Chapter Eleven: A Small Summer Preview

Hello!

This newsletter is, in fact, a little glimpse of three things that are coming up:

• an event in New York City on Tuesday

• Jade Yeo in physical form for the first time ever

• a possible submissions window

On that last point: We might be opening for submissions this summer. If so, it’ll be during the month of June. All details to follow in our next newsletter if we’re able to go ahead as planned.

In anticipation,

Huw, Rebekah, Rachel & Lara

The Witch in New York City!

Come and see The Witch of Prague author J.M. Sidorova in conversation with Sam J. Miller, who is the author of Red Star Hustle among other books (and “the best”, according to Lara).

The event itself is free; there’ll be beer and wine for sale at Topos Too’s cute in-store bar—and books, of course.

What it’s like to have a real book in the world

It’s a thrill to see the Witch out in the world, and to meet readers and booksellers. (What do you think the mirror is about? All theories welcome.)

There’s nothing quite as exciting as seeing a second (and then a third, and a fourth) order come in from a bookstore that took a gamble on Witch… except perhaps these matching cupcakes a bookseller brought to one of our events.

Rachel, who’s been to all of the Seattle events, is jealous of everyone who gets to go to the New York one: “Every time I see J.M. talk about the book, she says something totally new and blazingly insightful.”

Soon to be The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo

The other day, we signed off the hard proofs for the cover of our second book. The red looks delicious, the cakes look moist, the martini looks precarious—and that means Jade Yeo is all set to be printed.

Rebekah re-read Jade for the final proofing pass and says the book is even cosier than she remembers.

Jade publishes on June 16 and she’s available for preorder here.

Things we’ve been reading online instead of doing anything useful

The grad student who met an octogenarian each week to read Don Quixote three pages at a time.

Does the first line of a novel always have to drop us right into tension or suspense? The Sydney Review of Books ponders the question.

Literary agent Kate McKean asks, does publishing have to be this hard?

P.S.

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