Ella Knight, one of the activists fighting for equal rights in the Clandestine Magic series, grins when she learns that she and her compatriots are "subversives" in the eyes of the wizards running the country.
"Subversive," she says. "I like the sound of that."
Subverting the negative meaning of subversive to make it a badge of honor is a classic Ella Knight move, and it builds on a long history of people subverting the labels slapped on them.
But I've been thinking about subversion in a slightly different context right now, as 2025 barrels to a close.
When a year is personally or globally rough, it can feel not only hard to grasp moments of joy, but also flat-out wrong.
Except joy is part of how we can keep the bastards from grinding us down, whether the bastards in question are the difficulties and losses of life or, you know, actual bastards.
Joy in a cup of tea, a friend's laughter, a delightful memory, a compelling book. Joy in shared humanity. Joy in all the non-human parts of the world.
Joy is subversive.
And yeah, I like the sound of that.
One of my small joys is hearing about happiness. What made you happy this year? Hit reply to this email and tell me one or more of those things, and you'll also make me happy, spreading the joy around.
So many hugs to you if this year was hard. I hope next year is better. I hope all the joy you need will be yours.
📚🌟📚🌟📚
More cool & bookish things
A woman trying to contact her father in the afterlife ends up with a grumbly demon as a protector. A pirate trying to win his freedom discovers a stowaway who could help ... or possibly upend his life. Find those complete series and more here. ⬇️
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