Sassafras Patterdale's Blog, page 7
February 29, 2016
February!
I lucked out that it’s leap year so I get an extra day to finish and post my February blog! This month has been a little bit of a whirlwind, in a good way! It feels like 2016 is in full swing, and I’m hitting my stride creatively again which feels really good. Alas the Inside Out valentines I sent my pen pals basically all got chewed up by the postal system. Lesson learned, next year I can’t send lollipop valentines booooo.
This month was my 14th anniversary of bring kicked out. That day I was at my high school when I got paged to go to the office, I was told to never come home again. I had never felt more alone in my entire life. I lost my dogs (my whole world). That day there was no way I could have imagined the wonderful queer world that was waiting for me. The actual anniversary of being kicked out fell on a Thursday this week – dog training night! It was unreal to realize that 14 years later instead of crying myself to sleep on a strange couch, I was assisting at a dog agility class with an amazingly talented queer dog trainer who is one of my best friends. Talk about full circle!
Early this month I had the pleasure of getting to read at the NYC release of the
Heels On Wheels “Glitter & Grit” anthology! My story in that anthology is titled “Constellation.” And is about a kickass broken hearted femme named Star. This story took a while to find the right home it was rejected from literary magazines (I share in part because I think it’s important to name that we all get rejected all the time and how important it is to keep sending our work out) but found the perfect home in the Glitter & Grit anthology!!! Do you have a copy of the book yet? It’s a really beautiful book and I’m so thrilled to be in this book, and to have a copy on my bookshelf!
This month we celebrated our youngest cat Thing’s second birthday (really his gotcha day)! Two years ago we found him as a tiny filthy little kitten starving in a snow bank, brought him home. We called him Thing so we wouldn’t get attached – clearly that didn’t work, and the name stuck! He ads mischief and fun to our little family every day!
February brought some unexpectedly exciting praise for my books. Roving Pack was named a Top 10 Trans book by a Trans author by The Guardian! The article is an impressive array of transgender literature aimed at YA readers – check it out!
What they had to say about Roving Pack:
“Roving Pack explores the world of queer homeless youth, a demographic that is often left behind even as the LGBT community makes strides. As Click, a trans kid, navigates throughout Portland, ze struggles not only with being genderqueer in a world that tries to force people into binaries but also with finding a place in the transgender community. An edgy and often painfully honest upper YA novel.”
I’ve been keeping up with my 2016 GoodReads goal of reading at least a book a week most weeks in February I managed to read a couple books (most of which courtesy of the Brooklyn Public Library!) So far for the year I’ve already read 20 books!!! The very best book I’ve read so far this year is Bill Konigserg’s “the Porcupine of Truth” truly outstanding queer YA. Want to see what else I’m reading? Follow me on Goodreads! I look forward to seeing what books you’re reading too because at the rate I’m reading this year I’m going to definitely need some book recommendations before spring!
In less serious news from this month, Neko Atsume obsession continues – I 
collected enough fish to upgrade my yard, got sassy Fran and the little conductor cat, and Billy the Kitten! I also got super excited, that Jamberry (my femme secret weapon for awesome designed nails) released Disney themed strips! I FREAKED out when I heard the news they were coming – Disney nail art is super exciting to me and thankfully Kestryl was able to order them for me right when they released (I was in a meeting and couldn’t excuse myself to place the order)! Right now my nails have little Minnie Mouses on them!
The most exciting thing that happened in February when it comes to the books for me has to be the announcement of finalists in the National leather association-international writing awards – LOST BOI is a finalist!!! I’m so thrilled! Regardless of if I win the ward or not, it’s just a tremendous honor to have been a finalist in an award by/from my community of leather folks, and to have Lost Boi be listed amongst so many awesome books.
I let the secret slip on social media this month- I’m working on a new project, it’s going to be novella length (something new for me!). I don’t want to give too much away yet, but it’s a queer leather Christmas story!!! I just hit the 10,000 word mark this month so far this has been a really fun project to jump into. I’m really excited to see how the reset of the novella comes together!
