the Author
December
9
36 Comments

Queen of the Dead Omnibus and Sea of Sorrows Audiobook

Posted in Elantra, Essalieyan, Audio books, Cast.

I appar­ently missed the November 2021 report, although I did post a couple of things during the absent State of the Author for November. This is kind of State of the Author for December, but with a couple of extras.

First: The Queen of the Dead omnibus was published on the 7th of December. I missed the date, for which I apol­o­gize. As the title suggests, it’s the omnibus version of the three books about Emma Hall and the after­life: Silence, Touch and Grave.

I admit that while reading page proofs for the omnibus, I cried. I’ve been told it’s a bit heavy, emotion­ally speaking, but if you haven’t read it and are curious, it’s avail­able now.

 

***

I have audio­book news as well. Tantor Media picked up the first three books in The Sun Sword but declined to pick up the final three.

As a proof of concept, I asked Eva Wilhelm, the narrator, if she would be willing to read the next book; she said yes. That book is Sea of Sorrows.

I am self-publishing the audio­book through Find­away Voices, which distrib­utes to the various audio­book vendors; appar­ently, ACX (which is the route to audible​.com) is back­logged, so I’m not sure when the book will turn up there. Libro​.FM doesn’t have it on site yet, but Find­away does distribute there. At the moment, the links that are live are on the book page, and I’ll try to add to it as the book reaches retailers.

If there is an audio retailer that you prefer, could you let me know? I’ll add it in the links section. I don’t actu­ally listen to audio­books — I don’t drive (I never got a license because I live in Toronto which has public transit) — so I am perhaps less aware of these things than I other­wise would be.

***

The Cast novel on which I’m now working has a title: Cast in Eter­nity. It involved a lot of back and forth, and just in case I haven’t whined about this recently: when you are writing a series of books, try hard not to choose a single word in the title that has to be used for every book, i.e. Cast. T_T.

I have finally found my feet in Hunter’s Redoubt, the next West novel, and I am working on that as well. I have thrown out all the prior words, and now have 80k+ words that I’m almost certain are solid.

***

 

36 Responses to Queen of the Dead Omnibus and Sea of Sorrows Audiobook

  1. Pam Samson says:
    December 9, 2021 at 1:21 pm

    Yay!!!!
    I have read it all from the very beginning!!
    I will have to start rereading!!!
    Pam Samson

    PS ‑if you will be starting to move about more next year please think about HalCon and/or CaperCon if they show up on your radar! Nova Scotia loves you!!!

  2. Chris Starbuck says:
    December 9, 2021 at 1:31 pm

    Should you ever be inclined to write a spoof in The Chron­i­cles of Elantra series, may I suggest “Cast in Jello” :-J. (In my pre-retire­ment engi­neering days we used that phrase in regard to “require­ments” that were constantly jiggling around, refusing to settle.)

  3. Birgit McCall says:
    December 9, 2021 at 1:42 pm

    I really liked the Queen of the Dead series (even with the heav­i­ness of the topic), so I’ll encourage people who haven’t read it to give it a try. I read it after all the books were published, so I could plow through them all at once.

  4. Melanie says:
    December 9, 2021 at 1:45 pm

    I am excited and so looking forward to any book you are writing!

  5. Sarah Goodyear, DVM says:
    December 9, 2021 at 2:15 pm

    The Queen of the Dead series is so different than anything else that I have ever read. I read each book as they came out and was completely mesmer­ized. I have the audio­books as well, which are excellent.
    The heav­i­ness and emotional pull are real, but in the best possible way. It moves you. Thank you.

  6. Joey says:
    December 9, 2021 at 2:22 pm

    Happy December!

    “Absent State of the Author for November”

    “State of the Absent Author for November”

    “State of the Author for Absent November”

    So many possibilities!

    Fwiw, I mostly don’t listen to audio­books. I do like listening to author read­ings I’ve recorded. I recently listened to a short story reading by Ms. Huff and there was one point where only a few people laughed. One of them was me and one of them was you. LOL!

