No Space for Reflection
First of All...
Well, I turned 40. Here's me on the big day.
But I did not have space for reflection, because I was too busy on the round of revisions for Kalyna the Cutthroat that I just turned in! It was maybe one of the hardest things I've ever done? I'm beat, but also excited for how the final draft will turn out: Sarah Guan really is an amazing editor.
That said, I certainly did not make my life easy when I decided my sequel would a. be set in new locales; b. feature many new characters; and c. heavily feature a refugee crisis and utopian communism.
And quick reminder that you can read an excerpt on io9.
Kalyna the Soothsayer Audiobook
If you, or someone you know, is an audiobook person, you, or they, can now listen to Soothsayer! Samara Naeymi does an amazing job with the narration—I especially like her take on Prince Friedhelm.
Buy Kalyna the Soothsayer Audiobook
Events
World Fantasy in Kansas City was a wonderful time. My apologies to everyone I couldn't hang out with enough because I was also working on revisions!
I'm still figuring out my whole schedule for 2024, but there's one upcoming con I'm definitely attending:
January 12-15, 2024, Boston, MA: Arisia 2024
What I'll Be Reading Very Soon
A few weeks ago, I received a mysterious zine in the mail.
It turned out to be a wonderfully fun and weird preview for Ed Park's second novel, Same Bed Different Dreams. As I've mentioned in this newsletter (and in Soothsayer's acknowledgements), Ed was the writing teacher to make the biggest impact on my work, so I was looking forward to this even before I learned it was:
A wild, sweeping novel that imagines an alternate secret history of Korea and the traces it leaves on the present—loaded with assassins and mad poets, RPGs and slasher films, pop bands and the perils of social media.
Fuck yes. So if any of that appeals to you, consider picking it up.
Open Letters
If you follow me on Instagram, you won't be surprised to know that I'm still dedicating a lot of my mental energy to the ongoing textbook case of genocide being done in my name.
To that end, I'm proud to have signed both the gargantuan Writers Against the War on Gaza open letter, as well as another in which Jewish writers make the point that criticizing the state of Israel is not the same as antisemitism. In the latter, I'm somehow included among such luminaries as Tavi Gevinson, Nan Goldin, Tony Kushner, and, uh, my dad.[1]
On a related note, I was going to write up a short bit on something I recently learned about the history of Jews in Palestine, but it ballooned into full essay. So I'll probably send that out as a separate newsletter in the next week or so. (And if you're already overloaded on Israel/Palestine stuff, you can easily skip it.)
Tortoiseshell but Glam and Martini Olives
Nails, and photos, by Stella.
Lincoln Spector, retired computer journalist and humorist. Never let anyone tell you that Jews critiquing Zionism is new, or necessitates a break from Jewish life and community.