A.J. McWain | Updates

Craft, Craft, Craft & Collaboration

A.J. McWain — Sun, 1 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I cannot believe it's already 2026, and February no less. I've been busy trying to get the backlog of unfinished content on my hard drives pulled together, edited, and released. No more pen names, no more hidden projects for me, I'm finally ready to just accept the fact that I AM A STORYTELLER. (Honestly, storytelling has always been part of my world as a jazz musician and a composer, was definitely a core of my teaching in higher ed, and even with a startup where I worked recently, story was a critical part of authentic and connective part of my job.)

2026 will also be the year for collaboration, as I plan to work with other writers and creatives in my network. Why? Well, it's not to claim "network effects," but more because I finally have learned that my creative engines do well in combination with others. (Much more on this later!)

CRAFT, CRAFT, CRAFT

Of course I still read for fun... I always will. But I also read to have a tangible sense of how various styles, genres, and sub-genres unfold, and how individual writers develop and display their craft (stories, pacing, setting, theme, arcs).

Lately, I've been reading mostly horror, horror-adjacent, post-apocalyptic, and sci-fi books, but also some non-fiction. I read both traditionally published and indie titles and consume these books in ebook format, in paperbacks bought either at local bookstores or direct from authors (!), and/or from my local public library. [Libraries are awesome!]

Here are some of my recent reads that I very much enjoyed. Each one of these books is a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED read for many reasons:

KYLIE LEE BAKER: Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng
CORMAC McCARTHY: The Road
CLAY McLEOD CHAPMAN: Acquired Taste
CHRISTA CARMEN: Beneath the Poet's House
PAUL TREMBLAY: A Head Full of Ghosts
THOMAS OLDE HEUVELT: Hex
JEREMY RENNER: My Next Breath - A Memoir
BRENNAN LaFARO: Noose
RACHEL HARRISON: Black Sheep
LEIGH KENNY: Hush My Darling
JONATHAN JANZ: Veil

Until next time, be kind to each other...

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Just Finished Reading: Why I Love Horror (Spratford)

A.J. McWain — Sat, 9 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature, by Becky Siegel Spratford, is such a thoughtful collection of essays and reflections on horror, edited by one of the genre's true champions. You’ll find contributions by authors Grady Hendrix, Alma Katsu, John Langan, Clay McLeod Chapman, Paul Tremblay, Stephen Graham Jones, Josh Malerman, Rachel Harrison, and others.

The presentation of each author’s answer to the title question is preceded by Spratford’s editorial context, starting book recommendations, and the name of a similar author thrown in for good measure.

The reasons to read horror, love horror, and write horror are endless, but to hear each author’s take on what horror means to them gives readers an even clearer picture of the incredible current richness of the genre. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

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Some of my music... Sonic Inkwell: Deep Water

A.J. McWain — Wed, 6 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

If you're curious about the music I've released over the years, here's a sample track from my artist/project name SONIC INKWELL called Deep Water. The link below is a music 'multi-link' which makes it easy to find this specific track on the music streaming platform of your choice (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, YouTube, and more). After licensing a few of these tracks on the platform Pond5, I started commercially releasing these cinematic music tracks under the Sonic Inkwell imprint in 2018.

https://lynkify.in/song/deep-water/4Ujm1xyF

If you choose to check out some other tracks from my Sonic Inkwell imprint (thanks!), you'll hear that a lot of it was inspired by sci-fi (and sci-fi horror), but also listen to tracks like "Nomads and Travelers" and "Methodical Pain" to hear a range of experiments and influences.

(P.S. Because I likely won't make another "Here's my music..." post for a while, I'll also let you know that my free jazz/avant-garde music recordings can be found under various artist names around Andy McWain, Andy McWain Quartet, Andy McWain Ensemble, and McWain/Balgochian/Cook. My electronic music has been commercially released over the years under the artist names of Internet Giant, Synthwave City, Synth Mantis, Blockchain Brain, and others.) The best performing track from all of these recent projects got 30M(!!) streams on TikTok, but somehow I only made $82 bucks. Thanks!)

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New short story "The Showing" releasing next month!

A.J. McWain — Mon, 4 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I'm happy to announce that my short story "The Showing" will be included in the upcoming DARK AND DREARY: A BASEMENT HORROR ANTHOLOGY edited by Cassandra O'Sullivan Sachar. Cassandra is a fantastic author/editor and is also recognized as a horror scholar.

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