Gautham: Bill Gauthier.com

Hello, friends.

As I sit writing this on Saturday morning, the day before this newsletter will drop, the weather is a beautiful 64ºF outside. The sense that autumn is in the air and heading towards us brings hope. I love the fall. The coolness, the leaves changing, Halloween everywhere I look. Despite the current state of the world, I’m looking forward to autumn as a distraction for the very real problems that are bound to arise.

Welcome to the 191^st installment of Gauthic Times, the newsletter about my writing, my life, and September’s mishmash of musings. If you’re a reader who subscribes via Substack, my website, or Patreon, your encouragement helps motivate me. I’m thankful to have any audience.

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This week was pretty brutal but I managed to add nearly 4,000 words to Project: Memoir. I wrote about teachers and the beginnings of writing as a teenager. It’s strange how this project has opened up ideas to me that I hadn’t realized were there. I began writing about Harlan Ellison, which I think was one of the last influences from what could be construed my youth (if 19 is considered youthful). The memoir now weighs in at 56,800 words and it’s nearing the end. I still don’t know what I’ll do with it, if anything. The most likely thing would be to post it my Patreon.

I also worked a little more on Four Moons. I’m looking forward to getting more into a routine in the school year now that the beginning of the year is mostly over so that I can get more completed. I have so much to do!

I also played a tiny, tiny bit with a comic book. It will probably mean little to you but it makes me smile.

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The last weekend of summer is upon us. My favorite part of summer is the several week vacation from the Day Job of teaching. This summer was a busy one between writing and life. G’s surgery and other things took a lot of the summer, which is fine. Now autumn is upon us and I love that time of year. I’m looking forward to the days growing cooler and the leaves changing. All of that will be refreshing.

This week marks Stephen King’s 79^th birthday. The fact that his writing still holds up gives faith and promise for the rest of us. With Other Worlds Than These coming out on October 6^th, King season is here! One of the things that I’ve loved about many of his stories is how the characters in them often realize and accept the strangeness happening around them fairly quickly and, somehow, believably. I’ve attempted to do that in my novels Echoes on the Pond and The Monster in the Closet and hope I’ve succeeded. Part of the fear that comes from many of King’s books has to do with the realizations the characters have that their world (and worldviews) are not what they appear. Intermingling the problems that humanity causes as juxtapositions against the problems the supernatural brings in the stories only heightens the suspense. I learned that from King and hope I do well in my own small way to bring that to my readers.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that writer Brian Keene’s birthday falls the day after King’s. While I am by no means fluent in Keene’s work, the books and stories that I’ve read I’ve enjoyed highly and his essays and advice through his blogs, newsletter, essays, and nonfiction have proven invaluable. I wish I hadn’t been so intimidated the one time I’d had a chance to meet him at the ill-fated NECON I attended for an hour or two before a major panic attack struck and I bailed out. Keene and his crew sat in front of me in an afternoon panel. Being too shy and, I think, already on the verge of a panic attack, I remained quiet. Ah well. Maybe there’ll be another time. Anyway, I’m looking forward to really getting into his books and stories.

This week also mark’s Bruce Springsteen’s birthday. At 77, Springsteen still amazes with his performances and music. If you haven’t seen the first part of his and the E Street Band’s Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour (Philadelphia Freedom Cut) on YouTube yet, do so. The man and the band, featuring Tom Morello, are on fire. The second part will be released on Springsteen’s birthday, September 23^rd. I believe there’ll be four parts released over the coming weeks, which will show the whole three-hour-plus concert. The energy he exhibits, the fire he shows, the anger in his words bring the house down and inspire.

I’m afraid to say too much lest I jinx things, but so far this school year has seen a tiny improvement over the last few, certainly more than last year. Of course, I could just be growing used to the bad, too. But I choose to remain hopeful and optimistic.

Lanterns is a really good show. My one criticism of it is a longstanding criticism for many modern superhero shows and movies. Why must it be R-rated? Peacemaker works like that with the over-the-top humor, gore, and violence. Lanterns is in no way like Peacemaker but it falls into the realm of Marvel’s Daredevil, where the violence is graphic, the language adult, and the situations not welcoming to children. That said, the show is really good! I think part of what makes it so good is how it surprises. It eschews the traditional comic book origin stories and tales and asks larger questions about ethics, belief, and relationships. Five episodes in, and I have no idea where the next three episodes may lead, but I’m there for it.

Which reminds me how behind I am in my Marvel TV shows. Not only have I still not finished the first season of Daredevil, but I haven’t seen any of its Defenders series, Ironheart, Wonder Man, the Wakanda series, and I think a few other odds and ends. It’s not lack of interest, I can tell you that. All these series look great and I’ve heard great things about them, it’s just me. I have trouble watching things. I usually decide to use my time to read or do other things. But then I get a little sad that I’m behind on movies and such.

I’m still reading Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings. I think I’m nearly done with The Fellowship of the Ring. I have several books sitting here that I’m eager to jump into including new novels by Eric LaRocca and Paul Tremblay. And a bunch more.

Speaking of reading, I’ve finally begun reading Absolute Batman. Written by Scott Snyder and drawn by a variety of artists, I’m really enjoying the first arc, called The Zoo. Since I’ve heard so much about it I decided to give it a try. I’m really looking forward to getting into the other Absolute books.

A lot of what I’m writing today is fluff, distraction. The world is a mess and it’s terrifying. Being able to jaunt from topic to topic and just sort of allow my mind to wander feels nice, feels right. If I don’t, it’ll hyperfocus on how bad things appear to be right now, and then my mind begins playing scenarios which never end well. I’ve been proven right too many times to want my mind to do that, so I instead let it wander and play.

I hope you’ve enjoyed wandering and playing with me for a little while today. I appreciate it.

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I’ll be taking part in the Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival on October 17^th, 2026, at the Lawrence Public Library in Lawrence, Massachusetts. I’m excited because so many authors, editors, and people I admire will be there, as well as a few friends. Find out more here!

I will also be joining a panel about monsters and cosmic horror at Once Upon A Bookstore in Fall River, Massachusetts, about a week later!

I’ll share more info on both of these events as we get closer.

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