Doc Impossible

Gosh that was a great birthday party. 💜

Happy birthday to me.

I don't mean to plug, but, if you're feeling raw and hurting over an insane system that just accepts collateral human damage as a given and just want to flip the bird to all of that?

I've been told my book is a bit of a balm for that feeling. Maybe it'll be a comfort.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GKGYZ2S8

So... Much... Grading... Today...

The next Stained Glass Woman article will be coming out on Thursday of next week, instead of Monday, because it's going to be my presentation at the 2026 Conference on College Composition and Communication.

And yall? I think this one is an absolute *banger*.

Kitty is out of surgery!! She did great, and aside from one small unforseen thing that they're gonna keep their eyes on, everything went significantly better than expected!

Kitty is cleared for surgery!! And the tumor is in a slightly different place than the X-rays made it look, which means that they can go get it with a significantly less invasive surgical approach!

It's a better than best case outcome!!!

Fingers crossed for kitty today. It is, hopefully, surgery day.

Well, at the very minimum, Discord is kicking the can down the road for six months. That gives competitors time to build out capability in the absolute worse cases.

But I will say, at least, the stuff they're talking about seems much more reasonable than their old proposals.

I think this is one of those things that's stunning, in all the worst ways, and most of them aren't obvious.

Let's start with the basics: there are about 5.5 million trans Americans. This means that *nearly 10% of the entire trans population of the nation* has moved.

Just

Last

Year

So, I tried querying Nameless for years. The original goal was traditional publication. If you've noticed a few errors in it, that's because I had budget for profession sensitivity readers OR editing. I picked sensitivity, bc tradpub would've gotten me an editor.

NOBODY is signing new talent rn.

I had Nameless in a complete, edited state for *over 3 years* as I queried. I got to consult with longtime pros in the industry. Names you've heard. Names you might be following here on Bluesky.

I had every advantage. A PhD in writing. Vibrant social media.

I never even got a rejection letter.

Like, not even a form "thanks but no thanks" email. Literal ***nothing***.

It took me a long time to figure it out, but talking to people, but it seems like new writers are basically just... not being signed these days.

More or less ever, unless someone blows up in self-pub.

I think it's to do with GenAI. Trying to avoid the risk of unknown writers who might be using GenAI, which would expose publishers to lawsuits and strip the percentages from agents. I get it.

But right now? I wouldn't even imagine trying tradpub these days. If you're unknown. It's just *hopeless*.

Anyway, that's the spoiler-free BTS factoid about Nameless for the day.

The official Week 1 sales volume for Nameless is:

🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

168 copies sold.
2,190 pages read in Kindle Unlimited.

I'm genuinely speechless, y'all. Thank you so much for making this dream of mine come true. 💜

Got another review in for Nameless and it's wonderful!!

"Nameless is the kind of stories we need more of - gripping, sensitive, and very, very queer. It superbly does what all great science fiction does best - critique the present with enough remove to give the reader the space to see their world in it. But it's by no means dry and preachy; the plot starts moving and doesn't stop to rest.

The worldbuilding - from the character level up to international entities - is so well thought-through. How does nanotech twist or break our current systems? What motivates each of these people - even the side characters - to be where they are? How do their identities shape their worldview? And behind and around it all is a cold, cold Minneapolis/St. Paul winter - almost a character itself. I loved it!"

Find out for yourself why people are loving Nameless! And if you already read it yourself, I'd love it if you dropped a review!!

https://www.amazon.com/Nameless-Zoe-Wendler-ebook/dp/B0GKWT97XN

For funsies for the next few days (as long as people enjoy it), I'm gonna share some spoiler-free BTS factoids about Nameless!

Chapter 22 is my favorite part of the whole book, and was also *by far* the most frustrating. I got to that point and I just COULD NOT write the chapter. Chapter 22 stalled progress on Nameless for eight years. I had to realize I was trans--and that Satya was and had always been too--to be able to write that scene.

And it was worth every day it took, as far as I'm concerned.

Since someone mentioned it offhandedly to me:

Chapter 17 of Nameless is a *very bad* chapter to read if you're intending it to be the last chapter before you go to bed. If it's getting on bedtime and you get to 17, save it for the next day.

Okay I've read these words a hundred times but *holy cow* it's different now

😭😭😭

The most wonderful review of Nameless got posted yesterday, and I just have to share it:

"Zoe Wendler’s book, “Nameless”, is an intricately beautiful queer cyberpunk mystery. It starts simply enough; a murdered body broken down by nanites must be identified. But the murder and dissolution of this particular body is nothing simple, and the rabbit hole that question leads to is remarkably deep.

The world building in Wendler’s book is intricate, thinking through the questions and effects of introducing technologies like nanites to the world, including social, economic, and geopolitical effects, and the human costs and benefits such upheavals generate. The resulting world fits classic cyberpunk, producing a world twisted by technology that has its grim aspects, but does not dip into hopelessness, and in fact deliberately shows the importance of hope - and how hope survives and thrives - within grim societies. The book also shows its care in how it handles groups of people, including military veterans, those with disabilities, homeless people and people on the margins, and queer individuals. The queer aspects in particular are deftly handled; it shades plot and events, being integral without overwhelming, to the point that the book can provide non-queer individuals with a realistic portrait of the values, philosophy, and sociology of queer society.

Individual characters are handled deftly in the book. People-building is given the same care as world-building,with each person having their backgrounds and motivations; the effect of this is that no one is a one-dimensional hero or villain. Everyone has backstory, everyone has motivations, and it can be difficult to determine who the real villain of the story is - exactly what would be wanted from a murder mystery.

The plot… buckle up, because it is a wild ride. It ramps up quickly, it does not let up until the denouement, has multiple twists and turns, and it will leave you guessing until near the end. It’s an entertaining read, one you will be reluctant to put down once it starts.

1/2

Okay one last thing before break:

The first of the autographed books came in, and they'll be going out tomorrow morning!! Signing as Doc Impossible, naturally.

(Wow it feels nuts to me that I'm sending people signed copies 🤯)

Hey, folks, this last week has been incredibly overwhelming (in good ways!), so I'm gonna take the weekend as quiet time and try to stay off social media.

See you Monday!!

Oh my god, I've already sold more than a hundred copies of Nameless, and it's only been out *three days*.

Yall, I'm speechless! Thank you!!

One of the coolest things about having published Nameless is all the people who've been reaching out to me, in DMs mostly, sharing the moments they've loved or the lines that've hit for them. Gosh it's been wonderful.

I want to give folks a bit of a heads up:

SGW will be going on break again after early March, meaning that there'll be an article on Monday and then one the first week of March, and then break. We've got the reviews on the scholarly book back and need to kick some butt. 💪

You know what'd be an awesome, trans-positive, queer book to read? Nameless, my new cyberpunk novel, which is NOW OUT in DRM-free epub, paperback, and hardcover!! I'm so excited for y'all to meet Satya and Dan and the crew!

Read a sample here: https://stainedglasswoman.substack.com/p/announcing-nameless

And grab your very own copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Nameless-Zoe-Ann-Wendler/dp/B0GKWT97XN

Hey guess what!

Apparently, a "Feb 11" release date with KDP means "It's Feb 11 SOMEWHERE."

Which means NAMELESS is OUT!!! Available on DRM-Free ebook, paperback, and hardcover!!

Nobody survives winter alone!

https://www.amazon.com/Nameless-Zoe-Ann-Wendler/dp/B0GKWT97XN