novella – PretenseSoup

December 2025 Newsletter: Hazy Shade of Winter

I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving, if you celebrate it. We did. And then we got 9.3″ of snow (that’s 23.6 cm for the rest of the world). It’s not exactly common for this to happen in Wisconsin in November (and unlike the snowstorm I wrote about in Lazarus, Home from the War, it wasn’t melted the next day, which is something that happens a lot more). So we shoveled a lot. Come, winter, and welcome.

Anyway, happy December! The year is almost over. Time to break out your copy of the Mountain Goats singing “I’m going to make it through this year if it kills me.”

The big news this month is that I have put the top secret project (a novella about Sam and Ulysses’s honeymoon) up for preorder! It’s called The Alignments. You can get it here (Amazon), or here (itch.io). It will also be available on Kobo, Smashwords, Apple Books, etc., on launch day. (Not all these sites do pre-orders.)

I have answers to your frequently unasked questions, but first, let’s look at the cover!

Three standing stones on the shore of the ocean. A moody oil painting. The Alignments, by E. H. Lupton.

All right, questions!

-Why was this top secret for so long?
I had originally planned to just release it without a preorder period, as though I were Beyoncé dropping an album. Just email you all on 12/21 and say “Bon appetit!” But the podcast Fated Mates named Lazarus, Home from the War one of their best books of 2025, so I decided I would try to capitalize on that and do a preorder.

Oh, that happened. Did I mention that? Laz is on the Fated Mates best books of 2025 list. I don’t really know what to say! I’m thrilled. And a little confused about why their affiliated bookstore decided not to carry my book. But whatever, you can order a paperback of Lazhere, or here, or from your local bookstore (give them the ISBN: 979-8988394433), or email me if you want a signed copy ($17, including shipping).

-What is The Alignments about?
Sam and Ulysses arrive in Carnac, France for their honeymoon. They’re thousands of miles from Madison and hoping for a little rest and relaxation. But when an academic rival of Ulysses’s reveals herself during Sam’s birthday dinner, they find themselves pulled into the investigation of an unexplained death that seems to be tied to the ancient, mysterious stones that litter the town.

-Is this another AU or missing scene?
No, this is canon. It’s on the series roadmap. It’s generally pretty silly, though. Except for the parts where…uh, spoilers. Suffice to say there is a plot, they do various investigatory things and have fun. And it’s set in France!

-Is there a sample?
You can hear me reading an (unedited) version of ch 6 here! I think it really gives the vibes of the whole thing—funny and a little creepy.

-Will it be published in paperback?
Eventually. I wanted to collect all the short fiction and publish them all together. But there’s at least one short thing in progress I haven’t released yet.

I know this is a little disappointing for everyone who would prefer a paperback! The problem is that the cover doesn’t match the other covers, and the book itself wouldn’t be long enough to print anything on the spine. People who like paperbacks tend to want the whole series to match. I have been working hard on the cover for Renaissance, and I will start on a black and ochre cover for all the shorts when I’m done with that book. But it’s taking a while. The cover of The Alignments (which I love) is an actual oil painting (done with water-miscible oils, which I just started using). None of this happens quickly.

In the meantime, if you absolutely don’t like ebooks, you can either get the book from itch, where there will be a pdf version available, and then print it out yourself, or send me an email and I’ll send you an ARC copy of the pdf.

-Any trigger warnings to be aware of? (Skip this if you don’t want any spoilers.)
There’s some light bondage in The Alignments (bondage in pursuit of a good time, I mean). Separately, there’s a demon and a death.

-Anything else?
It’s always extremely helpful to tell your friends about indie authors, because advertising is hard and attention spans are short, but I did zero advanced marketing for this, so please spread the word! I actually estimate that most of my sales come via word of mouth (either in person or on social media), so you can make a big difference with relatively little effort.

Book Sale
My books are currently on sale on itch for 70% off. You can find those here. Starting next week, they will also be in the Smashwords semi-annual sale. I don’t have a link for that yet, but you can find them all on Smashwords here.

Upcoming Appearances
In December, we’ll be at the Big Gay Market on December 20th (note that this is only the second day of the market) from 10am-5pm. It’s being held at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison! We will have the usual assortment of cool stuff: books; poetry tarot cards; felted earrings, crows, and nazars; stickers and postcards. Come by and pick up last-minute holiday presents! Get a tarot reading for $5! Enjoy lots of other vendors! Details here.

For those 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. This is sure to be a really great conference, and no matter where you are in your writing process I encourage you to come. Find all the details here.

Podcast
We released one episode in November: Non-Roman Calendars (ep. 97). We also announced that we are joining the Nerd and Tie podcast network. Nerd and Tie is a Wisconsin-based collective of independent creators making podcasts on a variety of topics, from true crime to witchcraft to (now) medieval history! This is a great move that we hope will bring us a bigger audience while allowing us to maintain our ownership and creative control of the show.

We made this move because I got to be a fan of the BS Free Witchcraft podcast and then met its host, Trae Dorn, at Booked Eau Claire back in September. And they knew who I was because their sister read my books! So hello, Trae’s sister, if you’re out there! BS Free Witchcraft is a podcast of the genre “guy [gender nondenominational] who knows a lot about a topic ranting into a microphone,” and I honestly really enjoy it. Trae is funny and they know a lot about their subject and have interesting things to say.

Book Reviews
This is the time of year when many people start to search around for gifts for children. Especially books, because it’s fun to give children something that’s going to stick in their head for the rest of their lives. In general I am skeptical of “best of” lists (excluding the Fated Mates one above–that’s 100% gold), so I asked my 8yo what his favorite books he read this year were, and what he would recommend for kids 8-12 years old. He said:

Lightfall, by Tim Probert. It’s a graphic novel series (3 books at present, with the fourth due out in 2026) about a young girl, whose grandfather is a pig(?), who along with a friend tries to save the sun.
Wings of Fire, by Tui T. Sutherland. Described to me as “Game of Thrones but with dragons.” Also Sutherland is a lot more prolific than George R.R. Martin–there are sixteen of these now. (Sorry not sorry, George; finish your book.) The 8yo prefers the novels over the graphic novels, which is an achievement.
The Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper. It’s a classic for a reason. 5 volumes.

That’s it for today. Talk to you all on the 21st!

Publication Day

So in answer to all of my anxiety dreams last night, my novella has been published! Yay!

Now you’re asking, “Emily, where can I buy this marvelous thing?” Glad you asked. Check out these links:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Smashwords
Battered Suitcase Press (not up yet)

But that’s not all. I know some people like to get their books signed, and this is difficult with an e-book. So if you bought the book (and enjoyed it, I guess? Otherwise what’s the point?), send me an email to ehlupton+postcards(AT)gmail(DOT)com (yes, that is my name, ehlupton, the plus sign, the word “postcards,” and then gmail dot com). Include your name and snail mail address, and I will send you a postcard with the book’s gorgeous cover on it. I’ll write a message, if you want one, or draw a picture of a dog (probably of my dog), even sign it. If you’re extra obsessive, like me, let me know and I’ll mail it to you in an envelop so it doesn’t get cancelled or otherwise undergo the rigors of the postal service.

Please note on the postcards: I probably won’t get the order before the end of next week, so I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to get youthe postcard by mail before Christmas unless you live locally. If you buy the book, you will get it delivered electronically in less than five minutes, so that will have to fulfill your desires for instant gratification for the nonce.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it! I hope, if you really enjoyed it, that you will consider reviewing it, or recommending it to your friends. But even if you don’t do those things, I am glad that you took a little time to read it. Thank you.

Em oi! #388: The New Guy

Edgar came to live with us close to four weeks ago. I think it will be four weeks tomorrow, actually. It’s actually surprising how much about him has changed since we brought him home:

He will walk on a leash and not freak out.
He will go up and down stairs by himself, although he’s a bit clumsy.
Weighs 46 lbs rather than 42.
Is willing to walk past cars that are parked as well as cars that are turned on but not moving. Still terrified of moving cars though.
We are reasonably sure he is flat-coated retriever and Aussie rather than part Newfie.
I have decided on the best way to draw him. As you can see in the comic above, there was some experimentation.

