☀️ summer updates ☀️
an active summer of injuries, manuscripts, and book stuff!
Anyway, everything is fine — I turned in both manuscripts (…in ugly first draft form) for graphic novel #2 and picture book #1, and the kung fu competition went GREAT!
Everything is fine!!!!, I repeat, as my wrist pops again.
☀️ book news ☀️
📚 Advanced Reader Copies of NOODLE & BAO are (and have been, sorry for the belated news…) available on NetGalley and Edelweiss. For those of you who were as confused as I was when I learned about ARCs, it just means my book is now available for people (namely, book reviewers, librarians, and the like) to download as an e-ARC. This means that now, people (and you could be included in that!) are downloading my book before its publishing date, rating it, and then writing their opinions about it on the internet for everyone (including me) to see. Alas.
📚 25% off NOODLE & BAO Pre-order Sale from Barnes & Noble on Sept 4-6 (only)! Use the code PREORDER25 at checkout. Just a heads up that you need a Rewards membership to get this amazing deal.
If you don’t have a Rewards membership, but still want to support by book via pre-order, you can pre-order from Brookline Booksmith to get it SIGNED and personalized with a special secret sticker! Pre-orders are always helpful for authors, because they communicate to booksellers and publishers that our books are in demand, and so on.
Stay turned for information about book launch & more about local pre-order campaigns!
☀️ what I’ve been up to! ☀️
🌱 Research Trip: I went on a very wonderful research trip to Detroit for my second book (a picture book with Penguin Kokila)!
🎨 Preparing for the 24-25 School Year: I’ve been setting up my classroom and preparing for the start of school! If you’d like to donate art supplies to my students in Boston’s Chinatown, using the code “LIFTOFF” will double your donation up to $50!
🌼 Boston Kids Comics Fest! I tabled with my young friend Eleanor, who wrote and illustrated a delightful book called The Adventures of Fred and Bob the Pigeons.
🍉 And, of course, I’m still drawing for Cartoonist Coop’s E-Sims for Gaza campaign.
☀️ some things to look forward to ☀️
🐱 New Rubato merch! We have more HOLU x Rubato merch coming up soon.
📚 New England Independent Booksellers Association’s Fall Conference: I’ll be at NEIBA’s Fall Conference at the Author’s Reception on Sept 11 at 5:30 PM with special early copies of NOODLE & BAO!! Hope to see you there!
🐭 Catch me at MICE this Winter! Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo (MICE) will be Dec 7 - 8 at the Fuller Building at Boston University.
☀️ some things i’m enjoying and want *you* to enjoy ☀️
🥬 My farm share at Crimson & Clover Farm! We went in on a joint CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) with our friends and now we have so many new veggies to try — like patty pan squash (literally, what is that), fennel, and other things! There is altogether too much kale, though.
📖 Gaysian Book Recs: I’ve been blowing through books and here’s my roundup of recent fave reads. In all three books, gaysian romance abounds, but the real emotional anchor points (for me) come from the protagonists’ conflicts and subsequent resolutions with their siblings — I don’t want to spoil any of them, but those all felt like the strongest and most touching parts of the books. Without further ado:
Kween (YA) by Vichet Chum: I LOVED this young adult novel (set in nearby Lowell! Any time I recognize places and establishments in novels I instantly enjoy the book 100x more.) about Soma, a young queer Cambodian teen dealing with her emotions processing her dad’s deportation. Bonus: the cover was photographed by the ineffable Mel Taing, local photographer extraordinaire; the book was edited by my hero Jen Ung (NOODLE & BAO’s amazingggg editor).
Lunar Boy (MG) by Jes and Cin Wibowo: This was a quiet and evocative middle-grade graphic novel about Indu, a trans boy from the moon struggling to find his place on Earth. I adored the soft and lush color palettes and the drawings of Indonesian food.
Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating (YA) by Adiba Jaigirdar: Two Bengali girls, who have opposite personalities (lol), start fake dating until it turns to real dating. I think I’ve read this plot in different forms a millions times before (mostly in straight romance books, I guess…), but, IDK — it was just cute.
School starts tomorrow; wish me luck!
Ok byeeeeee