Cinque

Author

MK Hardy
September 01, 2023

Hello hello! It’s September, and Scotland is currently experiencing Second Summer with a fortnight of glorious sun ahead of us. Just as well, as the nights are fair drawing in and we’ll soon be snuffling about in the dark like so many vitamin D-deprived hedgehogs.

What we’ve been writing:

We did some more work on Juteopolis which, upon looking back at it, isn’t too bad! But we didn’t get very far into it because, drumroll please… we got our agent edits back at the beginning of the month! So we’ve spent the past few weeks mulling, brainstorming, chatting, and finally: revising. There was nothing major that needed done, mostly strengthening some existing themes and a minor shuffle of the timeline, as well as dwelling longer with the scary, horrible bits. We tend to be quite subtle, withholding writers (insert Lucille Bluth gif here), so we’re used to being told to indulge our descriptions a bit more, but this is the first time we’ve gotten to really lean into the horror.

Its approach slowed, like that of a predator stalking its prey, but she was struck with a sudden and unfathomable thought: it was glad she was there. A sick sense of welcome, warm and rotted, spread over her like breath, and Norah gagged. She had so desperately wished to find home here, to gain acceptance between its walls, but not like this. Never like this. 

It’s fun!

We’re very nearly done - E is going to do one final pass this weekend and then they’ll be back in our agent’s inbox, at which point we’ll be tasked with prepping for going on submission (!!). The timeline has moved up a little from where we thought it was, so by the next time you read this newsletter Needfire may well be out there in editors’ inboxes and we may be well into our second ulcer!

What we’ve been reading:

Less reading this week, due to holidaying (see camping photo above) and revisioning, but I still read some great stuff. Chief among this was AM Shine’s The Watchers, which I read during aforementioned camping trip and completely scared the beejeezus out of myself. Shine is an agent sib and we’ve been hearing reports of the filming of the upcoming film and I can’t wait to watch it and scare myself all over again!!

I also read Rachelle Atalla’s Thirsty Animals, which was bleak and beautiful. It pairs well with last month’s Water Will Refuse Them as they both are set during a severe drought in the UK (one in the near future, one in the recent past), and while I found them both really moving they’re also difficult reads as ecological devastation creeps ever closer.

Lastly was Thomas D Lees’s Perilous Times, which I’ve heard described as ‘Brexit Knights of the Round Table’, and it’s that and a whole lot more. It also dwells on the damage humans have done to the world and the sorry state we’ve put ourselves in, but it leaves us with a breath of fresh air and a glimmer of hope. As much as we may want heroes to save us, real change only happens when regular people step up and stand up for one another. (Plus there’s dragons!!)

Links:

Mushroom of the month

Well it was bound to happen, folks: it’s chanterelle season! This is the mushroom that started us on our foraging journey almost exactly a year ago today when we found a batch unexpectedly on a boating holiday up North (along with our deer skull, Lord Beevis, who now presides over all in the back garden). Then we came home and found almost NONE anywhere we looked, which was a bit disheartening! Thankfully this year has been much more flush; last year was incredibly dry and they must not have wanted to come out to play.

Chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius) are pretty iconic looking; they’re bright yellow and have unusual folds under their cap instead of true gills. There is an imposter (the false chanterelle) but once you’ve seen them side-by-side they’re pretty easily told apart.

Small chanterelles growing next to a tree root

Something that we’ve noticed about chanterelles, more than even most other mushrooms, is that they really like liminal spaces. The space between the forest and the field, a mossy riverbank, anywhere that sits between two environments; that’s where you’re likely to find them.

Some really old - and HUGE - chants

You are probably well aware that chanterelles are considered one of the best edible mushrooms, and we would agree! They smell lovely and fruity (like apricots) and cook up well alongside a roast dinner or hold their own in a pie. E is looking forward to pickling a batch as well - wish her luck on this weekend’s forage!

Enjoy the Second Summer if you have it, folks, and cross all your digits for us when sub time comes! See you in October.