the Author

Category Archives: Essalieyan

September
22
8 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 →

August
4
36 Comments

Michelle’s Patreon, the future of West novels; Also SWORD AND SHADOW front cover

Posted in Essalieyan, writing, Shane Rebenschied, Severn.

Thank you. Thank you so much. The Essalieyan Novel Patreon was way more successful than I thought it would be. It was such a big ask. I didn’t want anyone who has read these books all along to feel pres­sured or guilty or oblig­ated. The author deal has always been: I write a book, the publisher publishes the book, readers buy the book. And this was … not that.  Going forward, I’ll do all Patreon stuff on Patreon, so it’ll disap­pear from this web-site except as a link in the sidebar.  But: I get to write the final arc, the final series, in the Essalieyan universe – and I will. I will write the books at the same general speed I’ve always written them, during the same writing time. The gap between … Continue reading →

July
27
90 Comments

State of the Author July 2021 edition, ending an era

Posted in DAW, Essalieyan, self-publishing.

This might be a bit on the long side. That’s the warning. Some of you may remember a couple of months ago I said things were… stressful (possibly worst month ever) on Twitter. If I had been thinking, I would have made certain to sepa­rate terrible month from pandemic, which has – for my family – remained a large and consis­tent weight in the back­ground. We’ve been lucky; we’ve lost no one. We made sure that the less internet-savvy were signed up and vacci­nated, and we got vacci­nated ourselves; I have no under 12s in my house­hold, and there are none in the house­hold we bubble with when its safe to do so. Mostly, however, what I was thinking was: How do I tell people? And what do I do going forward? So let’s start … Continue reading →

November
19
28 Comments

Shining Court audiobook available today & state of November

Posted in Audio books, Elantra, Essalieyan, writing, Tantor.

Today, the third of the Sun Sword books is now avail­able in audio­book. The narrator is Eva Wilhelm — who thus far has narrated all of the West audio­books. November – and the latter half of October – were about dead­lines. Well, dead­line. I have finished the first Severn book, The Emper­or’s Wolves, and turned it in to Mira. (At this point, it will be sent to my editor, who will edit and ask for revi­sions that will add clarity to the book, because some­times (still), the things that are on the inside of my head have failed to reach the page.) I am working on the next West novel, and will start working on the next Cast novel. And also, I have page proofs for the mass-market edition of First­born, which … Continue reading →

October
1
4 Comments

Uncrowned King Audiobook available today

Posted in Audio books, DAW, Essalieyan, writing, Conventions.

Tantor Media has just released The Uncrowned King, the second book of the Sun Sword series, in audio, narrated by Eva Wilhelm, the narrator for the House War series. As you can see, they’re using a different cover for the audio­book, (they’re using a different cover for Broken Crown as well, but I kind of missed that one >.>). In other news, I am going on a desper­ately needed writing retreat (dead­lines), but will be back for Can*Con in Ottawa. This is very last minute for me because I wasn’t certain I could make it, so I don’t have a schedule that I can post. I will post a schedule if it arrives before I get back from writing, but I’ll prob­ably be a little bit scarce until then.