the Author

Category Archives: Queen of the Dead

September
22
16 Comments

State of the Author: September 2021 edition

Posted in Cast, DAW, Elantra, Essalieyan, Queen of the Dead, writing, Severn.

It’s been an eventful behind the scenes September, and it’s not quite finished yet. First: I am going to be doing a library Zoom call. Back in the non-pandemic age, the Friends of the East Gwillim­bury library invited me to speak to library readers. In theory this was going to happen on the 20th of April. This did not happen for obvious reasons. I will be doing a Zoom library call, instead. From their email: This ZOOM  on-line event is limited to 100 people and will feature Friends board member and Sagara fan, Michelle Cowan, as moder­ator in conver­sa­tion with the author. How do I  get a ticket?  If you bought a ticket in 2020, we will honour it and send the link after veri­fi­ca­tion.  Please … Continue reading →

February
25
18 Comments

GRAVE spoilers here

Posted in DAW, Queen of the Dead.

First: a reminder. I’m taking part in the pixel project fundraiser. This means I will be doing a google hangout on the 17th of March, at 8:30 EST. There will be an indiegogo fundraiser as well, but I’ll post a link to that when it goes live. Second: HOUSE WAR in audio book is avail­able at audible​.com until the 27th, as part of their First in a Series sale. —— Kick asked: Grave was worth waiting for. I’m curious, though, why this partic­ular book was so diffi­cult for you? And I started to answer, and then real­ized I couldn’t really answer without, oh, spoilers. SO: SPOILER ALERT. STOP READING IF YOU HATE SPOILERS. *** The diffi­culty goes back to Touch. When I finished Silence, a book which wrote itself, I had a trilogy in … Continue reading →

February
7
22 Comments

GRAVE book day!

Posted in ebooks, Queen of the Dead, self-publishing, Audio books, Books, DAW.

Today, Grave is offi­cially out in the wild. Book Three of The Queen of the Dead, it’s avail­able in hard­cover. I’m both nervous and excited because the series is finished with this book. Grave is longer, by about 55k words, than either Silence or Touch. But everyone expects the last book to be longer, right? I went into the store and signed the copies that arrived, and I’ve stubbed my toe on the boxes in the hall (author’s copies — I swear stub­bing my toes on a box is how I know a book is real). I can sign/dedicate books if you order them through the store — but as we’re not amazon, the postage is not cheap =/. The Audio book, narrated by Alexandra Bailey, will be avail­able as well. This time, however, while … Continue reading →

January
13
12 Comments

GRAVE Cover and sample chapter(ish)

Posted in DAW, Queen of the Dead, covers, chapters, Cliff Nielsen.

On February 7, 2017, the third and final part of The Queen of the Dead will be published. It’s longer than either Silence or Touch by about 40%. But everyone expects that from final volumes, right? >.> It also has my favorite of the three covers, all by Cliff Nielsen. *** I couldn’t choose a single chapter as a starter. I mean, I could, but I couldn’t. So there are sort of three chap­ters in the sample chapter, which is here.

July
11
76 Comments

State of the Writer, mid-July 2014 edition

Posted in DAW, Elantra, Essalieyan, Queen of the Dead, writing.

I am writing this from Bris­bane, in its variant of winter — which is kind of like early Fall in Toronto, but with an aston­ishing clarity of sky. It is the perfect weather for walking — it’s very slightly cool, but not so much that a jacket or sweater is required. I’m writing, instead, but on the balcony. I’ve finished Oracle. Or rather, I’ve finished the draft. I am hoping to lose about 20k words, starting from page one, because at the moment it is the longest of the House War books, hands down. But: thirty-one chap­ters, one prologue, one epilogue. Which means I have started today on Grave. Again, and have finally (late, because arg) started Cast in Honor. Because one book has to be going well, and there … Continue reading →