Hello, lovely readers. It’s a busy, exciting month, and I’m quite literally counting down the days until Tea & Treachery at the Infinite Pantry enters the world. But that’s not the only thing!

This weekend, a giant ebook sale

April 11-13 is the Narratess Indie Sale, a huge curated sale of ebooks from fabulous indie authors. Everything is on sale for $1.99 or less, including my book Warped State, and the other Brennex books are discounted, too. Check out the sale and maybe discover a new author to love!

It’s the final countdown. (There's still time to preorder!)

We’re just 10 days out from the release of Tea & Treachery at the Infinite Pantry! That means this song is going through my head almost constantly until April 21 (sorry-not-sorry for the earworm).

The Infinite Pantry is deliciously cozy. It’s a comforting escape, and an inspiration to build (and feed) your community. It’s a warm cup of tea in book form, and I’m really, really excited to share it with you. Preorder your copy from your bookstore of choice.

Preordering a book (this book, or any other author’s books) is a powerful way to support authors. In our age of algorithms and viral trends, strong preorders can literally help make a book successful. It’s like giving a present to your future self and your favorite author-critter at the same time!

Also, my preorder care package giveaway is still open through April 20, the day before the release. If you’ve preordered or requested it from your library, throw your name in the hat to win some yummy tea and cookies to enjoy with your book! (Because this one will definitely make you hungry.)

Ravencon and launch party

Will you be at Ravencon in Richmond, VA later this month? I will! It’s my first time attending, and I’m going to be on a few fun panels and throwing a launch party for Tea & Treachery at the Infinite Pantry!

The schedule isn’t final yet, but the party will be Saturday morning at 11, and there will (of course!) be tea and tasty treats. If you’ll be there, drop me a note!

My five favorite things about writing the Infinite Pantry

A buffet of tidbits to whet your appetite:

1. The food. “This made me hungry” and “my mouth is watering” are the most frequent comments I’ve gotten from early readers, which means my secret (or not so secret) evil (not really evil) plan is working! I loved both inventing fantastical foods for a fantasy world and lovingly describing some dishes based on my own favorites.
2. An older woman main character. In fiction as in Hollywood, “older woman” sometimes refers to women as young as their thirties. (Gasp! The horrors, right?!) Glendevyn is a woman who’s solidly middle-aged, with the gray hair and wisdom to show it, but also with her share of rough experiences, not to mention insecurities about stepping into a position of power, as the new Head Curator, where so many people are relying on her. She’s never done this before. What if she lets them down?
3. A nonbinary love interest. Great nonbinary characters in fiction are still few and far between, and lots of them fall into upbeat sidekick roles. Very few of them get to have satisfying romances, and I could write a TED talk about why I think that is. But I really wanted to write a romance for a nonbinary character, and Irdruan is a sweet, shy cinnamon roll who doesn’t know how to tell their best friend that she’s more than a friend.
4. A decolonized museum. Museums are awesome. But they have a deeply problematic history—you know, little things like stealing other people’s cultural artifacts and putting them on display without permission—that I didn’t want to replicate. The Infinite Pantry is very serious about informed consent for everything in its collection, and it’s even a plot point in the book.
5. The Pantry’s other denizens: cats and gargoyles. Did you know I’m a cat person? Of course my cozy fantasy was going to have cats in it. But as a magical place, the Pantry also has a contingent of semi-sentient gargoyles who help out and do simple chores. Sprinkling in little tidbits of the love-hate relationships between the various cats and the gargoyles was some of the most fun I had writing this.
6. The found family. (I couldn’t keep it just to five!) It’s a rough world out there right now. I'm writing the Infinite Pantry because it's the place I want to go live when the world is dark—and bring some of it back into the real world with me. That’s first and foremost about the chosen family that is the Pantry staff. They’re a weird, quirky, diverse bunch who love each other despite of, and because of, all their differences, and have each other’s backs no matter what.

I’ll wrap up by sharing a cool article that came across my radar this week that hits close to the heart of the Infinite Pantry: an effort to save the scents of ecosystems and plants (including foods like rare varieties of vanilla) that are threatened by climate change. How often do we think about how history smells?

Scent is crucial to the experience of eating for humans. Without smell, nothing tastes as good. It's tied up in memory too. As a museum dedicated to food, the Infinite Pantry uses magic to let visitors experience the smells of their collection, from a rare heirloom tomato to an ancient emperor's birthday cake.

Tell me: What food scents bring up strong memories for you? I’d love to hear from you!

I'll leave you with a photo of some DC-area cherry blossoms from about a week ago. Spring flowers, and especially the abundant cherry trees, are one of my favorite things about living here. I love the ephemeral and communal nature of cherry blossom season: for a few days, everyone gets out to celebrate nature all together.

Until next time,

Jo Miles

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