Your hold is ready! (03.31.24)

March 31, 2024

To begin, we remember:

The path forward is not clear. It is filled with suspended dust, bloodied debris, and seared flesh. Yet, it cannot begin until we relinquish the illusion that the current world order, rooted in our execution and with full legal backing, will yield the key to our liberation—all of us who stand for a world outside a white supremacist Western hegemony—if we ask nicely enough.

Let us listen to the heaviness on our tongues every time we appeal for our humanity.

Let us understand that revolution, like love, is a perpetual act of remembrance.

Let us never thank our executioners.

Let us never execute well.

Abdelrahman ElGendy, On Execution.

Hello all, and happy Trans Day of Visibility! &Ramadan Mubarak. &Happy Easter. &Free Free Palestine.

After an unexpected emergency newsletter yesterday following the abrupt shuttering of SPD, I’m back in your inbox again for a monthly round-up.

This has been a big month. Most recently, I had the honor of teaching a workshop on speculative nonfiction at Sundress Academy of the Arts’s Survival & Healing Retreat. I had the pleasure of staying with Erin Elizabeth Smith and enjoying her home cooking and superb hosting. Plus, I got to help out behind the scenes as we prepped library gathering spaces for a two-day conference of home-cooked meals (no mediocre Panera catering here!), intellectual & emotional intimacies, laughter & tears and much much wor(l)d(s)making. I’m particularly excited that my speculative nonfiction workshop went so well, as I’m looking to give the workshop elsewhere, and in a longer form. Thanks to everyone that made that retreat so special!

In other news, earlier this month, I turned in the draft of my second dissertation chapter. One more body chapter to go! I’ve been taking a breather from writing for the last week or so, and have been trying to be okay with that. Instead, I’ve been working on my WIP second novel, where a recent breakthrough has me more optimistic than I’ve been in a bit. I’m really close to the end of that draft. I’m lingering, I think, because I don’t feel intellectually and emotionally “done” yet. I went through this same process with Failure to Comply, but it’s still frustrating in the moment.

Speaking of which: ARCs of Failure to Comply have gone out, and continue to be sent to requesters bth via personal message and via Edelweiss! You can contact me if you’re interested in a review/interview. In the meantime, add it on Goodreads and Storygraph, and tell your friends. A couple early reviews are already here: Briar and Guadalupe on GR, and Alex Carrigan for Harbor Review! Thank you!

Other literary updates: General submissions are open for manywor(l)ds, which was recently recognized by Best Microfiction, reopens March 1-April 30. For an idea of what we like, check out issue 3, which dropped 2/16. Those affected by any of the ongoing genocides, and all MENA/SWANA creatives, are encouraged to submit year-round. All who are, live, laugh, or love Mad dykes are also welcome to submit my guest-edited issue of Sinister Wisdom called Mad Dykes, Queer Worlds, open through June 2024.

Now, onto the recommendations.

Today’s Recs:

Books:

Music:

Poetry & Prose & In-Between:

Essays and Articles:

My Recent Work: