Ruby Red
In my last newsletter, I mentioned that I’d had the chance to interview a musician I’ve listened to for years for the Washington City Paper, rapper Ruby Ibarra, winner of the 2025 NPR Tiny Desk Concert.
Ugh, rap. I don’t hate rap, but I just don’t listen to it and never will and also, I hate it. Oh, I did like that Can’t Touch This song. Is that her?
That was someone else. Also, that song came out over thirty years ago.
WHY DIDN’T ANYONE TELL ME I’M THAT OLD?
I know you don’t like rap, or you do but you don’t really ever listen to it, and that’s okay. I’m used to people not enjoying my hobbies, like professional wrestling or that week I called everyone “brosef” or sea monkeys. I used to try to convince people that they should like what I like, and that never worked.
Did you explain to them why they were wrong? Since you’re a guy and all?
Always. Repeatedly. But, like I said, I grew to accept that people are different. And that’s okay!
That doesn’t sound like you.
No, really, it’s fine.
Come on…
Okay, look, crime fiction is PAINFULLY unaware of how rap is perfect for it – the inventive use of slang, the storytelling, the mix of crime and oppression, the assignment of criminality to “the other.”
There he is.
Anyway, I bring this up because I’m thinking about an email I received after my last newsletter (I’d mentioned the interview in a brief note at the bottom). A reader wrote a quick email telling me that she was happy I was excited about speaking with Ibarra…but she probably won’t read it because she hates rap.
And she also hates you?
What? No! Maybe. Anyway, it did make me think about what I wanted to do in the interview…or what I hope I did.
Which was what?
My goal in that piece was never to convince someone to like rap (although it wouldn’t surprise me if a few of you ordered sea monkeys after you finish this newsletter, remember to tag me in your photos at #SeaMonkeyEA). But I did hope you’d be convinced to listen to her music.
Really selling hard for this rapper, aren’t you?
Ruby? Nah. She’s cool, but this is about me, brosef. It’s about writing something compelling and persuasive enough to pull you over the line.
And it’s about that crazy hopeful entitled desire every writer has and feels a bit like an ass admitting - I want you to read it because I wrote it.
Before I ever wanted to be a writer, I was a devoted reader. I had my favorite writers, and I made a point of reading everything they wrote. Novels, non-fiction, short stories. I’d even have happily read their grocery lists or day planners.
Is this a period piece? What is a “day planner?”
It was the writer’s voice that drew me, and something about their voice was always present in their work. Their worldview and prose and approach was consistent, and reading their work felt like catching up with a good friend, and hearing about something they experienced and wanted to share.
And that’s the mountaintop, I think, writers should want to climb. I want to convince a reader, who has no idea who Ruby Ibarra is, to give rap a chance. To paraphrase Gertrude Stein, I want to turn that rose red.
I did not see a Gertrude Stein moment coming.
Stein prided herself on her poetry giving a rose its color. Of course, a writer can’t truly show you a red rose, not really. We don’t know what color you’re seeing.
But we keep coloring, hoping that, in some way, you’ll see what we’re feeling. You’ll understand why something has compelled us to write about it. Why this particular music moves us.
EA
I get to be in conversation with Alma Katsu at One More Page on Monday, September 15, for the release of her latest novel, Fiend! There’s so much I admire about Alma, both for her devotion to her craft and her versatility as a writer. She writes so many things, and does them all well - spy novels, horror, short stories across genres, everything. Fiend has received praise from Publishers Weekly and absolute horror icons like Grady Hendrix and Silvia Moreno-Garcia and, damn, Pulitzer Prize-finalist Kslly Link too? That’s just showing off.
I hope you can be there! Learn more.
It's giveaway time! This month’s winner gets a copy of Fiend when it comes out (9/16/25). Congrats to:
phyl_____2@yahoo.com
I'll send you an email with more information soon!
One of the top shows on Netflix is The Hunting Wives, and its generated all sorts of gleeful buzz. The show is based on the book by May Cobb, who I’ve been friends with for years and finally met in person at ThrillerFest. I’ve often said May is one of the most fearless writers out there, and the TV version of THW seems like a perfect adaptation of her work.
And, yes, I usually make this part and most of this newsletter all about me, but I’m just so happy for May. You know, it’s nice to celebrate someone else. Actually, this feels weird, never mind, I don’t like it. Buy my book!