for Pride Month: an e-book sale & a guy who doesn't know he's gay
what ho, friends! as you know if you read last month’s newsletter (and made it past the long, long section about the Biggest Week in American Birding), you know I’m back on deadline.
I’m finally able to share more about the book I’m revising than just that one meme (you know the one), so here’s a lil info:
releasing in July 2026
cozy horror (it was supposed to be cozy fantasy but whoops my hand slipped)
set in pseudo-1910 and fantasy!Scotland
MC is a 43-year-old autistic guy who dreams of romance and adventure but wonders why he still hasn’t found the right girl (bb you’re gay)
he may not know he loves men but he sure does know he loves clocks and romance novels
he travels through an enchanted forest for Business Reasons, or tries to, but whoops he gets lost instead and meets a man who’s slowly turning into a beast
things keep happening between them that feel like something out of a romance novel, except they’re both men. huh, weird. anyway,
his 36-year-old, much more practical sister, who is very aware that she’s bisexual but is trying not to be aware of it, goes looking for him with a trouser-wearing lesbian who’s super annoying (positive)
villainless even though the forest keeps murdering people (in its defense, your honor, it has good reasons)
no title to share yet since that’s still being finalized, and no links yet either, but I’ll toss them up on socials as soon as I have them! if you’d like to know more, check out my “one like equals one fact” thread about the book on Bluesky: link to “one like equals one fact”
(if there aren’t as many facts as there are likes…it’s because I ran out of facts)
in the meantime, of course, you can read The Keeper of Lonely Spirits or The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher
click here to add The Keeper of Lonely Spirits on Goodreads: link to Keeper on Goodreads
click here to add The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher on Goodreads: link to Remarkable Retirement on Goodreads
e-book sale
speaking of The Keeper of Lonely Spirits, the e-book is on sale for $5.99 now through the end of this month. find it on your favorite e-book platform (my preference is Bookshop). happy pride!
book description: an old man cursed with immortality hunts ghosts rather than making mortal friends who will die one day. when residents of an Ohio town beset by a vengeful spirit adopt him as their own, he must decide: leave to protect his heart, or stay to save their lives?
click here to buy the e-book: link to The Keeper of Lonely Spirits in e-book on Bookshop
Columbus Book Festival
the schedule for this year’s Columbus Book Festival dropped at the start of this month, so here’s where you can find me during the festival:
Saturday, July 12, 1-2p.m. EST in Meeting Room 2A (in the library) - Author Speed-Matching
Sunday, July 13, 12-1p.m. in Meeting Room 2B (in the library) - It Builds Character! (Development) panel, with signing to follow in the 2nd floor Reading Room
Sunday, July 13, 3-4p.m. at Author Stage 2 (outside) - Books, Plants, and Tea: Gentle Fantasy panel, with signing to follow in the 2nd floor Reading Room
(there might be a signing to follow after author speed-matching, too, but I’m not actually sure lol. if I have a signing after that, it’ll once again be in the 2nd floor Reading Room!)
for a full list of featured authors and the schedule of events, click here: link to Featured Authors page on Columbus Book Festival website
(the schedule is a PDF that will download automatically when you click the “view featured author schedule” button on the linked page.)
this book festival is free and open to the public, but please note that the six headlining authors’ events are ticketed due to limited space!
brief bookish roadtrip
in addition to attending the Columbus Book Festival as a featured author this year, I’ll also be roadtripping to Iowa in July for an event at Dog-Eared Books! while it will be a lot of driving to do by myself, I’m excited to (a) see the Mississippi River for the first time and (b) visit both Dog-Eared Books (in Ames) and Swamp Fox Books (in Marion).
(no event at Swamp Fox, I’ll just be stopping in to sign stock!)
if you’re in the area, come see me at Dog-Eared Books for Cocktails and Convos on Thursday, July 24, 7:00-9:00p.m. CDT. a book signing and photo op will follow. The Keeper of Lonely Spirits-themed cocktails and mocktails will also be available! tickets are free and include your drink, but RSVPs are required due to limited space.
you can purchase a copy of The Keeper of Lonely Spirits and/or The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher in advance for signing at the event. (a limited number of books will be available to purchase at the event.)
click here to register: link to Cocktails & Convos registration page on Dog-Eared Books’s website
odds and ends
recent reads
Don’t Drag This Out by Emery Lee (2025), which had me crying with laughter just two lines in, so I immediately knew (as if there’d been any doubt) that I was going to love this book (and I was right)
recent watches
finally saw Sinners (2025) and it was excellent! I think I was less than two minutes in when I went OMG THE MUSIC. which I probably should’ve foreseen given the premise of the film, but I’d seen so much talk about the writing and cinematography that I hadn’t been prepared for the fantastic soundtrack
recent listens
I’ve actually been cycling through music lately. like you know how it is when you start a book but the vibes are wrong so you start another book but the vibes are wrong so you start another book but— well, that’s how I’ve felt listening to music lately
that said, I have listened to L’Orchestra Cinematique’s “Beauty & the Beast (Epic Version)” on repeat because I’ll be doing a pole routine to it come October (only the bit that’s actually “Beauty & the Beast,” not the entire medley, which would probably kill me since it’s like five minutes long)
recent birds
I saw baby wild turkeys for possibly the first time ever?? usually if I see a momma bird and her kids crossing the road, it’s Canada geese. but this month I saw a turkey crossing the road with her turklets!
I also heard wood thrushes, a broad-winged hawk, and a summer tanager (the latter of which I tried SO HARD to catch a glimpse of, but alas I did not)
until next time!
