Hello Party People!
It’s been a while since I’ve written a more personal note. A lot has happened as late, including that the owners/creators of Substack continue to be totally fine with hate speech on this platform, Apartheid Clyde has blocked Substack previews on Twitter in retaliation for Substack’s development of Notes, and I really want to find a new platform and am intrigued by but uncertain about the new Wordpress newsletter platform. All of this to say, you may wake up one morning and find out that I have moved this mailing list to a new platform. (Beehiiv is one place I’m thinking about, and Button Down is another.)
BUT IN MORE EXCITING NEWS … The Edge of Space-Time is coming! I’m writing a another book and will be working with editor Maria Goldverg and publisher Lisa Lucas at Pantheon Books. I am OVER THE MOON about the publishing team, and I think they will help me write a book that feels welcoming and accessible to all people, whether math and science made you anxious as a kid, or you already know that you’re a huge geek.
In addition to the details in the PublishersMarketplace Deal Report above, I’m excited to share that one of the pop culture anchors I’ll be working with is Big K.R.I.T.’s album Cadillactica which is a beautiful and brilliant work of Black Southern Afrofuturism. There’s also gonna be some old school Missy Elliott and Janelle Monáe in the mix, for all of the fandroids out there.
Also, it’s Pride month! To celebrate, the publisher of The Disordered Cosmos, is offering a 20% discount on all hardcover and paperback purchases directly from their site, with the code #PRIDE23. Also, the ebook is $3.99 at all retailers: Apple, Barnes & Noble Nook, Kobo, eBooks, and yes that place that I don’t think you should buy from. So, now is a great time to get a copy of TDC as a gift for a friend.
If you’re looking for other books by Black and/or queer authors to read this month/summer/year, I got you! My books are not the only game in town, thankfully. Here’s a thread on Twitter with links to the books I recommend. I also recently published an interview I did with political theorist and one time student labor organizer Ben McKean, for Public Books. Please read and enjoy — there’s no paywall! I also got to publish a piece in Physics World about the Cite Black Women+ in Physics and Astronomy Bibliography.
And finally a very random book recommendation: by sheer coincidence, the day after I agreed to work with Maria and Lisa on The Edge of Space-Time, I happened to buy a copy of An Autobiography of Skin: A Novel by Lakiesha Carr. I didn’t realize it was a Pantheon book — or that Maria was the editor — until after I was already totally obsessed with it. As I wrote on instagram, this is the literature that Black women deserve to have available to us, and it is the literature by and for Black women that I want the whole world reading. So, if you’re looking for your summer fiction read, consider grabbing An Autobiography of Skin, and you can listen to Maria and Lakiesha discuss the book here.
Before I sign off, a note about what’s on the horizon: in addition to my continued monthly column for New Scientist, in a few weeks, Foreign Policy will publish my review of Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures, the new exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture. I also have yet another exciting announcement and a few press items in the pipeline before Pride Month 2023 is out. In the meantime, listen to me talk about Netflix’s new reality show Girltimatum, aka “The Ultimatum: Queer Love” on Crooked’s Hysteria podcast. Also on deck for fall: I interviewed Kiese Laymon for Public Books. It was amazing.
Thanks for all of your support and for subscribing to this little Substack. And thank you for continuing to mask so that our immune-compromised kin (including those of us who had bad bouts with COVID) can continue to safely participate in society!
