Iwunen Interstellar Investigations – the webserial

Dear Readers,

Thank you for bearing with me while the series is on hold due to our massive housing issues. (In a nutshell: Our rental got flooded twice during the spring rains. The foundation is damaged. The owner will be trying to sell and did not renew our lease, so we will have to move unexpectedly.)

But. But!

I reached my next Patreon goal at $125/month and this means YOU GET FREE STUFF!

• Two free poems (Including my most popular Patreon update ever, Trans Love Is!)
• Two free microfiction pieces

Good reading!

I changed my next goal by popular demand. If I reach $150 / month, I will return to doing the intersex book reviews! One review a month, featuring both #ownvoices and non-#ownvoices content. I used to do this a while back, but it was very stressful (much more stressful than e.g., the #TransPoetryProject stuff), so I put it on hold, but with a little bit of financial incentive I can be persuaded to resume it 😉

Some sample reviews, you will be getting more of the same:

• Alex As Well by Alyssa Brugman (YA novel)
• Between XX and XY: Intersexuality and the Myth of the Two Sexes by Gerald N. Callahan (adult nonfiction)

If you read these, I think you can also see why doing this is stressful. The next 2 books I have planned will be #ownvoices though!

Thank you for your support 🙂

Dear readers,

Happy International Workers’ Day! I have various updates for you.

The last episode of the prologue season, Glory as Birthright, is finally online! You can go read and enjoy the entire story; it is about 30k words. It is novella length for award nomination purposes 🙂

I am planning on releasing a print version and commercially available ebooks, but I will do a preorder Kickstarter first, as promised – primarily to fund commissioning some really awesome cover art and other visual goodies. All backers will get the ebook right away, and this will help me put out print books. I wanted to launch the preorders today, but I’m a bit behind due to various life events including me spending time on job hunting, and our basement getting flooded twice. I wrote about what happened in my latest entry on Bogi Reads the World. So I will try to do a few other things first, including sending out the migration-related howto to beta readers. I’d just like you to know that preorders are in the pipeline, and you’ll be able to get print books.

The print books will be a similar form factor to other standalone novellas like Aqueduct, Tor etc. Each season will be released in print, at least that’s my plan (G-d willing). They will match each other, though I will sadly not be able to do that thing where the spines make a big picture, due to the limitations of Createspace. But I will try to do something fun regardless. 😀

In the meanwhile, you can already get the complete prologue season ebook (DRM-free mobi and epub!) if you back at at least $2 / month tier on Patreon. You will also get an exclusive personal afterword that will not be available anywhere else, including in the files sent out after the preorder month. This version doesn’t have cover art or illustrations, or an ISBN. Those will happen using the funds from preorders.

I also uploaded my new course syllabus about LGBTQIA+ Jews for backers, it has a lot of reading and things you might find interesting – this one you can get at $1 / month, just like all my updates minus the ebooks. Eventually it will be public and free, I just need all the paperwork to be done and I need to set up my new academic website too.

Thank you very much for all your support!! If you’ve been waiting for the season to finish to catch up on reading it, now is your cue. 🙂 Go to the master list of episodes and start reading!

Dear readers,

Episode 25 of the prologue season is now available and if you are a Patreon backer, you can even read the last episode of the season, Episode 26! If you are a $2 or above backer, you also get ebooks of the season in DRM-free epub and mobi formats.

Updates have lagged a little bit behind because of the Jewish holidays and because of upheaval in my life. I resigned from my day job due to health and mobility reasons. You can read a bit more about this in this Twitter thread. So if you’ve been wondering about whether to back me on Patreon, now is an especially good time and I’ll be really grateful!

This also means that preorders for the ebook and PRINT versions of the prologue season will probably not launch next week as planned, as right now I am trying to find stable paid work from September onward. I do have some possibilities already, but nothing is certain yet. If you are interested in hiring me for writing/publishing-related tasks, you can find all the relevant information here.

Thank you very much for your support, and all the best,

Bogi.

Dear readers,

Episode 23 is online for your free reading desires, and you can also read episode 24 if you are a paid subscriber! The season is drawing to a close: 2 more episodes.

