Rachel Stark

You’re gonna cry and you’re gonna thank me for it, just trust

What are/were your family’s cleaner alternatives to curse words—the words you say in front of the kids or that your polite grandma uses? Asking for a book.

We had “seashells” instead of “shut up” and my grandma says “good NIGHT.”

I need some alternatives for “shit”/“damn it”/“fuck” specifically.

Returning from my BlueSky absenteeism to share I’ve been promoted to Senior Editor at Disney-Hyperion 😁 Grateful to my brilliant authors and visionary, supportive colleagues, who make my job feel like play. Here’s to doing this work forever! Or at least until I retire to a life of luxury.

I’m seeking a couple of authenticity readers for very specific experiences:

1) Terminal illness (unnamed/invented, so flexible on exact illness)

2) Limb difference (both congenital amelia & amputation)

Recommendations, anyone?

Cover for "Almost There: A Twisted Tale Graphic Novel." The top of the cover shows part of the Shadow Man's face. The bottom half features Tiana in stand front of a magical-looking swamp. Art by Asiah Fulmore.

✨Cover Reveal✨
ALMOST THERE: A TWISTED TALE GRAPHIC NOVEL, illustrated by the incredible Asiah Fulmore!

The graphic novel is an adaptation of @farrahrochon.bsky.social's novel of the same title. I adapted it into a script, it’s illustrated by Asiah Fulmore, and edited by @syntactics.bsky.social.

Niche publishing question: Has anyone ever printed the Schneider medallion on a cover? How did you handle the braille? Would embossing work?

(If you’ve printed [rather small] braille on a cover for other reasons please also share!)

Almost There The 13th installment in the New York Times best-selling series asks: What if Tiana made a deal that changed everything? Sometimes, life in the Big Easy is

ALMOST THERE: A TWISTED TALE GRAPHIC NOVEL comes out in June 2025!

Illustrator: Asiah Fulmore
Writer: Me!
Editor: Rachel Stark @syntactics.bsky.social
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

The GN is an adaptation of Farrah Rochon’s novel: books.disney.com/book/almost-...

I thought I knew joy, but nothing compares to the ever-evolving gift that is editing Codie Crowley’s #HereLiesAVengefulBitch

Out-of-context headlines to explain my mental health to my therapist

Here’s what I tell my student when they express this anxiety:

Write in community along the way and your community will be there to support you further down the path too.

Share your work with friends. Go to readings and cheer on peers and mentors. Activate yourself as a literary citizen.

Come on, y’all, don’t do Chuck like this. Not Chuck Tingle, purest and best of us all.

Does it make you a real New Yorker if you do something unbelievably stupid, risking life and limb, to make the arriving train and not have to wait 18 min for the next?

Anyway, ask me why I started 2024 with a bruised tailbone, a black eye, and broken glasses.

Thanks to From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle Grade Authors—one of my fav kidlit blogs!—for spotlighting my books and advice as an editor at Disney-Hyperion! Hope writers of all genres & age levels find this post helpful 😊

Bluestockings Cooperative on Instagram: "Bluestockings is facing eviction for giving out narcan and ... 1,671 likes, 8 comments - bluestockingsnyc on December 26, 2023: "Bluestockings is facing eviction for giving out narcan and having a public bathroom! Here's how y..."

This seems to have resonated, so if you want to help Bluestockings keep helping the community, see their post here with ways to support. You can also just buy books from them (they’ll order what they don’t have) or stop in for coffee! https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1UeVEMO4Sa/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Bluestockings literally saves lives with their Narcan training and free supplies. More than that, they allow everyone the dignity of a bathroom and a warm place to sit. But it makes people privileged enough to have a home uncomfortable so…

Bluestockings Is Facing Eviction for Handing Out Narcan The bookstore’s harm-reduction program and free store have made enemies of its neighbors and its landlord.

This is blood-boiling. www.curbed.com/2023/12/blue...

Home sweet Maryland home

Taylor, what radicalized you? Shit like this. I’ll never forget when a company strung me along for years as a temp and why I asked for a full time position, they said it wasn’t in the budget. This was minutes after an email about “record year and record profits”.

A letter to our readers

a note to Washington Post readers: On Dec. 7, we ask you to respect our walkout by not crossing the picket line: For 24 hours, please do not engage with any Post content. That includes our print + online news stories, podcasts, videos, games and recipes.

Companies really have some nerve to dole out glowing annual reviews and follow up with raises lower than inflation.

Step 1: Buy a book as a gift

Step 2: Oh damn that book is Buy One Get One 50% off. It would be silly not to get myself something

Step 3: If I buy two *more* books for myself I’ll get free shipping 👀

Step 4: Profit 💵

Is anyone else getting calls from Optimum asking about their satisfaction with the service and offering deals? Is this a scam?

Given that after the sale to Altice you had to basically create a summoning circle to even chat with a rep, it *feels* like a scam.

“Stories do more than tell us how to live in this world; they tell us how to make this a world worth living in.” — Roshani Chokshi at #ALAN23 #NCTE23

“The further along I got in my coming out journey, the less I saw myself in Shakespeare.” Molly Horton Booth reimagines Shakespeare so kids like them can see they’ve always been in these plays. #ALAN23 #NCTE23

“The book talks about lynching, the book talks about racial profiling, the book talks about police brutality—because these are things adults are talking about and we are fooling ourselves if we think kids aren’t listening.” — Angie C. Thomas #NCTE23

I so wish I could have met this legend of a woman.

Comixology shutting down announcement

i mean comixology died a year or whatever ago, but damn it's sobering being old enough to have watched the wild west birth of the internet and all its possibilities mutate into this handful of rich guys with five sites ruin everything world we're in now