Greetings Inklings!

I am coming to you this May from beneath a pile of cardboard, tape, and bubble wrap. I’m a teacher in my day job, so I live my year from August to May. Instead of ruminating on  accomplishments, endings, and what the future may hold in December, I do my year-end reflecting over the summer months. This pattern holds even more true this year as I prepare to sell the home my family has lived in for 9 years, leave a job I’ve held for 12 years, and move to an entirely new town. I’m a pro at moving, as my spouse’s military career took us all over the country in our youth. But as we’ve gotten older and more settled, it gets harder to upend everything and plunge headlong into the unknown. It’s put me in a contemplative state of mind, and one book that keeps coming to the fore is Octavia Butler’s sci-fi classic, The Parable of the Sower. 

CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT

If you aren’t familiar with the story, it’s a near future dystopia written in 1993 and set in 2024 that feels disconcertingly prescient. Climate change, oligarchy, and a strongman president are wreaking havoc on the country. People are scared and preparing for the worst. Communities are becoming more isolated, building walls, and carrying guns. And in the midst of it all, a young girl is trying to contextualize and prepare for the calamity that is coming. Lauren Olamina finds the strength to keep going by creating her own religion, called Earthseed, that is built around the concept that change is the only constant in the world. To survive, humanity must embrace change rather than fear it and see it as a catalyst to push up to adapt, survive, and ultimately better ourselves. This philosophy is captured in snippets of a religious text Lauren will write in the future, called the Book of Life, and it gives a story set in the middle of societal decay and destruction a strangely hopeful tone. 

One of the most powerful quotes to encapsulate this philosophy is the simple mantra: “All that you touch you Change. All that you Change, Changes you. The only lasting truth is Change.”

I may have repeated that line a few times to myself while wrestling with packing tape. 

A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

Books like Parable of the Sower remind us that even in the midst of chaos and darkness, we can strive not just to survive the moment but to build something better in the ashes. My life is hardly a dystopia, but in a new town and a new home, maybe I will build something even better than what I have now.

And in a country struggling to define who it wants to be, maybe instead of just restoring old norms, we can forge a new and better social contract than the one that came before. In this struggle, too, Octavia Butler offers us wisdom to follow. 

“Embrace diversity.

Unite—

Or be divided,

robbed,

ruled,

killed

By those who see you as prey.

Embrace diversity

Or be destroyed.” 

-Octavia Butler; Parable of the Sower

So as I reflect on the past year and wrestle with the coming changes, I am going to heed the words of a good book. I am going to embrace change, embrace my diverse community of friends and family, and use this moment to grow into something even better. I hope you do the same. 

WHAT’S UP WITH HQ PRESS?

Speaking of changes! We are now a press with not one, but two published books! Gods of Atalantis by Emily Klotz is out now and our first title, Bludeye Beach by Eliwood Gheist is now available to order in ebook OR physical copies. 

Get your copy of Gods of Atalantis here:   Amazon | Books2Read 

Purchase information for Bludeye Beach here: Amazon | Books2Read

And because change is a catalyst for growth, we are publishing our first Zine this month. Featuring short stories, poetry, essays and art by our fabulous Hook & Quill writers, you can check our our Spring Zine here: Patreon | Ko-Fi | itch.io

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS QUILLBERT?

Quillbert, the international Mollusk of Mystery, found time to help me with my packing in between his other 

escapades.