New space in a new place
Hey there, Spiffy Peeps! Welcome to my first free mailing on this new platform. Grateful to you for keeping up with my shenanigans since getting the word out via social media is unreliable at best. Thanks for signing up. Tell your buddies who read, yeah? (I hope all your buddies read.)
These should drop around mid-month, with bonus mailings if something big is coming, like the two things that are coming very soon (Canines & Cocktails going on sale, with the brand-new Oberon’s Meaty Mystery inside, plus the cover reveal for Candle & Crow, the third Ink & Sigil book).
The paid content—a new Oberon’s Bathtime Story plus lots more nature photos—should drop near the end of the month. The first story is called “The Watchmaker,” and is set during World War II in the Netherlands. And the first gallery will feature a bunch of great stuff from my mom out in Arizona: Elk, flycatchers, peccaries, and a close-up of a hawk. There’s still time to upgrade, either on a monthly or yearly basis, so please do if the spirit moves you. Think of it like this: You buy me a taco, and I tell you a story and give you pretty critters to look at.
What I’m working on
Right now I’m working on edits for Candle & Crow. It’ll be out October 1, y’all! Soon I should be able to show you the cover, which I love.
But also, besides the Oberon Bathtime Stories: A short story featuring the Sisters of the Three Auroras—the Polish coven—in Warsaw. This is for an anthology edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie Hughes called Paranormal Payback. I am so geeked out by the chance to write about the coven on their own adventure.
Sweet! A readalong!
Join me on Instagram Live Jan 24 and 31 at 8 pm Eastern for a readalong of A Curse of Krakens! I walk you through some thematic stuff and what I was thinking as I wrote it—sort of like a book club with the author, and you get to ask me questions at the end! If you miss it, it’ll still be on my feed afterward, and of course if you’d like to go back and watch the readalongs for A Plague of Giants or A Blight of Blackwings, you absolutely can—they’re still there! Search for #sevenkenningsreadalong and you should be able to find them (among the posts publicizing the events). Very grateful to everyone who’s read it and said nice things. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. And if you’d like signed copies of these or any of my books, call The Poisoned Pen in the USA at (480) 947-2974 or Perfect Books in Canada at (613) 231-6468 and they’ll hook you up.
All the Happening Things
I have a lot of stories coming to you this year. Ready?
February, I hope, or March: The Chartreuse Chanteuse, an Oberon’s Meaty Mystery that gives us the happy-ever-after for Atticus, Oberon, and Starbuck. It’s set in between Paper & Blood and Candle & Crow, so when you see Atticus and Oberon in Candle & Crow, they will have just begun their happy-ever-after. This will be in the themed anthology of novellas called Canines & Cocktails, featuring three novellas of dogs and drinks by myself, Delilah S. Dawson, and Chuck Wendig.
June: The Hermit Next Door, a new science fiction novella that I’m excited about from Subterranean Press. When a widow and her teenaged son move across the country to get a fresh start, they quickly discover that their reclusive new neighbor is…not from around here. Preorders should be available next month!
October: Candle & Crow. Al finds out who cursed him! Buck gets in so much trouble! Roxanne struggles with whether to date men or eat them! A visit from Granauile! A visit from Owen! Nadia thinks starting a cult might be fun! And Gladys Who Has Seen Some Shite finally gets to see the shite she wanted to see! I’ll probably do a wee tour for this, though I’m not sure where aside from the very vague “Midwest.” Where should I go? (Remember you can comment on these posts.)
Every dang month: A new Oberon’s Bathtime Story for paid subscribers.
Sometime this year: I’m trying to bring you the chance to order paperback copies of The Purloined Poodle, The Squirrel on the Train, Death & Honey, and A Question of Navigation. The hardcovers were signed limited editions and sold out, so there’s been no chance to get print editions for quite some time. I’d like to make them available for folks who want them, so stay tuned.
Words to Feed Your Brain
Every month I’ll give you a couple of recommendations. These aren’t sponsored and I get no cheddar if you buy them. The authors don’t even know I’m hollering about their books. (Unless they’re subscribers, I guess, in which case: surprise!) I’m just sharing stuff I like.
A Half-Built Garden
By Ruthanna Emrys
This here is a first-contact novel, where the aliens come on down to Earth for…a party? Shenanigans? Dinner? A strange desire to meet our political leaders? You should read it and find out. It’s not what you think. Beautifully written.
The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi
By Shannon Chakraborty
Been meaning to get to this for a while! An aging pirate captain and her crew gets a shot at one last caper for glory and riches! Let’s goooo! Except it turns out not to be so easy as she thought it would be. I mean. There’s the tentacles on the cover. There are sorcerers. Questionable life choices. DRAMA. ACTION. DRY-ASS HUMOR IN A MOIST ENVIRONMENT.
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