year in review and a little of what's next
in this newsletter you can expect:
some housekeeping!
TWO (2) new covers!
a little q&a with questions from readers on instagram! including a vague but hopefully useful rumination on the perennial question: what's next and also what happened to that book about the ice
seasonal TV highlights!
housekeeping:
my website has a new look thanks to the wonderful diana sousa! check out her portfolio (and if you need a website redesign i def recommend reaching out to her)
my next release is the paperback of IN A GARDEN BURNING GOLD which comes out on january 17th! it was designed by regina flath who did both of my young adult covers and whom i ADORE, with art by elena masci - i love it so so much and can't wait to see it in print
not long after that is the sequel to GARDEN, IN AN ORCHARD GROWN FROM ASH! the hardcover was designed by tim green and faceout studios and i love the work they did incorporating the deep green and the olive tree, both of which are Significant. you can grab this one on may 2nd! family infighting and inevitable doom and the evolution of a language's alphabet, oh my
both of these books have covers i don't believe i've shared in this newsletter yet SO!!!!! look!!!!!!
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in this newsletter you can expect:
some housekeeping!
TWO (2) new covers!
a little q&a with questions from readers on instagram! including a vague but hopefully useful rumination on the perennial question: what's next and also what happened to that book about the ice
seasonal TV highlights!
housekeeping:
my website has a new look thanks to the wonderful diana sousa! check out her portfolio (and if you need a website redesign i def recommend reaching out to her)
my next release is the paperback of IN A GARDEN BURNING GOLD which comes out on january 17th! it was designed by regina flath who did both of my young adult covers and whom i ADORE, with art by elena masci - i love it so so much and can't wait to see it in print
not long after that is the sequel to GARDEN, IN AN ORCHARD GROWN FROM ASH! the hardcover was designed by tim green and faceout studios and i love the work they did incorporating the deep green and the olive tree, both of which are Significant. you can grab this one on may 2nd! family infighting and inevitable doom and the evolution of a language's alphabet, oh my
both of these books have covers i don't believe i've shared in this newsletter yet SO!!!!! look!!!!!!
i asked on instagram (where i am now present a bit more frequently depending on how you define the word "frequently") if there were any topics i should chat about in this newsletter and very kindly got a few suggestions so let's dig in!
how did you name your cat?
i like food names for cats and some silliness is always good, and my cat's name - scallion - delivers on both fronts plus i almost always use either garlic or onions or scallions when i cook and she didn't really feel like a garlic. or an onion. but a little GREEN onion? yes that is She
how involved are you in deciding where translations of your books are published?
it's up to publishers in different countries to decide if they want publish a translation (or like distribute an english version as is sometimes the case) so while i would be very happy to have my books translated (and they have been into some languages already which is so cool!!!) really all i can do is give the go ahead when a publisher offers to buy the rights.
will you ever write a romance?
two answers to this question, i think. if by romance you mean romance like the category like a Romance romance i think probably not, at least for a while (although never say never) - i am not nearly good enough at the key elements and skills that make up a romance to warrant writing a whole book based around them. but if you mean more like a book where there is a romance or a book where the romantic angle plays a larger role (so like more central than hetty and reese in wilder girls or rhea and michali in garden) then i think yes! i don't know when - i just finished a draft of a book that i don't think quite qualifies - but it's in the cards for sure
will you write horror and mysteries again/what's next/what happened to that book about the ice and the ex-girlfriends (the world ends here)
i said this a bit on instagram so forgive me if i'm repeating myself - essentially, i have set the world ends here aside. it's in time out. it's taking a nap. it's on vacation and then its return flight got canceled so now it's stuck in cabo for another week.
i think when i can say concretely what is next - what is taking its place - i'll describe the process a little more fully but one thing i learned as i worked on TWEH is that because of the way i apparently work (i am a big rewriter big burn draft to the ground and rebuild from the ashes big delete the whole thing what's the worst that could happen) i need to shut my silly little mouth until i'm muuuuuch deeper into things because even if i'm really confident about just the basics of like. what the book IS after draft 2 it is likely that at least some of those things will have changed by the time i hit draft 3. so i may think i know what comes next and what my next horror/mystery/thriller is but i don't bc i am, as it happens, a dumbass
but like. something is coming. i am working and very happy to BE working which is also important (at least to me but probably less so to people who are not me)
FALL TELEVISION BAYBEE
we begin with better call saul which i thought was a half hour show. it is not. i don't know why i thought that. bcs and breaking bad have this thing where when i'm not watching them i'm like ehhhh idk that doesn't seem like it would be super compelling and then i hit play and holy shit, etc etc. anyway i REALLY thought i wouldn't give a shit about bcs - saul goodman was not really my favorite part of breaking bad - but yes it's as good as all those fancy tv critic bitches say it is. i need season 6 to drop on netflix asap.
you know what IS a half hour show is abbott elementary which is a lovely bit of fun that you already knew about and really i mention it here not to say "it's good and funny" even though it is. REALLY i mention it here to say that i really wish they had put the jim/pam playbook on .5x rather than 1.5x like slow downnnnnnn how are we already here where is the pining where is the YEARNING
every year or so i get apple tv+ for a month and watch everything on the platform and sometimes i find good things (dickinson!!!!!) and sometimes i find things like the "what if we made a tv show about serial the podcast" show truth be told which is somehow releasing another season soon? this show baffles me. it absolutely WASTED aaron paul and committed the crime of making me ask myself "wait is octavia spencer.... bad at acting??"
here is the thing about white lotus. you are watching it wrong. if you're watching it week by week and trying to guess who it is that dies and how it happens you are watching it WRONG i'm TELLING you! let all the episodes come out and then pick a 36 hour period where you have minimal obligations and just let it play sometimes in the background sometimes while you are playing a phone game or loading the dishwasher or folding your laundry. it is not a mystery it is simply a Vibe. like a screensaver or a visualizer like the kind they used to have on itunes. anyway daphne supremacy, where is my daphne/audrey plaza's character roadtrip, etc etc.
i will lump together the assorted generally competent, not American procedurals i continue to watch as i chase the high of broadchurch season 1. this fall's included three pines, vera, shetland, and probably a whole bunch more i watched in a fugue state on netflix. of all of them i think i liked shetland the best but none of them had oliva coleman in her windbreaker so my search continues.
the second thing worth mentioning from my apple tv+ sojourn is mythic quest which i LIKE okay!!!!! poppy is a great character and pretty much everybody in the cast is someone you will see in another show someday and go "ohhhh that's so and so from mythic quest" so. worth it
that's all from me this year! see you in 2023 for more book things and tv recs and in the meantime hope you are as cozy as scally is under her favorite blanket
stay safe and stay well xx rory