Pretty big news for people who like good things: Josh recently finished his novel, Chokeville. You can read the whole thing! Online! For free! Now!
Idk who even reads this website but jesus fuck, we literally used to make things on this internet. I was thinking about She Hates My Futon the other day, things like that, where every day on the internet someone was just working on something, sharing their progress, plugging away at a thing that simply needed to exist. I admit I am not on tiktok but I strongly doubt this is happening on tiktok. But Josh finished this thing that I love and it’s super cool.
What is Chokeville: Chokeville is a hilarious, breezy, and impeccably crafted neo-noir maritime thriller about two estranged sisters trying to just exist in a town full of bizarre and mysterious characters wielding complicated and dangerous weapons they have absolutely no control over.
Plus also: the comments on each chapter are pretty solid. It’s really fun to see which details—in a story crammed full of wild-ass ideas—people pick up on. Mind-blowing story, thoughtful readers, solid community? In 20 fucking 25. Name another person who’s done this recently.
Chokeville has been through many incarnations over the years. I have read more drafts than I can remember, and each version has been my favorite book ever (except for the one where [redacted], I was glad to move past that one). So what I am doing, in posting about this here, probably looks to any given reader like I am posting my encouragement for others to check it out. Kind of! But really, really: what I am doing is marking this time, this moment, this year, when someone who has always been one of my biggest inspirations completed something that I genuinely, extremely love. It’s a feeling worth hanging on to.