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MALINDA LO

@malindalo / malindalo.tumblr.com

NYT-bestselling and National Book Award-winning author of LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB. Most recently: A SCATTER OF LIGHT. You may also know me from my book ASH, a Sapphic retelling of Cinderella. Website: malindalo.com
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Hello! Was Last Night at The Telegraph Club ever published with a matte dust jacket like A Scatter of Light? I love both and would like to have them match on my bookshelf if possible. Thank you for all of your great writing and for sharing it with the world!

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Hi! I’m so happy to hear you loved both books! In the US, the hardcover edition of Last Night at the Telegraph Club has a shinier dust jacket, whereas the US hardcover of A Scatter of Light has a more matte dust jacket. Is that what you’re talking about? I don’t think there’s any plan right now to issue a new dust jacket for the US hardcover of Telegraph Club, but the paperback has a matte cover. Usually once a publisher publishes a hardcover book, that’s the only hardcover edition that will ever be published. Paperbacks sometimes get their covers changed, but that’s also pretty rare. Thanks for writing in!

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reblogged

not enough people are talking about the fact that andor has the first on screen main openly gay characters in star wars. no more lesbians in the back of TROS, no more “canonized in the books.” they’re two lesbians in the rebellion with complex stories of their own and an interesting relationship. it’s a huge deal. two women, one of them non-white. like….andor is for the gays. we won this time. we actually won.

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leotanaka

Ruby Cruz as Princess Kit & Erin Kellyman as Jade in WILLOW (2022 - PRESENT) Season 1, Episode 1: The Gales

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malindalo

EPISODE 1 (ONE!!) of the new Willow series on Disney+. I literally screamed!

So, when I was a kid, I loved the Willow movie. I can’t remember much about it though except that I was kind of obsessed with Sorcha and her black armor. So color me shocked out of my mind when I watched episode 1 of the new Willow series and this happened! With Sorcha’s daughter! I literally could not believe it.

Also I think I wrote an entire fantasy novel when I was 13 that was pretty much ripped from the plot of Willow (the movie) except it focused entirely on Sorcha.

(I haven’t watched the original Willow movie since I was a kid so I have no idea if the movie was actually about Sorcha or not … I suspect it wasn’t … but in my memory it was the Sorcha movie. Val Kilmer was a sidekick. I don’t even remember who Willow, the title character, was!

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This is…the greatest thing I’ve ever seen…hats off to Auralnauts on YouTube…I think I’m in love with you…

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I really can't get over Twitter people being like 'it's time to bring back tumblr' as if it were dead.

Like opening their long abandoned dumpster and finding a vast racoon society thriving.

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malindalo

Is it weird that when I came back here I immediately felt a familiar sense of cozy homecoming? WHAT DOES THIS MEAN ABOUT ME

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Since the beginning of October, I’ve visited so many great bookstores, not only for events but also to sign stock. Which means you can buy signed copies of A Scatter of Light, Last Night at the Telegraph Club, and some of my other books too at many places across the U.S. Some of these bookstores will even ship internationally. And the holidays are coming! I humbly suggest that a signed book (by me) would make a great gift for that girl you want to impress! Here’s where you can get them:

Porter Square Books — This is the only place where you can get personalized copies. All you have to do is add your personalization request (e.g. “To Aria”) in the comments field when you order. Be sure to order from PSB by Dec. 2 if you want a personalization! After that I will go to the store to personalize them.

Signed copies of my books are also available from:

Please note that stock is not guaranteed; please check with each individual bookstore to find out what’s available.

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malindalo
“Butch is a trickster gender—and so, in a similar way, is femme. Lesbian gender expressions do not emulate heteropatriarchy, they subvert it. Femme removes femininity from the discursive shadow of masculinity and thereby strips from it any connotation of subordination or inferiority. Butch takes markers of “masculinity” and divests them of their association with maleness or manhood. Butchness works against the gender binary—the masculine/feminine paradigm—and reclaims for women the full breadth of possibilities when it comes to gender expression.”

I thought this was so spot-on, thoughtful, and well-written.

People have been reblogging this since 2014! Which amazes me and also I clicked on the link and I’m sad the original essay is gone because now I want to reread it.

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re--wire

For people who want to read the full essay, it was captured on the wayback machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20160520063417/http://the-toast.net/2014/09/22/on-my-butchness/

^^^ I knew someone would find it somewhere! Just reread it and it was worth it.

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malindalo
“Butch is a trickster gender—and so, in a similar way, is femme. Lesbian gender expressions do not emulate heteropatriarchy, they subvert it. Femme removes femininity from the discursive shadow of masculinity and thereby strips from it any connotation of subordination or inferiority. Butch takes markers of “masculinity” and divests them of their association with maleness or manhood. Butchness works against the gender binary—the masculine/feminine paradigm—and reclaims for women the full breadth of possibilities when it comes to gender expression.”

I thought this was so spot-on, thoughtful, and well-written.

People have been reblogging this since 2014! Which amazes me and also I clicked on the link and I'm sad the original essay is gone because now I want to reread it.

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As a teacher, I always like asking authors what’s the last book you totally geeked out about and what are you dying to get your hands on next?

Also, thank you for your beautiful books..

