Dear friends,

I have already told some of you this: like Humpty-Dumpty, I am having a great fall. It is also an incredibly busy fall. In addition to some of the stuff I'll write about here at more length, we had not one, not two, but three visits from beloved family members--busy times! Good busy! But busy!

Of course the number one thing that happened in September is that A Dubious Clamor came out. (That page has links to several popular bookstores as well as the ability to get it directly from my publisher.) My launch day was lovely. I got to write about aspects of A Dubious Clamor in the Big Idea feature of John Scalzi's Whatever, in the My Favorite Bit feature hosted by Mary Robinette Kowal, and in an interview from blogger Rob McLennan, so all of that is available for you to read if you're interested. My launch party with Naomi Kritzer was an absolute dream thanks to wonderful turnout from family, friends, and fans, and also thanks to fancy little cakes from Patrick's and most of all to all the support and logistics and hosting from Moon Palace Books. We love Moon Palace. I absolutely hope to do another book launch party there for next year's book. Rounding out launch events, I did a lovely book discussion with friend and fellow Horned Lark Press author Jo Miles, hosted by our publisher Kevin Hearne. That's available for you to watch on YouTube if you couldn't make it to the livestream.

(Note: I have not watched this. I do not watch videos of myself. I don't listen to recordings of myself. I was there the first time! I need to not fixate on what weird thing my face did in minute 73. No, there are not 73 minutes of this video, I did that on purpose so none of you would email me to tell me exactly what weird thing my face did. But the rest of you are not inside my face, so go watch and enjoy!)

Annnnd then I did line edits on next year's book and finished the rough draft of another novella. In the week after my book launch. Because the plates have to keep spinning. Because publishing has really long lead times. And also because this is what I love to do. The launch party was extremely special, but rain or shine (metaphorically or literally), the writing is what I do.

It's also fall here. It's very definitively fall, cool rain and wet golden leaves on the pavement followed by slightly warmer days, the sumac turning red, the apples at their peak. And my bestie found a couple of gigantic chicken-of-the-woods mushrooms, so I experimented with how best to cook those. (Not to be confused with hen-of-the-woods, which is maitake. Chicken are the orange-yellow ones, maitake are the brown ones, both are great, but they are not the same texture or flavor. You can buy these in stores; if you forage them, make sure you check with an actual experienced human forager who knows what they're talking about and has seen the specific mushroom you propose to eat. I have been so exhausted by "AI" discourse that I haven't wanted to do more of it here, but for heaven's sake do not use an "AI" (LLM) to identify mushrooms for you. Here ends the rant.) I really liked my adaptation of Taiwanese three-cup chicken to be three-cup chicken (of the woods), so that's what you get for a recipe this month. With more joys yet to come. Always.

Excelsior,
Marissa

Three-Cup Chicken of the Woods

3 T sesame oil

Thumb-sized piece of ginger, sliced into coins

12 cloves garlic, peeled and minced/pressed

1 t dried red pepper flakes

2 c chopped chicken of the woods mushrooms

Two good handfuls of green beans, washed and with any stem ends cut off (would probably be good with some other veg if you don't have green beans on hand--bell pepper would be nice, peapods would be great, for example)

Two good handfuls of roasted cashews (not salted!)

1 T brown sugar

1/2 c rice wine

1/4 c soy sauce (I used tamari, and if you do it will be gluten-free)

Heat the wok or other useful pan for stir-frying on fairly high heat. Put the sesame oil in it to heat through. Cook ginger, garlic, and pepper flakes until it smells amazing, 2-3 minutes.  Add the chopped mushroom bits and cook, then add the green beans, then the cashews. Add the remaining ingredients in order, stirring well to combine, and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until the sauce thickens a bit, maybe 15 minutes. Serve over rice.