The Oliviary: upcoming events and a cover reveal!
A lot of news today — first some free events coming up soon, and then a stunning book cover for Nobody’s Baby, aka the second Dorothy Gentleman mystery!
Events
This Sunday at 4 p.m. Eastern, Bookstore Romance Day is hosting a Zoom event so Allie K. Parker and I can go deep into the problems with You’ve Got Mail and why it’s hero, corporate stooge Joe Fox, is actually the villain of the story. Register here and add in any questions you’ve got, and we’ll all have a good time hating on a weirdly beloved romcom!
Then on Monday at 7 p.m. Eastern, I’ll be online for an AMA with the Ashland, Chelmsford, Groton, and Tewskbury Public Libraries. Have questions about writing sci-fi mysteries, or queer romances, or being a critic as well as an author, or anything at all? Now’s your chance, and register here!
Meanwhile…
Dorothy Gentleman No. 2 has a title and a cover!
A wild baby appears! Dorothy Gentleman, ship detective, is put to the test once again when an infant is mysteriously left on her nephew's doorstep. Fertility is supposed to be on pause during the Fairweather’s journey across the stars—but humans have a way of breaking any rule you set them. Who produced this child, and why did they then abandon him? And as her nephew and his partner get more and more attached, how can Dorothy prevent her colleague and rival detective, Leloup, a stickler for law and order, from classifying the baby as a stowaway or a piece of luggage?
Told through Dorothy’s delightfully shrewd POV, this novella series is an ode to the cozy mystery taken to the stars with a fresh new sci-fi take. Perfect for fans of the plot-twisty narratives of Dorothy Sayers and Ann Leckie, this well-paced story will leave readers captivated and hungry for the next installment.
Out next March, and you can pre-order from all the usual places!
Linkery
A 1930s Indonesian textile design inspired by Flash Gordon
A defaced and restored medieval psalter, whose repair was undertaken by Elizabeth Dennis Denyer, a rare woman rare book curator in the 18th century: “ Special attention to Denyer’s restoration methods reveals a logic that neither mirrors the irreverence of her contemporaries nor portends our own piety towards the artefact.”
I adored this interview with Nick Cave (the bead artist, not the singer) who is one of my favorite living artists. If you ever get the chance to see one of his sound suits in person, do not miss it!
That’s all for now, but we’ll get back to the usual craft stuff and book recs in next month’s Pride spectacular. Happy reading until then!
Olivia