Between the Covers (of Books)

I despise doing posts where I ask for help, but here we are.

About two years ago I started a new creator owned project.  It began as a spin-off of Princeless, but the reality is this - Raven The Pirate Princess is its own thing altogether.  I knew this from the first issue and if you’ve been reading, so have you.

Sure, the first few issues of Raven: Pirate Princess had that heroic lady feminist banter for which Princeless has become known both among its fans and detractors.  I mean, Raven had this scene:

and issue 1 had this scene:

But perhaps much more importantly, the first issue of Raven had this:

but that wasn’t where that ended.  This is a book about a community of diverse queer women actively claiming their place in the world and taking what’s theirs.  It’s about Raven, who is desperately in love with her childhood best friend Ximena

It’s about Ximena, a girl who was held captive for years by a pirate king who pretended to be her liberator.  Who fell in love with the pirate’s daughter, only to be left behind by that father when she outlived her value.

About Sunshine, the thief that chose the wrong target and ended up falling in love with a woman already hopelessly in love with somebody else.

It’s about Katie, the bisexual second in command who’s motivated by honor…and occasionally beating the snot out of a dude or two

Oh and in case I forgot to mention, Katie is also incredibly muscular:

And Jayla, the asexual science genius who’s tired of being treated like a little sister

and Cid, the deaf engineer who quietly keeps the ship running

and of course, these two:

The socially awkward poet and the angry sword fighter who couldn’t stand her who have somehow become these two:

But here’s the thing: this comic is failing.  It has a very dedicated and exuberant but at this point SMALL fanbase.  Today I had a hard conversation with Action Lab about the reality of the numbers on this book versus what it costs to produce this book and, suffice it to say, Action Lab isn’t ready to cancel the book, but they aren’t ready to greenlight year 3 either.  After Year 2 #13, Raven is set to go on the shelf until numbers can support continuing it.

This is where I need your help

If you care about this book full of queer pirate ladies and you want it to continue, we need to find a way to spread the word about it.  We don’t need to sell single issues (it would be nice) but ultimately we need the trades sales that back up the continuation of this big YA Pirate/Revenge/Adventure/Romance thing.

Digital copies can be bought instantly right on Comixology: https://www.comixology.com/Princeless-Raven-The-Pirate-Princess/comics-series/46971

You can buy the physical volumes on amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B01BF7U91Q

In fact, if you’ve already purchased volumes 1-4, volume 5 is available for preorder there right now! 

Maybe you’ve bought all the issues already.  Thank you!  If you still want to support Raven, you can review the books on Amazon or other retailers, you can share, reblog or retweet this post.  You can tell a friend about the book! 

  (via

fuckyeahjuliaquinn

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Orleans by Sherri L Smith

Iron Cast by Destiny Soria

Is You Okay? by GloZell Green

Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina by Michaela Deprince and Elaine Deprince

The Steep & Thorny Way by Cat Winters

Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson

This Side Of Home by Renee Watson

When Morning Comes by Arushi Raina

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

American Street by Ibi Zoboi

Goldie Vance by Hope Larson, Brittney Williams

Shiny Broken Pieces A Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra, Dhonielle Clayton

Stone Mirrors The Sculpture & Silence of Edmonia Lewis by Jeannine Atkins

Shadowshaper Cypher 02 Shadowhouse Falls by Daniel Jos Older

The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Since he passed away his wife owned everything, including the bookshop (once library) but somehow his children were left all the books. Locked in a fight over who should own it all, the shop was locked up and closed down. Years started to pass and still the doors remained locked. Until I learned to pick them. As a young teen I would sneak in with a large bag and carry what I could out at night. For two years I did this. I was never caught and no one went to the shop. (Part 2)

I donated all the books. Only keeping one for myself. I gave the books to homeless shelters and women’s shelters. I left them in donation boxes for children and random places in town or the coffee shop. One night the shop was burnt down by the owners son for insurance money - angry his dad left books and not money. Nothing survived the fire. I’m much older now and I know stealing is wrong but I’m glad I did because I know the books I stole got a chance to live on in other hands. (Part 3)

