February was a fairly quiet month. I’m working on finishing up the final review of Dead Right so we can get that out to reviewers ahead of the late summer release, and digging into the craft book (on how to write a novel), which I’m really enjoying. I like teaching, so that aspect is fun, but in addition, it’s reminding me about all the things to pay attention to while writing a novel. Craft is like that; you fall into patterns and every so often it’s good to remind yourself of things you know but might not have been putting into practice.
Speaking of the craft book! If that sounds like the sort of thing you might be interested in, it will (of course) be published eventually (we will see how long it takes to write), BUT you can also start reading it THIS VERY WEEK. It’s going to be serialized over on Patreon (no, not that one, the other one) for $5 tier people, meaning that in exchange for your generous support of $5, you get four updates a month. And four times a year you get five, depending on when Wednesday falls! The idea behind the book is that I’ll walk you through writing a novel, from first ideas to the end of the first draft (with maybe some talk about revision, depending on how long this book gets), and I’ll follow along with examples from each stage as I was writing The Price of Thorns.
Over on the Kyell Patreon, March is going to see the beginning of serializing Azure City, the new book in the Dangerous Spirits world, also for $5+ patrons. It’s not exactly an entry in the series, for reasons I’ll explain as I post it, but if you were missing Meg and Athos, you’ll be excited to see them again and to get updates on Sol and Alexei, though they don’t appear in the book. Someday I’ll have to write them into stories again. Anyway, Azure City is supernatural and spooky and artsy and all the things I loved about doing the Dangerous Spirits books, even a little of the historical research.
Azure City starts with Meg and Athos living in Port City some ten years after the end of Black Angel, Athos having just been laid off from his journalism job. Fortunately, his best friend from high school arrives in town to alleviate his boredom with a mystery: a blank book sent by someone they don’t know—but who obviously knows both of them. Meg is understandably wary, but Athos, desperate for some kind of meaning in his life and to have his own supernatural experience, dives in muzzle-first…
If either of those sound interesting, and you can spare $5 a month (or 2 x $5/month even!), I’d really appreciate the support. <3 The nature of serializing long-form work on Patreon means that as the work goes on, people drop off, and it’s harder to bring new people in when you’re on Part 38 of a story. So as I’m starting new projects, I’m trying to let everyone know so we can get a good boost at the start. To that end, if you’re not interested or can’t spare the money (I know times are tight!), letting someone else know who might be interested is also a big help!
Other stuff: You may or may not know that this year is the fifteenth anniversary of the release of Out of Position! We are planning some cool stuff, including at the very least a re-release of a pretty fancy edition, and we’ll have a Kickstarter coming up soon here. Watch the socials for more details.
And…as teased up above, it’s con season! In two weeks I’ll be heading to Texas Furry Fiesta to do some panels and sign books at the FP table and see lots of lovely people again. This is my favorite convention and I’m always excited to head back there. Later in the month, we’ll be driving down to Las Vegas Fur Con for the first time. I don’t think we’re selling there, but I have a couple panels and I’ll be around, hoping to have a nice relaxing weekend. If you have books you want signed, bring ‘em and find me. :)
After that, the next convention on our radar (I think) is Anthrocon. We have a flight and hotel so it looks like we’ll be there! Gonna do some panels and sell some books and, you know, all the usual stuff. But that’s months away and there’s so much to do before then…
Spring is on the way! Hope everyone is having a good one.
Books:
The Price of Thorns: OUT NOW, buy at Argyll and review at Amazon or GoodReads. In a fantasy world where stories are woven into the fabric of magic and life, Nivvy the thief is hired by a mysterious woman, and this job will change his life in ways he could never have anticipated.
Audiobooks: The Mysterious Affair of Giles is the latest audiobook to hit the stands, as it were. I’m thrilled that you finally get to hear Huskyteer’s lovely narration of this Agatha Christie-like story.
Winter Games is done and available now! Check it out. We’re very happy with this new recording and hope you’ll enjoy rediscovering that old title. As Kit read through it, he kept coming back to me with little bits we’d both forgotten about and enjoyed remembering.
As for the others: We are working on getting Titles and Love Match 2 done and available to you. Both have been recorded and are now under our review to send back to the narrators for minor corrections. And we are working on a Price of Thorns audiobook! Because we have been traveling so much, production has paused, but we’re eager to get going again and hope to have this out early next year.
Other upcoming releases:
Squeak Thief: Sometime in 2024. A rich mouse hires a fox thief to steal from his own family, but the job quickly spirals out of control. (Novella)
Azure City: 2024-25. A book full of blank pages might be the key to another world, but the more Athos reads, the more he disappears from this one.
Dead Right: Late summer/fall 2024. Jae gets tangled in the life of a ghost activist who endangers his relationships and his future.
In progress: Ty Game sequel (on Patreon), untitled fantasy world project.
Streaming:
Somebody Somewhere (MAX): I loved this sweet little comedy-drama’s first season, about a queer woman who goes back to Kansas to care for her cancer-stricken sister. The show starts after the sister’s death, with Sam remaining in Manhattan, Kansas, tied to her family’s farm and still looking for something. She stumbles on a queer community and finds her place in it. In the second season, she’s coping with her prickly sister and their mentally ill mother, still dealing with the aftermath of her sister’s death, and still wondering where she fits into this world. I still love this show and hope we get more seasons.
Resident Alien (Peacock/Netflix): This odd SYFY show is carried initially by the brilliance of Alan Tudyk as the main character, who knows how to make himself look human after a crash strands him on Earth, but is still figuring out how to act human. But only a few episodes in, the Northern Exposure-like cast of this small Colorado mountain town come into their own and are a real delight to follow along.
The Holdovers (Peacock): This Oscar-nominated movie from Alexander Payne feels thematically like a lot of his other movies—Sideways, The Descendants, etc. Paul Giamatti is great as the stuffy middle-aged teacher who has to learn to be accommodating of other people; Da’Vine Joy Randolph is the real heart of the movie, though, as the cafeteria worker whose son went to this mostly-white posh prep school and then was drafted and killed overseas in Vietnam.
Barry (MAX): Whew. I don’t think anyone predicted after Bill Hader’s brilliant SNL run that he would go on to play a dark, intense, complex killer-for-hire in a dark comedy that is one of the best shows I’ve seen in the past few years. The writing is fantastic, serious when it needs to be with perfectly timed comedic notes, faultless pacing, and a brilliant cast. The show is a lot, and it may not be for everyone, but if you can bear the dark parts, it’s highly rewarding.