the Author
April
29
39 Comments

State of the Author, April 2022 edition: I have news

Posted in Audio books, Cast, Elantra.

I have spent the last day doing my taxes (in Canada, the dead­line is the end of April. Except appar­ently when that falls on a weekend, in which case it’s the first Monday after the 30th). But, I have bits and pieces of news. My new editor is Leah Mol, new to the Mira team. Like me, she’s a Toron­tonian, so I got to meet her in person. I am feeling vastly more comfort­able now. First: I have been invited to be a Guest of Honor at the UK’s East­ercon in 2024, which will take place in Telford, between the 29th of March and the 1st of April. Second: The audio­book for Riven Shield is now avail­able.  It’s narrated by Eva Wilhelm, as all the West novels are, and (some) of … Continue reading →

March
4
31 Comments

Spoiler Thread: Sword and Shadow

Posted in Elantra, Spoiler.

I try to put these up a week after a book has been released, but I was so focused on trying to finish Cast in Eter­nity that this did not happen. So, late, but: this is a discus­sion thread meant entirely for people who are not me to discuss Sword & Shadow. As the title suggests, it’s a spoiler thread, and while I ask people not to spoil a book in the main publi­ca­tion day thread, I’m obvi­ously not going to ask people not to spoil things in this one :). DO NOT READ if you haven’t read the book, unless you don’t mind spoilers.

March
3
29 Comments

State of the Author, March 2022 — Cast in Eternity delayed

Posted in Cast, Elantra, grovelling apology.

Well, I had hoped to have good news — and may have good news in the not too distant future — but. I mentioned that a miscom­mu­ni­ca­tion meant that my dead­line had been short­ened, and spent all of February pushing to write more words than I normally write. Towards the end of February, my brain … ran out of good words, and so I had garbage words and had to go back and uproot and revise while looking at looming dead­line approaching like – as I mentioned – a train, while I was on the tracks. It’s why I can’t gener­ally write faster. I can do it for desperate, emer­gen­cies, but I can’t continue at that pace because I run out of good words, and I have to then take time away from writing for that well to refill — so on … Continue reading →

February
22
34 Comments

Sword and Shadow Publication Day

Posted in Elantra, Publication, Severn.

It’s pub day for Sword and Shadow, the second of the Severn novels! Links to various retailers are on the book page on the link above :). If you find the book in the wild, send me a picture! (Forbidden Planet in the UK has signed copies — by book plate. BakkaPhoenix, the store at which I still work part-time, will have signed books, but if you want the book person­al­ized, it’s easier for me to do that because I’m in the store weekly.) I am being crushed by a dead­line that is looming like a loco­mo­tive toward a person tied to the tracks, but this is the part that makes it worth­while – knowing that I’ll finish and I’ll have a book out that I can finally share with people. 

January
20
9 Comments

Sword and Shadow, Preview Chapter

Posted in Elantra, chapters, Mira.

As Eliz­a­beth G reminded me in my last State of the Author post, it is in fact January, which is the month before February, which is the publi­ca­tion month for Sword and Shadow. While I knew on some level it was January, the lead in to February, I … somehow failed to make the connec­tion >.<. I there­fore have a first chapter and an updated home page. The first chapter can be found here (although all preview chap­ters are also linked to their indi­vidual book/bibliography pages, for future refer­ence). And now I will crawl back under my rock, taking my laptop with me because dead­lines are tighter than I thought they were by about a month, which is still doable, but. I swear my brain has become jello during … Continue reading →