the Author
February
8
60 Comments

State of the Writer, February 2014 edition

Posted in writing, Cast, ebooks, Essalieyan, Queen of the Dead.

I cannot believe it is already February. But, of course, it is. 

I finished revi­sions on Cast in Flame in January, and they’ve gone back to my editor. I still have copy­edits to review (when they arrive) and AAs (the HLQ version of page proofs), and the book will be done. And I have a cover rough which I cannot share yet, which is making me cry. I will post the cover the minute I have permission.

Ahem. No one likes to see a grown author cry, so I will move right along.

I am about a third of the way through Grave. I admit that I have avoided looking at any reviews what­so­ever for Touch, because I am still smarting from the writing part of it. Except for the Tor​.com review, because one of my close real life friends tweeted it. And face­booked it. And I was reason­ably certain she wouldn’t have if they had hated it.

(Digres­sion: I believe that readers should be allowed to say what­ever they want about the books they read in their own spaces. I also believe that when I’m strug­gling with writing and there­fore the inevitable uncer­tainty in my own compe­tence, some of what they do want to say is not going to make my inevitable uncer­tainty any easier to deal with. So I mostly avoid reviews. When I’m feeling rela­tively compe­tent, I will seek them out to see what people are saying and how they reacted to various books — but. I don’t think of this as cowardice. Mostly. I think of it as self-preservation.)

I am prob­ably 4/5s of the way through Oracle. I say this because the mid-point arc of these two books is not completely clear to me — I can see the end of War, which is not, sadly, the end of Oracle, the book I’m currently writing. I know the end of Waris hundreds of thou­sands of words away, but: still writing.

There’s a lot of snow on the ground here. 

But someone (Australian alpha reader) sent me a picture of a wallaby in his front yard. This is decid­edly better than the picture of the very large snake which had taken up resi­dence on the seat of his riding lawn mower for cute factor, but less amusing somehow (although that could be the caption: “Maybe I’ll do the hand-mowing first”).

60 Responses to State of the Writer, February 2014 edition

  1. Hugh Myers says:
    February 8, 2014 at 11:48 pm

    Ahem indeed…“I can see the end of War, which is not, sadly, the end of Oracle, the book I’m currently writing. I know the end of Waris hundreds of thou­sands of words away, but: still writing.” The only quibble I have is the use of the word ‘sadly’…from this read­er’s point of view, this is cause for cele­bra­tion :) Keep on keeping on Michelle — I’ll like most of us exer­cise patience since the reward is so great…

  2. Michelle Sagara says:
    February 9, 2014 at 12:58 am

    Thank you :)

  3. Debbie says:
    February 9, 2014 at 1:33 am

    Michelle,
    I don’t think its cowardice either but, in your case I would think that 1 nega­tive, how ever wrong they may be, can not stand up to the thou­sands of readers and blog­gers who love and highly praise all the stories you write.
    You are an amazing story­teller. I love every­thing you write and I know from here, Face­book, twitter and amazon that I am not the only person to think so. Keep up the excel­lent work.
    I hope you and your friends/family imag­i­nary and not so have a fantastic weekend and an even better year.

  4. Michelle Sagara says:
    February 9, 2014 at 1:59 am

    I don’t think someone can be wrong about their own reac­tion if that makes sense? If the book (any book) didn’t work for them, it didn’t work for them. Some may attempt to explain why it didn’t work — some don’t.

    And yes, intel­lec­tu­ally, its easy to balance the nega­tive with the posi­tive — but some­times it takes work, and it doesn’t always come easily, and when I’m in that frame I hide here >.>.

    Thank you :)

  5. lensaddiction says:
    February 9, 2014 at 2:26 am

    Yay for book progress :) Can’t do anything about the snow (tho I hear its pretty some­thing this year, ie snow in places snow doesnt normally go and LOTS of it where it normally does) so here is a pic of hot and dry and sunshine here in NZ

    http://​www​.flickr​.com/​p​h​o​t​o​s​/​t​h​e​b​l​u​e​r​o​s​e​/​1​2​4​0​2​2​4​5​0​23/

  6. Michelle Sagara says:
    February 9, 2014 at 3:07 am

    Those are gorgeous pictures — they are fabu­lous. And they are much, much more colorful than Toronto is at the moment :)

  7. Rona Oestrich says:
    February 9, 2014 at 9:13 am

    I believe that everyone except sociopaths and psychotics has self doubts much of the time. It is a sign of an aware and literate person to be able to voice these doubts. I know it doesn’t always help to hear how wonderful your work really is to soothe these doubts.

