newsletter – PretenseSoup

January 2026 Newsletter: New Year, New Novels

Hello! It’s the new year, somewhat inescapably. So much has happened since I wrote the draft of this newsletter, I don’t even know where to start. The month of December was kind of a disaster around these parts, for reasons I will get to later, and the global political events of the last three days are so bizarre and terrible, I don’t even know what to say about them, except possibly a long and offensive string of blasphemous/curse words.

Putting that aside, about two weeks ago, when I was putting together my announcement for the release of The Alignments, I started thinking about my relationship with music, which is highly…obsessive, I guess is the word I would use. I have the tendency to fall in love with a song and then listen to it over and over again a truly egregious number of times. The song gets tangled up with whatever I’m working on, until I can later recall the circumstances of writing the novel by listening to the song. This is the way that my books get assigned theme songs—what song became special to me when I was working on it? What song came, in some warped way, to typify what I was trying to do?

These are the theme songs of the books that have been released:

Dionysus in Wisconsin: Big God, by Florence and the Machine. (I mean…)
Old Time Religion: Old Time Religion, by Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie.
Troth: Harmony Hall, by Vampire Weekend.
Lazarus, Home from the War: Half the World Away, by Oasis. (Although this book had a lot of good songs, and eventually it’s kind of what got me into Springsteen.)
The Alignments: This Will Be Our Year, by The Zombies. I didn’t realize at the time that it was from an album called Odyssey and Oracle, but when I found out…well, it’s appropriate.

As I work on the third draft of Renaissance, two songs have been battling it out for the position of theme song. I’m excited to see which one wins.

Speaking of which…

Here’s the news, in order of least to most important:
0/ Thank you to everyone who bought/read/left a review of The Alignments. I really appreciate you.

1/ At the end of the year, I usually do a blog post listing all the books I read in the previous year and short reviews of each. That post has gone live and can be found here.

2/ I have updated the series roadmap to include The Alignments and release info about Renaissance. I know I previously said it would be out 3/2. Because of all the stuff that happened in December and how stressed out everything was making me, I’ve moved the release to 4/13. I hope this isn’t too much of a disappointment. I hate having to change it. I was just having anxiety dreams and I needed to release some of the steam. But I’m very happy with the new schedule, which leads to…

3/ Renaissance is up for preorder here. Other sites to follow! Here is the cover and blurb:

June, 1971. As the academic year draws to a close, Sam and Ulysses are looking forward to a quiet summer. But when Ulysses’s grandmother is hospitalized, it becomes clear that relaxation is not in the cards. Unable to accept that her fall was an accident, Ulysses begins to investigate whether it may be related to a cult from their past whose mysterious and powerful leader seems to be popping up all over town.

Sam’s doing his best to hold things together and be supportive, but it’s hard when his new husband is barely listening and keeping him at arm’s length every time family is concerned. And on top of everything else, the library has something urgent to tell Sam…

As they reunite with old friends and prepare to bid farewell to others, Sam and Ulysses will see their marriage tried, their lives threatened, and meet an old enemy they thought long dead.

If you preorder it, let me know and I will send you one of these postcards for free!
Sam and Ulysses, wearing nice suits. Ulysses is helping Sam with a cuff link. It's a scene from The Alignments.

I know the big issue is that some people really love paperbacks, and I can’t do paperback preorders. But you can still get one!

if you buy the paperback in the first month or so and let me know, I’ll send one to you
if you come to an in-person sale, you can get one free with purchase (and I have a special Laz postcard too if you buy his book)
that’s it I guess

4/ It’s traditional at the beginning of the year for an author to lay out what they’re hoping to accomplish. The last six months of 2025 were quite stressful, riddled with my own illness (I wound up getting diagnosed with asthma); our dog dying; moving one kid to a new daycare; the unexpected diagnosis, decline, and death of a friend; and then immediately thereafter we did two rounds of the flu. As a consequence, my list of goals is a little pared-back. Still, I think it’s not bad:

Publish Renaissance in April! I’m really excited about this.
Start work on an audiobook version of Dionysus in Wisconsin. It’s time. Doing an audiobook is a little scary, but I love audiobooks so much, and I want my work to be accessible that way.
Maybe another short story or novella, I’m not sure yet. I love writing novellas, but I have learned they don’t take less work than novels.
The next Laz novel, ideally by the end of the year. This is a book about what happens when you take someone who is already kind of stressed out and on the edge and give him one more thing. Which is currently how I feel. So that should be good.

