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Hey, Hungry Readers,

My short romance, Cocker on the Porch, was originally part of the Cocky Cockers anthology. It's about Wendy who finds cocker spaniel on her porch, and as a results works with her neighbor Tuan to help the dog, and also discover a little more about each other.

It also now includes a bonus epilogue that may feature some other characters of mine who embarked on dog ownership.

It's available free on all etailers. Go forth and read! Universal link: https://books2read.com/u/meqDOl

And we are going to talk a little bit about the difference between body preferences and shaming. I think one of the things that can be really hard to dismantle, is that our culture is constantly telling us our body, as it exists naturally, is wrong. There are ways to lighten and darken your skin, ways to curl and straighten your hair, ways to color pretty much everything, ways to change and alter the appearance of various body parts that do or don’t curve, and so on. Some of this is cultural bias. Some of this is capitalism. Some if this is both. 

And so the challenge when writing about people who are attracted to each other is that they likely exist in a world that has told them parts of them are incorrect. And their potential mates likely started off with thought about their own personal preferences and may find this person meets them or doesn’t. Where this gets tricky as the writer is describing how these people are finding themselves attracted to one another, but making it clear this is this character’s preference. If a character says, “I’ve only ever dated blondes,” and the other character is not blonde, that can be an interesting tension. But if the non-blonde goes to change their hair, well, it would take a lot of story explanation to show why that would be the formerly non-blonde character being appreciated for themselves and not just changing in order to be seen as an attractive person. 

Similarly, in “Shrek” to use a movie example, Fiona thinks the thing that makes her unlovable is her troll form. And then she falls in love with a troll. But he loves her for who she is, before he even knows she has a troll form. So in Fiona’s case, getting to live the rest of her life as a troll is a reward. This is less of an issue in contemporary stories, but fantasy in particular often uses spells or curses that make people unattractive in order to add a degree of difficulty to falling in love. The thing is, unattractive is in the eye of the beholder, so curses that make you nerdy, or wear glasses, or baggy clothes, imply that people who need glasses or prefer baggy clothes are somehow undeserving of love. There are of course ways to make it work, but as the writer, it’s worth making sure that the story makes it clear that people don’t have to deserve love. After all romance is really about people finding the folks who see them as they are. 

So, my lovely romance authors, we need to talk.  As readers of my Let's Talk About Fictional Sex know, I am a big believer that fiction is not real life.  And that yes of course you can happily write and read about things that you hope to never experience in real life from bungee jumping to mafia kidnappings, and it does not need to reflect on your real life.  

But.  But.  Workplace romance has always been fraught because power dynamics, and because quite honestly if you've ever had to sit in a conference room with two people who everyone knows were caught having sex on the office camera, but we are all pretending that we do not know that, it's just a lot. 

Sex is a healthy activity for consenting adults to engage in. People often become friends or more than friends with people that they first met in the office.  However, I worry when I read some of these things.  I once heard two dudes on a podcast say that the thing about rom-com movies was that characters do things that would be considered sexual harassment but it's okay because it's wanted.  Please imagine me trying to yell back at a podcast.  

Sexual harassment does not disappear because these people fall in love.  Yes, I  know people who fell in love with co-workers.  And yes, I also know people who fell out of love with their coworkers.  Or were cheating on their spouses with a coworker.  

Bookshop links included.

I read Ashley R. King's Painting the Lines because there is tennis afoot and why not read about tennis. I confess as an author, the idea that I would make a character that's like myself and then follow someone and make a character like them is a little too close to the "research" people who find you write romance want to "help" you with, but also I did find this story of two people who were out to prove their glory days were not behind them - in both tennis and writing - enjoyable.

And I read Kimberly Lemming's That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon and found it funny and sexy. It does deal with false religions, and demon bigotry and slavery, so for a book that feels fluffy, it is also not afraid of touching on larger issues.

Have you read either of these?

Hi, Hungry Readers,

Acouple of things are happening now and/or soon. There is an auction to raise money for folks affected by the fires in Hawai'i. I have donated a custom short story to it - info here. There are also other cool things from books to crafty things to chats with cool writers and so on.
Also, a reminder for folks that if you Kobo Plus, and are looking for some fun reads, there's a list here of authors (including me) with books in Kobo Plus.
And, Troubled by Love is complete and ready for it's debut to the rest of the world next week.

Hey, Hungry Readers,

A couple of reminders. Troubled By Love comes out in a few weeks. I'll talk more about that later, but if you feel moved to pre-order, you can.

And on the Kobo Plus front, I'm doing a cross-promo with some other authors who are all in Kobo Plus, in case you are looking for some fun reads.

If you are not in Kobo Plus, you can still take a look. Kobo Plus participation does not currently require exclusivity, so these authors are many of them available elsewhere, if Kobo is not your preferred reading choice.

Hey, Hungry Readers,

I couldn't resist writing a little short story with Jia and Ken. It's short, like one cookie long. And it may include a peek at some characters from Troubled By Love.

There are a few ways to read it. It's going to be posted below after the rest of my admin notes here.

If you prefer reading it on Ream, it has also been posted for subscribers there.

Some great things I read last quarter with Bookshop links where available.

