Sorry I fell off the world for a bit. I got overwhelmed and exhausted and then I got my second covid vaccine (YAY!) and stayed in bed for a day because it made me tired and achey (BUT STILL WORTH IT) but now I am back and to make up for being gone please step into my office and lets look at these tiny videos that I saved for you because I knew you’d want to see them:
A question for Strangelings
A quick question for members of the Fantastic Strangelings Book Club…
Right now I’m reading a ton of books to pick something perfect for May and there are a LOT of good choices (which is both good and bad) and I thought it would be helpful to know how you guys would actually classify your favorite genres and books. The book club picks are usually unusual books from authors who might not get as much attention as they should. They probably skew a bit dark compared the normal bookclub (especially when you add in the bonus books) and feature diverse voices and books that may not have necessarily been on your radar.
Also, no worries if you haven’t read all of the books (you may not even have gotten this month’s yet) but from what you have read (or shared with friends and family who stole your books before you could read them) use the poll below to pick (up to 5 of) your favorite books we’ve read so far. Later this week I’ll share the top picks in case you’re interested. Here’s a list of the books and the optional ones in case you need a visual reminder or missed one.
Thank you!
Messages from my closet
Publishing a book during a pandemic is weird as hell, as evidenced by the fact that I recorded the audiobook for Broken (in the best possible way) in my actual closet.
It was a heady mix of needy cats that I am allergic to, mixed with my own recipe for hot toddies that basically involves warm tea dosed with whatever liquor I have in the house in order to (completely inefficiently) cover the fact that I am covered in everything I’m allergic to.
I hate to listen to my own voice but I’ve seen a lot of people who’ve gotten advance copies of the Broken audiobook say that they love it so I am taking their word for it.
My publisher shared a five-minute excerpt of one of the chapters and also included a little puzzle you can do while you listen to it. Click here to check it out. (Also, the puzzle makes the most satisfying clicks when you get a piece right. It took me 18 minutes to finish it. I am bad with puzzles.)
You can get it wherever you normally get audiobooks.
Unrelated: This happened last night and I still have questions:
Even dream Jenny is a little disappointed at the moment.
So last night I had this dream where I was talking to Victor about thungs and he was like, “Wtf is a ‘thung’?” and I was like, “Duh. “Thung” is the past-tense of ‘thing’. Obviously.” And in my dream Victor was like, “No, that is not a word” and then when I woke up I was still mad at Victor and I was like, “Victor, you were so dumb in my dream” and he was like, “Dream me was fucking right. ‘Thung’ is not a word” and I looked it up and he’s right and now I’m even more irrationally angry at dream Victor, real Victor and the dictionary.
PS. Victor tried to explain that verbs can be past-tense but not nouns but what about things you used to own in the past but don’t anymore? Those things should be thungs. Then Victor looked at me like I’d lost my mind and I was like, “I’M NOT CRAZY. THIS SHOULD BE A THING” and he was like, “Do you mean ‘a thung’?” and I’m not sure if he’s trying to be sarcastic or supportive, but either way, it’s not helping.
Fantastic Strangelings!
So I’m slightly late on this month’s Fantastic Strangelings book club discussion because Texas. That seems like a sentence fragment until you remember how fucked up Texas was last month. But currently we’re almost totally recovered except for one pipe that froze and burst (luckily right on the outside of our house rather than inside) so yay!
So if you haven’t gotten to last month’s book (The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec) no worries because there are no deadlines in book club, but I’m going to go ahead and open up the discussion on our Fantastic Strangelings Facebook page and here on the blog just in case you’re ready.
And in case you missed it, this month’s book is Luvvie Ajayi Jones’ Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual. I read an advance copy and it was absolutely inspiring and heartening and I think comes at time when we could all use an encouraging pep-talk from a friend. So good.
And I always pick an optional book for people who need more than one to get them through the month so may I recommend Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Shiguro? I was crying on the couch while I was reading it and Victor was like, “What the fuck?” and I could only point at the book and he was like, “I don’t think I understand reading. Maybe you should stop?” and then I filed for divorced and married the book.
Just a reminder that I’m doing a zoom call tonight with Genevieve Gornichec so I can show her how bad I am at pronouncing Norse words so if you RSVPed come and join us! As always, we’ll put the zoom call up on our Nowhere page later so you can watch me embarrass myself in front of so many authors.
My thoughts on her book in the comments.
Happy reading!
Feeling stabby? I’VE GOT YOU.
SO. My new book, Broken (in the best possible way), comes out next month (!) and so many of you have preordered it or reserved virtual tour tickets or are planning to preorder it, which makes SUCH an enormous difference and I cannot thank you enough. But I can try.
Because my publisher is giving out 100 cross-stitch kits created by Subversive Cross Stitch and inspired by quotes from Broken to people who are preordering. WHOOP! Why cross-stitch? Because I spent a whole chapter talking about how embroidery got me through my Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation treatments since I was able to stab things with needles while being metaphorically stabbed in the head with magnets. (I swear that sentence will make sense after you read the book.)
There are 100 kits that will be given away by random drawing but every single person who preorders and enters the drawing will be emailed all five of the cross-stitch patterns so that you can create your own. AND I loved the patterns so much that I’m doing all five of them myself and five “lucky” winners will get a finished frame work that I stitched myself and I apologize in advance because I’m on my fifth right now and I have literally fucked up EVERY SINGLE ONE. But the great thing about embroidery is that fucking it up makes it look like it’s hand-crafted and it also gives permission to everyone else to fuck up their cross-stitch a little.
In my defense, I’m dealing with a number of embroidery obstacles, including a cat whose anxiety is only calmed by listening to my heartbeat and who I wear like a terrible, furry brooch.
All you have to do is take a pic showing you preordered the book (like a screenshot of your order or receipt) and upload it here. It’s only for America and Canada because of legal reasons but I’ll let you know if any of the international publishers do something similar. (And if you’re a member of the Fantastic Strangelings Book Club you’re already getting a signed copy next month so just upload a pic of one of my strangeling emails I’ve sent you or anything else that shows you’re a member because that totally counts as a preorder.)
Can’t afford to preorder my book right now? Don’t live in North America? Too impatient to wait? I GOT YOU. Just click here and you can print out this pattern right now. Cross stitch is super easy and there are a ton of tiny tutorials online but I did one right here on my instagram.
So if you want to enter the drawing and get the free pdfs of the patterns just click here for details. It’s very easy.
And if you haven’t preordered already I HIGHLY recommend checking out your local indie bookstore. Nowhere Bookshop is doing really well thanks to your support but there are a lot of indie shops that are really struggling so check out Indiebound to see what local stores are near you. We’re sending thousands of signed copies of Broken to indie bookshops everywhere so check yours out.
And thank you to every single person who has recommended my books or read them or used them to prop up wobbly tables. I super crazy love you. Publishing during this weird time is more than slightly terrifying and I’m so grateful for you.
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