an impending release date, and a letter to readers

I’m writing this newsletter with one week to go before Sorcery and Small Magics is officially out, and by the time you read it there will be even less time to go! It’s easy to think of pub day as a finish line of sorts but it’s just the beginning for readers. Pretty soon this book will be on shelves (in fact, it already IS on shelves some places, as you can see above) and in many ways it will belong just as much to you as it does to me. 

With that in mind, I wanted to share a letter with you.

When my publisher was getting ready to print advance reader copies of Sorcery and Small Magics they asked me to write a little letter to go with it. I wanted to share it here with you all as well.

Dear Reader,

One of the most popular pieces of advice that writers receive is this: Write the book you want to read.

Sorcery and Small Magics was an idea I turned around and around in my head for many years, never feeling like it was the right time to devote myself to it fully. But then, in March 2020, I found myself with a lot of time on my hands and an overwhelming desire to write something fun. Something that would distract me from the fact that I couldn’t leave my house by allowing me to explore a whole world full of magic. Something that would distract me from loneliness by letting me interact with characters whose strengths and flaws captured my attention entirely. The time was right for Leo and Grimm’s story, and it became not only the book I wanted to write but one that was full of all the things I love to read about.

So, what can you expect? Well, there’s a curse that upends our main character’s life, and a magical forest teeming with monsters. There are nods to D&D campaigns I’ve played in, and there is an achingly slow burn between two people who are opposites yet could be the perfect complement to each other, if only they would just recognize it. When I say slow burn, I mean it. I want you to root for them, despair over them, and be on the edge of your seat waiting to find out if they will actually realize what you realized a hundred pages ago.

There is also a gentle exploration of trauma and grief and the way they can make us feel less than we once were, until we find a new way of being. While I enjoy a little cozy escapism in my fantasy, this emotional core of truth and loss is what allowed me to really connect with Leo. We all have our own monsters, and sometimes the only thing you can do is sing to them (and hope they don’t eat you).

In many ways, this book is a love letter to the most cherished characters and settings of my childhood, but written with the sensibilities of my more recent adult favorites in mind. It’s like a mashup of The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Ella Enchanted, except queer and for grownups. In short, it’s the book I would want to pick up off the shelf as a reader. I hope you do too! 

• I have three in-person events scheduled for the month. Mark your calendars!

October 15th launch event at Elicit Brewing Co.

October 19th NYC Comic Con Panel

October 23rd book event at Gibson’s Bookstore

• I will also be doing a reddit AMA on October 30th, so if you have any burning questions but can’t make it to an event, you can catch me there. Link will be posted on my Instagram.

• There is currently a MASSIVE book giveaway happening over on Instagram. Check it out if you’d like to win 19 books (including SASM) that are debuting this fall.

• The Sorcery and Small Magics audiobook is currently a bookseller pick on libro.fm! Ciaran Saward has done a fantastic job of bringing the book to life and I’m so happy with the reception that the audiobook is getting so far.

• The Fantasy Hive featured an absolutely lovely review of SASM last week and I’ve been walking on clouds since I read it!

• And finally, if you haven’t pre-ordered SASM yet, please consider doing so! Pre-orders are immensely important to authors as they help bookstores decide how many copies to stock, and help publishers gauge how much interest there is for the book. You can find a list of US retailers to pre-order from here and a list of UK retailers here. You can order from River Bend Bookstore to receive a signed copy and some fun art prints, or you could order from your own local indie! All of these are fabulous options that would earn my many thanks.

Books: We are settling into a cozy season, which means I have been feeling much more drawn to curling up with a book and a cup of tea than doing just about anything else. I devoured A Sorceress Comes to Call in a single weekend and wanted to gently bang my head against a wall over how perfectly balanced T. Kingfisher’s prose is. I read The God of the Woods by Liz Moore, which I found to be both gripping and deeply sad (it was also a great reminder to me to step outside the speculative realm every now and then). Lastly, my heart was thoroughly warmed by reading Sarah Beth Durst’s The Spellshop, and it also left me with a fierce craving for jam.

Shows: I haven’t had much time to sit and watch lately, so this list will be woefully short. If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen that I recently started a rewatch of one of my all time favorite shows, Black Sails. Hooooo boy! It’s just as good as I remember and so interesting to watch again knowing how everything plays out. This show is a masterclass in storytelling. And I’ve also started watching S3 of The Legend of Vox Machina which is very fun and very much makes me look forward to rolling my next D&D character.