Shirlene Obuobi's On Rotation was a great story of a med student trying to balance the first gen pressures on being the best at med school along side the pressures of also finding and balancing love and friendship.

Malia Maunakea's Lei and the Fire Goddess is such a great adventure of a Hawaiian middle schooler who lives in Colorado, coming to Hawai'i to spend the summer with her tutu, and balancing all the expectations of having a cool summer when tutu doesn't live on a resort or have a pool. And what happens when you accidentally piss of Pele.

Charish Reid's I'll Come Back for You (ebook link) is like snowed in with your ex and a ghost! I thought it might be too scary for me, but I actually just loved this story. The ghost hunting show that maybe isn't actually accustomed to dealing with ghosts, the snow, the ghost, the sexual tension.

Hi, Hungry Readers,

I've got a new story for you. I'm going to be releasing it as a serial over on Ream, and then releasing it as a full ebook in August. (Preorders are still going up to all the sites for that.)

But I wanted to share the first chapter with you here. A few notes:

This story is a standalone romance novella. Still set in DC. Their might be a cameo from someone in one of my other series. There might be a museum. There will be food.

Two books I read and enjoyed recently, with bookshop links.

Sing Anyway By Anita Kelly was a delightful novella about the night they finally chat - and okay more than chat - with their karaoke crush. Super cute, and full of karaoke fun.

This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub is about a woman who's father is ailing in the hospital, and who wrote a famous time travel novel, and then she accidentally time travels back to her 16th birthday. And this look at the person her father used to be, and who she used to be is intriguing.

Food, fun, flowers and even a holiday (spoiler - it's King Kamehameha Day).

Jia and Ken's story is out in the world.

Jia has been focusing on work.  Working somewhere that is not either of the rival restaurants that helped her parent's divorce make the news.  
But the DC celebration for King Kamehameha Day brings her Ken, someone who seems unconnected to the family drama.  
Ken's been making some life changes, so his mom volunteers him to help his aunt at her flower shop.  He finds himself with a box of lei at a new to him celebration trying to impress a woman he just met.  
Fate seems to have brought Ken and Jia a little fun.  But maybe, they aren't as unconnected to each other's drama as they thought.   

Buy links:

Very delayed first quarter round up, but what is time, really. (Those of you pointing out that I was the one who decided to do these quarterly are...correct.)

Anyway, some great things I read in the first quarter. 

I discovered I had overlooked a book that I thought I had read. Sherry Thomas's Tempting the Bride is a historical romance with amnesia, and publishing, and basically many things I love. But hey, it was a delight, and now I have read it. 

I talked previously about Mike Chen's Light Years From Home and Chad Lucas's Let the Monster Out.

I know, very chatty this week, but before it starts populating on the various sites, wanted to give you all first look.

Cover reveal for my next book.

Jia has been focusing on work. Working somewhere that is not either of the rival restaurants that helped her parent's divorce make the news.

Hey, folks, Kobo Plus just added two new countries, aka the US and the UK, so if Kobo is your preferred book purveyor, you can pick up my books that way.

And of course, if you like purchasing, from Kobo or most other retailers, my books are there too! (Many links here: https://tarakennedycom.wordpress.com/books/) Happy reading!

Light Years From Home by Mike Chen was just amazing.  It's about a family where the hapless older brother disappeared fifteen years ago along with his dad.  The dad was found wandering miles away a few days later and said they had been abducted by aliens and the brother was still with them.  I feel like this premise could have been used so many ways.  That the most common way would be for us to focus on the brother, and how he's been and to find him needing to return to his family and having to explain everything that's happened to him be an obstacle.  Instead it is a story about siblings, who have all been understandably changed in the last fifteen years.  And how they figure out if they can or even should work together. It is about aliens, and siblings, and parental care, and all of that.  

Let the Monster Out by Chad Lucas was a fun middle grade where members of the baseball team discover something hinky going on and team up to figure it out.  One of the members is a kid who loves a whiteboard and structure, and one of the others is impulsive but loves the whiteboard.  It's very adorable.  

This week is Read an Ebook Week over at Smashwords.  And so, you can pick up ebooks of mine (and tons of others) at a discount.  My books* are 25% off.  

Between you, me, and the lamppost - the sale applies to purchases through Smashwords.  If your fave etailer rhymes with say Schamazonnne, they do tend to price match, so you do you.  

*Just a note, my YA short Bait Girl is not included in the sale.  

Hi, folks,

Yes I mean 4th quarter that ended like a bit over a month ago. January is a lot. 

Anyway, here's some great things I read.  Bookshop links.

Batter Royale by Liesl Adams - We know I'm a sucker for baking. This graphic novel about two teens who join a baking competition is adorable. 

In which I gush about two books I read and enjoyed recently.

Dahlia Adler's Home Field Advantage is a female quarterback and female cheerleader story, where they fall in love, and also maybe save the football team's record. It doesn't shy away from the harassment and the crap that a female quarterback would face. Or the weird balance of things when you have been working so hard to just survive high school in a more conservative small town, and have even created a decoy relationship, and now, the person you really really want means blowing all of that up.