In a lot of personal ways, 2025 was not a great year. I prefer less fascism, less strife, fewer deaths among my friends. But it was also a fun and productive year—I published Lazarus, Home from the War, a book that went on to be named to the best of 2025 list by the biggest romance podcast out there. I published “Sparking Something,” which is a moody little AU scene that I really enjoyed working on. And I published The Alignments, which came out so much more awesome than I thought it would. I edited and put out seven episodes of the podcast, which is not what we usually shoot for but considering everything? I think I’m happy.

It was a year where there was a lot going on, and I think I’m proud of myself for getting through it. I’m glad you all got through it too, even if you’re feeling bruised by what you went through. I hope you have had some time off to recover, whether that meant making cookies and going to see friends or sitting in a darkened room listening to The Mountain Goats and reading hockey romances. (I have done both of these lately.) And I hope that if you had a 2025 like mine, you have a better 2026. I don’t necessarily have any clever reasons to hope that 2026 will be better, I just think at least it’s going to be different, which can be its own type of better.

Upcoming Events
In ten days, I’ll be presenting at the Wholehearted Writers Week!

At the end of next week, I’ll be selling books at the Well-Red Damsel’s Damsels Not in Distress event (January 18), which combines sword yoga with a romantasy book sale. There are yoga classes offered at 10, 11:30, and 1pm; the book sale is 11am-3pm. If tickets are still available, they’ll be here. I do not know what sword yoga is. It sounds fun? The event will be held at the Baird Center in Milwaukee (400 W. Wisconsin Ave.). You can also check out the Well-Red Damsel’s website here. We will also have some little felt things (hopefully bookmarks!). I do not know if the print copies of The Alignments will have arrived or not. Check my social media for updates closer to the date.

More events in March, but I won’t bother you with them just now.

No book reviews this month, because I just posted my list of everything I read in 2025. See you in February!

The Gales of November 2025 Newsletter

There’s a lot going on this month. Probably the biggest news is I have a planned release date for Renaissance (March 2nd). Hopefully I’ll have things ready to put it up for preorder next month, just around the solstice (in honor of Sam’s birthday). There’s also a secret project you’ll find out about then—be ready! I am hard at work to finish the covers for everything.

I went out and volunteered with the local Dems the other day, partly because they called and asked if I was free during a moment when I was feeling particularly helpless, and I want to recommend this to everyone. It’s everything I hate (leaving the house, talking to people), and yet the people who came to the door to talk to us were almost universally excited and had ideas and things to say. I hope the exercise of talking to someone about their hopes and fears was as fruitful for them as it was for me—something about meeting someone I have never met and nevertheless finding out we have a lot in common was very heartening. In Wisconsin, many elections turn on very small margins—Harris lost by less than 1% of the vote—so even knocking on a few doors can make a big difference. Wisconsin people can get involved here. People in other states might have luck with this, or look up your local groups.

(I wrote this before the Tuesday victory of so many amazing candidates in NYC, New Jersey, and Virginia among them. Following that victory, I think I believe in the power of volunteering like this more than I did before.)

Upcoming Appearances

I will be moderating a conversation with MA Wardell in honor of the release of his new book, Husband of the Year, at Tropes and Trifles in Minneapolis, MN, from 7–9pm on November 18th. I will also be signing books afterward if you like, and I promise to bring cool free stickers, so come by and say hello. Details and preorders for both of us are on the Tropes and Trifles website here: https://tropesandtrifles.com/events/3751820251118.

I created the following Venn diagram to explain how our works are similar enough to be read against each other for this event! Hope you all find it informative.

