What a whirlwind. Keeping in line with my aim to write these newsletters on the theme of ‘process’, I will admit here that planning a book tour as an indie author with an indie press is a lot of work. It’s all very exciting and exhausting, with successes and failures together in a chaotic tangle. If you missed my previous announcement, I have a new book—my debut novel, Vernal Thaw. I will be launching the book in Edinburgh at Typewronger Books TONIGHT (see more information below), then my tour will take me to Ireland to present at the International Book Festival of Dublin, as well as The Library Project and PhotoIreland, onwards to Glasgow at Burning House Books, then back to Edinburgh for an event at Argonaut Books in June, and across the pond later this summer to New England to read at Phoenix Books and Tunnel Books in Vermont. You can find all of the specific dates below.

There might be additional events throughout the year, details forthcoming, so keep your eyes peeled—my website is a good place to check. I will be sharing more details about these events soon, with links and visuals.

📚 Book launch!

May 13th at 7pm, Typewronger Books, Edinburgh

📚Presentation and conversation with Jade Wilson, editor of Dyke Affair

“Alternative forms in queer literature”

International Literary Festival of Dublin

12:30, Thursday 21 May

Merrion Square Park, Le Fanu stage, Dublin

📚Book party, reading, and conversation with the author

Thursday May 21, 6pm

The Library Project

Ireland’s Art Bookshop

4 Temple Bar Street, D02 YK53, Dublin, Ireland.

📚 Presentation, Reading and Activity with the author, in collaboration with Nina Scott

May 29th at 7pm Burning House Books in Glasgow

📚 Reading, and a conversation between the author and Rosa Campbell

June 11th at 7pm, Argonaut Books, Edinburgh

📚 Reading and conversation with the author

June 26th 4-7pm, Tunnel Books in St Johnsbury, Vermont

📚 Reading, and a conversation between the author and Chelsea Edgar

July 9th at 7pm Phoenix Books in Burlington, Vermont

Just for the hell-of-it, I decided to make bookmarks to hand out at live events. Part of my motivation for creating this ‘bonus’ to the book was to include the wonderful endorsement written by author Lucy Ives. With my dear sister’s help, (thanks Liza!) I designed these lovely, double-sided, silk-screened cards—if you attend one of the following events you’ll certainly be able to take a bookmark home.

DETAILS ABOUT WHERE TO FIND THE BOOK:

If you are not in any of the cities listed in my book tour, the easiest way to get the book is through the publisher’s website, Set Margins’ Press. Or, request the book at your local bookshop or library. The book will be available soon in the UK and US, and is already available in Europe. If you happen to be connected to a bookshop, here are the specific distributors:

Public Knowledge & Central Books (UK)

Artbook DAP (US)

Ingram (US)

Idea Books (EU)

Perimeter Books (AU)

Subscribe now

Share

Tip Jar / make a donation

Yes, I’ve been busy; at times, I can admit that I’ve been too busy, and the fruits of all my labor are suddenly falling from the trees faster than I can harvest them. I’m referring specifically to all of the books and chapbooks and other publications that seem to be raining down throughout the year, but the fruit I still have yet to harvest is a stable job, so get in touch if you have one for me 😅! Only sort of kidding. Ok, back to this book—I’ve been cultivating this behind-the-scenes for years, and I’m so thrilled and relieved to finally see this project manifest. The novel is called VERNAL THAW: A Novel of Love at a Slant, published this spring by Set Margins’ Press.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

VERNAL THAW: A Novel of Love at a Slant traces the entangling and unraveling of a queer relationship through love and tumult over the course of a year in Vermont. Franky, a young adjunct professor haunted by encounters with violent men, falls into an intense relationship with Vera, an older neurosurgeon shaped by a childhood in homophobic Soviet-era Ukraine. As they attempt to build a life together, their shared desire snags on unhealed wounds. An ambiguous darkness drifts between literature, dreams, and reality—ghostly forms beneath the ice, a midwinter house flood, the death of a mutual friend, secret longings—testing the tenuous intimacy between Franky and Vera.

THE FIRST REVIEW!

What better to celebrate the launch of this new book than with a review in Autostraddle (for those of you not familiar, it’s a queer news, media, and pop culture publication for LGBTQ+ women and trans people, online and recently in print). The article was written by the perceptive and talented Lauren Herold. Spoiler alert, my favorite paragraph is at the end, so please go read the review! Here’s a hint,

“In queer relationships, we often have to create our own set of standards for navigating life outside the social norm…Vernal Thaw shows us one way to answer these questions, so we can navigate our queer desires, careers, and relationships, within or outside of the norm.”

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK:

Here are some other nice words that literary folks have said about the book:

TROUBLING AND DELICIOUS

— Daisy Hildyard, author of Hunters in the Snow, The Second Body, and Emergency

VERNAL THAW is chilling, tender, and alive. It is an otherworldly fable set in the real world, revealing the indelible and sometimes deadly paradox of human love: that it is those to whom we are closest whose true natures most escape us—often until it is too late.

—Lucy Ives, author of An Image of My Name Enters America, Life Is Everywhere, Cosmogony, and more.