Nghi Vo's Siren Queen is 1930's Hollywood if the studios were run by literal monsters, not just figurative ones, and the Chinese American girl who wants to be in movies on as close to her own terms as she can get. Vo's ability to take a story and add monsters and make it feel absolutely normal and correct astounds me.

I thought I would share some recipes I've been enjoying lately.

I recently made this mushroom black bean chili, since it matched a bunch of ingredients I had on hand. I used to be firmly team no beans in chili, and I have switched sides. I also added chili powder.

My freezer is stuffed right now with these pea ricotta dumplings. I have also made them with goat cheese in place of ricotta, and that's good too.

And these mochi cinnamon rolls are delicious, and perfect for people like me who are too lazy to yeast, but like a cinnamon roll.

Hi folks,

I discovered a glitch in the way I was publishing newsletters, so if this is the first arriving to you, oops, and hi. Here's some of my top reads of the quarter. Bookshop links or books2read links included.

Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi - This prequel to Pet was just what I needed as far as a book that was about a character not wanting to have to save the world she didn't screw up, and learning how community can be formed and supported in many ways. Also, hot people are distracting.

Ballad and Dagger by Daniel Jose Older - This YA fantasy was also about figuring out how to save your community when your community has literally lost their home, and how sometimes the stories we tell about our past overlook important things. Also ghosts and crushes!

Hello, folks,

A bit a admin before we get to the good stuff. First, while this epilogue is told from Sienna's point of view (last seen in Clear as Ice), it also features Raven, Marcus, Lulu, Aiden, and even a bit of Adriana. Chronologically it occurs after Clear as Ice but therefore also after Aloha to You, Repeated Burn, and Bored by the Billionaire. I don;t think it spoils much other than these people are all still together, but YMMV. Also, the entire text is posted below, and available to subscribers. But if you want a version you can send to your e-reader, you can go here: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/5jjvkby179

Print peeps, I'm sorry, but since this is basically pamphlet sized, I'm not going to release it as a paper book.

Enjoy!

Hey folks, I'm adding in a monthly piece on two books I wanted to highlight. Likely these books will also appear in my quarterly reading roundup, but the thing is sometimes I want to talk a little longer about a book, and sometimes all I have to say is, it was great go read it.

I may get a little spoilery in these posts so if you don't want too much info - here are the two books, you can go forth and come back later - After Hours on Milagro Street and I'm Glad My Mom Died.

So, full disclosure, I know the author of this first one, so I am predisposed to like her stuff. But I read Angelina M. Lopez's After Hours on Milagro Street and was really fascinated. First, both characters are holding on to some stuff, and have chosen very different life strategies to handle it. They meet, bang, and then fairly quickly butt heads. He lives over the family bar she has come back to town to save. He's a white East Coaster who has adopted her town, a history professor, who loves the less well-known history of Mexican Americans that her town, and her family represent. She has been making her name as a Chicago bartender. And now has big ideas for how to make this bar something that would appeal to people from cities and even the nearby college.

I will say, there's a lot of people being irritable with each other and not bothering to explain why, and I do think all the pieces do get unveiled in ways that make everything that came before make even more sense, but that is very much a your mileage may vary on that scenario. There's also a bit of lost treasure hunting and a cranky ghost. And at one point there is only one bed.

Rita had a healthy concern for DMs. Even in the workplace, the people who wanted to DM you often wanted to do or talk about things they wouldn't do on main and so any time that indicator lit up on the work chat she cringed a little.

But she didn't have Ben's number and she wanted to hang out with him, virtually, but off work. If he wanted, obviously.

Oh wait, technically Rita did have his number, because she had covered for him one day when he had a dentist appointment, but that also seemed like leveling up inappropriately so the DM seemed the least awful. 

Rita: Hey, Ben. If you're up for some sort of virtual coffee chat, sometime let me know. No worries if not.

So, the official release post is going to go up Tuesday on the blog.  But, I made a minor goof uploading to all the various sites.  As a result, depending on your vendor of choice, it may already be available. 

(If it's not yet, I promise it will be by Tuesday.)

Eden had demanded they do a virtual happy hour via video chat. Rita had teased asking if the drinks had to be virtual.

“What you think Ben’s deal is?” Rita asked sort of surprised that the question exited out of her mouth all fully formed like that. Her phone was sitting on the table so she could drink with both hands.

“In what way?” Eden said, eyebrows raised in do tell fashion.

‘I don’t know, I guess I mean I talk about books and stuff, and you talk about your family, and like other than he really likes ‘Space Race’, I feel like we don’t know that much about him.”

Hey, so here's my personal reading for the Ripped Bodice Bingo. Some of these I bumped to the top of the TBR, some I found through the library, some I sought out to fill a block, some had been of interest to me anyway. Also, a couple of these in my humble opinion fall into women's fiction but are according to the publishing marketing. I think the lines on that are currently being redrawn, but here we are.

Funnily enough amnesia and Hawaii were tough, partly because I've already read a lot for both. And I would not have told you I read this much second chance, but apparently I do. (Dance was not a surprise.) And I think widowed protagonist might be the entry that turned out to be a bit spoilery, so read on warned.

