Bet It and Regret It | Halloween 2020
I lost a bet.
For the record, my parents taught me that gambling is wrong and nothing good will ever come of it, and they were 100% right. Don’t gamble. You will regret it.
The Bet Backstory
Five years ago in a fit of cynical self-reflection, I told my sister that I had reached market-saturation with my books, that I fundamentally lacked the skillset needed for successful indie authorship, and that I should quit and pursue another degree. (You know things are bad when Academia provides the most attractive safety-net.)
I love writing, but I’m terrible at marketing, and expecting my readers to word-of-mouth me into a higher degree of success was illogical. I needed to fish or cut bait, and since I knew nothing about fishing, the choice seemed obvious.
It was time to cut bait.
And she, in true caring-sisterly fashion, said, “No.” We went back and forth. I cited my dismal track record, my six obscure books, and my reluctance to publish in the first place. She cited nothing more than her unfounded optimism.
In the end she said, “Keep going, and five years from now you’ll see I’m right.”
Then she proposed a bet, and with all assurances of my looming literary failure, I agreed to her terms.
I even tweeted about it to mark the occasion.
The Bet Progression
This bet should have been an easy win for me. All I had to do was EXACTLY NOTHING.
Or so I thought.
2016 was a quiet year. I didn’t publish. Instead I vented my literary biases, through Average Everygirl, on this obscure little corner of the internet. To this day, I don’t know why my sales started picking up.
Was it the mysterious Amazon algorithm? Or some truly faithful readers? Did the simple act of blogging get my name in more people’s heads?
Regardless, by the time 2017 hit, my sister was like, “You know you already lost that bet, right?” And my mom would pipe up with, “I’m already planning to make your costume!”
So helpful and supportive.
The Fulfillment
On the surface, my life looks exactly like it did five years ago. I didn’t change houses or even tax brackets. I didn’t buy a shiny new car or receive a windfall of sweet, sweet cash.
And yet, by every metric publishing-wise, I’m better off. More sales, more page reads, more reviews than my cynical 2015-self could ever foresee.
So to all my readers—those who were with me in my pre-2016 doldrums, and those who have found me since—I can only say this: thank you.
I lost a bet, but the truth is, you lost it for me.
May the next five years bless you as the last five have blessed me.
Happy Halloween, all.
Love,
Lady Kluck-for-a-night
First time in my life I’ve worn a stuffed bra. Figures it would be because I lost a bet.
The Legendary Inge: A Book Redesigned
This week I completed my reformat of The Legendary Inge and officially transferred it over to Eulalia Skye. The revamped edition is now live on Amazon in both print and eBook!
Feast your eyes on this beautiful cover!
What’s new in this edition?
- The cover! (obviously, haha)
- Gone are the monochrome cartoon-style illustrations. The gray/blue color palette echoes the original’s cool tones, but with a more refined effect. (See further details below.)
- An interior bleed!
- The same ornament that graces the top corner of the cover repeats on pages within the print book: the title page, chapter headers, and front/back matter sections. This was my first time working with a bleed, and I love the result. It’s SO fancy.
- Discussion Questions!
- Handy for book clubs or other pondering purposes. Idk, guys. I wrote these up for a book club meeting a few years back, and I still had them. So, I tossed them in for funsies. You’re welcome.
- eBook only: Links to my newsletter signup and my Facebook Page.
- Oh, hey, I have a newsletter mailing list now (*cough* shameless plug *cough*):
FYI, if you’re new to this book and on the fence about whether to get it, the eBook will be $0.99 from July 3 – 5. I don’t do sales all that often, so take advantage.
Previous Readers
If you previously purchased The Legendary Inge as an eBook, you have the option of updating your copy in the “Manage Your Content and Devices” page of your Amazon account. Amazon deemed this a minor quality update, so will not be notifying previous readers. Consider yourselves notified here.
Bear in mind that, due to the new formatting, the kindle locations have changed within the interior file. So, if you marked any passages in the old version, they might map to the wrong section in the update.
(I don’t know how, but Vellum apparently condenses the locations. Maybe it has more efficient coding or something. I only deleted like two words in my typesetter’s edit, so the book contents itself is basically identical to the original, minus a few embarrassing typos.)
And now for something completely different.
