DJO May Newsletter
Welcome back!
MY NEXT BOOK IS ABOUT TO DROP!
Next Tuesday, May 16 my Young Adult novel Last Canto of the Dead will be released from the Rick Riordan Presents Imprint!! This is the sequel to last year’s Ballad & Dagger, an epic tale of romance, culture, family, and of course pirates. Last Canto is the explosive conclusion to the story, and you don’t want to miss it so get your last minute pre-order in now. Ballad & Dagger has recently been selected for this year’s CBC Teacher and Librarian Favorites Lists! It warms my heart that people are still talking about B&D after it’s been out a whole year—and just in time for the sequel! This series is deeply personal and was both incredibly fun and wildly challenging to write. I’ve never seen myself so clearly on the page and never had to fight so hard to get these characters where they needed to be. Poured a ton of love and heartache into the Outlaw Saints and I’m so happy to see them thriving in the world!
LAUNCH EVENTS
NEW ORLEANS: On Tuesday, I’ll be reading and signing at Octavia Books!
NYC: And Wednesday, May 17, I’ll be back in New York City, reading at Books of Wonder along with Margaret Owen.
BALTIMORE: On May 21st at 7PM my wonderful wife and B’more hometown hero Brittany N. Williams and I will be giving a free author talk at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. (This one is technically part of her launch, but it’s so cool and we’ll both be talking about the projects we’re working on). In addition to chatting and signing our work, Brittany will perform a sword play demonstration that will kick off an introductory sword play workshop led by the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's fight choreographer. The event is free, just RSVP here! Can’t wait to see you there.
ASSORTED STAR WARS and SHAKESPEAREAN SHENANIGANS
We all know that May is Star Wars month and wow is it true! We’ve got a lot coming out this month, both for the GFFA and this galaxy right here. First, let’s recap what's been going on since I last popped up in your inbox.
Bringing us into the month, Brittany’s novel That Self-Same Metal was released into the world! She’s been working so hard and the payoff has been great—people are loving the book. It got a stellar review in the New York Times! I’ve had the pleasure of joining Brittany on some of her launch week fun, going to book signings, festivals, and such. If you haven’t picked up That Self-Same Metal yet, do it! It’s such a wonderful journey.
My friend and fellow Luminous author, Cavan Scott is closing out the novel side of Phase II of the High Republic with Path of Vengeance. Those of you who joined us at SWCL might already have a copy, but if you didn’t make it, grab it now! It’s such a great conclusion to the books of this phase.
Speaking of THR, issue four of my comic run THE HIGH REPUBLIC ADVENTURES came out last Wednesday and the responses were heartwarming as always. This was a really special issue. I mean they all are, but this one in particular felt like it was writing itself, and it was unusual in that it’s almost entirely a single, straight forward story (as opposed to an A and a B story) and mostly takes place on the Dank Graks’ ship, The Grim Devourer. Really, this is the story of Sav and Saya finding friendship in the midst of all the chaos around them, and even though that friendship is based on lies and disguises, there’s still something very genuine and beautiful at its core. It has one of my favorite full page spreads in any of my comics ever and features a special guest appearance by one of my favorite legacy Jedi, Tera Sinube.
And Toni Bruno knocked it out of the park as always! I love the intimacy of this page:
This past Saturday was Free Comic Book Day, and I was so honored to be able to write a story for Dark Horse’s FCBD issue. The story of what happened with the Star Hopper Padawans on Starlight Beacon has been in my mind since I ended Phase I of THRA, and I’m thankful that I was able to tell it. Loved all of your live reactions—I have a lot of people in my walls, ceilings, floors, etc. I won’t spoil anything for those who weren’t able to get ahold of the book just yet, but wow that ending! Wonder what happens next…
That’s all for today, but keep an eye out for the reopening of the DJO shop soon! Besides the usual fare, we plan to have some very special THRA Phase I variants and bookplates for sale. Variant supplies are especially limited, so keep an eye out. People subscribed to this newsletter will be notified of the reopening before the general public.
Also also: I added a paid tier to this Substack — no special benefits to it as of yet, it’s just if you want to support my work.
See you next month!
—D