  7. Chris G. says:
    December 9, 2021 at 2:49 pm

    Glad to hear what seems like good news. :)

    I hope that more people discover The Queen of the Dead (though this reminds me that despite my buying the final volume at release, I have somehow not yet managed to read said book). 

    “Cast in Eter­nity”. Hm. That makes it chal­lenging for me to guess the plot. Not that I ever guess the plots, regardless. 

    Unlike if you were to name a novel “Cast ‘n Asper­sions” which I would guess would be the long awaited (at least by me) novel in which a certain someone puts the “shade” back in “Night­shade”. Living with Ancients must give a Barrani access to centuries of gossip, I’m just saying.

  8. Karissa S says:
    December 9, 2021 at 2:57 pm

    I am so happy these are coming out! I’m working my way through the Sunsword/house war/hunter books now. Keep on writing! I love reading your stories

  9. michelle says:
    December 9, 2021 at 3:04 pm

    @Joey: We have a quirky sense of humor?

  10. michelle says:
    December 9, 2021 at 3:05 pm

    @Sarah: Thank you. The books meant a lot to me.

  11. Genna Warner says:
    December 9, 2021 at 4:20 pm

    Thank you so much for doing the audio book PoC. I hope it works out well because I would love to have the rest of the Sun Sword on audit plus the new series. I use Audible for my audio books and will pick this one up as soon as I can. Again thank you so much!

  12. Therese says:
    December 9, 2021 at 4:57 pm

    Congrat­u­la­tions on finding a title for the next Cast novel! I’ve been pondering what it might be after the initial title was discarded. I can’t wait to read it; I’m slowly re-reading the latest one at the moment to catch all the things I missed during my last speed-read.

  13. Joey says:
    December 9, 2021 at 6:12 pm

    Dear Author: Yes!

  14. Jeff Jensen says:
    December 9, 2021 at 7:40 pm

    Audible doesn’t seem to know about it yet, but I’ll be checking regu­larly and pick it up as soon as it’s available!

  15. Elizabeth says:
    December 9, 2021 at 8:37 pm

    Several authors I listen to left audible and took their stories to chirp, authors direct and book funnel as well as kobo, google and iTunes. Haven’t tried chirp yet, believe it’s run by book bub. Have had no prob­lems with authors direct and book funnel.

  16. Joyce Ronquillo says:
    December 9, 2021 at 10:00 pm

    Yay on the Cast title! Are we approaching the end? Eter­nity seems so final somehow. I am also really looking forward to Severn in the West March. That is a story I’ve always been curious about.

  17. Sam N says:
    December 10, 2021 at 1:14 am

    oh so excited for all of this espe­cially the sun sword news!
    i hope you have a safe season

  18. michelle says:
    December 10, 2021 at 8:17 am

    @Joyce: Not nearing the end yet; my first two attempts at a title were rejected, so we had to move the needle a bit =/.

  19. michelle says:
    December 10, 2021 at 8:38 am

    @Elizabeth: I haven’t looked at Author’s Direct (that’s a Find­away service, I believe). But I *think* Find­away’s distri­b­u­tion is broad. This entire book has been a proof-of-concept for both the narrator (who is accus­tomed to working with producers at audible or Tantor) and me (who has had nothing to do with audio­book produc­tion). But I’ll look into the author’s direct — I think I assumed that people have their ecosystem for audio­books, and asking people to side-load or step outside of what’s conve­nient and known to them might be too big of an ask.

  20. michelle says:
    December 10, 2021 at 8:40 am

    @Jeff: when I pressed “publish”, I did get a warning that ACX (which for me would be the gateway to audible​.com) was severely backed up, and there would be a delay in the audio­book reaching audible. I don’t know more than that, though. I got the impres­sion that waiting would mean I’d still have the lag between audible and every­where else. Although possibly if I’d set a later pub-date for every­where else, they might go live at the same time =/.

