S.G. Prince's Newsletter

I’m starting this month’s newsletter at SFO, sitting at a plastic table with my headphones over my ears, watching the timer count down on my phone (16 minutes until we board). I’m heading to Anaheim for WonderCon where I’ll be talking about If All the Stars Go Dark on an author panel, meeting readers, and signing books.

This is happening! I’m so excited to announce that I’ll be going on tour this month to celebrate the release of If All the Stars Go Dark. I wrote this story while living in Seattle, a city that tried to swallow me whole, and this book was a direct rally against that. I wanted an escape, something goofy and action-y but also with a ton of heart. The characters in If All the Stars Go Dark mean so much to me, and I’m wildly grateful that I get to share them with you in person.

It’s here! Today is the day! My fifth book is officially out in the world! I wrote this story while living in Seattle, a city that tried to swallow me whole, and this book was a direct rally against that. I wanted an escape, something goofy and action-y but also with a ton of heart. The characters in If All the Stars Go Dark mean so much to me, and when I woke up this morning I just had this moment of like, we made it.

Oh, autumn. In the Bay Area, September is our warmest month, despite the fact that the days are shorter, autumn produce is showing back up at the farmer’s markets, the leaves are changing, pumpkin spice is everywhere. I never know what to do with it. I love living seasonally (in how I eat, what I wear, the hobbies I enjoy), but September is a melding pot of different moods, and it changes by the day.

It’s been a busy season! I’m ramping up book launch things for If All the Stars Go Dark, we just moved house (into my 1920s California-Mediterranean dream home), we took a trip to Greenville and have a camping trip coming up in Tahoe, and I’m finishing what will hopefully be the final draft of Thieves. I love a full schedule, and these days, mine is packed. Let’s dive in.

I understand why writers say they work better in colder months. The fog, the darkness, the rustle of falling leaves; magic tends to gather in such places, and that’s where imagination shines. But for me, not quite. I love spring and summer. Sunlight, long days, that feeling that if you just threw your head back and spread your arms you could fly. While many are currently leaving their best creative months, I’m entering mine. We have a lot to cover in this newsletter.

After sitting on this announcement since last August (August!) I finally get to share my big news. I wrote my first ever YA space fantasy called If All the Stars Go Dark, and it got picked up by Henry Holt Macmillan (my first ever traditional book deal!), and it’s set for an early 2026 release! This is my debut YA and unlike anything I’ve written before.

My dog is getting old. I remember the day we picked him from the litter. It had long been a dream of mine to choose a puppy like that, to compare the siblings side by side and say, you. We stood in that Texas field for ages, holding up one dog after the next (this one has intelligent eyes, that one seems playful) before deciding on him. I often wonder if we chose wrong. He has been, for most of his life, trouble.

I went in for a planned surgery this past June, and though the procedure went as expected, later that night my husband had to call 911 due to complications. I was taken to the ER by ambulance—a first for me—and didn’t walk out until the following day (on bare feet, since the paramedics don’t bother with things like shoes when they’re wheeling you away on a stretcher). My mom flew in from across the country.

It’s been a busy few months. Last we spoke, I’d just signed with my literary agent after two years of really hard work (it still feels like a big deal!), and together, we’d started revising my first YA space fantasy manuscript. In the time since, we finished polishing that book and have sent it off on submission, which is the process where your agent attempts to sell the book to a publishing company.