Hi. It’s been a while.

Over a year, in fact; I didn’t write a newsletter in all of 2025. My last one, I believe, was before the 2024 U.S. election.

Part of the reason for my silence was that I had very little to report, writing-wise. I had only two publications in 2025:

• a PodCastle reprint/audio production of “The House, the Witch, and Sugarcane Stalks” (originally published in Lightspeed): https://podcastle.org/2025/08/26/podcastle-906-double-episode-the-house-the-witch-and-sugarcane-stalks-and-to-pluck-a-twisted-string/

• An original, “Within Dead Dreams,” at midnight & indigo. The issue can be bought here: https://midnight-indigo.com/products/midnight-indigo-sixteen-speculative-stories-by-black-women-writers-issue-15

midnight & indigo is a truly lovely zine, and I’m proud of my story. But I get that it’s hard to overcome the paywall these days. People are struggling.

It’s the “people are struggling” bit that was the main reason for my newsletter-silence in 2025. It felt hard for me to say anything worthwhile that hadn’t already been said, and likely better than I could have done.

Even now, I’m rehashing others’ points, but in the interest of following the point outlined in the article I’m about to mention, let me rehash others’ points. 😊

I read an encouraging article from the writer Nicola Griffith yesterday, talking about how 3.5% is, historically, the percentage of a population necessary to engage in nonviolent protests and successfully overthrow authoritarian governments.

3.5%. I’d heard that number before, probably around the time of the first No Kings protest. For the United States, it means around 12 million people engaged in sustained, nonviolent resistance.

We’re seeing such resistance already. Minneapolitans are among the more publicly visible, right now, as they form mutual aid networks and face armed, masked ICE agents with that horrific weapon of mass destruction, a whistle.

It’s encouraging to me, though I’m admittedly prone to pessimism. Except for the sake of my kid, I absolutely cannot give into nihilism; I must believe there is a better future for her and her peers.

I have to believe that the U.S. possesses 12 million people willing to resist. I’m working on finding better ways of being one of them. (One site I appreciate a lot as a non-Minnesotan is https://www.standwithminnesota.com/ which aggregates mutual aid resources folks can donate to, as a small start.)

And in a society where resistance means being willing to go outside in your pajamas in subfreezing temperatures so that gestapo forces who won’t show their faces don’t kidnap your five-year-old neighbor, knowing at the same time you’re risking gestapos murdering you, it’s hard for me to feel that art is resistance, though it is. Art alone is not enough, but from the number of times I’ve seen people quote 1984 or Andor over the past year, I believe art remains impactful.

• It helps us develop empathy and “de-Otherize” people.

• It shines a light on the horrific, so that we have warnings of what to resist.

• It shows what resistance looks likes.

• It helps develop joy, which is also part of resistance.

• And it can help us envision something better.

Art remains important. Otherwise, we wouldn’t face such challenges regarding censorship, from book bannings to FCC rulings.

It remains important, or else AI techbros wouldn’t be so eager to swallow it up without recompense, while at the same time trying to make us believe that original thought is pointless; just get ChatGPT to write it for you.

It remains important, because human expression is important, and even when (when!) the fascists in the U.S. government are removed from their power, we will still need visions of something better; we will still need to do so much better at showing empathy.

We will still need joy.

So.

I don’t know that I’ll develop a true, predictable, newsletter schedule. But in the immortal words of Bart Simpson, “I’ll try to try.”

Because I am still making art. One thing I can mention: I have an original story forthcoming at PodCastle. I’m told it should be out no later than May. Another thing I can’t mention yet, but I’m excited about it, and I’ll share it when I can.

In the meantime, make art. Help your neighbors. Find joy.

And resist.

-Amanda