And hat tip to the @RomanceSmells Twitter that helped me narrow down some options for smells like laundry.

There's still time left to get in entries, so hopefully this is helpful if you want to play along. Many titles fit into multiple categories, so there are several repeats.

“I need to add a child to my coverage," the voice said with a sense of urgency.

"Congratulations," Rita said. "We'll just need a copy of the birth certificate, and we can get that updated for you." 

"So here's the thing," the voice said, pitched lower like he didn't want to be overheard, "I can get a copy of that, but the child is three months old. There was - well, suffice it to say the mother and I lost touch and I have only just become aware," the voice said. "But that's not the child's fault obviously."

"Of course not. I'm going to do a little more research on what information we might need from you. I will email you with that later today," Rita said. 

Rita saw the email pop up, just as she was sending her notes about the errors on a client's medical file.  

It was from her manager Carla.  "Please give me a call, when you have a moment." 

Rita took a breath.  Carla was a reasonable manager, but Rita had never been able to get rid of that flash of panic that came.  

Carla sent her a video chat link and reminded her to set her status so no phone calls came through while they were talking.  

"My spouse lost her very terrible job," the caller sang, "and this is really a blessing in disguise!"

Rita felt like she was missing a meme or something. She didn't recognize the tune, but definitely caller seemed very excited by this turn of events. "Okay, well, are you adding them to your plan?"

"Of course," Caller sang. "Of course," the caller repeated in a speaking voice. "Just because I'm happy that terrible job is too stupid to realize what they lost, doesn't mean I don't want her taken care of."

"Sure," Rita said. They talked through the documents needed and the process to submit them.

Things I've read and enjoyed over the past quarter. I tried to keep this to a top ten, but, well, didn't entirely succeed. Bookshop links included.

Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell - Remember how I said I hate long books about fictional politics? I - er - lied. Or maybe I hate them unless it's about a multi-planet marriage of convenience between a dude whose sunny talkative charm is underappreciated by his militaristic family and a guy who has been told his best asset is being quiet. I barreled through this. Content note: Militaristic imperialism, past abuse, and chemical torture.

Portrait of a Thief by Grace Li - It is the museum heist novel if a bunch of teens who had watched a lot of heist movies planned a heist. But it's also some appropriate college kid wrestling with legacy and diasporan identity.

Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa - I am so biased about Mia Sosa books. But stopping someone's wedding, double fake dating, DC area stuff, plus being tricked into attending a sex party, if this is the kind of bonkers sexy fun you want, this book delivers.

Eden: I got a secret baby! Rita, can you forward me what the process was.

Ben: How can a baby be secret?

Rita: It's a trope name.

Eden: Apparently they only met once and she deleted the app they had talked on, and then, well it took a bit. He was very chatty. They are very happy now, but holding off on marriage because at this point they might as well wait another year so the kid will remember.

"Hello," the caller said, "I have sort of an unusual situation."  

"Okay," Rita said.  

"So, I had removed my spouse from coverage last year during open enrollment, and well, now circumstances have changed, and I need to add them back," the caller said.  

"Okay," Rita said.  She had found in tricky situations it was sometimes easier to outline the ways this action would be allowed rather than ask - were you just mad at your spouse?  Because that's not considered a life event by the IRS and other powers that be. "So, there's a couple of situations where a mid-year add of a family member is allowed.  If they lost access to other coverage and if they are a new family member."  

Quick Note. The prior installment is here.

"I would like to make sure my intern is covered on my health insurance," the voice announced after giving her employee ID.

Rita flipped over to the company summary for the client. No specific intern provisions listed there. "Is your intern employed 35 hours a week with the company?" Rita asked.

How May I Help You

Rita Ulani Lai checked her headset and answered then phone. "Global US HR consulting, how may I help you?"

She had tried to convince her manager that Global US made no sense. But Global Corp provided human capital management consulting to multinational companies, the kinds with billionaires and trillionaires as CEOs, and while the Rita handled the US market, they felt reminding their customers about their Global reach was important.

"So, I have a question," the caller said. "I believe I may need to add a spouse to my coverage. Could I get more information about this process?"

So, I teased this story a while back. And here we are.

1. A lot of my story ideas start with a thing that isn't really a story idea. In this case I started with the idea of what if all these folks with secret babies and spouses of convenience had to call their HR about these things. And then I thought, hmm, what if one of the HR people was secretly in love with the other?

2. I have worked in call centers. I have held a job similar to this. For as many policies and procedures as I included, there are plenty I discarded because even realism has it's limits. None of these calls are based on real calls I have ever taken. Partly because this story is fiction, but also because my memory for individual calls is not that good.

3. This story exists in the pandemic. I still have a few things planned that are going to exist pre-pandemic, but this one made sense to exist with telecommuting, vaccinations, and masking in place.

4. This story is completed, and I do plan to release it as a single entity. So, you can skip over it if you hating waiting for serialization, or catch up at the end. All reading choices are valid.

5. Each entry I post has been lightly edited. I will likely make some small tweaks as things progress, so the final may have additional changes.

