#14 - We're Back, Baby
AKA "i missed a month of my own newsletter but you guys can't get rid of me so easily"
PROLOGUE
Welcome back! To myself, as well as to you. I had to skip the March issue, but hopefully this issue makes up for it. I’m still in my sexy French depression era, but I’m also on a double deadline for two different projects, so this will probably be short and sweet. When I have time to read, I’ve picked up Chaos & Flame by Justina Ireland and Tessa Gratton, because you guys know I’m a sucker for dragons and there is, in fact, one on the cover.
Meanwhile, I got another little WIP idea that I was discussing with the group chat, which led me to reminisce upon NBC’s 2022 reality show The Courtship. It’s basically The Bachelor meets Bridgerton with a Black woman at the helm, and I was obsessed. If you want to be obsessed too, most of the episodes are on Peacock.
Finally, I’ve had the new Fall Out Boy album, So Much (For) Stardust, on repeat, because the ‘00s pop punk kid in me will never disappear. I’ll be seeing them in the summer with my friend Mel, and I am SO excited. So what else have I been doing this month? I took proper author photos. I went home to visit my parents. I kissed my cat on her little forehead. I slept a lot.
But that’s enough about me. Let’s get on with the chaos.
CHAPTER 1: POP CULTURE MOMENT OF THE MONTH
Heartstopper finally updated after Alice Oseman’s hiatus. I’m not crying; you’re crying. The show was amazing, and will be amazing when the next season comes out, but my heart will always belong to the original comic version of Nick and Charlie.
CHAPTER 2: WHO GETS TO BE THE CHOSEN ONE?
Since I’m promoting a different April book down in the rec room, I’d like to derail this newsletter to talk about another one that I’m excited about: The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher by E.M. Anderson (out April 21, 2023). The author has been one of my longest and kindest friends from Twitter, and this was the first manuscript by her that I ever got to read. It really resonated with me, but to understand why you first need to read the summary:
No one understands why 83-year-old Edna Fisher is the Chosen One, destined to save the Knights from a dragon-riding sorcerer bent on their destruction. After all, Edna has never handled a magical weapon, faced down a dragon, or cast a spell. And everyone knows the Council of Wizards always chooses a teenager-like the vengeful girl ready to snatch Edna's destiny from under her nose. Still, Edna leaps at the chance to leave the nursing home. With her son long dead in the Knights' service, she's determined to save dragon-fighters like him and to ensure other mothers don't suffer the same loss she did. But as Edna learns about the abuse in the ranks and the sorcerer's history as a Knight, she questions if it's really the sorcerer that needs stopping-or the Knights she's trying to save.
Like my book, SO LET THEM BURN, The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher challenges the idea of who gets to be the Chosen One and how allowing different perspectives on that trope can generate more interesting stories. In my book, not only is Faron the Chosen One, but she’s the actual worst. She is a Black woman and a prankster, challenging the idea of the Chosen One as a white person who is pure of heart. In Edna Fisher, the titular character is a geriatric woman with an orderly following her every step of the way in her heroics, challenging the idea of the Chosen One as an able-bodied teenager.
The humor and heart with which E approached this story will stay with you for months to come. It’s certainly stayed with me. So if you’re interested in my book — or on unique takes on the Chosen One trope — please consider checking hers out!
CHAPTER 3: HAVE A LITTLE PODCAST, AS A TREAT
Behind the Typewriter is a brand new writing podcast launched by Yasemin Anders and Nina Weiss, and it’s already one of my favorites — and not just because it’s featured two of my friends already. From sexy villains to worldbuilding to plotting to inspiration, it tackles a ton of craft along with a ton of laughter.
CHAPTER 4: THE REC ROOM
Welcome to the Rec Room, the section of my newsletter that I use to highlight books coming out each month I’m really excited about. For March and April, we have…
MIDNIGHT STRIKES by Zeba Shahnaz
As an outsider at the kingdom's glittering anniversary ball, seventeen-year-old Anaïs has no desire to rub shoulders with the nation's most eligible (and pompous) bachelors—especially not the notoriously roguish Prince Leo. But at the stroke of midnight, an explosion rips through the palace, killing everyone in its path. Including her. The last thing Anaïs sees is fire, smoke, chaos . . . and then she wakes up in her bedroom, hours before the ball. If she's going to escape this nightmarish time loop, Anaïs must take control of her own fate and stop the attack before it happens.
BLOOD DEBTS by Terry J. Benton-Walker
OUT TODAY! Thirty years ago, a young woman was murdered, a family was lynched, and New Orleans saw the greatest magical massacre in its history. In the days that followed, a throne was stolen from a queen. On the anniversary of these brutal events, Clement and Cristina Trudeau—the sixteen-year-old twin heirs to the powerful, magical, dethroned family—discover their mother isn't sick. She's cursed by someone on the very magic council their family used to rule. Someone who will come for them next.
CHAPTER 5: LOOK AT MY CAT!!!
As you may know, I adopted a shelter cat in December 2021, who I named Sora Mittens. She recently turned four on March 30, which is like 33 in cat years, and yet she still acts like a toddler in need of attention.
EPILOGUE
Thank you for subscribing and/or for sticking around! I hope you like rambles, shenanigans, and nonsense, because that’s truly all this is. See you next month, and, in the meantime, live, laugh, love.