EosT #60: Pre-Launch for RANGER
Well hello. I hope you’re all holding up. Staying healthy physically and emotionally. Not contemplating the murder of the other people in your home. That sort of thing. Maryland is officially on “stay at home”, but they haven’t closed off the path around the lake yet, so we still have that.
The launch for The Ranger of Marzanna is only a few weeks away. Obviously all the in-person events that I was going to tell you about have been canceled, but my publisher is setting up some live-streaming events. I’ll probably have more info on those soon.
But for now, Ranger is already starting to show up on a few April SF&F lists, including The Nerdist, io9, Tor.com, and Polygon. I also did an interview for the podcast Authors On A Podcast Talking Books, which you can download directly from iTunes, Spotify, or your podcasting device of choice. The interviewer has a policy of not editing the conversation at all, so it’s a solid hour and forty minutes of me talking about everything from slavic folklore, to epic fantasy, to Tolstoy, to Animal Crossing, and much much more. It is…um, unfiltered, which if you’ve ever seen me live, you know how that is.
Now Listening
Right now I’m really enjoying the track “WAKING UP DOWN” by Korean-American artist Yaeji, off her debut album WHAT WE DREW 우리가 그려왔. It’s very catchy dance music that still manages to have a lot of depth and introspection. As Stereogum says, “Yaeji’s music has always pushed the interior outward.” In this strange time in which we’re all struggling at once alone and yet together, this particular dialectic really resonates with me.
Now Playing
My son and my brother worked in unholy conjunction to convince me to buy Animal Crossing: New Horizons for Nintendo Switch. As a great lover of story, I am not normally someone who who is drawn to “life simulation” games, but this adorable, soothing little tropical island getaway game is absolutely (and almost uncannily) perfect for riding out a pandemic. Although, I’m not totally sure I’m doing it right…
With the launch coming up, I’ll be sending newsletters out on a weekly basis. I’m sure that’ll cool off in a month or so but if it’s more than you want, please feel free to click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email. I don’t get notified about stuff like that, so it won’t hurt my feelings. And even if I did notice, I wouldn’t take it personally. The last thing I'd ever want with this newsletter is a reluctant audience. We all need to be taking care of ourselves right now, because in doing so, we’re taking care of each other as well.
Talk soon,
_j