A Mysterious Transmission...

Hey there, Operator Reader!

Something new is on the way this Fall. While we take a short break from our usual Pinehaven broadcast, a new signal is growing stronger this year. My first book of short stories, temporarily called Midwestern Gothic (working title), is scheduled for the Halloween season! And while ALB 3 is certainly the most awaited project by far, I think fans of the series will really like this one too. We got ghost trains, we got corn fields, we got scary trees, we got religious psychosis, we got plenty of spooky small towns. The cover will be releasing later this summer, but for now, just trust me. It's gonna be fun.

And now a word from our sponsors.

First, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who purchased signed paperbacks from my shop! Of course, those who purchased from the link in my last newsletter get theirs shipped out first - and more are still on the way. I wasn't expecting the first crate of books to sell out, so it felt pretty amazing to contact Ingram to purchase a second box! And since a few people have asked, the listing will not be going away anytime soon. The paperbacks will be pre-orders: as soon as I run out, I'll keep ordering more.

Second, I'm running another sale in my shop this month! Since July is my birthday month, I'm giving you guys a promo code for 25% off your entire order of anything on kelbyron.com with the promo code JULY13. ❤️

On July 29th, IngramSpark is going to publish an interview they did with me about my work, my story, and my experience being a self-published author. But, I love you guys, so I figured I would tell my story here first. If you've been around for years, you probably already know parts of this. But I've never actually written it all down - until now.

My Author Story...

If you've been here since my Reddit days, first of all, I'm so sorry for how bad my writing was back then. Secondly, thank you for putting up with my antics for literal years.

In 2018, I was having The Worst Year. I had to delay my graduation to become my grandfather's live-in hospice caregiver, as well as take care of my mom during chemo. I didn't sleep, I didn't really have any friends or family to help, and the only time I left the house was to go to the hospital. Obviously, I did the only natural thing a person could do, and spent many sleepless nights watching scary YouTube videos. This is where I learned about the NoSleep subreddit.

Shockingly, Accounts from a Lonely Broadcast Station was not my first submission. My first submission was a story that was actually removed from the subreddit after being downvoted to hell. It wasn't up for very long, but the story was told from the POV of an artist who was stalking her neighbor. The truth behind her obsession turned even darker when she witnessed him commit a brutal murder, all while he knew she was watching. Reddit did not like what I was trying to do, calling the story "gratuitiously violent" and commenting on how hard it was to root for the main character, until finally it was taken down.

I took the L as gracefully as I could, but it stung. Not gonna lie. Instead of trying to rework it, I moved on and began writing a mundane workplace horror story inspired by local Michigan folklore - a story of two radio DJs, animals with human faces, and eccentric townsfolk.

This time around, it worked, and I was shocked at the response I got to my little radio station story. What started as a short one-shot turned into a series, and by the time the last chapter was posted, MrCreepypasta had reached out to me to ask if I'd be interested in collaborating on a YouTube series. He said he had a voice actress in mind for my darling Evelyn: Autumn Ivy, the one who brought my girl to life. This was the turning point, and before long, I was getting tons of messages begging me to keep posting or to write a book.

After I published the second story in the Lonely Broadcast Reddit saga, a lot happened. My grandfather passed away, my mother's cancer moved to her brain and bones, and I finished college as quickly as I could just to get it over with. There was no fanfare or bright future after that. My art degree and dreams of moving west to become a comic book artist were over. I was working at a grocery store, alternating Xanax with day drinking, and focusing on being a caregiver while trying not to think about how lonely I was. I was also getting incredibly, painfully, inexplicably sick.

By that point, I was already blind in one eye and suffering from random blackouts, bleeding, and fainting spells. But for a long time, I refused to tell anyone, until I finally saw a doctor and they discovered a 7 lb tumor that had essentially swallowed my uterus. It was attached to an artery and sucking my blood - the body horror author had finally become the body horror.

I quit my job. I got a new job from home. I got on a year-long waiting list for surgery, had the tumor finally removed in 2022, and sat down at my laptop the day I got home to start on a brand new project. A Lonely Broadcast: Book One, my first novel. As soon as I announced that I had returned to the internet and was releasing a book in the summer, the outpouring of love and support hit me like a bullet train. People not only remembered me, but they had been waiting for me. Autumn and MrCreepypasta greeted me as if I had never been gone. Posts and comments came pouring in telling people that I was alive, that I was still writing, and that I was coming back.

So, I came back. I published my first book and I dedicated it to everyone who had stuck by me during my absense. Being an author wasn't my dream before then. I know a lot of other writers will say that they wanted to publish a book since they were a child, but for me, the dream was one that was given to me - handed over at my darkest hour by people who believed in me and said, "we know everything seems bad, but this is something that no one can take away from you". They were right.

It's okay to have new dreams.

The Baby Zone

The Next Broadcast...

The next time you see me in your inbox, I'll be passing over that link for the IngramSpark interview! I spend most of it talking about you guys, by the way. <3 I'll also probably be talking about my upcoming move, getting my mom into her first apartment without me, and maybe some chaotic photos of the home renovations I'm going to be working on. Wish me luck because I don't know what I'm doing. Like, in general.

Ok love you bye