  8. Rook Blackwell says:
    February 9, 2014 at 9:45 am

    Please don’t ever stop writing in Jewel’s universe!

  9. Dawn says:
    February 9, 2014 at 10:49 am

    Michelle, you are one of my favorite authors. I think your writing is a wonderful gift that you have decided to share with us. Like gifts, not everyone is going to appre­ciate (or possible under­stand) the gift. I look forward to your books.

  10. Tchula says:
    February 9, 2014 at 11:22 am

    Wow, sounds like 2014 is going to be a very produc­tive year! ;-) I look forward to seeing the new cover for Cast in Flame!

  11. michelle says:
    February 9, 2014 at 3:20 pm

    I think it’s because writing is an act of commu­ni­ca­tion, and no commu­ni­ca­tion is perfect. And also: some­times, people are just not inter­ested in what I want to commu­ni­cate, even if I do it well. Which is perfectly reason­able; there are many, many things I’m not inter­ested in reading, either.

    But it is harder to lose readers who did have an interest in what you were doing or saying, as opposed to losing people who wouldn’t have been inter­ested, regardless >.>

  12. michelle says:
    February 9, 2014 at 3:21 pm

    I will not stop writing in Jewel’s universe until I am finished all of the story arcs I want to tell :)

  13. michelle says:
    February 9, 2014 at 3:21 pm

    Thank you :)

  14. michelle says:
    February 9, 2014 at 3:22 pm

    I am hoping that 2014 is, in fact, a very produc­tive year. Or at least a year in which I am not restarting the same book multiple times >.>

  15. Rona Oestrich says:
    February 9, 2014 at 3:59 pm

    Take heart, Anne Rice went off on a tangent that turned everyone off that I know. I am not even that fond of were­wolf stories but her new series brought me back into the fold. I think your writing is so good that people who are turned off by some­thing you do, will come back.

  16. Donna says:
    February 9, 2014 at 5:22 pm

    I hadn’t given much thought to how the author reacts when I comment on places like Goodreads about books I’ve read. Yikes!
    I think authors such as your­self, are amazing writers and give us such wonderful gifts in sharing your books with us (who can’t write to save our lives.) I love your work and look forward to each book you write (even if I do have to wait for them.) You have a very heavy work schedule this year and I wish you well in all of them!

  17. michelle says:
    February 9, 2014 at 6:57 pm

    You are never supposed to think about how the author reacts to that. Never. It is why I don’t go to goodreads — it’s about the readers, and their expe­ri­ence, not me.

    If I hate a book, or I’m disap­pointed in a book, I’m not really shy about it. Books & reading are highly emotional and personal for me, so of course I’m going to have a reac­tion to the books I read! (Often it’s: well, you’re WRONG about that book — it was bril­liant!) So sharing opin­ions about books that I love (or hate) is an inte­gral part of reading, and it always has been.

    But I can’t approach my own books as a reader. Even among my favorite authors. There are Terry Pratchett novels I didn’t care for. There are Robin McKinley novels I didn’t care for. I love those authors, and I still read every­thing they write. (And there are none that I hated, and none that made me want those hours of my life back, or better, brains bleached). If I can feel this way, it’s absolutely natural that any reader can.

    It’s different if you’re tweeting rage @ me or posting angry disap­point­ment on my face­book wall or sending me angry email bombs — but expressing an opinion on goodreads or amazon or etc., etc., etc. is nothing like that :)

  18. Hilda says:
    February 9, 2014 at 7:20 pm

    Toronto? Try Wash­ington DC; I live 10 miles North of it. It looks like Alaska here. I forgot the color of my deck. I feed my birds, and unfor­tu­nately squir­rels, large pieces of bread so they can see it and eat. My computer is next to a window and I wear 2 sweaters, and I’m still cold. Give us a nice summer in Flames, please.
    How can you be 4/5 way in Oracle and not see the mid-point? Maybe I don’t under­stand writers’ book distances. Based on past multiple readers’ comments, Seeing Hundreds of thou­sands of words away for War, is a reason for jubi­la­tion, and a conga dance. Thanks for the writing effort, we wait, we will enjoy.

