Prometheus Backerkit

or Pride Book Fair fun and great news in a thunderstorm.

Hello friends,

I hope you are doing alright.

Let’s sit down and take a breath, shall we? Relax your shoulders, unclench your jaw, and smooth your forehead.

This month I got the first professional hair cut in 8 years that I actually loved. It has never been just hair. For none of us and no one else. From the moment I buzzed it off years ago, it was a fist in the air for the liberation of my identity. Now I have this haircut and love wearing makeup and baggy clothes but also dresses, and I don’t fit in a box.

I really wish you a good haircut on a hot day with watermelons. Or a summer thunderstorm (I’m writing this while thunder grumbles and rain splatters on the tree right beside my window).

Grab your tea; let’s get into the veggie meat of May!

Writing News

Prometheus Backerkit

The BackerKit has started, and in one night the project was half funded. Thank you so much!

What Jess and Jake put together is truly amazing, and I wholeheartedly want this project to blow up and grow and be mega successful! The authors in this anthology are all so talented, and the art you can get along with your copy is amazing. Please, consider supporting this project.

PRIDE BOOK FAIR

June is Pride, obviously, but also Pride Book Fair, a month-long online event organised by Erin. It’s a whole month of bundles, sales, prompts and bookish fun. Carved by Water is part of the Pride Hard Bundle on Itch.io, running for 7 days from today!

And it is not over after that! Here you can follow all the sales going on during the month, and I highly recommend following @ink_and_incense to stay up-to-date.

Translation

207 Years is 50% through its raw translation, which is the first stage of the process.

When I translate, I first bring it over to the other language. I explained it with Google Translate back in the day when it wasn’t powered with AI and was quite clunky. Only that I’m Google in this analogy, so I do the clunky translation. Only after the raw translation comes the second round. That is when style gets translated. A word, a saying, might have worked in English but doesn’t work in German, so I have to find something that comes close to that. The thing about translation is that there is never a full translation. Something will get lost, new things will be found.

Art

Markets

The next flea market is on June 26 at Fredenbaum Park in Dortmund. I know that most of you aren’t from the area, but I always love to meet some of you there.

Originals are exclusive to markets, BUT all my stuff is on Ko-Fi for you to check out and shop.

Clay

I explored clay this month apart from acrylic painting, and I really enjoyed this medium. After some oven issues I switched to air-dry clay and became a magnet factory. It feels light and fun, and that is exactly what I was looking for. Not something that is necessarily easy and fast, but sparks joy!

The Hardware Store

Another discovery of mine is that the hardware store is cheaper than the art supply store (I know, I know, I could have found out sooner). Painting on wood is €2.50, while buying a canvas the same size is €5 (30 x 30 cm).

And I’m always there for cheaper. If you’d like to start painting on a larger canvas, check out the hardware store. Wood and cardboard are great alternatives to cloth canvas.

Reading

It was a slower month. I feel like I’m repeating myself, am I?
Chunky books are slowing me down, but can we truly be mad at them? No. I might as well do a full reading day today since it is already raining. If you couldn’t tell, I love summer thunderstorms.

ARC READS (also this month’s favourites!)

A Yeti for Summer by C. L. Mari (Snakeskin Press author)

This was so cute. Like, stinking cute! The writing was effortless, and the novel flew past in a blink. Monster romance is a new staple in my reading habits.

“It reminds me that I’ve had his stuff for a while now. I need to send it to him, or purge it with fire.”

Summer was my favourite character. She had so much humour while being strong and badass and emotional. I truly loved this cosy winter-themed monster romance, and I cannot wait for the story to continue!

Knitting Needles by Ezra Wren (Snakeskin Press author and founder)

While pain is shared in queer communities, joy is too. I believe no one does build families better than queers and their allies. This book is a perfect mirror to that. Queer and trans joy is incredibly powerful.

“Their lips met, and it was strawberries in the spring, slush in the summer, hot chocolate in the autumn.”

By the end, I had had more than one cry, healed a little, and was experiencing emotions. I would do it all over again.

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May Wrap-up

The Dead Take The A Train by Richard Kadrey & Cassandra Khaw

Knitting Needles by Ezra Wren

Gin Cat Jive by Al Hess

A Yeti for Summer by C. L. Mari

Tell me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

A Murder of Crows by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett

A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Cheating Death by Maxie Dara

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Watching

The Handmaid’s Tale

Years ago, I’d tried this show, and it didn’t really work for me, but now it did. Maybe because it is more reality horror than far-away dystopian fiction. Yeah, maybe it is that. The parallels between this show and the current trajectory of the world are truly terrifying and engrossing because I couldn’t look away. I binged it all and remain rather stunned by the possibilities the future could hold if we don’t stand up now.

Gaming

Nintendo DS Lite – Pokémon FireRed

A good friend of mine made me a very happy nerd by gifting me her Nintendo DS Lite. My husband followed and gave me Pokémon FireRed to play. It wasn’t even my birthday; I’m just truly blessed with the people around me.

If you’ve been here for a while, you know my love for pixel and retro games. Pokémon falls right into that love. The best thing is, I’m playing for the first time ever since I wasn’t allowed to as a child. And it is SO. MUCH. FUN.

Another thing I could do all day in a thunderstorm. I’m all set. Leave me here. There is so little I need to happy. Maybe a snack later.

May flew past. What happened here? Wow.

My months are still often shaken up by heavy ups and downs, but May was kind to me. I had family time, self-care, routine and spontaneity. I’d like to keep this up in June.

And finish 207 Years’ translation and start writing again. I have a new deadline for the end of September for a short story, and I miss writing so much.

How was May for you? If you made it this far, consider telling me by replying to this email.

Love,

M.K.