Love Letters LIVE

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.

Love Letters: Reasons to Be Alive Kickstarter is LIVE!

I’m launching a publication next year, and the Kickstarter to make it happen is live now! Love Letters: Reasons to Be Alive is a celebration of the small, delightful handholds that get us through life. An amazing lineup of authors and artists have contributed essays, comics, and art about the small, specific experiences and objects that have helped them forge onward through the project of being alive. Together, we're going to produce a quarterly print and digital zine shining a spotlight on the moments that anchor us to existence.

Go check out the Kickstarter for the full description, access to the support tiers (including one that gets you a curated care package from me!), and a sneak peek at the contributor list! We are 50% funded and going strong, and Kickstarter has chosen this project as a "Project We Love." I know you'll love it too!

Support Your Community

Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene struck the Southeast United States over the course of the past two weeks, causing immense destruction and many, many deaths. Flooding, road washouts, and communication outages are still hindering emergency response, including aid to isolated communities that already suffer from poverty and food and housing insecurity. 

• Direct Relief is a humanitarian aid organization that is directing funds to help those affected by Hurricane Milton. I will share more specific Milton relief resources as the situation develops.
• Learn more about how to request FEMA aid here.
• North Carolina Relief Funds directs donations to nonprofits to address the immediate needs of storm victims in North Carolina. 
• Florida Disaster Fund distributes funds to organizations that serve communities in Florida.
• Florida Chamber Safety Council is your resource to pick up volunteer work or send money to disaster relief funds
• CARE provides cash assistance to those in need, supports long-term recovery, and protects at-risk populations
• United Way of Florida is currently assisting those who have been affected by the storms. 

Go get vaccinated!

• Find pharmacies near you and get help scheduling appointments
• Stay up to date on the latest information from the CDC
• Educate your communities with free educational materials

Palestine, Lebanon, & Our Neighbors In the Region. We have the power to help the people who need us right now. Here are a few ways you can do your part.

• Check out a collection of ways to help Lebanese communities here
• Support the United Nations relief efforts in Palestine here
• Donate to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) here
• Purchase from Palestinian-owned business – here are 15 Palestinian brands, 8 Palestinian Etsy Shops, and a portal full of Palestinian goods 
• Check out Gaza Funds, a website that gathers crowdfunding campaigns from people in need in Gaza
• Check out Operation Olive Branch, which helps fund medical evacuations
• Connect with Jewish Voice for Peace
• Use Resistbot to contact your representatives

Finally! You may be aware that in November, the United States will hold an election. If you are eligible to vote in this election, it’s absolutely vital that you confirm your voter registration status.

• Click here to learn your current voter registration status
• Click here to register to vote in your state

Featured New Release: New Year, New You edited by Chris Campbell

An anthology of diverse speculative fiction exploring themes of reinvention, re-imagining, and revolution from Elizabeth Bear, Daryl Gregory, and alumni of the 2023 Viable Paradise Writers' Workshop.

New Year's resolutions and self-help gurus ask us to reinvent ourselves—be better, prettier, perfect. But the writers featured in this anthology know that promises of reinvention contain both potential and pitfalls. 

One woman's doppelgänger offers her a chance to fix her flaws — for a small price. One of Cinderella's stepsisters discovers what she has to sacrifice to create her own fairy tale. Coffee shop regulars debate surviving an impending apocalypse if it means losing espresso. Against the wishes of her family, an eel-person yearns to reveal her true nature. A lonely, sentient ship and her human employee must learn to trust each if they both want to survive. A showgirl in a backwater lunar cabaret seeks cosmic fame—and will do anything to get it

New Year, New You contains stories of rediscovery through time-travel, simulations, and distorted realities. Of reinventions that challenge deeply held beliefs or require a change of perspective. Of mind and body alterations that interrogate desire and self-image.

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

Featured New Release: Dance Fast by A.R. Cribbins

Bizzy can't wait to dance with all her friends and family at the summer gathering this year! But first, she must make the perfect regalia. It's tricky work, even with a grown-up's help, and her high expectations come crashing down in a flurry of torn fabric, loose beads, and tears. With support from her mom, grandma, and little brother, can Bizzy learn to see past the flaws, finish her work, and remember what's really important?

AR Cribbins celebrates Pomo traditions in this charming and humorous tale about creativity and perfectionism. 

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

If you’re a paying subscriber, this month’s Supper Club members get a recipe postcard from me this month! Go sign up!

—Gailey