February 2025 Newsletter
Very full newsletter ahead!
Welcome to my February newsletter! If you want more frequent, personal, and behind-the-scenes posts and exclusive news can be followed via my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/jendiagammon
An Update from LA
As I mentioned in my previous newsletter, we experienced a major disaster in Los Angeles with the multiple wildfires. As of this writing, I am pleased to say the Eaton Fire and the Pacific Palisades Fire are 100% contained at last (as of Friday night). We are so grateful for the firefighters, first responders, animal rescue folks like Pasadena Humane (who helped both domestic and wild animals), World Central Kitchen (surreal to have that on my own block), and countless others coming together to help each other. In addition to the tragic loss of lives, thousands of people lost their homes, businesses, schools, and much more. It's staggering and has been so sad. But as we all come together and move forward, we will find ways to rebuild and help each other. Many thanks to those of you who have donated to help here.
There are many book-related updates ahead.
BSFA Longlist!
I am thrilled and honored to have FOUR short stories nominated for the British Science Fiction Association Awards! Thank you to everyone who nominated me. If you are a BSFA member, I would love to have your vote for the shortlist.
SEVERAL of the anthology writers for Of Shadows, Stars, and Sabers are also on this list!
Of Shadows, Stars, and Sabers - Out February 11, 2025
You can now preorder the debut Stars and Sabers Publishing anthology (featuring 29 authors from around the world) Of Shadows, Stars, and Sabers pretty much everywhere. You can also preorder from Mysterious Galaxy, which I mention further down this newsletter; some of us will be on hand to sign books, so you could get a signed one if you preorder before the event. Other preorder links here:
Stars and Sabers
Distributor problems have plagued this book, so we still don't have all the crowd-funded copies out in the world; they are going out in phases as we deal with the damaged books and general chaos the distributor has wrought upon our small press with terrible customer service and no good solutions.
As such, all future crowd-funded anthologies (the magic and horror ones already announced and others not announced) planned are on hiatus until we can perhaps find a different distributor to work with. Which is challenging, because in the States, that's essentially a monopoly.
If you have donated to our funding campaign for this book, do check your Ko-fi posts and Indiegogo Updates to see the status for what's happening. All crowd-funded ebooks will go out by February 11, but some of the paperbacks and hardbacks may be delayed. We'll keep you up to date and we apologize for this. Not how I wanted it to go. But you will get your books, they just might be delayed. In some cases, it may be simpler for us just to order a copy from Amazon to send to you in Europe or Australia rather than trying to ship from LA; it costs $30-40 to ship books individually to those countries, so when I can, I'm shipping batches of them to Gareth or Helen Glynn Jones (part of our Stars and Sabers team and author herself) to ship from the UK, and to a friend in Australia.
Multi-Author Book Launch for Of Shadows, Stars, and Sabers!
Still, happy things are happening! I'm thrilled to announce the official, multi-author launch at Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego for our debut cross-genre anthology, OF SHADOWS, STARS, AND SABERS! Come get your anthology signed by several of its authors and by me too!
When: Saturday, Feb. 22 at 2 PM Pacific
Where: Mysterious Galaxy Books, 3555 Rosecrans St #107 San Diego, CA
Who: Jendia Gammon, Dennis K. Crosby, KC Grifant, Mya Duong, Pedro Iniguez, and Greg van Eekhout
Schedule: 2:00 - 2:05 Intro; 2:05 - 2:35 Authors’ Discussion & Audience Q&A; 2:50 - End - Signing
More info: https://www.mystgalaxy.com/22225Gammon
My Books Made this 2025 Horror List!
A very fun thing!
Doomflower Preorders and Book Signing!
You can now preorder Doomflower everywhere! Some links (not exhaustive; order from your favorite place):
Apple (ebook), Barnes & Noble (paperback), Barnes & Noble (ebook), Blackwell’s (paperback), Bookshop.org (paperback), Amazon (paperback), Amazon (ebook), Kobo (ebook)
I'm thrilled to announce that I have book events for my Spring novels! My first Doomflower book tour will stop at Black Cat Fables in Monrovia, California this April 19, 2025. Great way to support a greater LA area small business, too. Head here for details:
Black Cat Fables
Atacama Preorders and Book Signing!
Preorders are live for Atacama, my speculative thriller (with horror and sci-fi elements) coming out in May, 2025 via Sley House Publishing! You can preorder from Bookshop.org, Waterstones, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Amazon, and other bookstores of your choosing in paperback or hardback or ebook.
My first Atacama book tour will stop at Black Cat Fables in Monrovia, California this May 17, 2025. Head here for details:
Black Cat Fables
Awards Eligibility Post for 2024
Thank you again for the BSFA nominations! Here's a list of my fiction published in 2024, for awards consideration for science fiction, fantasy, horror, and fiction generally. These were all short fiction for a change. You can see it all listed in my dedicated blog post. There might be some stories you missed, so do take a look! Thank you.
Writing Update
Yesterday, I had a great Zoom meeting with a publisher I have just signed with. I've called it a TBA Secret Project in the graphic below, but I'l make a small announcement about it soon! It's such a fun project. You'll hear more about this later in the year when the publisher does a big promo for it.
I may also have a publisher for my lighthearted fantasy and science fiction short story collection, but am waiting to see on that; nothing is final there.
Meanwhile, after so many disruptions in January, both disaster related, computer related, etc., it's not been a great month for actual writing. So I'm finishing up my novella, Godfestation (2026) with Sley House Publishing, and submitting it in a couple weeks.
In completed book news, I'm pretty sure I'll soon have full edits for my first dragon fantasy novel in a trilogy, The Vale of Seven Dragons (2026). And also edits for The Secret of the Sapphire Sentinel, sequel to The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern, out this autumn from Android Press.
Another fun bit of news: I was invited to be part of a really cool anthology, so I have that short story to submit this Spring. Once that's submitted and officially accepted, the editor will announce I'm part of that lineup.
As for additional book writing, after Godfestation, I will complete the Secret Project by May, then move to the second book in the Vale of Seven Dragons trilogy, Coursers of Wings and Flame. After that, I'll write the third Amethyst Lantern book, the prequel, The Dawn of Dusk and Twilight, due at year's end. That's four books to write this year, but I'll also be seeking an agent with other manuscripts by summertime if not sooner.
Here's the actual publication slate so far:
Thank you so much for reading and supporting. Wishing you all a peaceful February.
Write on!
Jendia
