One of us! One of us! One of us!
You’re getting this delightful bonus newsletter because January is MONSTROSITY shopping month! For these few weeks, you’ll get a sneak peek at the weekly newsletters paying MONSTROSITY Hoard members get all year long.
Hoard perks include:
BIG THINKS on hot topics in science fiction and fantasy + BOOK RECS with my thoughts on everything I read
CREATURE FEATURES with gorgeous illustrated downloadable wallpapers and written profiles on fantastical creatures each quarter
Random GIVEAWAYS for books and more
ADVANCE COPIES of my new releases + SNEAK PEEKS at what I'm working on now
So if you love what you read, join us! The annual subscription, usually $30, is, at this very moment, discounted by 40%—that’s only $0.35 per weekly issue, stuffed full of my book love and splattered in my brains!
Or, erm, splattered in the thoughts from those brains. BUT that’s only if you join right now (and, ahem, you’ll keep that reduced price forever)! By next week, the price will go up.
Big Thinks
Well. What can I say. I was going to write to you about fresh beginnings. I was going to write about hope and vaccines and getting back in the world. There was so much optimism, folks.
Then, yesterday, a violent mob took over the U.S. Capitol as our Congress fulfilled the ritual of formally acknowledging a transition of power to a new president, right here in my city, an easily walkable 15 minutes from my home. The worst kind of history was made.
There is a vast divide of my country, and this split feels like a deep wound we all just keep picking at. We have neglected our collective capacity for empathy, at a time when we need it more than ever.
Thinking about empathy always brings me back to the importance of story, and all art.
Because stories hold magic—the magic to help us understand each other.
It’s been proven in research studies that reading changes our brains and makes us better at relating to people who are different from us.
But we can’t just keep reading stories of people who are “like us.” We desperately need diverse stories in today’s world. We desperately need to make space for each other. For science. For basic reality, apparently.
So if you want to change the world, a good place to start is by picking up a book by an author who is different from you. The BookRiot Read Harder Challenge gives some great ideas for ways to do this.
And … you know what? Despite it all, optimism is holding for me. Because one thing 2020 was great for was incredible books. I have a hunch 2021 is going to be full of great releases, too. (Just look at this list of upcoming science fiction and fantasy releases).
If you need a place to start, I recommend A Universe of Wishes, an anthology edited by the fabulously talented Dhonielle Clayton from We Need Diverse Books that’s getting incredible buzz.
So hang in there, pick up a great book, and pass it forward to someone else, too. We knew 2020 wouldn’t let go without a fight. But we’re capable of so much more.
Reading
Is my reading-in-progress list still a mess? Oh yes. Is it getting better? I think so???
Over the holidays my great slowdown helped me get through a few books I’d been working on for a while—I finished Three Dark Crowns on audio (it’s dark and gorgeous and so highly recommended) and fromy the physical stack on my nightstand I completed The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (also lovely). I then also started and completd The Middle Finger Project on audio during some holiday runs (if you want a kick in the ass of inspiration to tackle something new, this is it). And, I’m thisclose to the finale of my good friend Gareth Frank’s The Moment Between.
Can I get through my entire physical stack on my bedstand this year? Can I catch up on my audio queues? My ereader backlog? Hahahahahahahahhaha sure whatever a girl can try.
Which reminds me, I’ve got to get my 2021 reading tracker up and in order. See my final results from 2020 here (for now!).
Giveaway
Congrats to Heather, the winner of the final giveaway for 2020!
Mood
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E. J. Wenstrom is the award-winning SFF author of the Chronicles of the Third Realm War series. Start with Mud.