Countdown to Pub Day
On the grave dissociation of holding joy and self-promotion in one hand, grief and terror in the other. Plus: book tour! Preorder deal! and more.
Greetings from sunny Los Angeles, this foreign land where my family and I have been for about seven weeks. It is quiet and lovely in the neighborhood where we’ve been staying. The camellias are in bloom. A lemon tree bends over the stone wall that lines our driveway, laden with fruit. Neighboring yards teem with fragrant lavender and sage, Jurassic aloe. There are eucalyptus and palms, glamorous bougainvillea and dark, twisted olive trees. There is a manmade pond where dozens of turtles sun themselves in ancient meditation.
Meanwhile my three-year-old is half-feral with individuation, and the 18-month-old continues to communicate her needs via her signature, blood-curdling scream. We are by far the noisiest people in the neighborhood.
Parenting two young children full-time with minimal help has been intense and challenging, no doubt about it. A couple of times I’ve thought, This is as bad as it gets. It can’t get harder than this. And then I’ve looked at the news out of Gaza, and thought, God, how dare I. Of course it can. Of course it can.
It is an unspeakable gift to feel safe. To live without daily, hourly, minute-to-minute fear for my life and the lives of my little loves.
Just as it can feel simultaneously difficult and heart-twistingly precious to be with my children right now, it can feel really, dissociatively weird to be promoting a book: joyful and exciting on one hand, petty and frivolous on the other. I don’t know how to live with this divide, within, except I know it helps to take some action, however small. So, before I share my book news with you, let me share two links to resources I’ve found useful when the hopelessness, bewilderment, and despair get to be too much. You probably already know these, but they bear re-sharing:
Protect Palestine’s list of 3-minute tasks makes emailing your representatives, signing a petition, and more, very easy to accomplish in a narrow window of time.
I’ve found sane, justice-centric community in the organization Jewish Voice for Peace.
Book News
All right, all right. So here’s a little good news. Fruit of the Dead comes out in just nineteen days! A week ago I opened a box full of finished books and held one in my hands for the very first time. She is shinier than I expected! She is really a glorious object.
If you’ve read previous Postcards you already know it is immensely valuable to an author to preorder her new book. If you’ve already preordered, thank you!!! I have a hand-drawn 2024 wall calendar with your name on it, and would be thrilled to mail you one as a thank-you gift. Just reply to this email with your receipt and address.
If you’ve been meaning to support Fruit of the Dead, but have been deterred by the cost of the brand-new hardcover, I have a sweet little deal for you. The book discovery app Tertulia is currently offering 50% off preorders if you sign up for a 30-day trial, or 20% off the book with the code LYON before 3/5, no strings attached.
Orrrrrr you could buy the book at one of these exciting in-person events. Just look at this beautiful lineup of kind, brilliant writers I’ll be hanging out with! If I happen to be in your neighborhood, come join the party. I’d love to see you.
Finally, few other minor delights:
Fruit of the Dead has officially achieved starred-review bingo! After Kirkus, which I reported on in a previous letter, Publishers Weekly gave Fruit her second star—
and, last week, Booklist, the book review journal of the American Library Association, gave her a third.
NetGalley UK has featured the British edition of Fruit of the Dead among its March 2024 books of the month.
My friend, wonderful writer and overall mensch Danielle Lazarin, hosted me on her beautiful series “In Process With,” via her intimate and thoughtful Substack, Talk Soon. Here are the photos I sent her of my writing spaces, current (outside a Peets in Pasadena) and usual (the room where I work at home). Subscribe to Talk Soon here. It is lovely.
Thank you for reading. Thank you for your support. Thank you for being in community with me. I’ll write again soon. For now, be safe, and be well,
xo Rachel