December 12, 2022

the 2nd annual alix e. harrow gift guide

i think the thing i miss most about twitter—and there is, god help me, a long list of things i miss about twitter1—is the illusion of chill it afforded me. oh, this little joke? an effortless one-liner, dropped casually at a very hip party. everyone laughs as i waft from the room. this incisive political take?? an organic analysis, spoken straight from the heart. no, i did not waste valuable work hours drafting multiple versions in a word document, triple-checking for typos and perhaps googling a term i haven’t used aloud since grad school, for i am—as you can see—a very chill person.

in reality of course i’m the sort of person who rehearses what i’m going to say to my dental hygienist. when i parallel parked on my driver’s test the state trooper said, almost wonderingly, “you pass, but...i don’t think i’ve ever seen anybody sweat it that hard.” for all its sins, twitter allowed me to cosplay confidence. to speak with an implied lol at the end of every sentence which forbid anyone from taking me too seriously.

but a newsletter? god. i’m trying very hard and everyone can tell.

another one of the things i miss most about twitter was coming up with witty little tweets designed to make everyone on the whole earth read the same books i’m reading, because i have excellent taste in books and it would be good for you tbh. last year i stuck them all together into a jokey gift guide thread—which was printed out and used for shelf-talkers in at least one indie bookstore!!! my god!! the serotonin!!—but this year…like, how?

a twitter thread is not Top Ten List or a Roundup or an artful series of instagram posts. it is low-effort. it is disorganized. it isn’t expected to be representative of the field or illustrative of my values or aesthetically linked or limited to a particular genre. it’s just: some books i liked. maybe i’ll add more later. maybe someone will make a way better joke in the replies. maybe someone will tell me about three books i should obviously have included and it will be a little annoying but the books do sound sort of cool, so maybe i’ll put them on hold.

i guess what i actually miss most about twitter is just talking with people, casually, mostly about books. so when you read this gift guide—yes, I know, I’m coming around to it—please do me the favor of pretending we are just talking, casually, about some books i liked. i’m sure i’ve forgotten a ton—feel free to mention them in the comments.

babel by r.f. kuang is the ideal gift for someone who
-never skips the footnotes in their jonathan strange re-read
-has referenced edward said in casual conversation
-loves academia but also, crucially, hates academia

spear by nicola griffith is for everyone but specifically someone who
-has listened to the green knight soundtrack more than once
-was an alanna girlie
-arthur/lancelot/guinevere OT3
-knows what woolf meant about prose as a wave in the mind which breaks and tumbles

nona the ninth by tamsyn muir is for someone who
-read the first two locked tomb books and then got lost at sea or something and hasn’t been able to purchase the third one
-read the first two locked tomb books and then was too emotionally fragile to purchase the third one
-is one of those sickos who read series out of order

you made a fool of death with your beauty by akwaeke emezi is for a person who
-loves mess
-is a scorpio (i don't believe in astrology but this time i'm right)
-saw salt-and-pepper oscar isaac in the Dune movie promo and learned something about themselves

a restless truth by freya marske is perfect for anyone who
-told you more than once that kathryn hahn & natasha lyonne were in the second knives out movie
-shouts “COWARDS!!!” when they pull a fade-to-black instead of a sex scene
-knows all the Bridgertons can't be straight, it's just not statistically plausible

a lady for a duke by alexis hall is for the reader who
-loves a happily ever after, but also loves 2 suffer
-loves a dramatically sad bastard in a big house
-knows all the Bridgertons can't be straight & cis, it's just not statistically plausible

the perfect crimes of marian hayes by cat sebastian is for someone who
-loves a happily ever after, but also loves class warfare
-understands in their heart that robin hood is a romance
-knows all the Bridgertons can't be straight & cis, it's just not statistically plau--

siren queen by nghi vo is for anyone who
-believes in girls rights but also girls wrongs
-will tell you, without provocation, about the hays code
-more like the seven WIVES of evelyn hugo am i right

the undertaking of hart & mercy by megan bannen is for someone who
-can quote more than one nora ephron movie
-visits every section of the bookstore with joy in their heart
-is not alarmed by a dash of gore, a smattering of viscera

the hacienda by isabel cañas is for the person who
-has a whole speech about how crimson peak is criminally underrated
-has made you watch s2 of fleabag
-starts decorating for halloween in august

news

realistically i’m not going to send out another newsletter this year so how about i tell you what i published this year and we all go back to doing puzzles by the fire like god intended:

• the long way up: a short story about depression & marriage & how hard it would be to walk out of hell without once looking back. (jan 2022, The Deadlands)

• roadside attraction: a short love story about time travel. some boys will LITERALLY ricochet through space and time rather than talk about their feelings (may 2022, Someone in Time anthology)

• the six deaths of the saint: a ~novelette~ ~not that it matters~ ~but just in case it does~ about glory & love & a big sad lady knight. (november 2022, amazon anthology)

• a mirror mended: the second (and final!) of my fairytale retelling novellas! the sleeping beauty x evil queen mashup no one was clamoring for!! (june 2022, tordotcom)

• you can’t preorder Starling House yet but i have seen a draft of the cover and you will have the vapors about it!!!!!