Flights of Foundry Schedule 2024

This weekend I'll be doing programming for Flights of Foundry! It's a lovely annual convention that takes place entirely online and welcomes people from the around the world. There is programming 24/7 so that no matter where you are, you'll log on and find something to do. I hope to see you there!

 

2023 Writing Contest Winners Showcase: Interview and Q&A

9/27/2024, 2:00-3:00 PM EDT

John Wiswell (m), Suzan Palumbo (m), Nkereuwem Albert, Fatima Abdullahi, Jessica Andrewartha

Come meet the 2023 Dream Foundry Emerging Writers Contest Winners! The contest judges will do a Q&A style interview with the winners and lead a discussion.

 

Chill-n-Chat with John Wiswell

9/28/2024, 2:00-3:00 PM EDT

Come meet and chat with author John Wiswell! John is a disabled writer who lives where New York keeps all its trees. He won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story for ""Open House on Haunted Hill,"" and the Locus Award for Best Novelette for ""That Story Isn't The Story."" He has also been a finalist for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and British Fantasy Awards. His debut novel, SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN, released from DAW Books in April 2024, and was named one of the best books of the year by Polygon, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. He would like to pet a shark. Preferably, he would like to pet many sharks.

 

Making Monsters

9/29/2024, 2:00-3:00 PM EDT

Marie Brennan (m), John Wiswell, A.Z. Louise, Samantha Mills

What makes a monster a monster? Can a truly monstrous monster still be relatable? How do we build monsters while still respecting the differences their monstrosities represent? And of course, what are some of our favorite monster in media new and old.

John Wiswell's Tour Schedule for 2024

Now that my book is out in the world, I have to go follow it!

On this post you'll find every official event and convention I'll be attending this year. I'll add events to this page as contracts are signed. Especially if we're at the same con, please say hi! I love meeting folks and signing books.

You'll notice some events are tagged as (VIRTUAL). These are ones where I'll only be attending online, or that are entirely online events. I'm trying to do at least a few of these to reach readers who live outside of my travel's reach.

• April 2: Book launch at The Strand in New York City, NY
  
• April 14: Reading and Q&A The Golden Notebook in Woodstock, NY
• April 16: Reading with Anjali Patel, Elijah Kinch Spector, and Blake Sanz at Brooklyn Books & Booze at Barrow’s Intense in Brooklyn, NY
• May 8: Reading with Anya Johanna DeNiro at Fantastic Fiction at the KGB Bar in New York City, NY
• May 16: Q&A hosted by Oblong Books (VIRTUAL)
• May 25-26: Teaching class How To Make Stakes Work in Fiction at Futurescapes (VIRTUAL)
• June 6-9: Attending the Nebula Conference (VIRTUAL)
• June 13: Book Signing and conversation with J.R. Dawson at The Moon Palace in Minneapolis, Minnesota
  
• June 14-16: Attending 4th Street Fantasy Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota
• June 25: Virtual Book Club appearance at Bodacious Books in Pensacola, Florida
  
• July 11-14: Attending the Readercon in Quincy, Massachusetts
• August 8-12: Attending Glasgow Worldcon (VIRTUAL)
  
• September 28-29: Attending Flights of Foundry (VIRTUAL)
  

 See you out there!

Someone You Can Build A Nest In launches on April 2nd!

My debut novel is extremely nigh! It releases April 2nd in the U.S., and April 11th in the U.K.. In this post, I'll walk you through everything you need to know.

Let's start here: what is Someone You Can Build A Nest In about?

Shesheshen is a shapeshifting monster who lurks in the ruins of an isthmus, fending off monster hunters and other vile humans. After she is poisoned and driven off a cliff, she's rescued by Homily, a bookish and gentle lady who mistakes Shesheshen for a fellow human. Homily nurses her back to health, and Shesheshen is shocked to find herself growing attached. Homily seems to be an outcast like herself. The more they fall in love, the harder it is for Shesheshen to hide her true identity. She has to confess. But just as she's about to come clean, Homily reveals why she's visiting in the isthmus. Homily is hunting a shapeshifting monster. Has Shesheshen seen it anywhere?

You can read the first chapter for free at Reactor.

The pre-release experience has been overwhelming. I keep getting tagged by readers who got advanced copies and have fallen in love with Shesheshen and Homily. Recently The Library Journal gave Someone You Can Build A Best In a starred review and named it the Debut of the Month for April. Ingram named it one of the three Best of the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books for 2024. Someone You Can Build A Nest In has also graced numerous Most Anticipated Bookslists, including Literary Hub, Apple Books, Polygon, FanFiAdddict, Reactor (A.K.A. Tor.com), and Winter is Coming.

The responses from authors has been amazing, too.

"Someone You Can Build A Nest In is sweetly furious, darkly funny, and gruesomely wholesome. It's a love story for the unloved, a happily-ever-after with a higher-than-average body count. I just adored it."
—Alix E. Harrow, New York Times-bestselling author of Starling House and The Ten Thousand Doors of January

“Surprisingly sweet, unsurprisingly horrific, and entirely humane—only John Wiswell could have written this monster and her book, and I'm so very glad he did.”’
—Arkady Martine, Hugo Award-winning author of A Memory Called Empire

“I love the wonder and the darkly enchanting danger of this story. It makes me think of fairy tales, but John Wiswell understands what so many have forgotten: that true fairy tales are gruesome and magical at the same time, and he nails it here.”
—C.L. Polk, bestselling author of Midnight Bargain and Even Though I Knew the End

“Someone You Can Build a Nest In is the future of fantasy: a fairy tale with boundaries, an
imaginative world created in the shape of collective values rather than the boring old id, a portal to a place you've really never seen before instead of just a princess in a different outfit. This novel is going to change the entire genre.”
—Meg Elison, Hugo and Locus award-winning author of The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

Pre-orders are available at all major book websites.