September 2024

Oh, how time flies. As I’m writing this, we are just a little over a month out from pub day for Sorcery and Small Magics! Trade reviews are coming in, launch event details are being finalized, and everything is starting to feel very real. 

Read on for a roundup of exciting news (that I’m allowed to share), as well as a playlist!

• My US author copies have arrived, which means that I am now in possession of a whole bunch of gorgeous paperbacks. Currently they are taking up space in my office but I am accepting suggestions on a more permanent solution. Build a fort? Devote an entire bookshelf to them? A ✨giveaway✨, perhaps? Keep an eye on my Instagram to see what I decide (and to watch my unboxing video, which I will be posting soon).

• You heard it here first, Sorcery and Small Magics has received its second starred review! This one is from Kirkus and you can check it out here.

• Sorcery and Small Magics is an Indie Next Pick for October! This is such a lovely honor and I’m so grateful to all the booksellers who read and reviewed. Thank you!

• In case you missed my announcement elsewhere, I will be in conversation with the fabulous Rebecca Podos at Elicit Brewing Co. on October 15th to celebrate pub day. Get your tickets here!

• Pre-order goodies have begun to arrive and they look amazing! There’s still time to get your order in with River Bend Bookshop if you’d like your book to come with an art print, bookplate, and sticker.

Books: Turns out having a book coming out soon is very bad for your focus, who knew! Still, there are a few books that managed to capture my attention recently. I adored The Worst Ronin by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, with illustrations by Faith Schaffer. It had such strong Gideon and Jeannemary team up vibes that my heart was won over instantly and I finished it in one sitting. I finally got around to reading Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat and it was just as deliciously twisty as I’d been promised. I had the great pleasure of reading Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove, which isn’t out until next year but will be perfect for fans of The Murderbot Diaries and A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. Go add it to your TBR right now! And finally, I’m currently in the middle of Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan. I love a good portal fantasy and this one enjoys turning familiar fantasy dynamics on their head with an appropriately evil laugh. It’s good fun with enough feels to leave you well satisfied.

Shows: I’ve had a few good watches recently. My Lady Jane was perfectly delightful and I’m sad it won’t be continuing. The Three Body Problem was a fun dip into sci-fi for me, with interesting characters and an ending that left me impatient for more. But I’m afraid these shows pale in comparison to my new obsession, a kdrama on Netflix called The Devil Judge. I’m only half way through, but this show has one of my favorite setups, in which some fresh-faced young thing becomes entangled with a character of dubious morals and then they spend a lot of time tearing their hair out trying to decide whether this character is actually evil, or just misunderstood. It is gothic, it has the high drama of a soap opera, and it is utterly ridiculous. I’m loving it.