The Storied Scrolls | Zack Thoutt

Sneak Peak at Audiobook for Wally and the Holiday Jailbreak

Fri, 09 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Next Monday, Wally and the Holiday Jailbreak will be published in eBook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook formats!

As a sneak peek, I thought it'd be fun to share a short clip of Nicole Britton (the narrator) and I recording the first chapter of the audiobook earlier this week.

Sneak Peak at Book Cover for Wally and the Holiday Jailbreak

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT

'm excited to share with you all that my next book, Wally and the Holiday Jailbreak, is nearly finished and will be published on December 12th, 2022!

Over the course of the last month, I hired a developmental editor, copy editor, and voice actor; set up and paid for promotional ads/placements on Meta, NetGalley, and Amazon; learned how to design book covers, self-publish books, and promote my creative work; and most importantly, I implemented three significant edits to my story based on the feedback from my editing team.

I spent most of my nights and weekends in October and November at my computer working on the many facets of Wally and the Holiday Jailbreak. It's consumed hundreds of hours of my free time and thousands of dollars from my wallet, but it has also been incredibly fun and rewarding.

I don't have much I can share just yet, but I do have one item...

Book Cover

I put the final touches on the book cover last night and am quite proud of how it turned out. I do some design work at my day job, though I'm mainly a software engineer. Designing a book cover was a new experience for me and it took me several iterations to come up with something decent.

First look at Wally and the Holiday Jailbreak book cover.

While I wish I could paint a watercolor like the illustration on this cover, believe it or not, I actually used an AI called DALL·E to generate the base image. The way it works is pretty simple—you write a sentence or two describing what you want and the AI draws it.

The prompt I used was something like: "watercolor of two third graders walking a border collie puppy in the mountains next to a creek with a full moon and shooting star in the night sky."

As a software engineer with significant machine learning experience (see my Game of Throne AI that went viral a few years ago), I was extremely impressed by the level of control I had over the image DALL·E generated.

DALL·E's initial illustration wasn't perfect and the AI does seem to suffer from a version of the "last mile problem," where you get get 95% of what you want, but the last 5% is impossible. The dog in my illustration is older than the puppy it's depicting from Wally and the Holiday Jailbreak, but I could not get the AI to output exactly what I wanted. In the end, I decided it was close enough.

I performed a handful of cosmetic touch-ups in photoshop, purchased a fun font called WildKind for the title, and slapped my name on the bottom. It sounds easy when I write it out, but this was actually a fairly time-consuming project.

I'm planning to share more content as the publication date approaches, so keep an eye out for updates in the next two weeks.

I've Self-Published Tales of Twilight!

Sun, 06 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT

his week I self-published the five short stories I wrote over the course of the last year as a book titled: Tales of Twilight.

Here's the book jacket summary:

Our lives are built from a cascade of transitions—childhood to adulthood, adulthood to parenthood, and parenthood to elderhood. We may transition between sickness and health, rich and poor, happy and sad. Each morning we rise with the sun and each evening the Earth’s rotation drags the sun back out of sight, ushering the end of another day and a time of rest. While each of our journeys differ, they all end at the same place: the moment when the light that powers our consciousness fades into darkness.

"Tales of Twilight" is an eclectic collection of five short stories that explore what it’s like to stand in this twilight between life and death. The settings range from fictional Tudor to Western to modern day, but the characters all have something in common—unresolved conflict that they finally confront.

And here are links to each of the stories on my website:

Weathered Pearls

Through Bone Like Butter

Five Fingers, Four

The Mind's Eye

Rip Current

You can read the stories for free at the links above, or if you would like to read them in a more accessible format, Tales of Twilight is now available in ebook and print formats on Amazon (though I haven't received my test copy of the printed book yet so I'm not 100% sure how it turned out).

Upcoming Work

Tales of Twilight totals 54 pages, which is technically novelette length. My first book isn't large, but I'm happy I decided to start small with short stories and publish them as a compilation rather than dive straight into a thousand-page fantasy novel that would likely take me years to complete.

My next book is a Holiday comedy tentatively titled Wally, which I plan to publish in early December. The first draft clocked in around 100 pages and I wrote it in the span of about a month, so I'm getting faster and hope that in 2023 I'll publish a story that officially breaks through the minimum word count barrier that defines a novel—50,000 words.

Until then, I have a few more short stories, novelettes, and novellas planned that I'm excited to share with you all.

Life Update

We're still living in a cottage at Chautauqua and love it. I estimate the indoor space is around 400-500 square feet plus another 100 square foot screened porch. The size is just right for us. The only thing we find ourselves longing for is a dishwasher and garbage disposal, especially since Shelby is notorious for using every dish in the kitchen when she cooks.

