Category: a familiar problem

name tag and lanyard

My first appearances of 2026 have been scheduled! Some of these are still preliminary and may change, but I wanted to get them out in time to share in my January newsletter.

At Arisa 2026 (January 16-19), I am scheduled to moderate one panel and serve on four others:

Manga 101: Introduction to Japanese Comics
Kendall Square Saturday, January 17, 2026, 10:00 AM EST

Don’t Know Much About Geography–But You Should!
Porter Square A Saturday, January 17, 2026, 5:30 PM EST

Artist, Craftsperson, Maker, Crafter, Hacker – What’s in a Name?
Central Square Saturday, January 17, 2026, 6:45 PM EST

Your Fat Friends
Porter Square A Sunday, January 18, 2026, 10:00 AM EST

Isekai 101: Surviving Your Time In Another World (moderator)
Harvard Square Monday, January 19, 2026, 10:00 AM EST

There is still a chance I will get an opportunity to read at Arisia. The schedule is still being finalized.

On January 31, I have been selected to read from A Familiar Problem at the Straw Dog Writers Guild Author Showcase at 4pm at the Forbes Library in Northampton. I will also be bringing copies of my books to sell!

Later in the year, I’m tentatively planning to attend Watch City, the Nebula Conference, and Readercon again. I’m also proposing myself to be a participant at Worldcon. I’ll post further updates as we get closer!

old jelly jar

As I reflect on my year of writing in 2025, it was a somewhat discouraging year. I did quite a bit of fiction writing, but almost none of it got published. I wrote 26,000 words of short fiction and did 20 submissions. Zip.

I also worked on longer fiction. I finished the 19,000 word manuscript for Ecorozire! the third novella sequel of Revin’s Heart. It’s not clear when they might ever see the light of day. I also finished a 43,000 word rough draft of my new novel The Ground Never Lies. It still needs a lot of work and fleshing out, but I haven’t managed to get to revising it.

The high point was that my first novel, A Familiar Problem finally came out. I wrote it in 2022 and it was rejected five times before being accepted for publication. I signed the contract in 2024 and the original scheduled publication date was December 2024. But it was delayed, first until January and then June. And it finally came out December 10, 2025. I had planned to use 2025 to promote it and scheduled myself to appear in conventions. But, over and over again, I was going without the new book to promote. This was rather discouraging.

I also had the discouraging interaction at Worldcon that left a rather bad taste in my mouth. I ended up having to interact with the other author again at LOSCon. If I hadn’t already made the arrangements to travel to Los Angeles, I probably would have canceled going. We got through it, but it really raised the tension — at least for me. I otherwise had a good time. I had many other positive interactions and, uncharacteristically for me, I managed to meet a lot of new people. And it was fun to unbox A Familiar Problem. Having a new book come out counts for a lot.

So, not everything this year was discouraging.

I did write a lot of blog posts — more than 80. Most are about stuff I was doing. A few were about news or writing. I wrote an Awards Eligibility post. OK. That was a little discouraging.

I also wrote an article about bookselling for SFWA Planetside that is scheduled to appear in January. I have a companion blog post that I will release at the same time.

I was re-elected to a full term as Secretary of SFWA. The difference between service last year and this year is striking. When I joined the Board, SFWA had lost essentially all of its leadership and staff. With fresh leadership, we hired new staff who hit the ground running and really engineered a transformation. The Board has been able to return to developing strategy. Whereas, last year was all frenetic activity, this year has been more relaxed. That’s not to say there haven’t been moments of controversy and high drama (like yesterday). But, no matter how bad it’s been, it’s been better than last year.

My service to the Straw Dog Writers Guild continues. I run Straw Dog Writes and serve on the program committee. I ran the online meetup nearly every week for the second — going on third — year. The regular group is small, but lively, with a mix of less frequent participants. On behalf of the program committee, I invited and hosted several talks during the year. I also served on a committee to review candidates to potentially update the website. I was excited and encouraged to draft the recommendation that was taken to the Board but, unfortunately, nothing ever came of it. Maybe that was another discouraging thing.

