Endings and beginnings and travels in space: your latest Oliviary
Thirteen years ago, in the span of six months, three things happened in quick succession: one, I got married; two, I sold my first manuscript; and three, we adopted a mini-dachshund named Elwood. And my life would never be the same.
It is humbling to raise a dog. They are unabashed with their needs and so earnest in their love. But even among caninekind Elwood was something special: intelligent, affectionate, bold, and expressive. His world was lined in blankets and filled with birds to chase, people to kiss, and disgusting things to smell (and disgusting smells to produce, especially as he grew older). He was a loyal sidekick who delightedly curled up against me every day when I told him it was time to go to work. It was almost more than I could bear to let him go, but he went out as bravely and sweetly as he entered our world: with a bounding leap, trusting we would always catch him. (We always did.)
Please hug your beloved creatures extra close for me today.
News
Elwood entered my life with a book deal, and he left it the same way — I am thrilled to announce I’ll be writing two romantic fantasy books for Bramble and a three-book, novella-length sci-fi mystery series with TorDotCom! The full announcement is up at Reactor, and I am absolutely delighted!
Linkery
Every now and then I google “space” and “knitting” together because sometimes gems like this come up: scientists are knitting a satellite out of gold.
An antique dress with a secret code, now cracked!
A stunning Chicago Sun-Times piece on contemporary Native American artists and issues with museum curation and display, full of absolutely incredible artworks and artists.
Crafty
Going to Mars? The Scottish Tartan Registry has a plaid for that. Or you could stay cozy on Earth and knit this X-Files ‘I Want to Believe’ sweater pattern (via Ravelry).
Reading recs
We all cherish the books that get us through the hardest times — and during this hardest time for me, it was Charlotte Stein’s When Grumpy Met Sunshine that brought me solace. Basically a fix-it fic for Ted Lasso’s Roy Kent, and a damn fine time.
The other books in the most recent column were Tia Williams’s A Love Song for Ricki Wilde (a gorgeous contemporary with light magic that hits you right in the sweet laugh-cry spot) and Allison Saft’s A Fragile Enchantment (fantasy romance about a magical dressmaker who falls for a prickly prince, chock-full of politics and intrigue!).
Until next time!
Olivia