Dude... it's in my hands

The first thing I did when I heard the familiar rattle of the UPS dolly unloading boxes off the truck in front of my building was sprint outside. Then I got my ego stroked when I told the delivery guy I could carry both boxes of books if he could just stack them in my arms, and he looked impressed. This is what my gym training has all been for: carrying boxes of books.

The next step was to run inside and hop on a video call with my bestie and open the boxes on camera so someone could bear witness to the birth of my child. Now I have 50 copies of How Could You in my office, and I keep looking at its beautiful rich blue cover with spot UV treated lettering and matte finish and I can’t believe it’s real. I made a book, and someone printed it for me, and I’m about to be on bookshelves all over the place, including my own home.

Wow.

Makes me so nervous I could throw up.

Anyway, I want to invite you to share in this nauseating whimsy, dread, joy, and fun. This email is about all the book launch events I have planned (so far) for the months of December and January.

First up is CALA!

🌴 December 14-15 in LA, I'll be at Comic Arts LA with early access copies. I'm sharing a lil 3' space with En Nelson-Correia (my gf) and it's CALA's first time back since the pandemic, so I'm really hyped.

Then, once I get back from CALA, it’s Books With Pictures time! 🐿️ December 21, catch me at Books with Pictures and come chill and hang out and say hi!

Then it’s the holidays, so I’m… I was going to say resting, but in reality, I’ll be putting in hours at the print shop for the week of xmas. The glamorous life of a comic artist, after all, includes covering your coworker’s shifts so they can see their family.

But I’ll be back to party in January!

📚 January 23 I'll be at Powell's in conversation with Shay Mirk at 7pm. I'm really looking forward to this one!!

❄️ And as long as we don't get another freaky January ice storm, I'll be at FanExpo Portland for my first Portland event of the new year.

Let's hang out!! If you wanna host me 😳🙈 I'm looking for more places to go in the new year. Let's do a reading or a signing or something weird. Also there's still time to pre-order your copy of How Could You!! It comes out on December 17.

Uhm, while I have you here, check out these nice words people have said about my book:

“A charming, loose art style adds some levity to the novel’s heavier themes, and the color palette—shades of blue, purple, pink, and orange—beautifully mirrors the ever-shifting and deeply felt emotional states of the characters... [Strapp] is deft at exploring the nuances of complicated relationships.”

— Kirkus Reviews

“How Could You invites us to indulge in the full-body experience that is college lesbian dating drama. From the swoony warmth of a summer fling to the ecstasy and agony of having a really big cry even though you’re fully the villain, you will devour the delicious self-inflicted queer misery of this graphic novel. Funny, heartbreaking, and cathartic, How Could You is a triumph.”

– Ollie Hicks, Grand Slam Romance

“Growing up, you’re always told college will be the best time of your life, but Ren Strapp prepares you for the gruesome reality. . . . Twenty year olds just kind of suck at relationships. All the fun of hearing secondhand gossip, How Could You is a juicy lesbian drama burger you can't help but devour. If I had read this when I was 20, it would've fixed me.”

– Fawnduu, My Dragon Girlfriend

That’s it!

Thank you, as always, for being here and joining me on this journey 4 years in the making. I am lucky that I get to do this at all even a little bit, and I cherish it with every fiber of my being. I hope I get to keep making comics and get better and sexier at it.

Pre-order How Could You! It comes out December 17! 10 days!!