6. There will be romance, of course. This one is single POV though.

7. And this one is not connected to any of my existing series, although it does still take place in the DC area.

Also, if you read through this whole thing hoping I would mention that other story I serialized. Hello, I adore your patience. Complicated sports superstitions meant I couldn't talk about it in season. But preorder links are populating and I'll talk more in a bit about it. (This is the #HockeyFiction story for folks who want to find it on my blog.)

Okay, so the sneak peak went out in March, and next installment and weekly going forward on Fridays - right here.

Lol, I wrote a whole series thinking, cool, I'll never have to soapbox again. And here we are. So I was reading a middle grade where the mom is telling her tween daughter that she's actually excited that she's LGBTQ because it lowers her risk of teen pregnancy.

Caveat 1: I am aware that in this fictional scenario, the parent was trying to express how their kid being LGBTQ was something that was not worrisome which is a delightful thing. I wish all characters and real people had delightful and supportive adults around them.

Caveat 2: The story has not assigned a specific label to the character's attraction which is why I used the full acronym. So this statement may be more correct than my initial response. Here's a link to some stats: https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2019/12/sexual-orientation-differences-pregnancy-and-abortion-across-lifecourse

The reality is this. Most teens in the US do not get sex education. Like at all. The ones that do, often get very bland ones, that often only vaguely allude to any sexual behavior outside heterosexual behaviors. As a result, if an LGBTQ teen has access to sex ed, it likely does not reference anything about their attraction(s) and so, basically, chances are they either don't listen, or listen in the way you do when you're sitting through someone talking about spaceship design when you have no plans to ever design a spaceship. Like cool, I need to retain none of this. So, all of that is to say, LGBTQ teens on average, are navigating the world with less information about how to navigate sexually and as such are actually (with some exceptions for lesbians) at an elevated risk of sexuallty transmitted infections and teen pregnancy. 

I read a lot of things this quarter, which means the amount of things I read was a little higher than normal.  I also quit more things than normal for this point in the year. So I decided, I get to go a little more than top ten for the quarter.   

Bookshop links except in one case where it's only available digitally.  

Hunt the Stars by Jessie Mihalik – Space floof!  Is how I have been describing this book.  But basically it’s a classic space team gets hired by another space team for assistance with an investigation and discovers that they have not been entirely upfront about the mission but also sexual tension, and the aforementioned space critter.

Playing for Love by Jeevani Charika – Digital only – Very cute story about two folks who work at the same co-working space where there are some crush feelings happening and their gamer selves get paired up for an event and there are some crush like feelings, and well, wrestling of feelings ensue.

The final quarter of 2021, I gobbled up a wide variety of things. Here is my top ten, with bookshop links.

[A Phoenix First Must Burn]( https://bookshop.org/books/a-phoenix-first-must-burn-sixteen-stories-of-black-girl-magic-resistance-and-hope/9781984835659) Edited by Patrice Caldwell – One of those anthologies where my enjoyment was from like to love. All different kinds of fantasy.

[Hooked: How Crafting Saved My Life]( https://bookshop.org/books/hooked-how-crafting-saved-my-life-9781538734285/9781538734285) by Sutton Foster – While for my tastes, there was less singing than I might have hoped in this memoir of a life through the crafts that kept her company in some of those big moments, it was still a really enjoyable throughline, seeing how crafting was there in the good times and the bad. Content note: Discussions of anxiety, agoraphobia, difficult family relationships.

[Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement]( https://bookshop.org/books/unbound-my-story-of-liberation-and-the-birth-of-the-me-too-movement/9781250621733) by Tarana Burke –

While the calendar year isn't quite over, so my quarterly and annual wrap up will show up next year because more reading to be done. I thought I would list out some other great things that kept me entertained this year. 

Phone games: I am still playing three hidden object games, and a dots game regularly.

Podcasts: I actually reduced my podcast subscriptions, as more phone time at work meant less podcast time. But several of the NPR podcasts, along with the Wanna Be podcast, and some of the Radiotopia group stayed in rotation. Also, I would be remiss not to mention Let's Go Steal a Podcast, which thanks to a new season is still going. Revisiting the show has been a blast, and the reboot is doing things that make me happy. So I guess that's also new TV that I watched.

Twitter: I had to reevaluate my social media, as you do, and there are times when I do lock myself out of twitter for an hour when it shifts to doomscrolling, but it remains the place I find out things like Jean and Jorts, so I thank it. Also, while my Twitter following is small enough that I don't get targeted often, I used Block Party App to help filter out some of the stuff that deserves less attention.

Lulu Williams is bored with dating billionaires. She has just ditched the latest and is on a late night train back to DC when she encounters a handsome stranger. They get kicked out of the quiet car together and agree to go from the train to a hotel room to explore this sexual tension. Lulu figures Aiden will be the perfect palate cleanser. He wasn’t supposed to also be an interesting guy who doesn’t treat her purse mogul life as a cute hobby, who takes her to museums, and eats fried food from a bag. And he especially wasn’t supposed to be a billionaire.

Available at etailers starting next week. Pre-orders up now: https://books2read.com/u/47O6GL.

(Print will arrive later.)

Hey, I drafted this, and then through a series of unfortunate things, managed to lose the entire thing, so here we are. Technology.  (Yes, I had a backup.  Yes, I deleted it, because I thought everything was cool.   Yes I went and ate actual ice cream when I realized what had happened.) 