Wandering Shop Stories is an ongoing pleasure. We have 168 followers on Mastodon and 69 on Bluesky. Asakiyume frequently boosts and offers thoughtful comments on contributions. We’ve held genuinely enjoyable quarterly meetings aligned with the major solar events (solstices and equinoxen). And we’ve brought on one or two new curators. I write to the prompt most days, although occasionally I use snippets of works-in-progress or even bits of published works. It’s a great creative warm-up exercise in the morning. And reading the contributions by other authors and interacting with the small community that has sprung up around the project is always a treat.

I also participate in a number of other writing prompts on Mastodon and Bluesky, including #WritersCoffeeClub, #WordWeavers, #PennedPossibilities, #ScribesAndMakers, #Writephant, #LesFicFri, #WIPSnips, and probably others. The community of writers on Mastodon is particularly strong and supportive.

The year was also the middle half of my phased retirement. It’s weird to think I’ll teach Writing in Biology just once more this spring. I’ve been teaching this particular class since 2002 and am ready to be done. It’s been hard to keep it fresh and, honestly, seeing the end of the road ahead, I haven’t tried very hard. I realized recently that, when I fully retire in August, I will have spent 30 years — basically half my life — employed by the University. That seems like something that calls for further reflection — and should probably be the subject of its own post.

cover for A Familiar Problem

On December 10, 2025, A Familiar Problem is finally available for purchase. It’s been a long, weird road to publication. But I’m very grateful it is finally available and I hope people enjoy it.

In May, 2022, I had an idea for a story. I sketched out a rough outline and then, in just a couple of hours, wrote the first chapter. It was a simple idea: A young man who is supposed to get his magical familiar, instead is captured as the familiar of a powerful demon that intends to train him up to enter him in an illegal familiar-fighting contest.

Over May and June, I wrote the rest of the novel. With a rough draft, I passed it it along to my beta readers. They offered a lot of helpful comments about story structure and pacing.

I had an epiphany while revising. I had originally drafted the story to end at a particular point when the main conflict of the story was resolved. But, while I was revising, I kept thinking of fun, funny things that the characters could do after the end. Eventually, I realized that, as I was the author, I could just keep writing more. In the end I wrote two more fun-filled chapters and created a far more satisfying ending.

During July, I fleshed out the rough draft: I added richer descriptions and worked to make sure that the timeline was consistent. My records indicate I submitted the manuscript for the first time on August 1st. I got five rejections before it caught the attention of an editor and was accepted for publication.

It’s a somewhat strange book. Like all of my writing, it doesn’t fit cleanly into a single genre I had tried to pitch it to one publisher as a “cozy fantasy.” They rejected it saying

We were concerned about the overt themes of sexual abuse and sexual coercion. […] While we recognise that abuse can be a theme in cosy fantasy, a synopsis whereby the protagonist ultimately marries into their abusive situation is more fitting for dark fantasy than cosy.

Currently, I’m calling it a “cozy, dark fantasy.” It does have dark elements but, overall, it’s a story about a young man who discovers that it can be better to want what you have than to have what you want. It’s also about finding the middle way when presented with a seemingly binary choice.

I was super excited to have my first novel published. I scheduled myself to hit the convention circuit during 2025 to promote the book. Then the problems started.

The book was originally scheduled to be released in December 2024. But the release date got pushed back to mid-January ― after Arisia. Then the cover artist artist got sick. Boskone happened. Then the editor ended up in the hospital. The book wasn’t available for Watch City. Or the Nebulas. Or Readercon. Or Worldcon. Finally, in late August, the book production began moving again.

I had hoped it would available for the Northampton Book Festival. Or LOSCon. And, finally, on the morning of the last day of LOSCon, I was able to actually put my hands on a paper copy of the book.

On December 10, 2025, A Familiar Problem hits shelves. Or would, if any brick-and-mortar stores were carrying it. But you can find it online at all of the major book sellers. I hope you’ll buy a copy.

Becoming a powerful demon’s familiar might be the best thing ever. But what’s the catch?

Rory Soletsa is supposed to find his magical familiar, but he doesn’t want something trite, like a cat; or stupid, like a bird; or ugly, like a toad. He wants something cool and powerful that can be an ally in a fight. When he’s captured and made into the familiar of a powerful demon — who presents as a voluptuous, beautiful woman — he’s amazed as he begins to discover how much more powerful his magic is with her. And he’s ecstatic when the demon offers to train him in advanced offensive and defensive magic. But just what is she training him for?

A Familiar Problem, coming soon from Water Dragon Publishing!