In time for the longest day, my 2026 Midsummer Annual has been sent out to New Moon Letter subscribers. It’s titled The Bees Are On Our Side, and its a collection of new, rare and random writings, including essays, interviews and even a play – HG Wells & The Spiders From Mars.
It’s been a lot of work putting this together, but it’s been fun and I’m pretty proud of what’s in there. What I like about it is that it is an entirely analogue object. It doesn’t exist as an ebook or audiobook, and it remains entirely invisible to the likes of Amazon or any other online catalogue. There is nothing about its cover or title that is attempting to manipulate you into buying it, not least because it isn’t for sale. It exists even though it shouldn’t. I wanted it to be a very physical thing – very different to reading text in emails or on your screen. With hindsight I probably didn’t need to choose such thick paper, but you live and learn. I’m already planning next year’s.
The book is not for sale in any regular way, but I send out a copy to everyone who is subscribed to my newsletter at the paid tier in June. See johnhiggs.substack.com for more details.
The next collection will be with you in June 2027! Happy midsummer!