#7 - Do You Want A Soundtrack For Your Book Life? Good, Cuz You're Getting It
AKA "you can pry my tropes from my cold, dead hands"
PROLOGUE
Happy August! Isn’t it weird that summer is almost over? This heatwave, you guys. This heat! Anyway, I borrowed a A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson from my friend Jen, and I’m finally getting around to reading it. I don’t know if the upcoming re-release will be any different from the original aside from the new cover, but I’m enjoying the read so far.
Meanwhile, San Diego Comic-Con brought with it a lot of amazing content, but one of the highlights was a teaser trailer of John Wick 4 that prompted me to watch all the John Wick movies again from the beginning. Such a simple premise — a former assassin leaves the life behind to settle down with his wife, and after she passes away and his dog is killed, he goes on a rampage against the culprits — has provided me with so much delight. One day I will write a book with the kind of intricate criminal underworld of a John Wick movie. One day!
As for what I’m listening to, well, a little known fact about me is that I have been a fan of Sabrina Carpenter since her Girl Meets World days. I’ve listened to all her albums; I met her in person once. Big fan, big fan. And her latest album, emails i can’t send, is THE best album she’s ever released. So even if you only know her from the Olivia Rodrigo/Joshua Bassett/Sabrina Carpenter feud, or from “Skin”, I beg you to try emails i can’t send and give her a chance. She’s so talented, you guys, and her music is my shit.
Anyway, enough about me and my life. Let’s talk about all the things I’ve loved this month.
CHAPTER 1: POP CULTURE MOMENT OF THE MONTH
Beyoncé dropped a new album, and obviously as a person with taste it has become my whole personality. “Energy”? “Cozy”? “Church Girl”? It’s all hits and no misses, but what else would you expect from Queen Bey?
Before Renaissance dropped, I was going to talk about the Wakanda Forever trailer, though, so I will say more broadly that this has been a great month of media for Black culture. Between Renaissance, Anything’s Possible, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Nope, I love, love, love the range that my people have, a range that is not always appreciated or allowed by Hollywood or, say, publishing. Sometimes it feels like Black people are only allowed to tell one kind of story, or be one kind of person, and then you get works like these that show that we are so much more than what has been done to us. We are joy, we are light, we are life. And when given the opportunity to tell our own stories, to tell any story that’s in our souls, we can produce marvels.
Things like that just inspire me. I grew up during a time when Black characters were just sidekicks and any books I was given to read with a predominantly Black cast were about slavery or police brutality. Those books are necessary, but they can’t be the only works we get to see ourselves in — and as a lover of fantasy and magic, dragons and witches, this narrow definition of Blackness had me convinced my stories were unwanted. Thankfully, we are slowly but surely moving past that, and I can find books about slavery and police brutality alongside books about Black witches and Black rom-coms. And I’m so, so excited to get to add to the shelf with my own book about Black saints and dragon riders.
The more we support these stories — not just mine, but these albums, these movies, these rom-coms and fantasies and horrors and sci-fis and so on and so forth — the more we tell Hollywood and Publishing that all Black stories matter, not just the painful or traumatic ones. And the more room that creates for Black authors to come, which is all I want. To be part of this ongoing legacy.
Anyway, sorry to get sappy. But check out Renaissance if you somehow haven’t already, and check out all the other things I linked. Support Black authors today and every day!
CHAPTER 2: SING A SONG OF SIX TROPES
The ship dynamic art meme is going around Twitter again, and I love it. I’ve already used it as the perfect opportunity to highlight one of the underrated tropes in So Let Them Burn (2024) — add it on Goodreads if love corruption arcs! — and now I’m using it as an excuse to give you guys six of my personal favorite tropes, as well as a song and a book to go with them.
ARRANGED MARRIAGE
How was I to know? It's a crazy thing / I showed you my hand and you still let me win / And who was I to say that this was meant to be? / The road that was broken brought us together
Song: “The Joker and the Queen” by Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift
Book: The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon
As a witch in the fae world, Wyatt Croft was betrothed to his best friend, Prince Emyr North; now living as himself, a trans boy in the human world, Wyatt is surprised when Emyr tracks him down and says they HAVE to get married, like, right now. So this is an absolutely amazing take on the arranged marriage trope, and I think “The Joker and the Queen” fits with the trope (not the BOOK, with the TROPE), because it’s all about falling in love with someone you didn’t expect to See you.