  19. Hilda says:
    February 9, 2014 at 7:33 pm

    When you finish all the story arcs “you want to tell”, I’m sure, based on comments here, the readers can come up with many other ideas for “story arcs”. I may not have enough years left to read them all, but others will. Just keep them coming, your books are one of the few and best plea­sures of old age.

  20. michelle says:
    February 9, 2014 at 8:03 pm

    I am uncer­tain, at this point, where the break-point between the two books is — and that point would be the end of ORACLE. I can see the end of WAR, but seeing how WAR wraps up doesn’t quite give me a finished ORACLE, if that makes sense?

  21. David Y says:
    February 9, 2014 at 10:11 pm

    Michelle:
    I bet none of us will complain when you find out that War is going to be 2 books after Oracle (except about the wait).
    And we’ll be ready with title sugges­tions for the extra book.

    (not totally kidding)

  22. michelle says:
    February 9, 2014 at 10:45 pm

    One of us, I promise, will cry >.>

  23. Estara Swanberg says:
    February 10, 2014 at 6:55 am

    QFT — though I would say any age, but at 46 maybe I’m biased. I did discover you in my twen­ties, though ^^.

  24. Jake says:
    February 10, 2014 at 10:09 am

    Michelle, you are an extra­or­di­nary story teller and a gifted writer, but no one can please everyone or even anyone all the time (though you come very, very close to pleasing me all the time:) as you said above. I, too, think that readers are the arbiter of how they respond to a story. But that doesn’t mean they have a clue what they are talking about! :)

    I remember when I first started reading the House War series, a reader and reviewer said it was all just a rehash of the Sun Sword series and the Jewel was his least favorite char­acter in that series — and I looked at the story I had just read and thought to myself, did we read the same story? That first book in the series is beau­tiful. I can’t tell you how many times I have reread it — not because I find new things but because it is a.. comfort read, or emotional nour­ish­ment, or some­thing, but it renews me each time i read it.

    And that is some­thing very, very few stories can do.

  25. Tyronne says:
    February 10, 2014 at 12:36 pm

    Well, what can I say. Touch was a very good read. I’m enjoying it very much although I will admit it’s not my usual ‘cup of tea’. However, good writing trumps genre/style any day of the week as far I’m concerned.

    Can’t wait for Cast in Flame but then again, I say that about all your books and they’ve always been worth the wait. As for the cover and crying, that’s a little fore­boding but my curiosity is defi­nitely there.

    As for Oracle, I’m not surprised at all. You’ve created such a detailed story arc, I’m surprised you’re not pounding the walls with your head in frus­tra­tion for all the ideas that must constantly bombard you as you write this story. 

    That and the fact you’ve 3 very different, very good series on the go, I’m just gonna keep encour­aging you and supporting you in all you do because your stories give me hours and hours of enjoy­ment and for that I thank you!

  26. Agustine says:
    February 11, 2014 at 2:07 am

    Michelle,
    You’ve got a very pretty updated self-pic in this web. I love it! =)

    And I’m ecstatic to hear the progress on Cast in Flame, Oracle (n War), and Grave. Yayyy!!!

    May the words go long! ^^
    Take care and have enough rest, ok? =)

  27. kscappace says:
    February 11, 2014 at 8:52 am

    Michelle thank you for the update on the writing. I do like knowing how things are going. Nosy old woman that I am. I like the updated photo of you on the home­page too. It is a much better shot of you than the old one.

  28. Hilda says:
    February 11, 2014 at 6:50 pm

    Augus­tine, I was going to comment on the picture too, and forgot while writing a different comment. You are right about Michelle’s picture; she looks very,very nice, and happy (must have written 1,000 words in two days). I hope, like you that Michelle take some needed rest, specially in this cold and long winter.

  29. Chris G. says:
    February 11, 2014 at 10:07 pm

    No. I’m absolutely not a sociopath or psychotic, and neither am I plagued by an abun­dance of self-doubt. Thanks for believing that, but no. 

    I do score in the top 2% of the popu­la­tion (U.S.) on every intel­li­gence test I’ve ever taken, have a certain amount of autism and was abused a lot as a child (ptsd included), and for good and bad do several things that most people believe unlikely-to-impos­sible. So it may well be possible that you are gener­ally correct, but of course gener­ally is not the same as completely. 

