Stone Soup Digest 11.11.22

Sarah Gailey -

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.

So Twitter’s a mess right now. Apparently, an apartheid emerald inheritance doesn’t make a person qualified to run a social media platform that has taken on the importance of a public utility. Who knew?

Everyone is entitled to their feelings about what's happening with that website, no matter what those feelings might be. That’s something I won’t miss about Twitter if it ends up tipping over like a falling water tower: the way people on there give in to the urge to try to control the reactions other people have to destabilizing events. It’s a completely understandable phenomenon – in moments of great upheaval, the seemingly-immortal cop inside one's head is destined to get the zoomies. We get angry at each other in moments of chaos and strain. I, who snapped at my partner last night for the unthinkable crime of being in the kitchen at the same time as me, am no exception to this. It’s difficult to remain patient with those who handle stress differently than we do – but we must find a way because ultimately, yelling at each other for being upset in different ways is just noise for noise’s sake.

Personally, I feel as stable as one can about this. I’ve been taking big steps back from Twitter for a while. I’ve focused on this newsletter quite a lot, and I’ve moved relationships into other spaces, and those relationships have thrived. I think a big part of the fear around what happens in the absence of Twitter is based in a terror of isolation: How will we reach the people we need to reach in the times ahead? How will I personally rebuild my social network? As someone who has been building elsewhere for the past few years, I can tell you that it’s not as easy as you hope, but not as hard as you fear, either.

The truth is that change is frightful, but we’ll make it work together because that’s how we do things. Together. In the aftermath of chaos, people unite to rebuild. We find each other’s hands in the dark. We snap at each other. We make jokes. We lose touch with people, we find other people, we get back in touch and say, “oh, you look so different now!” You’re not alone. You’re not alone. You’re not alone.

Nuts and bolts: If Twitter evaporates and you find you still long for the Gailey Social Media Experience, you can find me on Instagram, where you will see lots of pictures of my cats. If you’re seeing this newsletter in your inbox, you’re already part of the community I engage with most. If you got here from social media, you can subscribe here to become part of that community.

Join the Supper Club for access to the comments section, where we chat and hang out all month. The Supper Club is a stable, friendly little community of people you can plug right into. You get bonus content too (and next year, you’ll get advance access to some really cool stuff), but the community is the real thing, you know? Anyway, here’s a discount code you can use to take 25% off an annual subscription. I hope I’ll get to see you there.

Support the HarperCollins Union Strike

Speaking of doing things together: HarperCollins employees are striking for better working conditions! Around here, we support workers, and I, for one, am 100% behind the incredibly hardworking, brilliant, vibrant publishing industry employees who are demanding to be treated like human fucking beings. Don’t cross the picket line, and follow these steps to help support the strike!

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HarperCollins Union Linktree includes links to support assets, the donation page, the union’s social media accounts, and more.

Support the strike by making a donation to the strike fund

Follow the HarperCollins Union Twitter (for as long as Twitter’s still a thing)

Here’s a handy list of all HarperCollins imprints, so you know what not to promote right now. Coincidentally, both this week’s currently reading and featured new release turned out to be HC books, so they’re in stasis until every employee at Harper Collins has their demands met. Hopefully, management will come to their senses damn soon so I can get back to promoting the amazing stuff the workers and authors are creating!

1998

I love this art.

Madeline Ashby on How The Village predicted the Future of the Internet

Every time I get to talk to Madeline Ashby I come away feeling like there is so much more to the world than I realize. Reading her thoughts on The Village is much the same experience.

Tor Books Holiday Gift Guide

Every year Tor puts out a holiday gift guide to help steer you toward what books to buy for all the weirdos in your life! Go check it out if you’re getting a head start on holiday shopping.

On Becoming the Queer Jewish Monster I was Destined to Be by Elijah Kinch Spector

This week I had the honor of hosting a guest feature from Elijah Kinch Spector. It’s a fascinating dive into the overlapping histories of queerness, Jewishness, and monstrosity. Quite frankly, this is one of my favorite guest features ever to appear in this newsletter; if you haven’t checked it out already, go do that right the hell now!

From the Archive: Year in Review: Stone Soup

This newsletter is named after a series I did at the start of the pandemic, coming up with recipes for people to weather the uncertainty and isolation of those early COVID months. Here’s a round-up of all those recipes! (Also, this is your last hint about next week’s big announcement…)

During the first few months of the pandemic, everyone I know freaked the fuck out about food. I freaked out about food, and I’ve always been an adventurous* and resourceful* home cook (*I never remember to plan ahead for meals so I have to use whatever happens to be lying around). We were all weathering a brand-new flavor of stress, and planning and executing meals in those conditions feels impossible. That stress also made everyone feel a renewed sense of dedication to Not Wasting Food. Going to the store was out of the question for a little while. Dinner felt newly insurmountable, and to many people I knew, meals had become joyless. Enter Stone Soup…

Visit the Stone Soup Archives

Visit a Neighbor: The Bestest Newsletter Ever

Kevin Hearne is one of the most delightful people in the world of genre fiction. His newsletter features information on new releases, appearances, drink recipes and reading recommendations. Check it out!

Sign up here!

As I mentioned above, no book recommendations this week! Stay strong, HarperCollins Union!!

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