Hello, readers.

I had a plan for this newsletter. I was going tell you about the soup I wanted to make for New Year’s Day, a seafood bisque from the pages of Bread, Toast, Crumbs by Alexandra Stafford. I was going to tell you about how I especially looked forward to peeling the shrimp to make stock from the shells. How I had the carrots and the onion and the withered celery chopped and ready. How I took the shrimp out of the freezer and saw that I had bought the peeled shrimp by mistake. So, no stock. I actually cried. Eventually the soup happened because of course I had eight cups of chicken stock in the freezer.

So this was going to be a heartwarming tale of perseverance and resourcefulness in the face of disappointment, and I guess it still is, but…

Good people, I am very tired. The first three weeks of January have been harrowing. Minneapolis. The Supreme Court. Grok. Greenland. Fucking Davos. None has affected me directly, thank goodness. Yet. But it’s hovering around the edge of my perception all. the. time.

I mean, my government shot a person dead for no reason. Again. That kind of thing weighs on you. (Yes, I know, it might be better if I spent less time on social media.) My Pilates DVD lady tells me that the traps and upper back carry a lot of tension. I didn’t believe her until this month. Now I want to scream at her that the stretches aren’t working. But she can’t hear me. It can all be a bit paralyzing, which is why I’m glad this thread from Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg appears in my BlueSky feed every so often.

I missed the recent weekend of protests, but I did visit Quincy Center for an MLK Day standout.

May we all find something to do, some way to make this better, as best we can. I mean, we all have 5calls.org bookmarked, right?

It’s Tanuary!

This year I did my annual Tanith Lee read a little differently. You can learn all about it at my blog, and check out past Tanuary entries there as well.

Publication news

Sigh. It feels wrong do my usual song and dance about my upcoming publications when there are people out there persevering through way worse than a lack of shrimp peels. But stories are important, creating is important, so I carry on. I’ve got stories to tell.

First is “Con and Consequences,” which will appear in Little Red Flags: Stories of Cults, Cons, and Control. I originally wrote this for a folk horror call (didn’t get in, pooh) and decided to combine the two folk groups I know best: fandom and the Society for Creative Anachronism. Throw a little “Death of the Author” in there and you’ve got a story. This is scheduled for release on February 17th.

My next tail comes in Encounters with Cryptids. Release of this volume has been delayed from Valentine’s Day to Friday the 13th of March, which really makes more sense if you think about it. Only available in Kindle format for now, but paperbacks should appear closer to release date. My story is called “Must Work for Scale.” (Fun fact: a snarky rejection I got for this story cited the title as a reason. So that title stayed.)

And here’s the official announcement of the anthology I teased in my last newsletter: my story, “Ring of Wax, Armor of Bone,” will appear in Flame Tree Press’s Of Swords and Roses. You know Flame Tree Press’s anthologies. They’ve got these neat foiled covers and seem to breed at Barnes and Noble. I am very excited for this. Not just because this is a big publisher, but because this particular story was rejected 41 times before being accepted to this anthology.

Perseverance!

Upcoming celebrations

February 2nd and 3rd are coming up, and they are my favorite days on the calendar because they celebrate so much. We have Candlemas on the 2nd, Imbolc for those who prefer, and Groundhog Day, too. Then the 3rd is not only the Day the Music Died but the Feast of St. Blaise. And hey, didn’t I put out a story about that very ritual? I did! If you haven’t listened to it yet, now is the perfect time. My Candlemas story was published in A Quaint and Curious Volume of Gothic Tales. (I do have a Groundhog Day story, but no one’s offered to publish it. Yet.)

I hope everyone in the path of this weekend’s storm weathers it with grace and electricity intact. Take breaks during shoveling and stay hydrated. With cocoa. Maybe with a little something something mixed in. I’m partial to Bailey’s.

Until next time,