A Venn diagram. On the EH Lupton's books side, it lists "Madison, WI, Magic, 1960s/1970s, and Literal demons." On the MA Wardell's books side, it says, "Portland, ME, No magic, Contemporary, Metaphorical demons." In the middle, it says, "Jewish writers, romcoms, teachers/professors, gay weddings, 2024 Lammy finalists."

I will be selling books at the Scorpio Market in Madison, WI on November 23. It will be at the Tinsmith from 1pm-6pm. “Masks required, misfits welcome.” We will have the usual assortment of cool stuff: books, poetry tarot cards, felted crows and nazars, stickers and postcards. More info here.

In December, I’ll be at the Big Gay Market on December 20th from 10am-5pm. It’s being held at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison! Come by and pick up last-minute holiday presents! Get a tarot reading for $5! Enjoy lots of other vendors! I went to the Big Gay Halloween Market and had a great time—I bought some quartz skulls for , some ginger tea, and a print that my 8yo immediately took from me.

For those in the audience who are also writers and are looking for a chance to meet other writers, maybe hear some informative presentations about different aspects of the writing process, maybe have a little retreat from the comfort of your homes, I will be presenting at Wholehearted Writers Week in January. My topic is revision, which is really the heart of writing! This is sure to be a really great conference, and no matter where you are in your writing process I encourage you to come. Applications and additional information here.

Other Stuff

We put out a podcast episode in October! Episode 96, on Pope Joan. Hoping we will have more regular episodes in November as our schedules calm down.

Dionysus in Wisconsin will be 40% off on Kobo from November 7–17, so tell your friends.

Books I’ve Read Lately

Paladin’s Strength (cis M/F) and Paladin’s Hope (cis M/M), by T. Kingfisher. Both of these were delightful entries in the series that began with Paladin’s Grace. I think I liked Paladin’s Strength a little better—it chronicles the meeting of a paladin, who is investigating some of the murders that happened in the previous book, with a nun whose sisters were kidnapped. Their two investigations draw them in similar directions. In Paladin’s Hope, a paladin with really bad night terrors meets a pathologist (a lich doctor, in fantasy novel parlance), and they work together to solve a deadly puzzle.

An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the Sixties, by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It’s hard not to hear about the way the Kennedy administration inspired people to get involved in public service and not also want to do something. It’s hard to hear clips of MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech, or Johnson’s “We Shall Overcome” speech and not feel moved. The audiobook had actual archival recordings sprinkled in, which was great. I cried a little, even though I knew what was going to happen. To be clear, DKG is a presidential historian, and keeps her focus squarely on the events she or her husband were part of in that decade. If you’re looking for a history that includes the Beatles, Woodstock, Stonewall…none of that is here. The moonshot is, because LBJ was involved. But it’s a great history nevertheless.

Husband of the Year (cis M/M), by MA Wardell. Wardell wrote Mistletoe and Mishigas, which was up for the Lammy last year against Dionysus in Wisconsin. I tried to read it at the time and wasn’t all that into it, probably because I’m not a Christmas book person. But I was asked to participate in an event for this book, and honestly, I liked it a lot more. It was more like a book-length epilogue for the two characters (who were introduced in a book I haven’t read). It’s very sweet with almost no angst. I honestly don’t think Wardell and I have a lot of overlap in terms of audience, but if you really want to see contemporary queer romances with Jewish characters, mental health rep, and elementary school teachers, you might enjoy this series.

September 2025 Newsletter: September, I Remember

I don’t have a ton of news this month, although I hope August has been good for all of you and the back-to-school time hasn’t been too stressful for those who are back-to-schooling. I’ve spent most of the month dealing with a lung ailment—nothing bad enough to get me sent to the seaside to take the air, but I’ve been on some medication that made me pretty tired, so I didn’t accomplish much other than some editorial stuff and I don’t have much news. The good news is I’m doing much better!

The biggest announcement is that I’ve rolled both shorts (“Dous” and “Sparking Something”) into a single file, which will eventually be published as a short story collection. It’s called Toward a Consolidated Philosophy of Ghosts, and it’s on the website on the extras page here. The cover is somewhat temporary. I also updated the annotated bibliography to contain references to the plays mentioned in “Sparking Something.” This required me to realize I don’t have a good way to summarize the events of Waiting for Godot, although I’ve seen it performed at least two or three times and read it in both French and English. It’s, you know. Two guys waiting. I feel like saying anything more than that would be frowned upon by the ghost of Samuel Beckett.