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Aww, thanks! Let me tell you about YERBA BUENA by Nina LaCour. you may know Nina's YA novels (WE ARE OKAY) already, but this is her adult debut. It's about two women and their relationship over a period of several years. It's also about connections to family (there's a wonderful grandmother in here), survival from trauma, and also has just plain beautiful sentences. I loved it!

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in the past five years there has been a lot of more fantasy by asian diaspora drawing from their roots. do you ever see yourself moving back towards that again? your fantasy has a big mix of both eastern and western influences, whereas a lot very contemporary stuff is more heavily influenced eastern inspired (neon yang, zen cho’s newer stuff, etc) you move between genres with such ease (which is very impressive)

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Thank you! I've been so happy to see so much Asian-inspired fantasy published in recent years. I don't have any current plans to return to that, but you never know. In the last few years I did write a retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood" set during the Cultural Revolution in China, which you can read here. And I never say never!

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Ask me anything?

Hi tumblr! I’m here for a bit. I don’t know for how long, but if you have any questions about my books, writing, publishing, how much I love Andor, etc., feel free to ask.

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New short story: We Could Be Heroes

When I went to the Women's March in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2017, I was overwhelmed by the masses of marchers and the pain that so many of us felt at the inauguration of our current president.

But I was also amazed by so many other things: the sharp wit of the protest signs; the thousands upon thousands of hot pink knitted pussy hats; the feeling, prevalent throughout the city, of a nation on the edge of something huge and unknown.

After I returned home, I couldn't stop thinking about it. As is my way, I started wondering: what if something else happened at that inauguration? Since I'm a writer who has written science fiction, and I'm an American who (of course) has watched Independence Day, I naturally thought: what if there were an alien invasion?

That question — half serious, half humorous (because you have to see the absurdity in life, especially in our current climate, to avoid driving yourself batty) — led me to write a short story about a lesbian couple who attends the inauguration protest of a Trump-like president when, yes, a giant UFO appears in the sky over Washington, D.C.

Today that story has just been published by one of my favorite websites, Autostraddle. Now, Autostraddle, which covers pop culture, life, politics, and more by and for queer women, doesn't typically publish short fiction. So I'm especially grateful to them for giving my story a home, and even more than that, they commissioned some fabulous illustrations by artist Eren Russo.

Finally, because it's at Autostraddle, you can read it right now for free.

I hope you enjoy it!

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Boston & Cambridge MA: I’ll be at the Boston Teen Author Festival this Saturday, Sept. 22 at the Cambridge Public Library and the Cambridge Rindge & Latin School. Come out and see me and tons of other YA authors! Here’s my schedule: . 👉🏽 Puppet Strings — Session 2 (12-12:45 PM) @ CPL Community Room . 👉🏽The Publishing Journey — Session 3 (2-2:45 PM) @ CRLS Library . 👉🏽Book Signing — 4-5 PM @ CRLS Cafeteria . More info at www.bostonteenauthorfestival.com and they’re tagged in the photo. Hope to see you on Saturday! . #BTAF18 #authorsofinstagram #youngadult (at Cambridge Public Library) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn62QqVngAi/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=lm3zrblysbpw

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New York! I am heading your way for two book events this weekend: . 👉🏽 Friday 9/14, 7 PM, B&N Upper West Side — Queer Writers of Color Talk YA! With me, @brownbookworm @heidi.heilig @justinai and moderator @whimsicallyours . 👉🏽 Sunday 9/16, 11 AM, Brooklyn Book Festival — Thrilled to Death (what a panel name!) with me, @maureenjohnsonbooks @lygiaday and moderator @lamargiles — at Brooklyn Law School Student Lounge, 250 Joralemon Street . Hope to see some of you out there! 📚🌈☠️ #authorsofinstagram #authorlife #lgbtq #youngadult https://www.instagram.com/p/BnoySXGlN5x/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1byi00u49xvoq

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A LINE IN THE DARK is now available in paperback

My latest novel, A Line in the Dark, is now available in paperback with this glorious review from Teen Vogue on the cover:

"A twisty, dark psychological thriller ... impressive storytelling, a chilling plot, and mean girls aplenty."

I might argue with "mean girls" in its most stereotypical sense, but to be honest, there are some mean girls in A Line in the Dark. What I mean, of course, is that this book contains anger, obsession, jealousy, and complicated shifting identities that sometimes are expressed by meanness.

I don't know about you, but when I was a teen girl, meanness was wielded as a weapon against me more than once — and I used it back, too. I think that meanness can come across as shallow and spiteful (and sometimes it is, perhaps in its truest sense), but it's also defensive and used as a shield to hide softer, more vulnerable feelings. Hurt and longing and pain.

Jess, the main character of A Line in the Dark, feels all these things, and as a 16-year-old still discovering who she is, she struggles to contain all these emotions. Sometimes they spill out of her into her artwork; sometimes they spill out of her in arguments with her best friend. The things that Jess does are motivated by a combination of all these feelings.

A Line in the Dark is a psychological thriller. It's about unrequited love and unfulfilled longings. It's my first book to receive three starred reviews! And it's out now in paperback (as well as ebook and hardcover). I hope you like it!

Get the paperback edition at your local independent bookstore, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon.

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