    “I know that I am intel­li­gent, because I know that I know nothing.” — Socrates

  30. Chris G. says:
    February 11, 2014 at 10:09 pm

    The picture does look quite nice. I don’t see her mole though (at least I believe it to be a mole based on past pics), perhaps she has had it removed?

  31. darbie says:
    February 12, 2014 at 12:12 am

    I hate to ask as I wonder.…but how many more books until jewel’s road is complete?????
    I love reading her story but for the reader our attach­ment also means we want a conclu­sion for our hero. I want the full story but I also want her to be satis­fied, corny ??

  32. Hilda says:
    February 12, 2014 at 2:57 pm

    Darbie, in quite a few comments in previous pages after publishing the House books, Michelle told us, at least twice, that there will be a new series after War. I don’t know how many books or the titles; the number tends to grow with the writing of books. What we don’t know is the story that will need telling, what she calls the story arcs. There is even a name for the series which I can’t remember. If you think about it, it makes sense. This coming book (close to be finished) will be mostly about Jewel’s travel, with or without the Oracle, to learn her teach­ings for seeing the future, meet the Winter Queen and give her the tree, rescue her friends who disap­peared from her rooms, fight or learn to use some of the strange animals she can see from her library (dragon); and there has to be some telling of what will happen to her friends at home, to Meralone who will stay there, and Haval who needs to protect her young friends . Jewel still needs to become a true seer, a Sen, gather her tribe to become a Matri­arch and take over her place coming out of the sands. Then, we will have the war between the humans and Allasakar. Maybe the Southern char­ac­ters will come back, and the ones from the short stories. Still, what is the role of the other Houses; what do they have to do while Jewel is away; what will be their final status. What will happen to the Kings and the people around them,
    Allasakar’s daughter, the Southern char­ac­ters, the many from the short stories. Just reading this, I can see the years of books coming out of Michelle’s genius. I can easily see at least 8 more books before Michelle’s talent on this series gives up. We will have a conclu­sion for Jewel, but it will be years ahead.
    Different from Kaylin in the Cast series, which I think can continue as long as there are adven­tures for her to play.

  33. Deborah says:
    February 12, 2014 at 8:03 pm

    Michelle, I am a very picky reader. The books I like must be well written and enter­taining or I don’t finish them. I have all of the Cast books and I reread them about once every 3 months. The only complaint I have is there aren’t enough of them. And that my mother who is 67 keeps stealing them from me. Guess what she is getting for her birthday?

  34. Dawna says:
    February 12, 2014 at 11:59 pm

    Thank you for the books you have written. I have enjoyed each of them very much. I am eagerly awaiting the next book to see what happens to Jewel next. I am also wondering if you are consid­ering a book or series about what happens to Diora and to Margret? I would love to hear about what happened to them after the Sun Sword series ended. I love to hear how things are progressing in your blogs. It’s the best e‑mail I get in my inbox. Thanks again

  35. Tyronne says:
    February 13, 2014 at 8:53 am

    Like you Deborah, I’m the same way with books. I want to be enter­tained and they must be well written to enter­tain me. Having said that, at least your books are ‘still in the family’. My boss has ‘borrowed’ all of mine. I even­tu­ally told her to keep them as I have an e‑reader and so can read Michelle’s books when­ever I want!!!

  36. Michelle Sagara says:
    February 13, 2014 at 1:52 pm

    With these books — I think with any of mine — if you don’t actu­ally care for the char­ac­ters, you’re not going to like the books. And that makes sense. If someone liked the Sun Sword, but really didn’t like Jewel, the House War series is prob­ably going to be diffi­cult, or worse, boring.

    And that’s a lot my fault, because this is the worst struc­tural plan­ning for a series ever. What I had intended when I started Hidden City, I couldn’t do — because the book opened with Rath. That was the beginning.

    (I often have some idea of the events that start a book. But I will often start the book multiple times, looking for the right way into the story – the right tone, the right texture. It’s not the events, per se, but the view­point. The book’s voice. In this case, it was Rath. Which was…not very convenient.)

    But: thank you. Hidden City was, for a variety of reasons, very diffi­cult, and it is happy-making to know that it worked for some readers :)

  37. Michelle Sagara says:
    February 13, 2014 at 1:55 pm

    I know that it’s not like the West novels; it’s not really like the Cast novels either. But I’m not always certain what, about my books, speaks to readers. Some readers said they would have known that the Cast books & the West books were both by me; some were very, very surprised.