Tant pis.

I also added an AI Policy to the website. You can find it here. I am guessing it says about what you’d expect it to say, though.

I also want to show off some new Wisconsin Gothic stickers. These were the idea of my book doula, Rowan, and they helped me edit the files, too–the art is drawn from the cover of Dionysus in Wisconsin. And they came out so pretty–shiny and gold! They were originally intended as book plates/consolation prizes in case we run out of copies on-hand at Booked Eau Claire, but I ordered a ton. If anyone wants one, I’m happy to ship wherever (signed or not). Just send me your address!

Gold rectangular stickers featuring a vine with three heart-shaped leaves and one Wisconsin-shaped leaf. They say "Wisconsin Gothic."

Upcoming Events

I’ll be at Booked Eau Claire! on 12/13 September! I’ll be appearing on two panels (one on indie publishing, which I believe runs 9-9:50am on Saturday, and one on open vs close door romance, which runs 10-10:50am, but check the website for schedule changes and the like). I’ll also be selling/signing books from 12pm-5pm on Friday and 11am-5pm on Saturday. We will have free stickers, a limited supply of tarot card decks available, and tarot readings too! This will probably be the biggest event I’ve ever been to, and I’m both nervous and excited. For more information, click here.

Later in the month, I’ll be at the Waunakee Author Showcase from 10–12pm on September 27th at the Waunakee Public Library. More info here.

Also, for Madison-area Shakespeare nerds looking for entertainment, check out Mercury Players Theater’s production of Hamlet at the Bartell from September 21–October 4th. It stars my (hella yoked) husband/alpha reader Bryan as Claudius! It’s going to be a good time and worth checking out. More info here.

Podcast

This month we released one podcast episode, number 95, on the Avignon Papacy. Not to showcase my own terrible jokes too much, but it is titled “Sur le Pontife d’Avignon.”

Books I’ve Read

This has been a month of mystery novels as I read both Fadeout, by Joseph Hansen, and Lavender House, by Lev AC Rosen, two California noirs featuring gay detectives. They make an interesting set of books to contrast, because Fadeout is set in—and was written right around—1970, while Lavender House is set in 1952 but was written in 2023. Hansen’s detective, Dave, is pretty open about being gay (for a detective, anyway, meaning he’s close-lipped but not ashamed). He runs into his share of bigots, but because of the PI/suspect relationship, he retains a lot of power in these situations, and their commentary doesn’t seem to bother him too much. Meanwhile, Rosen’s detective, Andy, has recently lost his job as a police inspector after being caught in a nightclub raid and is a raw nerve marinating in homophobia and paranoia; at one point he gets beat up by the police for reasons unrelated to the case he’s working, and it was very tough to read (skip to the end of ch 10 if you want to miss the specifics). Both detectives investigate cases related to queer people. I think Hansen knows and uses his setting a little better than Rosen—the 1970s fashions and weirdos are top notch; meanwhile we don’t even get a single baby beatnik in the Bay area. (If Rosen ever writes anything heading into 1955 or so, I’d love to see Andy react to Howl.) But I thought they were both good books, and a nice change of pace for me. Also, if you want more California noir, there’s always The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler (or any of his books, really!), which is set in the early 1950s (and was written contemporaneously), and Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon, which is set in 1970 (but was written in the 2000s). Both works are incredibly exemplary of their respective authors and wonderful as books go.

I also read Seducing the Sorcerer, by Lee Welsh (cis M/M). I went in knowing very little about the book, although I love Welsh’s work, and it kept me company through some late nights when I couldn’t sleep because of my ailment. It’s about a down-on-his-luck middle-aged guy who discovers a magical horse made of old sacks and because of this meets a sorcerer. And honestly it was lovely. Lee Welch is a delight.

July Newsletter: Fyren means “made of fire”

Hello, and welcome to the July newsletter! It won’t be too long. July is kind of a terrible month, anyway. Too long, too hot, too bright.

