The biggest news this month is that I have been informed Lazarus, Home from the War was a finalist for the Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award, one of the Wisconsin Writer Awards. Edna Ferber was a novelist whose work won the Pulitzer Prize in 1924. (For fans of 1950s film star James Dean, one of Ferber’s novels, Giant, was made into a movie by the same name starring our boy Jimmy, Rock Hudson, and Elizabeth Taylor. Unfortunately he died before release, but garnered a posthumous Oscar nomination.)
The EFFBA (as no one calls it) is a prize for literary books. Previous winners include Jesse Lee Kercheval, who is an emeritus UW–Madison professor (I never had classes with her when I was there but I knew of her; she was shortlisted in two separate categories last night); Maggie Ginsberg, who I have met on a couple of occasions and whose fiction is full of moody family drama and yearning, was an honorable mention a few years back. In other words, this is an award for people who say “fiction” when you ask them what genre they write, because “genre” means fiction, poetry, or non-fiction. The only type of fiction is the literary one.
All of which is to say, I have sent them my books every year out of cussedness rather than with any expectation of winning. Often, during the winter, I hit something of a decline, and in my diminished state, I think, “I should force that judge to read my weird little novel,” and it seems like such a good idea that I put my name in the hat. Generally this comes to nothing.
As I said, this year, much to my surprise, I am, or was, a finalist. This means very little—they barely publish the list of finalists and don’t seem to archive it anywhere. But also it means a lot.
Comparing my book to the other shortlisted ones, I am one of a very few self-published books, one of two romances, and the only book that appears to be doing anything queer, to say nothing of whatever genre my work is—urban fantasy, I guess. So thank you to the judge(s). I have learned nothing from this; I will be back again next year.
Follow-Ups
I wanted to use this space to say thank you to everyone who has bought Renaissance, and especially the few people who have already read it and let me know how much they loved it. I have not been as good about promoting it the last two weeks as I probably should have been, but it has sold more copies faster than any of my previous books, which is exciting. Anyway, I always appreciate hearing nice things about the books.
I have paperback copies of Renaissance available! If you would like a signed copy, you can either email me or purchase one through itch.io here. They are $17 including shipping within the US. If you live internationally, please send me a message first so we can figure out shipping. I also still have five paperback copies of The Alignments.
For those eagerly looking forward to an audiobook version of Dionysus in Wisconsin, I expect to hire a narrator in the next few days. I will have a better idea of the timeline from here to completed audiobook soon!
Finally, if you know someone who is interested in Dionysus in Wisconsin but hasn’t bought it yet, it is on sale for $1.99 on Kobo until the 15th of May in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the US (I think that’s it).
Upcoming Appearances
I will be at the Madison Night Market on May 14th along with author Louise Mayberry! Louise writes smart, politically engaged historical romances, and I’m excited to get to share a tent with her. The Madison Night Market runs from 5–9pm at the Capitol/on State Street. I don’t yet know where exactly our tent will be set up, so check out social media on the day if you’re interested in finding us. Rowan is also coming so we should have a bunch of little felt things available as well.
On June 13th, I will be at the Well-Red Damsel’s queer book fair in Milwaukee. More details to come.
On June 21st, I will be at the Big Gay Market here in Madison. This is a masks-required sale, so if you have been wanting something signed but a general lack of maskiness was a barrier, here is an opportunity! (Or email me, I can send you a signed book plate for free.)
At the end of June, I will probably be at Tropes and Trifles in Minneapolis for an author talk and book signing. Stay tuned for the exact date!
Podcast
For various political reasons, I have to point you all to this episode on the Avignon Papacy. Somehow never thought this would be relevant to anything.
We put out our 100th episode in April! On JRR Tolkien and his antifascist mythmaking! Huzzah! In a world where I didn’t suffer from SAD/have to occasionally finish novels and Dr. Jesse didn’t have finals to grade, we would probably have hit 100 episodes a lot faster. But as it is, I’m really proud that we have reached this milestone. Looking forward to the next hundred. If you have burning questions you’d like to hear addressed, feel free to email questions(AT)askamedievalist(DOT)com.
Book Reviews (Or “Wow, I read a lot in April despite releasing a book!”)
Mr. Milner Gets Divorced (cis M/M), by Jane Hadley. A brand new (4/30) release! Full disclosure: I know Jane, and therefore was able to pressure her into sending me an ARC of this. It’s a delightful little midcentury romp set in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St Paul, MN, for those not from around here). It was somewhat inspired by an actual memoir she found called The Evening Crowd at Kirmser’s: A Gay Life in the 1940s, by Ricardo J. Brown. If you enjoyed 1950s-era Cat Sebastian books, you may want to check this one out.
When the Angels Left the Old Country, by Sacha Lamb. It’s an extremely queer, extremely Jewish supernatural adventure. Think Good Omens meets The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. I loved this so much I sent my mom a copy.
River of Teeth, by Sarah Gailey. People keep asking me about this, or maybe I found it bewildering enough that I keep talking about it. In 1910, there was a proposal to import hippos to live in the bayou, where they would eat invasive water plants and eventually be slaughtered for “water cow bacon.” (By “in 1910,” I mean in real life. In 1910 in our universe, someone proposed this.) This book takes that as a jumping-off point, although she moves the proposal back in time about fifty years. In a queernorm, feminist but very Western world, a guy named Winslow Houndstooth III is hired to clear feral hippos out of the marshlands of the Mississippi River. Violence ensues. There’s a M/NB romance in this that I wish was more developed, but overall the characters were delightful and the vengeance was sweet.
A Study in Scarlet Women, by Sherry Thomas. Look, it is not a secret that I am a lover of all things Holmesian, and this was an especially good pastiche. It’s 1886 and Sherlock Holmes is actually a young lady (25ish) named Charlotte. Also, the whole thing is about women and how they are cast out by society for men’s crimes and how they get revenge. Let’s goooo.