That Self-Same Metal is here!

That Self-Same Metal is out today!

SHE’S HERE!!! Happy That Self-Same Metal Day, y’all! I can’t believe this book is finally out in the world. When I sold it way back in January 2021, today seemed impossibly far away but now I know it really does take all that time to make a good book. Since then, I’ve gone from pregnant to the mom of a toddler and my manuscript has gone from a file on Scrivener to a beautiful novel. What a time!

Thank you for coming along with me. Thank you for buying or requesting at your local library or even sending me well wishes. Writing often feels like a solitary profession so I am forever grateful to have all of you along for the ride.

Issa Book, Y’all!!!!

That Self-Same Metal highlights:
✅ Fierce, determined, Black heroine
✅ Historical YA Fantasy
✅ Queer, POC characters
✅ Faeries and mythological creatures
✅ Shakespearean London
✅ Book 1 in the series
✅ Audiobook feat. Patricia Allison (Ola on Netflix’s Sex Education) as narrator

Events

This party is hitting the road! Come through and help me launch this book into the world. I’ll be at events from Texas to LA and NOLA and I hope I’ll see you there! Swing on by and say hey!

• April 25 (TONIGHT): Loyalty Books (virtual event)
  8pm ET / 7pm CT - That Self-Same Metal Launch Party. In conversation with Tracy Deonn. Signed books available to order from Loyalty Books.
  

• April 26: Octavia Books - New Orleans, LA
  6pm CT - That Self-Same Metal In-Person Launch Party. Signed books available

• April 27: IG Live with Black Nerds Create
  4/27: 7pm ET / 6pm CT - Instagram Live chat with Black Nerds Create: @blacknerdscreate
  

• April 29: YALLWEST Book Festival - Santa Monica, CA
  1pm PT - Debuts Panel - moderator with Ari Tison, Krystal Marquis, Ivelisse Housman, Berna Anat, and Monica Zepeda

  3pm PT - Book Signing

  5pm PT - OTPs…by our OTPs Panel moderated by Sofía Lapuente and Jarrod Shusterman, with Daniel José Older and Brittany N. Williams, David Yoon and Nicola Yoon, and Tahereh Mafi and Ransom Riggs
  

• May 2: IG Live with Folger Shakespeare Library

  5pm ET / 4pm CT - Instagram Live with @folgerlibrary

• May 20: Gaithersburg Book Festival - Gaithersburg, MD
  Programming to be announced
  

• May 22: Enoch Pratt Library Launch Event - Baltimore, MD
  5/22: 1pm ET - Meet the Author at the Waverly Branch Library

  All participants will receive a free copy of the book.

Launch Party Snacks

If you want to make some goodies for tonight’s virtual event, here’s a 17th Century recipe for rose shortbread cookies from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s archives. Post a pic and tag me on IG if you make them!

Yield: Approximately 36 cookies

This recipe is from the 1610 handwritten recipe book of Sarah Longe. Ms. Longe intended the book only for her personal use and the recipes were not published during her lifetime. Holding this small, 400 year old book and reading Ms. Longe’s artistic calligraphy, in faded ink, I could easily imagine Shakespeare writing on similar paper and using similar ink, perhaps even purchased at the same London stationer’s shop.

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon ground mace

1/4 cup rose syrup

2 tablespoons cream

2 large egg yolks

2 cups pastry flour

2 tablespoons crushed candied rose petals (optional)

Using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream the butter, sugar, mace, 2 tablespoons of the rose syrup, and the cream until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the flour, one cup at a time, and mix until just incorporated.

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Using a cookie press in the shape of a flower, (or drop with a tablespoon) press out the cookies onto a well-buttered, nonstick baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Brush the remaining 2 tablespoons of rose syrup on the hot cookies and sprinkle with the crushed rose petals.

And here’s a recipe for a heartease syrup inspired by the Love-in-Idleness flower from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Makes 1.5 cups syrup.

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 cup water

• 1 cup pansies, cleaned and tightly packed

Bring the water and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan. Stir so that all the sugar is dissolved and remove from the heat. Add the flowers. Set aside to infuse for 24 hours.

Strain the syrup through a fine strainer into a clean container. Press the flowers to capture every drop of syrup then discard the flowers.

Store in the refrigerator for up to one month.

Suggestions for using Heartsease Cordial

• Eat by the spoonful if you are lovesick.

• Stir a tablespoon of the cordial into a glass of sparkling water or lemonade.

• Sweeten cakes that call for a glaze or use in place of other simple syrups when making icing.

• Add to any cocktail that calls for a flavorful simple syrup at your discretion.

• Add to a glass of sparkling wine. (1 teaspoon or 1 tablespoon to taste.)

Make this cocktail, which is a twist on a classic Aviation cocktail:

• 2 oz gin

• ½ oz lemon juice

• ½ oz heartsease syrup

• 1 Bar spoon maraschino liqueur

Measure the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well. Strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a pansy. Sip.

Happy snacking!!

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