The Legendary Inge: A New Cover
My original cover took its inspiration from the Franks Casket, one of my favorite relics of the ancient world. In planning this reboot, I looked to a different style of Nordic relic: runestones. These monuments dot the Scandinavian lands, patterned with Viking carvings and winding runic text.
With that inspiration in mind, here’s the breakdown of elements in this revamped book-skin.
Not sure why this looks so green. Maybe because I made the .jpg from a CMYK-coded PDF.
The Breakdown
- Fonts:
- Primary: Frances Uncial. I think what sold me is how much the letter <d> looks like an eth <ð>. I love the stabby serifs and the inconsistency between upper and lowercase letters.
- Secondary: Avenir Book and Junicode. Avenir is a lovely, no-nonsense sans serif, and its Book style has a nice, light weight to it. Junicode was non-negotiable (see items 5 – 7).
- Ringerike style ornaments. These come from designer Jonas Lau Markesson, who has some absolutely gorgeous Viking vector art. At only $15 for a commercial license, they were worth every penny. The ornament on the front also repeats on Chapter Headers within the print edition.
- Sword ornament: the crossbar of the hilt comes from a second set of Markesson ornaments. It’s also Ringerike style, but I had to add my own handle and blade to complete this. I love how the end product turned out. The book spine was the only place it could go without cluttering the aesthetic, but it fits well there.
- Forget-me-nots. I had to do it. That’s my favorite dagger in the book, and I think it represents my heroine well.
- Runic Text A lists some of Torvald Geirson’s smaller blades. From the top: Daffodil, Cricket, Forget-me-not, and Firefly.
- Runic Text B names some of the Virtue Swords: Diligence, Patience, Wisdom, Strength, Loyalty, Mercy, Valor, Respect, and Obedience (cut off at the margin). There were a couple more beyond the top of the book, but I wanted the most important centered in the line.
- Runic Text C is a transliteration of Beowulf 947-949a, the inspiration for this (ig)noble book.
Fun with Futhorc
“Oh, hey,” you might say. “Those runes are pretty awesome.”
And you’d be completely right. The runic alphabet (aka Futhorc, so named for its first 6 phonetic sounds) served as the writing system for Germanic and Scandinavian languages 1200 – 1800 years ago. Its design, primarily straight lines, makes for easy carving into hard surfaces.
If you want to play with futhorc runes, look no further than futhorc.com. This site makes phonetic transliterations from modern English words. It’s a lovely tool for all your runic needs. You must have the Junicode font if you want to use those transliterations digitally anywhere else, but that’s a free download and an extremely useful addition to any font inventory.
I used futhorc.com to verify the weapon names. I had to do the Old English lines of Beowulf myself, but I got to use stan and ear, so I have no complaints. (Stan reportedly has only one real-world attestation, and ear apparently belongs to Hel. So metal.) Anyway, not sure why I’m so obsessed with runes, but I jump at any chance to use them, so.
In Summary
- The Legendary Inge is now part of the Eulalia Skye crowd
- The eBook will be $0.99 from July 3 – 5
- Previous eBook buyers can update their old version to the new one
- Futhorc is fun to play with
Procrastination in the Time of Quarantine
In honor of the ongoing stay-at-home order in my state (now extended to May 15!), I bring you procrastination at its finest. And by that, I mean Kate’s List of Best Birds (now updated).
Kate’s List of Best Birds
#1: The Urutaú (Nyctibius griseus, aka Kakuy or Common Potoo)
Topping our list since 2018, this cross between an owl and a hand puppet finds its home throughout Central and South America. It doesn’t build a nest, but simply picks a post or upright trunk and lays an egg. Its finest feature is the self-satisfaction it displays when it tips its head skyward and pretends to be a piece of wood. While it doesn’t have the same spine-rattling moan as its cousin, the Great Potoo, its throaty little whistle is enchanting in its own right.
#2: The King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa)
This beautiful scavenger silently judges you from a distance. Noted for his bright face and dignified plumage, he recently auditioned for the role of Hades in Disney’s upcoming live remake of Hercules. You may feel an unsettling desire to hug him, but resist the urge: his beak and talons can tear through human flesh. Like the Urutaú, he lives in Central and South America.
