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Happy Almost-August My Friends

I hope that wherever you are, the weather is finally going back to whatever passes for normal for your area. Where I am, it’s stopped being unseasonably cool just today. Prior to that, we had the wildfire smoke & before that, the heatwave. It’s been so strange that our basil didn’t come up until two weeks ago, and the fireflies are still catching up to the weather. At least the hydrangeas and viburnum look stunning!

But our pets have been ACHING from all these weather shenanigans. (Us too, of course, but our roos can’t take diclofenac.) Kizu has been laying all sorts of weird:

We’re hoping this return to temps in the mid-80s (29C for those in sensible countries) will make things easier for us all.

Writing News

I’m thrilled to report that earlier this month, my story “Wiggle All Happy” came out at Gavagai! If you didn’t catch it in my last newsletter, don’t let the title fool you: this is a story about grief & loss. It’s part of a series I wrote to finally process losing a beloved pet, and under the sweetness is a bit of punch.

I also hit a goal I’d set for myself earlier this year. I am very proud that as of June 30th, I have written over 100K words on the Nora Shear novels. I’m far enough now that I’m going to start writing a monthly newsletter for that series, and if you’re interested, you can sign up at https://buttondown.com/norashear.

Other News

Reminding everyone that Amanda Helms’ book The Upper Tentacle is available for pre-order! I’ve read it & ADORED it (literally the first sentence in my response to it is “OMG SO SO SO FUN”). I’m excited for ppl to meet Khearozoth and Nia and, hopefully, gush with me about it.

By chance have you read John Wiswell’s The Dragon Has Some Complaints yet? If not, you’re missing out. Spouse & I both completely consumed it in a few days, and while it doesn’t have the same level of humor as his first book, it’s still got some incredibly funny moments. They’re spiritual siblings in voice & tone.

If you’re more in the mood for a short story, might I recommend Claire Jia-Wen's The Bathhouse for Long Life at Apex Magazine? It’s darker than the two above, but well worth it.

Need an easy free laugh? If you’re on BlueSky at all, I highly recommend checking out this thread by Trung Le Nguyen about Pride & Prejudice, which he read for the 1st time & liveposted his reactions. Funniest thread I’ve read in a long, long time. I will never look at a certain tree the same way again.

Finally, my friend Thad is still looking for a kidney: National Kidney Registry

And, drumroll…

I’m pleased to share that this month not only do you get the Kizu pic up above, but you also get TWO puppies in the final pic!

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With love and weirdness,

~Risa