Folks, it’s been a whirlwind the past few weeks—in the best possible way.  Tea & Treachery at the Infinite Pantry is now out in the world, and it’s been delightful to hear early reactions to it, and the enjoyment and excitement people are finding. It’s available in paperback and ebook in all the usual places, and you can request it from your library, too! Bonus content!I’ve got a present for you, readers: In Tea & Treachery, there’s a certain cookie that the main characters bake at key points in the book. If you’ve read it, you know what cookies I mean! Here’s a recipe for those cookies, along with a bonus scene of Glen and Irdruan baking together.  The bonus scene does have some spoilers, so consider yourself warned.  (Thank you for your patience if you’ve just joined the newsletter and have been waiting for this—I didn’t quite have it ready to go on release day, but hopefully it’s worth the wait!) Ravencon, tea, and other funA few days after the book released, my wife and I drove down to Richmond for our first Ravencon. I was slightly apprehensive about scheduling a convention so soon after my book launch, not to mention a
new-to-me event where I didn’t know many people, but it worked out great. It’s a small, friendly, energetic con, and I got to make new friends, meet a couple internet friends in person, and had a delightful launch party for the Infinite Pantry—with a boatload of tea and pastries, of course, because it wouldn’t be the Infinite Pantry otherwise. To those of you who celebrated with me at Ravencon, thank you for making it such a fun weekend!   We tacked on a couple extra days in Richmond to sightsee, relax, and celebrate having made it through launch week. Mostly this involved eating our way through town, interspersed with as much walking in nature as my allergies would allow.  To my delight, we found a wonderful local tea shop, Carytown Teas, that not only served tea in-house, but
had flights. Tea flights! If I lived in Richmond, I would be in there weekly. The only thing better than trying one new tea is trying three new teas. In the photo below, from left to right, I’m drinking: London Fog, an Earl Grey blend inspired by the cafe drink that has black tea and milk oolong (I bought some of this to take home); Magnolia Oolong, scented with magnolia flowers, which I found more earthy-funky than floral and wasn’t to my taste; and White Peony, which is not scented or
flavored with anything and have a lovely naturally sweet, creamy taste.   I made jokes about opening my own tea shop so I could have easy access to all these varieties. My wife was probably not joking (and also not wrong) when she said I would drink myself out of business. It’s a good thing I really don’t need a third career…  Now I’m looking forward to a few normal-ish weeks at home—to catch up on client work, not to mention weeding my garden, and to work on the next Infinite Pantry book—before the summer gets busy. Book 2, which focuses on Lanahii and Emmital, is coming along nicely. I’m on track to share it with my writing group at the end of May.  A tidbit from Tea & TreacheryOne of the fun things about doing readings and in-person events is getting to see what bits other people enjoy most. I believe this passage, where Glen and Irdruan reverently share a
garden-fresh tomato, is the one that made one person say “I don’t even like tomatoes, but this makes me want one.”  She produced a plate and a sheathed paring knife. One clean cut separated the Langolian Sunrise into halves. She dusted both with salt to bring out the flavors, and held the plate out solemnly, like an offering.  They took it with equal solemnity. The tomato smelled bright, like a sunrise indeed: on a hot summer day heavy with clouds, and humidity promising a thunderstorm to come later, washing the air clean. When they bit in, it tasted sweet and lemony, barely any acidity, the flesh dense and smooth.  Glendevyn’s eyes were shut. A bit of juice gleamed against her nut-brown skin and dripped down her chin, utterly endearing. With a pang, Irdruan restrained themself from wiping it away for her. They felt certain, in that moment, that all would be well.  All would be well… as long as
this loss was an isolated incident, and it didn’t happen again.
 Upcoming eventsEvent season is getting underway! Schedules are yet to come for most of them, but this is where you can find me this summer: - This weekend! Saturday, May 9th from 1 to 3, I’ll be signing books at Little District Books in DC. Stop by
and say hi!
- Balticon: May 22-25 in Baltimore. I’ll be doing my usual mix of panels and such, plus a launch party for Tea & Treachery at the Infinite Pantry.
Schedule is still pending, but a secret source told me the party will be early Sunday afternoon. Join us for cookies and tea!
- Charm City Spec: Saturday, July 11. My second time joining this lovely local reading series at a bookstore in Baltimore (details tbd), I’ll be reading from The Final Chronicle of Yeneh, which comes out that week! (And is available for preorder now!)
- Lavendercon: July 25-26 in DC. A great book festival focused on queer authors.
- Book Fair at Bel Air: August 8 in Bel Air, MD (north of
Baltimore)
- Worldcon: late August, virtual. Details tbd.
 What’s giving me joyWith so much busy-ness happening, here are a few things that’ve been helping me relax:  TV: Bookish—On PBS, an extremely charming
new series about a gay bookseller who solves murders in post-war London. The writing is fun, and the cast is great. My only complaint is that the season is so short!  Games: Horizon Zero Dawn—It’s weird to say this is relaxing, but it’s my second play-through of this amazing game, and there’s comfort in being Aloy, who is such a badass and
also so very good-hearted. There’s also comfort in the familiarity of it, and the beautiful worldbuilding. Coming back to it after Forbidden West, which upped the complexity in a number of ways, makes it feel almost charmingly simple. And the story is still so, so good.  Out of the house: Gardening—The weather this spring has been a horrible
rollercoaster between too hot and too cold, and my poor plants are confused. But despite this, my garden seems happy so far. I’ve been enjoying plenty of cilantro, arugula, and radishes while I wait for tomato and pepper time.  And on the cute side: cat picturesOur house has been hooked on the bald eagle livecam at Big Bear Valley, where two eagle chicks hatched a few weeks ago and are getting bigger by the day. My wife and I adore them, but their biggest fan is actually Charlie, who comes to sit just like this in front of the tv every time his “birb friends” come on:   And I have to share just one more cat picture: a guest appearance from our hotel cat in Richmond, Miss Annabelle: |
Until next time, may your life be full of tea (and lacking in treachery)! Â Jo Miles |
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