This month I came across the phrase “in olden times” in a story. This is a fairly common phrase that I had never given much thought to, but what the heck is “olden”? Immediately I assumed it was some kind of back formation to make the word “old” seem…well, older. But it isn’t! The -en suffix turns out to be common in Old, Middle, and early Modern English, where it is used to create adjectives meaning “made of, of the nature of,” and we actually use it in other familiar terms, for example in words like “golden”’ or “wooden,” although it’s common to just use the non-suffixed form of those adjectives (we usually say “wool sweater,” rather than “woolen sweater”). Etymonline.com also notes the obsolete words “beanen” (made of beans), “hunden” (of dogs), “wreathen” (entwined), and “fyren,” meaning “on fire, made of fire.” I feel like I have been made of fire lately, so perhaps we need to bring fyren back.

Writing Updates

I have finished writing the first draft of a novella that is currently titled Blood Magic! At the Beach that chronicles Sam and Ulysses’s attempt to take a honeymoon in a place that isn’t Madison. This completes the last promised piece of Wisconsin Gothic ephemera. I will have to think about distribution methods at some point; at about 25k words, it’s too short to print on its own. Ideally, I could release it as an ebook, and hold onto it to print until I have a few of the other short things (including “Dous”). But I know some people have a strong enough preference for print that they won’t read it until it comes out like that. So I guess I’m still thinking it through. If you have any ideas or preferences, feel free to shoot me an email.

I am starting revisions on book 5.

Appearances and Book Sales

My ebooks will be 75% off at Smashwords for the month of July. Here’s a link to the series.

I will be at Middleton Book Fair on August 2nd, joined by Rowan with their tarot decks after noon. Last year we sold out, so come by early. Also, it’s Mustard Days I think? So if you like mustard a lot…Middleton’s got you covered. (The National Mustard Museum is in Middleton.) The sale will be on Hubbard Ave. on both sides of the Stone Horse Green.

In September, I’ll be at Booked Eau Claire (in Eau Claire, WI) on the 12th and 13th. I’ll be selling books both days, and also appearing on two panels—one on writing sex scenes (open vs closed door) and one on indie publishing. If you’re going and interested in preordering a copy of one or more of my books, the form is here.

There’s more stuff happening in October, but we won’t go into that right now, since it’s really far away.

An acrylic painting of a green tea latte with colorful latte art on top that looks like a floweer. — I went mad and painted about ten lattes this month.

What I’ve Been Reading

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith. An episodic detective novel set in Botswana with a sort of meandering plot connecting all the episodes. I could not tell if all the little bits were completely in chronological order or not, and I didn’t care. McCall Smith obviously loves Botswana a lot, and the way he described the Kalahari made me want to visit it.

Bombshell, by Sarah McClean. (Cis M/F) I stumbled into reading a bunch of novels set during the reign of William IV into the early Victorian years, and this was the best of the group. McClean doesn’t really care about historical specifics (case in point, a character refers to the ugly duckling story about five years before it was published), but she writes exciting, sweeping feminist fantasies in which women find ways to circumvent societal strictures in order to take revenge on those who wronged them and fall in love along the way. I find I generally don’t like the way gender is handled in these types of books—all the men are the most manly men ever, all the women fall in love because the men are big and strong and make them feel safe and protected. In this one, the heroine gets to kick butt and take names (she has a special leather-lined pocket in her skirts for her knife). And what’s not to like about that?

Sailor’s Delight, by Rose Lerner. (Cis M/M) I’ve read only a few romances where one main character was Jewish, but in two of them, that character was named Eleazar, which is weird. I genuinely hadn’t read this one before I selected that name for Dr. Eli Sobel, and although I probably wouldn’t have changed it (the Eleazar/Lazarus thing was too tempting), I feel odd. Luckily, this Elie (note the extra “e”) is a great dude. It’s 1813, and he’s kind of an accountant for sailors in the Royal Navy. And he’s in love with one of his clients. Who happens to be engaged. No spoilers, but everyone gets a fair shake, the Judaism is approached with care and deliberation by both the main characters and the author, there’s a lot of period atmosphere, and in general I wished this was longer.

