My First Convention Appearance!

Hi bookish friends! I’ve been to a couple of book festivals and conventions, but I’ve never been a featured guest at one. That all changed this September, when I was a panelist at ArmadilloCon, Austin’s long-running sci-fi and fantasy literature convention!

I had been meaning to go to ArmadilloCon as a normal attendee at some point, so I was shocked and thrilled when the invitation to be a panelist arrived in my inbox. Turns out, the organizer saw my Handbook for Mortals video essay, worked out from context clues that I live in the Austin area, and thought it would be fun to have a YouTuber in the mix for the event!

Among the authors I got to meet were P. Djèlí Clark, Samantha Mills, Nia Davenport, Ehigbor Okosun, Aparna Verma, Gabriella Buba, Hana Lee, Natania Barron, Mia Tsai, and so many more. I even got to be on panels with some of them!

The highlight of the weekend was getting to interview the writer guest of honor, Nebula and Locus award-winning sci-fi author Samantha Mills. We talked about what it's like writing both short stories and novels, how Samantha goes about researching and building worlds for her work, and how she got her debut novel The Wings Upon Her Back published seven years after she wrote it! You can watch the recording of our conversation on YouTube now.

I also edited a short clip of our conversation where Samantha revealed how she learned to write short stories, and I foresee myself rewatching this video again and again because it was great advice! Watch the short clip on YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Instagram.

Watch Early: Visiting 40+ Doctor Who Filming Locations in One Day

Over the summer, I traveled to the UK to visit my British family. I figured it made sense to engage in a spot of Doctor Who tourism while I was there, so I took a day trip to Cardiff in Wales, hell bent on finding as many Doctor Who filming locations as I possibly could!

I was amazed to discover that 1) Lots of Doctor Who filming locations are within close walking distance of each other, and 2) the show frequently uses the exact same locations to film different episodes set in vastly different places. Come along with me for an epic adventure through time and space … and Cardiff!

The video will be public on my YouTube channel in a few days, but you get to watch it early at this unlisted link!

My New Favorite Book of the Year?

The YA dystopian genre is making something of a comeback these days, and one of the authors at the forefront of this new wave is Jill Tew. I interviewed Jill when her debut YA dystopian novel, The Dividing Sky, came out last year, and I incorporated our conversation into a video essay about the genre’s resurrection.

The prequel to The Dividing Sky, An Ocean Apart, came out on October 14, and I was lucky enough to get an ebook ARC. And oh my goodness, I could NOT put it down! An Ocean Apart is a thrilling ride, with plenty of familiar vibes for fans of 2010s YA dystopia while also bringing something fresh to the modern version of the genre. For my full thoughts, read my review of An Ocean Apart on Storygraph.

In fact, this book bowled me over so hard that the second I finished it, I DMed Jill and asked if she would be willing to do another Instagram live with me so I could yell at her … and she agreed! You can watch the recording of our spoiler-free conversation about An Ocean Apart and other sci-fi shenanigans on Instagram.

Was the New Hunger Games Book Any Good?

Speaking of YA dystopian stories, a book stemming from 2010s YA dystopian royalty came out this year: Sunrise on the Reaping, a prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy that follows Katniss’s mentor Haymitch Abernathy through his own Games.

I had mixed feelings about the other Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, so I was cautious going into this installment. To my delight, Sunrise on the Reaping was a brilliant, gripping, and chilling story that felt timely while also tapping into my Hunger Games nostalgia!

For more thoughts, read my full review of Sunrise on the Reaping on Storygraph.

My Favorite Author’s New Book

Some of you may know that my favorite book is This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. In fact, when I went to the Columbus Book Festival over the summer, I spent over three hours desperately waiting in line to meet Amal (you can see a recap of my epic adventure here).

Naturally, I was excited to read Amal’s new solo novella, The River Has Roots. Did it capture the magic I felt when reading Time War, you ask? Hell yeah, it did!

The River Has Roots is a murder ballad with fae, a grammar-based magic system, and musical powers. The gorgeous writing swept me up in such a short span of time! For more thoughts, read my review of The River Has Roots on Storygraph.

More Doctor Who Hot Takes

One of my recent Youtube video essays was a giant rundown of how Doctor Who’s latest season went from brilliant to disastrous. I cut some short videos for Instagram and TikTok about a smaller topic within that video, two of which I posted this month — and we have got some bonkers ones today!

First up, I posted a spoiler-free version of my rant about the wasted potential of the companion Belinda Chandra on Instagram and TikTok:

Then, I posted a decidedly NOT spoiler-free rant about the casting for the newest Doctor on Instagram and TikTok:

Thank you so much for reading! Until next time, bookish friends.

Love,

Ellie