Reading Report - August 2026

Hi friends, first I think I owe an explanation for my unscheduled hiatus. Last month's "summer slowdown" turned out to be a cold, which ran its course in about a week. Unfortunately, that cold virus had just the right design to kick on a condition I now know is called chronic spontaneous hives (that's also my new band name) that took me out physically, mentally, and emotionally for the rest of the month. The last time this happened I was in college, and I thought I was mostly done with it. But no. See "chronic" and "spontaneous" above. The good news is it's not a food allergy, in fact I can now eat the foods I was avoiding. Small wins! The bad news is this is not a short-term condition and I'm likely in for a long haul. So my "Year of Joy" is through gritted teeth at the moment. That said, I have a support network of friends and family, a flexible and understanding workplace, and prior experience to know that it does eventually get better. So if you're still here, thanks for sticking with me. Writing is resuming as I can, but it is resuming, so more to come. Happy Writing! ~EM

Year of Joy

I've been avoiding garlic for nearly 15 years. So in celebration of the fact I can eat it again, here are three of my favorite garlic-centric dishes.

• Confit Garlic Bread
• Camarones Al Mojo de Ajo-Garlic Shrimp
• Garlic Scapes Pesto

Speaking of joy, my short story "Pumpkin Guts" is in this spooky sweet collection launching today! It's a classic girl-dumps-boy, boy-tries-revenge-and-ends-up-in-the-compost-heap story. It's sweet, seasonal, and satisfying as the first sip of pumkin spiced revenge.🎃

Learn More

Hyperfocus is Awesome

So I've said earlier that finding your flow in movement is good for your writing. Flow can also be a method of pain relief, or at least distraction. While I didn't get much writing done this month, I did start and nearly finish this blackwork embroidery pattern of the full moon by The Steady Thread. One advantage of being older is collecting coping strategies, and mine makes pretty things. In progress photos on bluesky here. (Photo below).

Longread

"If you aren't paying attention to how your game will make people feel, then no ammount of designing your game on paper will ever result in a good experience."

Replace the words "game" with "book" and follow this advice. Doc is one of the best writers on storytelling writing today.

• Doc Buford - it’s not enough to build something, part 2: you must be aware that someone will play the video game

Books I'm Reading

• T. Kingfisher - Daggerbound - God these are so good. Reading Swordheart first will help, but isn't necessary.
• Ilona Andrews - The Inheritence - A comfort reread, because misery loves company, and fuzzy aliens.
• John Scalzi - Everything But the Squeal - An earlier Scalzi because it sounded fun and boy was it. BTW his "Old Man's War" series just won the Hugo for best series. Go check that out too.
• John Scalzi - Constituent Service - A classic "braid" type plot where every solution causes a problem and vice versa. Also hilarious.
• John Scalzi - Kaiju Preservation Society - A comfort reread, but also looking at how the story is built and all elements feed into the ending.