#3: The mockingbird who sings outside my window at night (Songus beautificus)
In a surprise upset, this humble singer rises to the third spot on our list. For the past week he has chirped his feathery heart out for hours on end, surrounded by darkness and an overwhelming desire for a mate. There’s something magical about birdsong at night, and since only the bachelor birds perform these little concertos, I’ll enjoy his musical etudes while I can.
#4 The Superb Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae)
I mean, “superb” is right there in the name. This Australian native brings new meaning to the practice of mimicry as he struts around his rainforest. His tail feathers, when raised upright, resemble a Greek lyre, but he can also extend them over his head like a useless umbrella. He is currently in contract negotiations with Lucasfilm to provide sound effects for the next wave of Star Wars titles. Well done, little bird.
#5 The Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)
These unassuming gentlebirds inhabit much of North America, including my local riparian preserve. Smaller in size than their cousin, the Great Egret, they present a delightful, dignified form that includes bright yellow feet and a long neck that disappears when they tuck it close. Almost hunted to extinction in the 1800s they now thrive thanks to protections enacted on their behalf. This fortuitous conservation has enabled them to continue their long-running cosplay contest to see who can best impersonate an albino Frédéric Chopin.
Honorable mentions:
- The Harpy Eagle, who would rip my face off if I didn’t at least give her a nod for how majestic/terrifying she is
- The Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, for being such an adorable little stink
Not All Procrastination
For the record I’ve also added 30K words to my current work-in-progress. That number should be higher, but I’m writing in 1st person POV, which I hate and which requires me to comb over a scene multiple, multiple times to make sure it’s not just talking heads and hand movements.
Hence, procrastination.
Did I mention I hate 1st person? I do. I can’t even stay present in my own brain for more than 5 minutes, let alone a fictional character’s. But, this story wouldn’t be the same in 3rd, so.
Anyway, which feathered friend tops your List of Best Birds?
(If it’s a shoebill, you can show yourself the door, and take that nightmare fuel with you.)
Homed in on a Book Update
So in my pursuit of a productive year, I set myself some project deadlines and homed in on the first of the bunch. I’m happy to report that Goldmayne: A Fairy Tale has transferred over to my imprint. The updated ebook and paperback are both available.
The book received what I’m calling a typesetter’s edit. I.e., if a line or paragraph didn’t space itself well on the page I took the liberty of deleting a conversational tag or adverb. Sorry, not sorry. (There’s also a single line of dialogue that changed, primarily because it introduced a secondary context that wasn’t appropriate for the character speaking it, but I digress.)
Product Details, Ooh La La
Paperback
The paperback interior is a VAST improvement over its earlier incarnation, if only in ease of readability. Typesetting guidelines put a boundary of 10 – 12 points for main body text. The old Goldmayne was in 10-point Garamond, because the book is ~122K words long. (My longest published work. Surprised?) Technically, that typeset met the prescribed boundaries, but the text was tiny, and I didn’t know at the time that Not All Garamonds Are Created Equal.
The new typeset is in 11-point Charter, with no hazards of eyestrain to be seen. It is lovely. It is also roughly a hundred pages longer, even though the text is about a thousand words shorter. (A prime example for why word count is the most accurate measure for the length of a book; page count is variable, depending on the set.)
Old in front, new behind; what a difference a font can make!
Ebook
The ebook got a reformat in Vellum, for a nicer, cleaner file. It just looks more professional all around.
And some extra good news? For this update, I kept track of any actual “quality” corrections I came across. The missing word in Chapter 16. An incorrect homophone in Chapter 2 (!). A couple of misspellings and some inconsistent usage (drily vs. dryly, for example). I finally gave up on “intransience” and replaced it with “permanence,” and I made a universal correction of “honed in on” to “homed in on.”
Which, to be fair, I’m still a little salty about. More on that below.
Long story short (too late), after I republished, I sent that list of quality changes to Amazon, and they have deemed this a “major update.” Meaning, if you previously bought this ebook, you should be getting an email that there’s a new version available. Whether you get the email or not, you can access the update in the Manage Content and Devices section of your Amazon account, if you so desire to have it.
Two notes:
- If you want to keep the old cover, don’t update the book. I have mixed feelings about the new cover, but it’s one of those things where I’m going to shrug and move forward.
