Mother Christmas Book Release Is Today!

Today is my graphic novel, Mother Christmas‘s Book Birthday!

That means if you have already pre-ordered it, you should have it in your mailbox!

Thank you so much to my brilliant artist, Vic Terra, who brought all these characters and words to life! And thank you to Bill Campbell of Rosarium Publishing for bringing the dream that is Mother Christmas into the world.

I’m going to have more information about signings and fun events over the next few weeks, but today I wanted to share some of the advance praise we received for Mother Christmas. These four women are such an inspiration, and their words honor us.

‘The new mythos Valya Lupescu and Vic Terra have created in Mother Christmas is as rich as it is colorful! I was lost in the gorgeous art and story and I was sorely disappointed when I found out I only had the first arc to read! I can’t wait to find out what happens next!’  —Jill Thompson, Eisner award winning artist and creator of The Scary Godmother

“Colorful and attractive design and drawing, good character work, interesting take on myths and legends. Very entertaining!” —Colleen Doran, New York Times bestselling cartoonist of  Sandman, Wonder Woman, Neil Gaiman’s Chivalry, Snow Glass Apples

“A wondrous story about friendship and the magic we all hold deep inside.”  —Cynthia von Buhler, author/illustrator of The Illuminati Ball

“A colourful, imaginative, and heartfelt beginning, empathetically wordspun by Lupescu and vividly illustrated by Terra.”  —Brooke Bolander, Nebula & Locus Award-winning author

You can order Mother Christmas from your local independent bookstore or comic shop, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart, or wherever you buy your books.

(You can also also request that your library order Mother Christmas for its collection as well! Yay, librarians!)

Stay tuned for more this week, and please review the book on Amazon or Goodreads, and share on social media! #motherchristmas

Thank you & may you be blessed by the Muses!

The Importance of Librarians: The Alexandria Still Burns Project

libraryWhen I was growing up, the Chicago Public Library on Narragansett, the West Belmont Branch, was my library. It wasn’t a large branch; I quickly graduated to adult books in my early teens, and then devoured the reference section for anything I had questions about, from ghosts to WWII, mythology to cooking.

As a curious kid, I had a lot of questions, and the librarians were kind and patient, pointing me to the right sections, giving me the space to explore or helping me when I was short on time. They recognized a love of words and a desire for knowledge in a bespectacled, geeky little girl, and they didn’t dismiss it, they helped to nurture it. That is something that people, not the internet or search engines, can do. They can meet our gaze and point us in the right direction.

I’m so grateful. Next to teachers, librarians were my favorite grown-ups because they held the keys to the worlds I wanted to explore, AND they took me and my questions seriously.

alexandria

That is one of the many reasons I love the Alexandria Still Burns kickstarter project by Kyle Cassidy. Kyle is a brilliant photographer, and he has a way of finding and telling stories about transformational people and moments, stories that may go unnoticed or discounted. Kyle notices.

He did this with engaging photographs and words in his documentary photo books “Armed America: Portraits of Gun Owners in their Homes” and “War Paint: Tattoo Culture and the Armed Forces,” as well as with his projects about the women of roller derby, portraits of science fiction and fantasy writers in their writing spaces, and so many others.

Librarians are gatekeepers, and they introduce people to worlds. Kyle wants to introduce the world to them and share their stories and experiences. I’m a proud backer.  If you’d like to help Kyle to share the stories of librarians and why libraries are still important in this world, you can become a kickstarter backer with  $1. There are only a few days left! Every backer will get a link to a digital download  of the short documentary about why libraries are important, narrated by award-winning novelist Neil Gaiman. Check it out: