Digest 08.25.23 - Stone Soup

Welcome to the Stone Soup Weekly Digest! This is where I share what I'm up to and some of my favorite things from around the internet. Subscribe to Stone Soup to get this in your inbox every week.

I turned in a novel draft today! I’ve been grinding my brain against this book for a long time and I’ve finally gotten it to where I think it deserves to be. I needed to become a better writer in order to do it. Just like last week, it’s a short link round-up this week, because I haven’t been on the internet and don’t know anything about what’s happening out there.

But hey, I will tell you this: I grew some peppers in my garden. I picked them and sliced them and made caramel and then tossed the peppers in it to make cowboy candy. It was incredibly flavorful and very spicy. Today I came outside and discovered that one of the peppers I didn’t pick had turned red. Do we think it will make spicier cowboy candy if I use it, or do we think it will just have a different flavor? I am new to cooking with garden peppers and want advice. (The only thing is… don’t ask me what type of pepper it is, because I 100% forgot.)

The Chronicles of Limbo Kickstarter ends this weekend

Scotty White is Kickstartering the first two issues of his indie comic about a Native American half-vampire and her cosmically powered toddler navigating the multiverse. Back it here.

You probably need this Teal Tiger jacket by Yoshi Yoshitani

It’s embroidered. It’s reversible. It’s beautiful. It’s also Kickstartering through September 14.

I’m Reading: Vampironica by Greg Smallwood and Meg Smallwood

When Veronica is bitten by a centuries-old vampire, her thirst for blood threatens to turn Riverdale into a haven for the undead. Will she put an end to the vampire threat or give in to her blood lust?

Barnes & Noble | Bad River Website | Local Library | Find an Indie Bookstore

Featured New Releases:

Strange Science by Magdalene Visaggio and Butch Mapa

Danni Malloy is Jinx Holliday’s best friend, and where one goes, the other is sure to follow… even if that means through hell and back and forth through the depths of space and time. When Danni receives a mysterious message from former friend Dilton Doiley, Danni is horrified to learn that he’s built a time machine and it’s gone terribly wrong—and now the three of them have been transported to a warped version of Riverdale, where nothing seems quite right. It’s up to Danni to set things right and bring them back to the present day, and the hometown they know and love… and she might have to explain a thing or two to Jinx about what’s going on, too! STRANGE SCIENCE explores Danni’s personal history, time travel, and the importance of being to be true to yourself and what matters most to you.

Google Play | ComiXology | Find a Local Comic Shop

The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang

Lin Chong is an expert arms instructor, training the Emperor's soldiers in sword and truncheon, battle axe and spear, lance and crossbow. Unlike bolder friends who flirt with challenging the unequal hierarchies and values of Imperial society, she believes in keeping her head down and doing her job.

Until a powerful man with a vendetta rips that carefully-built life away.

Disgraced, tattooed as a criminal, and on the run from an Imperial Marshall who will stop at nothing to see her dead, Lin Chong is recruited by the Bandits of Liangshan. Mountain outlaws on the margins of society, the Liangshan Bandits proclaim a belief in justice―for women, for the downtrodden, for progressive thinkers a corrupt Empire would imprison or destroy. They’re also murderers, thieves, smugglers, and cutthroats.

Apart, they love like demons and fight like tigers. Together, they could bring down an empire.

Barnes & Noble | Bad River Website | Local Library | Find an Indie Bookstore

Kitten Update

The stinkies turned two this week!! They’re fully grown cats, but they’ll always be kittens to me. Wish them a happy birthday by finding a moment of your day to spend lounging in a sunbeam or staring at a spider on the ceiling.

If you’re a paying subscriber, come by the Stone Soup Supper Club for our weekly chat! I can’t wait to find out how you’re doing.

—Gailey