- If you have highlighted passages you want to keep, maybe jot down their context on a notepad before updating. Kindle locations changed in the new formatting, so the whisper sync feature might map them to the wrong text section. (Idk, I never highlight in ebooks, so it’s not something I can check in my own copy of the file.)
And now, a usage aside.
Honed in on vs. Homed in on
In my ten years of publishing, no one has ever called me out for using “honed” where it was supposed to be “homed.” I am, quite frankly, shocked and disappointed in all of you.
No, no. I joke.
I discovered this usage argument a couple years back and was dismayed more than I can here express. The prescriptive rule states that “home in on” is correct and “hone in on” is an erroneous usage that has wormed its way into vernacular speech. “‘Hone’ refers to sharpening things! It has nothing to do with visual focus!” quoth the naysayers.
But here’s the thing.
My brain had a marked semantic difference between the pair of phrases. For my idiosyncratic usage “honed in on” denoted a sharpening of focus from across a distance, like a camera lens zooming in on its subject from afar. “Homed in on” implied movement toward that subject, like a homing missile closing in on its target. Basically, I had learned the “wrong” phrase as a separate semantic unit.
You guys, I get called out on the silliest things. Like, there are readers, bless their hearts, who delight in finding any little error they can (or perceived error, because they’re not always right, lol). This one would have been easy pickings. WHY HAS NO ONE EVER HOMED IN ON IT?
(Haha. I couldn’t resist.)
Anyway, after reflecting on the misalignment between my internal lexicon and the mainstream prescriptivism, this is an instance where I decided to capitulate. I have duly retrained my brain to save “hone” for sharpening tools or wits or talents, because it’s a good word and I don’t want it dragged through the mud any more than it already has been.
Thus, I’ve edited its misuse out of Goldmayne and the first two Annals of Altair. It’s still in the Ruses books and The Legendary Inge. (I mean, maybe. I haven’t actually checked, but I liked the phrase, so I’m assuming I used it on the regular.) Timeline-wise, I think I discovered the discrepancy during my drafting of Namesake, but if anyone comes across it there, feel free to snark about it. We can both have a good laugh.
Final Non-related Addendum
For the time being, I’ve set my whole website to shut off comment sections after 14 days. Too many Russian bots were bypassing my discussion filters, and I got tired of cleaning them out of my moderation queue. I’ll revisit this in a few months, but for now, if you want to comment, strike while the iron is hot.
(Unless you’re a bot, in which case, kindly take your shady pharmacy links elsewhere, please and thank you. Why you gotta ruin everything for everyone else, huh?)
Discipline in the Year of Hindsight
At the beginning of the month, people on my social media feeds started announcing their word of the year. I’ve never done that lovely practice, but it got me thinking: “If I were to pick one word that embodied my hopes for 2020, what would it be?”
Ever so softly, the vast ether whispered back, “Discipline.”
And I laughed. Hahahahahahaha!
If there’s one thing I have lacked throughout my life, it’s discipline. In large part, my body has been a convenient vehicle to get my brain from one place to another. And since my brain’s favorite “location” is its daydream-du-jour…
Yeah. Exercise, sleep, and meals all take a back burner to whatever thought pattern I’m engaged in. I mean, I get to them eventually, but they’re not scheduled or anything.
Still, as much as I lack discipline, I idealize the concept as well.
Discipline: An Etymological Dichotomy
Discipline sounds austere, like a schoolmarm with a critical eye and a ready ruler. However, it also exudes wisdom, like an ancient sage who has mastered body and soul.
The word shares its root with “disciple,” both of them coming from the Latin discipulus, “pupil/student.” Earliest English usage had to do with the “punishment” sense of discipline, but as an outward sign of seeking self-control. People would discipline in order to invoke obedience to a certain discipline.
Thus the word speaks to a broadening of the mind through strict adherence to a study or process.
One who has discipline is learning and growing. They understand and honor boundaries, physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional.
And ultimately, when I considered making it my 2020 theme, it begged the question, of what disciplines am I a student, and how well does my self-discipline reflect that?
Ideal Versus Reality
In my ideal, I’m a disciple of writing. In reality, I’m more accurately a disciple of YouTube. Much as I love daydreaming about scenes and characters and plots, the process of connecting the dots and developing all of those in a believable (or at least passable) manner is HARD WORK. It’s so much easier to pull up social media and see what their algorithm has to feed me.
