Winter Tide for free; Lovecraft Reread meanders; Deep Roots

[ashnistrike]

I am currently suffering from a toddler plague which includes the delightful symptom of "malaise." That sounds more Victorian than it turns out to be in practice. At the moment I'm awake, yet don't have the energy to actually get out of bed or write anything substantial. Therefore, have some links:

Through noon on Friday, you can get a free e-book of Winter Tide by signing up for the Tor.com newsletter--I believe you can still get it if you're already a subscriber.

Over at the Lovecraft E-zine podcast, Anne M. Pillsworth and I talk about the Lovecraft Reread, our favorite weird fiction, and how to fangirl problematic things.

I neglected to post here at the time, but the cover for Deep Roots and a short interview are up at The Verge. Deep Roots is coming out in July 2018, and contains creepy yet dangerously helpful aliens, Deep Ones attempting to navigate the New York City subway, and lots of takeout food. Awkward relatives and apocalyptic threats galore!


 

Comments

[anne]

Pre-ordered!

[ashnistrike]

Yay!

[fineplan]

What a beautiful cover. I can't wait for the book!

[ashnistrike]

I love JJP's covers so much--I got very lucky.

[jeliza]

Gorgeous cover! Palencar is such a good match for your stories.

[ashnistrike]

Yes, I love his stuff so much.

*incoherent squeeing*

[eagleoftheninth]

OH MY GOODNESS THIS IS GONNA BE SO GOOD HOW AM I GOING TO WAIT TILL JULY AHHHHHHHHH

[sovay]

Deep Roots is coming out in July 2018, and contains creepy yet dangerously helpful aliens, Deep Ones attempting to navigate the New York City subway, and lots of takeout food.

I am looking forward!

Feel better before then, though.

[ashnistrike]

Doing much better today--thank you.

[child_of_the_air]

They ride the subway!? *SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE* (Will probably be obsessively reading this section and comparing it to my pile of references on the history of the New York subway.)

[ashnistrike]

Thank you again for sharing those references. They now ride the subway much more accurately in a couple of key places.

[child_of_the_air]

TRAAAAIIIIIINNNNNNNNSSSSS!

[eagleoftheninth]

Ms Emrys ma'am may I ask a silly question?

[ashnistrike]

As long as you don't mind a silly answer.

[eagleoftheninth]

Right then! Ma'am, I listened to that podcast where you answered the question of what you would cook if you were having Lovecraft over for dinner (I liked your answer) and a related question has occurred to me; if it were possible to invite one's own characters over for dinner, what would you cook for Aphra?

(If I was the host, I'd do baked salmon with herby butter, boiled potatoes, asparagus, and narsturtium salad with honey mustard dressing. And apple pie to follow with salted caramel sauce and ice cream. It seems a bit of an insult to attempt proper Innsmouth recipes when I'm not very good at them yet, but I think this would pass muster. Gotta bring your A-game when your guest is a Classy Lady.)

[child_of_the_air]

I (and my partner) really liked Ruthanna's answer re having Lovecraft over for dinner, too. It wouldn't be applicable for me, since I'm not Jewish, but I guess in that situation, as a (Polish-Catholic)-American, I'd have to make a bunch of foreign-seeming Slavic food to seem as obviously not-WASP as possible.

Ironically, if I was cooking for Aphra, I'd probably end up making Polish food, too, albeit for different reasons. I wouldn't feel right trying to make Innsmouth dishes for her when I'm sure she could do a much better job than me. So I'd probably go with trying to share a heavily-salted version of my own culinary heritage:

Homemade pierogi (likely with Maryland blue crab as the filling). Bigos (a hunter's stew of meat and pickled vegetables), heavy on the sauerkraut. Meat golabki (stuffed cabbage) using pickled cabbage leaves for the wrappers (yay, more salt!). And dill pickle soup. I don't really ever cook seafood, but there are a lot of Polish recipes for haddock and the like that I could look into, too. For dessert, probably makowiec.

[ashnistrike]

Huh, good question! Easier than Lovecraft because it's not dinner-as-debate, but harder because there's no obvious way to go. Probably I would pick things I think she'd like, but that would be hard to get in 1949 Massachusetts. Ceviche, maybe, because it's an interesting thing to do with semi-raw fish that isn't either sushi or an Innsmouth-style preparation. Avocado salad with goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes--you could probably get avocados in LA but I don't know if there would have been good ones in San Francisco. Maybe a risotto with several kinds of wild mushrooms. Interesting imported cheeses. Flourless chocolate cake made with *really good* chocolate.

Although honestly what I'd probably do would be take the excuse to cook with her, because collaborative meal preparation is a thing we both enjoy, and because I'd want to let her at my 21st century spice rack and also corner her about which fish sauce is actually closest to garum.

Both of your meals sound like excellent ideas as well. She loves pierogi, and edible flowers are a thing that shows up in Innsmouth cuisine but not in the surrounding country.

[eagleoftheninth]

There's another sort of thing I might try on her too if she was feeling adventurous-a bit more out of my comfort zone but worth it. A white fish and prawn curry with a coconut base to it. The basic principles of the dish are pretty close to New English seafood chowders or the holiday fish stew-mild fish, sweetness, creaminess-but the ingredients and flavours are drawn from very different places. And most, as you say, would not be available to her in her time! I'd go easy on the chilli, but that's not just for her sake-I can't handle hardcore heat myself. My ancestors surely cry out in shame.

I'd also like to take her to meet my dad's flatmates and sample their food-they are Bangladeshi and very good cooks. In particular I'm thinking of the dried fish curry they made for Dad once, that I liked far more than I expected to. And, obviously, being the Brit that I am, I'd want to introduce her to fish and chips!

[child_of_the_air]

Speaking of garam, I feel like someone needs to put Aphra and Translator Zeiat in the same room so they can have a conversation on the virtues of fish sauce...

[(Anonymous)]

In a 'support the artist' sense does it make much difference if we preorder from Chapters or just buy the book when it comes out?
-Erik

[ashnistrike]

Thank you for asking! Preorders are nice, because stores tend to order extras on the theory that if at least one person is interested, others might be as well. But first-week sales are also one of the big things they tend to count--honestly, whatever works best for you is going to make this artist pretty happy.