    Touch — and I’m hoping to write a bit about that book, my general process, and possibly post (at Genna’s request) 33k words of version two — is just a bit more stressful because I strug­gled so much with the writing. I still can’t see the book clearly, past all iterations.

    But — thank you :)

  38. Michelle Sagara says:
    February 13, 2014 at 1:56 pm

    The picture is the most recent picture of me — but it was taken by the photog­ra­pher who did the cover-model shoot for Cast in Flame. I’m not sure it actu­ally looks like me (I iden­tify most with the “About the Author picture”, but — it’s kind of more Author Photo-ish).

  39. Michelle Sagara says:
    February 13, 2014 at 1:58 pm

    I always used to feel a bit self-conscious about posting here, unless I had Real Book News — because most of the posts will be “Still Working”.

    But, another reader (who was worried about me because I hadn’t posted in months) convinced me that actu­ally, readers wouldn’t mind knowing that I was, in fact, still alive and still working :)

  40. Michelle Sagara says:
    February 13, 2014 at 2:01 pm

    I can’t quite answer this one without spoilers — I know where the story, all of them, will go. I have NEVER been good at figuring out how long it will take to get there T_T.

    Sun Sword was, on proposal, two books.

    Sorry >.<.

  41. Michelle Sagara says:
    February 13, 2014 at 2:02 pm

    I have to admit that I get a huge kick of out of knowing that these books are read or shared between parents & chil­dren. I’m not quite sure why — but it really makes me smile :)

  42. Michelle Sagara says:
    February 13, 2014 at 2:04 pm

    People hate spoilers, and I am terrible at predicting *how* things will happen — but I think the South will be woven back into the whole, in the last arc. I think that much is safe to say.

  43. Tyronne says:
    February 13, 2014 at 2:19 pm

    I can defi­nitely under­stand your stress. I remember you saying way back when that when you write, you don’t always know what the char­acter is going to say or do next. While reading Touch my mind kept picking up ‘little things’ that could conceiv­ably take your story in half a dozen different direc­tions and none of them where you orig­i­nally wanted it to go. Person­ally, it’s great for me because I know that as a result of that, I’m going to be surprised by where your char­ac­ters do go (prob­ably as much as you are when you’re writing it). It’s no fun knowing what’s going to happen before you even get there. That’s why I don’t watch much TV. It’s too predictable. I’ll take one of your stories any day!

  44. Michelle Sagara says:
    February 13, 2014 at 2:34 pm

    The mole is still there. I was — for the first time ever in a picture — wearing make-up, and the lighting was brighter than usual — but, I can see it in the picture I have. 

    Otoh, I think my doctor would be delighted if I decided to have it removed >.>

  45. Michelle Sagara says:
    February 13, 2014 at 6:12 pm

    I am absolutely hoping that you have many, many more years — and that you do get to read the final story arc, since you’ve read every­thing else up to that point.

    And while I have readers, I will absolutely continue to tell my stories. I whine a lot — but there is nothing else I want to do quite as much.

  46. Julie Bailey says:
    February 15, 2014 at 12:13 pm

    I happened to find your books one day in the library and I was hooked. I loved them so much I gave them to my twin sister to read and guess what? Now she is an avid reader. After I finished the Cast stories I went on the, ” Into the Dark Series.” It made me cry buckets. Love your work and don’t care what the critics say.

  47. Hilda says:
    February 18, 2014 at 8:03 pm

    It’s because your books fit the cate­gory that we can call family books, and they give plea­sure, a very high level of plea­sure. If we love or like a person, we most likely will like to give them happi­ness. I don’t give your books that I have bought for my own reading to anyone, but I can tell you that I have bought copies of them to give as present, and the recip­i­ents love your books too. Going to another subject, even though I think or believe I know where the stories in Cast and House may go, and I can be wrong, I can’t see, or can’t bring to my imag­i­na­tion, where Touch may go. It’s like a close door; unex­pected, a very different type of books.

  48. alexgeorgeal says:
    February 20, 2014 at 3:24 am

    I enjoyed your post, Michelle, and your site in general. Seems like you have a good thing going with your series of fantasy books. I’m always glad to meet authors and readers who share my interests.