So, in my quest to find self-discipline, I took a hiatus from the internet.
(Mostly.)
Last week, I had about four approved websites I was allowed to visit. Two of them were dictionaries. It was lovely and, yes, oddly liberating to say, “No, I can’t go there. I’m not doing that today.”
And what was the effect?
First and foremost, I got to bed roughly 2 hours earlier most nights. I had nothing to do in the evenings, so why not sleep?
Second, I found time to exercise (four days and a total of 150 minutes, up from zero the preceding week).
Work-wise, I re-typeset Goldmayne for its transfer over to Eulalia Skye. There’s a few tweaks left, but the book is basically ready for its cover. (And it’s going to be a fat book. 474 pages. Yikes. But the original typeset was in 10-point Garamond, and I’m not playing that space-saving game anymore.)
I also wrote about 1K words on Eidolon. Still wading through the weeds on how to connect all my plot-points there, but I ain’t gonna sneeze at what little progress I can make.
Long story short: internet bad, discipline good. So, for now, I’ll be keeping my online time to a minimum.
(But we loves it, precious, we does!)
For Discipline We Strive
In each of us exists both creator and consumer. We work, and we play, and we thrive when we strike a balance between the two. Right now, I need that balance.
So that is my word for 2020: discipline.
Wish me luck. And for those who have also chosen a 2020 word, good luck to you!
Swift September, Waning Year
September, that lovely transitional month, has come and gone. I knew it would be busy, and I planned accordingly. Just, with everything else happening, I neglected to set up a blog post in advance.
So here’s the official announcement: Annals of Altair Book 3, OLIVER INVICTUS, is now available on Amazon. It dropped back on the 18th, and it is, apparently, more high-tension than I realized.
…Whoopsie?
One of the problems with the whole pre-order process is that it’s easy to set up a title and then walk away. In this case, though, that “problem” was a blessing. Here’s what’s been happening.
Early September
I had a doctor’s appointment to evaluate a treatment plan I’d been on for the previous 3 months. Without going into a lot of details, basically I have a chronic (and genetically caused) folate deficiency. Because it was undiagnosed for most of my life, and because I had put myself into a cycle of ill health in the months prior to diagnosis, my system was haywire until I sought treatment.
The good news: most of my numbers vastly improved. Like, cholesterol down 30+ points, blood sugars back into normal ranges, vitamin D in double digits again (and nicely high double digits, hooray!).
The bad news: one of my numbers was worse. I kind of expected it. There’s family history involved, and I’ve lived my whole life knowing it was a possibility. Essentially, the damage at this point was too far along to reverse. So, my doctor tweaked my treatment plan, and I am now officially tied to a prescription.
(I’m also tied to a methylfolate supplement, but that’s over-the-counter. If you feel like you’re living life with your brain wrapped inside a lead blanket, maybe consider getting tested for an MTHFR mutation.)
After spending most of September on this new plan, I FEEL AWESOME.
Relatively speaking. I’m waking up alert instead of feeling like someone poured a load of mud into my skull while I slept. I have a happier, more hopeful outlook. Life has possibilities again.
It’s amazing the difference a couple of little chemicals can make.
Middle September
I celebrated my birthday. I’m now 39, for anyone who is nosily curious. Not sure why, but I’ve loved that number since I was a kid (it’s triple-thirteen, plus 3²=9; just some beautiful patterns happening). It was a good day, quiet but spent with people I love.
That same week, I attended the annual ANWA Writers Conference. I went with some of my specific writerly roadblocks in mind and got some excellent insight for how to maneuver through them. Plus, I got to reconnect with some of my favorite fellow authors and friends, amazing creatives who are bringing light and laughter and beauty into the world.
It was good times.
And, of course, the middle of September saw the launch day for Oliver Invictus. Thank you to everyone who pre-ordered, and to those who have since bought, read, rated, and reviewed. You people are the best.
End of the Month
The main reason Oliver had such a low-key debut is that I was leaving the country shortly thereafter, on a trip whose plane tickets I bought last February before I knew I’d be finishing a book. While his story uploaded into readers’ kindle clouds, I was slowly compiling my necessary supplies and wrapping my brain around the prospect of traveling for a week.
Mostly I was worried about my cat. Would she be here when I got back? Would she drive my mother insane during the interim?