But here we are. 

I had a really good quarter reading wise, so narrowing it down to ten was tough.  Bookshop or Bookbub links included.

[The Retake]( https://bookshop.org/books/the-retake/9780593174142) by Jen Calonita – A very sweet middle grade about a girl who has a super bad first day of seventh grade and gets a mysterious app that lets her go back in time to try and change the trajectory of some friendships.

So, while there’s still a few days to finish if you yourself are playing along, I thought I would share my progress. The post about the suggestions I had from books I had already read is here. No reviews here - the quarterly round up will go out probably next week. Some books I reused in this list, but obviously only submitted just once. I only got one true bingo.
Defense Attorney: Educator: The Hellions Waltz by Olivia Waite Construction:
Friends to Lovers: Girl With Stars in Her Eyes by Xio Axelrod, Learned Reactions by Jayce Ellis Date Auction: Down on it’s luck small town: Reality TV: Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron, Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall Demigods: Karaoke: This Dating is Fake Isn’t It: The Wolf Lord by Ann Aguirre, Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron, Learned Reactions by Jayce Ellis Cover has snow: Gilded Age Reporter: Holiday That is Not Christmas: Hard Sell by Hudson Lin, Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas Scientific Pursuit: The Demon Prince by Ann Aguirre Protagonist smells like freshly baked bread: Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron Triplets Circus: Graphic Novel: Patience and Esther by S.W. Searle Stable Romp: The Shadow Warrior by Ann Aguirre Revenge Quest: The Wolf Lord by Ann Aguirre, The Jaguar Knight, The Hellions Waltz by Olivia Waite Bodyguard: The Shadow Warrior by Ann Aguirre, True Colors by Thea Harrison Tattoos: In Harmony by JN Welsh Wardrobe Malfunction: Summer of Lost Letters by Hannah Reynolds

Yeah, for those of you who dislike learning via email, and/or who want to have all the info in one place, the newsletter info has been compiled into book format. I did add a bonus chapter with some examples of good depictions of fictional sex and contraception.
If you found this newsletter entry before the others, here’s the info: Let’s Talk About Fictional Sex: Writing Sex Scenes That Deepen Character Sex scenes provide authors an opportunity to explore their characters more deeply. (Pun intended!) Fiction is not a how-to manual, but sex scenes are about more than how much description the author dedicates to the act. The choices characters make, from communication to contraception, are an often underutilized way demonstrate your characters’ experiences and expectations of both the world and their relationship expectations. In this series, we’ll take a look at some of the basics of how the choices characters make regarding sex reveal their character. Started as a newsletter series, but expanded into ebook form. Universal link here: https://books2read.com/u/3RnRqL

In the class I teach, we do what we call a question box. Everyone has to write something down and pass it forward, and then the instructors review, research as needed and tell the entire class, in case other folks had the same question.
Obviously, it’s a little tougher to do that in a newsletter form. If you are comfortable asking your question here, please do. You can also email me or DM if we are mutual on Twitter.
A few parameters. We are discussing fictional characters engaging in sex here. Not because I don’t care about you, your best friend, or your neighbor. I do. But I am not going to wade into actual sex or health concerns. Nor am I sharing any information about my sexual history. There are plenty of places on the internet that want to hear about your personal sex life.
I may refer you to one of the references. I do this not because I’m lazy, but because, I like to source my information. Things change. Plus, I’m just some stranger. I like people to have resources other than me. Also, if book form is a better reference for you the ebook is up for preorder at multiple etailers: https://books2read.com/u/3RnRqL

An analogy I use a lot is this. If you go to the movies by yourself, it can be a wonderful and exciting experience. You get to choose the time, the place, the snacks, the row you sit in, and when you leave the movie you will have seen a movie. The movie may be what you hoped for or not, but you have seen the movie. (Barring random screen glitch failures.)
If you go to the movies with a person whose company you enjoy, there may well be some negotiations about time, place, snacks, and row. Throughout the movie, even if you never speak to each other, you will be aware that this other person is experiencing this movie with you. And at the end, you can talk about what you liked, what you didn’t, what was great, and honestly, even a movie you didn’t enjoy can be a lot of fun with someone who you enjoy.
If you go to the movies with a person you don’t know very well, there is negotiation which is often harder with someone you don’t know very well. And then once the movie is going, there may be things you don’t know. Do they like talking during movies or hate it? Do you like talking during movies or hate it? If you hate it, will they understand and shut up after you don’t answer a few times? Did they know to share the popcorn? Or did they keep forcing popcorn on you while you were trying to concentrate? And at the end, you don’t have any common experience to draw on to decide if they will love or hate the movie.
Any and all of the above experiences can be really fun! Or not. So, I think this analogy – because the pizza one wasn’t enough – also applies to sex. There are lots of internal thoughts, feelings, and concerns that your characters are dealing with in any of the above situations or any variations therein. (Also, think about going to the movies with people you know you don’t like. Automatically less fun. Boo.) My plan is not to cover the technical physiological details of characters engaging in sex, but to talk about how the experiences and knowledge they have about each other and/or themselves will factor into their experience. This is also why in stories that are demonstrating a growing relationship, there can be multiple sexual encounters. Because by the second or third or seventh, depending on the story, there should be a material change in how these characters engage in sexual behavior with one another. They have learned new information about each other. They already know how the other feels about popcorn.

