here are some thoughts: October 28, 2024
hello, good morning, and happy Spooky and Sweater Seasons to those who celebrate! i am firstly delighted to announce that both SWORD STONE TABLE and FIT FOR THE GODS ebooks, the retellings anthologies i worked on with brilliant co-editors Swapna Krishna and S. Zainab Williams, are on sale for $4.99 each at all major US retailers. get ‘em while the getting’s good.
also, PLEASE VOTE. (For Kamala. OBVIOUSLY.)
also also, here are some thoughts.
obligatory disclaimer in here about affiliate links; books are generally linked to Bookshop, and if i actually ever earn enough for a payout it will be donated to a good cause. hi, FTC!
🏆 sales numbers are notoriously weird for anthologies, so it’s with huge delight that i can tell y’all that these two anthologies have sold a total of more than 12,000 copies. THAT IS WILD. and doesn’t include people who borrowed them from friends or the library or found a copy used or whatever! my heart, it has grown one billion sizes. the writers who contributed are stellar and if you haven’t read yet, there’s no time like the present. but also the magic of books is that they’ll be waiting for you when you’re ready!
⚔️ speaking of things that are there for you when you’re ready — my partner and i just started watching SHŌGUN, and i am pleasantly surprised to find that it lives up to the hype (at least so far, we’re on episode 4). it also reminded me of an amazing short story from the anthology NEW SUNS, edited by Nisi Shawl, that blew me away when i read it: “The Virtue of Unfaithful Translations” by Minsoo Kang. it’s a meditation on language, the manipulation thereof, and what it means to translate (faithfully or otherwise), and if watching Lady Mariko navigate the rocky shoals of xenophobia and cultural misunderstanding are part of what you love about that show, y’all should read it.
🪻 i’m almost done with SOIL by Camille T. Dungy, which is a stunner of the nature/memoir genre, and also has recontextualized so many of the others in the genre i’ve read, particularly PILGRIM AT TINKER CREEK which was an early love of mine. cannot recommend highly enough, especially if you want to be shown what the genre so often leaves off the page, and/or inspired to get out into the dirt. i just ordered a packet of native wildflower seeds for one particularly annoying patch in my garden that i have been despairing over; Dungy makes it so clear both how and why it is essential to be in relationship with our surroundings, and it was the reminder i needed.
🚀 and last but not least in reading thoughts, my reread of THE DISPOSSED by Ursula Le Guin has sent me down a full Hainish Cycle reread, starting (in order) with WORLDS OF EXILE AND ILLUSION. Amal El-Mohtar’s introduction is chef:kiss and honestly worth the price of admission all by itself.
👋 may these shortening days grant us all rest in between :waves hands:.