Issue 48: A library book fair, reaching readers, and streaming Long Away!
Did you know
that when your air conditioning breaks in the middle of an extreme heat warning
it’s very bad actually?
NEW STUFF
We are all evaporating over here, how are you?
The extra fun thing about our AC going out is it happened on a Sunday, and our apartment complex owners were like “gosh gee our maintenance people don’t work on weekends” and refused to do anything about it until Monday.
It’s not like it was 80 degrees out or something, it was 100! And our building holds heat like nobody’s business, it was 86 degrees both inside and outside our apartment at 9 pm that night! Sleeping was rough.
But this is a writing newsletter, so let’s get on with it!
Look at this truly remarkable post someone made about Star Trek Voyager: Homecoming!
![Happy 60th star trek! Got my limited edition signed hardcover book today Super stoked Shout out to IDW Publishing, Angel Hernandez for the amazing artwork, Kate Mulgrew with the rest of the Voyager crew, And Tilly and Susan Bridges. Thank you for changing my whole world. Thank you for all the hard work put into these stories and giving me something to believe in again. From the bottom of my heart [with a photo of the Star Trek voyager hardcover]](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e6/cf/e6cf08ea-e92e-4aee-a0a2-54a32bdafe72/content/images/2026/10/homecoming.jpg)
Gail Simone recently made a post on Bluesky, to the effect of “writing is like tossing pebbles in a pond, you never know who the ripples are going to reach.” That could not apply more to this person’s reaction to Homecoming.
When you create something, you can only hope it will mean this much to someone, that it’ll find the people who need it and will love it.
To see it actually happen, to know that it touched someone’s life like that, is truly the most wonderful, lovely thing. Goodness.
We forgot to mention this last time, so you might have known and come to see us, but we did a signing at the Burbank Book Fair! It’s held in the library and they bring in a ton of authors and vendors and it was a really nice time. We adore libraries and were delighted to be part of it. That’s the sign that was on our table as the main image for this newsletter.
Our table was, however, sadly sparse. They told us not to bring books, because they had booksellers participating who’d have copies of books from all the participating authors. So we said okay, we won’t!
But other authors did bring some… for display. Ohhh yeah, that makes sense. We are too good at following rules. And so that’s why Susan wrote some promo text all over our sign, so people walking by might know who the heck we were.
Anyway it was a nice time!
We hope to be at Los Angeles Comic Con on Halloween weekend, but we’re not confirmed yet, so keep an eye out.
We should also be at Revenge Of’s Comic Creator Block Party in LA again this year (we think), and that’s scheduled for Nov. 7! More details as we get them.
For the next four days, until Oct. 11, you can stream Long Away online, along with eight other trans short films, in the online portion of the Out on Film festival! Watch it while you can!
And then on Nov. 14 we’ll be in San Francisco at the Long Away screening in the San Francisco Trans Film Fest's Speculative Fiction block of shorts, at the Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St. We’ll have a Q&A with the audience after the screening!
Get tickets here!
Here’s a reminder that we’ve got Just Another Summer hardcovers and paperbacks, and the Star Trek Voyager: Homecoming trade paperback in Tilly’s Ko-fi shop!
We’re told Penguin Random House won’t have more copies of Homecoming available until January, so if you want a signed one and don’t want to wait until next year, grab one quick. We only have five left!
You can also get signed copies of Begin Transmission, the Autostraddle magazine with Tilly’s roller derby article, and stickers and bookplates and individual issues of Homecoming and Star Trek Celebrations, too!
Just go to the Ko-fi shop already, why don’t you?
Pre-orders are open now for our middle-grade sci-fi superhero adventure comedy, Princesses of the DC Universe, which releases March 2, 2027. Get one!
And The 24th Century Campaign Guide for the Star Trek Adventures ttrpg is also open for pre-orders!
Modiphius Entertainment
WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON
Pilot revisions are now under way! Hooray.
Still in a holding pattern with all the comic editors who asked for pitches or put us up for projects, so no news there.
Also in a holding pattern for Tilly’s project with Lilly Wachowski.
No staffing on a tv show news either, though we did hear from our manager that we may get a general meeting with a very cool producer, so here’s hoping!
TRANS TUESDAY UPDATE
We started a series of tough, but important topics, the first of which is TERFs 1: ANTI-SCIENTIFIC BIGOTRY. We go over what they are, where they came from, how they’re not feminist at all and ally with far-right groups, and how science is once again entirely on the side of trans people, with tons of receipts.
Tilly Bridges
And then, you betcha, we tackled TERFs 2: JK ROWLING, QUEEN TERF. A lot of people don’t know, or claim to not know, just how evil this children’s book author has become. She doesn’t just have some bad ideas, and didn’t just make some mistakes. She intentionally and repeatedly uses her fortune to literally strip trans women of their rights, and hurts all trans people with intent and malice. And if you support her in any way, you are enabling the harm she causes.
Tilly Bridges
RECOMMENDATIONS
This movie is one of the wildest things, and writer/director Jane Schoenbrun continues to make stunning films by/for/about trans people.
Not only is this a meta commentary on the state of slasher horror films, it’s almost directly a surface-level examination of the way trans people are so disconnected from their bodies for so long, until transition re-centers them within and they’re suddenly able to experience things like sex, truly for the first time.
On top of that it’s beautifully shot, and funny, and charming, and it stars Gillian Andersen and Hannah Einbinder! They kiss!
This is such good stuff, and even if you’re not a fan of horror, you’ll still find so much to love. It’s not actually scary or much of a horror film on its own, even while it’s partially about horror films (though it’s got enough fake blood to swim in).
THE DIRTBAG DISPATCH
Here you see Izzy’s ennui about her crunchy dental cat treats, and Henry’s encroaching intimidation to try and steal them.
A perfect encapsulation of these two weirdos.
We had to wet them down to help them keep cool since the AC was out, and neither was thrilled with it, but they made it through.
Poor Henry was very distressed by the heat and walked around complaining about how uncomfortably hot he was.
But the AC was fixed as we were writing this newsletter, and Henry immediately planted himself on our dining room table under the vent and basked in the cool air, once again a happy(ish) dirtbag.
WHAT’S IN THE BIG TIME?
Big Time issue 48 has the final page, from one of our earliest comic anthology stories, the gritty 70s crime story, Morrow, which hopefully recontextualizes the entire story! We were ambitious. Read it and let us know if we succeeded!
Sign up for it at birdguestbroadcast.com and help us pay rent and eat food and stuff, it’s a mere five bucks a month!
THE END
Can you believe the air conditioning was fixed as we wrote this?
Our long 36 hours slow-roasting in our own home has come to an end.
And it’s about dang time.
SOCIALS
🎃 Killy Witches 👻
Susan Bridges
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