2026 has been one thing after another, good and bad, and now I have to take a break from writing and publishing to catch up on life. I’m fine, I promise. But Ghosts Cry is going to be delayed till November. That will make it a year between books, which is normal for traditional publishing, but crazy for me. Hopefully, I’ll emerge from author hibernation with all my ducks in a row for two books in 2027 and a couple of short stories. Blair is demanding hers (what was she like as the Vampire Queen?). I’ll also be taking a break from posting here and on Facebook. Please, come find me on Bluesky where I’ll check in https://bsky.app/profile/jennyschwartz.bsky.social
News
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Retropunk
A few weeks ago I made a very lame Australian political joke about steampunk submarines. It’s not worth repeating. But it reminded me about how hopeful I was just over a decade ago regarding steampunk exploding onto the fiction scene. It never happened.
And I started thinking about why not, and timing, and how times of crisis change our fiction consumption, and how mythology is more powerful than history.
Which led me to a new prediction.
::insert drum roll::
Retropunk.
Sadly, I think the chance of steampunk becoming more than a niche subgenre has passed. However, retropunk, which reimagines the past and the future, while critiquing the present, and without being limited to steam engines and Queen Victoria being all “we are not amused”, is really well-positioned to claim attention.
Whatever world we wish we had, retropunk can inhabit it. Retropunk can push us forward to a future of delirious disintegration or of flourishing space colonies. It can be anything, but whatever it is will be framed by nostalgia. That nostalgia provides the stepping stones, ones that steampunk lacked, to bring the popular imagination along with it.
[If you’re curious about my steampunk adventures, I recommend The Icarus Plot for a traditional London setting and Clockwork Gold for an Australian version.]
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Delays and Doorways
First, the bad news. I’ve pushed back the release of Ghosts Cry to July 30. It’s a Thursday. I’ve given up trying to avoid launching during a crisis, and that’s all I’m saying about this disruptive political year. (Other than to bemoan, again, how hard it is to attract new readers to a series set in a parliament house when everyone is increasingly allergic to politicians, who famously infest…ahem…serve with honor and dedication in parliament houses. Sigh).
Second, the idea of reading journeys that I mentioned a few weeks ago is definitely something I want to do. They would make a nice Christmas present: books to read before reading a particular book of mine; books to read after. It’ll be a challenging project, but hopefully fun.
Thirdly, I’ve been thinking about the value of fiction in what I can only consider “interesting times” (a la the ancient curse “may you live in interesting times”). I haven’t come up with anything worth writing a whole post about—yet. But I did want to mention two ideas I’m musing on.
- Open a book. Open a door. Going out of yourself and your world to discover your truth in fiction. In a world that can feel very oppressive, fiction is a safe space in which to be vulnerable and to explore.
- Speculative fiction in an age of derivative or scripted AI creations faces new challenges. AI can predict trends, cobble together plots (tropes and target audiences/niche subgenres), and hit the market with a full advertising package. I imagine this will happen more and more, and be done not only by AI enthusiasts, but by independent authors and by traditional publishing houses. I fear it will degrade and devalue the reading experience, and it is vital that authors write books with heart (sharing themselves, respecting others, discerning meaning, and communicating hope) and that readers continue searching for such books and sharing them with other readers.
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Bad Actors Damaging the Book Community
A while ago now I posted about scammers using AI to target authors; i.e. give us money to edit, market, review your book, to participate in a non-existent conference, to be interviewed or featured on a podcast, and the list goes on. The scammers claim to be famous authors or that other authors are using their services. They’re also targeting book reviewers. I’ve heard some people suggest that authors are a soft target and that having refined their tactics on us, the scammers will go after other professionals. I think they’ll also go after hobbyists because that’s where we’re, perhaps, less critical and more likely to spend money to feel good about ourselves and our work.
Anyways, this is just to say be very, very careful of anyone contacting you whom you don’t know. It’s also to explain why I’m very wary and often don’t respond to a private message. If you’ve messaged me and haven’t heard back, please comment on a public post. You don’t have to say anything important, just let me know that you’ll be sending me a message.
I hate how AI-empowered scammers have further eroded trust and communication. By being as transparent as possible about the problem, I hope our community here continues to grow. It’s why I have comments set to manual approval. I cannot tell you how much it annoys me that we can’t comment and reply to each other in real time, but keeping this space safe is the priority.
(If you’d like more information, the Writer Beware site run by Victoria Strauss is always to be trusted).
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Recent Reads – May 2026
I did a lot of comfort re-reading this month, but I also enjoyed a couple of new fantasy novels and a more challenging non-fiction book. One of my re-reads was This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews. The second read-through let me savor the cleverness of the plot. I’m contemplating a third read-through just because.
Calculated Whisk by Lindsay Buroker is the first book in her new series, Tales from the Dragon Diner. Like all first books it had to establish characters, world-building, and the series conflict, and it did so without slowing down the pace or interfering with its cozy, bantering vibe. I’ll be reading book 2, Knead for Speed, to enjoy the next adventure.
A Fractured Conclave by Vanessa Nelson wrapped up a six book urban fantasy series of the same title. I enjoyed the thriller aspect of this series, the sense of time running out and secrets revealed. A skip tracer was a great choice for the heroine, and she became so much more.
Prophecy: Prediction, Power and the Fight for the Future, from Ancient Oracles to AI by Carissa Veliz was an eye-opener; an excellent combination of philosophical and practical analysis of how predictions affect our lives. They are everywhere, and it was confronting to realize how many predictive assumptions underpin daily life.
How was your reading month?
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The Neuroscience of It All
I skimmed an interview with the Director of the Stanford Educational Neuroscience Initiative, Bruce McCandliss, on how we learn to read (and why some struggle).
I admit, I wasn’t reading it as someone trying to teach a child to read, but rather as someone fascinated by how the written word changes our brain. Apparently, reading hijacks the brain’s commitment to perceptual expertise. Letters are a puzzle that we solve, and then, new worlds open to us.
Or as the interview presents it: the developing reader crosses a threshold and suddenly, “You’re in this mental space with someone (the author) that depends on the transparency of the words.”
My goal when I write fiction is that the words fade away and readers simply exist in an imagined world. It seems this is precisely the goal. I feel validated (even as I apologise sincerely for using that piece of jargon. Validated. Ugh).
Words are magic. Playing with them and making them sing is vital. But the magic is when that singing creates a world. The brain lights up!
Marketers are especially focused on when our brains light up.
This second neuroscience link I wanted to share with you is from the American Marketing Association, Inside the Consumer Brain: How Neuroscience Can Predict Ad Enjoyment by Ceylin Petek Ertekin and Elvira Tolen.
A key finding was that while emotion is a great hook…
The sustained predictiveness of social cognition signals suggests that when viewers connect with characters or scenarios meaningfully, they remain receptive to information for longer periods. In essence, our neural findings support what many creative advertisers intuitively understand: stories that foster social connection and meaning will likely lead to the best results, creating a receptive context where product information feels relevant rather than being intrusive.
We come back to last month’s theme of storytelling. People want to feel, and foster, their sense of belonging.
I’m coming to believe that our brains are storytellers and that we derive great satisfaction (and survive) when at an unconscious level those stories are shared. If our group inhabits the same (imaginary) world, then we’re more likely to act cohesively. In fact, it might be that the nature of our perceptual expertise is defined by the stories of our group. We value reading, and so, children are taught perceptual expertise regarding letters.
Perhaps the tension between “us” and “them” is always a matter of clashing stories; a fact obscured by the power differentials that send some stories underground.
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Fiction as a Break from Uncertainty
A couple of weeks ago I recommended Rory Sutherland’s book, Alchemy. The Surprising Power of Ideas that Don’t Make Sense. One of the big challenges it raised was uncertainty and how strongly people avoid it, being willing to embrace a less good certainty rather than risk a possibly brilliant uncertainty. Moreover, we will pay more (and remember that payment is more than money. It includes our time and effort) for certainty.
I have thought and thought about this, particularly in relation to novels and publishing, and my conclusion (or one of them) is that novels’ appeal is that they connect us with people in a meaningful way.
In real life people’s actions often don’t make sense. Sometimes they confound us. But in a well-crafted novel, people are explicable. This is incredibly relaxing. It soothes us emotionally because the cognitive dissonance of real life, of people saying one thing and doing something else and us not understanding WHY is removed. There can be a degree of uncertainty in a novel, we can even revel in a complicated plot that leaves us with questions, but fundamentally we engage with a novel because we trust in its ability to reduce the uncertainty of life to a meaningful story.
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Reading Journeys
A month ago the American Public Libraries Association held its annual conference. I haven’t read any reports on it. (If you know of any good write-ups, please share). But I was very much taken by their promotional material for the conference. On their website they encouraged attendees to consider structuring the conference experience via sample journeys, “…designed to help you get oriented, spark ideas, and consider the range of possibilities. … Think of these journeys as a starting point, not a rigid script.” Such sample journeys included Community Engagement, Small and Rural Librarians, and Youth and Family Champions.
Which started me thinking, do we have reading journeys?
Would it be interesting or appalling for an author to suggest a book (or selection of books) to be read before and after their own book? The books suggested before and after the author’s book could provide different journeys by emphasizing different aspects of the central book.
I’m curious if anyone is doing this, if it’s a gut-check “no” for you when you read of the idea, or if I’ve been living under a rock and there’s an app for it. (There’s always an app ::insert long-suffering, cynical sigh:: )
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Recent Reads – April 2026
In Flint in the Bones Eva St. John introduced a fabulous new world. I think that Fire in the Flint, the second book in the Norwich Map Runners series, is even better. With the world established there was more room for the characters and mystery. I’m looking forward to Blood in the Maps, out in November.
After waiting FOREVER for This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews I read it in a day and was blown away by how it built. Layer upon layer of world building and character introductions leading to very effective plot twists. It’s definitely going on my re-read shelf, and I want the next book now!
I picked up a new release by SeanS3r3s, and while the strange author name didn’t fill me with confidence, the comedic narrative voice appealed to me and I enjoyed the Overpowered Demon Lord Slayer: An OP MC Slice of Life LitRPG. I’ll be reading book 2 in May.
KM Shea stepped back from writing for a couple of years to deal with some health issues. Her books are among my comfort re-reads, so I waited hopefully that she’d be able to return to writing. She is doing so, but very carefully, while prioritizing her health. Managing the Vampire’s Mansion came out this month. It’s her only book for 2026 and it was wonderful. A warm hug of a book. I hope she continues to prioritize her health and I’ll be joyously happy if we get any more books from her.
I picked up a vintage British mystery by E C R Lorac, Still Waters. Books like this, written as very contemporary mysteries which have now passed into the historical mystery category by virtue of decades passing, are compelling windows into the past. Post-war Britain, its fears, constraints, and hopes are laid out, albeit for a comfortably middle class ideal.
In non-fiction, I read Alchemy. The Surprising Power of Ideas that Don’t Make Sense by Rory Sutherland. It left me with so much to think about. I haven’t clarified my ideas yet, so I’ll just leave you with a few quotes. Although I have to say that the discussion of uncertainty left me thinking about the criticism some people offer regarding mystery and romance novels; that they’re formulaic. Yes, and that’s why they’re the topselling genres! Uncertainty is reduced to a manageable and enjoyable level.
“If you are wholly predictable, people learn to hack you.”
“The reason we don’t always behave in a way which corresponds with conventional ideas of rationality is not because we are silly: it is because we know more than we know we know.”
“…it is borne out in many fields of decision science. We will pay a disproportionately high premium for the elimination of a small degree of uncertainty – why this matters so much is that it finally explains the brand premium that consumers pay.”
“This is essentially a heuristic – a rule of thumb. The more reputational capital a seller stands to lose, the more confident I am in their quality control.” [I’m thinking about this as an independent author, which means, in effect, that I’m an independent, one-author publisher. A traditional publisher, having a stable of authors, can have an author screw up. I can’t afford to. So, for indie authors who are in this game for the long haul—and I’ve been in it for over a decade now—every book carries reputational risk and weight.]
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Storytellers as Retellers
Myths are a vital part of a society’s glue. They help define who we are and who we are not, where we came from, and maybe where we’re going.
I’m Australian, but not First Nations. I grew up with a very limited understanding of the stories, the myths, that created our land for thousands of years. The Rainbow Serpent might have been my first introduction to the Dreaming.
Storytellers retell old stories. Sometimes they’re myths or support myths. Sometimes they’re family-bonding memories.
Little children often force us to re-read the same book every night because there is comfort in familiar stories. They are a shelter.
Sometimes I wonder if one of the most radical acts of defiance is to retell old stories, holding steady to their truth while the world is in tumult.
The stories we tell reveal our values and define who we become.