This past week, my friend Jasmine Silvera released the second book in her Grace Bloods series, Dancer’s Flame. I've known Jasmine since she was in Prague writing her first book (and, um, actually I’m officially the first book’s godmother and so kind of invested in this…) and I'm thrilled to see her universe, set in a dystopian future Prague, come to life in a second volume. The story centers on Isela Vogel, a dancer who can call on gods through the power of dance and her relationship with the city’s most powerful necromancer, Azrael.
 
Jasmine did a great job showcasing the city, but often when I pick up a book about a place I know well, I worry if my own experiences are going to take away from my enjoyment of the setting. For example, my own familiarity with Prague makes me hypervigilant to the details, but it’s really not fair to expect an author to always put every cobblestone in the right place. For most books, it's more about catching the spirit of a location and emphasizing only the details that evoke the sensation of being there. 

My April rewards for Patreon patrons post today! Above are the covers of my $5 reward (a short story about an inept assassin) and my $3 reward (a travel tale about Easter traditions in Spain and the Philippines). Make a pledge and claim your rewards at https://www.patreon.com/BethGreen. 

What is Patreon? It's a microfunding site for creators. You get cool things to read (and fun cat memes) and I can spend a bit more time on projects I'm passionate about!  Learn more here. You can also watch my intro video explaining my vision for my patrons and my projects below. 

I'm pleased to be featured in a creative-nonfiction anthology this spring!
 
On April 4th the Gratitude, Good News & Guidelines Creative Non-fiction Anthology will be launched. The proceeds from the sales of this anthology go to charity, supporting a school in an underprivileged area of Bangkok. I’ll be writing more about it and the editor who put it together, the multi-talented Bhavna Khemlani, next week—but if you can’t wait, the ebook is already available on Amazon.  
 
My essay, “Excuse Me Ma’am, Your Bag Is Overweight” is in the Guidelines section. In it, I share how airline packing restrictions can be similar to writing guidelines—and how I sometimes chafe at both.
 
Happy reading! 

I recently got a haul of books from a friend who is moving into a new smaller apartment and now my floor is filled with stacks of amazing stories. How am I going to decide what to read first?
 
Some of them are ones that I've read before but am excited to browse through again, like A Thousand Splendid Suns, and the travel anthology A Woman Alone: Travel Tales from Around the Globe. Others are ones I’ve had on my mental to-be read list, but I have never had a chance to get my hands on a copy. For example, Interpreter of Maladies and The Effect of Living Backwards. One of the things I frequently miss about living in an English-speaking country is access to a big public library. Because I live away from an English-speaking market, it’s often hard to find books that I want when I want to read them, even in the bookstore. Of course, that means I do a lot of reading on my Kindle! And if I have to have something in dead-tree version, I can often order it from Book Depository. Otherwise, though, I read whatever materializes on my book shelf.

Thanks to everyone who signed up for my mailing list recently! (In case you missed out: http://eepurl.com/cFxRMX) I hope you enjoyed the free short story (and the surprise later!). 

NaNoWriMo is upon us! I wrote a short blog post for my coworking space's blog about how I got started with NaNo and how I think that NaNo write-ins capture the spirit of coworking. Take a peek! 

(And if you've never heard of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), it is an awesome creative challenge. Check it out at nanowrimo.org.)

The FISH OUT OF WATER editor, Ramona DeFelice Long, has worked on four anthologies for the Sisters in Crime Guppies. In a blog post this week, she discusses why these projects were a "game-changer" for her. Thanks for your keen eye, Ramona!