Greetings Inklings!

I don’t know about you all, but so far this year has been A Year.

In my own life, I have found myself struggling to keep up with work amid a never-ending onslaught of family emergencies, pet emergencies, car emergencies, money emergencies. As a teacher, it feels like my work has become both more challenging and more tedious as I must confront the difficulties of AI, with students who are all too willing to outsource their brains to the machine, and administrators who are convinced it is The Future™ and seem wholly uninterested in listening to the opinions of us lowly instructors. And let’s not even mention everything else going on in the world right now.

With so much demanding my time and energy, it’s hard to find space for the activities that truly bring me joy—writing, art, reading. Even when I have the time, it’s hard to muster the energy to really dive into these things as deeply as I want to. I know I’m not alone here.

And yet, in spite of it all, I am finding joy. I am making time to immerse myself in the words and worlds of good friends, and let their imaginations carry me when my own feels like it’s running on fumes. I am listening to good music that brings peace and beauty to my soul. My own worlds and characters live in my head always, giving me happiness even when I can’t always give them the time to bring them to life. This year, I published my first book, and the amount of kindness I’ve been showered with by my online community of writers and friends is simply overwhelming.

This year I have also been able to share in the joy of so many friends who were able to bring their own beautiful works out into the world, and others who are gradually drawing nearer to that goal. In a world that sometimes seems to be drowning in slop, I have been blessed to have constant reminders of the unparalleled wonder and uniqueness of real human storytellers and artists who want to share their labors of love with their fellow humans.

There is hope for the world, even still. Maybe now more than ever. Amid the darkness there are glimmers of light, signs perhaps of a dawn growing on the horizon. I have to believe that dawn is coming, and the future holds more bright things for all of us than it holds darkness.

HEARTS STARVE AS WELL AS BODIES

With my book The Gods of Atalantis about to be released in physical print in the near future, I have been making plans. A long time ago I decided that I would get a tattoo to celebrate each time I managed to bring one of my stories into the world. The one I have planned for this book is a bundle of wheat stalks and roses tied together, encircled by the phrase: “Hearts starve as well as bodies.”

This phrase is part of a longer poem, “Bread and Roses” by James Oppenheim, inspired by both the women’s suffrage movement and the labor movements of the early 20th century. The poem is a battle cry of human beings demanding their rights—the right not merely to survive, but to live as humans were meant to live.

As we come marching, marching, in the beauty of the day,

A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill-lofts gray

Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses,

For the people hear us singing, “Bread and Roses, Bread and Roses.”

As we come marching, marching, we battle, too, for men–

For they are women’s children and we mother them again.

Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes–

Hearts starve as well as bodies: Give us Bread, but give us Roses!

As we come marching, marching, unnumbered women dead

Go crying through our singing their ancient song of Bread;

Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew–

Yes, bread we fight for–but we fight for Roses, too.

As we come marching, marching, we bring the Greater Days–

The rising of the women means the rising of the race–

No more the drudge and idler–ten that toil where one reposes–

But sharing of life’s glories: Bread and Roses, Bread and Roses!

The body must have bread to eat, but that isn’t enough. Humans need more than that. Humans need art, love, beauty. Bread for the body, and roses for the soul. I firmly believe this is not just a privilege, but a right, something we should all be entitled to.

Too often it seems we are forced to give up the roses for the sake of having enough bread—and even then, the amount of bread we’re begrudgingly given seems to grow less and less by the year. I look around at the present state of things and see powerful figures who want to kill our ability to think and create, because people without art, without stories, without culture, without thoughts, are much easier to control. And tragically, I also look around and see many people who seem perfectly willing to give all those things up for the sake of convenience. Because let’s face it: to think and create and tell stories is hard. It takes work. It involves struggle and pain and friction. The roses have thorns, and some people seem to prefer life to be thornless. Or, at least, they think they do.

But more and more, I also see people realizing that a life without roses—without thinking, without art, without stories—is a life that is not thornless, but soulless. I see more and more people rising up to demand both bread and roses, waking up to the truth that hearts starve as well as bodies, and our hearts have been starving for a long time.

This is why I write, and make art, and teach, even when it’s tiring and frustrating. This is why I will never stop doing it, and why I’ll never stop encouraging those who also engage in the difficult but rewarding work of growing the beautiful roses of their souls.

WHAT’S UP WITH HQ PRESS?

As I mentioned, the physical print of my book The Gods of Atalantis will soon be available! Keep your eyes peeled for the official announcement. And in the meantime, you can also buy it in digital, as well as our first book, Bludeye Beach by Eliwood S. Gheist, which debuted earlier this year (available in both digital and print)!

The Gods of Atalantis is the first part of a planned trilogy about Mireia and Kena, two teenagers chosen as the avatars of the gods on an island that’s doomed to destruction. Bludeye Beach is the first book in a series about Edie Grayson, a girl who visits a quaint beachside town, and quickly learns she is in over her head with both relationship troubles and paranormal horrors.

Gods of Atalantis:   Amazon | Books2Read 

Bludeye Beach here: Amazon | Books2Read

Our first zine also debuted this past May, featuring original, 100% human poetry, stories and artwork by the lovely people at Hook & Quill Press! Check out some of our little roses here: Patreon | Ko-Fi | itch.io 

Our third book, Thief of Death by Samantha Breaux, is also slowly making its way down the publishing pipeline. Keep an eye out for more updates on that in the coming months!

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS QUILLBERT?

Recently, Quillbert was kind enough to accompany me on a trip to Austin, Texas. After enjoying the luxuries of our hotel, we headed home—but not before stopping near New Braunfels to have a lovely, lazy afternoon in the park!