2019-09-23 18:25:23 ¶ ●

## The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht | Tor.com Publishing

On the 24th of September, which is tomorrow for me, you can purchase The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht.

I am not by any accounts an unbiased bystander. I first met Jenn in Homestuck fandom, never knowing that she was the one sent by the prophecy to later write the Epilogues. At the time, we just took a lot of joy in talking about what it would be like if Terezi went to law school. I have had the honour of having written as her co-writer on Promstuck and Herobound – I’m sorry to say that the best thing we ever wrote together never went public, but I assure you it was rad – and having my debut novel and her debut novella drop in the same month is like having our children get married, except that in this case I will say that although it is usually “X and Y don’t deserve to have to marry Gideon and Harrow,” this is the only case where I will say: Gideon and Harrow don’t deserve having to marry Florian and Johann. Gideon and Harrow have suffered enough.

For me, there’s lots I could say, but I’ll only say this: Giesbrecht writes like a Jim Steinman song feels.

As for the book itself, I wrote this to her back when I got to read it early (which is my undeserved prize for having attempted to force Giesbrecht to write a story with me where Jade Harley was a pregnant superhero having shacked up with Equius and Nepeta), and I wrote thus:

> [This story is like] “What if Prince Eric pulled up Ursula instead and pushed him continuously over a cliff and wrote little notes carefully in his diary the whole time”

Get it. It’s great. I love Florian, and I love Johann, but nonetheless they are the worst fucking train wrecks in the world. We have the same editor, and just imagine what a shellshocked ruin he is at this point. If at all possible, for safeguarding your own future entertainment, buy this book.