Temporal Textual Talks + New Indie Romance Book Store! 💖⚙️📚
🎁 Open for book club + brand new bookstore news!
Thank you so much to everyone who attended my reading last week! I really enjoyed getting to listen to stories from Pauline Barmby, Joyce Chng, Amanda Nevada DeMel, Karen Eisenbrey, and Glori Medina. When the event recording is uploaded to the Strong Women, Strange World’s YouTube channel, I’ll make sure to share the link!
If you’re new to my newsletter from last Thursday’s Quick Reads, welcome! I’m glad you’re here. Here are a few of my favorite posts from the archive:
On Fairytales, Mad Science, and Escapism 💖⚙️📚
When Choosing Joy is Punk or... 💖⚙️📚
On Genre Mashups and Fictional Relationships ⚙️💖📚
5 Reasons you should attend a steampunk con 💖⚙️📚
How to Help Books Get into Libraries 💖⚙️📚
On Jazz, Robotics, and Revisions 💖⚙️📚
On Curiosity at First Sight and... 💖⚙️📚
Aside from participating in the live reading, I’ve been deep in the land of revisions. However, I’m also making sure to keep my creative well filled. I’ve been reading, watching, and playing so many amazing things!1
I love being a mood reader/watcher/gamer! My newest favorite movies are Superman, Sinners, and K-Pop Demon Hunters. I recently finished reading Clockwork Boys by T. Kingfisher for book club (more on book club in a bit. I have fun news!) and now I’m currently reading The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sara Beth Durst. My youngest has been wanting to learn D&D. I’ve loved helping him get started.
From that list, if there’s anything you think I should be reading, watching, or playing, let me know in the comments. I’m trying to take advantage of this time at home to catch up on my to-be-read/watch/played lists. Even though between my schedule and revisions I know I won’t get to everything, having options is always a good thing!
Join me for book club?
I’m thrilled to share that my steampunk fairy tale retelling, Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast, is August’s book club pick! Temporal Textual Talks is a steampunk book club hosted by Madame Askew and Bill Bodden. It takes places virtually every month, with readers from across different time zones. I love attending as a reader because the discussions are both hilarious and full of interesting insights.
Book club will be discussing Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast on Sunday, August 24th, at 6:30 pm Central time and I’ll be in attendance. Closer to the date, I’ll share the event page with the Zoom link for the meeting. I’d love it if you joined live, but if you can’t make it, the discussion will be uploaded to YouTube at a later date.
In the meantime, you can check out the group here (and look for posts with the link to their very active Discord group with discussions about the monthly books.) I’m a regular attendee at the virtual meetings, and I’m so looking forward to answering questions about Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast!
New Indie Romance Book Store!
I’m blessed to live in an area with several bookstores, but I’m so excited that Des Moines, Iowa, is getting its first indie bookstore dedicated to inclusive romances! Shelf Love DSM’s grand opening starts on Saturday, July 26th, at 10 am. I can’t wait to check it out this weekend! For more info, click on the event page here.
Happy reading!
Also, I’ve started attending a somewhat brutal barre class, but I always feel better post-workout. (I’m convinced my instructor is a member of the fae with the way she can persuade me to push a little harder when I think I’m done for! She’s magical. 😜 )