Small Press Expo Haul!! - September 2024 Newsletter

Hello lovelies~

It's been a big month! A note of introduction to start off: I decided I'm going to start writing actual newsletters here. These will be public for all free followers as a way to keep you all updated on my life, what I'm doing, what I'm reading and consuming, etc. So, that's what this is!

This month, I went to SPX for the first time and had a blast! I even got to meet a few authors and artists I admire. I'm way too awkward to take pictures during events, but I here's most of what I ended up bringing home:

My spouse and I also got this kickass print. And, once we put it in a frame, you can hardly even tell how crumpled it got on the journey home! :')

I ended up attending a "Queer Sports" panel featuring Tillie Walden, Ngozi Ukazu, Jonah Newman and Coco Fox, which actually really helped me in thinking through some of my ideas for KAI (and another queer sports adjacent project I've been working on. 👀) The sports fiction genre is so compelling to me as a vehicle to tell really impactful coming-of-age stories, and I'm really happy that queer sports narratives seem to be on the rise, especially in the graphic novel market.

I also met Cynthia Yuan Cheng, one of my favorite cartoonists! Their newest comic "Love Me Like You're Real" is absolutely life-changing. It's so real and funny and heartwarming, while dealing with struggles with self worth and navigating relationships as a trans person.

They're currently selling digital PDFs of Love Me Like You're Real and taking physical preorder sales if you want to check it out (the comic is 18+ btw!)

✨ WHAT I'M READING ✨

I've gotten much more into reading lately (or at least trying to be.) Here are two of my favorite reads this month!

Time And Time Again is a fantastic time loop lesbian romance novel by Chatham Greenfield. When Phoebe gets stuck in a time loop, she starts to relive the same day over and over again: pancakes with Mom in the morning, Scrabble with Dad in the afternoon, and constant research into how to reach tomorrow and make it to her appointment with a doctor who may actually take her IBS seriously. Everything is exactly, agonizingly the same. That is, until her childhood crush Jess comes crashing into the time loop.

This book was a joy from start to finish, and I love how much care is put into representing folks who aren't often represented in these types of stories. it's incredibly funny and sweet, not unlike Groundhog's Day (which really set the standard for the time loop genre.) Check it out if you're looking for a fun slow burn sapphic romance with just a little bit of magic.

I have to admit, this cover made me fall in love at first glance. I'm a sucker for these smooth lines and heart motifs. Mismatched by Anne Camlin and Isadora Zeferino is a retelling of Jane Austen's Emma. It tells the story of Evan, a teenage MUA and aspiring influencer, who seems to think he has a knack for matchmaking. One day, a shy student joins his class and Evan decides to take her under his wing and help her find "the one."

Mismatched is just perfect, a beautiful and creative retelling of a classic that will have you shouting at the messy main character the whole way through. And, the artwork is so GORGEOUS and colorful!

Lastly, I just want to mention I'm helping to organize a virtual book talk with Josh Galarza next Monday at noon!! Galarza's book The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky is a wonderfully funny, heartwarming and heartbreaking young adult novel that deals with issues of grief, eating disorders, body image and healing from toxic masculinity. So, needless to say, I think fans of KAI will love it. I'm so excited I got to help organize this event, as I actually read this book over the summer before my boss proposed the idea of hosting this book talk with me.

It's free and open to anyone, so check it out here if you'd like to learn more about Josh and this book!

✨ PERSONAL UPDATES ✨

I don't have much to update you on here, just that I'm working on getting a shop going which will hopefully be ready to unveil by December.

I'm also going to be in another anthology next year!! I can't talk about it yet, but I'll probably start sharing the in-progress work on that in about a month or so.

That's all for now friends, thank you for reading and for supporting me another month! 😊