Safely Through the Heat

another letter from the Highlands

It’s July in the Highlands. Hope all of you made it safely through the heat and other craziness out there. There’s been a steamy haze over the Hudson every morning when we step out on our patio, so we stay inside, writing and working till the sun goes down, when we can step back outside again and watch the sky change colors over the bay.

One challenging thing about writing a newsletter (for those of you who haven’t done it yet) is that sometimes there’s no news, so you end up writing “deep thoughts” about the way a dew-drop catches the sunlight, etc.––at other times (though not so often) there’s suddenly so much news, it almost feels like too much, but it’s so good, you have to share it.

This time, I have two pieces of good news converging just three weeks from now.

First, Saving Thornwood, the new novel that Julia Rust and I wrote together, is finally being released on July 17! Have a look at the cover:

This awesome artwork is by Errick Nunnally who also did the terrific cover art for our first novel, Angel Falls. Errick listened patiently to our ideas––the coherent and the not-so-coherent ones––and nailed this beauty on the first shot.

Julia and I are both so happy that this book is finally coming out. We’ve really put everything we have into it, and we hope it’ll go straight to people’s hearts, the way it’s gone to ours. Big thanks to our publisher, John McIlveen of YAP Books - Haverhill House Publishing for believing in this story and bringing it out into the world.

We’re both amazed and grateful for all the kind words from writers we admire and respect. Here are some of those words from Erica Waters, author of The River Has Teeth and All That Consumes Us:

“Saving Thornwood takes on two weighty subjects—the awful history of mental health care institutions in the U.S. and the need for accessible and destigmatizing mental health care today—but the voices of its two main characters make the topic feel lived-in and approachable. Its nineteenth-century narrator, Mary, trapped in Thornwood Asylum, is as fierce as they come, and modern-day Annie, who is navigating her dad's new mental health diagnosis, is Mary's match in thoughtfulness and care for those she loves. Watching the two girls interact through their supernatural meetings, as well as through the interplay of history, was fascinating and moving.”

If that sounds like a good read to you, we hope you’ll get yourself a copy of Saving Thornwood this summer. And if you’d kind enough to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads (or even both!) we’d be very grateful.

The other piece of news I want to share is that my second collection of short fiction, These Things That Walk Behind Me from Lethe Press, has just been nominated for the 2024 Shirley Jackson Award for best collection! Let me say that one more time, just to get it through my head…The Shirley Jackson Award Award for best collection! (Wow, I almost believed it that time.) ;-)

The Shirley Jackson Awards are given annually “in recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson’s writing, and with permission of the author’s estate. The Shirley Jackson Awards, Inc. has been established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.”

Seriously, it’s hard to express what a huge honor and validation it is to even be considered for nominee status for the Shirley Jackson Award. What I love is that I get to be part of a community of writers, publishers, and readers who know and practice the same kind of strange, mind-opening fiction that we all love.

Shout-outs to my fellow SJA nominees for best collection: Eugen Bacon, Carina Bissett, Devon A. Mihesuah, and Scott Thomas. It’s good to be in your company.

Julia and I are going to the award ceremony in Boston on July 19, where I’m going to cheer as loud as I can for whoever wins.

Right now, I feel like we all won.

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I hope you enjoyed this July letter from the Highlands. As always, your thoughts and words are welcome.

I also hope you’ll consider subscribing to STRANGE LITTLE STORIES. (It’s free, BTW.) You can check out past installments here. And please feel free to spread the word.

If you’d like to order your copy of Saving Thornwood, you can get it now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Bookstore.org.

Finally, a friendly reminder that my new collection from Lethe Press, These Things That Walk Behind Me, is available directly from the publisher, or by order from your favorite indie bookshop.