Here Be Dragons - March/2025
I have a short story out! How delightful!
“So long as one's just dreaming about what to do, one can soar like an eagle and move mountains, it seems, but as soon as one starts doing it one gets worn out and tired.”
― Ivan Turgenev
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This newsletter goes through what I’ve been up to in my writing - I have to account for myself and what I have to show for my efforts recently. Have I been productive, or not…? A map of my brain, so to speak, and here be dragons.
2025 -- appreciate.
Things could always be better, doesn’t mean they aren’t great.
I recently showed someone my office and they were so excited to see a shelf of comics and graphic novels that I have written. They thought it was very cool and amazing and I had to admit to them that it never felt like enough, but that I was working on that feeling, because I know it’s not right.
This seems to be a familiar refrain from me, so I won’t bang on about it - I’ll just be conscious of it for one more year. Usually knowing is half the battle.
Consider the below, now, just a sitrep, for those who are interested - and a reminder for me of what to appreciate.
I’ve spent 2025 running an English Faculty at a really great school. It’s been a massive opportunity to try new things and support more people and I’ve really loved it. My classes are all fantastic, each in different ways. I’ve been teaching fairy tales and vignette writing and am about to dive into a great comic and The Catcher in the Rye. All wins. Plus my uni class kicks off next term, so I’m already looking forward to that.
I’ve watched over 80 films so far this year and they’ve been an assortment of excellent. I recently had the opportunity to watch Blue Velvet on the big screen with some friends and I was blown away with how thematically rich it was and so consciously crafted. I’d not seen the flick since I was a teen and I can see why teen Ryan didn’t catch it all, he was a real dunce, honestly. I’ll hopefully be catching Sunset Boulevard next week.
I’ve read a few books and they’ve been really great; I’ve listened to a few books and they’ve also been enjoyable. I was delighted to find Lincoln in the Bardo lived up to hopes for it as it used structure to its advantage to draw some parallels and be a delightful read. Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House is another reason to add her to my top writers of all time list. Then I read a collection of Anton Chekhov’s tales and I find reading them alongside reading about them [in this case, with the notes from the front] really enlightening. The more Russian work I read, the more I fall in love with so much of its view of life and ways of presenting nuanced ideas, values, and beliefs.
I’ve got some writing to tinker with, and that’s always fun. Nothing I can talk concretely about just yet. So, that’s the plan for the year - definitely with no expectations.
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I wrote a short story for Lone Wolf
This is so cool and you can now buy the anthology of short stories where I contributed my own take on a strange little anti-war mongering tale set in the world of Lone Wolf - which is an old school series of solo role playing books from the 80s [very like Fighting Fantasy, for those who also know those]. Scope this cover!
The whole thing was edited by work-a-holic multi-media master Shane Walsh-Smith, and he got so many awesome submissions that he ended up splitting his stories into two volumes. My story is landing in Vol. 2 and you can buy the hardcover right now - and you might want to also line it up with the HC of Vol. 1, too.
This was massive fun to get to contribute towards, and I hadn’t written a lot of fantasy before, but something came to me and I’m really pleased with how this one came out. I also haven’t written a lot of prose [well, haven’t had a lot published, but back in the day I wrote 4 unpublished novels and a bunch of short stories, so the quest was always lying ahead of me] and this was just a joy to sit with and write last year. I got to do something fun with the structure of the story, and that kind of formalism is always my jam.
I’m looking forward to sliding this HC into my shelf and having another little writing notch to my belt that means so much to me.
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Taxi Driver, being passed down.
I’m about to watch Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver with my kid. I set a challenge [to read 1000 pages this term] and it was absolutely met so they get to view my favourite film with me [and yes, when I word it that way, I actually love how megalomaniacal it sounds].
They read 1984, The Road, The Nickel Boys, and The Old Man and the Sea. All were conducted with constant discussions about character, theme, and overall enjoyment [and strangely enough, all were enjoyed]. My favourite moment was easily being compared to the Man in The Road. I was told, “He’s just you. Every time the Boy asks a question the Man responds with a question back to him.” To which I responded, “Do I do that? I wonder why I do that?” I guess I am a troll in real life just as much, ha.
I got to thinking that parenting is sometimes about being the support and the guide, and while I can’t ever effectively be the rod or the shining star, I can continue to offer up opportunities and present excitement for these things in the world. I was recounting my opening lesson for The Catcher in the Rye and my kid instantly got excited to read that soon, too. I think have energy for something and sharing that energy can go a long way in this world. Because, yes, I do come home and talk excitedly about what I teach.
So we will watch De Niro and co present an old view of Manhattan. And I will talk deeply of the way the script and the music and the camera guide us through this toxic wasteland of humanity and what we can learn about it from the other side, and 50 years, of it all.
That final moment is going to really leave us chatting, and I cannot wait. Maybe I should throw the Waxwork vinyl on to really set the scene :]
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Be one of the good guys, because there's way too many of the bad.
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Who is Ryan K Lindsay?
I’m an award-winning Australian comic writer. I’ve been published by Black Mask, Dark Horse, ComixTribe, Mad Cave, IDW, Heavy Metal, Vertigo, and a few more. Kickstarter has been a home for many short comics. I often get to collaborate with great mates, and this brings me joy.
I write about balancing this creative game alongside a full teaching load [currently College English and University Intro to Creative Writing] and a lovely family load and the forever melting brain that is modern man. I think about a lot of stuff, I still don’t know if it’s the right stuff. ymmv.
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POST CREDITS SEQUENCE
I too often convolute myself with plot. I shouldn’t.
I recently watched Deliverance for the first time in decades and I was struck by how simple the plot really is, but how much that’s fine with me because the characters are so subtly rich and they ultimately serve the messaging of the story so well. It’s a beautiful film, and it’s swinging for some really big explorations, and it’s probably limited by the kind of early cultural meme-ness of it from the “squeal like a piggy” scene. That scene is harrowing, and it speaks volumes to the meaning of the film.
I’d like to find that balance - have characters and situation talk to the thematic richness, then present it in a powerful way, and don’t overload the plot. If we care enough, we'll follow characters through whatever plot mechanics work.