Feeling very knife-y today. Not stabby, exactly, but man, the news has just been unrelenting war, death, and aggression lately, and although things have been relatively calm where I live (compared to Minneapolis, Portland, or Chicago) I can’t help but feel like we’re next.
I had an Uber driver a couple of weeks ago — white guy, trucker hat, flannel shirt, came in a big SUV, and I really wasn’t sure if I should talk politics since he very well *might* have been a MAGA sort — but we’re not in the car two minutes before we passed a bumper sticker or a sign or something that made him say, “dang, I just don’t know what to do with this country… do you think we’re going to have to fend off an invasion by the National Guard?”
Turns out he only looks like a lumberjack: he’s got a PhD in political science. He was thinking of taking a course in field medicine first aid, figuring that would be the most useful thing he could do on the front lines. “I can’t believe I’m even talking about this,” he said. “But here we are.” I encouraged him to take the course. More healers can only be a good thing.
Speaking of which, a list of “things you can do besides protest or vote” is going around, and one of the suggestions is get trained in “PFA” which is “psychological first aid.” The Canadian Red Cross offers online courses, one in PFA self-care, and one in helping others. Red Cross/Red Crescent has a whole curriculum built around the recognition that mental health is crucial for any kind of help providers as well as those being helped.
I’m thinking of doing at least the self care course…? It’s only $20 (Canadian!).
Meanwhile, you can see my mood reflected in the swag I just designed for my book launch next week. Photo below. (Skip the rest of this post if you want to skip the book biz stuff. I know it’s a weird-ass time to be trying to launch a book… )
I designed these as a pre-order and launch party swag piece, so probably shoulda just done the ebook cover and maybe some character art. Buuuuuut I decided to give everyone an assortment of pretty knives and daggers — purely for metaphorical use! — and attach a pair of slogans:
Lace up your corset, it’s time to fight evil
Lace up your boots, it’s time to fight evil
These slogans are of course purely meant as a comment on the content of the book, in which our heroes discover that modern BDSM can be a gateway to magical power and end up in a battle against evildoers who want to use this ritual sex magic for nefarious purposes. I would never use my fictional fantasy world as a way to comment on our contemporary political reality, nooooooo…
Ways you can get the stickers for yourself:
1) Pre-order the book from any retailer before January 15th
2) Show up to one of my launch parties in person
3) Review the book on Amazon, Goodreads, and/or your blog or social media before January 22
PREORDER details:
Send me your shipping address and a copy of your receipt, either upload at this google form (https://forms.gle/R9GQaGiZNbizohnb6) or just email me at ctan.writer AT gmail DOT com. You have to do it before the book goes live on the 15th, though!
REVIEWS TEAM:
Technically I closed the reviews team already, but if you want to jump on the bandwagon, the form is still up, so if you review the book anywhere before Jan 22nd, fill it out here: https://forms.gle/DR2HF9P95bPyLCot8 (upload a screencap of the review or email it to me at ctan.writer AT gmail DOT com).
LAUNCH PARTIES:
- January 15: Bound by the Blood Release Day
- Livestream Hangout: 7:30 – 9:30 pm (RSVP to get link)
- January 16-19: Arisia, Cambridge, MA
- Bound by the Blood Launch Party: Friday night, 8-9 pm erotica reading, 9pm – midnight party (room number TBA)
- Queer Books Tea Party: Saturday afternoon 4pm – 6pm (room number TBA)
RSVPs are required for the livestream (so Zoom will send you the access link) and for the Pandemonium Party because Pandemonium has a limited amount of space! They take five bucks when you register and then you get to apply it to any purchase in the store. Seems like a good deal to me to support a longtime local bookseller in the sf/f community and that support of not just me but other local authors is why they were my top choice for a launch event.
Part of me still feels like I shouldn’t be trying to launch a book in the middle of everything going on, but if I wait, there’s no guarantee things won’t be even worse…? And I keep reminding myself that people need joy and distraction, too, to get through tough times. So if you think you’d enjoy reading about my kinky heroes fighting evil through sex magic… well, here we go…
