First off: the next queer book giveaway will be Jordy Rosenberg’s remarkable Confessions of the Fox. The narratives of two trans men intertwine in the book: the story of Jack, a notorious 18th-century London thief, and an unnamed grad student who discovers a manuscript of Jack’s “confessions.” The language is rich and inventive, the structure is delightful (the grad student’s story is told entirely in footnotes), and the story itself is sexy and subversively liberatory.

If you’d like to enter the giveaway for one of three paperback copies of this book, fill out the Google form here.

So! 2025!

I have arrived at a point in my life where occasionally the circumstances of my own life and the world at large diverge widely, which is to say: 2025 sucked in a lot of ways as we watched a would-be dictator strip U.S. democracy for parts — not even always to sell off! sometimes just to burn for fun! — but I found I had more resources at my disposal than I expected.

First, my first historical romance, A Bloomy Head, was reviewed by Olivia Waite in the New York Times, leading to more visibility for my writing than I’ve ever had before. Then, I started a full-time position at my day job, leading to more disposable income than I’ve ever had before.

A lot of this went into buying an embarrassing number of paperbacks and records for my own personal benefit, but I also upped my contributions to La Colaborativa, the Yellowhammer Fund, and the Frontera Fund, and added a monthly contribution to the Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network, as well as becoming a paying subscriber to the indie news organizations LA TACO, the Flytrap, and the New Bedford Light.

The extra cash has also allowed me to give away 23 paperbacks by six different authors through this newsletter! Hurray for more physical copies of queer media bumping around in the world!

I visited New York, St. Louis (for Fated Mates Live!), Iowa, and Washington state; studied a crap-ton of Portuguese; read forty-ish books; rewrote 80% of the manuscript of the fourth Goblins & Cheese book, The King in the Forest; and, of course, broke out all my coping mechanisms to handle the anxiety of being a person alive in the world right now.

I would not say I’m doing a great job of that last bit. I’m behind on basically everything right now except mailing Christmas presents. I will not bore you with the details of the stuff yet to be mailed, nor I will be enumerating all the tasks which I should have done weeks ago. However, I categorically refuse to let anyone think for even a moment that I have my stuff together and under control. We are all just going to have to bumble into 2026 together.

Which leads to the questions to discuss this week: What things are you most proud of in 2025? What organizations did you get involved with and new connections did you make or solidify? What were the weirdest moments?

Best,

Sharon