In addition to working on a new writing project I’ve been writing a lot of articles. I still have my two columns at Curve and then have had four articles go up on Dogster.com one looking at discriminatory practices by guide dog training programs, my feelings against cloning dogs, training in canine parkour, and the one that has gone a little big dog world viral my letter to other dog parents that make life for my reactive dog much harder.
Upcoming:
I’m really looking forward to going back to New Orleans for Saints & Sinners Literary Festival! I’m not one to generally get super excited about writing conferences, but I’m totally smitten with this one. I attended S&S for the first time in 2013 (and wrote about the experience here on Lambda Literary). I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to go back this year I’ll be on panels, reading and will be hanging out with some of my author friends I don’t see often. I am also THRILLED that I’ll have the opportunity to take a mater class with my all-time favorite writer Dorothy Allison!!! I’ll definitely be updating my facebook/twitter at the conference!
Easter!!! Easter comes really early this year; an I’m super excited about it. Easter is my second favorite holiday (after Christmas) and is a big leather family time for us. I can’t wait to dye my eggs and I hope the Easter bunny will come to visit our house!
I’m committed to more frequent updating of my website in 2016 (and have been doing lots better with it so far) but for more frequent (like really really frequent) updates of cats, my embarrassing obsession with shopkins, cheesy Disney princess memes, bubble tea, and updates on my current writing projects please friend me on Facebook, Twitter Instagram and/or Fetlife!
p.s. one of the books I read this year that has made a big impact was Amanda Palmer’s “The Art of Asking” so….. here goes… if you’ve read one of my books (Lost Boi, Roving Pack, Kicked Out, Leather Ever After) and liked it, will you please consider leaving it a little review on Amazon or Goodreads? Those reviews go a LONG way for indie authors like me!!!
February 22, 2016
Lost Boi is a National Leather Association – International Writing Award Finalist!!!
I’m so thrilled to have just received the news that Lost Boi has been named a FINALIST in the National Leather Association – International Writing Awards! This is a really big deal to me, because being a leather is so core to my understanding of myself, my community, and my worldview. As a writer, I’m most driven to write queer leather stories, that aren’t erotica (an important distinction for me as a writer) but that explore leather identities and dynamics. To have Lost Boi recognized in THE leather writing awards is a tremendous honor as a writer.
Lost Boi is in incredible company amongst this year’s finalists including books by Laura Antinou, Janet Hardy, DL King, Lee Harrington and so many other great leather authors. You can see the full list of finalists here
January 26, 2016
January: American Library Association Honors LOST BOI, Neko Atsume, Rainbow Bagels and more!
In 2016 I’m committing to more regularly updating my website, and am aiming for at
least monthly. I used to be such an active blogger, and miss it! January is always a bit of a strange month for me because it means that Christmas (my favorite time of the year) is truly over, this year it also included some drop from our special vacation to Disney World and Christmas at the same time. I got 2016 off to a really fun start though. I rang in the New Year in the polar swim jumping into the ocean at Coney Island here in Brooklyn. This was my 6th year doing the polar swim, so it’s become quite a tradition and definitely leaves you feeling refreshed!
I’ve started (gingerly) writing again! After Lost Boi released last spring I took the rest of the year off to concentrate on releasing the book, touring, and now am slowly feeling the desire to start writing again. I had a whole novel outlined and then fell out of love with it, we broke up and I put it In a box. Maybe I’ll come back to it someday, maybe I won’t. One of the things I think I may be destined to learn and relearn is that the pressure I put on myself is my own creation and ultimately not very helpful. Just because I outlined a book doesn’t mean I have to write it- writing is supposed to be fun and that means I get to go where my passions lead me. Once I put that outline away, I immediately found myself inspired and hammered out a solid chunk of words on a story I’m much more inspired by. That story and I are spending some quality time tenderly getting to know one another. I’m continuing to write articles for a few publications (mostly Curve Magazine and dogster.com).
I’ve been reading a lot of books and have seriously committed myself to the goal of finishing a book a week. I started this somewhat informally when I got home from tour last spring and found it to be a really great self-care practice. I committed in earnest to reading a book a week for 2016, and am tracking my progress on Goodreads. So far I’ve been averaging about two books a week- and as a result replaced my expired library card (I didn’t know they could expire!) and have gotten really friendly with my local library! Last week one of the books I read was Amanda Palmer’s “The Art Of Asking.” I definitely don’t agree with everything in the book, but it gave me a lot to think about. Please friend me on Goodreads, I love to see what other people are reading!