I know we touched on power dynamics a little in the consent topic, but let’s talk in a little more detail. In almost any configuration of a relationship you can imagine, someone has more power. There are some exceptions, but they are rare. Power manifests in different ways, and certainly it is possible for some characters to have similar amounts of power.
Power is often rooted in the culture, so certainly some of these things will be different in different countries, in different worlds. Although, I will say, one trick I see often in sci-fi worlds is to flip one power dynamic (often only one) and assume that by flipping one, the only change in that world is that those people would wield power in ways that are remarkably similar to the ways we see done in our world, just with different shaped people doing it. And well, think on why there wouldn’t be more differences than that.
Anyhoodle. So, in the current US society the following things provide power: -Being a cis-gender male -Being white or white-presenting -Being rich -Being older (there are some places where this starts to wane certainly) -Being able-bodied -Being fluent in English and able to speak it with an accepted Mid-Atlantic accent -Being heterosexual or hetero- presenting -Having a college degree This is not an exhaustive list, and certainly there are axes and spectrums within these. Some degrees are considered to carry more weight and power than others, as an example. Able-bodied can be in the eye of the beholder as long as no one asks you to run, as another.
None of this is, I expect, news to anyone. But it does mean that a story between a white, cisgender, able bodied, English speaking, college educated, heterosexual male, and a white, cisgender, able bodied, English speaking, college educated, heterosexual female – one of them has more cultural power. This may – in theory – not come up much in your story at all. But it does mean the more power and access you layer into any of the characters, it changes what that means for your story. A relationship between a eighteen year-old and a twenty-two year-old may not break any laws, but one of them has more power in this world. I was an irregular watcher of the show “Younger” but one of the things I felt it did well, was look at how being perceived to be very young and inexperienced changed how many of the other characters – except the one who was actually young – treated Liza. So what does this mean for the choices your characters make? Well, in any fictional relationship it’s important to take a look at which character holds more power. Because that character is going to have the option to do the most harm. A boss can fire a subordinate character. A rich person has more resources to carry out legal and other threats. An able-bodied person can afford to be more flip about health care access. Does this mean only the character with more power can harm the relationship? No. But it means, if the character with more power harms the relationship, they have to do more work to repair it.

Because we are talking about drugs and alcohol today, and how they affect a character’s ability to consent, we are going to brush up against some discussion of violation of consent. If that means today’s topic is not for you, or not for you today, please feel free to skip.

RAINN has resources and info to discuss sexual assault, and assisting loved ones who have experienced it, as well as links for those outside the US: The National Sexual Assault Hotline is available 24/7: Telephone: 800.656.HOPE (4673) Online chat: online.rainn.org Español: rainn.org/es

The health class I took in middle school took us through several types of drugs, as well as alcohol, and talked through what the generally expected effects of each were and what counts as a serving for alcohol.
I am not going to be that thorough. I will point you to a resource though. Well, so why are we talking about this then? Excellent question. The end result is that whether it is cocaine, a glass of wine, a cigarette, or one of many other choices, characters engage in these substances in order to change how they feel. In the case of alcohol in particular, characters may experience a lowering of inhibitions and/or an inability to forcefully object to suggestions or situations that make them uncomfortable. As such, if the authorial intent is to show sexual behavior between or among characters who are able to make fully informed and fully aware decisions about the sexual behavior that is to follow, then having them be high or drunk in the story, may not be the choice that best supports that. Am I saying a character can never get high without setting a timer to see when they get to make fully informed decisions again? Say it with me now – No, I am not. Similarly am I trying to quash every got drunk and woke up married story? No, I am not. (I love those.) It makes story sense to use similar soothing mechanisms for a character in multiple scenes. Just like we all knew what it meant when the Golden Girls reached for cheesecake. If that soothing mechanism is something that can alter the character’s ability to fully consent, then think about what else can be done in the scene to demonstrate that this character is aware and okay. It could be altering your timeline, it could be changing the quantity. There is also the option that one or more characters decide to indicate interest to one another in sexual activity but wait to follow through until another time. And of course, if you are intending to demonstrate bad decision making in your story, then carry on. What we’re trying to avoid here is the “Game of Thrones” situation, where they created a scene that they thought looked consensual, that to many viewers did not, because they had removed all the parts where one character agreed to the behavior.