SUNSHINE X GRUMP
If you're feelin' down, I just wanna make you happier, baby / We've been doin' all this late night talkin' / 'bout anythin' you want until the mornin' / Now you're in my life, I can't get you off my mind
Song: “Late Night Talking” by Harry Styles
Book: The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen
Cheerful Mercy and irritable Hart are mortal enemies, but they unknowingly strike up a pen pal friendship that reveals they’re not as different as they thought they were — which is good because that hatred hides a powerful attraction. I loved this spin on the sunshine x grump trope, and I think that the opposites attract trope is excellently exemplified by the upbeat tune of “Late Night Talking”.
FRIENDS TO ENEMIES TO LOVERS
It's a thin line between all this love and hate / And if you switch sides, you're gon' have to claim your place / And tell me how you hate me, hate me, still tryna replace me / Lies, tell me lies, baby, tell me how you hate me
Song: “Hate Me” by Ellie Goulding & Juice WRLD
Book: Seven Faceless Saints by M.K. Lobb
Once, Ros and Damian were best friends and maybe something more. Then Damian’s father killed Ros’s father and Damian dropped out of her life, which built such an enmity between them that working together to solve a series of murders in the city is going to be… tense. Bisexual Ros and demisexual Damian make SUCH a powerful couple, and I thought “Hate Me” by Ellie Goulding really captured the push and pull of love and hate and knowing the other person far too well inherent in this fantastic trope.
FOUND FAMILY
I know that I've been messed up / You never let me give up / All the nights and the fights / And the blood and the breakups / You're always there to call up
Song: “Army” by Ellie Goulding
Book: Bone Weaver by Aden Polydoros
Bone Weaver not only features a found family, but a found family OF THE UNDEAD, by a phenomenal Jewish author. “Army” by Ellie Goulding really captures the spirit of how powerful having your chosen family around you can make you feel, and I refuse to be shamed for having two Ellie Goulding songs on this list.
STABBY SISTERHOOD
We rainin’ fire from hell , let off that iron as well / Bullets flying’ we ain't dyin’ legendary when we ride / Villains may be out to get me, but my crew is right here with me
Song: “Squad (My Crew)” by J2, Roger Will, and Tennyson McCoy
Book: The Witchery by S. Isabelle
I’m giving a shoutout to One for All by Lillie Lainoff for coining #SisterhoodoftheStab and giving me a new favorite trope that I’m calling Stabby Sisterhood. There’s something that just hits about a found family of women, you know? Especially if they have knives or swords or magic powers, like in The Witchery, when a coven of witches band together to break the curse on their town. “Squad (My Crew)” screams found family of people who will f*ck you up to me.
KNIFE WIFE
I can't lie, I've been played / By powerful people who get their way / But I, in time, will climb my mountain / I, in time, will rise / Only one of us gon' make it out alive and it's not you
Song: “Cutthroat” by Imagine Dragons
Book: Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye
Finally, if you know anything about me, you know I celebrate a knife wife. If your female MC is absolutely feral, then I love her, your honor. And you really get to see a vengeful, dangerous side of Sloane in Blood Scion, who has lost so much at the hands of the ruling Lucis and plans to destroy them from the inside. “Cutthroat” is the perfect song for all the angry MCs out there who are ready to burn it down.
CHAPTER 3: HAVE A LITTLE PODCAST, AS A TREAT
Once again, thanks to my friend Arzu, I am recommending another podcast, and this month it’s No Write Way. V.E. Schwab did a series of Instagram Lives with some author friends to talk about craft and books and writing and wine, and all of them were recorded as podcast episodes which you can find on Spotify!
My personal favorite episodes were the one with R.F. Kuang and the one with Dhonielle Clayton, but, honestly, they’re all good.
CHAPTER 4: SHOUT-OUT SECTION
This month’s shoutout goes to Sophie Schmidt, who is an absolutely lovely publishing professional that I was lucky enough to be come closer friends with this year. Sophie is fun and funny, has the second and third cutest cats in the world (see Chapter 5 for the first), and has phenomenal taste in books. I hope you had a great July, Sophie, and I can’t wait to see you when you get back!
CHAPTER 5: LOOK AT MY CAT!!!
As you may know, I adopted a shelter cat in December 2021, who I named Sora Mittens. Sora is going through a rebellious phase where she goes around chewing on everything and ignoring my commands. This time, she discovered a string off the side of my laundry basket, and, when I called her name, she DIDN’T EVEN LET IT GO. So I snapped a photo! Gosh, I love this little brat.
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. If I want you to take anything from my newsletter, it’s that you only get one life, so love the things you love with your whole heart, find your joy, take care of yourself, and keep writing. I’m rooting for you, and I bet Beyoncé is too.