Over the last year and a half, I have been incredibly focused on all of the work that has had to go into building and sustaining this community. But I don't want us to forget our roots. My mission has always been about more than publishing. From the start, our goal was to fight like hell for marginalized authors and to challenge systemic barriers in this industry.

Building Left Unread is a huge part of accomplishing those goals, but our own publishing projects are not the extent of the work that needs to be done. And I want to begin carving out more and more time and energy for the stories and authors who are fighting to take up space for themselves.

Today, I want to talk to you about one specific book that I think could use our support:

Wicked Endeavors by Kamilah Cole.

Ok, let's talk.

You are probably familiar with Kamilah because of The Divine Traitors duology, So Let Them Burn and This Ends in Embers, which was a very well-received YA fantasy following a young Black girl who was granted the power of the gods to aid her in her island's fight against invading colonial forces. Which ultimately led to even more conflict when her sister bonded to an enemy dragon and the only solution the gods could offer up was her immediate execution.

As many of you know, I loved that duology. It asked such profound questions about the nature of humanity and our relationship to the gods, our faith, and even to ourselves.

For me, Kamilah is one of the great fantasy writers of our age. So it was no surprise to me when her next few books were scooped up quickly.

With that said, her next book comes out in just over a month and I just don't see it getting the love that her talent deserves. Which, as we all know, happens to Black authors at every stage of their careers. Even when Black authors "make it", the fight for access continues. Which is why it is imperative that we, readers, continue to show up every step of the way.

Wicked Endeavors is a high-stakes romantasy about angry teenagers, delicious revenge, and the disasters of young love. When a collective of witches seized control and wiped out the royal family, young Caya was left defenseless and alone. However, now she is of age and ready to fight back. With a new identity and the help of a powerful friend, she infiltrates her enemies ranks in an effort to pursue revenge for everything she has lost. A plan that gets a bit messier as she discovers that the prince she is after is being guarded by one of her closest childhood friends. And even worse, her feelings for both of them are a bit more complicated than she is comfortable with.

I don't know about you, but I'm obsessed! Which is why I would love to see our community show up and help make sure this book gets all of the love it deserves.

Three things you can do right now to support Wicked Endeavors

1. Pre-Order the Book: Duh, I know. But you'd be surprised how few readers actually pre-order books, even for authors they already love. And the unfortunate truth is, pre-orders are a very important metric for authors. ESPECIALLY Black and brown authors, who are held to much stricter standards by reader and publishers. Even after they are well-established. This DOES matter. So if this book sounds like something you'd read, grab your copy HERE.

2. Add it to your Goodreads TBR: Unlike other reading tracking apps, Goodreads has public TBRs, which means publishers and booksellers can see when readers are flooding a book with interest. Because of systemic racism, industry leaders are often pre-disposed to see Black and brown art as a risk. By giving the projects we believe in a lot of attention in public places like Goodreads, we are signaling to those industry leaders that we strongly plan to support those books. IT HELPS. You can add it to your TBR HERE.

3. Request a copy from your Library: Library orders are a huge part of a book's visibility. They also help to make reading more accessible. So make sure that you go to your local library's website and request this book, so that they know you want to read it. Those requests DO play a role in determining what books libraries order.

Thank you all for being here and for remaining committed to the fight for Black and brown authors. And you can expect a lot more content like this soon. Let's go signal to industry leaders that Wicked Endeavors has OUR support!

Like I said earlier, I believe Kamilah Cole is one of the great fantasy writers of our age. And considering how few Black romantasies even exist, I absolutely what to see her celebrated and included in this genre. So please help make that happen!