It’s been a whirlwind month, folks. Welcome to my new readers who’ve joined me since Worldcon!

I was on four panels at Worldcon, including one on email newsletters. I’m going to take some ideas from my fellow panelists and make some tweaks to what you’re getting from me—though don’t worry, because most of the substance won’t change! But I’m going to dive right in with…

Story news!

I’m delighted to share that my story “The Truth About Crows” has been scooped up and will be published in Factor Four. This is a fun, lighthearted flash story about the relationship between a crow and a dragon. Those of you who’ve followed my short fiction for a while know my deep fondness for crows, and I think this new one will make you smile.

Also, I woke up this morning to another very exciting piece of news, and it’s killing me that I can’t share it yet. I will as soon as I have a signed contract, so stay tuned.

And neither of those is the update I teased in last month’s newsletter. This month is getting crowded with things I want to say, so I’m going to give that update its own separate email next week. It’ll be worth the wait, I promise.

Upcoming events

Worldcon in Seattle this month was terrific fun. I enjoyed all of my panels thanks to excellent co-panelists and moderators, and got to reconnect with lots of friends as well as making some new ones. I couldn’t ask for more from a convention!

I’ve got two events coming up in September:

Frightreads Book Festival (September 13-14 in Friendship, MD): I’ll be in the vendors’ room with my pal Andrew Hiller, selling and signing books.

Capclave (September 19-21 in Rockville, MD): I don’t have my schedule yet, but I’ll be on panels at this local convention, probably just Saturday or Sunday.

If you’re at either of these, come say hi!

My city is under occupation

I’m not from DC. I’m always careful to tell people that I live in Maryland, “outside DC,” because being a DC resident is a unique and fraught status. But I’ve lived in the DC area since my first job after college; I’ve worked in Maryland, Virginia, and in DC itself; it’s where I go for festivals and shows and nice dinners out. Lots of my friends are DCers. It’s the closest thing to “my city” that I have.

And that city is hurting right now.

I was at Worldcon when Trump moved in federal forces to occupy DC. I got cognitive whiplash switching between the joy of the con and trying to follow news of what was happening at home. I haven’t been into the district since I got home, so I have no firsthand reports to give, and while my little suburban neighborhood has been rocked hard by all the federal layoffs and budget-slashing, we’re not affected by this.

People talk about “Washington DC” synonymously with “the US government,” and they call it a swamp. But DC is a vibrant, beautiful, diverse city that’s majority black and has a bigger population than Wyoming or Vermont. It’s not dirty. It’s not dangerous. It’s had crime, like any city of its size, but I promise you people are more “afraid to leave their homes” now than they were before this travesty. Kids are having to pass armed, masked militia on their way to school.

Trump has always had it in for DC, and it’s horrifying but not surprising to see him doing this. I have no doubt, though, that what’s happening in DC and LA will happen to other cities too, unless we resist and resist hard. If you want to help, Free DC has suggested actions based on where you live, to call for DC sovereignty and statehood, ask your governors to recall your state’s national guard, or boycott Amazon and its brands for its capitulation.

Stay strong, friends.

What to read when the world’s on fire

It’s weird to exist in this place of cognitive dissonance where good and fun things are happening for me, personally, or around me, but the world is a giant flaming dumpster. I’ve found my ability to read anything heavy or dark has plummeted to nearly 2020 levels, so I’ve been seeking out lighter stories.

Beth Cato’s forthcoming A House Between Sea and Sky absolutely fits that bill. It’s a cozy historical fantasy set in 1920s California, about a screenwriter who encounters a mysterious magical house. It’s a story about healing from grief, and it has a ton of elements I love. There are two queer leads, but it’s surprisingly not a romance, but a story of male-female friendship that is so refreshing to see. And there’s a magical sourdough starter (which I obviously adore, having written my own) and lots of bread baking. You can pre-order it now!

If short fiction is more your speed right now, at Worldcon I discovered the existence of Ink Foundry, a lovely searchable, filterable, curated database of short stories, all tagged by topic. You could easily get lost exploring in there.

And, of course, there’s Warped State, Dissonant State, and Ravenous State for celebrating resistance and the joy of taking down corporate baddies. Available wherever you buy books! (Including lots of not-Amazon options!)

Special guest cat pictures!

I always end with a cat picture or two. Don't we all need these more than ever? This month I’ve got guest cats from Neko Cat Café in Bellingham! We stopped in here on a whim while visiting family and ended up staying for a session. Most of the kitties just wanted to nap, but they were all very tolerant of these weird humans who wanted to watch them hang out and play.

Until next time,

Jo Miles