a new book & a newsletter!
happy "Slipstream comes out this month??" to all who celebrate
“Well, let it pass, he thought; April is over, April is over. There are all kinds of love in the world, but never the same love twice.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
Yes, friends. Hello! April is over. It’s May, which means my novel Slipstream comes out this month in North America and the United Kingdom. Here are the pre-order links.
Okay, so.
In high school, I had an English teacher who was obsessed with that Kurt Vonnegut Jr. quote. You know the one: “I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.’”
I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately as the world outside my door becomes increasingly not-nice. I think, if you subscribe to this newsletter, you can infer how I feel about the current landscape of American life. There’s been times, lately, where I’ve been gripped by dread that feels preternatural. I won’t go on about it. You know.
But here’s the thing: I was raised to be something like a weed—stubborn and hard-rooted. Within my one little very queer lifetime, I’ve seen tides turn and then turn back again, hope bloom and frustration fester, and through it all the only survival method that’s stuck is reckless, stupid, hilarious hope. Hope that laughs loudly in the face of horror. Hope that’s silent and sneaky and passed around like a folded-up note. Are we going to live through this: Y/N??? Hope that scribbles yes, yes, yes we have to.
I’m not the first to have this notion. When asked how one survives whole, Toni Morrison answered: “The grandeur of life is that attempt. It's not about that solution. It is about being as fearless as one can, and behaving as beautifully as one can, under completely impossible circumstances. It's that, that makes it elegant. Good is just more interesting, more complex, more demanding.”
So.
Welcome to Like Magic, my revamped newsletter, about my life and books but also things that feel magical. Inspired in part because this is something I can do, hopefully, to spread notes of joy. Nice things. And in part by how I’ve helped people pronounce my name: Like magic, without the ick. (“Maril” is like Meryl Steep, by the way. I also don’t know why it’s spelled Like That.)
Magic Thing #1: The hit reality TV show, Survivor
Look… I don’t know. Why am I getting into Survivor in the year 2025? I don’t know! But I saw that one clip online where a contestant consoles another player (content warning: you will cry) and suddenly, I had to watch the season. And then I was watching old seasons. And then I was formulating opinions and it was all over!
Survivor is just so campy, literally. The show doesn’t feel like it’s changed since it began in 2000,* when I was a kid and determined to get onto it. I WANTED to outwit, outlast, outplay. And now as an adult, the game-playing is weirdly soothing — like you have your players that are doing the “social game” (making friends, lying behind people’s backs well, etc.), the strong athletic types, the surprisingly strong puzzle pros, and the random wildcards like this season’s “antagonist,” Sai. Who I am OBSESSED WITH. Sai if you’re somehow reading this: please get your reality TV bag and become the next Gabby Windey, you’re SO FUNNY.
*oh my god? this show has been going for 25 years???
I’ve also gotten super into the official Survivor podcast — look, I know!!! — and have been listening to it while gardening and working out. There’s something about listening to how hard these random people push physically while weeding my garden?
Maybe we all feel like we’re on an island, playing a game. Maybe that’s the world?
(Probably not though.)
Circling back to Slipstream super fast
U.S. readers, you can now pre-order a signed & personalized copy of Slipstream from Downbound Books in Cincinnati, Ohio!
I’ll be in Franklin, Indiana celebrating Slipstream with Wild Geese Books on May 22! Get tickets here. Tickets include a Slipstream paperback, admission to the event, and your choice of drink and pastry from Main & Madison.
I’m going live on Instagram with Ali Hazelwood and Liana De la Rosa on May 23!!! I’ve spent the last month practicing being so cool and chill and normal for this.
I’ll be at the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library on June 1 to talk Slipstream and sign books! Learn more here; tickets coming soon, so keep an eye on that page/CHPL’s social media/my social media!
I haven’t been the best at sharing blurbs here. And Slipstream received such wonderful, scream-into-my-hands blurbs! Recently, I’ve been thinking about Alicia Thompson’s, because I have to try to pick my favorite part for an Instagram graphic. Impossible, since this is the whole thing: “I'll be the first to admit I don't know anything about Formula 1 but here's what I've learned about it from Madge Maril's brilliant debut romance Slipstream: it is SEXY. Like, pupils dilating, breath quickening, heart racing SEXY. My pulse sped up from a glimpse of Arthur's wrist when he's all suited up to drive and then it slowed back down for the way he really sees Lilah in a way she doesn't always even see herself. I lost my mind over this book.” —ALICIA THOMPSON, USA Today bestselling author of The Art of Catching Feelings
I mean… omg!!!!!
I’m not sure if I’ll send another one of these before Slipstream releases. So, because I can’t ever say it enough: Thanks for being here, thanks for reading. Thank you for pre-ordering the book if you have, requesting at your library, reviewing, anything. I’m so excited for this book to be out!
And if that isn’t nice…
MM