Happy Black History Month! This is one of my favorite months of the year, not just because publishing and literary outlets all collectively remember that Black authors exist, but because it’s also Valentine’s Day, one of my favorite holidays, and the birthday of my agent, two of my friends, and my favorite cousin. This particular February also marks the release of THIS ENDS IN EMBERS in paperback, on 2/10/26. For a short month, February sure packs a lot into it. I’m already looking forward to February 15, or, as I call it, Discount Candy Day.
This month is also the deadline for the first draft of my next Adult book, HEIR UNDYING, an Adult vampire fantasy that’s very different in tone to AN ARCANE INHERITANCE. I’m still processing everyone’s kind reactions to my Adult debut, which has hit the USA Today bestseller list (twice!) and the indie bestseller list (twice!) as well as allowing me to embark on one of the best author tours I’ve ever been privileged to take. I know I say this all the time, but it would be impossible for me to do what I do without my readers, and I just want to say thank you. Thank you, thank you, and thank you again.
That said, I haven’t really had much time for, well, anything while I work on this draft. My current read is a book I just read for blurbing purposes, Divine Oaths by Elizabeth Agyemang. I’m finally—finally—watching Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, after being traumatized by Full Metal Alchemist (2003), and it’s no less traumatizing. And my current music is still the HEIR UNDYING playlist, because deadline.
Okay, let’s get serious.
If you’ve been on Threads—and I hope for your sake you haven’t—then you may have noticed a bleak overview of the state of publishing for QBIPOC authors. Honestly, it’s bleak across the board, but when publishing sneezes, it’s queer and BIPOC authors who catch the cold. Others have said this in much more coherent ways than I ever could, so I’m just going to quote them.
First, from bestselling author Claribel Ortega:
It is incredibly demoralizing to be a marginalized author right now. Book bans, low morale, and every platform we build for ourselves when we don’t have publisher support being bought and destroyed...it’s so frustrating and scary. Just want to voice what I am feeling in case you are an author and are feeling it too. You’re not alone, this sucks, I know we can rise above it but right now it’s hard.
Second, from debut author Brittany Johnson:
I do believe everything happens when it’s supposed to, but there were so many days I didn’t know who to talk to because how different the landscape for Debuts is now compared to even three years ago and three before that. And it’s not just the debut world that’s different, but the entire publishing world. Every time I log on, it’s people from every career stage/level uncertain, struggling, and frustrated. It’s...daunting.
It can be hard to read these things, especially when you’re an aspiring author. It can make you wonder why you’re working so hard to get to a place where you aren’t welcome. Personally, people are putting into words many things that I’ve been feeling as well—and because they are, I feel even more energized to continue to put my stories out there no matter what. Something about knowing that I’m not the only one struggling makes me want to fight. I’ve put on my own oxygen mask, and now I’m helping others.
Because as hard as it is, as impossible as it seems, as exhausting as it gets, QBIPOC authors are still here.
Through rejections and book bans, through the loss of promotional channels and the rise of AI, authors like Claribel (Witchlings) and Brittany (Deadly Ever After) are still here.
Even two years and three and a half books in, I still feel like a baby writer, and I look up to every other author who is still busting their ass as my inspiration. I wish it didn’t have to be like this. I wish we could be afforded the same advances, marketing, and love as our white counterparts. I wish, I wish, I wish. But with QBIPOC authors continuing to speak out and speak up for each other, and continuing to try and sell their work for the readers who need them most, I feel the need to give nothing less than my best to uplift them and my readers, too.
Authors like Angie Thomas and Tracy Deonn, Jason Reynolds and Tiffany D. Jackson, Kwame Alexander and Nicola Yoon paved the way for me, and I do my best to hold the door open and pave the way for the Black authors walking in behind me. This Black History Month—and every month of every year—I hope you join me in reading inclusively, championing QBIPOC authors, and being the change you want to see in the world. Publishing moves with an offensive sluggishness, but that doesn’t mean that we have to.
So, yes, I hope you buy my books, especially my upcoming YA romantasy, WICKED ENDEAVORS, which is now available for preorder. But I hope you buy the books below, and other books by marginalized authors, too. Not just for them, but for yourself. When you don’t make it a point to diversify your reading, you truly miss out.
Welcome to the Rec Room, the section of my newsletter that I use to highlight books coming out each month I’m really excited about. For February, we have…
The Good Place meets the Brandy version of Cinderella in Until the Clock Strikes Midnight, a cozy, romantic fantasy from award-winning author Alechia Dow.
Haunted by a portrait that seems to taunt them, a conflicted young aristocrat spirals down a path to the worst possible version of themself in this suspenseful retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray, perfect for fans of The Spirit Bares Its Teeth and These Violent Delights.
In this debut gothic fantasy, a young woman who can see the dead strikes a deal with the magnetic and dangerous Saint of Silence, a purveyor of dark secrets, to save her brother’s life—the first book of a trilogy. This gorgeous hardcover edition features an illustrated book case designed to simulate a leatherbound tome, as well as designed full-color endpapers and a deluxe jacket with foil.
An unputdownable romantasy following a young woman posing as fortune-teller at a magical traveling carnival, where the handsome boy who once broke her heart resurfaces and warns her that the carnival is more sinister than it appears.
When I woke up this morning, Sora spent like ten minutes making biscuits on me and then fell asleep on my leg. Of course as soon as I get the camera out, she looks right at me, but she’s still cute. This little baby turns seven next month!
Thank you for subscribing and/or for sticking around! I hope you like rambles, shenanigans, and nonsense, because that’s truly all this is. Call your reps, donate to mutual aid, and take care of yourself. You’re the only you that you’ve got!
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