    I know what you mean about requesting reviews and then having the courage to read them as the reviewer lays open the work you have so lovingly toiled over for so long.

    I like to think that any review – good or bad – if done without malice or prej­u­dice, adds some­thing for the author. For one, if the opinion is unbi­ased, and the reviewer has expe­ri­ence, the writer can glean impor­tant infor­ma­tion as to what needs changing, but a writer should always trust their instinct.

    I don’t want to take up too much space here so I’ll draw this to a close.

    It’s been great ‘chat­ting’ with you on this wonderful site.

    If you’d like to chat some more, visit me. I’ll be looking forward to it.

    Alex George
    Author of Under the Drag­on’s Claw
    http://​www​.autho​ralex​ge​orge​.com

  49. Asia says:
    February 26, 2014 at 11:32 pm

    T_T .……tears of joy. I happened upon Hidden City by acci­dent at the library one day after a long period of frus­tra­tion caused by a lack of good books (series) (my opinion). I LOVED IT!!! I was ecstatic when I real­ized that there were so many series (comprised of several books) that corre­lated to one another.….I was in reader heaven. I started buying all of them and have read them several times over in antic­i­pa­tion of the next ones. 

    I am even more happy (at your expense, I’m afraid) to hear that there will be several more books in this series to come.

    I can honestly say that you have a bril­liant mind. You are a wonderful story teller and a gifted writer.

  50. Alissa Pyrich says:
    February 27, 2014 at 12:22 am

    I’m one of those people who adored the Sun Sword books but disliked Jewel. Never­the­less, because I find the world fasci­nating, I have been reading the House War series. In doing so, I’ve come to appre­ciate Jewel much more than before. I wouldn’t say I like the char­acter, but I think I under­stand more what you are trying to do with her. 

    I truly admire the complexity and rich­ness of the world you’ve created in these books; thank you for letting us see into your world.

  51. Bridgett says:
    February 28, 2014 at 12:44 pm

    Michelle,
    I have just one ques­tion. Do you know how many more Cast books you are plan­ning on writing? After Cast in Flame?
    I love all the books of yours that I have read. I have not been able to buy all the books I would like to (I have not read all of the books you have written so have not bought all the ones I want). But as the years go by I plan on getting every single one of them.
    Thank you for all your work, stress, and dedi­ca­tion. I can’t even compre­hend what it must be like writing three different books per year.
    I also like the new picture, though the candid ones are great. I love to see people as they are day to day.

  52. Danita says:
    March 2, 2014 at 7:31 pm

    Just saw the cover up on Amazon today http://​www​.amazon​.com/​F​l​a​m​e​-​C​h​r​o​n​i​c​l​e​s​-​E​l​a​n​t​r​a​-​M​i​c​h​e​l​l​e​-​S​a​g​a​r​a​-​e​b​o​o​k​/​d​p​/​B​0​0​I​B​5​B​S​D​E​/​r​e​f​=​l​a​_​B​0​0​1​I​G​O​4​K​C​_​1​_​1​?​s​=​b​o​o​k​s​&​i​e​=​U​T​F​8​&​q​i​d​=​1​3​9​3​8​0​6​5​1​6​&​s​r=1 – 1
    Kaylin looking pretty spiffy in dragon type colors
    Thank you Michelle for another Cast book! Can’t wait til it’s out! (And then I’ll want the next one. Right away)
    Warmest regards.
    Danita

  53. Chris G. says:
    March 2, 2014 at 9:05 pm

    Great catch! And cover of course. 

    But there’s the text too:

    “Any day that starts with dragon argu­ments is going to be bad 

    Kaylin returned from the West March in one piece. Now that piece is fraying. She’s not at home in the Impe­rial Palace — and she never intends to be. All she wants is normal garden-variety crim­i­nals and a place of her own. Of course, normal in her new life involves a dragon as a room­mate, but she can handle that. 

    She can’t as easily handle the new resi­dents to the city she polices, because one of them is Night­shade’s younger brother. On a night when she should be talking to land­lords in perfectly normal build­ings, she’s called to the fief — by Teela. A small family disagree­ment has become a large, compli­cated problem: Castle Night­shade’s latent magic is waking. 

    And it’s not the only thing.”

