I ordered a cake to celebrate my book launch. It turned out kinda epic. 😆

While not an exploding box (you'll have to read the book ;-)), something equally exciting was waiting for me on my doorstep today. My advance copies for Civil Blood arrived! A hearfelt thanks to my wonderful editor at @cornellupress.bsky.social @bethanywasik.bsky.social for making this day possible!

Why does having a cover for your book make it feel more official? Thrilled to share mine for Civil Blood: Vendetta Violence and the Civic Elites in Early Modern Italy out Nov 15 with @cornellupress.bsky.social This book has some things to say about the intersections between violence and statecraft.

4) Whatever the translation, I'm taking this was meant as a warning to remove the poem from wherever it was placed at your own considerable risk. Picture of document in 17th c. script attached.

5 archival trips, 1000s of documents, many, many books and thousands of hours of writing (and agonzing) and rewriting later (and many people to thank): Now available for pre-order: Civil Blood: Vendetta Violence and the Civic Elites in Early Modern Italy. www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

Luthien Tinuviel living her best life (those beseeching eyes...)

A GIS christmas carol card courtesy of the GIS sub-reddit. This is way funnier than it had any right to be.

Thrilled to share that Civil Blood: Vendetta Violence and the Civic Elites in Early Modern Italy is under contract with Cornell University Press. Stay tuned for more on how vendettas among the civic nobility and princes winking at discords formed the state in Early Modern Italy.

I love my archival material. I do not love some of the writing. This notary (from the Torrone criminal records of Bologna) is not my friend.