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I’ve been composing a long year-end wrap-up post for the last hour and a half, but I just deleted the whole thing. 2020 is slippery and difficult to grasp and also, I finally realized, not worth the effort I was giving it.
It’s like this:
Fuck off, 2020. In a decade where every year has arguably been worse than the one before it, you really managed to take the entire cake.
You will not be missed. Go away.
A little more than four years ago, I walked to my neighborhood polling station and cast a vote for Hillary Clinton.
I had mixed feelings about the vote, because she hadn’t been my preferred candidate and because I had not been immune to the GOP’s twenty-year campaign to taint her in the public perception, but also I could hardly deny my feelings that it was well past time for a woman to be president and that she would do a respectable job of it. I was, like all decent people, disgusted by the vile personage that was her opponent, but despite my general pessimism I didn’t think he had a serious chance of winning. I thought surely not enough people would be taken in by the con. Surely the majority of people had to see that the most unqualified candidate in the history of the race was running against arguably the most qualified.
At the time, I had recently begun dating someone indescribably wonderful and I was certainly under the spell of new love. That’s how I account for my uncharacteristic optimism. I understood the danger posed by Donald Trump, but I believed we would pull together to reject him.
This was my face after waking up to the news on November 9th, 2016.
I knew they were there, and powerful, but I underestimated the Titan strength of misogyny and white supremacy in this country — a breathtaking reveal that has continued as an unrelenting assault since that day.
What followed over the course of the next four years was as turbulent and often grim in my personal life as it has been on the national scale. Silencingly so. The scale of what has been wrong these last four years has rendered me largely incapable of forming my own words about it except to exclaim in truncated horror in Tweet-sized blurts.
This blog post by Chuck Wendig, in its entirety, does a fine job of voicing much of what I feel but have been unable to articulate.
“This Grievous Wound” by Chuck Wendig
You should give it a read.
Last night, we had a wonderful virtual launch party for TRAJELON and I did a reading from the first chapter (while my jerk dog loudly ate his kibble right next to me.)
This is a recording of that stumbly reading in my very echoey dining room, for anyone who wanted to be there but missed it.
Other highlights of the event included a giveaway that I swear was not rigged despite the fact that the same eight people won all thirteen prizes, a lovely group toast, and an uproarious game of Cards Against Humanity played with a custom deck we made just for the occasion. All cards were in the theme of writing, fantasy, sci-fi, or Asrellion. Several people asked if they could purchase the deck for themselves because it was amazing. (Alas, it’s a one-off.)
The real hero of the night, the card that could win every hand, was “Wookiee Wang.”
From the Kickstarter fundraising campaign for Trajelon: The Way of the Falling Star Book 2, Tuesday November 24th 2020:
We did it! It’s November 24th, 2020, and TRAJELON is live for purchase at all of the major online retailers.
Hopefully, all of you have your copies already, as I sent out the physical copies three weeks ago and the eBooks last week. I’m very proud of this book and am terribly excited for you to read it!
As a reminder, this evening at 8 p.m. EST I am having a virtual launch party featuring a prize giveaway and a naughty writing-themed card game. All you need to attend is Zoom, the link to the party room, and the password 2TRAJELON. There is a handy FAQ here to address all of your questions.
To keep all social media posts about the party easily followable as the evening progresses, please use the hashtag #TRAJELONparty.
I hope you will be able to join me, not least because this Book Birthday is your victory too! Thank you again to everyone who helped make this happen. We did it! We made a book!
A final word before I twirl off to enjoy my Book Launch:
This mostly concludes the Kickstarter campaign for TRAJELON, with two notable exceptions and one request.
All rewards have been delivered at this time except for the two fancy maps of Asrellion (which are in progress), and the exclusive backer Q&A which will take place some time in January. Look for news about that after the New Year. If there remain any rewards you are due that have not arrived yet (or, like the eBook or short stories, that you are having trouble accessing,) please get in touch with me so we can get that sorted out right away. Otherwise that’s us square and I hope you enjoy the book you helped me make!
Which brings me to the request: Now that TRAJELON is out in the world, its success depends entirely on reviews and word of mouth. Please help this book you supported to realize its potential by doing your part in that arena. Online reviews and ratings, blog posts, social media boosts, book clubs, even just gifting it to your friends or talking it up to anyone who might appreciate it — all of that is an essential part of helping a new book to thrive in the wild. If all you can do is an Amazon and/or Goodreads rating, that alone is significant and a great help. So pretty please, go forth and review!
