Yesterday Dizzy Dishes, the first appearance of Betty Boop (who, at the time, was a cartoon dog), entered the public domain.
Today I published “Sweet Betty,” a novelette about how she became a human.
I started the story in grad school; Carmen Machado gifted me a Betty Boop shot glass after I told her about the project back in 2013. I’ve read from several times, first in 2017 at WisCon, later at ICFA and Armadillocon and elsewhere. I think I first submitted it for publication in 2023, which began a series of interactions with editors thus-far unique in my professional experience. None, in the end, chose to publish it, and I’ve spent enough of my life with this story in my brain but not in the world. So here it is, online, for anyone who might enjoy it.