A couple of exciting things this month!
Award News
I’m honored to share that one of my books, All the Whys of Delilah’s Demise, has been selected as the winner of the 2026 Minnesota Author Project (Young Adult Fiction), a statewide award judged by librarians. This was an unexpected and lovely surprise.
This particular book has had a long journey. If you’re a long-time reader of this newsletter, you probably know that I’m a hybrid author, meaning some of my books are relased through a publisher and others make it into your hands via Cosmic Tea Press, my own small imprint where I take the lead in bringing the book to you, hiring talented professionals along the way for editing, cover design, and so on. The main difference is that the publisher-backed books get a bigger and faster out-of-the-gate boost into the world when it comes to marketing and promotion. Indie books, especially standalone ones, tend to follow a slower path.
All the Whys of Delilah’s Demise is one of my indie books and it came out back in 2021, but the Minnesota Author Project Contest doesn’t limit itself to books published in a particular year. The novel is a dystopian mystery that touches on themes of popularity, belonging, and how far anyone will go to be liked. When a deadly accident puts Scottie under close scrutiny, she scrambles to prove her innocence—or be exiled to the frozen wasteland outside the city gates.
The reason this turned out to be its year is that I recently realized that this crossover book (it stradles Upper YA and Adult Science Fiction) belongs more on the Young Adult shelf and entered it in that category in the contest. And here we are. I’m beyond thrilled to see Scottie’s story get this kind of recognition.
The win means the novel is making its way into Minnesota public libraries (yay!) and is already available for borrowing from Biblioboard. You can also look for the ebook in online libraries like Everand and OverDrive, with Hoopla and CloudLibrary availability coming soon. And if you’d prefer a paperback, you can always ask your local library to order a copy!
Finally, big congrats to the winners in the other two categories: Kate Laack, author of By Any Other Name, and the Students of the Oshki Ogimaag Community Ojibwe School for their kids’ book, How To Snare Waabooz. You can read more about the contest here.
Publication Week
On to the second bit of news! This week is publication week for the new novella in the Soul Garden Mystery Series, One Feeling After Another. A big thank you to everyone who beta-read the book and signed up to be on the ARC team!
In an early review, a Netgalley reader called the novella “the perfect starting point to get to know private investigator Rodrick Gray.” One Feeling after Another is now out in both ebook and paperback—you can find retailer links here.
Thanks for reading and Happy Halloween,
Neve