Skutull and I go on two hikes per day, one in the morning and one at lunch. During the hike at lunch, I've let Skutull choose the route, which worked well for a while, but after about two weeks of living here, he started insisting we explore the neighborhoods below Chautauqua rather than walk on trails. Day after day he tugged me down the hill into the houses with his nose down. We sniffed and peed on every corner of every block, zigzagging through the grided streets. I didn't know what he thought our official assignment was, but I could tell we were on a mission.

Then one day we were cruising down one of the streets and Skutull suddenly turned up a set of steps to somebody's front porch. He rarely pulls on the leash, but he rushed up the steps with such force he nearly yanked me to the ground. A dog started barking inside and he wagged his tail, whining back. I looked up at the house and realized that we were at the home of one of our family friends, the Foremans! Their dog, Gracy, was barking at us from the other side of the door.

In hindsight, I suspect that our combing the streets was Skutull's deliberate attempt to find their house. Skutull and Gracy have been buddies since he was a puppy and he loves spending time at their house.

We walked up to their front door and knocked, but nobody was home. Skutull was very upset when I made him leave without saying hello to Gracy. He jumped up on the windowsill as we left the porch and the two of them sniffed each other through the glass.

Skutull mad at me when I told him we had to leave the Foremans' without going inside.

What I find crazy is that we hadn't been to the Foremans' house since before Covid about three years ago. We've also never walked to their house, certainly not from Chautauqua—we've always lived too far away and parked near their house when we visited. I have no idea how Skutull knew their house was close by and ended up finding it after many unsuccessful days, but he never fails to impress me, especially with his spatial memory.

If Skutull ever happens to get lost (*knocks on wood), one of the first places we'll check is the Foremans' house.

This story has a happy ending for Skutull and Gracy. We went over to the Foremans' for waffles that weekend and Skutull got to play with every one of Gracy's toys.

P.S. Here are my favorite links since last time

Article: Hear the World's Oldest Song - listen to a few different modern recreations of the oldest known song, "Hurrian Hymn No. 6."
Article: The Maintenance Race - read about the first solo yacht race around the world and how different strategies toward maintenance led to vastly different results.

Chautauqua Nostalgia

Fri, 30 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Nomad Life · CH 19

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge

An armchair travel story about doggy jail, sailing in heavy fog past the Titanic, and making stateside landfall.

n May 2022, we took a seven-day transatlantic cruise from Southampton, England to New York City. This cruise is and the only way I know of to transport a dog between North America and Europe without flying.

We were nervous about being allowed to board the ship because of Covid protocols. The cruise line required a negative test to board, and if we tested positive, there wasn’t another crossing with an available kennel for Skutull until December 2023. We did not want to fly with him again, so the stakes for testing positive felt high.

We took our tests in the basement of a travel agency that was located down the Kensington High Street, close to the apartment we lived in during January. The hour between taking the test and waiting for our results was agonizing, but as we walked through Hyde Park attempting to distract ourselves, we received an email that both of our tests were negative—we were clear to cruise!

The boarding procedure for the ship was chaotic, to say the least. Even though there is room for 20 animals on the ship and most crossing have full kennels, none of the employees seemed to know what we were supposed to do. Some told us to wait in a lounge, others said we had to checkin first. We ended up sitting in an area by the information desk until Oliver, the ship’s kennel master, came and gave us proper instructions.

Message from Zack

Hello from Chautauqua! Shelby, Skutull, and I are spending September, October, and most of November living in a tiny cabin right by the Dining Hall at Chautauqua.

This is a special spot for us. Shelby's dad played in the seasonal orchestra at Chautauqua when she was growing up and she spent many summers living here as a kid. Those trips are what eventually convinced her to move to Boulder for college and she always enjoys the nostalgia of exploring her old stomping grounds. We also got married at Chautauqua in 2016 and recently celebrated our 6th anniversary here at the spot we got married.

Skutull enjoying the warmth of the sunrise on one of our morning hikes. We've loved having the trails right out our backdoor.

In case anyone is interested, I've also recently written up some of my favorite recipes and added them to Dishroom Blunders on my website:

My final announcement is that I've started work on a Christmas comedy that will likely be novelette/novella length. I'm hoping to finish writing it by the holidays so that I can release the chapters advent calendar style leading up to Christmas Eve. We'll see if I finish in time!

P.S. Here are my favorite links since last time

Article: Hear the World's Oldest Song - listen to a few different modern recreations of the oldest known song, "Hurrian Hymn No. 6."
Article: The Maintenance Race - read about the first solo yacht race around the world and how different strategies toward maintenance led to vastly different results.

Shelby Returns!

