Launch storm

Hello loves,

What a delicate chaos the past few weeks have been. Femme Feral is now available in the UK, Australia, and in South Africa (yup, you heard me right!!). It will be out in the US on 12 May (the US books look STUNNING, with cover artwork by the incredible Andreea Dumuta). I've been bouncing between interviews and bookshop signings and snatching little pockets of time to write essays about perimenopause and female rage. It's been a lot! I am a very overwhelmed little lamb!

This part – the publicity and the exposure of launching a book – isn't my favourite part of my job. I feel as though I've been flayed of my skin and am standing in the town square while strangers critique my internal organs. Honestly, I'm mostly looking forward to getting through it so I can get back to what matters: the writing.

But, look, a lot of it's been a silly amount of fun.

For instance, we had a launch party at the glorious Vagina Museum and it was wonderful. I wish I could have invited every single one of you and teleported you all to Bethnal Green – ALAS for the restraints of space and time.

My wonderful editor at Bloomsbury Sam Bradbury (the better Sam B) made a speech and then I thanked a lot of people (you can watch a shaky phone-recording here if you're so inclined). Then we jammed to some of my favourite tunes about unhinged fury into the were hours.

The book's had some overwhelmingly lovely reviews, for instance, in The Observer, RED Magazine, and The Sunday Times. I've had some rich chats about the book, including with my buddy Mich Atagana and with Howard Gorman from Cinemachords. I also wrote a guest column for yet another excellent Sam B, Sam Baker, on why femmegore is the perfect antidote to midlife Millennial burnout.

Horror allows you to talk in the language of metaphor and it’s built on our most primal emotions, so it felt like the perfect genre to explore these questions. It’s also just the genre my mind thinks in by default. I wish my brain felt more like a Cosy Romance Novel but I guess we are who we are. (From my interview with Mich Atagana)

But the very best thing is that my friends are finally reading the book and telling me about the bits that have made them laugh. Nothing makes me happier.

I'm anticipating another three busy weeks ramping up to the US launch, at which point I'm going to try to TAKE A DAMN HOLIDAY before diving back into the next novel, which I can hear calling my name.

Some other things that have been bringing me joy amongst the storm:

• Yes, I'm still working through the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. Yes, the obsession deepens. I am now working on a Carl cosplay for MCM Comic Con.
• Bongeziwe Mabandla has just released a new album called Ndingubani. I saw him perform this week (for the third time!) and am happy to report that he remains as magnetic and sensitive a presence as always. The new album's a gift from the angels.
• I took a foraging course at my local cemetery and am now obsessed with hunting the three-cornered leek, which is both invasive and delicious.
• Also obsessed with this hilarious song about cunnilingus from 1986, Marvin Sease's "Candy Licker". Other songs from that album are called "I'm Sinkin' Down" and "I Gotta Clean Up" ... truly this is a man who has found his calling.
• Capetonians who are not going to Afrikaburn this year, please may I comfort you with this classic piece my friend Matt Barge wrote, "I Did Not Go to Afrikaburn, a Survivor's Tale"

If you're reading Femme Feral right now (THANK YOU), please tell me which bits are making you laugh!

Wishing you enthusiastic lovers and local edible plants,

Sam