PROLOGUE
Happy Black History Month! Welcome back. Did you enjoy your month off from my ramblings? I was busy, you know, launching a book, and now that I’m back with this newsletter, all I can say is: WOW.
It took me two years and 30+ rewrites to query So Let Them Burn. Another four years from querying to present. Now, the book that I deemed ready for other eyes in 2020 is finally on shelves in its best form, and it feels like a weight has been lifted. I hope that your support of me continues throughout the year; preorders are important, but so are longterm sales, and so are supporting the rest of my books to come. I appreciate everyone who has supported me so far! You kept me going on my most stressful days.
I’m on deadline for three projects as I write this, but I’m currently buddy reading Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs with Chelsea. I’m still watching The Nanny as my comfort show. And I have listened to the Mean Girls musical movie soundtrack so many times you would think I’d actually gone to see the movie. Which I have not. Oops.
Shoutout to my love, Mel Karibian, whose birthday is this month! Shoutout to my nemesis, Emily, whose birthday is also this month! And shoutout to Valentine’s Day, one of my favorite holidays of the year, for giving me discount candy!
Now, let’s get into it~
CHAPTER 1: I AM OFFICIALLY A DEBUT AUTHOR
So Let Them Burn is now available wherever books are sold—including airports! I found my book in an airport!!—and has been for almost a month now. I can’t even begin to describe to you how surreal that is. I’ll do a proper retrospective when my book has been out for longer than a few weeks, because I don’t think this has really settled in yet. Just today I caught myself talking about “preorders” of my book, when, at this point, they’re just sales.
At this point, I’d say the strangest thing about having a book out is that life just kind of goes on. I have to turn in the third draft of 2 Let 2 Burn and finish up a couple of other projects. I have to go to my day job and talk to my friends like I don’t have a whole book in stores. The only time it feels real is when I have these pictures, essentially proving that I wrote a book and people can by it now. Surreal.
Because of the aforementioned deadlines, this newsletter is going to be more promo than anything else, but I’ll leave you with one more thing: it’s kind of good to realize that the world keeps spinning in your career. With the pressures put on debuts, on that first book, or heck on any book you might be working on, every setback feels world ending and every failed expectation feels devastating. But life goes on. You get another shot. You can write another book. It won’t be easy, but you did that damn thing and you can actually do it again.
With how anxious I was leading up to my book release, that’s been a relief. OK, now on to the promo.
SPECIAL EDITIONS
The Satisfiction Box edition (which comes with designed edges, an author letter, and a signed book plate) sold out in its initial and secondary run, but there will be extras—including discounted damaged ones—available in the store after the preorders have been mailed. So, keep an eye on their shop, and maybe buy some other gorgeous books while you’re in there!
The French special edition (which includes a new designed hardback, designed edges, a built-in bookmark, and art on the endpapers) ships internationally, and, if you’re one of the first 400 preorders, you also get a special dust jacket and bookmarks to go with all of this! You can preorder it right here, and the standard edition with the original cover right here.
I’ll keep you all updated if and when more special editions are announced, but these are the only two you can buy at the moment.
UPCOMING EVENTS
I’m going to Texas for TeenBookCon! You can now register for the event, which will be in Houston. I’ve never been to Texas before, so I’m very excited—especially to meet my teen readers and talk about So Let Them Burn!
CHAPTER 2: 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 February, aside from my book, we have…
EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD by Jenny Hollander
Nine years ago, with the world's eyes on her, Charlie Colbert fled. The press and the police called Charlie a "witness" to the nightmarish events at her elite graduate school on Christmas Eve, though Charlie knows she was much more than that. Now, she has meticulously rebuilt her life, but when a buzzy film made by one of Charlie's former classmates threatens to shatter everything she's worked for, Charlie realizes how much she's changed in nine years. Now, she's not going to let anything—not even the people she once loved most—get in her way.
DISCIPLES OF CHAOS by M.K. Lobb
Damian Venturi isn't aware of it yet, but as small shifts start to crack the foundations of the Ombrazian power structure after the Rebellion's attack, cracks are beginning to show in Damian's own facade. Rossana Lacertosa should feel victorious, but the war with Brechaat rages on and government officials are hellbent on keeping the status quo. Then an Ombrazian general arrives from the front lines, and orders dozens of arrests, shipping Roz and Damian's friends up north. Determined to free those who matter most, Roz and Damian set their sights on Brechaat. The complications of love, magic, faith, and war will keep readers eagerly turning the pages as they head towards the gripping conclusion in the Seven Faceless Saints duology.
SKATER BOY by Anthony Nerada
Stonebridge High's resident bad boy, Wesley "Big Mac" Mackenzie, is failing senior year—thanks to his unchecked anger, rowdy friends, and a tendency to ditch his homework for skateboarding and a secret photography obsession. So when his mom drags him to a production of The Nutcracker, Wes isn't interested at all… until he sees Tristan Monroe. Mr. Nutcracker himself. Wes knows he shouldn't like Tristan; after all, he's a ballet dancer, and Wes is as closeted as they come. But when they start spending time together, Wes can't seem to get Tristan out of his head.
OUT OF BODY by Nia Davenport
Seventeen-year-old Megan Allen has been jumping from friend group to friend group in her high school, trying on identities like outfits. Nothing ever seems to fit—until she meets LC, the adventurous, charismatic girl who appears at her favorite coffee shop one day like magic. On the night of their friendiversary, what was supposed to be a bonding experience ends in a waking nightmare. Betrayed by her best friend, thrust into another girl's life, and targeted by LC's enemies, she must claim what makes Megan Megan to get her life back… or die trying.
CHAPTER 3: LOOK AT MY CAT!!!
As you may know, I adopted a shelter cat in December 2021, who I named Sora Mittens. All she does is sleep while contorting herself into fascinating positions, and I thought this one was particularly cute.
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. My deadlines aren’t going to meet themselves, so I’m off, but I wish you all nothing but the best.