Stone Soup Digest 02.24.23

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.

Eat the Rich is on the 2022 Bram Stoker Awards Final Ballot!

A huge congratulations to all the 2022 Stoker Award finalists! I am so thrilled to see Eat the Rich nominated in the category of Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel alongside some of my absolute favorite writers working in the medium today (one of whom is featured below in my favorite reads catch-up!). I’m so thankful to have gotten to work on this project with Pius Bak, Roman Titov, Cardinal Rae, and the entire team at Boom Studios. Thank you to everyone who voted!! Whoever wins, I can very honestly say it’s a profound honor to be nominated.

Introducing Supper Club Boosters

If you’ve been a Stone Soup Subscriber for any amount of time at all, you’ve heard me talk about how much I love the Supper Club. That’s where paying subscribers hang out. The Supper Club includes comment access, recipes, book recommendations, monthly co-working dates, and more. The Supper Club is also what makes it so I can run most of the content here at Stone Soup for free—those paying subscriptions make it so I can afford to put in the time and effort you all deserve.

Lately I’ve been hearing from folks who want to support the newsletter, but who would prefer not to get extra emails, or who don’t feel up to participating in a whole community. That’s why I’m introducing Supper Club Boosters, a support tier for folks who just want to keep Stone Soup going! For $2 a month or $20 annually, the Supper Club Booster tier comes with an annual heartfelt thank-you note from me and the knowledge that you're keeping projects like the Personal Canons Cookbook available to everyone, free, forever. No extra obligations, no additional emails to read.

If you’ve been on the fence about whether or not to sign up for a paying subscription, I hope you’ll consider becoming a Booster. Either way, thanks so much for being here!

Fight Book Bans with the EveryLibrary Institute

There’s been a drastic increase in the number of bans on LGBTQ+ books in libraries across the country. This includes my books and many of the books I discuss in this newsletter. Hey, fuck that, it sucks!! Book bans are a tool of fascism and we have to fight them with all we’ve got. Fortunately, EveryLibrary Institute helps fight those bans.

Double Feature Comics Release from Alyssa Wong

Doctor Aphra #29 and Deadpool #4 are out this week!

It's a double-feature comic release week! In Doctor Aphra #29, we're going on a deadly field trip with the Spark Eternal, Trip, and Beetee! And in Deadpool #4, it's a party (bloodbath) at the zoo when Doc Ock and the Harrower crash Deadpool's date!

See you this Wednesday 2/22!🖤 pic.twitter.com/rCt0jNeunE

— Alyssa Wong 💖🌈 (@crashwong) February 20, 2023

Personal Canons Cookbook Highlight: Marina Berlin

This week’s Personal Canons Cookbook contributor is Marina Berlin. Marina is a writer and media critic who grew up speaking three languages. She holds degrees in sociology and film, and is the creator and host of Pop Culture Sociologist—a podcast that analyzes media from a social perspective. Her words have appeared in Strange Horizons, IGN, Vice, Tor and many other outlets. She's currently working on her first novel, which was included on the honor list for the Otherwise Fellowship, dedicated to encouraging the exploration and expansion of gender in SF/F. You can chat with her on twitter at @berlin_marina, or read more of her work on her website.

Marina has written a profoundly important essay about what it's like to try to celebrate Novyi God—the New Year—while a war is being waged against your country. This essay is accompanied by Marina's recipe for Olivier salad, a traditional bound salad intended for celebration. Make it to share, and check out the resources at the bottom of the post to support Ukraine. Here’s where you can read “Novyi God Sure Was Different This Year.”

I’m Reading: January Catch Up

Last week, The HarperCollins Union agreed to ratify a contract with the publishing company! I was holding off on book recommendations in solidarity throughout the strike, but now that the Union has succeeded, it’s time to get caught up on the oodles of reading I’ve been doing. Here are a few of my favorite reads from January!

James Tynion IV

This guy is a powerhouse in the world of horror comics. I devoured his backlist.

Something Is Killing the Children

When the children of Archer's Peak—a sleepy town in the heart of America—begin to go missing, everything seems hopeless. Most children never return, but the ones that do have terrible stories—impossible details of terrifying creatures that live in the shadows. Their only hope of finding and eliminating the threat is the arrival of a mysterious stranger, one who believes the children and claims to be the only one who sees what they can see.

IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Comixology

The Nice House on the Lake

Everyone who was invited to the house knows Walter—well, they know him a little, anyway. Some met him in childhood; some met him months ago. And Walter’s always been a little…off.

IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Comixology

The Closet

Thom is moving cross-country with his family and dragging the past along with them. When his child, Jamie, is seeing monsters in the bedroom closet, Thom reassures him that they will stay in the apartment after the move. But Thom is very wrong about many things and the monsters do continue to find young Jamie.

IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Comixology

Junji Ito

Speaking of legends in the world of horror comics, how about the legend? I dove headfirst into Junji Ito’s oeuvre and whew, what a ride!

Gyo

The floating smell of death hangs over the island. What is it? A strange, legged fish appears on the scene... So begins Tadashi and Kaori's spiral into the horror and stench of the sea. Something's rotten in Okinawa…

IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Comixology

Uzumaki

Kurouzu-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is cursed. According to Shuichi Saito, the withdrawn boyfriend of teenager Kirie Goshima, their town is haunted not by a person or being but a pattern: UZUMAKI, the spiral—the hypnotic secret shape of the world.

IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Comixology

Maw by Jude Ellison S. Doyle, A.L. Kaplan, and Fabiana Mascolo

Dragged by her sister Wendy to a feminist retreat on the remote island of Angitia, Marion Angela Weber is seeking perspective and empowerment, but a disastrous first night leaves her frightfully changed. In the aftermath of an assault, Marion begins to transform as an unspeakable hunger crawls through her body. When the townsfolk recognize there's something different about Marion, they react with suspicion, then violence, while ignoring the monsters already among them.

IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Comixology

The Many Deaths of Laila Starr by Ram V and Filipe Andrade

Humanity is on the verge of discovering immortality. As a result, the avatar of Death is cast down to Earth to live a mortal life in Mumbai as twenty-something Laila Starr. Struggling with her newfound mortality, Laila has found a way to be placed in the time and place where the creator of immortality will be born. Will Laila take her chance to stop mankind from permanently altering the cycle of life, or will death really become a thing of the past?

IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Comixology

Crowded by Christopher Sebela, Ro Stein, Ted Brand, Triona Farrell, and Cardinal Rae

Ten minutes in the future, the world runs on an economy of job shares and apps, while crowdfunding has evolved into Reapr: a platform for assassination that’s trickled down from politicians, celebrities and CEOs to everyday life and all its petty resentments. A world where anyone with enough backers and the money they contribute can kill anyone else.

IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Comixology

Bubble by Jordan Morris, Sarah Morgan, Tony Cliff, and Natalie Riess

Morgan’s got a great routine going―she has a chill day job, she recreationally kills the occasional Imp, then she takes that Imp home for her roommate and BFF, Annie, to transform into drugs as a side hustle. But when Morgan’s company launches Huntr, a gig economy app for Imp extermination, she finds herself press-ganged into kicking her stabby side job up to the next level as she battles a parade of monsters and monstrously Brush-turned citizens, from a living hipster beard to a book club hive mind.

IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Comixology

That Texas Blood by Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips

After an explosive confrontation over a casserole dish, Joe Bob Coates begins to question his effectiveness as Sheriff of Ambrose County, Texas. Matters only get worse as Los Angeles-based writer Randy Terrill returns home following the sudden and mysterious death of his brother, causing a spiral down into a past filled with treachery and blood.

IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Comixology

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