Sunday Quote refuses green ham
Read More“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.”
~Dr. Seuss
Locus Awards 2016 – Novella Consideration
Well, it’s now time for people to vote for the annual Locus Awards. As you might recall, Clockwork Dagger ended up as a finalist for 1st Novel last year; it’d sure be nifty to make the final ballot again.
The work I want to emphasize is my Nebula-finalist novella, Wings of Sorrow and Bone. If you 1) read it, and 2) liked it, please type it in under the novella category and add a rank!
One thing that sets these awards apart from the other major genre awards is that ANYONE can vote. All you need to do is fill in your name, email, and vote in whatever category you want. The ballot is huge. You don’t have to fill in everything.
Take a look and vote! The deadline is April 15th.
#SFWAPro
Bready or Not: Maple Nut Butter
Peanut butter can be bought for cheap. Other nut butters? Not so much. The good news is, with a food processor and about 20 minutes of spare time, you can make your own amazing nut butter!
Me being me, I make MAPLE NUT BUTTER. I have done this two ways: with 1 cup each of almonds and cashews, and also with 2 cups of cashews. Other nut combos should work just fine, too. The end yield will be somewhere about 1 1/2 cups nut butter.
I priced and researched food processors for about a year until I caved in and bought a lovely refurbished Cuisinart model. This baby does the job. I’m pretty darn happy with it.
I combined a few recipes to make my own original version. I will type out the details of each stage in the full recipe below, but let’s illustrate in pictures first.
You toss the nuts in maple syrup and toast them in the oven. Let them cool a bit before processing them.
The ground nuts looks like coarse nut flour at first. They will gum up the blades every minute or so. I stop and scrape the sides often.
Then things start to get clumpy. Those lumps will migrate around on the blades like a glacier.
Keep on processing, and after about 15 minutes, you get that. Almost smooth nut butter! After a few more minutes it gets even smoother, and that is when you add spice, flavor, and a bit of oil.
I seal the nut butter in jars and store them in the fridge. Try to use it up within a month. It will be dryer than the standard store stuff, but you can always mix in a little more oil. I like avocado oil because it’s almost tasteless. The nut butter itself is the tastiest nut butter you’ll ever have. It just screams of maple and cinnamon and freshness.
Ready for the recipe? Okay!
Bready or Not: Maple Nut Butter
Ingredients
Toast
- 2 cups nuts 1 cups almonds + 1 cup cashews, or 2 cups cashews, or try other combos
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
After processing
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon maple flavor optional, but adds oomph
- 1/2 - 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 Tablespoon avocado oil or other oil, more as needed
- sprinkle sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 325-degrees. Line a rimmed baking pan with sturdy aluminum foil. In the pan, toss the two cups of nuts with maple syrup until they are coated. Toast for about 15 minutes, checking about every 5 minutes to toss the nuts around. Let the nuts cool for 30 minutes or so.
- Add the nuts to a food processor. (Note that you'll need to pry some off the foil.) Put the lid on and start processing. Run for 2 to 3 minutes then scrape down sides. The mix will look coarse and gritty.
- Continue processing, pausing every 1 or 2 minutes to scrape sides of bowl. Mixture will start to clump together.
- Continue grinding. The nuts will release more oil and start to smooth out more. Continue to stop and scrape the sides every 2 minutes or so to give the machine a break. After about 10 total minutes, it will look like nut butter but it won't be done yet!
- Continue processing. It will smooth out and finally evolve to a liquid-like form that snakes across the blades. This will be at about the 15 to 20 minute point. Add the rest of the ingredients and process another minute or so to blend together. Taste test to see if you need to tweak things.
- Transfer the nut butter to mason jars to store in the fridge for up to four weeks. If it seems especially dry, mix in a drizzle of oil.
- OM NOM NOM!
New Stories and Poems for April
New stories! New poems! New interviews! Shiny new galleys! Here’s the latest news.
Novelocity:
– My advance copies of Breath of Earth decided to play with my cat and climb trees
Stories:
– “The Souls of Horses” in Clockwork Phoenix 5 (out today!)
– The Human is Late to Feed the Cat” in Nature Magazine
Podcast:
– “Stitched Wings” republished in audio at The Overcast
Poem:
– “View From Above” in Space and Time, issue 125
Interviews regarding The Clockwork Dagger series:
– Beth Cato on WINGS OF SORROW AND BONE and Historical and Cultural Accuracy at SF Signal
– Catching up with Beth Cato, author of Wings of Sorrow and Bone, and the Clockwork Dagger series at My Bookish Ways
– Steampunk, Gremlins, and Maple Sugar Cake: My interview with Nebula nominated author Beth Cato by Ruth Vincent
***
A reminder, too–my next Clockwork Dagger story is out in three weeks! It can be preordered now for just 99-cents.
Final Flight story
#SFWAPro
Read MoreClockwork Phoenix 5 Giveaway & Release
I have written many stories, but “The Souls of Horses” is my favorite. That made months of consistent “this-is-great-but” personal rejections all the more frustrating. Last year, this story finally found a home, and a fantastic one at that: Clockwork Phoenix 5, the newest in a series of acclaimed anthologies.
The book is being released tomorrow. Today, however, is the last day to enter a Goodreads giveaway to win a copy!
Clockwork Phoenix 5 is already garnering lots of positive attention. Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review, and called out my story, saying, “Perhaps the most difficult to classify is Beth Cato’s “The Souls of Horses,” which explores an unusual side of the U.S. Civil War. All the stories afford thought-provoking glimpses into alternative realities that linger, sparking unconventional thoughts, long after they are first encountered.”
At SF Signal, A.C. Wise’s column recommending women to read said, “It’s clear this story is close to the author’s heart, and that, along with all its other wonderful qualities, makes it an excellent starting place for [Cato’s] work.”
365 Short Stories also published a lovely review starting with, “Man, what a fantastic way to conclude this anthology.”
Heck, I’ll take that.
It sure feels good to see people respond so positively to my story after such a long, frustrating slog for an acceptance.
#SFWAPro
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