With candid prose and warm, precise emotional intelligence, Frances Cannon crafts an immersive novel about the mythic, shapeshifting nature of intimacy and the patterns of violence that linger in the landscape of home and memory, all too often awaiting a single unwary step.

—Morgan Thomas, author of Manywhere and Mad Eden

Vernal Thaw is at once sexy, erotic, and poignant: a queer pleasure at the breaking point of romance and tragedy. Let Cannon’s wit absorb you into the minds of women-in-their rage, lovers-in-their-desires, and friends-in-their-heartbreaks, for this is surely a novel that captivates our inner lusts. Vernal Thaw is an absolute must read.

—Orchid Tierney, author of this abattoir is a college.

EVENTS:

If you are in the UK, in Dublin, Glasgow, Edinburgh, or if you are in the US, in Burlington, Vermont, or St Johnsbury, take a look at these live, in-person events where I will begin my book tour. There will be more events throughout the year, details forthcoming, so keep your eyes peeled. I will be sharing more details about these events soon, with links and visuals. The big lesson that I’m learning is that writing and publishing in alternative ways (with indie presses, at indie book shops, for example), takes more time and effort, and thus requires more patience. I can at least say that you can mark your calendars for these four events. I can’t wait to see some of you there!

📚 Reading and conversation with the author

Thursday May 21, 6pm

The Library Project

Ireland’s Art Bookshop

4 Temple Bar Street, D02 YK53, Dublin, Ireland.

📚 Reading and conversation with the author

May 29th at 7pm Burning House Books in Glasgow

📚 Reading and conversation with the author

June 26th 4-7pm, Tunnel Books in St Johnsbury, Vermont

📚 Reading and conversation with the author

July 9th at 7pm Phoenix Books in Burlington, Vermont

DETAILS ABOUT DISTRIBUTION:

This book is available for pre-order through the publisher’s website, and will be available in your local independent bookshops soon. If you happen to be connected to a bookshop, here are the specific distributors:

Public Knowledge (UK) & Central Books

Artbook DAP (US)

Ingram (US)

Idea Books (EU)

Perimeter Books (AU)

Share

Subscribe now

TIP JAR (small donation to the author)

The process of writing this book felt intuitive, pleasurable, and straightforward (although I began writing this during an unpleasant time; the pandemic). Describing the book might be more challenging than writing it—what is this genre, this form? Is this a book, a chapbook, a pamphlet, or a zine? Are these essays, essayettes, microprose, or just one long, lyric essay divided into tiny chapters?

I also want to celebrate the press—Ethel (I worked specifically with editor/publisher Sara Lefsyk). All of Ethel’s books, chapbooks, and journals are hand-made, limited edition, and gorgeous. The press also resists categorization; are these books, chapbooks, mini-books, zines? I suppose that’s the point—my book, and the press, just are. The labels don’t matter. I published a poetry chapbook, Predator / Play, with Ethel a number of years ago, you can find it here.

And, the talented Claire Sage Jorgensen designed the cover (front and back). You can find more of her artwork here.

Rather than providing a long sample of the text, I will share here a few illustrations that I had considered including in the book—they’re related in content and mood, but didn’t end up in the book. I have included one sample essay as a teaser. I encourage you to read the full book, get a copy from me or from Ethel!

Omen

The spring is struggling here. She’s indecisive, or maybe shy, or maybe she’s stuck in transit in some warmer climate. It snows on Easter Sunday, and the blooming maple buds wilt. It is hard to leave the bed today—we both drank too much wine last night with the braised lamb and pasta—it was all so delicious and we seem to be losing hold of any sense of restraint. I used to wake up early every morning. Now, the hours blend together and I lose track of my circadian rhythm. Rules, order, dates, time, what does it all mean when you’re under house arrest during a global pandemic? Why not drink a whole bottle with dinner? The not to the why is this headache, which follows me all the way up the hill as we hike to the tower. But here, proof of spring, every few feet: one ladybug on my boot, one beetle on the path, and altogether three snakes. Must be good luck, you say, and I hope you’re right, we need it.

TIP JAR DONATION

I have been pondering how to ‘launch’ my substack to provide information and content that’s unique to this particular platform; rather than just sharing links to my published articles and projects—my personal website, frankyfrancescannon.com — has been, and continues to be, an aesthetically pleasing archive of my published works: books, articles, essays, poems, illustrations, and other projects. I’d like to explore a new thread here, peeling back the layers, reading between the lines, exploring the research and motivation behind my creative projects. I have quite a few forthcoming books and other publications this year (just you wait and see! It’s going to be a wild and robust year); and I hope to use this platform to illuminate my ideas and methods before, during, and after these publications.

I’ll start with the project that has been in the works for the past several months, my piece with the New York Times, “My Dog Tintin’s Trans-Atlantic Voyage on the Queen Mary 2.” First, there’s the issue of how to categorize this piece; is it a hybrid essay? A visual narrative? An illustrated article? A comic? Multimedia story? Take your pick. Text + image, which is my favorite creative combination of forms.

