Esteemed Readers ~
Just a quickie this week to WELCOME the flurry of new subscribers in recent months who have graciously agreed to join us each week on this madcap adventure called FORD KNOWS.
This is my way of saying, “Hello, nice to meet you”—and to tell you a little bit about me and my work, and what to expect in the coming year.
My husband and I moved with our dog Bubba from Oakland, California to Spain in 2019—a plan which took 20 years to realize—and ultimately settled in a little town about half an hour down the coast from Barcelona.
Sitges is a cute summer beach town with a Big City schedule of festivals starting in February with Carnival and ending in October with the renowned International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia—King Kong is the unofficial mascot. It’s in its 57th year, and kind of a big deal for horror, fantasy, and speculative film buffs.
On occasion, I write about living in Sitges, Spain, Europe in general, the expat life, and our travels—but the biggest project of the last year has been my serial novel, Lamb.
Hard to believe, but the first episode of Lamb dropped on November 17th last year, and we are fast approaching the final episode, scheduled for this coming November 11th—a year to the week!
Each chapter can be read as a short story, an individual episode in the lives of Lamb and his best friend D, but the overall effect is the story of their friendship, their coming out and coming of age in the 1990s, and Lamb’s disappearance and the announcement of his death in the very first chapter—that’s not a spoiler, it’s the beginning of the book—and D’s reminiscences, their letters, Lamb’s writings and short stories, journal entries and other papers paint the picture of this novel in snapshots.
It’s experimental, gritty, sad, and silly all at the same time, and I’ve been amazed and delighted by the feedback from readers who have taken these flawed but endearing characters to heart and come back with each episode to find out what new misadventures have befallen them.
Two important developments in the publication of Lamb: I have begun recording an audio version of the remaining episodes, and will be adding audio to each of the already published episodes in the coming weeks, as well as a podcast version for Substack and Spotify. For those of you who prefer audiobooks, this is your chance to listen from the beginning and catch up before the last episode drops in November.
Episodes 1 - 4 are up and running.
Also, I will be independently publishing Lamb in 2025 with an additional new novelette length story by the character Lamb included, available only to paid subscribers of this newsletter and people who purchase the book.
Paid subscribers will receive a free ebook version of Lamb with this new material next year, as well as an additional benefit I’ll mention in a moment.
I will also be hosting a wrap party in November where I’ll be giving a reading of the final episode, as well as an excerpt of the additional material—details soon. I hope you will join me as I bring this year-long project to its bittersweet conclusion with some well-mannered frivolity. 😘
The Road to Published
As another token of appreciation for paid subscribers helping me to realize my publishing dream, next year I will be writing a series of articles called “The Road to Published” detailing all of the steps along the way from sitting down for the first time and facing a blank page; through the writing and drafting; looking for an agent and the querying process; developing a writer platform; editing and proofreading; book covers and marketing all the way to publication date and beyond.
These will be a little more journalistic/informational than my usual schtick, though with heavy emphasis on my own experience too as I’ve been learning the ropes. I’ll be seeking out and drawing on expert advice, other independent writers with insights about their own journeys, and resources for writers hoping to make the break from writing alone in their garrets to seeing their book published and sold.
If you’ve got questions or insights, I’d love to hear from you so I can include the topics and issues that matter most.
The Books We ❤️ Club
I wanted to mention a new feature, The Books We ❤️ Club, which debuted its inaugural episode two weeks ago with
’s essay on James Joyce’s Dubliners. I was just thinking to myself: good grief, I’ve got such an enormous pile of To Be Reads, and no time to put on my face and schlep to a book club meeting—what to do, what to do?And I just thought: why not invite some of my favorite writers to come and talk—not about the latest and greatest bestseller that everyone’s reading—but about a book that really touched them, that really reached into their heart and became a part of them in a way that very few books actually do most of the time, enjoyable though they may be? You wouldn’t even have to read the book, you could just read what these brilliant people have to say—that might be enough, or you might be inspired to pick it up and investigate.
So that’s what I did. In November,
will be writing about Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin; followed by in November with The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe; and in December, will be reviewing Raymond Carver’s short story collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.Want to join in the fun? Read the articles and leave comments for an impromptu book club session; read the books later and circle back for insights; DM me if you want to feature your favorite book as a guest writer. So far, Kate’s treatment has inspired another post by
about Dubliners titled “First Loves”.I’ve also started a concurrent Goodreads book club if you felt inclined to join.
Two Birds Author Services
Side gigs and streams of income: there’s a great topic for a future article, something other new writers will have to come to terms with, too.
For a variety of reasons, I found myself unable to work when we arrived in Spain, and rely on a few different sources of income. Besides reading for the BookLife Prize through Publishers Weekly (awards/contests—another great topic) and the generous support of my Substack readers (thanks again!) I’ve also become a freelance Associate Editor with the boutique shop Two Birds Author Services headed up by Substack’s own
and Michele Chiappetta.We offer everything from developmental editing, manuscript critiques, copy/line editing and proofreading to blurb writing, query letters, formatting and general author consulting. If you are anywhere on the writing/publishing journey and need some assistance, we’re the birds for you.
Troy Ford
If you’re poking around on the Two Birds website, you might also discover an open secret: yes, Troy Ford is a pen name. But hold on—it is also the name I was born with, and so here’s how that happened.
While I was thinking about whether I wanted my real name to be my published name (being a Jr., it was never really mine but my father’s, after all) I thought why not use the name I was born with? Because I was adopted, see—my biological mother had given me a name which was ultimately changed, but through a bit of sleuthing I discovered that I was born Troy Ford, and so Troy Ford is the name I’ve chosen to be known by for my writing life.
Do please continue calling me Troy—the “Mr.” is nice but unnecessary, it was really just a joke to distinguish me from a car dealership in Ohio.
FORD KNOWS
While we’re on the subject of names: I’m offering a free one-year paid subscription to the first person who DMs or emails me with the literary source of my newsletter’s name. Only one person has ever mentioned it, in the Comments of someone else’s newsletter.
I’ll give you a hint: in a world where people are products and automation starts in vitro, the father of the assembly line is God.
And again: THANK YOU for subscribing, your support means everything to me.
We have a winner folks! Terry Freedman guessed correctly and won the 1 Year Paid Subscription: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Congrats Terry!
So lovely to be on this ride with you Mr. Troy! (Love hearing that this is your pen name. I also love the Mr.) I think I’ve been with Lamb from day one and it’s thrilling to hear how you’ve grown with these characters over the past year. Excited for your wrap party, I’ll be there with bells on. 👏