  21. michelle says:
    December 10, 2021 at 8:45 am

    @Genna: the plan at the moment, given the Patreon, is that all new West novels will be in audio­book; it’s the Sun Sword books that are more of a chal­lenge. Because the books are long, the cost of produc­tion is higher — story of my life. I’m not sure what to do with The Sun Sword itself, because it’s double the length of The Broken Crown. At the moment, the cost per finished hour (which is how narra­tors are paid) would then double the cost of produc­tion, which would also mean I’d need double the narrator time block on her schedule — so I’m leaning toward split­ting that final volume into two audio­books, if it’s at all possible to continue to produce them.

    I’d person­ally like to be able to do it, if only to have the entire series avail­able for audio­book readers. Part of that will depend on how Sea of Sorrows does.

  22. michelle says:
    December 10, 2021 at 8:46 am

    @Karissa: I will continue to write West novels until I finally read the end :)

  23. michelle says:
    December 10, 2021 at 8:46 am

    @Chris G: LOL!

  24. michelle says:
    December 10, 2021 at 8:47 am

    @Sarah: Thank you!

  25. michelle says:
    December 10, 2021 at 8:53 am

    @Pam: I had every inten­tion of moving about next year — but I admit the Omicron news has stalled that until we know more. I mean, we now know the muta­tion breaks through double vacci­na­tions — but we’ll need a few weeks to know if those break­throughs are more deadly. I am seri­ously, seri­ously tired of COVID =/. But if my mother and I have managed not to kill each other over the years, I’d like it not to be COVID that does. Both of my parents did get their booster shots — but no one in our house­hold qual­i­fies for them in Canada yet (must be 6 months past 2nd shot here). 

    And of course we’re into snow terri­tory, which is indoor terri­tory, and Ontar­io’s numbers have risen. Right up until Omicron, I was less concerned because we’re all double-vaxxed. I had even discussed risking a restau­rant with the sons. But, well. That’s on hold again; we have not dined in a restau­rant since the first lock­down in February 2020.

  26. Pam says:
    December 10, 2021 at 9:32 am

    Totally under­stand!! We are in the same boat with elderly parents and a new baby in the family! I look forward to freedom of move­ment too, but caution is the rule.
    Thanks and hope all stay well!!
    Pam

  27. Susan Keyes says:
    December 11, 2021 at 12:40 pm

    I’m so glad that you have found a path to addi­tional audio versions. I prefer to read print, but I’ve found that it can be easier to intro­duce my audio-loving friends to you through the audio books. Appre­ciate that you continue to find ways to share your earlier work, as well as your new work. Susan

  28. Jana says:
    December 13, 2021 at 2:16 pm

    I’m so excited!!! The Cast books are liter­ally my number one all time favorite books and I reread them at least once a year! I liter­ally stalk this page looking for any type of update on the books 😂

  29. michelle says:
    December 13, 2021 at 6:17 pm

    @Pam: New baby :). Both of my parents have their boosters done, so there’s a bit of relief there.

  30. michelle says:
    December 14, 2021 at 9:22 am

    @Jana: Thank you <3

  31. Mary Allen says:
    December 14, 2021 at 10:00 am

    I wanted you to know that our public library in Tampa, Florida has ordered Cast in Shadow and Cast in Court­light, They also now have the first 11 Cast books avail­able here in hoopla.

  32. Kari says:
    December 14, 2021 at 10:56 pm

    Always good to hear from you. Is there any news about the third Augustan story? I confess to drooling… Those are my absolute favorites.

  33. michelle says:
    December 15, 2021 at 12:34 pm

    @Kari: I admit that I haven’t been thinking about the Augus­tine story — but I do intend to do some­thing with it. Mostly it’s been audio­book proof-of-concept and writing. And bouncing title ideas back and forth.

    And covid T_T

  34. michelle says:
    December 15, 2021 at 12:34 pm

    @Mary Allen: Thank you!

  35. Kari says:
    December 15, 2021 at 9:48 pm

    Thank you! It’s just such a lovely story world, and I’m so grateful that you can write such things. Kari

  36. Mary Allen says:
    December 24, 2021 at 11:05 am

    Wishing you a happy holiday. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

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