Mon, 12 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Nomad Life · CH 18

The Outer Hebrides

An armchair travel story about senseless canine fines, ambling through the West Highland Way, and groping standing stones.

e began our adventure in Scotland by hopping between islands in the western isles. Some of the passages took only twenty minutes and were operated by a small boat with space for half a dozen cars, while others lasted several hours and felt like cruise ships featuring restaurants and casinos.

To be completely honest, I have no idea how Shelby planned our itinerary through this part of the trip and kept it straight in her head. We spent several full days driving, during which we crossed between islands on ferries multiple times per day. Shelby often plans complex trip itineraries beyond what I’d ever attempt on my own, but this was the first time I’ve ever become so confused, that I gave up trying to keep track of where we were going and how we were going to get there...

Message from Zack

In April 2022, I took an entire month of work so that we could travel throughout Scotland and enjoy our final days of nomadic life to the fullest. This chapter follows our adventures throughout the Scottish Isles and Highlands.

I'm nearing the completion of Nomad Life and now have rough drafts of all the remaining chapters finished. In the coming months, I will publish the final three chapters which cover our cruise across the Atlantic with Skutull, our drive back to Boulder from NYC, and a reflection on how our journey changed me.

In other good news, I'm working (slowly) on publishing Tales of Twilight in both ebook and print format. It will be a short story collection about 75 pages in length and will mark the end of Tales of Twilight as an ongoing story series. I'm still not sure what I'll work on next, but I will be happy to officially finish my first two writing projects.

Life Update

After spending the month of July in Norway on a solo adventure, Shelby has returned home!

Skutull had gotten quite comfortable sleeping in Shelby's spot on the bed. And yes, he slept like this with his butt pointed at my face every night.

Skutull was a little reluctant to relearn how to share me with Shelby, but a hike that culminated in a long swimming session helped him get over it.

P.S. Here are my favorite links since last time

Movie: In the Realm of Senses - this infamous Japanese film's frequent and lengthy unsimulated sex scenes have been controversial since it premiered in 1976. The start of the movie felt a bit like fancy porn, but by the end I was seriously questioning whether the gore and violence we're all numb to in entertainment is worse than unsimulated sex. I wouldn't ever claim this movie as a favorite, but it was certainly one of the most unique films I've seen in a long time. It was refreshing to watch something that doesn't follow the formulaic Hollywood model and I think that even if the film had been shot without the unsimulated sex scenes and in a conventional PG-13 way, the story would stand alone as interesting and entertaining.
Book: Of Wolves and Men - this book written by Barry Lopez explores the complex history and relationship between humans and wolves. I don't know how to summarize what the book is about without diving into a lengthy diatribe, but suffice it to say that this is among my favorite non-fiction books I've ever read and has reshaped how I view dogs, wolves, history, and our relationship as humans with nature.

The Kill Zone

Fri, 15 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Nomad Life · CH 17

Connemara

An armchair travel story about Skutull's surgery, feeding lambs, and tiny roads.

ur ferry from Holyhead, Wales docked in Dublin late afternoon. We were nervous about crossing the border into Ireland with Skutull for two reasons. First, Skutull had undergone foot surgery a week earlier and was still healing. Second, the language the Irish government used on their website was extreme with regards to importing animals. There were a host of requirements for entry, such as notifying their agricultural department, undergoing worming treatment 1-5 days before arrival, and having a fully updated vaccination record. It wasn’t the requirements, but the consequences of failing to meet all the requirements that worried us. Quoting their website, if you fail to meet all entry requirements “your pet may be euthanised.”

Like most of our travel worries, our fears did not become reality. We entered the country easily and smoothly. Skutull was not euthanized! Hooray!

We had to find vets both in Dublin and later in our Irish travels to treat Skutull’s healing foot. The vet that did the surgery in London originally told us Skutull would be back to normal in ~10 days, but that was not the case. Not even close. It took a full month before his wound fully closed and his bandage sores healed.

Skutull was in good spirits most of the time. The vet prescribed him a cone of shame, but he was a good boy and listened when we told him not to lick his foot or remove his bandage, so he never had to wear it. The hardest part for him was that he couldn’t play with his toys or run. I could tell that he was feeling bored and bottled-up during his recovery...

Message from Zack

Hello from Colorado! Skutull and I have moved down from the mountains back into town (and the summer heat!) and Shelby has ventured off to Norway for a solo adventure.

Our last hiking before moving back to the plains.

Skutull always finds a lake to swim in.

We originally booked an Airbnb near Boulder on a farm for the month of July. I was excited to live on the farm because the listing mentioned they have a greenhouse, which is something I've always been interested in owning someday but have never had the opportunity to explore.

