A Wrap on OLA and Uncertain Times

Welcome to you all! I usually I get right into things but I wanted to start with a shout-out to everyone who subscribed to my newsletter—which I finally started promoting—and is now getting this update directly to their email. As I mentioned across socials, things are in flux and this feels like the easiest thing to keep going no matter what to keep in touch and updated. I really appreciate you being here.

I’m not going to lie, it’s a really scary time right now, and it’s hard sometimes to find the point in doing these updates and putting myself out there. Last time I did an update, the Prime Minister of Canada was announcing his resignation as I typed, and this time, we’re a day away from the start of a trade war with the USA. I feel deflated and scared, and it’s hard to find that spark I was talking about previously, and the energy to create art when in these moments, everything feels so bleak.

But I don’t want to be a downer, even though I am struggling right now. I have a lot to be thankful for, including another book being released! Racc Pack: Prince and the Pawper came out last week and the reception to it was amazing—thank you to everyone who picked up a copy, shared a photo, or posted a nice review up somewhere. Every little bit helps, and in an especially trying time like right now, it really helps make us feel like our book isn’t just disappearing into the ether.

Creating can be so solitary and you spend so much time just waiting for things to happen, and then when it finally gets released into the world, unless you have a lot of marketing behind you (and so few of us do), it doesn’t always feel like it’s truly out there. Going to see it in stores is always surreal though, and I will never not get a jolt of happiness when I see one of my books on a shelf beside all sorts of other incredible titles.

Last week was also OLA, which is the Ontario Librarian’s Association Conference. It’s a very big deal in Canada and for librarians—kind of the Canadian equivalent to ALA (the American Librarian’s Association Conference). Because Prince and the Pawper was out last week too, I did a signing at the Simon & Schuster Canada booth, with the amazing team there. Thank you to Siobhan and Miranda for including me, and thank you to Noah, Lorraine, Cayley, Mackenzie, and everyone else for their support over the course of the show.

And then I also did a signing with HarperCollins Canada at their booth to celebrate Pillow Talk, which is a Forest of Reading nominated title in the White Pine category. It also was championed by the OLA YA committee and given a Best Bets award at the show, which is such a huge honour! Thank you to Alice, Rosalyn, and Marisol for your support in setting that up.

And thank you to all the librarians, students, and other library-adjacent folks who were at OLA—you were truly stars and I loved meeting everyone who came up to chat, especially at the Forest of Reading breakfast. I so rarely get to feel like anything but a little writing goblin (entirely my own doing since I hardly ever go out these days…) and I felt so special and the kind words everyone said about Pillow Talk truly warmed my heart—I made sure to pass along the lovely feedback to Mel Valentine Vargas as well.

UPCOMING APPEARANCES

  • Wednesday, February 5 from 7:00-9:00pm – PupPack Book Launch (Another Story Bookshop) – Join myself and the incredible Alina Tysoe as we celebrate the release of our books, Prince and the Pawper and Purranormal Activity, which is the second book in the Great Puptective series. We will be there from 7:00-9:00pm where we will be mingling with attendees, doing a short Q&A, and signing copies of our books. We hope to see you there!
  • Saturday, February 8 from 4:00-7:00pm – PupPack Signing (The Dragon in Guelph) – Alina and I will be at The Dragon comic book store in Guelph doing a signing with Scott Chantler, who is launching the latest in his Three Thieves series, while we sign Prince and the Pawper and Purranormal Activity, respectively.
  • AND MORE TO COME!!!! Stay tuned.

This newsletter got so long, so quickly! But before I dive into some recs, I just want to say that as frightened as I am (and I’m sure many of you are), I believe in our power to make positive change in the world. I know that us artists will continue to do what we love, even if the world shifts around us. We will keep reading, watching, playing, and consuming art—and now more than ever, it is vitally important to support creators directly. We need to stick together and advocate for each other, and make sure we uplift rather than tear down.

I am scared, but I am hopeful at the same time. Right now my hope feels small, especially compared to my fear, but it’s a spark and that’s all it takes to grow into a fire—burning hot and unyielding. Our hope is that spark, and the injustice being done is the fuel to our fire. Let us burn down what they are trying to build, and rise up from the ashes, stronger than before.

I will continue to consume as much art as I can, and will share the things that are bringing me joy. So on that note, let’s dive into some things that I checked out recently:

BOOKS OF NOTE

These are some books and graphic novels that I read, and are in chronological order that they were read.

