Hello, everyone!
Yes, I know this is a day late, but being your own boss is a beautiful thing. I left for ConCarolinas on Thursday afternoon and I was making my way back yesterday, so there was no newsletter. Anyway, I’ve always hated flying, but now I’ve grown to hate everything around it. I hate the crowded airport. I hate the way I get a little extra attention from TSA 90% of the time (seriously, I had my hands checked and my bag opened in my last four trips at four different airports). I hate how everything is ridiculously expensive. I hate the waiting. I hate how cramped I feel inside the plane. I hate the fact that now every flight is delayed at least once, oversold, ran out of overhead space, or all three. I love going places, so I do whatever it takes, but it sucks. Whenever it starts to affect my mood, I remind myself that I don’t have to ask my boss for time off like I used to and that, in many ways, I’m living the dream, doing cool things, going places I’ve never been, and meeting awesome folks. That helps. Oh, and I was ConCarolinas’s first Latino Author Guest of Honor in the con’s 21-year history, and that made me happy. Diversity matters. Representation matters. I’m always fighting to do my part, and this felt nice.
While in Charlotte I went to see The Boogeyman. Meh. I has some nice moments, but it’s also predictable and full of moments you feel you’ve seen dozens of times before. I walked out of the movie and didn’t feel the need to tell anyone about it or even tweet a review (I’ll do that soon, but with some movies, I feel like I HAVE to tell the world about them immediately). It’s not atrocious, but it’s not a movie I’ll watch again or recommend to everyone I know. That said, I’m glad we’re getting new horror these days. Yes, even when I don’t like a horror movie, I’m glad it exists.
More ConCarolinas stuff! I had a chance to see good folks at the con, and that always fills me with energy. I had a chance to hang out with Rachel Brune, who was my student at SNHU back in the day and is now a good writer and editor doing cool things. She interviewed me during the Author Guest of Honor Interview and we had a blast. I also hung out briefly with a few fans and some great people like Lynne Hansen, Jeff Strand, Mark Allan Gunnells and his husband Craig, John Hartness, who did a fantastic job as Program Director, and Nicole Givens Kurtz, who is as sweet as I imagined and also a force of nature. I also received a very cool labradorite rock from Dino Hicks and…well, if you’ve received one—or several—rocks from Dino, you know it’s sort of an initiation. I also had some decent Mexican and some solid BBQ. Oh, and I read my brother Sean Cosby’s All the Sinners Bleed on the plane. Review should be up soon.
Speaking of reviews, Maria Enriquez’s Our Share of Night blew me away. My review came out in the print magazine a while ago, but its now up online at Locus Magazine:
https://locusmag.com/2023/06/gabino-iglesias-reviews-our-share-of-night-by-mariana-enriquez/
My review of Ness Brown’s The Scourge Between Stars also went up recently:
https://locusmag.com/2023/05/gabino-iglesias-reviews-the-scourge-between-stars-by-ness-brown/
These two books had some awesome queer characters and this is the first newsletter of June, which is Pride Month, so here’s a little something I shared on Twitter the other day:
Workshop stuff!
Last Tuesday I offered a workshop that will hopefully help some folks find an agent. We talked about the different paths to publishing, when you need and don’t need an agent, how to go about doing your research, the query letter, finding comps that will sell your work, etc. They will also be sending me their query letters so I can offer some feedback. I loved doing workshops and plan on doing some more soon.
More trips coming up…
I’m going home! I’m extremely superstitious, so I’ve decided to wait and start my next novel while I’m back home. It won’t be a long stay because I have to be in Pittsburg for StokerCon soon, but a few days of hanging with my mom, training at the old, rusty, dirty gym I train at back home, and going to the beach are always the best combo when it comes to recharging my soul’s battery.
That’s it for now. Tell me what you’re reading this week! Stay awesome and thanks for reading.
The workshop was terrific. Thanks for having it!
As someone who travels often and spent all yesterday hopping airports, I feel ya! Oy...
Congrats on the recognition at ConCarolinas. Your hard work is paying off!
As for what I’m reading, I just finished ATTACK OF THE KILLER TUMBLEWEEDS by Antonia Ward and started WITHIN THESE WALLS by Ania Ahlborn.