We had a two-night gap between when our rental in the mountains ended and when the rental on the farm started, so we stayed at my parents' house for a couple of nights. We weren't their only house guests. My parents were hosting a pro golfer who plays on the Korn Ferry Tour, which is the PGA feeder league. His name was MJ Daffue and we loved getting to know him. He ate dinner with us every night and even gave me a golf lesson one evening. He's already earned enough points this season to move up to the PGA Tour next season, so we're looking forward to watching his rounds on TV in 2023.

Skutull and I moved into the farm later that week. On our welcome tour, the host told me that the furnace was broken, which meant they had no AC. They'd already tried once unsuccessfully to fix it and were hoping to get someone booked to install a new furnace the next week, but he wasn't sure when the issue would be resolved. It was pretty hot inside, and that was on a day when the high was only 85F. There were days in the forecast later that week that were supposed to be 100F.

Also, there was no greenhouse and the host acted like there had never been one. Not sure what was going on there, but I wouldn't describe the property as a farm.

About an hour after moving in I noticed that I'd been blowing my nose a lot. I took Skutull on a walk and everything cleared up, but as soon as we returned to the unit, the runny nose came back. As the night progressed, my eyes and throat became scratchy. I found out that they have a cat that isn't listed on the Airbnb listing because it only comes inside a few times per week, but I'm allergic and somehow dandruff must have made its way into my living quarters.

When I got out of bed the next morning, I realized that I might need to pivot my plans. My allergies weren't terrible, but they were bad enough that it would have been uncomfortable for a long stretch. When I added in the summer heat with no AC and a few other small issues, I knew I couldn't live there for a month. Especially since I work from home and would have spent +20 hours per day inside the unit.

So Skutull and I packed our stuff into the car for the third time that week and moved back in with my parents. We didn't get our money back for the rental since all long-term Airbnb rentals have a "Strict" cancellation policy that offers no refund, but my parents aren't charging us anything to stay with them so the cost to stay at either place was the same.

Skutull and I are enjoying life at my parents' house. He gets to run around with their two small dogs, Bella and Roxy. While they look to him for protection, he's a huge chicken when thunderstorms roll through and sometimes seeks Roxy for comfort and wisdom.

Skutull cuddling Roxy when thunderstorms scare him.

Skutull and I's favorite spot in the house is my parents' new golf simulator. I like taking 10 minutes at lunch to hit a few balls and Skutull thinks the turf makes for great traction to kill his toys.

Skutull's “kill zone” that he permits us to also use as a golf simulator.

I dug my guitar out of storage when we returned to Colorado at the end of May. I used to play a lot in high school, but hadn't touched my guitar in a decade until about two months ago. I've enjoyed rediscovering my love for music and Skutull always appreciates a new bed to nap in, though I think he gets jealous of the attention I give the guitar.

P.S. Here are my favorite links since last time

Movie: Vanilla Sky - an older psychothriller starring Tom Cruise
Playlist: This is Johnny Cash - my singing coach told me recently that he thinks I'm a bass, so I've been exploring the music of modern bass singers in pop music (there aren't many!).

Our Mountain Meadow

Tue, 21 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Nomad Life · CH 16

Londinium

An armchair travel story about my Russian spa treatment, UK door locks, and homesickness.

lease have seat here and warm up,” the Russian spa therapist told me.

I obeyed and entered a large sauna. There were three levels of deep steps you could choose to sit on. I wasn’t a sauna noob. I knew that the higher up you go, the hotter the air, so I plopped myself down on the middle stair and immediately started sweating from every pore on my body.

Shelby had given me this “Birch Treatment” at a Russian spa located in the affluent London neighborhood of Chelsea as my birthday present. I had no idea what to expect other than birch trees were likely to be involved.

At first, I was alone in the sauna, but a few minutes into my sit, when I was dripping sweat and could smell the garlic from my dinner the night before emanating off my skin and into the sticky air, two women entered whispering to each other in Russian.

I glanced up and was surprised to see two girls who could have passed as supermodels. They were tall and slender, but while their bodies appeared natural in their spaghetti-string bikinis, their faces were covered with makeup and their lips were abnormally large. They lounged on the top step, using towels as pillows...

About this Chapter

The two months we lived in London at the beginning of 2022 were a roller coaster ride. We arrived in the UK eager to explore one of our favorite cities, but halfway through made the difficult choice to rework our trip and come home early. Skutull underwent an unexpected surgery, I suffered from a collapse in travel stamina, and Shelby had to shred the itinerary she'd spent years perfecting.

In many ways, this was the climax of our nomadic adventure. It was the point where we realized that our travels had been enriching, but they'd served their purpose and it was time to come home. This transition to the next chapter in our lives was difficult, but I think it forced us to grow a lot both as individuals and as partners.

As I promised in the last issue, I made an effort to write this chapter from a more comedic angle. I hope you enjoy this wide-ranging hodgepodge of stories from our time in London.

