I just finished writing a letter that will accompany your copy of Tender is the Flesh if you are a part of our new Cost of Freedom reading experience. And I want to quickly share a little bit of that letter with you here:

I chose Tender is the Flesh because I wanted us to do something scary. It is easy to ask big questions of stories that comfort us with promises that the big bad in our lives can be conquered with the right set of skills and the right community in our corner. But how do we ask those same questions when we are confronted with darkness we have no tools or help defeating? How do we wrestle with systems that have perfected the art of oppressing us? That is the work I want us to do together. To look at stories that terrify us with a reflection of the world we are trying our hardest not to lose hope in and to ask the questions that we desperately need answers to.

When Bindery first approached me about doing an interactive reading experience, I didn't hesitate to dive in. Because this is what I do. I love to ask big questions of the books I read. And more importantly, I love to do that in community. So, the idea of being able to do both of those things on this large of a scale is so exciting to me.

I believe literature has the power to change the world. I have been saying that to you for years now. And I firmly believe it. What we are doing here is not just a fun book club experience. We are exploring texts that have something substantial to say about the systems that are being used to oppress us and the tools we need to get comfortable using to break ourselves free.

Which is why I want you to be a part of this experience even if you missed the deadline for the first box.

Here is what you need to know

In just a few weeks, our team at Bindery will ship out a custom book box for the first installment of this reading experience to everyone who subscribed to the $25 tier on or before March 1st, which was the deadline to join. That is not something I can change. However, there are a few ways you can still be involved.

First, Tender if the Flesh will be our June pick for the wider bookclub as well. Which means you will be able to participate in conversations around this book in our discord, as well as in a end-of-month bookclub meeting I will schedule later on.

Additionally, I have decided to make a lot of the commentary and content I am creating around this book available to the $12 tier as well. Overwhelmingly, the feedback I received from the community was that a lot of you want to participate, but bumping up to the $25 tier is just too big of a challenge at the moment. And I want to accommodate as best I can. So while the box Bindery put together (including a copy of the book) is only available to the people who signed up at the $25 tier, I will be making PLENTY of exclusive content and commentary available to you at the $12 tier as well, which I hope is a bit more achievable and budget-friendly.

There will still be content and zoom calls that are reserved only for the tier we built this program for, but I intend for plenty of opportunity for you to participate if that tier is just not doable right now.

But please make sure you grab the book, whether you plan to follow along with the content and conversations, or if you just want to read it with our regular bookclub. Here is a link where I get a small commission. I would appreciate if you'd use my link if you plan to grab a copy: https://bookshop.org/a/87137/9781982150921

If you are reading this, I would love for you to join us for this reading experience. Obviously, one of our intentions is to provide benefit to our paid subscribers, as a way to cultivate more support for the books we are publishing here at Left Unread. Every single one of you that subscribe at a paid tier are helping us to fight harder for Black and brown authors and are investing directly in the books that we publish. And by participating in this program, whether at the $25 tier as we intended, or the $12 tier, you are helping to build and sustain this business as we fight for change. So THANK you.

But beyond that, I am excited to dive into these incredible books with you and to ask big questions. I try not to do anything that I don't believe in. My time and resources are limited and I do my absolute best to reserve them for meaningful work. And trust me, The Cost of Freedom is a HUGE investment of time and energy. Putting this content together has been an extremely exhausting endeavor. And I am only doing it because I think it is worthwhile and it will create change.

So if you are reading this, I would love for you to consider being a part of this.

Go ahead and upgrade to the $12 tier so that you can follow along with Tender is the Flesh. But also, if you want the full experience with the box, the extra content and the exclusive zoom call, make sure you upgrade to that $25 tier sooner rather than later. Because the cut-off for our September box is coming up quick!

Our September book is going to be Chain-Gang All-Stars, which is a Dystopian that follows two incarcerated Black women who are participating in gladiator-style death matches as a part of a game-show where a few lucky prisoners have the chance to win their freedom. It is a scathing rebuke of the American prison system and an open conversation about the way our society accepts the dehumanization and enslavement of anyone our justice system has deemed criminal.

Like I said, I am choosing books that I think are having hard and necessary conversations. And if the internet has proven anything, it is that we, as a society, are very far from realizing the dream of abolition and prison reform.

I would love for you to be a part of those conversations, so please make sure you upgrade to the tier of your choosing as soon as possible!

That's all I have for you for now! Thank you for being here and I can't wait to dive into these stories with you!