Being off of social media has been harder than I expected and I have missed a lot, I know. BUT here are some cool things that have happened that I *do* know about!

First, here is Emma Newman’s awards eligibility post for 2015! In addition to PLANETFALL (ahem) her podcast Tea & Jeopardy is also eligible for nomination.

Second, I’m participating in the #DVPit event on April 19, 2016. The marvelous Beth Phelan of the Jenny Bent agency put it together. This is what it’s about:

#DVpit is a Twitter event created to showcase pitches about and especially by marginalized voices. This includes (but is not limited to): people of color; people living and/or born/raised in underrepresented cultures and countries; disabled persons; people with illness; people on marginalized ends of the socioeconomic, cultural and/or religious spectrum; people identifying as LGBTQIA+; and more.

I haven’t been doing a lot of pitch contests recently but I’m very excited to participate in this one. Follow the link above to see how to participate. You can read this Salon piece by Paula Young Lee to see why this is an exciting, necessary hashtag.

Third… I’m sure there’s a third. I finally finished Alexander Watson’s RING OF STEEL, an 830 page book about Germany & Austria-Hungary in WWI that I’ve been reading since December, and it was fine. I gave it 3 stars because I finished it, but the author never met a pertinent fact he didn’t want to include. It didn’t *need* to be 830 pages, let’s just put it that way. Now I’m on to THE FALL OF THE OTTOMANS by Eugene Rogan, and also half-heartedly participating in the Tumblr Reblog Book Club discussions of SALT TO THE SEA by Ruta Sepetys, and also gazing balefully at Dorothy Dunnet’s THE GAME OF KINGS and thinking I should put it up again.

Fourth, I’ve figured out my con attendance for the year:

RT Booklover’s Convention – Las Vegas, NV April 12-17
MidAmeriCon – Kansas City, MO August 17-21
Sirens Conference – Denver, CO October 20-23
World Fantasy Convention – Columbus, OH October 27-30

I’m only taking pitches at RT.

Anyway, I think that’s all! Happy reading. 

Marieke Nijkamp’s THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS can be found on the “What Teens Are Reading Next” table at most Barnes & Nobles!