Big excitement overnight! We got several new pledges, taking us up and over the $250 goal line! That means I will be creating a non-fiction e-title each year (essays, criticism, history, honestly I don’t know, it’s a mystery, we get to find out together) which every single Patreon supporter will receive as part of their rewards package.

GOAL ACHIEVED!

In other news, I announced my new blogging project, a re-read of the classic comics title/era/lifestyle-choice Justice League International! My intro essay providing The Story So Far of Justice League’s history as a super team between 1960-1987 is here. I also have an essay on the One Girl In The Justice League myth coming out in the Book Smugglers almanac soon, and am working on another one right now for Uncanny about how the upcoming Justice League movie really shouldn’t be trying to copy Marvel’s business model… I JUST HAVE A LOT OF JUSTICE LEAGUE FEELINGS RIGHT NOW, OKAY?

Now that we have achieved the non fiction goal, the next one to look towards is the Inky Valkyrie Book Club! I have fielded some questions about this one, so now is a good time to talk about it… mostly because I am really, bouncingly excited about the idea of doing this project. Only $45 to go…

The Inky Valkyrie Book Club is intended to be a public forum, open for all to read and/or participate in the discussion, on my blog. While the higher (ie I can afford to post things to them) supporters will receive membership cards, anyone who wants to consider themselves an Inky Valkyrie will be more than welcome!

The idea behind the book club is for me to curate an interesting reading list (I would announce the books 2-3 months in advance so everyone had a chance to get them and read them) and then to moderate a fun, interesting discussion every month. I’m particularly interested in mixing up recent, not-so-recent and classic releases, in celebrating the novella and the graphic novel (a good book club doesn’t expect you to get through a mighty tome every single time, though the occasional tome is worth the effort), in mixing up favourite and not-discovered-yet authors, and of course, because it’s me curating the books, there will be lots of female authors and protagonists. I’d also like to read further afield and challenge my own diversity balance, which means I’ll be hunting for works published in a variety of places, by authors with a mix cultural backgrounds. While criticism is a huge part of book-response, I will be hunting for books I think I that I will genuinely enjoy as well as finding lots to talk about in them, because life is too short to read bad books.

If the Inky Valkyrie Book Club sounds like something you want to take part in, there are several ways to help make this happen: support my Patreon, raise your current support to Patreon, OR (and this is the big one), help to signal boost the campaign this week, across your favourite flavour of social media. Sending people over to check out the rewards, goals and other goodies is the biggest way you can help push us toward a glowing, ink-stained, valkyrie future.

BOOK GIVEAWAYS!

Don’t forget to enter the previous book giveaways:

DAY ONE – Bounty

DAY TWO – The Demon Girl’s Song

I’ll be drawing all of these on Friday, on the final day of the Patreon party!

Today’s book giveaway is the Alfie-winning non-fiction title that everyone has been talking about, the extraordinary and wonderful Letters to Tiptree! The very generous Alisa Krasnostein over at Twelfth Planet Press has not only donated copies as prizes, but these are PRINT COPIES that have to be posted and everything.

There are 2 copies up for grabs, one to be chosen at random from my Patreon supporters (as of 9am AEST on Friday morning which is Thursday for some of you!) and one from the commenters to this post. Say anything you like, even just your name, but if you want to enter the party spirit, tell us which author you would be most likely to write a letter to, which Tiptree book is your favourite, or whether you have ever belonged to a book club!