This month I had the opportunity I to attend the Beyond Housing conference which is a national convening of activists and service providers working on issues of homelessness around the country. I co-presented a workshop “Formerly Homeless LGBTQ Youth: Today and Tomorrow’s Movement Leadership” with Jama Shelton who I worked with on the Advocate magazine pride feature with a couple of years ago on the same topic. We had intended the workshop was going to be spaces for formerly homeless queer youth advocates and service providers to talk amongst ourselves. Unfortunately we ended up being the only LGBTQ programming on the conference schedule so had to turn our workshop into a much-needed LGBTQ 101 training. While I’m glad we were able to provide those resources to conference attendees, it definitely was disappointing that the safe space we had designed to give advocates and providers who are formerly homeless queer youth a place to strategize from couldn’t happen.
In less serious January news I had one of the legendary Brooklyn rainbow bagels – SO YUMMY and ADORABLE! Much to the judgment of my three real cats, this month I have discovered and gotten completely sucked into the incredibly cute game Neko 
Atsume. Basically, it’s a super advanced tamagotchi (which I was super obsessed with in the 90s- why can’t you still buy those?!) Lots of folks I know online have gotten really into the game too, are you playing Neko Atsume? Right now I’m on a quest to try to get Sassy Fran to come visit my kitty 
cafe, but so far she hasn’t visited. This January I also went to see Star Wars twice, I think BB-8 is the cutest robot ever, and follow the Skywalker theory (though I think the Kenobi theory is interesting too). I also have been spending a lot of time in toy store isles searching for the mostly absent Rey action figures- finally today I was successful!
After some really warm (for us) weather around Christmas, it seems that winter has FINALLY arrived in NYC currently we are buried under about 30 inches of snow. I love 
winter so you won’t be hearing any complaints from me! All of this snow fell over about 24 hours. I happily spent the storm eating yummy snacks, playing video games, binging on cartoons and reading a bunch. I’ve also been having loads of fun playing in the snow with my pup Charlotte. Snow is her favorite so she’s pretty blessed out by getting to
bound into snow banks taller than she is! My Chihuahua mix is channeling his inner Disgust
(have you seen Disney’s Inside Out?! – it’s my new favorite movie and I’ve been watching it probably at least once a week since I got it for Christmas).
Neko Atsume and snow aside, by far, the most exciting part of January came last week when I got the news that Lost Boi has been included on the American Library Association’s “over the rainbow” list of top LGBTQ books for adults!!!! It is such an honor to have Lost Boi included amongst so many other awesome books that came out in 2015!!! You can check out the whole list here
Upcoming:’
I have a short story published in the newly released Glitter & Grit Queer Performance from the Heels on Wheels Femme Galaxy anthology and will be reading at the Brooklyn release event at JACK on February 5th if you are local I hope to see you there!!! Event info here on Facebook
This spring I will be back to present/read at Saints & Sinners queer literary festival in New Orleans! Just got my plane tickets last night and am super excited to be back at the festival and getting to spend time with some of my favorite queer authors!
I’m committed to more frequent updating of my website in 2016 but for more frequent (like really really frequent) updates on what I’m working on, micro blogging, what kind of bubble tea I’m drinking, pictures i’m coloring, quarter machine toys, and cute dog pictures please friend me on Facebook, Twitter Instagram and/or Fetlife!
xoxo
December 29, 2015
Welcome 2016!
2015 definitely will go down in (my) history as one of the most awesome years ever! For sure the biggest part of the year was the release of my novel LOST BOI in April. Everything about the release has really been a dream come true as an author.
Arsenal Pulp Press was an incredible to work with through the entire publication process, and it was so thrilling to not only be able to hold what became a physically beautiful book in my hands, but share it with all of you! This year I released Lost Boi here in NYC, and then the amazing opportunity tour with Lost Boi to: San Francisco , Vancouver, Seattle, Portland and Toronto!!! My year was definitely made by the incredible connections I had with bookshops, booksellers, and especially you, readers!
