♥️ Ten Years of Sword & Kettle Press

Dear reader,

Over ten years ago, I started an indie press from the kitchen table of my college dorm room because I wanted to tend to, curate, and publish other people’s writing. I never imagined that I would still be working on this project ten years later, that I would get to work alongside passionate and talented editors who have become my dear friends, or that we would organize into a worker-owned cooperative so we can continue to grow and thrive.

Ten years in the indie publishing world is a long time. There’s not a lot of money in it, nor a lot of recognition—but there is a lot of heart. Whenever we get to be an author’s very first publication, work with an author multiple times across the years, or introduce our readers to different perspectives and styles we haven’t featured before, I remember why I got into this business in the first place: I love the stories people write for the sheer love of it, and I want to help share them with the world.

We've just launched a crowdfund for Ten Years of Sword & Kettle Press, a project we've been fondly referring to as our anniversary sampler. It includes pieces from thirty of the chapbooks and mini-chapbooks that we've published over the past ten years, putting pieces together in new contexts and bring out-of-print work back to the page.

If you'd like to take a look, the crowdfund is live here until May 21 (and we're currently 68% of the way there)! Whether or not you back the project, we would so appreciate it if you would help us spread the word and get it in front of other interested readers.

Sword & Kettle means so much to me. I've often said that you can just start publishing and no one can stop you, but it's even more amazing to me that you can just start publishing and people will want to join you! My co-editors Naseem and Jude have shaped the press in ways I never could have imagined, and I'm so grateful to be publishing alongside them as worker-owners.

News & Events

• SomerCon, my local tiny TTRPG convention, had a snow day back in January, and will finally be happening tomorrow, April 26! I'll be speaking on a panel called How to Publish Your Game at 2pm.
• The Mutual Aid TTRPG Jam wrapped up with a whopping 105 submissions! I've really enjoyed the ones I've read so far; looking forward to reading more.
• Fistful of Crits is hosting a Romantasy TTRPG Jam starting on April 30. I looked for a romantasy book title generator and could not find one, and so I went into a fugue state and made my own. Try it out! I love hearing what people get from it.

Projects in Progress

• A PbtA game about the indentured wives of horrible wizards — taking a lot of inspiration from Girl Frame, Sleepaway, and Apocalypse Keys
• Something for the Romantasy TTRPG Jam (I have a lot of ideas and they're all very silly)

Things I've Loved Recently

• Setting up my front porch garden! My garden center doesn't have sungold tomato seedlings yet, but I picked up chives, container strawberries, and "champagne bubbles" poppies today. Also started oxheart carrot and pansy seeds!
• Starting two new Baldur's Gate 3 runs (anyone else feeling very normal about T. Kingfisher writing an Astarion book???)
• Sitting down at my computer to read my newsletters; I've especially been enjoying the Anemone newsletter by Amelia Greenhall, Scratch by Kate Cohen, and Now What? by Nic Antoinette
• Bakin' up a storm; homemade dirt pudding, the best cinnamon rolls, and old fave Nutella-stuffed brown butter chocolate chip cookies have been in rotation in my household

Thanks for reading! This newsletter has been on a "send when I feel like it" schedule, so who knows when you'll hear from me again? You're always welcome to comment, respond to this email, or join us in the Earthly Body Discord if you'd like to chat!