Message from Zack

Happy Midsummer! We'll be spending the longest day of the year (for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere) on an evening hike culminating in angel food cake and fresh berries. I hope our picnic doesn't attract any bears! How are you utilizing the sunlight today?

We've spent the last month living about an hour outside of Boulder into the mountains. The seclusion and proximity to nature have been nurturing. When we leave, I'm going to miss having a hiking trail right out of my backyard where I rarely see other people.

This meadow is a ten-minute hike from our house and has been our happy place that we visit a few times per day.

Skutull found a tree infested with large, black ants. It's difficult to see in the picture, but the stick coming out of the trunk near the base was covered with ants who were burrowing into the tree, then dumping small chunks of sawdust onto the ground.

Bison cheddar cheeseburger for dinner! Yum!

Skutull underwent his second unexpected surgery of the year two weeks ago. On the night we pulled into my parents' house after a year and a half on the road, Skutull broke one of his front teeth playing with a toy.

I typically play "The Find Game" with Skutull twice per day, which is a game we invented when he was a puppy where I hide his toys, he finds them, then he celebrates his success by shaking and killing them. He hasn't been able to play with his toys at all because of the stitches in his mouth, but he just got back from a checkup appointment at the vet where they gave him the green light to play with toys again. I expect tonight will be quite the bloodbath as he takes out weeks of frustration on his favorite owl toy, Hedwig.

P.S. Here are my favorite links since last time

TV Show: season 3 of Somebody Feed Phil
Song: Gregory Alan Isakov's cover of "The Trapeze Swinger" by Iron and Wine

Changing Momentum

Fri, 10 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Tales of Twilight · CH 5

Rip Current

A short story about regret and exploring a forgotten place that holds cherished memories.

arry jammed the gear stick of his nineteen seventy-two Chevy Cheyenne into neutral and engaged the brake lever. The sky-blue pickup truck rocked back and forth as it jolted to a halt, its rusting suspension springs creaking with the motion. A pearl-inset wedding band hung from the rearview mirror on a chain, swinging back and forth.

Gusts of wind shook the forest that lay beyond Port Orford Convenience Store, which was so old and decrepit, it was liable to blow over under the strength of a particularly strong gale. Larry’s hands shook in his lap. His eyes sagged, as if his bushy, white beard was pulling his skin toward the ground.

Larry stepped out of his vehicle and noticed the smell of brake fluid hanging in the air. He’d have to work on the truck again—another weekend spent contorting his stiff body into ungodly shapes instead of driving up to his cabin and installing a new roof or hooking up the kitchen sink. Larry slammed the truck’s door shut. He wondered if he’d ever find the time and money to finish the cabin or if his dream of retiring to it someday was childish.

A young man with greasy hair and sunken eyes approached Larry and asked, “Do you have spare change?” Larry thought he recognized him as one of the McCoy boys from up north. The kid was missing teeth and his movements were jittery. He wore an orange 60-liter pack that was so dirty, it was almost brown. His body smelled of shit and rot.

“No, better look for a job,” Larry replied, avoiding eye contact. He could feel the boy’s hatred projecting onto his back as he walked by...

Message from Zack

Hello, long time no write!

It's been almost three months since I sent a newsletter or published a story. My life has been a whirlwind full of change in 2022, mostly for the better.

After over one year of living nomadically, my wife and I made the decision to move back to Colorado from Europe. Indefinite travel was incredibly enriching and I wouldn't trade the adventure we shared for anything, but it was also ripe with challenges, such as managing ever-changing Covid restrictions, working from a different timezone, constantly crossing borders with a dog, and old-fashioned homesickness. Our travels served a great purpose in our lives and we both feel forever changed, but now we're ready for the next chapter.

During our long journey home (which I plan to write about in a future Nomad Life chapter), I thought a lot about how I want writing to fit into my life going forward. I have a great job as a software engineer that I want to continue with for the foreseeable future. I enjoy writing as a hobby, but honestly, I don't think I could take the pressure of it being my career and the way I "feed my family." I have so much respect for people who can handle that lifestyle.

One consequence of this choice is that I have less time to write than a full-time writer. I think that's okay, because I've found that I don't write well for longer than ~2 hour stretches, with occasional special days where I can do 3-4 hours. However, this time limitation also means that I need to be more selective with what I work on.

After a lot of reflection, I realized that I never intended to write Nomad Life. I originally created my website as a platform to share fiction. In particular, I wanted to write novels and potentially movies. Yet, somehow I spent the majority of my writing time over the last year working on a collection of short stories.

I think this happened for two reasons. First, I was traveling a lot and people we knew wanted to keep up with what we were doing, so I thought, instead of telling each person individually over text, why not just write stories about it—maybe strangers would even find it interesting. As a bonus, it could act as my personal journal, recording our travel memories. Second, I knew conventional digital wisdom is that you need "regular content" to grow an online following, which led me to veer toward shorter form pieces.