There have been fantastic reviews of the novel including in Canada’s biggest paper the Globe and Mail where Lost Boi has also been included in their roundup of favorite books of the year. It’s thrilling and overwhelming to see the community response to Lost Boi. When I started working on this book, I wanted to write a fairy tale for leather queer outlaws not knowing how much interest there would be in a book like this. To have the community be so responsive to it has absolutely been a dream come true.
After finishing my US/Canada tour with Lost Boi in the early summer, I gave myself permission to just relax and take a break! Let me tell you, this is much harder than it sounds! There is so much pressure in queer literary community to continually be producing new book-length work, but I know my future books and all my writing benefit from me allowing myself that time for self care. My partner and I and our dogs got to spent a week out in Provincetown. While playing with them on the beach I started to spend time thinking about future writing projects and then got the chance to talk with the folks at USA Today about how how my dogs influence my creative process.
In other updates from 2015 and looking ahead into 2016, I’m still writing two regular columns for Curve Magazine – one is a lesbian news roundup that appears in every print issue, and the other is a monthly pet column! I’ve also returned to writing for Dogster.com where you can catch my take on canine trends and news, along with training and behavior commentary! You’ll be able to continue finding my writing in these places next year.
Christmas (my most favorite season) is drawing to a close and the new year is just days away. My little family had a wonderful holiday here at our home in Brooklyn, and I hope all of you did too! It’s hard to believe the year is almost over, but I’m looking forward to ringing in 2016 the same way that I have for the past 6 years, by jumping into the ocean at Coney Island as part of the annual polar swim! In 2016 I hope to slowly get to work on some larger writing and creative projects. I’m also looking forward to going back down to New Orleans to take part in the Saints & Sinners Queer Literary Festival in April!
Thank you all of your incredible support of me and my books over the past year! I can’t wait to share more stories and more adventures with you in 2016!!!
xoxo
Sassafras
November 29, 2015
Rainbow Award- Honorable Mention!
So thrilled to get the news that Lost Boi was selected to receive an Honorable Mention in the 2015 Rainbow Awards!
September 17, 2015
SECOND PRINTING!!!
Oh My Unicorns! It’s been a whirlwind since the release of Lost Boi but I can’t believe I didn’t update the blog to tell you that at the very end of July I got word that Lost Boi was going into SECOND PRINTING!!! that’s right three months after the novel released Arsenal Pulp Press had to print more copies! squee!!!! I’m still pretty over the moon about it, and all the amazing press and personal reviews on social media the book has been getting!
Have you already read Lost Boi? Please consider leaving a review of the novel on Goodreads or Amazon – it really does make a huge difference in getting the book into the hands of new readers and, selfishly I love knowing what you thought of it!
Also – I was recently interviewed by Plentitude queer literary magazine about writing, touring, and who my dream cast for a movie adaptation of the novel would be! The whole interview can be found online here
July 8, 2015
20 Amazing Things That Happened In Toronto!!!!
I’m writing this blog on my flight home to NYC from being up in Toronto with Lost Boi! ::waves from the clouds:: I had such a great time and am so grateful for all the new and old friends I had the chance to spend time with and especially the number of people I’ve known only online who I got to meet face to face for the first time this week! While I was waiting to board my plane, I started making a list of all the amazing things that happened in Toronto that I wanted to write about in this blog, so many great things happened, and the more I started listing, the more I started remembering and then the list was really really long! So, I decided maybe the answer was that the list was its own blog ☺I also took a lot of pictures of things I saw you can find all the pictures on my facebook
20 amazing things that happened in Toronto ( in no particular order):
1. Learning that Lost Boi has been very popular with Canadian teenagers who have found the book at high school book tabling events Glad Day is part of
2. Hanging out with Amber Dawn and finding bubble machines and other silly giggle filled adventures & literary conversations
3.Meeting my friend Evan after 13 years of online friendship (we met on Live Journal) and having it not be at all awkward
4. Connecting with other authors who come to writing from zine culture
5. Getting to go swimming in my hotel’s pool every day and pretending to be a sea pony or a mermaid 
6. Glad Day Bookstore – the world’s oldest LGBTQ bookstore!!!
7. How responsive the audience was to the “Grit Lit” reading
8. Getting to meet Maranda Elizabeth (@MarandaDearest on twitter) in person and our picture book tattoos becoming friends! If you haven’t read their novel Ragdoll House you must!
