What’s Up
Sorry we’re a bit late. I had a migraine yesterday, so if I’d tried to push through all you would have gotten is badly typed out swear words and complaints about the sun.
…which has actually been out the last couple of days! I’m definitely not complaining, migraine aside, but it has been a shock. Dogs are loving it!
Anyhow, at least you know you get these hot off the presses. No writing them up before hand and having a backlog like a SENSIBLE person.
As for the NEWS!?
I’m going to ShiMMer next year! Saturday 28th June in Warwick! I’m wicked excited about it. It will also be the first big outing for the new covers of my books. So I’m really looking forward to seeing what people think of them!
Obviously, it isn’t going to ONLY be me. I’m gregarious, but I’m not THAT gregarious. Trying to bring the craic for that many people on my own could lead to dehydration! So there’s going to be a bunch of really cool authors there, like Miski Harris (just the sweetest lady! I know her a little from GRL and she’s a doll!), Nora Phoenix (also a lovely person), TJ Masters (who gives amazing demonstrations and is just a lovely man to chat with), Kim Fielding (…look, she’s just a sweetheart. I can’t help it that people are lovely!), the lovely KC Wells (who you can’t find a nicer person to share hotel room Tikka with!) and just loads more!
All of whom are also great authors! Just they’re lovely to talk to as well!
Pupdate of the Week
Look at his little stampy feet!
‘Gis us a kiss!’
They are having the time of their life now the weather is sporadically nice! Izzy had a bath in a muddy puddle today, Jax had a dander down a lane with a spaniel. All is good in their world!
Shout-Out of the Week
You can’t fly away from destiny.
Crow Rapp assumes he’ll spend his life growing corn in rural Illinois, like the grandparents who raised him. But during a visit to a traveling carnival, he encounters a handsome stranger named Simeon Bell—and receives a prophecy of a horrifying future. When that future materializes soon afterward, Crow flees… only to find that no matter how far he goes, fate pursues him.
Simeon reenters his life a decade later and causes Crow to consider whether actively fighting his fate might be better than constant attempts at escape. In a world tinged by magic, where myths are as real as the sky above them, the men try to determine Crow’s true identity. Along the way, they test the powers of friendship and love and explore the boundaries of free will—ultimately discovering whether the force of destiny can be overcome.
Crow’s Fate is part of the multi-author Carnival of Mysteries Series. Each book stands alone, but each one includes at least one visit to Errante Ame’s Carnival of Mysteries, a magical, multiverse traveling show full of unusual acts, games, and rides. The Carnival changes to suit the world it’s on, so each visit is unique and special. This book contains an Illinois farmboy, a roustabout from London, and realizations about the power of love.
I would DIE for Carson. And I know he’d die for me, because…well, he already has!
Must Read of the Week
I find family estrangement interesting. Or rather, I find the way that people talk about it interesting…like it’s a character flaw of Gen Z who drop family members like Pip socially climbing in Great Expectations. Like people haven’t been doing it for years by moving away to England or only visiting their in-laws on the high holy days. The slow fade of family relationships that don’t serve their purpose has always been there.
The only difference is that social media makes it so easy to stay in touch, so it’s more evident when effort is made to avoid that. Or that’s part of it, anyhow.
On an unexpectedly brisk November evening in Johannesburg, I was at a sushi dinner with my dad, his wife, Mary*, and her teenage daughter, Rebecca*. Strained, sporadic laughter between deafening silences made it clear that everyone was uncomfortable.
It was my third time peering into what still feels like my dad’s new life. When he and I reconnected after years of estrangement in 2019, we focused strictly on our relationship, so Mary and Rebecca are effectively strangers to me. Not only that, but Mary, Rebecca, and my dad are all pretty quiet, where I tend to be more boisterous. So my plan for dinner was simple: Keep it light. Give them the watered-down version of myself that they find more… palatable.