With all that said, I'm repositioning my ship toward my initial destination, which is to complete fewer, larger bodies of work—namely, novels and movie scripts. I still plan to finish Nomad Life in the coming months and wrap that up as a complete project, and I will always write short stories, but I will focus most of my time going forward on big projects.

What that means for the newsletter is that you'll get fewer emails. I still won't send out issues with any regular cadence so that I don't become tempted to fill them with fluff—I'll only message you when there are new stories to read.

In addition to a change in writing format, I also plan to change my writing style. After sending Rip Current to my editor, I realized that death is a recurring theme in my published writing. I honestly found this surprising, because most of what I've written throughout my life has been more in the realm of comedy and fantasy. I think I ended up going down the rabbit hole of death because it's an easy way to add tension to a short story. Call it a limitation of the short story as a format, or my own lack of skill, but it was a crutch I've unwittingly used, and while my writing has obviously been "my style," it's also not been true to how I naturally write when I'm not trying to fit into a genre. I plan for my future stories to have more elements of comedy and fantasy/sci-fi, even if they do also veer into the darker questions of life.

Now on to Rip Current...

We spent April of 2021 living on the Oregon Coast, where our rental house was within walking distance of an incredible beach. Skutull and I walked or ran down the beach several times per day, and during that time, I noticed many older men who parked their old trucks in the beach parking lot before and after work. They never got out of their vehicles, and instead looked out at the ocean while having a smoke or a cup of coffee (you can read about our time in Oregon in the Nomad Life travel story). My wife's grandmother was also diagnosed with cancer during this time. The combination of these two events and the raw energy of the sea inspired me to write a poem last year, which I recently expanded into this short story.

P.S. Here are my favorite links since last time

Movie: Her written by Spike Jonze
Documentary: The Biggest Little Farm by John Chester
Movie: Lady Bird written by Greta Gerwig
Illustrated Book: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy
Book: The Body Keeps the Score written by Bessel van der Kolk

Crab for Days!

Sun, 20 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Tales of Twilight · CH 4

The Mind's Eye

A short story about expectations, impulse, and being taken by the mountains.

arl bends over and lifts each of Spot’s legs through the loops of his mobility harness, pushing the dog’s shaggy, black fur out of the way as the clips click into place. Spot turns toward the door and wags his tail.

“Dad, you still do this every day by yourself?” Martin asks.

Earl zips up his cracked leather jacket and replies, “Why shouldn’t I?”

“Well for one, you can’t see.” Earl turns away from Martin to face the door, then slides his gold wedding band off his finger into a ceramic bowl adorned with soaring Steller’s jays. “And second, there are cliffs just a few steps off the trail. It seems a little...steep,” Martin says, emphasizing the steep.

“Nah,” Earl grunts, waving his hand, “I’ve got my trusty boy to guide me.” Earl reaches his hand out to pet Spot’s head, but misses several times before making the connection. The blurry outline of his son stands before him. Earl can’t make out faces anymore, but he can still see motion amid the fog of blending colors. He wishes Martin would move more. The damn boy is always standing still. Never in a rush to do anything in life...

Message from Zack

I hope you enjoy this latest chapter of Tales of Twilight, which was inspired by my travels throughout various mountain ranges in the American West last year.

Fore!

Sun, 13 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Nomad Life · CH 15

Flaktürme Resonance

An armchair travel story about classical music, the murky reality of history, and a Viennese watercolor artist.

louds sculpted from beige stone billowed up the altarpiece toward the heavens as a bevy of putti and angels floated through the air and around a robed Saint Peter. Gold was not just present, but pervasive. Baroque designs framed columns, windows, and a pulpit overlooking the altar, all of which were ornamented with gilded sculptures, carvings, and stucco. A pyramid levitating high above Saint Peter emanated rays of gold, piercing the clouds of rock and reflecting flickering candlelight. Overhead, a fresco depicting Christ crowning The Virgin Mary as Queen of Heaven covered the interior of the church’s turreted dome.

Five empty music stands formed a semi-circle on the stage before the altar, waiting patiently for their performers. Shelby, her mom, and myself huddled under blankets given to us by church chaperones, which were an unexpected luxury on the sub-freezing Christmas night.

An ensemble emerged from a room adjacent to the altar, each musician carrying their instrument in one arm and clutching...

