[Post originally published: Feb 4, 2025]
I'm excited to say that my novella, Disgraced Return of the Kap's Needle, is finally open for preorders! The book is available in electronic, paperback, and audio formats in all usual outlets with a release date for April 29th. Cover Art is by Olly Jeavons, narration is by Jessica Gurd, and the novella was majestically edited by Rob Carroll at Dark Matter.
More links to retailers and bookstores to follow soon…
(If you’re a Brazilian reader and want to preorder it, the best place right now is Amazon)
Here's what the Needle is about:
Twenty years ago, the generation ship Kap’s Needle left Earth to settle a new world. It all went wrong. Now, two years into a desperate return trip, the ship’s biospheres are collapsing and oxygen is nearly depleted. Life Support Officer Reva is now little more than a tax collector—deciding who gets to breathe. When Captain Horvat launches a corruption purge to cover his own failures, Reva knows she’s next. To protect her son, she must do the unthinkable: trust First Officer Hannah, the woman who ruined her life, and help bring down the captain—no matter how many suffocating lives it costs.
When I wrote the first version of Disgraced Return of the Kap's Needle, the world was a different place. I had never considered that a struggle for oxygen could ever be a thing. Then, the pandemic came, and the old communications deck of the Kap's Needle—wickedly called O1—acquired a grimmer tone. And it brought out the themes of responsibility and how our actions can affects the lives of those around us.
The story is imbued with a noir atmosphere, but also politics, revenge, despair, and the cool dynamics of a population living inside a spaceship that has fallen in disgrace. It's a 180-degree shift in tone from what many people know me—hopeful fiction, solarpunk—but that's one of the things that being a writer is all about to me: exploring a wide spectrum of possibilities. I’ll still be writing solarpunk, but I've also been putting out epic fantasies, horrors, space operas, and more out there in the world.
All versions of the book, with the exception of the audio one (I think, but need to confirm!), also contain two short stories set in the same world: Callis Praedictionem, originally published in Dark Matter Magazine #5, about a doctor dealing with a deadly fungus aboard a generational spaceship, and A Lifeline of Silk, originally published at Robotic Ambitions: Tales of Mechanic Sentience, about a ship's autodoc gaining conscience—but to prevent psychological abuse.
If it's up your alley, I'd be immensely grateful if you could pick up a copy on preorder. Good sales at the preorder stage are a sign to bookstores that it's worth it to have the book on their shelves. Any sharing on social media is also deeply appreciated. When it's out and you get a chance to read it, I'd also love if you could write a review at Amazon, GoodReads, at the Dark Matter webpage, or just post a note anywhere you like. The journey of a writer swings between exhaustion and accomplishment, and being an ESL writer makes me always somewhat distanced from the realities of the anglosphere of SFF. So, being really earnest here, any kind of validation in that sense is essential. It makes me feel a bit more part of the global community.
And one important thing: if you, by any chance, come across with it in any bookstore or library, please take a pic and send it to me (or post it and tag me). As many of you know, I don't live in the US, and it's unlikely I’ll see the novella in any bookstores any time soon. Thank you!
See you soon! I won't say Enjoy the Ride because in the Kap's Needle it verges on sarcasm.
Tidbits
I had the pleasure of having my collection Different Kinds of Defiance, on the BSFA longlist for Best Collection. If you're a member, you can vote until the end of February. I’ll be happy if you hold it dearly in your thoughts for any consideration.
The Locus Recommended Reading List for 2024 is also out, and though the collection hasn't appeared there, it can be included as a write-in. Anyone can vote!
My fantasy story Wish You Were Here was published in the anthology Of Shadows, Stars, and Sabers, edited by Jendia Gammon and Gareth L. Powell. It has been a honor working with the power couple of SFF. The anthology is open for preorders with a release date very soon.
My fast-paced story about burnout and overwork and what to do with your time, We Are Burnout, is now out in Phano Magazine #2. It's a quick and intense reading. Let me know what you think!
Another Brazilian has joined the ranks of Imagine 2200. Jana Bianchi has published A Eulogy for Each and Every End in this year’s collection, alongside an impressive range of climate fiction and solarpunk artists.
Speaking of Imagine 2200, my story When It’s Time to Harvest published in the collection in 2021, was used for an analysis in a scientific paper called Affective configurations of urban catastrophe in contemporary latin american fiction, by Natalia López at Universidad Diego Portales, Chile. It’s available in Spanish and Portuguese.
And speaking of solarpunk and climate fiction, if you’re looking where to start on those genres, this starter pack by Susan Kaye Quinn is a good first step.
Recommendations
I wrote a wrap-up post for 2024 with a list of short fiction recommendations, but just want to add these to the list, all published in 2024:
The Witch Trap, by Jennifer Hudak, at Lady Churchills Rosebud Wristlet.
Everything in the Garden is Lovely, by Hannah Yang, at Apex Magazine.
Cursed Moon Queers, by Natalia Theodoridou, at Uncanny Magazine.
In the Hands of the Mountain God, by Deborah L. Davitt, at Lightspeed.