March 12, 2024

In like a lion

Hello, everyone! I hope you're having a lovely whatever-season. It's spring where I am and there are crocuses and daffodils and the plum trees are flowering.

Lake of Souls, a collection of my short fiction, comes out soon! April 2, in fact, which is a bit over two weeks away! And I'm super happy to be able to tell you that Adjoa Andoh is reading the audiobook. I can't tell you how amazingly lucky I feel to have had her read nearly all my books.

There have been some wonderful reviews, too. Publishers Weekly you can read at the link if you're so inclined.

Booklist said, "Fans of Leckie’s work will find plenty to enjoy here—there are stories set in both the Imperial Radch and Raven Tower universes—but those wishing to dip their toes into new worlds are also in for a treat. The stories are entertaining, pack surprisingly dense plots into small packages, and have plenty of juicy subtext to reward re-reading."

Locus says, "Throughout, there’s a sense of a restless imagination at work, and of a writer exploring her options, often in ways that will surprise the admirers of her more famous novels, and often in ways that will reassure them they were right in the first place."

These lovely reviews are super awesome to me--when the stories first came out a few of them were included in Years Best anthologies (mostly edited by Rich Horton, who clearly has impeccable literary taste) but for the most part they didn't get a lot of attention. Which is fine--there's only so much attention to go around and so many amazing writers out there! But I think it's kind of wonderful to see that these stories had a future, that it wasn't just swim or sink forever. I think that's important to remember for many of the things we do--super success right out the gate isn't required and it's worth continuing to plug away at whatever it is you love doing.

So, keep doing the things you love and that bring you joy. Don't worry too much about whether they're immediately successful (on whatever axis you're defining that). Just do them. There's no telling what the future may bring, and in the meantime you've done what you love.

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What I've Read Lately

The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey This isn't out until August of 2024, but I got an advance copy. I enjoyed it a lot, but fair warning, it's definitely Book 1 of a series.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver Yeah, this is just really really good. Hardly surprising, I mean, Barbara Kingsolver. It's definitely a...retelling? Riff on? David Copperfield but you don't need to have read that to enjoy this book.

A Theory of Haunting by Sarah Monette Heads up, all you Goblin Emperor fans (I know you're out there!) Sarah Monette is Katherine Addison. Back before Maya Drazhar (and perhaps more relevantly, Thara Celehar) was even a thing, there was Kyle Murchison Booth, who featured in the stories collected in The Bone Key. If you're fond of Thara Celehar you might also like Booth.

The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera Yeah, this is very, very good, read it.

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That's March! Take care, stay safe and well!

Ann