Where in the world are Zack, Shelby, and Skutull

Current location: Richmond Upon Thames, England

What we’ve been up to: Golfing at a common grounds course. Common grounds here in the UK are essentially parks open to the public. Some of them have golf courses on them, which means that the golf holes double as open space. I played at London Scottish Golf Club, where they require all golfers to wear a red shirt. When I initially read this requirement online, I assumed it was a stuffy rule dating back many decades, but it actually makes sense. The shirt requirement exists so that pedestrians know where the golfers are. On most holes, we had to wait to hit on the tee box because people were throwing a ball for their dog down the fairway. On the last hole, I had to wait to hit my approach shot into the green because a border collie was rolling on his back near the hole. It was a completely different experience than what I'm used to. I enjoyed the laidback culture of the common grounds course and the fact that you can bring your dog to golf with you!

What’s challenged us: Honestly, there hasn't been much to stress about lately. If I had to pick something, it's that Skutull has a pesky bladder infection that won't go away. We had to send a urine sample to a lab so they can test exactly what it is and give him a specific antibiotic to treat it.

Miles traveled: 25,633 (1.03x 🌎)

Days nomadic: 347 (0.95x ☀️)

Skutull pooping in front of Parliament. He's always been anti-establishment.

Golfing at London Scottish Club with our Uncle Bill. Not hitting pedestrians added a new layer of complexity to golf.

Message from Zack

I think London has surpassed Ljubljana as Skutull's favorite place we've been on our nomadic journey. He's allowed to go everywhere—on the tube, in buses, into pubs, on golf courses—and people here properly appreciate both him as an individual and as a border collie in general. The only thing London has lacked is a place to swim, but if it weren't winter there would be plenty of places to take him.

We've always known Skutull is a big border collie, but it's still been a little surprising how often people who've lived around loads of border collies their entire lives tell us that Skutull is the largest border collie they've ever seen. In case anyone is wondering, he's ~27kg (60lbs) on a tall and lanky frame. We've been told he's a Scottish highlands border collie, where they were bred to be larger so they could better navigate steep terrain and herd cattle in addition to sheep.

P.S. Here are my favorite links since last time

Movie: Wild Strawberries - A Swedish classic that manages a beautiful, yet melancholy tone.
Book: Yearbook by Seth Rogan - An autobiography by the comedian and writer of Super Bad, Pineapple Express, and The Interview. Seth doesn't hold back from sharing his bizarre encounters with celebrities or any aspect of his personal life. I found the book to be both very funny and entertaining.
Quote: "I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was." -Muhammad Ali

Locked Out

Sun, 23 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Tales of Twilight · CH 3

Five Fingers, Four

A western short story about betrayal, addiction, and The Fountain of Youth.

am!

Jessie’s forehead smashes into a beer-soaked wooden table, smearing damp cigar ash across his face. The bustling saloon instantly falls silent, like a jabbering coterie of prairie dogs upon a coyote’s howl.

Batwing doors across the saloon creak open to reveal the outline of a round person, then pendulum back to stasis. A cane taps the floor behind each pair of steps as the figure advances.

It’s the coyote.

The Satin Spur’s owner, Wyatt, approaches Jessie. He’s wearing a brown suit topped with a bright red bowtie and a devious smirk. Jessie knows that smirk. He’s seen it a thousand times. “People will never respect you,” Jessie’s father used to tell him of men like Wyatt, “you have to force their hand...Givem’ no other choice.”

Where in the world are Zack, Shelby, and Skutull

Current location: London, England

What we’ve been up to: Enjoying stand-up comedy, 70mm film screenings, and various food markets around London.

What’s challenged us: To put it simply, UK door locks. You see, the locks here lock automatically when you shut the door. You don't need to put your key in and turn the deadbolt when you leave. In a way, it's nice because you never have to worry if you remembered to lock the door ten minutes after you leave. However, as I recently discovered, it's also possible to walk out the front door, pull the door shut, and as the lock clicks the deadbolt into place, realize that you've forgotten the key inside. No need to worry, the locksmith broke in within 30 seconds, which left me wondering if the door locks are worth having at all.

Miles traveled: 25,483 (1.02x 🌎)

Days nomadic: 326 (0.89x ☀️)

📜 Our Story | 🗺️ Map of Our Journey | 🌄 Future Itinerary

Message from Zack

I wrote the first draft of Five Fingers, Four in early 2021 as a standalone short story, but was inspired by the themes and characters upon completion. I spent about a month in the summer of 2021 outlining a full novel that expanded upon it. I may some day write this western novel, but I concluded that I have higher priority novels to write for the time being. For now, I hope you enjoy the short story, but don't be surprised if I someday send you new stories starring Jessie, Mary, Davy, Dorothy, and Jessie's father, James.

