Hey there!

I have some exciting news about the Kickstarter — but first I need to tell you about an amazing person.

Last weekend, I had the chance to catch up with one of my childhood heroes. A woman who helped bend the arc of my life towards writing science fiction.

She's the one.

The only.

Librarian Joyce Cowin.

Mrs. Cowin was the librarian at my elementary school, which means she got to spend a lot of time with me.

Besides the usual library period each week, I also spent many lunch breaks reading in the library and helping Mrs. Cowin with tasks like reshelving books. She helped feed my voracious appetite for reading, introducing me to new series and authors she thought I'd like, and funneling me an endless supply of Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Brown, and Hardy Boys novels.

(I've always liked mysteries!)

That library was my safe space, as well as being a portal to strange and epic new worlds. And Mrs. Cowin was also one of my very first readers, since I'd show her all the odd little stories I wrote.

I ran into Mrs. Cowin last weekend when I was back home for my grandma's memorial service (which was a masterclass in how to celebrate an epic life; kudos to my mom and her siblings for that!).

In my most recent VIP Crew dispatch, I talked about re-learning to play the bass guitar for the family band at my grandma's memorial.

It was so good to see that she's doing well, and reminisce about a place that brought me some of my happiest memories!

I'm still an avid user and advocate of libraries, so I'm always delighted when readers say they've requested my books from their local library. Librarians are real heroes, and Mrs. Cowin is pure legend. 💕

Were you also a library lurker as a kid? I'll post a link to this newsletter on my Facebook page. If you want to share a story of your favorite librarian, feel free to hit reply as usual, or head over to Facebook to join the conversation!

Kickstarter stretch goals

My Bulari Saga Travel Guide Kickstarter funded in the first two hours!?!

My Kickstarter philosophy is that if you're going to do the project anyway, you should set a goal that's sure to fund. If you're on the fence, you should set a challenging goal so you're not on the hook doing a thing people don't want to buy.

I was going to do the Bulari Saga Travel Guide eventually anyway. So, when I set this goal, I was pretty sure it would fund during the 25-day period. Probably even in the first week.

But two hours? That was extremely unexpected.

So I decided to add a couple of stretch goals inspired by the spirit of this project.

This is a love letter to fans of the Bulari Saga, so why not find more ways to give readers exactly what they want, and bring them into the process?

Stretch Goal 1: Your burning questions, answered

If we hit $2000, I'll include a chapter in the Bulari Saga Travel Guide answering YOUR questions. (As best as I can!) I'll solicit questions about the books and characters from Bulari Saga fans and Kickstarter backers — and nothing is off the table.

The caveat is that there are some things I simply don't know, and some things that might be spoilers for future books — and I won't answer those.

So I can't promise I'll have any additional intel about Lucky and Goldie... But that doesn't mean you can't ask!

Stretch Goal 2: People's choice alternate POV scene

Should we hit $3000, I'll send out a poll with a few options of scenes where I could write from another character's point of view.

For example, I'm already including a scene from Phaera's POV from the party at Judge Leone's house in Double Edged (Book 1).

But maybe you want to read the scene in Heat Death where Toshiyo meets the returning crew from El's point of view. Or maybe you want me to get into Oriol's POV in the scene where he rescues [redacted] from [redacted] at the end of book 4....

Or maybe you have another suggestion you'd like to make. If we hit $3000, I'll solicit suggestions, choose the ones that I feel would be the most engaging, and then poll you all to see what you think.

And if we hit $3000 and still have time left?

Well, I'll come up with some more fun ideas for y'all!

So if you want to see these two goals come to life, go grab your copy of the Bulari Saga Travel Guide.

And thank you so much for giving this project an amazing first week!

P.S. Reader AJ Kerrigan wrote a wonderful piece about discovering my work through a short story in Dispatches From Anarres and sinking into my worlds. Check it out!