First, the milestones: I turned in final edits for Ninety-Eight Sabers. Thanks to Rob Grimoire, my awesome sensitivity consultant, I had plenty of work to do (speaking of him, the Kickstarter for Spacefunk, an anthology of science fiction stories/poems by African and African Diaspora writers, is right here, and I’m stupid excited about it). A few days later, I finished edits for Blood Cypress, coming in 2025 with Raw Dog Screaming Press, then edits for a short story appearing in Undertaker Books’ judicial homicide anthology. WHEW.

^my usual editing position, with Babou.

Then, the slog: Both Rob and my fabulous editor Rebecca Cuthbert are demanding a sequel to Sabers. I’d sort-of-not-really had one in mind, and I made the mistake of mentioning it. So I had to set Bluefeather aside, and now I’m 2 weeks and 20K into a first draft. Still tossing titles around, so we’ll call it Sabers 2.0 for now.

And the great news: Ink Vine will be available on audio any day! Because the novella hangs on a first-person voice, I had to be very selective about my narrator—there’s nothing worse than a bad Southern accent. In the end, my good friend from college agreed to do it. Nikki Lachen has an authentic South Carolina Midlands accent (if you’ve met me, she sounds like me but with a far better reading voice). She did a phenomenal job, and I can’t wait to unleash this version of Ink Vine on the world.

Best thing ever: when your friends write awesome books. I never get tired of it, and I never take it for granted.

Just finished David Simms’s Pierce the Veil, a tense psychological horror/thriller that examines what happens after we die (Macabre Ink, July 2024). Simms did a tremendous amount of research on NDEs (near-death experiences) for this novel, and it shows. The book follows Boone, a high school music teacher who dies after plunging into an icy river. A full day later, he’s resurrected with little to no memory of his death.

But plenty of people insist that after a full day, he must remember something about the afterlife. Those people include a dangerous cult of men and women who’ve had NDEs, as well as a fanatical religious organization. They’re all out to get Boone, who’s not only clueless about what happened to him, but also carrying a metric ton of leftover Catholic trauma (and clearly, this book was written by someone who knows what he’s talking about in that regard; this ex-Catholic noticed the authentic details. Namaste, Dave). To survive, Boone will have to evade the fanatics—and remember.

Pierce the Veil is a tense, well-paced book with great characterization; Simms delves into the motives of the villains as well as the protagonist, a trick which makes the final revelations even more devastating. This deft juggling of multiple narratives, in fact, reminded me of Stephen King. This is a book for thriller fans; the action never lets up, and Simms maintains an edge-of-your-seat atmosphere throughout. One of my favorite thrillers since Caleb Stephens's The Girls in the Cabin.

I also just finished Aimee Hardy’s Pocketful of Teeth (Running Wild Press, September 13, 2024), which Kirkus Reviews calls “an absolute must-read”. This Southern Gothic novel of family and loss tells two spiraling narratives. Cat’s returning to her hometown after some kind of tragedy which resulted in the loss of her mother; Eddy’s reading Cat’s story, which her historian-mother left behind after her death.

I love Southern Gothic; Faulkner’s doom-spiraling narrative in Absalom, Absalom! is probably my favorite (sorry, Melville). Pocketful of Teeth is not only spectacularly voiced in Southern vernacular, it also plays with structure in new and surprising ways (footnotes! narrative-within-a-narrative! metatext!). Count me a sucker for books who ask me to reflect on storytelling; this is a great one. Inevitable comparison: if you liked House of Leaves, you’ll love this novel (especially if you want more of a payoff from the footnotes/alternate narrator).

It’s lyrical and atmospheric; it’s dark; it deals with family secrets. Sign me up. And the last page will, as Kirkus says, have your jaw on the ground. This is a doom-spiral that pays off in the most spectacular way. I loved this narrative structure so much that I want the novel in hard copy so I can visualize exactly what Hardy did. Seriously obsessed with this book.

Husband and I saw Cake play Richmond about a week ago, and they’ve still got it. Since then, I’ve been listening to them on repeat, constantly deciding that no, this song is actually my favorite (“Comfort Eagle” to “Meanwhile, Rich James” to “Satan is My Motor” to, currently, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Lifestyle”). Sabers was born to a soundtrack of Violent Femmes; its sequel is definitely a Cake baby.

I was desperately jonesing for the pistachio cake I used to eat at a now-defunct Cuban restaurant in Columbia, SC. It’s impossible to find pistachio cake anywhere, so I made my own using this recipe. The children were dubious, and I used a Hans-Solo-encased-in-carbonite cake dish, but they loved it in the end.

Recommendation: do not make icing out of sweetened Kool Whip and instant pudding unless you want to die of sugar shock. The kids adored it; Chris and I had stomachaches for an hour afterward. Next time I’ll sub out unsweetened, whipped cream for the Kool Whip. The cake was stellar; however, I’m clearly too old for that kind of icing.

That’s all for now! Catch you next week.

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