Sometimes when I see my kids reading their books I can’t help but smile and think back to the nights I would pick old locks to climb through old windows with a duffel bag much bigger than myself that weighed twice what I did. My kids think I’m lame and silly and only good at cooking spaghetti but they have no idea that the book I read to them at bedtime is my only souvenir of a much dangerous and exciting life I lived so long ago. (Part 4)

For clarification, I was 10 when the shopped closed, 13 when I first broke in and the two years that followed for twice a month every month I would carry out my weight in literature gold. Sometimes I miss being young. (Part 5)

PLEASE WRITE A BOOK

also, we should all carry our weight in literature at least once in our lives

YOU ARE GOALS, NONNIE 

So a while back (I can’t remember exactly when but I think it was some time around the 40s/50s), a bunch of penguins escaped. A keeper left the gate open so a bunch of penguins just… followed them. And the people loved it. Look at these adorable birds outside their cage just following that guy around! So they get all the penguins back inside and realise that none of them really ran off, they just followed the keeper and went back inside and crowd thought it was amazing, so why not make it a regular thing? Get enough people there that if one of them goes to make a run for it (which at least one has in the past), they can’t get past the people, and let the ones who want outside have a little wander. So every day, they get a crowd, they open the gate, and whatever penguins want to get out can go, waddle about, squawk at people, and then hop back inside.

favourite literary quotes | Valentines edition

“We can’t force out all the men who harass women” Why not? They kept out talented women in every field. They can be replaced. Immediately. “

Greetings romancelandia friends! Today, Feb. 13, is “Galentine’s Day”, and while I know we could all list so many books to recommend for Valentine’s Day, I thought it would be fun to recommend some romance novels featuring positive female friendships.

The first that came to my mind are Lisa Kleypas’ Wallflowers series:

The four heroines of these novels not only have beautiful love stories with their respective heroes, but more importantly I feel, show wonderful friendship and support for one another throughout each book.

Another series I would highly recommend are the Chance Sisters series by Anne Gracie:

Again, four wonderful friendships, all supportive and loving, with the added bonus of a snarky old dowager countess who will defend these girls to the death.

disney aesthetics: Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Boooooooooook hauuuuuuuul!

The big VNSA book sale is happening this weekend in my city. I always grab at least one tote bag full of romances. Some people bring empty suitcases to this sale. It’s amazing.

Imagine that your partner has been hitting you. Yelling at you. You’ve been married for a few years, you’re both in your 30s, you have a little daughter, and everything you do seems to be wrong. You’ve been made fun of, mocked and belittled by your partner. 

But you need them, because you can’t take another failed relationship. You can’t be alone again, and they’ve got you convinced that all the beatings and scratches and scrapes are your fault.

You tell your friends and they laugh. No matter how many bruises or cuts you show them, it’s still your fault, so you hide them. You feel trapped, but you don’t feel like you can escape. You’re convinced that you’re just locking yourself in.

And you see online one day an article. Someone else went through what you have. They got the cuts, the bruises, the scratches. You see that here is hope and freedom from these beatings. The physical and emotional pain can go away, there is someone there to help!

So you write down a list of 10 abuse victim hotlines, for people being abused. And you call them one by one.

If you were a man:

6 of those hotlines would refuse to help because of your gender.

3 of those hotlines would refer you to or give you a number to a hotline dealing with people that abuse and are looking to stop.

1 of those hotlines would help.

Out of those 10, 2 of those would also laugh at you or say you deserved it.

If you were a woman:

10 of those hotlines would help.

Abuse is very scary, but what seems scarier to you; being abused, reaching out and getting the help you need, or being abused, reaching out and getting laughed and turned away over 60% of the time because of who you are?

Only 8% of men who call abuse hotlines find them ‘very helpful’ and get the assistance they need.

Just to add some quotes found in the study from men who tried to seek help:

• They laughed at me and told me I must have done something to deserve it if it happened at all.

• They asked how much I weighed and how much she weighed and then hung up on me…I was told by this agency that I was full of BS.

• They accused me of trying to hide my “abuse” of her by claiming to be a victim, and they said that I was nothing more than a wimp.

• They didn’t really listen to what I said. They assumed that all abusers are men and said that I must accept that I was the abuser. They ridiculed me for not leaving my wife, ignoring the issues about what I would need to do to protect my six children and care for them.

Also: note that you don’t need to have scratches and bruises for it to be real. Emotional abuse is REAL.