For July – brought to you by Kat Dodd, Head of Programme and Accessibility Officer.
I mentioned Into Shadow in this month’s Octocon Presents, and I thought that I’d talk more about it here for you all! Morgan Daimler, who we were lucky enough to have as a panelist and speaker last year (if you haven’t listened to their talk on fairies in myth and culture from last year you’re missing out!) recently had Into Shadow: The Tallan Chronicles come available. I was lucky enough to be given an advanced copy at Octocon 2022, and then didn’t read it – because my mother in law borrowed my copy and forgot to tell me! I just found it a few days ago on her bookshelf! A friend of mine who also had an advanced copy loaned me theirs, so I was able to still read it even without my own.
Anyway, now to the story itself. This is the representation that I desperately wanted and needed and would have killed for as Baby Kat trying to navigate the world and find where I fit since I didn’t seem to fit most people’s molds. You want a plus-sized character that still kicks ass? She’s here. You want age rep? It’s here. You want disability rep? (People forget that people who literally can not see without glasses are disabled; we’ve just adapted for this so much that it doesn’t even register as a disability anymore, yes, this is a thing I can talk about a lot.) It’s full of people finding their truths and living their lives to be true to themselves, regardless of what’s expected of them. It’s also super queer, poly, and very Found Family in the best ways, and as someone that’s struggled with my family of origin and creating a family for myself, this resonates deeply. This is definitely going into my Comfort Reading pile, and I anticipate re-reading it many times to come. The stakes are too high for it to be cosy fiction, but it still elicits those same feelings for me.