February 2025 Newsletter
Hello, Dear Readers!
Winter has been busy We actually got a few decent snowfalls here in Virginia. I’m about done with it, though. I’m ready for springtime, allergies be damned. I need sunlight and warmth in order to thrive.
Oona had fun, though:
News
It is officially Hugo Award nomination season! And we at Worldbuilding for Masochists are once again eligible for Best Fancast. We would adore your consideration.
How do you nominate? Well, you have to have a WSFS membership. It’s $50, and that not only gets you nomination and voting privileges, but you will also get the Voting Package, which is absolutely stuffed full of entertainment. It typically includes all the novels, novellas, novelettes, and short stories up for awards, as well as nonfiction, fan writing, professional and fan art, and sometimes even full-length movies and episodes of TV. So you get way more than $50 of value out of it.
In the rest of my world, I’ve been making excellent progress on Shattered Souls, the enemies-to-lovers romantasy I’ve been working on the past several months. The plot is starting to fall together in ways that make sense, and I’m talking myself into simplifying the overall arc and slicing out the subplots that quite simply do not need to be there.
And when I’m not working on that, my attention is often on Halcy-Con 2025! As we announced last week, we are incorporating an immersive component to the convention this year. I am just giddy about it and what the team is going to be able to build. I’ve got a whole plan for unrolling the preliminary premise and narrative framework over the next eight months, and so far people seem very into it!
If you’re interested in more on that, check out the interview I did with conrunners Martin and Kristine last week, where I talked about my whole wild career, programming for Halcy-Con 2025, and the immersive framework we’re creating:
Listening back to this, I think I said the words “I am so excited” far too many times. 😅 And I am excited about all of these things! I just wish I’d used better vocabulary for it.
Very glad my eyeliner and lipstick were on point, though.
And here’s the first communication about the premise itself:
Upcoming Events
This weekend, I will be at ConVivial in Williamsburg, VA! Schedule as follows:
Saturday, 11am: World-Building 101
Saturday, 3pm: Forgotten and Under-rated Fantasy and Sci-Fi Authors
Saturday, 4pm: Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing
Saturday, 6pm: Time Travel Etiquette: Do’s and Don’ts of Temporal Tourism
Sunday, 1pm: The Evolution of the Hero’s Journey
(And after that, I think I’m going to Busch Gardens for a few hours, because I’ve never done their Mardi Gras event before)
Coming up April 25-27 will be RavenCon in Richmond, VA, and then on the other side of the camp season, I’ll be at WorldCon Seattle, August 13-17.
Because, oh yes, camp season. I’m going to be on-site at Richmond for all four weeks of its season this year, back in my guise as Quest Guide! It’s going to be Quite A Time, but I’m truly super-excited for it. We’ve got some kids who will be coming back for their fifth summer, who’ve been with us since the start of Richmond’s camp, and I cannot wait to bring this year’s stories to them.
It does mean, however, that I functionally will not exist from mid-June to mid-July. Everyone in my life will just have to pretend I’m on the moon or something.
What I’ve Been Reading
As always, the links below are affiliate links from which I will earn a small commission.
Oathbreakers: The War of Brothers That Shattered an Empire and Made Medieval Europe, Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry
And Only to Deceive, Tasha Alexander
A Monsoon Rising, Thea Guanzon
Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales, Heather Fawcett
Light of the Jedi, Charles Soule
Swordheart, T. Kingfisher
Oathbreakers was a fascinating look at a time period that I know much more about on the English side of the Channel than what was going on over on the continent. A Monsoon Rising is the sequel to The Hurricane Wars, which I’ll likely be using as a comp title for Shattered Souls, so I was glad that it finally came off the library hold! Swordheart was absolutely charming and delightful (the female main character reminded me a lot of an rpg character I’ve played).
And then I’ve decided I’m going to try to read all of the adult & YA High Republic books in order. I’ve done most of Phase 1 before, but I think there are gaps, and I’ve not ready any of Phase 2, and now Phase 3 is rolling up. I really enjoy the High Republic — it’s explored so many neat aspects of the Star Wars galaxy, and it has some fabulous characters.
Wrapping It Up
So… ready for March? Astrologically speaking, we’re in for a doozy. Venus goes retrograde, and then we’ve got a full moon eclipse on the same day that Mercury goes retrograde, and all sorts of this nonsense is happening in Pisces. So get ready for some big feels and buckle up, buttercups!
