epic (even after editing) interview can be found here:
https://anglemagazine.co.kr/blog/audio/food-for-worms

New art design available on threadless.com

04/03/2017

A little something I whipped together as a band t-shirt. It's a new take on an old classic.

Food for Worms record release party Daegu!

 Food for Worms releases full-length album Down in the Valley

2/16/2017

My punk rock band, Food for Worms, just unleashed our first full length album. Check it out. Or better yet, buy it.
https://foodforworms.bandcamp.com/album/down-in-the-valley