It really is basically purple, and I can see why it would put a lot of people off.

I suspect El-Mohtar is building up to a novel (she has this joke that she always tells in panels/interviews that when she was a child, she thought all writers began with poetry, then moved on to short stories, then increased the length to novels, and reading between the lines I think she's saying that her own publishing trajectory will follow those youthful aspirations).

The Craft Sequence is great!