And I hope to see you tonight on Zoom at 8 Eastern.
From the Kickstarter fundraising campaign for Trajelon: The Way of the Falling Star Book 2, Thursday November 19th 2020:
Well we’re in the final days of the countdown until launch here and I just wanted to let you know, in case you didn’t see your emails, that I did in fact arrange for the eBook downloads early.
Find your copy here at this shop (and be sure to put the eBook rather than the Paperback into your cart — a blooper that more than one person has made, so you would be in fine company if you did too.) The promo code for your free download was sent to the email address you provided on your backer survey.
Just a heads-up, the eBook does not automatically appear in the Kindle app when you download it from Aerio, unlike when you purchase an eBook from Amazon. We discovered this through trial-and-error on the day the emails rolled out. You have a couple of options to ensure that the book goes into your Kindle Reader app.
Option one: when the Aerio store asks you for the delivery email address, enter your Kindle delivery address. You can find this in the “app settings” in your Kindle app. This method, however, requires the preliminary step of adding the sending address aeriosupport@ingramcontent.com to your “Approved Personal Document E-mail List” in your Amazon account settings, before you have the file sent. If you do not, the delivery will be blocked by the Kindle app.
Option two: go into the File Manager on your phone or Kindle device, (wherever you downloaded the book to,) find the actual eBook file (named 9781733648042.mobi), and move it into the Kindle folder. Then, when you open the Kindle app, the title will appear in your library.
If for some reason you have not received your email with the promo code, please let me know.
Also, I am aware that international backers had some trouble downloading Mornnovin from Aerio last year. If they’re still a problem for my backers outside of the U.S., get in touch with me and I’ll make sure you have access to a download.
From the Kickstarter fundraising campaign for Trajelon: The Way of the Falling Star Book 2, Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020:
Because I felt the need to do something productive and positive today, I just spent an hour and a half at the Post Office mailing out these bad boys.
It’s, uh, going to take me a while to input each and every tracking number for you guys, so bear with me on that.
Now that I’ve put all of the hard copies in the mail, three weeks before the official launch date, I’m mulling over the unfairness of the fact that the eBooks will not be downloadable from the Aerio store until November 24th. The only way to circumvent this would be to manually add the eBook to the store early, which would make it sort of a soft early release because it would then be available for purchase to anyone who should happen by. So… not sure how I feel about that, but I’m also not completely taking it off the table. I’ll get back to you.
But in any event, the paperbacks (and hardcovers) are now on their way to everyone to whom one is due. I hope they arrive swiftly and that they hit the spot when they get there!
And don’t forget to join me for the launch party on the 24th!
From the Kickstarter fundraising campaign for Trajelon: The Way of the Falling Star Book 2, Tuesday October 20, 2020:
Just five weeks! That’s how soon this book we’ve been waiting all year for is going to burst onto the scene. I hope you’ve got the launch party in your calendar, because the custom card deck has gone to print and I’m really excited to play a silly game with it. (I know I said I would take suggestions through October, but we were full up already!)
The signed grand prize poster is here and it’s beautiful – ready and waiting to go to whomever the lucky winner of the draw might prove to be.
The special hardcover copies for the top-tier backers have also arrived, and I am pleased to report that they are just scrumptious.
It’s also worth mentioning that I’m getting very excited about this book birthday – so excited that I am almost certainly going to mail your books out to you even earlier than I said I would. Probably the instant it’s November. The envelopes and the books are just sitting here ready to go, and I’m champing at the bit.
As a reminder, there are short stories at my website if you find yourself craving more Asrellion in the next month while we wait.
Very close now, folks! I hope to see you at the party!
Continued from earlier, when I told you about the courtship and wedding preparation in honor of this, the second anniversary of my marriage to the most wonderful man in the world.
It had seemed until the week of the wedding like everything was under control and we were on track to have a lovely, low-key event.
Buckle up, because the universe had other ideas.
Continue readingTwo years ago today, I stood in front of a small gathering of friends and family and married the best man I’ve ever known. It was a breathtakingly beautiful moment in a total clusterfuck of a day.
About a month ago, knowing that this anniversary was approaching, I set out to write the story of our wedding, for posterity. The truth is that despite planning the event for one year and ten days, and it being a deliberately simple affair, factors beyond our control led to the thing being an almost total disaster. I’ve already started to gloss over parts of it in my memory in the course of trying to preserve only good feelings about the day, so it’s lucky I chose this year instead of two or three from now to set it all down.
