With Muscles.
Times are hard. Things are changing. I’ve been working on a novel (or three) about revolutions against colonial regimes and there are definitely magical plagues in them. It’s too early for me to have any wisdom on the moment. I’m just trying live through it, same as everyone else. I’m currently in London, where COVID lockdown has theoretically eased, but eventually, I’ll have to hit the road again. Where to? Isn’t that a good question…
Instead, here are a few things that might help if you need some hope/stress relief/escape—some of what I’ve written and what I’m reading:
- Come listen to me read as part of the ephemera Reading Series on June 17 @ 7 pm EST! It’ll be live on YouTube, but also recorded if you can’t make it. The theme is resistance.
- Listen to me read my most apt story for these times at the LIVE!FIYAH reading series. Originally published in Uncanny Magazine, You Perfect, Broken Thing is a love story to bodies, obstacle course races, and the people who stand beside you on the line. This reading also includes some Q&A and a little hint of future work to come.
- Burning Season is a story about revolution, and the fear—and courage—it takes to fight a power that seems insurmountable. Bonus: a reader once pointed out that this story goes really well with this Mountain Goats song, “Prowl Great Cain.”
- I recently finished The Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon, and that was the perfect comfort read for me to sink into. Cold queens, magic dagger-wielding handmaidens, dragons, f/f romance…mm. Now I’m knee deep in Kate Elliot’s Unconquerable Sun, which comes out in July, and I’ll follow it up with Andrea Stewart’s The Bone Shard Daughter, which comes out in September.
- And, like a proper sword lesbian, I’m catching up on She-Ra. Fun fact: She-Ra was my nickname in high school (Cherae = She-Ra, ha ha ha). I also have a new practice sword. I swing it sometimes but the ceiling is low.
I hope you’re all being safe out there, following John Boyega, fighting for abolition of the US penal system, donating, using your voices for good, and listening to those who are rarely heard. Dump a slaver’s statue in a river for me. If you’re not Black, there are also loads of books you can read up on to better understand race today. Google is your friend.
And, as a treat, here is the secret, special edition cover I made for my novel #CrankyMagicSoldier!
Isn’t it beautiful???
All my love and make good choices,
Cherae