9. The first Q&A question being about my peter pan dress because femmes know dresses are important literary topics
10. Engaging questions about writing and building writing communities
11. Bubble tea everywhere
12. A reader who brought me a toy minion as a little surprise gift
13. Glad Day bookstore – so amazing I need to mention them again!
14. Queer readers who love queer stories
15. Connecting with another writer who also has learning disabilities around spelling/ other writing conventions and being able to encourage her to write and seek publications
16. Getting emails after the reading that Lost Boi helped someone to understand the way a close friend chose to live a life in leather and that before reading Lost Boi she hadn’t been able to understand that friend’s relationship choices.
17. Picking up a copy of NOW Toronto on the street that has a review of the book in print!
18. Finding adorable nametags that include ze/hir pronouns at the bookstore
19. Ketchup chips
20. Reading in Toronto 1 year to the day I learned that Arsenal Pulp Press wanted to publish Lost Boi
June 15, 2015
Lost Boi reviews!
video of me reading Chapter 3 “Runaway! Runaway!” when I read at RADAR on tour in San Francisco last month!
I’m amazed and thrilled by all the incredible support and positive reviews that have been coming out for Lost Boi!
The Globe And Mail: “Lost Boi is the kind of novel that reminds us exactly why we love literature, how it can push boundaries and break open traditions, all while it amuses and excites both reader and author.”Read the full review here
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The Advocate includes Lost Boi in “The 15 Best LGBT Summer Reads”
Fans of children’s tales and the genderqueering of literature will adore Sassafras Lowrey’s queer punk reimagining of the Peter Pan story in which orphaned, abandoned, and runaway bois of the street have sworn allegiance and service to Pan, the fearless leader of the Lost Bois Brigade. It’s like a subversive alternate take on the classic story, with undercurrents that tackle some real issues like LGBT youth homelessness, BDSM, addiction, love, family, gender, and so much more. ” Read More Here
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Vice says “Lost Boi, reimagines Peter Pan for the genderqueer generation, with a coming-of-age story that is as tender as it is kinky, and as sweet as it is subversive…” Read the full review & an interview here
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Lambda Literary says “Lost Boi begins by rejecting convention, but by story’s end it has in many ways bent and adapted convention to its own ends. It’s a counterculture fairy tale, but the way Lowery turns all expectations upside down and finds hope in the darkest corners is the real magic here.” Read the full review here
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Daily Xtra “Beyond the transgressive pleasure found in Lost Boi’s gender-fucking and in the brazen placement of beloved literary characters into the world of queer kink and leather culture, there is also insight into the myriad ways in which marginalized folk seek to forge familial ties and create community.” check out the full review here
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MPR News “Five Wildly Inventive New Takes On Classic Literature” J.M. Barrie’s children’s tale gets a dark and wondrous makeover in “Lost Boi,” a queer punk reimagining of “Peter Pan.” ” Read the full article here
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Book Riot Lost Boi is included in the “Best Books We Read In May” “Lost Boi: it is absolutely unapologetic about what it is and who it appeals to, and I think that’s what makes it so successful.” Read the Full book roundup here
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May 17, 2015
Rave Review in The Globe and Mail
“Lost Boi is the kind of novel that reminds us exactly why we love literature, how it can push boundaries and break open traditions, all while it amuses and excites both reader and author.”
Read the full amazing review that ran in the Globe and Mail here I think I did a little dance in the street the first time I read this tour!
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I’ve been home a couple of days now from my West Coast tour with Lost boi! Wow! The last two weeks traveling have been so magical and I’m completely overwhelmed by the community response to Lost Boi in San Francisco, Vancouver, Seattle and Portland! I came home and napped for two days! It was an incredible and exhausting tour and now that I’m settling back in here in Brooklyn I’m still working on finding the words to talk about the fantastic time I had, and the privilege it is to be able to share this beautiful beautiful (arsenal pulp press really outdid themselves ) book with all of you!
xoxo