But because the disaster of our wedding day began before the day itself, I’m going to have to go back a bit.
Continue readingWell it’s October now which means that Trajelon comes out NEXT MONTH! It sure has been a long and crazy road just to get this far.
I’m slowly but surely preparing for the virtual book launch party.
I’ve ordered some prizes for the raffle, I’ve spruced up my press room, I’m planning decorations and snacks for the evening, and most of all I’m working on the custom card deck for our Cards Against Humanity-style game. I even worked up a spiffy event flyer.
It occurred to me suddenly when my friend sent me those adorable book earrings, and I commented that now I knew what to wear to the book launch, that actually I hadn’t been giving any thought to getting myself ready for the party. If this thing were in-person, I absolutely would have already been thinking of what to wear. I’m not sure why that never crossed my mind for this. So yeah, now I’ve also begun to fuss over my party clothes. It might seem like a silly thing to worry about, but I want to get into the proper party mindset as much as I can, even though circumstances are weird. Especially because circumstances are weird.
But the main thing, right now, is that custom card deck. I am still soliciting suggestions and welcome all of your fun and kooky ideas. Anything relating to writing in general, speculative fiction genres (for example: Tolkien references ahoy), and references to my stories is welcome. We’re currently at about 70 white cards and 40 black cards, which is respectable but more would be so much better.
If you think you have a prompt for a custom card, email your idea to alyssabethancourt@gmail.com. If you feel a little iffy about the necessary format, don’t worry. We’ll clean it up so that it fits. I’ll be taking suggestions through October, so the clock is ticking!
For the past two weeks, I’ve been running a book giveaway to find homes for three advance reader copies of my upcoming novel Trajelon, due out 11/24/20. It is now my pleasure to announce the three winners!
Using Random Name Picker, they are nevadawolfe, terriwriting, and notimeforpants (which is one of the best usernames I’ve ever seen.)
Congratulations to our three winners! Get in touch with me at your earliest convenience at alyssabethancourt@gmail.com with the address you would like your book sent to!
Q: When is this party?
A: Tuesday, November 24th, 2020, from 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time until we’re all partied out.
Q: Is this event in-person or virtual?
A: Due to COVID-19, this book launch event will be exclusively virtual. The author will be joined at her home by her husband, fellow writer Jonathan R. Skocik, but all other attendees will log into the party virtually via Zoom.
Q: Will it be live?
A: Yes! Live and interactive, so be sure to log in on time.
Q: Is there a hashtag for this event?
A: #TRAJELONparty
Q: The announcement mentions a raffle. Do I have to purchase tickets?
A: No. Your attendance at the Zoom meeting is your ticket to entry in the raffle. All attendees will be eligible for all prizes.
Q: What are the prizes being offered in the raffle?
A: Some of the prizes remain TBD, but the grand prize will be a Trajelon release poster signed by the author and the cover artist.
Q: Do I need a password to enter the party?
A: Yes. Use the link provided and enter invite code 2TRAJELON to join the Zoom meeting.
Q: What is this card game mentioned in the event announcement?
A: Alyssa has arranged for a few fellow authors and artists to join her in a game in the style of Cards Against Humanity, using a custom card deck that has been created for the occasion. It references the fantasy genre, writing, the world of Asrellion where Alyssa’s novels take place, and the settings of the other players’ created works.
Q: I’ve never been to a virtual launch party. How does this work?
A: The good news is that we’re all just figuring this (and 2020 as a whole, really) out as we go, so there’s no wrong way to do it. We suggest wearing something comfy, nerdy, or fancy — whatever makes you happy — rounding up some snacks and a festive beverage or two, and settling in with your screen someplace quiet. Alyssa will do a reading from the book, the raffle will happen, and then we’ll all just relax together and chat while the sure-to-be-ridiculous game unfolds. The main thing to remember is that we’re celebrating a book birthday!
Q: Can I suggest cards for this special custom deck?
A: You absolutely can and Alyssa would be delighted if you did. You can leave your suggestions for both White and Black cards in the comments here or email them to alyssabethancourt@gmail.com until October 31st. They may be edited slightly to fit the format of the game.
Q: Who are the other authors who will be attending?
