Tuesdays have never felt particularly special to Tucson’s Jaclyn Rodriguez, no more so than any other day, but this coming Tuesday?
Tuesday, January 13?
When it is the publication date for your first novel, it promises to be a special day, indeed.
“I’m feeling every range of emotion you can think of,” Rodriguez confesses. “I’m excited, I’m anxious, I’m curious. Truly, I cannot wait. It’s not every day your dream comes true after so many years of wondering if it ever would.”
January 13 has been circled on Rodriguez’ calendar for months, because that is the day her debut novel — “A Vow in Vengeance” — will become available at a bookstore near you.
It is also the day she will fly to New York to begin a book tour that includes stops at The Ripped Bodice Bookshop in Brooklyn; Novel Grounds in Chesapeake, Va; Burning Pages in Wilmington, N.C., and Steamy Lit in Fort Lauderdale.
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On Jan. 23, Rodriguez will appear with another Tucson author, Sarah T. Dubb, at the Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe.
Jaclyn Rodriguez
“A Vow in Vengeance” is a “romantasy” that straddles the worldly and other-worldly, featuring a young woman out for revenge against those forces that have taken her family.
Not to spoil the surprise, but there might be some steamy there, too.
“I’ve always loved reading romantasies, but I wasn’t seeing characters that looked like me in those fantasy worlds,” Rodriguez explained. “Eventually, I decided to abide by the old saying ‘Write what you want to read.’ I created my own world, complete with the tarot cards I’ve always been so fascinated with.”
Born and raised in Tucson, Rodriguez attended Pima Community College and the University of Arizona before earning a degree in elementary education at the University of Montana in Missoula.
Nine years ago, she returned to Tucson ... and to her longtime dream of becoming an author.
“I always had a very expansive imagination as a kid, and it would come out in these elaborate, fantastical stories of make-believe,” Rodriguez said. “I began writing some of them down in middle school, just for fun, and started to get serious about writing in high school.
“When we came back to Tucson, I decided it was time to get serious about writing books.”
She has definitely been hard at it.
“A Vow in Vengeance” is actually her 10th book, but it is the first she will see in print.
“I’ll be honest, there have definitely been points when I’ve wondered it I would ever have the right book at the right time,” she confessed. “I wasn’t sure there would ever be space for me at the table.”
Then, last summer, she got a call from Zando Publishing in New York City.
And starting Tuesday, there will be a chair at the table with her name on it.
Circled on other local calendars:
A number of other Tucson authors will celebrate pub dates this year. Here is a quick sampler of books to look for in 2026:
January
Cynthia Harmony and London illustrator Erika Meza will launch a new picture book entitled “Apapacho Love,” also on Tuesday. “The idea came from the Nahuatl word ‘apapacho,’ which is a special hug commonly used in Latin America,” Harmony said. “I wanted to share a story about love and the many ways it shows up in our life … from a child's point of view.”
Anne Hillerman reports that the paperback edition of “Shadow of the Solstice,” the latest installment in the long-running Navajo mystery series by created by her father, Tony Hillerman, will be available Jan. 20.
February
Sarah T. Dubb, whose “Birding With Benefits” was one of the year’s biggest surprises in 2024, will return with “Honey Bee Mine” on Feb. 10. In it, a Type-A beekeeper and a former small-town bad boy join forces to plan a summertime Honey Festival.
March
Former UA professor Mimi Nichter will unveil “Hostage,” a powerful new memoir, on March 1. Nichter was on a plane that was skyjacked by Middle Eastern terrorists in 1970. She was then held captive — on the plane, without food or water — for six more days. Not surprisingly, the experience changed her for life.
Becky Masterman will put Brigid Quinn back to work in “If a Face Could Kill,” on March 3. A halfway house for recent parolees becomes a flashpoint not only for Quinn, but the surrounding neighborhood, as well.
Tucson mystery writers Becky Masterman, left, and Shannon Baker are obviously on the case.
Shannon Baker will refresh her Kate Fox series with “Scorched Line,” again pitting Fox against her estranged mother Marguerite, on March 31.
May
Jillian Cantor will introduce her latest novel, “The May House,” on May 12. The story will follow three sisters who spend a week together each May in San Diego. When the oldest sister doesn’t show up one year, the others piece together a stunning secret from their past.
July
Illustrator Adam Rex has teamed up with Chelsea Wallace for “Today is the Day,” a picture book that explores all the wonderful things that can happen on a single day. The wonderful day of its release will be July 28.
August
Cantor began her career by writing for young adults, and she will return to them with a dystopian tale called “The Season of Light and Darkness” on Aug. 18. The story will follow different teens as they attempt to navigate and survive a future version of America ruled by a dictator.
September
Jen DeLuca will return to her popular Ren Faire series with a romance novel entitled “Well Versed” that is scheduled for release Sept. 22.
Fall
Lydia Millet’s “Fair Ones” will be a double novel, two books in one, featuring two women who lose their oldest friend. W.W. Norton is targeting “Fair Ones” for some time this fall.
Footnotes
- Writers from Phoenix, New York City and Montana have taken top honors in the annual Literary Awards Writing Competition sponsored by the Tucson Festival of Books.
Isabel Lanzetta, a graduate student at Arizona State, was honored for a poetry collection called “Sleepless.” Kim Merrill of New York won the contest’s fiction division with an excerpt from her in-progress novel, “Hilda’s House,” and Tara Kramer — from Livingston, Montana — was the nonfiction winner with “The Deepest Light.”
This year’s writing competition attracted a near-record 719 submissions. Lanzetta, Merrill and Kramer will appear onstage at the upcoming book festival March 14-15. To see a complete list of contest winners, visit tucsonfestivalofbooks.org.
- The University of Arizona Poetry Center will host Cameron Awkward-Rich and Franny Choi for the year’s first reading Thursday, Jan. 15, at 7 p.m. For more, visit poetry.arizona.edu.
