May really is Ada Hoffmann Month, because now after all the book launch excitement, I have a short story for you! “Ten Unsent Letters to the Dark Lord” has been out for Lightspeed‘s paid subscribers since the beginning of the month, but starting today, it’s free for the whole Internet to read, so you can go and read it now.
“Ten Unsent Letters” has nothing to do with IGNORE ALL PREVIOUS INSTRUCTIONS. Instead, it’s another look at one of my favorite silly tropes – the one where the villain’s faithful minion has a crush on them. Oh, and they also did a recorded version, so if you click “Listen” you can hear it narrated by Stefan Rudnicki.
There’s a fun story behind how this story came to be, but Phoebe Barton was kind enough to interview me about it for the issue, so instead of telling you the story here, I’ll just link you to the interview. Here’s a teaser: both Phoebe and the acquiring editor said that “Ten Unsent Letters” is very timely and relevant to this year’s news – but when I wrote it, I was thinking about something else entirely.
In other news, it’s been great seeing mentions of IGNORE continue to pop up since the launch date – many of them from just ordinary social media users who happened to say something nice about the book and tag me. One especially nice mention comes from Book Riot, who listed IGNORE as one of the Best New Queer Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2026. (How they can make a list like this when 2026 is less than half over, I don’t know, but I’ll take it.)
Also, Tachyon is doing a Memorial Day Sale from May 22-25, where all their books – including IGNORE – are 20% off. If you haven’t gotten your copy yet, now (well, tomorrow and the next few days) is the perfect time.