I also just had an Eren universe story in Clarkesworld. Some Remarks on the Reproductive Strategy of the Common Octopus is set in a very different corner of the continuity, but you do get to learn about some of the policies of the Old Empire (they were not very nice policies, to say the least). This story examines the SFnal theme of animal uplift – or rather bludgeons it with a blunt object. It also shows members of different marginalized groups working together. 🙂 There might be story notes a bit later, I want to talk a bit about how a really awful research paper inspired parts of it.

Thank you very much for all your support!! There is just $19 / month to go until the next round of unlocks 🙂

Dear Readers,

Episode 22 is here and you can also get Episode 23 if you pay at least a dollar a month on my Patreon. The season is drawing to a close, much is revealed, many battles are fought. (More like street fights, but okay…)

I didn’t post an episode notice last week because I was waiting for another announcement to make. Now I have the announcement, and another unrelated announcement too! So let’s take them one by one:

1. Capricious magazine will run an Iwunen short story in their upcoming Gender Diverse Pronouns issue in October. Volatile Patterns features Ranai and Mirun investigating a case involving the textile industry.

   The story is mostly about cultural appropriation specifically of sacred garments, which happens to Jews quite often – that’s where I got the idea. It’s not so much about gender, but Ranai and Mirun continue having their regular pronouns. 😀 Volatile Patterns is set about five years after the prologue season, and two years after the forthcoming first season. Some of you asked for stories where they are already an established couple – well, the first season is coming in less than a month, and there is this story too.

2. I am editing the upcoming second volume of Transcendent: The Year’s Best Transgender Speculative Fiction! If you remember, the first volume, edited by K.M. Szpara, had one of my stories that was a precursor to the Iwunen webserial. Here you can find the submissions call and a constantly updating FAQ! Send your work, tell your friends 🙂

Enjoy reading (and writing, and submitting),

Bogi.

The weekly free episode is up and you can get the paid episode too if you back with at least $1 / month on Patreon! You can basically get one plot twist after another, this is a quite exciting part. 🙂

I have had a big work deadline just today, but I survived! I am very tired and my hands hurt from typing, so I’ll be brief this time. But I’d still like to reiterate that I really appreciate your support and I’m also glad that more and more people are linking to the serial on Twitter. 🙂 Thank you!!

Dear everyone,

Chapter 18 is now available for free online + you can also read Chapter 19 if you have a subscription via Patreon. 🙂 Plot twists! They are happening!

A lot of things I’ve been working on will only be available a bit later – mostly fiction and nonfiction commissions – so it feels like I’m not doing anything when I’m actually doing a lot. It’s a bit difficult? But there will be a lot of things happening that I’m setting up right now. I am also a bit of an exhausted flop.

Thank you very much for your support, and good reading!!

Dear everyone,

The weekly free chapter is up! The paid chapter is up too.

I reached a new Patreon goal, at $100 / month! The free bonus reprint has been unlocked and you can read it right now. $2 / month and above backers will also get an ebook of it that will probably go out on Thursday. ($5 / month and above backers will get a preview of the March awesome diverse book release list and that goes out tomorrow. So I don’t want to flood people with multiple updates a day.)

I made a list of upcoming Patreon goals and the stories that you’ve already unlocked. Free reading for everyone, ebooks for Patreon backers. 🙂

My next goal is just $23 away, too – and it features two poems and two microfiction reprints. One of the poems, Trans Love Is, has been my most popular Patreon entry to date! So if we reach $125 / month, everyone gets it for free.

Also, if you’d like to read other people’s writing too (I recommend this course of action!), I made a hyperlinked version of the Nebula shortlist that was released earlier today – each story has a link to where you can read it for free, if available.

Thank you very much for your support!!

Dear readers,

I teased this week’s free chapter months ago, and now we are finally getting to it. Wild garments attack! (Or should that be… “Wild garments, attack!” 😀 )

The paid chapter is also online now, and I am going to post a bonus poem tomorrow – it’s already scheduled. Thanks to more people joining on Patreon, I’m only $11 / month to my next monthly goal, a free & public story reprint!

Also, I just registered on Instagram and I’ve already posted some Iwunen-related stuff. You are very welcome to visit, follow, engage 🙂

Thank you very much for all your support,

Bogi.