The timeline for this piece, if you take a broad view, is over a year—if you consider the concept development, planning, and early-stage strategy. I first had the idea to travel with Tintin, my little dog, on a ship from the US to the UK, well over a year ago, and I had to sign up on the waitlist for very competitive dog tickets on the Queen Mary 2. Once I heard that she had been secured a spot, I thought it would be wise for me to pitch this as an article somewhere… and why not aim high? The NYT was actually the first and only place I pitched this, which is very unusual for me. Or, to clarify, aiming high and cold-calling the big names in the publishing world is not abnormal for me; I always try. What’s unusual is that they wrote back relatively quickly, and we began emailing and brainstorming (the editors of the travel department). My original pitch did include artwork to accompany an essay, but I was surprised and delighted when they suggested “10 - 15 drawings”—that’s a lot of artwork for an essay! We had one zoom meeting, during which time we decided an approximate length, 1000 words, and specs for the drawings (color or black-and-white, up to me). Then many months passed as the date for my trip approached. I will admit that the publication timeline was a bit vague; I had thought (perhaps mistakenly) that the editors wanted the piece completed by the end of November, to be published that month. The trip took place at the tail end of October, so I scrambled to take notes, make drawings, write and edit the piece in a matter of a few weeks. It turns out the piece wasn’t published until today, February 6th, although in a way—I’m glad for the delay—I added quite a few paintings, and hand-illustrated the text as well (wrote the entire essay out in my handwriting). All told, I made 30 paintings and drawings for the piece, and around 23 were included (I say ‘around’ because some of the illustrations were divided, and some were combined, in the final format). The essay I wrote was initially 2000 words—my bad, always writing more than I need to—and the final version is around 1200 words.

What didn’t make the cut? These drawings, which I love; although I understand why they weren’t selected—most of the drawings in the published piece are in color, and they also are self-contained and ‘edgeless’. Some of these drawings (see below) have a hard edge, and are thus rather hard to place in a hybrid format. And, some of the dogs appeared twice in the illustrations, so for efficiency, we decided to only feature each dog once. There are also a few choice bits in my original essay that I will excerpt below—of course, legally, I’m not permitted to reprint any part of the published article—you’ll have to follow this link and read it through the New York Times site to get a sense for the final, edited essay.

“It was a wild idea, but it also seemed less traumatic for Tintin. I’m also in an unusual position: As a freelance writer and editor, I could work remotely and take eight days out of my “normal” life for the Transatlantic voyage — so, why not?

Colonel Phillips brought his pet raccoon along in the 1930s.

The departure date was Halloween night, and while Tintin despises costumes, I dressed up as her namesake, Tintin the cartoon character, who also adventured on the high seas.

When any dog did finally succumb to desperate release, we were instructed to call out “007” as a code for poop, and “code yellow” for pee — and then Oliver or Nekko would rush to clean it up. In the absence of any grass (or even astroturf), Tintin struggled for seven days to find an appropriate spot.

It gives me strange pride that Tintin doesn’t bark.

“What did you expect, crossing the Atlantic Ocean in November? Of course there would be waves.”

A similarly uncanny vision: picture a dozen supermodels strutting and posing in gigantic ballgowns just outside the kennel gate on Deck 12 — and in the background of their photoshoot, an old poodle struggles to poop. For context: This turned out to be a themed voyage on the QM2 — Transatlantic Fashion Week! Christian Siriano designed a new line of dresses for an accompanying team of models, including Coco Rocha.

My friend who runs a nautical-themed dog-accessory business had sent me a box of hand-made dog bandanas, “skarfs,” before the trip, so I had a few gifts to pass around to fellow canine parents.

Each dog received a new QM2 jacket (most dogs resented being forced to wear this apparel). Oliver and Nekko wore full kennel master regalia — old-fashioned red jackets and caps. They posed with each individual dog, then we all gathered on the deck for a group photo. Immediately after the last photo, Oliver crouched low, then leapt up with his hand raised to the air, shouting, “Time to run!” Chaos ensued, dogs barked, humans sprinted.

Oliver wants to write a book with happy and sad stories about dogs, including a scene in which the dogs break out of their crates at night to go to the ship’s club. He seems to genuinely care for these dog passengers.

One unexpected joy was getting to know the other dogs—twenty dogs in all, no cats this time—Bitcoin, Sushi, Bud, Miller, Bowie, Georgie, Penny, Rigby, Emerson, Snuggles, Shadow, Charlie, Lucy, Wren, Scout, Minnie, Yeti, and Muppet. The dog parents also became fast friends, partly due to our circumstances—the necessity of spending so much time together in the cramped visiting lounge.

Tintin bumped into the ship on several occasions. I hadn’t personally experienced seasickness on the ship, but when I planted my feet back on solid ground, the weird sensation of swaying followed me for an entire week after the voyage — the horizon did not appear stable. This phenomenon is known as “land sickness,” and I can only imagine what the dogs felt.”

Here is the ‘extra’ art!

If you enjoyed this, then consider subscribing if you haven’t already.

Subscribe now

Share

Tip jar / Buy me a coffee