A: Given the nature of… all of everything happening this year, some of them have asked to be allowed some fluidity in their commitments to events so far into the future. For this reason, no names are being announced until such time as the party is actually taking place. However, the MC for the evening will be Matt R. Lohr, co-author of Dan O’Bannon’s Guide to Screenplay Structure.
Q: Do I have to talk at this Zoom meeting?
A: No! You can mute your mic if you want. Or not. Whatever makes you happy.
Q: I might be a little late; is it okay to sign in after the party has started?
A: Absolutely! Join when you can. Just remember that if you don’t get there in time for the raffle, you’ll miss out on the chance to win some sweet prizes.
Q: I’d like to be there, but I might have to leave early. Is that okay?
A: Of course. Your presence is appreciated but certainly not required. You do you.
Q: I might miss the party, but I’d still like to see it. Will a recording ever become available online?
A: Alyssa currently has the Zoom meeting set to save to the local hard drive. Assuming all attendees agree, a recording will go up on YouTube on November 25th. If they do not, then no.
Holy mackerel, I know some truly wonderful people!
Two weeks ago, I saw this cute post from Guylty, a friend and fellow blogger of the Richard Armitage fandom persuasion. She has gotten into crafting some really impressive projects in the last few years and one of her latest masterpieces are these tiny, tiny book earrings.
Little Hobbit books!
Naturally I was charmed, given my special relationship with The Hobbit and also my lifelong love of miniature treasures, and I told her so. To my surprise and delight, she offered to send them to me as a much-needed pick-me-up. Heck yes! I’ve actually been thinking of them every day since she made the offer, wondering how quickly they could get here.
Can you believe they’re here already, all the way from Dublin?!
I always check the mail while I’m waiting for the hot water to boil for my late-morning tea, so this was a lovely little diversion to be able to sit down with at Saturday breakfast.
Inside I found this assortment of goodies. A really nice handmade Richard Armitage/Shakespeare postcard, the long-expected Hobbit earrings, and… something else? What could it be?
Another handmade envelope, this one intriguingly tiny. The postcard hinted at an additional surprise treat to make up for the fact that she’d had to reveal the secret of the Hobbit earrings by asking for my address. I love Guylty’s imagination, so I was keenly interested to see what lay inside this “extra surprise” envelope.
OMG! OMG OMG OMG! SHE MADE MINI BOOK EARRINGS OUT OF MY BOOKS THAT I WROTE!!! AND THEY LOOK SO GOOD!
I was so excited that I rushed upstairs to show my husband and promptly fumbled them all over the floor with my ecstatic hands. I LOVE THEM! Looks like I know now what I’m wearing at my book launch party! XD
THANK YOU SO MUCH, Guylty! You are creative, fun, extraordinarily talented, and a good friend! This delivery definitely gave my mood a lift! What great medicine for my soul.
And the rest of you should definitely go check out more of her adorable creations (with I assume more always to come)!
I’m wearing the Hobbit earrings right now, by the way. ❤
From the Kickstarter fundraising campaign for Trajelon: The Way of the Falling Star Book 2, Friday, September 18th, 2020:
Well we’re heading toward the end of September now, which means that Trajelon comes out in just a little over two months. I’d hinted before that I was working on a book launch party plan.
Today is the day I tell you all about it!
You are cordially invited to join me on Tuesday, November 24th at 8 p.m. EST for a virtual party to celebrate the release of Trajelon, the long-anticipated second entry in The Way of the Falling Star.
After a reading from the book, I have arranged for a number of fellow authors and artists to join me via Zoom in a very special game of the Cards Against Humanity sort for your entertainment, using a one-of-a-kind deck crafted for the occasion. The event will be hosted by the convivial Matt R. Lohr, co-author of Guide to Screenplay Structure. There will undoubtedly be appearances by my adorable husky Hento throughout the evening, as I will be beaming to you from the virus-free safety of my living room. And! I am planning a special little giveaway open to those who attend.
And because I’m all about that audience participation, I will be accepting card suggestions until the end of October. The theme of the deck is writing, books, genre fiction, and Asrellion references, and I am seeking ideas for both White and Black Cards. (There will also be references to the created universes of the other participating authors, but that’s another story. Heh. Get it?) Feel free to leave your suggestions here or email them to me at alyssabethancourt@gmail.com.
Surprise, surprise, I don’t actually know how to have a virtual book launch party in the middle of a global pandemic, so I’m still tinkering with the technical logistics of the thing. For now just put a pin in this date and time; I’ll send out the relevant link for the party when I have it all worked out, soon. It will in all likelihood take the form of a big Zoom meeting.
