Letters From the Hollow Oak #1
Naming my newsletter, watching Star Trek, & working on a new novel
Welcome back to my newsletter lovely people! Many of you subscribed before I moved to Substack. I know, change sucks. But the interface is so much better on my end and yours, trust me. Plus, WIX is a target for boycott, so I want to move away from that platform (I hope to have the spoons for making a new website soon as well). If you subscribed via my old newsletter form there’s nothing for you to do except be aware you’ll be under Substack’s privacy policy now. If you have a Substack account, then you’ll be able to read this online/in the app and see my notes, but the emails will also go out just like they did last time if you don’t. I have plans to share small poems or creative nonfiction in my notes in between these newsletters, which I am excited about. I also took this chance to give my newsletter a name because I love love love adding whimsy to things whenever possible. I have a bit of thing for oak trees and acorns, so that’s how I settled on the name. But enough about all that!
RECENT NEWS
The Price of Magic, an angsty magical webcomic I’ve been co-writing with Jule Gagne, has been releasing episodes every Monday on Webtoon. You can currently read through chapter three with more to come! Behind the scenes, we’re now plotting the second arc.
SNEAK PEEK
I’m officially plotting a new novel!! Anyone from Instagram might remember the pirate book I wrote a couple of years ago and while I may decide to go back to that someday, it was in many ways the book I wrote to learn how to write a book. I’m ready for the real deal now and it begins with Project Witch. I had this idea years ago, but it’s still a little baby plant that I need to water and it doesn’t want outside attention. That being said, above is an aesthetic I made during the brainstorming process. It’s feeling really joyous to be working on a novel again and I’m sure I’ll have more concrete things to share about the process in my next newsletter.
BOOK RECS & BRAIN TREKS
How Far The Light Reaches by Sabrina Imbler—Explorations of queer and mixed-race identity weaved in tandem with fascinating tales of sea creatures I’d never heard of. This is why nonfiction rocks.
A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal—Anti-colonial found family heist but WITH VAMPIRES?? This was a dream come true.
The fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery finished airing a few weeks ago and I was, to put it lightly, rather emotional about the ending. This final season was both adventurous and heartfelt, touching on a theme I’ve been thinking about a lot so far this year—leaning into mystery. I won’t spoil anything, but suffice to say if you like action packed sci-fi that’s also wonderfully human I cannot recommend Discovery enough. It has a bumpy start, but trust me it’s worth it.
CALL TO ACTION
Please take a moment to either donate to or share these two GFMs that are not on Project Olive Branch. Both of these families have young children and they are all unhoused in Palestine without food, water, or medical care. Any amount or share helps and if you donate to Hammood’s you can enter a giveaway I’m running on Instagram until the end of June here!
Happy midsummer and thank you for reading! I’ll see you in my next letter.
Love,
River xo