Let’s Work Together

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.

Stone Soup has, for a long time now, been focused on interdependence. We’ve talked about how food connects communities, how books connect us to each other, and how stories are the result of our connections to other creatives. 

As we move forward into an unpredictable and unknowable future, Stone Soup will continue to be about what it’s about. Next year, this will be the site of the Love Letters: Reasons to Be Alive series, which is about sharing the handholds that keep us hanging on through impossible times. The weekly digest will continue to highlight exciting and upcoming work, while also shining a spotlight on vital community resources. It is my goal, both here and everywhere, to work toward providing people with sources of connection to each other, to the world around them, and to the future.

I am so glad to be connected to you, my friends.

-gailey

Never Too Old To Save The World Bundle  

If you're looking for fantasy with older characters kicking ass, check out the "Never Too Old to Save the World" StoryBundle, featuring Personal Canons Cookbook contributor and friend of the newsletter Brandon Crilly!

Fantasy is riddled with tales of teens and young adults saving the world. The parents are usually dead, clueless, or waving goodbye as their kids head off to potential death and definite trauma. Not in this bundle! Here, middle-aged heroes claim and keep their power. They lift others up and don't shy away from new challenges. They're older, maybe wiser, and they're certainly not out of the fight!

This bundle includes grizzled assassins challenging their faith, sixty-somethings coming into their power as witches, and a certain cranky magician who needs to get over his crap (yes, that's Mavrin in Brandon's novel Catalyst). Plus, the sales from this bundle directly support indie authors and publishers, with proceeds also going to the charity Girls Write Now.

"Never Too Old to Save the World" ends on November 21st. Don't miss out!

Support Your Community

These days, The Digest nearly always includes links for community support and mutual aid resources. I am now asking members of the Stone Soup Supper Club to share their vetted and trusted mutual aid and support resources, so some of the things I share here going forward will be specific due to the referrals I’m getting from Supper Club members.

• NorCal Resist is raising funds to post bonds for folks in immigration detention 
• Support the NO KINGS act
• Check out these queer and trans self-defense resources
• Get up-to-date on your first aid training
• Download this Street Medic Training Handbook
• Contact Trans Lifeline for 24/7 support, and consider donating and/or volunteering to directly help trans people

CLICK HERE for a round-up of more resources that will allow you to serve your community at home and around the world by getting vaccinated and helping support those who are currently in need around the world.

Featured New Release: We Called Them Giants by Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, and Clayton Cowles

Lori wakes to find the streets empty. Everyone has gone. Or at least, nearly everyone. She’s thrown into a world where she has to scrape by in the ruins of civilization, nearly starving, hiding from gangs when …

They arrive.

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

Currently Reading: Uncanny The Origins of Fear by Junji Ito

Why are we drawn to fear?

Horror manga legend Junji Ito has fascinated the world with his beautiful and strange tales, from his debut story “Tomie” to Uzumaki, Gyo, and many other famous works.

In this professional memoir and horror manga analysis, he tells all and digs into dark recesses—reflections on influences from his childhood, thoughts on manga, next-level idea-generation techniques, character design, craftmanship, and more. Full of never-before-told insider anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stories, this is a must-have book for fans who want to immerse themselves completely in the world of Junji Ito.

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

If you’re a paying subscriber, come say hello in the Supper Club and share the ways you’re connecting with and supporting your local community! 

In the meantime, do what you can. Care for yourself and the people around you. Believe that the world can be better than it is now. Never give up.

—Gailey