  • Curveball by Pablo Cartaya and Miguel Diaz Rivas – This was such a great graphic novel for young readers that incorporated a lot of different fun elements, while blending them seamlessly. I loved the elements of LARPing, roleplaying, but also sports and feeling out of place, and pressure from parents…and then on top of that, coping with grief! There was a lot going on in this book, but it truly didn’t feel overly packed with content, and I thought the art was delightful and helped accompany the words perfectly. A really stellar read that I think could resonate with a lot of young people.
  • Ballad for Sophie by Filipe Melo and Juan Cavia – This graphic novel was probably my biggest surprise for recent reads. I thought that the art looked beautiful, but I didn’t expect to be so captivated by not just that but the overall story and journey that we’re taken on. It’s an absolute must-read, and is filled with jaw dropping illustrations and art on every single page.
  • Shark Heart: A Love Story by Emily Habeck – I knew this book was going to be strange going into it, but it really truly is so weird (complementary). The format, the pacing, the POVs, and the plot of this book are wild, but they just work together to make this absolute masterpiece of a novel. I don’t want to give it away but it felt reminiscent to me of how I felt the first time I read The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Perhaps not so all-enveloping (for instance, I didn’t sob for a week after finishing it) but it had this very normal slice-of-life feel to it while incorporating over-the-top fictional elements that somehow felt very real and down to earth in the context of this tale. Highly recommend.
  • Vanya and the Wild Hunt by Sangu Mandanna – From the author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches comes the first in a new middle-grade fantasy series all about a young girl with ADHD who discovers that she has magical abilities and that there’s a magical society that protects the world from mythological monsters and creatures that seek to do harm to humans. I loved this book, and especially the portrayal of a young person processing their ADHD and going on a journey of self-discovery with it. It was beautiful and well-paced, and felt like a great comparable new book for those looking for a Harry Potter alternative without a horribly problematic author at the helm. My one smallest qualm was that I thought this was a standalone book at first, and I am in my standalone era, dammit! But truly I am happy for young readers to have a new series to get their fantasy fix. This title will be released on March 11, 2025.

And then I read a few things that I want to give a short honourable mention to: Grand Slam Romance: Major League Hotties by Ollie Hick and Emma Oosterhous (such a fun series for adults) and The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos by Tate Brombal and Isaac Goodheart. Both Tate and Isaac are so enormously talented, and this series blends whimsy with delightful storytelling.

TV

It’s TV time! Rather than do a list, I’ll summarize some things quickly and then write a little more on a few of the standouts. Once again, I watched a lot of reality TV in the last little bit, including RuPaul’s Drag Race S16, Paris & Nicole: The Encore (delightful), The Ultimatum S3 (a mess), The Challenge S40 (perfection), and The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City S5 (good lord).

I went through a few of my shows that had been on my backlist too, and enjoyed Not Dead Yet S2 (fun), Echo (powerful), Death and Other Details (good for what it was), and A Man on the Inside S1 (sweet, endearing, funny).

The standouts for me were Evil S3-4, which is wrapped up now, but definitely worth checking out. Like Fringe, I don’t know if I felt like my questions were ultimately answered and that the storylines were fully resolved, but I know they did the best they could with a lot of uncertainty and I had a great time watching it—I especially enjoyed the monster-of-the-week vibe to the show, and think that it shone the brightest while leaning into that, which was most of the time.

The first two seasons of The Diplomat were fantastic, and I flew through it so quickly with its fast pace and cliffhanger episode endings. I don’t know if I actually feel like it reminded me of The Americans or if that was just because Keri Russell was also in it, but I loved the sort of subtle spy show vibes it was giving me, and I am looking forward to the third season.

And I finally got around to watching the first season of Silo. I had held off after hearing some mixed reviews about the second season, but was recently convinced to overlook those critiques and dive in. I just finished it before writing this, and had a great time. I will stan Rebecca Ferguson forever, and it makes me mad all over again about Mission: Impossible’s grave crimes against her (IYKYK…)—I am absolutely going to be starting the second season ASAP.


I don’t normally include video games in this round up but I have been playing Wylde Flowers on the Switch and I am addicted. It’s clearly inspired and takes a lot from Stardew Valley, but it expands upon that enough to very much be its own special thing, and does that very well. If you’re in need of a new cozy and witchy (very queer-friendly) game, this is definitely going to be for you. I especially love that it kind of limits some of the farming components and makes it easy to run things by limiting the scope—you’ll know what I mean if you’ve played, but I appreciate that there’s limited space to farm and garden, and so you need to plan things out a little better, and not spend as much time solely focused on that aspect. And there’s a lot more ways to automate things around the game as you progress. HIGHLY recommend.

Okay, I think that’s it for me! This was a long one, so if you made it all the way here, thank you for reading and for being a part of this newsletter.

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Until next time…