P.S. Here are my favorite links since last time

Movie: Parasite - An exhilarating Korean film that beautifully portrays the "every man."
Book & Movie: Price & Predjudice - The classic love story set in the English countryside.
Quote: "A genius is the man who can do the average thing when everyone else around him is losing his mind." - Napoleon Bonaparte

Sunday Lunch

Sun, 16 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Nomad Life · CH 14

Winter Truffles are Coming

A story about Jackson Pollock's ocean canvas, Venetian imports, and truffle hunting in Croatia.

ibenik’s coastline was vast, the sea flowing through inlets and channels around dozens of tiny islands in the distance. Even from the 1000-year-old fort atop the hill in the old town, I was unsure if I could see open water on the horizon or if another layer of islands lay beyond.

Sparse vegetation scattered jagged mounds of beige rock like threads of hair atop a balding man’s head. In some parts of the world, slabs of limestone like these have eroded into fantastic spires sculpted by wind and water, but here the stone was rough and freshly exposed from the belly of the Earth.

I imagine that from the sky Šibenik’s coast looks like Jackson Pollock laid an ocean canvas on the floor and splattered it with limestone paint. The semi-barren rocky terrain where desert meets forest reminded me of Santa Fe, only if the valleys were flooded with ocean and each mountaintop was an island...

Where in the world are Zack, Shelby, and Skutull

Current location: London, England

What we’ve been up to: Enjoying Sunday roasts at pubs

What’s challenged us: Getting to the UK was a nightmare because France stopped outbound travel to the UK (but no other country). That meant we couldn't take the Eurotunnel, the standard method of travel between the UK and Europe. Since we can't fly with Skutull, we took an overnight ferry from Rotterdam to Hull. The ship was larger than I expected, but the ride was bumpier than I expected!

Miles traveled: 25,483 (1.02x 🌎)

Days nomadic: 319 (0.87x ☀️)

📜 Our Story | 🗺️ Map of Our Journey | 🌄 Future Itinerary

Message from Zack

Along our trek from Vienna to London, we finished our first trip around the Earth by total miles traveled! With our one-year Nomad Anniversary just around the corner, I can't believe we've been at it so long and have gone so far.

P.S. Here are my favorite links since last time

Book: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Book: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Quote: "A genius is the man who can do the average thing when everyone else around him is losing his mind." - Napoleon Bonaparte

New Year, New Website

Sun, 02 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Newsletter Update

New Year, New Website

Thank you for joining me on this journey.

appy New Year!

It's been a few weeks since I've sent an email. That's in part because we've been dealing with a seemingly endless series of travel hiccups related to Covid and crossing borders with Skutull. We are scheduled to arrive in London on January 6th, at which point I'm optimistic the drama will end. It's quite the tale and I plan to write about it in a future Nomad Life chapter.

You might be noticing some changes to the newsletter, which is related to the other reason I haven't had much time to write. For the last several months, I've been working on a new website.

And today I officially launched it!

After months of work, I have a redesigned layout, a set of decorative graphics, and several handy new features, such as the ability to increase the font size when reading stories.

I'm both proud of the enhanced website and excited for the new ways it will enable me to share my writing.

Shoutout

I want to give a huge shoutout to my friend and designer, Tyler Kruger, who is responsible for designing my logo, the decorative graphics, and most of my new website. If you ever need branding or design work, I highly recommend Tyler's design agency, Kruger Design.

Changes to the newsletter

You may have also noticed the layout of the newsletter looks different than it used to. In conjunction with upgrading my website, I have also migrated my newsletter from Substack to Mailchimp.

Substack was a good platform to get started on, but it doesn't have the features or customizability I need to make my vision come to life.

The only difference for you will be that the newsletter has an upgraded design (I love the new scroll with Skutull on the wax seal that Tyler made) and the "from" email will be me@zackthoutt.com instead of an anonymous Substack email.

What you can expect in 2202

2021 was a pivotal year for me. After over a decade of writing as a secret hobby, I started sharing some of my stories and was humbled by how many people took the time out of their lives to read them.

Thank you for your support. It keeps me motivated to continue further down this new road. The vast majority of writers never make a living off their work, and I don't plan to be an exception. What motivates me to write isn't money or status, but an enhanced understanding of life and connection to my community. I love writing, and I love it even more when something I wrote makes a positive impact on somebody else's day.

I have big plans for 2022...

I'm still living nomadically in Europe and plan to publish armchair travel stories to Nomad Life throughout the year.

I have several short stories coming down the pipeline that I'm itching to share with you in the coming months.

And I'm in fairly deep into writing my first novel, which I plan to finish in 2022. The optimist in me thinks that I can do it by summer, but I want to prioritize quality over speed, so it's difficult to say when the book will be "complete." What I can share right now is that I've tentatively titled my novel, The War After War, and it's a mixed-genre story with elements of historical fiction, drama, and thriller.

What's next in your story?

Now that you've listened to me ramble about my 2022 plans, what are your hopes and dreams for the coming year?

Reply to this email with your answer or send me a message on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

Happy 2022!