News

Sour Cherry is out now

2/4/2025

Sour Cherry, my debut novel, is out now everywhere books are sold from Tin House in the US & Canada and Wildfire in the UK & Commonwealth. Below you can find nice things some excellent people have said about it. The book was also, amazingly, reviewed by the Associated Press. You can hear more from me at this Big Echo Interview, as well as in Clarkesworld, and in this reading list of Queer Hauntings I put together for Electric Literature.

Getting a book on shelves is a labour of love that takes the sustained care and imagination of a lot of people for a pretty long time. It's not possible to thank all of these people here, but I can say that Sour Cherry wouldn't exist without the support of many excellent writers and friends, my incredible agent Danya Kukafka and her UK counterpart Susan Armstrong, my amazing editors Masie Cochran and Areen Ali, and the stellar teams at Tin House and Wildfire/Headline.

So, here we go; this book is now out of my hands. I hope it finds its readers. 🍒

Suddenly, two Nebula nominations

15/3/2025

Grateful and honoured to have two finalists in the Nebula Awards for Game Writing this year!

Restore, Reflect, Retry is a nostalgic horror game about the queer, haunted 90s. You can play it here (and it's 40% off until 20 March).

A Death in Hyperspace is an interactive whodunit in space, written collaboratively by a bunch of brilliant weirdos: Stewart C Baker, Phoebe Barton, James Beamon, Kate Heartfield, Isabel J. Kim, Sara S. Messenger, M. Darusha Wehm, Naca Rat, Merc Fenn Wolfmoor. And myself!

Congratulations to all my fellow nominees; go read their incredible work. Here's the full announcement.

Waterstones preorder sale until 24 February!

22/2/2025

UK readers can get 25% off Sour Cherry preorders through the Waterstones website or the app until Monday 24 February! Just use code PREORDER25 at checkout. Sour Cherry is coming out on April 1st.

25% OFF Sour Cherry until February 14!

4/2/2025

If you've been thinking about preordering Sour Cherry, now is your chance to get it at 25% off through Tertulia, an online independent bookstore. Go HERE and use code CHERRY at checkout.

You may have seen authors talk about how important preorders are, especially for debuts like Sour Cherry. Basically, preorders tell publishers that readers are looking forward to our books, and that makes it more likely for us to continue publishing the books you look forward to! It's the best way to support an author. So, if you preorder, THANK YOU, and I hope you enjoy the book when it comes out on April 1st!

2 Days Left for SOUR CHERRY Giveaway!

18/1/2025

Tin House is giving away 100 copies of Sour Cherry to Goodreads users! The giveaway will close on January 20, so enter now for a chance to win (U.S. only, I'm afraid). Here is the link to the giveaway. Good luck!

UK Cover Reveal for SOUR CHERRY!

23/11/2024

I'm thrilled to be able to share the UK cover of Sour Cherry! You can pre-order it from your favourite retailer; just follow one of the links at the Hachette website.
And of course you can still get the US edition through Tin House.

The book has been receiving some very nice and generous blurbs from authors I admire deeply. The time leading up to publication is filled with all sorts of unanticipated delights. I can't wait to share the book with you all.

New horror game out: Restore, Reflect, Retry

10/7/2024

Restore, Reflect, Retry, my fourth project with Choice of Games, is out now!

You’ve played this game before. It’s a haunted game about a haunted game. You may not remember, but the game remembers you. I remember you.

This is how I described the game in a recent interview:
"This is a haunted game about a haunted game. It is the story of a 1980s kid being nostalgic about a childhood he never had. It is an analog horror game where the horror is ancient and familiar and lives in your house, and a science-fiction game where the science is fleshy and messy and only a squint away from the occult. It’s for the queer kids and the nerdy kids and the kids from broken homes, in whatever way your home was broken. It’s a bandaid and a nod—from my weird little heart to yours."
You can read the rest of the interview here.

You can get it now on Web | Steam | Google Play | App Store.

Cover art by George Cotronis.

New Story out: "Aktis Aeliou, or the Machine of Margot's Destruction"

2/7/2024

I have a new science fantasy story out in Clarkesworld this month!

"Aktis Aeliou, or the Machine of Margot's Destruction" is a story about trust, and the mutual meeting of needs, and running towards who we are. Greek gods in space, the humanity of reaching for the stars, the need for connection in isolation. I hope you enjoy it!

My debut novel, SOUR CHERRY, coming in April 2025

11/6/2024

I have news! My debut novel, Sour Cherry, will be published by Tin House (North America) and Wildfire (UK & Commonwealth) in April 2025. Readers in North America can already pre-order the book.

Isn't she beautiful? Don't you feel like you've seen her before? Cover design by Beth Steidle.

Here's the novel's description:

A stunning reimagining of Bluebeard—one of the most mythologized serial killers—twisted into a modern tale of toxic masculinity, a feminist sermon, and a folktale for the twenty-first century.

The tale begins with Agnes. After losing her baby, Agnes is called to the great manor house to nurse the local lord’s baby boy. But something is wrong with the child: his nails grow too fast, his skin smells of soil, and his eyes remind her of the dark forest. As he grows into a boy, then into man, a plague seems to follow him everywhere. Trees wither at the roots, fruits rot on their branches, and the town turns to desperation. The man takes a wife, who bears him a son. But tragedy strikes in cycles and his family is forced to consider their own malignancy—until wife after wife, death after death, plague after plague, every woman he touches becomes a ghost. The ghosts become a chorus, and they call urgently to our narrator as she tries to explain, in our very real world, exactly what has happened to her. The ghosts can all agree on one thing, an inescapable truth about this man, this powerful lord who has loved them and led them each to ,ruin: if you leave, you die. But if you die, you stay.

Sour Cherry confronts age-old systems of gender and power, long-held excuses made for bad men, and the complicated reasons we stay captive to the monsters we love.

I can't wait to share it with you all!

Science Fantasy story: "Tell the King"

22/2/2024

I have another story out this month! "Tell the King" is a science fantasy short story about queer Greeks in space, an oracle interpreting the dreams of the dead, carnivorous flowers, and meek horses. You can read it now in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.