Hot Plates
Don't burn your hands, this sh!t's sizzling.
What’s good, I’m Kelby Losack, author of several hoodrat noir and cyberpunk novels, voice actor, and co-host of the cult hit podcast Agitator. Preciate you checking out my newsletter. Let’s kick things off with a tarot reading…
Damn, son, you don’t get more straightforward than this. So in today’s spread we got Temperance—that’s the maintaining of balance and moderation—leading into the Tower card, the card that most dread for the terrible Cs: crisis, chaos, change. Well, change is coming, and I don’t know bout you, but this been a chaotic-ass year and some change for your boy. I’m open to the change, if you want the truth. Burn that tower down as if I give a fuck. ‘Cause check it out: we wrap up this part of the journey with the Three of Wands. First thing I notice is the muhfucka missing his legs. He didn’t make it out the burning tower without sacrificing some things. But he found a way to stay standing, to keep thugging it out. And now look how small that tower is in the background. Roll with the punches amidst the chaos and be open to change. Keep a level head during the crazy shit—all the fire and tiger paws swiping at you from the clouds—and you’ll make it out. Might not be the same and might have to take some Ls, but keep a steady push forward. Be patient. Every step forward is progress.
Bumping on repeat
Everything Sleep Token does is in reverence and service to the god Sleep—a Sleep Token, get it?—and you can feel the magic vibes oozing from their eclectic sound, a sort of ambient nu-metal. Occult Deftones. I’ve kept their latest album on repeat while writing lately.
“I’m from Lone Star sippin lean with pecan pie.” I’ve said it before, but it really gets me hype to see That Mexican OT catch one big W after another, on some hometown hero type shit. He’s got a stranglehold on his signature flow in this latest joint (steady rolling them Rs in words that ain’t even got any Rs), the video of which was shot inside Johnny Dang’s legendary diamond lab in Houston. Major props for whatever it took to make that happen (not to mention the Paul Wall collab).
Anime
Revisiting Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex since I’m whipping up so many cyberpunk projects. Just sponging up the aesthetics, vibes, and ideas of this high-tech, low-society world. Early 2000s anime had a distinctly emo vibe to it, from the mood to the color palette.
Space Dandy is fun and ridiculous as hell. Each episode is one bizarre misadventure after another, but as the show is moving along, I’m sensing some deeper esotericism bubbling to the surface. I slept and missed this when it first aired, but it’s become one of my favorite anime of all time. The art, too, is busy as fuck in the most vibrant way. Always so much happening on screen.
Viking anime is the most genius idea, I can’t believe Vinland Saga is the first anime to do it (far as I know). Shout out my bro Luis Galindo as King Sweyn. This shit goes so hard.
What’s new on Agitator
Our Broken River collaborator and good friend E Rathke joins us to talk about being shot down in an open call to work with CD Projekt Red. What do you do with rejection? Is there a point to the effort even if it doesn’t turn out how you’d hoped? We explore all this as well as chop it up a bit about Cyberpunk 2077 and some things we would like to see added in the sequel. We also talk a bit about the work of Stephen Graham Jones, whose opinions matter and whose don’t, the pitch vs the product, writing filler but making it gourmet, and looking at art through beer goggles.
You can listen on Spotify, Apple, etc, or watch the episode on YouTube. We’re fresh over there, but everybody’s been saying “you should do video episodes!” and we like giving people what they want. At least the people who give us money, which—if you fuck with the show and want more—check out the Patreon. There’s bonus and uncut episodes, access to the Discord, and weekly serialized novels to check out, plus you’d be supporting the development and growth of Broken River Books and Agitator Films, while getting discount perks for shit like merch and Broken River Academy (writing courses and workshops coming soon).
I’ma give you a cheat code too: a lot of people sign up and then bail and come back later, which is cool. It’s hard times and every dollar counts. Our feelings are not hurt if you wanna sign up, download a bunch of shit, and cancel for later when you’re caught up and need another Agitator fix. Another cheat code is you can sign up for the year and get two months free.
New Release
cover art by A.A. Medina
Pre-order my collection of short stories—some new, some old, some remixed, all showcasing a blend of hoodrat noir, pulp, and surrealism—before it drops August 8. Pre-orders include a signed paperback and eBook copy. TOC below, and you can read the title story HERE.
1. Chicken and Waffles
2. Trap House Buddha: The Oral Biography of Tony Takeguchi
3. God Is Wearing Black
4. Daddy’s In a Snuff Film
5. Jellyfish In Geometry
6. Gas Tank
7. The Adventures of Naked Man
8. The Future
9. Perro
10. Cambion
11. Flesh and Blood
12. The Snowy Graves of Camp Bragg
13. Hurricane Season
14. Eden’s Bastards
Until next time. Be easy. Preciate y’all.
That's wild because I was just thinking about tarot this morning. My sister just successfully Kickstarted her own tarot deck, and I love the art, but I'm like: how does tarot even really work? I get that there are "rules" to it, but I think you have to be open to a kind of storytelling element and willingness to participate in order for it to "work."
That Mexican OT is fantastic. "I'm just rhymin words, I don't even know how to rap." That's such a distillation of what makes his joyful delivery so potent. He's really not even trying, just tapping into something he inherently knows how to do. I've got a feeling that the best artists in any medium would nod their heads in recognition.