Wearing The Lion tour schedule, plus I WON A NEBULA AWARD!!
Packing my bag to come visit readers!
Greetings beloved readers! I’ve been quiet the past couple months as I’ve had my nose down in projects, particularly in writing a future book. I’m just a few chapters away from a complete draft, which is a wonderful feeling.
But it’s warmer outside and conventions are starting up. And then the wonderful folks at SFWA hit me with a surprise: Someone You Can Build A Nest In won the Nebula Award for Best Novel.
This is a huge dream for me. I’m still trying to process the kindness people have showed me. I’ve received a lot of requests for the text of my acceptance speech, and so I’ve included it at the bottom of this newsletter. I’m making it available for free for everyone.
There’s this other big event on the horizon: my second book, Wearing The Lion, comes out next week!
And I want to share my tour schedule with y’all. One of the absolute best parts of being a writer is getting to chat with readers. Here are some easy places you can find me in the near future.
June 16, Launch Party at The Strand Bookstore
Details: Launch Party for Wearing The Lion! Live conversation with NYT-bestselling author Caitlin Rozakis, book signing, and quite possibly cake. The children of the land rejoice.
Start Time: 7:00 PM
Location: The Strand Rare Book Room, 828 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
June 20, Q&A and signing at Paramus Barnes & Noble
Details: John is in conversation with Barnes & Noble’s booksellers, takes audience questions, and signs books. The children of the land rejoice.
Start Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Barnes & Noble, 634 NJ-17, Paramus, NJ 07652
June 24, in conversation with Emet North at Oblong Books
Details: John is in conversation with award-winning author Emet North, and they sign books. The children of the land rejoice.
Start Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Oblong Books, 6422 Montgomery Street, Rhinebeck, NY 12572
June 26, AMA on r/Fantasy
Details: John answers any and all questions the internet can dream up.
Start Time: All day!
Location: r/Fantasy on Reddit.
July 17-20, Readercon
Details: One of my favorite conventions! I’m planning to do panels, signings, readings, a kaffeeklatsch, and to be way too loud out on the porch.
Time: All weekend
Location: Marriott Hotel, One Burlington Mall Road, Burlington, MA 01803
July 20, in conversation with Elizabeth Bear at Pandemonium Books
Details: John talks to award-winning author Elizabeth Bear about her new book THE FOLDED SKY, his new book WEARING THE LION, and everything the audience desires. They sign copies of their books. The children of the land rejoice.
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: Pandemonium Books & Games, 4 Pleasant St, Cambridge, MA 02139
If you want a signed copy but can't make it to any of my signings, there is one more option. I'm working with the indie bookstore Oblong Books to provide signed copies. They ship internationally and are happy to help you out. If you order by this Thursday, I can guarantee that I will personally sign your book before it's shipped.
The above are the events I’ve nailed down. I’m excited to hit the road again and meet readers. There are still a couple more virtual events in the works, since it’s always great to reach out and connect across big distances.
Before I pack my bag to hit the road next week, I have one more thing to share. My acceptance speech for the Nebula Award got a wonderful reception. I promised to share the text of my speech. And no liar!
To close out this newsletter, here is the full text.
Hi everybody! I don’t know what to say, except…
(John grabs his 2021 Nebula trophy from off screen and yells at it)
Hey, 2021 Nebula Award! You’re going to have a little sister!
(John regains his senses and puts the trophy down. It is deceptively heavy.)
I don’t know how else to put it. I am reduced to giddiness and goofiness. I am boggled by this wonderful honor to the point where I am manhandling chunks of lucite in joy.
Thank you all for the reception to this book. It has meant the world to me. Honestly, if my monster helped you get through one bad day, or one hour, or made you feel less alone for one minute, then that is more award than I ever could have asked for.
The road here has been fraught and strange. I’m just grateful to so many people who made this possible. My agent, Hannah Bowman, and my publishers, DAW Books and Arcadia Books, who took huge risks on me.
I’m grateful to be part of this growing number of aspec writers including Merc Fenn Wolfmoor and Melissa Carusso, Kemi Ashing-Giwa and Genoveva Dimova, Essa Hansen and Khan Wong. There are so many! And we all belong, both in the storytelling tradition, and at Pride.
I’m so grateful to be a part of it. To be among disabled readers, and queer writers, and booksellers who stand up to censorship, and librarians who fight book bans. If you’re in that auditorium tonight and cared enough to mask, I’m grateful to you. If you advocate for your autistic siblings? If you defend trans children against politicians? If you see this era that constantly pressures us to deny our truths, and you say, “No. We all belong.” Then you are the fabric of this community, and you are why I write, and frankly you’re why I read, and you’re why I’m proud to be part of a group we call ‘us.’
Before I sign off, I want to shout out one more member of our community. The writer who thinks they can’t make it. Who has been told they are too weird. Who has been ground down under the boot heel of rejections. The writer whose story is going to remind me why I love reading… tomorrow.
You! If you’re listening. This book that I just won this award for is the book I wrote after I gave up. It’s my first published novel, but it came after ten novels you’ve never seen. After working my tail off, and year after year being told, “No.”
What I did was I sulked.
And then I went back to my room and wrote something as neurodivergent as I am. Someone as ace as I am. That was weird in the ways that made me laugh, and also weird in ways that made me feel like I wasn’t hiding.
I want to take this moment to say: if you’re struggling, and you feel discouraged, sulk away! But I hope you return to the page tomorrow and write something from your heart that nobody else can. Because I can’t wait to read what you have to share.
With that, thank you all so much to the members of SFWA for this outrageous honor.
We all belong.
THE END
Congratulations!