MIDAS + HEAVY OCEANS Coming to Lethe Press!

Plus...Fracassi Fest and a Dark Room Series Update

First things first…I am thrilled and grateful to finally announce that Midas has found a home for a trade edition with Lethe Press!

As many of you know, this novel was released in a stunning limited edition by Earthling Publications in October 2023, with cover art by the wizard known as Vincent Chong.

The Lethe edition will be released sometime in the Spring of 2025 with brand new artwork. I’m enormously grateful to Steve Berman at Lethe for taking on the book, and so glad it’ll be widely available for anyone who’s wanted to read it but couldn’t get their hands on one of the limited editions.

I’ve received a number of messages from readers asking what was going to happen with Heavy Oceans since the previous publisher has dissolved. Well…Lethe Press will also be reissuing that book with the crazy art Ben Baldwin originally made for the limited Thunderstorm Books edition. It should be available sometime in the next month, and I’ll be sure to announce it here when it is.

Lethe is also running an awesome giveaway when you order Heavy Oceans through their website—all paperback orders of Heavy Oceans will include a free paperback copy of Philip Fracassi’s novella Sacculina. These two stories of deep sea terror make for a really cool pairing, and two for the price of one is a deal you can’t beat.

The giveaway will last from now until Halloween.

Fracassi Fest

Earlier this month, I was honored to be invited to participate in the very first Fracassi Fest, hosted by Mitch Hull and Rapture Brewing in Tulsa, Oklahoma. An amazing group of fans, almost all of them from the Fracassi Freaks Facebook group, descended upon Tulsa to celebrate Philip Fracassi and his stories.

Part of me wants to do a full recap of the festival: from the joy of getting to meet so many people I’ve only interacted with online, to the initial hangout at McNellie’s Pub, the main event itself, Patio the pig, the virtual panel with Fracassi, Josh Malerman, Ronald Malfi, and myself, the exclusive chapbook, the laughs, the stories etc.

But another part of me hates recapping. I much prefer to let moments like that exist within their proper space and time. I’m typically terrible at taking photographs because my eyes are snapping all the memories. And maybe that’s where they belong. For me anyway.

Since the fest, I’ve been thinking a lot about what a special event it was. A truly wonderful group of readers and friends, gathered together because we’ve all connected with Fracassi’s books and stories. It’s often said that “a writer is not his characters,” which is of course, true. But there is so much of a writer in what they create, and this fest did not happen just because of the stories, but because of the person who wrote them. What a unique and special thing to see how many awesome individuals Fracassi’s work has brought together. No artist can choose their fans, but I find it fascinating that all of Philip Fracassi’s fans are the best people.

To everyone who came to Fracassi Fest: it was truly an honor and a privilege to meet you all. Let’s do it again sometime.

Okay, a few pictures:

Hanging with Mike Hughes and Philip Fracassi

Me and Jeff Terry being photobombed by Steven Duane Allison Jr.

Jeff Terry and bookseller extraordinaire Adam Fall

With the talented writer Caleb Jones

A quick Dark Room Series Update

For those waiting on The Dark Room Series of Turn Up the Sun, yet another proof set didn’t meet specifications, so my graphic designer and I tried one last trick before we rethink the design and try again.

My apologies this is taking so long, but like I’ve said, I want to get it right. The new proof set should be here in the next week or two, and then we’ll go from there.

Right now, it’s looking like it may be October before I get these shipped out, so thank you for your continued patience.

A good and vague thing

I can’t give any details right now, but I just had a short story accepted by a legendary editor for inclusion in a new anthology, and I could not be more thrilled.

More on that when I can offer details.

Stories

I’m currently working to finish two more short stories before diving back into edits on the new novel. With the help of some early readers, I figured out the final third of the book wasn’t working. So, I’ll be rewriting that section starting next month, but in the meantime I wanted to knock out a couple ideas I’ve had bouncing around for a while.

The first doesn’t have a title yet, but it’s meant to read like a myth. A story from a thousand years ago that’s been passed down through generations.

The second is called “Wait in the Car” and I can’t talk about it without spoiling it.

Hopefully they’ll see the light of day sooner than later.

One last thing…

As a very cool surprise for the attendees of Fracassi Fest, Orbit Books gifted everyone an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of Philip’s upcoming novel The Third Rule of Time Travel. I started it on the flight home, and could not stop. After finishing, I typed up a few thoughts.

The Third Rule of Time Travel by Philip Fracassi.

Putting the words “time travel” in the title of a novel will evoke certain expectations about what the story will and won’t be.

Whatever my expectations were, this book exceeded every single one of them. Think, less Back to the Future and more Primer meets Interstellar.

A novel of frighteningly plausible science fiction, Fracassi blends deft character work with suspense to create a work that’s simultaneously small (in the sense that it takes place in only a few locations) and massive in its implications.

Part Crichton, part Blake Crouch, part Bradbury, and all Fracassi.

This novel further demonstrates why Fracassi is one of the best writers working today. Whether it’s horror, pulp, or now, science fiction, there is a precision to his prose and storytelling that’s recognizable regardless of genre.

Massive thanks to the team at Orbit Books US for supplying copies for all the attendees of Fracassi Fest. The novel doesn’t come out until March 18th, 2025, but I highly recommend preordering immediately and making sure your TBR is clear on that day. You’ll want to dive in immediately. Future You will thank me.

Once again, my thanks to everyone who takes the time to read this newsletter.

Until next time…

TJ