A Gentleman’s Gentleman, by TJ Alexander. (Trans M/M) A slightly improbable but gentle and loving regency romance that spends a lot of time meditating on the different ways to be a man, and more broadly, a human. Includes a very exciting carriage chase and many other hijinks. Alexander was up for a Lammy the same year I was and lost, and I hope they get back there for this.

Wow, that’s more than I thought. (NB I deleted two book reviews from this, so it was even longer in the first draft.)

Podcasts

In June we put out two podcasts, both on the pope. Episode 93: Take Me Down to Vatican City and episode 94: Popes and Antipopes. More pope-related episodes soon.

On the blog

As threatened, I got this post about the bibliography for Lazarus, Home from the War up. Yesterday. I got it up yesterday. Still counts.

June Newsletter

Thank you all for the support for Lazarus, Home from the War. Many people posted lovely reviews on social media and shared my posts, and in general made release day very delightful for me. I donated the first day’s profits from Amazon to Doctors without Borders and Amazon Conservation, two organizations I’ve supported for a long time.

June is Pride Month! (Except in Madison, where Pride happens in August because all the serious Pride-goers go to Milwaukee and/or Chicago first, I guess.) Happy Pride to everyone! Last year I had a short story for you all. This month, well…I wrote you a novel. Actually, I’ve been working on some shorter things, but nothing is done yet. Sorry! I did write you a novel.

Speaking of which, I’m pleased to announce that last week, I finished work on the first draft of book 8. This means that all nine books in the Wisconsin Gothic series have first drafts written! All of them clock in between 63 to 80k words; the fastest any of them was written was about eight weeks, and the slowest was about 55 weeks. (Length doesn’t correlate with writing speed, surprisingly.) And, if you’re curious, the order in which they were written, as far as I can remember, was: Dionysus in Wisconsin, Old Time Religion, Lazarus, Troth, book 6 started, book 7, book 6 completed, book 9, book 5, book 8.

Thanks to artist S. S. Genesee, I have a new Wisconsin Gothic sticker! I will be sending them to various bookstores as freebies and will also have them at events. And maybe send them out with direct orders. If you find yourself jonesing for a T-shirt or a tote bag with this logo, let me know.

Which reminds me: I am now fully stocked with paperbacks of all the books! If you want one, you can email me, slide into my DMs on a social media site, or head on over to itch.io. I charge $17 if I have to ship and $15 if you’re local and want to pick it up. If you want multiple books, definitely message me and I can give you a small discount. I know a few bookstores also have Lazarus in stock, notably Tropes and Trifles in Minneapolis (I saw a photo).

Upcoming Appearances

I will be at the Author Fair at the Hedberg Public Library in Janesville, WI on June 21st. It runs from 2:30-4:30pm. In addition to copies of all four novels, we’ll have tarot decks available, and Rowan will be doing tarot readings for $5 (space permitting).

I will be at the Middleton Book Fair on August 2nd from 10am–4pm (or whenever we sell out). It’s being held on Stone Horse Green this year, which is at the corner of Elmwood and Parmenter.

I’ll be at Tropes and Trifles in Minneapolis, MN the first week of August to sign some stock and say hi. This is a very unofficial visit. Specific date/time TBD.

And in September, I’ll be at Booked Eau Claire! It’s a big event taking place from 12–13 September. I will be speaking on two panels (one on closed vs open door romance and one on indie publishing). If you’re planning to attend and would like a signed book, you can pre-order here. (Note that this is a very manual process, so if you try to pre-order and don’t hear from me with a bill, send me an email!)

Other Announcements

New Milwaukee-area romance bookstore The Well-Red Damsel will be carrying Dionysus in Wisconsin when they open, so make sure you drop by and pick up a copy so they know it is a good idea! I’m going to send them some stickers too, although I may not have them for their opening, which I believe is June 21st.

In May we did zero podcasts. Whomp whomp.

I’ve written a blog post with a bibliography of sources I looked through while writing Lazarus. It’s not up yet, but look for it later this week.

That’s it. Have a good month!