Before we dive in, I’m going to note that ableism is an area I am still working on myself. As we are discussing some ableist myths, this may be a tough read for some. Please take whatever necessary steps to care for yourself, up to and including skipping this one. As per usual, I already hear fictional author A sighing, and saying fine, if I just have able bodied characters having sex in my stories, can I skip this one? Oh, fictional author A, I would hope that you do not. Because ableism is a thing we should consider even when out main characters are, by all accounts, fully able.
But let’s start with characters who have some long term, chronic, or even acute condition. The character may certainly be nervous if they have not had sex since the onset of the condition. They may also have had this condition most of their lives and the only thing they are nervous about is the response of partner(s) unfamiliar with the condition.
We are now very many words into talking about sex among fictional characters. I obviously believe that sex is and can be an important part of a wonderful life, and can be used to demonstrate growing closeness between characters.
But, sex is not magic. (I mean, unless you are writing paranormal.) Sex can create a large number of pleasurable physical responses, and those things can be great for stress relief and overall happiness. But it also doesn’t materially change a character’s body or their life. A character with a condition who has sex, is still a character with a condition after sex. Certainly the character may experience relief that pre-sex nervousness was less necessary than predicted. Similarly a character who has sex with a person with a condition, is not better or kinder for doing so. As an author, the work still needs to be done to demonstrate why this relationship is going to succeed – if that is your goal. Some typical ableist myths about folks with disabilities and sex: -They don’t need or desire it. (Of course, folks with disabilities can also exist on the asexual spectrum, but society’s default assumption tends to place them there solely on the basis of disability.) -If they do want it, they would have to find someone incredibly kind to get some. (Characters that only have sex out of kindness are not good characters. Again, this may be the authorial intention.) -They would have to pay for it. (Again, paying for sex is a choice characters can make, but should not be presented as an obvious or only choice without further work on the part of the story to ground that.) -If they get sex, that would be a lifelong fulfillment of a dream they never thought they’d achieve. (Um, no. I mean if the sex was really that good, wouldn’t the character want more?) How does this come up with a story that doesn’t feature any disabled characters having sex? I’m so glad you asked. There’s a lot of ableist language we reach for often without thinking about it. Things like, “What are you blind?” or “How lame is that?” are just a few examples of ableist things characters don’t need to say – unless of course your authorial intention is to demonstrate their ableism.

So let’s talk about something that often goes ignored in some fiction. Money. Sure, it comes up when a character needs money to save the community center, it comes up when one character is a billionaire or gazillionaire. But money ties into a lot of decisions characters make about sex, and no I am not solely referring to sex work.
Technically I could have called this section contraception part 5. Because guess what costs money? Contraception does! Guess what also costs money? Babies! If your characters exist in the current US healthcare system, guess what costs money? Healthcare!
So, if your story exists in a world, culture, or universe outside of the modern US, these are still things worth considering:
What kind of money and access to healthcare do your characters have? What are the potential financial and social results of their seeking access for any sort of reproductive related healthcare? What are the potential financial and social results of their having a child? Now, I’ll repeat again, that I am not saying you have to write perfect characters who sit and write lists of all these questions, sort out the accompanying answers, and then behave in accordance with the choices that bring them the greatest amount of pleasure (entendre intended) and avoid all those that will bring them pain. I am suggesting the author should know the answers to these questions. If fictional author A writes a story with a character who is still paying off their student loans, hasn’t held a regular job, and is in danger of being kicked out of their apartment, I the reader am going to be really interested in how that character got access to the pill. And, to use a slightly different metaphor to repeat a point I’ve made before, your story is an iceberg. Some of these details will not need to be on the page. I still enjoyed “Frozen” even though I have no idea how a country survives when it’s queens keep skipping all their court meetings for adventures. Also, I’m a huge pantser. It often doesn’t occur to me to answer these questions, until the second draft. I’m not trying to ruin your fiction, only enhance it. In the first season on the TV show “Shrill”, our main character Annie tells her roommate her boyfriend doesn’t like condoms so they just haven’t been using them. She has been using emergency contraception when she gets pregnant. Except, well, emergency contraception, is – as the show notes, less reliable for folks over a certain weight. Also, while the show does not get into this, the latest studies show sperm can rock up to five days waiting on a cool egg to fertilize, so emergency contraception is a useful choice for folks. But, there is always the chance that by the time the character goes to retrieve the emergency contraception and take it, that they are already pregnant. As Annie talks this through with her roommate, her roommate also notes, that emergency contraception is not a particularly cheap option. So the financial and health burden of this choice has been falling entirely on Annie. So the money your characters have or have been presented as having, should factor into the decisions they make about sex.

Some things I read and enjoyed in the first quarter. Bookshop links included.

This is Not the Jess Show by Anna Carey - Jess starts to notice her life is weird. Her friend at school has a fancy gadget she won’t explain, she can hear weird voices chanting, and her dog is different. When the guy she’s been making out with confesses her life has been televised, Jess can’t believe it. And so she decides to take matters into her own hands. Because Jess believes it’s 1998, it was somewhat nostalgic for those of us who can remember it. Someone asked me if it was basically “The Truman Show” and I feel like yes-ish. Because it’s a book, it can delve more into how Jess feels, and what she learns about why some people engaged in the choices they made.

- A college girl uses a rental service to bring home a guy to convince her parents to stop trying to set her up with this awful guy in town, and well, it is both more and less successful than planned, especially when her rental boyfriend becomes the person who understands her best, and she maybe falls in love with him. This is one where the parents are really not great at listening (the need for a rental boyfriend might have tipped you off there) but the parents motivations are clearly based in a different methodology. Also for folks who like holiday books, this covers Thanksgiving through Lunar New Year.