  54. Deborah says:
    March 2, 2014 at 9:19 pm

    Great atten­tion getter! What better way to start the anti­ca­p­a­tion for Cast in Flame than to have Castle Night­shade come to life. Oh what stories it could tell! Cant wait to see where you gake us this time.

  55. Hilda says:
    March 3, 2014 at 4:23 pm

    I’m so delighted. I happened to look at the Amazon website looking for new books while waiting for Flames (it was ordered a while ago), and found the cover. Kaylin looks my idea of a Gypsy, and sexy too, bright colors and open back. I wonder where she got those clothes and how she paid for them. Didn’t see her little dragon and is too bad. I hope it remains impor­tant in her life and adven­tures, even if Night­shade has to keep himself far from her, or become its friend. I imme­di­ately changed the delivery from 2 days to next day, about $10.00 more. If I could trust my local Barnes & Noble, I would go there to wait for it. But I can’t forget readers’ frus­tra­tion with both Borders (before closure) and B&N book­stores when unable to find her books for days..

  56. Zia says:
    March 3, 2014 at 5:37 pm

    I found if I call B&N for about 3 months in advance — and about once a week — it worked wonders. I do it for every single Cast book now as they have them on the day of the release instead of 1 week later. They don’t carry the West titles so I have no luck there at all, but 5+ years of bugging them about the Cast novels did work out. 

    Of course I always buy 2 copies so I buy one from Amazon ‑just- to be safe because B&N is still not my favorite store as it keeps shrinking its fantasy/scfi section. 

    Granted…Borders never carried anything useful at all so I was happy when it closed.

  57. Chris G. says:
    March 3, 2014 at 6:17 pm

    Inter­esting. My two B&N carry the Chron­i­cles without problem, except for Peril which took an extra day. But the helpful employee who called around for over an hour insisted that was a publisher delay. 

    Which is much better than the Indie store in my area, Myste­rious Galaxy Redondo Beach, CA does. They don’t carry Sagara, at least not the times I’ve checked, and were ridicu­lously incom­pe­tent the one time I tried to special order one. I told them thrice I needed the larger PB and gave them the ISBN and MSRP and they still ordered the MMPB. I told them it was a gift I needed in 3 weeks, and the order would be no good if it took longer. Of course it took 7 weeks. And the person who called to lmk the book had arrived was very intro­verted and incom­pre­hen­sible on the phone. I’m not trying to discrim­i­nate, but why give the person who is too fearful of calling customers the job of calling customers? 

    Mean­while my B&N also carry West, and even brought Battle out to me on the Saturday before it’s release date, when I was only making sure they would have it. Of course several of my Border’s carried one or more Sagara and/or West, so maybe it’s a regional thing?

  58. Zia says:
    March 3, 2014 at 9:12 pm

    It prob­ably is. Like I said the B&Ns in my area (I call 5 stores during the time leading up to the next release) didn’t carry them at all until I started calling. Now they do thank­fully and they seem to be selling so it is less of a hassle to get them to order the books than it was. 

    Oddly enough I ran into the same problem with B&N when I ordered a book. They appar­ently cancelled the order and then messed it up, and then I got a very nasty phone call telling me to pick up the book asap. Need­less to say if they don’t have it in the store I refuse to deal with them now. Which is sad since book­stores used to be my place to relax…and waste hours.

  59. Karen says:
    March 15, 2014 at 9:52 am

    I am so looking forward to Oracle and War when they come out. There were so many char­ac­ters in the Sun Sword series that I would like to see again and find out what happens to them. I do not know if you will be bringing them into the House series (at least one has been but I know his story is far from over) or whether you have another series planned. I have been reading about that world since the Sacred Hunt books. I would hate to see you stop writing in that world but I would also like to know what is going to happen.
    And Jewel is one of my favourite characters.
    Also looking forward to Cast in Flame but the Sacred Hunt, Sun Sword, House world is my first love.

  60. Diane says:
    May 26, 2014 at 3:14 am

    I am also looking forward to Oracle and War. I have just finished re-reading all of the Sun Sword Series and the House series. I am now going to start on the Cast books.
    Jewel is also one of my favorite char­ac­ters. I had just started reading the first book in the Sun Sword series, when we adopted a tuxedo kitten. I named her Jewel and she is still with us today.
    Take your time with the books, I take some­thing new with me every time I re-read one of your books.

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