So grab yourself something sparkly to join me in a toast, and a little snack or two, and settle in to watch an evening of Authors Behaving Badly on 11/24/20 as we launch this beautiful book out into the world!
I was given this orchid plant last October, as an anniversary present from my wonderful partner in crime. It had a number of exquisite blooms on it at the time, which started thinning and getting ready to fall right around Christmas. The last of them hung on until mid/late-January. I derived much joy from them in that time.
After the last flower fell, the flower spike itself soon began to wither. That, I concluded with fond regret, was apparently that.
But…
The leaves of the plant still looked so shiny and deeply, vibrantly green. While the plant was brought into our home in order to provide a view of the orchid flowers which I love so much, I do also love leaves on their own merit. And these quite obviously still had some life in them. It seemed a shame to give up on them.
So I cut back the dead flower spike and continued to water the plant as normal through the winter.
In the spring, I noticed that while the plant was still chugging along, it was looking a little droopy. I’m basically an utter novice where it comes to plants, coming as I do from the desert where nothing grows unless it wants to, but it seemed to me that maybe it was overwatered? I cut down to two ice cubes a week from the recommended three. The plant rallied.
But then I noticed it was suffering another ailment: the leaves were drying and cracking. It was getting too much direct sun in the spot I’d been keeping it in. Oops. I wiped the leaves down with a wet towel and moved it again.
In the early days of summer, I made an observation that gave me a tiny thrill of satisfaction: new leaves! There were new leaves coming in! I was managing not only to not kill the plant, but to give it enough love to let it grow!
That satisfaction turned to giddy excitement one day when I saw something else happening to the orchid plant. A small green tendril of some kind was poking out from between the leaves. Never in my wildest dreams had I ever imagined that the plant might flower again under my care, so I thought this was probably a new bit of root. Still exciting, because it would mean life. But to be sure, I asked the internet. The internet told me that I would be able to tell a root from a flower spike by the shape on the end. The end of an orchid flower spike, apparently, has sort of a mitten-y shape.
WELL GUESS WHAT!
I dug out a stake and began coaxing that bad boy into an upward trajectory. As a complete and total flower novice I was surprised that apparently orchids try to grow straight out sideways, but I rolled with it. Every day, I would check its progress like a proud parent marking her child’s growth on the wall. It was a big day when I noticed what looked like the first bud forming. We eventually got six.
The house next door to mine has been empty for the last two years and something of a jungle has grown up on the property, swallowing the crumbling structure whole. I didn’t mind because it blocked the view and also, some wild Rose of Sharon hibiscus sprang up in the space between that property and mine. Lovely. The overgrowth was so intense that it actually blocked the morning light from coming directly in the northeast windows in my dining room, instead giving us nice diffuse sunlight on the dining table.
Because time and perfect lighting stand still for no man, the bank finally sent someone around to chop down the jungle and try to get that house ready for sale. Suddenly the orchid plant was getting blasted with direct sunlight first thing in the morning and the new buds started to sag. I had to scramble to find a new home for it where it was getting light, but not too much. Now it’s hanging out on the other side of the house in the living room, with all of the books.
I was a little worried about those sagging buds that had gotten the full sun blast, but they kept getting bigger and looking more and more like they were about to burst.
And then, yesterday,
How long would it take to see that turn into a flower, I wondered? I have no idea what I’m doing here. This has all just been a happy failure into success. But look what I woke up to this morning.
Maybe it seems silly to you that I would go on and on about one little orchid plant that has sprouted a single flower a year after it was given to me. And maybe it is silly. But maybe, also, this is about more than a plant. Maybe this is also about all of those years I spent dying in the desert where nothing grows unless it wants to, and how I don’t live there anymore because I escaped through epic struggle that didn’t end even after I made it to Pennsylvania.
Maybe it’s about salvaging life when it looks like that life is over. Maybe it’s about perseverance even where there’s no reason to think anything will come of it. Maybe it’s about changing the narratives we’ve come to accept about ourselves — “Oh, I can’t grow anything. I have a black thumb. Ha ha.” — and understanding that sometimes it’s personal growth and sometimes it’s about the environment we’re trying to survive in. Sometimes we just need to leave the desert.
In any case, here’s a pretty flower that I grew.
Autistic Wordpainter 