At first Edgar was very shy and stayed in his crate most of the time, even though we left the door open so he could come and go as he wanted. I think he appreciated having the little cave to hang out in, because re-homing is incredibly stressful and confusing. And that’s for people; imagine how the dogs feel. Anyway, Edgar is a rescue dog and he had spent a lot of his life in to a shelter before entering the foster care system and then coming to us, so we knew that it would take him longer than it took Maya to warm up to us. After all, Maya was 12 weeks when we got her, versus Edgar at six or seven months–much more life to have traumatized him thus far. However, I am happy to report that he is thriving. I drew this follow-up comic to demonstrate Edgar hanging out in the atrium every morning while I eat breakfast:

I’ll file this comic under SF427 .L86 2013 for Animal Culture–Pets–Dogs–Culture and care. Sadly, there was no entry for “doggy personal ads.”

And here’s a photograph of him I took earlier this afternoon:

And a picture of Edgar and Maya playing in the snow:

So the reason we were able to get another dog is that we recently moved to a new house. I think I may have mentioned this before. But the thing is that we have been slowly going through a lot of stuff at the old condo that didn’t get moved, stuff that we should probably throw away so we can get the house on the market. Earlier this evening while doing this, I came across this piece of paper:

If you can’t read, it says, “ทำงานทุกวันและเล่นไม่ได้ทำให้คุณจากคนไม่สนใจ,” which translates as “Working everyday and not playing makes Jack an uninteresting person.” Nowadays I would spell “Jack” as “แจก” rather than “จาก” I guess. But. I wonder what was going on when I made those notes? It also seems to say “Liz Bernstein–another Jew in Asia,” “มหา [maha] Ghosanada,” “CompLit,” and “No one is soverign [sic] in love.”

…It’s probably a good thing I’m finishing my thesis and graduating soon.

I should mention that the novella is due out at the end of the week. It will be available as a PDF and on all major ebook platforms (i.e., Kindle and Nook). So, uh, prepare to spend money on it? It should be pretty awesome. Here, in case you haven’t seen it yet, is the cover.

Em oi! #371: The Big Announcement

MAGNIFIQUE
This is absolutely true: Vagabondage Press will publish my novella as an ebook in May, 2013. I am very excited. This work was originally composed as my senior thesis for my English/Creative Writing degree in 2006. Since then, it has been through a number of rewrites (and will go through a few more before it is ready for prime time). More importantly, perhaps, I have begun to mature as a writer and I think I have been able to do the story justice.

This is a very brief summary of the story I wrote for my cover letter:

Mara Daniels is a physicist doing cutting-edge research into the nature of reality at the University of Chicago. She’s an astronomer. She’s an amateur student of Chinese philosophy. And she’s still recovering from last summer’s car crash that killed Benjamin Zhu, her fiancé. It’s a slow process; she can walk without a cane now but she still suffers from migraines, nightmares, and she’s seeing Zhou’s ghost everywhere she goes. The Joy of Fishes follows her through the day on which these threads begin to unravel.

To paraphrase Robert Persig, I will say that I am an expert on neither Daoism, nor astrophysics, nor neurology. However some of the bits about ghosts are pretty neat.

In honor of this being my first stand-alone publication, I’m going to file this comic under PS3612.U68 J69 2012, for American literature—Individual authors—2001-—L, subdivided on Table P-PZ40 under Separate works. By title.

To get you all thinking, I’ll add this: If you have a book club in the upper Midwest that would like to read the book and have me come and talk/answer questions, drop me a line and we can work something out.

(ถ้าคุณอ่านภาษาไทยในเรื่องนี้ ฉันต้องพูดขอโทษ เพราะฉันเขียนภาษาไทยไม่เก่งและไม่สวยด้วย)