Hi, I’m Max, I write fantasy, science fiction, and genre stories as well as essays on the craft. Help support my writing by upgrading to a paid subscription, sharing my work, or dropping a tip in my hat over at ko-fi!
Each of my stories is stand-alone. However, many are in a shared universe. If you want to check out a specific world…
You can click here to dive into the fantasy world of Breiar
or check out my whole catalogue to see what fits the mood of the day here
Well this is something entirely new to the newsletter here at Radio Cosmos: a paid post.
I’ve been debating what a paid subscription to my newsletter would look like ever since starting this whole thing 18 months ago. Something about adding another subscription to folks’ lives felt wrong, but on the other hand making money for my art doesn’t feel wrong in the slightest – imposter syndrome hits less hard at 30, thankfully.
So rather than make the decision for people like I have been, I figured I’d throw the choice onto readers whether to support me financially or not. There is absolutely no pressure to do so, and I don’t want to guilt anyone into paying money I also absolutely hate getting into a good article on Substack and finding out right as I settle in that it was only a free preview, if only you’d subscribe for a fee or start a X day trial, you can finish reading. Not a fan. I understand it and I don’t disparage writers who do it, they gotta make money with their art too, but it annoys me to no end and I’d rather avoid that.
I’ve thought long and hard over what to offer to incentivize paid subscriptions for my newsletter. Something about keeping stories behind a paywall or gatekeeping my writing felt wrong. The main gatekeep I want to do is the oldest fashioned one of all: I’ve got books, buy my books. Speaking of: MY DEBUT NOVEL COMES OUT NEXT YEAR! I am way too excited for it to come out. Much more to come in January, but for now:
Cover Reveal coming 1/1.
Essays and behind the scenes on the book and self publishing every other week in January.
Book release in February!
Back to the money – Incentives for a newsletter are hard. The main incentive I see offered is more. More essays, stories, writing, walled off from those who do not decide to support. I’m stretched thin enough as is, and know if I merely offered more, the more would dip in quality in such a way that I don’t feel comfortable with.
I’m working out the plan for this newsletter in 2026 right now, but a part of that will actually involve less. I want to focus on the novels I’ve got in the hopper, and while this year of weekly stories and essays was wonderful, it was quite a bit of work to get done. Next year, I’ll likely dip down to every other week instead, with one of the benefits of a paid subscription being an additional essay, behind the scenes, on whatever short story I write for each month. That’s the more I feel comfortable committing to.
But that’s not all.
Paid subscribers here feel like patrons to my art. Patrons should get more than just a little glimpse behind the scenes. I want to give as much a look at whats going on behind the black mirror you’re reading this on as possible. So there’s two more things patrons of my newsletter will get, guaranteed, at this time:
A 30 minute coffee and call with myself. Ask me anything, talk about writing – mine or your own. Talk about whatever. I can’t wait!
And the bigger one – to me at least – early access to my books! All of ‘em. Timeline for each TBD, but if you so choose, any paid subscriber to Radio Cosmos will get an early access copy of my next release before anyone else! Be a beta reader and give me feedback or just revel in the knowledge that you get a copy of my work before anyone else.
I don’t know if that’s enough to incentives folks to turn on payments, but its something, and I think its pretty cool as well. I don’t want to make anyone feel like they’ve got to pay me here to get the words I write. I want folks to want to support me if able and get some extras as a bonus for their support.
Either way, if you read my stuff, that’s really all the support I need, and I thank you for it.
Love you all
Max
And here’s the paid portion: a behind the scenes discussion of my previous story: A Joust in the Mountains. The finale for this arc of Antev’s story (more coming in 2026). Check out what went into the creation of that character, his stories, and what’s coming next below!
