I have reached a trifecta of tiredness this week. I have a huge deadline looming for my thesis proposal at school, I have my first in-person book event since the pandemic coming up (see below!), and I have a family concern that’s weighing on me. So I don’t really have the brainpower to write something thoughtful about literature—unless you’re my advisor who will be reading my thesis proposal next week. If you are, then rest assured, that is where all my literature thoughts are going right now.

With all that said, let’s just accept that there will likely be typos in this newsletter and get to the announcements!

S2 Small and Self-Publishing Faire, April 5-6

This book faire is brought to you by some of my favorite local businesses: Two Rivers Bookstore, Daydreamer Coffee, and Indigo Editing, and many more. (Full disclosure: I with Indigo as a book editor.)

On Friday, April 5, there will be a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. with readings from several authors. On Saturday, April 6, the book faire will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be plenty of books to buy, and short readings each hour by the authors. Further incentive: Daydreamer makes my favorite fancy coffees in the entire city. You should at least come get a fancy coffee. You deserve it.

Location: Daydreamer Coffee, 7315 N Fessenden St, Portland OR

I have a fresh stock of all my books, so if you’re in the neighborhood, or anywhere in town, or even somewhere near the city of Portland, you should come by, say hi, and buy a book. And I’ll have exclusive zines of the first chapter of Memoirs of a French Courtesan Vol. 2: Spectacle for sale. Our hero Céleste goes to her first Parisian ball. Oh la la!

I’ll Be Reading at the Book Faire

I’ll be reading a short selection from my translation of Memoirs of a French Courtesan by Céleste Mogador at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. I still don’t know if I’ll read from Volume 1: Rebellion (out now!) or Volume 2: Spectacle (out September 10!). Let’s all find out together, or you can make a request in the comment. In any case, there will be plenty of copies of Rebellion on hand for you to buy at the booth.

Courtesan Update

Speaking of Memoirs of a French Courtesan, I made my deadline for Volume 2! I sent the text to the editor and the design brief to the book cover designer. Melissa will work on the text for the month of April, then I’ll make the required revisions to bring it up to a professional level before I design the interior.

Jenny, meanwhile, will be sending me mock-ups of the cover this month. It’ll be based on Volume 1 so they match and look nice on a shelf and signal to the reader that these are part of a series. But I’m excited to see what new elements Jenny introduces to make Volume 2 a spectacle.

All of this is to say that a cover reveal is coming later this spring, and review copies will again be available via NetGalley this summer in advance of publication day, September 10.

While all of this exciting book stuff is going on, I’m also working on the translation of Volume 3. There’s a real sense of serendipity on this third book of the series, so I’m considering a subtitle like “Luck” or “Chance.” If you have ideas or favorite synonyms for the concept of right (or wrong) place at the right (or wrong) time, let me know in the comments.

You can buy all of KHG’s books and the books she recommends at Bookshop.org. You can also buy her books in paperback and ebook formats directly from her shop.