Stardust Dispatch #1: On the heels of cold winds comes a newsletter
Hello and happy Samhain to you all! Welcome to the new version of my newsletter, the Stardust Dispatch.
It's been some time since I sent out my monthly update, and even longer since I made a Breakfast Serial post. For those of you receiving this from the latter mailing list, yes I am really, sincerely, for real reviving the Breakfast Serial and will be sending out posts once a week, beginning this Thursday.
For the rest of you, I have moved the Stardust Dispatch off of TinyLetter, merged it with my other (long neglected) newsletter, the Breakfast Serial, and moved my combined newsletter over to Ghost.io, which I think is the best platform for my future Dispatch plans.
If you don't know what the Breakfast Serial is, it's this: In the far future, humans of Earth have begun to settle on a planet named Ocasta in the Charys system. One settler, an investigative reporter named Harper Luna, has set up a blog to share recipes and news from the new world with her friends and readers back home on Earth.
A new blog post by Harper and a new recipe (mostly breakfast dishes, but she does veer off into other meal categories from time to time) will land in your inbox every Thursday.
If you'd like to catch up on Harper Luna's Breakfast Serial, I've imported all of the former posts from Substack to my new platform here. You'll want to start with this one. I hope you enjoy and I do hope you stick around for what's to come on Harper's journey.
For former Breakfast Serial readers, I thank you so much for your patience. I hope you won't mind the once a month updates on my current projects, upcoming events, pet pictures, and occassional book recs.
And speaking of which, on to the updates!
It's been about four months since my debut novella, MAI TAIS FOR THE LOST, launched from Underland Press. If you've had a chance to read it and you loved it, please consider leaving a review on Goodreads or Amazon. (If you didn't love it, don't worry about this part!) Word of mouth helps authors out more than anything. We're fast approaching that time at the end of the year when holiday gift lists and best of the year lists start making the rounds, and I would love it if my glittery, hedonistic little novella made it onto a couple of those!
In the meantime, I'm still at work putting the finishing touches to my epic second world fantasy, now titled FIVE CHAINS UNBOUND. Did you ever check out the Witchblade comics and think "this is such a cool concept, but I sure wish it wasn't so weirdly objectifying and rapey?" Me too! Which is why I've got the fractured soul of an imprisoned god (Vael, the Mother of Witches) running around the realm in the form of sentient armor on a handful of strangers who are all just trying to survive another day in the magic apocalypse.
I'm set to begin querying agents in November. Keep your eyes on this space for book news in the future.
SO COOL:
A few months back I got some reader mail from a scientific diver in the US Antarctic program! He shared some really interesting feedback about the kinds of masks people would use undersea, and I need to relay to you all that the revelers in MAI TAIS FOR THE LOST would be wearing a breathing mask, not an oxygen mask. Readers, this will be corrected in future Nightingale's Electric Detective Agency books, I assure you.
But the coolest part of this letter was that Henry shared with me a video of a recent Antarctic ice dive had had done! Check this out & enjoy the great music. Thank you Henry!!
Antarctic Ice Dive video: https://youtu.be/q_tAbiIy2-M
Henry Kaiser's Halloween show: https://youtu.be/_aUDC1pePdc
READING:
JUST LIKE HOME by Sarah Gailey
I haven't met a haunted house story I didn't love, but this one takes the spooky house genre to a whole other level. I loved every page of this deliciously creepy book from the inimitable Sarah Gailey. If you're looking for your next Spooky Season read, this is the one for you.
LEECH by Hiron Ennes
I just picked this one up yesterday and am only a couple of pages in, but it came highly recommended by a few of my most trusted tastemakers in SFFH literature. Check out Elias' review (and accompanying cocktail recipe!) for LEECH over on Barcart Bookshelf.
WATCHING: The Peripheral on Prime
LISTENING TO: Lots of LCD Soundsystem lately
That's all from me for this month. The Breakfast Serial resumes on Thursday in this same space with a spicy baked good to carry you into the depths of autumn. Have a wonderful Samhain and (for stateside readers) a bounteous Thanksgiving!
