It’s been six months since I wrote to you all, and that’s five months too long. My goal for this year is shorter, more reliable newsletters, so let’s begin as we mean to go on.

Events

First up, a new year means new talks and visits! I’ll be at Grumble and Wine in Bremerton, WA on January 10, talking to Seanan Mcguire about her latest book in the Wayward Children series — the event is hosted by Ballast Books, so grab your best mask and come join us!

And we’re just a few months out from the release date for the second Dorothy Gentleman, Nobody’s Baby — so now’s a great time to add this to your pre-order lists, or put in a request at your local library. Or, if you have a NetGalley account, you can start reading it immediately and skip the wait.

Linkery

• From the Flytrap: “Maps Have Always Been a Colonial Tool of Expansion”

• Extremely Olivia Things: a figure skating medal dataset turned into a quilted visualization.

• There are a great many terrible takes floating around about Heated Rivalry, Jacob Tierney’s incredble new queer hockey romance show — but for an actual informed take, Carly Lane has you covered in Collider with an interview about Tierney’s changes from page to screen.

Crafty

Those of you who’ve read Murder by Memory know about Violet’s fern shawl — my much-labored-over pattern for this is in edits right now, it will be absolutely free, and here’s a sneak peak of the sample knit with my own two hands!

For the New York Times, I wrote up a list of my favorite romances of 2025 (gift link), including Cat Sebastian’s incredible After Hours at Dooryard Books which I cannot recommend enough for a mournful yet uplifting winter read. I then immediately picked up something I’d been saving for fun and made myself a liar, because Alix Harrow’s The Everlasting should have also been on that list and has now rewritten my brain (don’t worry, you’ll see it in an upcoming column!).

Until next month, hope you’re staying warm and finding ways to light the darkness.

Olivia