Yes to both questions, as it turns out.
I went to the UK with the ever-intrepid Rachel Collett. We visited Bath and Welshpool, and had an overnight in London before flying home. I think I successfully converted her to travel by train. (We don’t do trains in the desert southwest. I mean, they exist, obviously, but the only passenger trains are specialty ones like the Grand Canyon Railway or the light-rail that runs through the Phoenix metro area at 25 mph.)
Drinking the Bath Water
Living my best life in the Roman Baths. Yes, I drank the water, but not from this crusty pool!
Bath is phenomenal. Some highlights:
- The Bath Abbey
- The Roman Baths/The Pump Room
- The Jane Austen Centre
- No. 1 Royal Crescent (now a museum)
- Basically every street and park and river walk
Netflix was filming their upcoming Regency series, Bridgerton (based on the Julia Quinn novels, which I have not read), so some streets were off-limits to visitors. It was fun to catch a glimpse of actors in period clothes, though, and horses and carriages and an entire street covered with gravel to hide the modern pavement. One of the buildings had a green screen up the side of it so they could modify the setting in post.
Kind of crazy. Totally fascinating.
People kept apologizing for the weather, but it was honestly lovely.
Tromping through Castle Grounds
Just over the border from Shrewsbury, England lies the town of Welshpool, Wales, home of Powis Castle and Gardens. I’ve followed the Powis Twitter account for a few years now, so actually visiting there was an awesome treat.
At the Powis Castle entrance, ready for adventure. Ignore my derpy face.
Everything in the castle is authentic, right down to the 2400-year-old Etruscan vases sitting demurely atop the 14-foot shelves in the library (which is stocked with, among other things, much of Empress Joséphine’s personal book collection—just a minor souvenir the family picked up from the continent after the Napoleonic Wars, nbd).
Robert Clive, aka Clive of India (a regular pirate if ever there was one), had a son who married into the Powis family (the Herberts), so his collection of artifacts—bought and plundered—passed to this estate. The Clive Museum on the castle grounds displays many of these items, along with an acknowledgment that some were ill-gotten spoils (which is a step in the right direction, I guess).
The family lived there until at least the mid-1900s, but the castle and grounds now belong to the National Trust. Hence, conservation is the name of the game. Light sensors in every room record daily UV exposure, and one of the volunteers disclosed that if they exceed their yearly quota, they get shut down until January rolls around. So, blinds are pulled low, and castle visiting hours are set, and absolutely NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY allowed.
Between the castle tour and exploring the gorgeous gardens, this excursion merited a full day. The bi-polar weather went from sunshine to rain and back again half a dozen times, and I sang silent praises for the pair of duckboots I wore.
When you’re mucking about the loam of Wales, appropriate footwear makes all the difference.
A view of the castle from across the grounds
And that’s how I spent my September.
I don’t usually cram so many events together, but that’s the way things converged this time. Now it’s back to the proverbial grindstone for me.
Oliver Invictus | Official Reveal and Pre-Order
If you read between the lines of my last post, this one will come as no surprise. I’m pleased to announce the upcoming publication of Book 3 of the Annals of Altair: Oliver Invictus arrives on September 18, 2019.
You can pre-order the ebook HERE. Hooray!
Summary: Oliver Invictus
Dead at Fifteen
Oliver Dunn’s life is officially over. Pulled from his bed in the black of night, he’s headed for the Prometheus Institute’s mysterious shadow campus, where anomalies like him vanish forever.
But no sooner does he leave Prom-F than the school descends into chaos. The student body revolts, classmates make a break for freedom, and one silent, powerful projector among them corrals the adults into a hive-minded collective of slaves.
Yanked back from his impending doom, Oliver’s mere presence restores order. The Prometheus heads demand that he ferret out the rogue projector, but he’d rather die than cooperate.
His life is already over. They can’t threaten him with any fate worse than his own. But they can threaten the one person in the world he actually cares about: his former handler, Emily Brent.
If you haven’t read the first two books of this series, that summary might raise a lot of questions. If it’s been a while since you read them, ditto. Because I’m a giver, I’ll go ahead and post links for those two books as well:
Book 2: A Rumor of Real Irish Tea
That’s it for the announcement part of this post. A new book! Go forth and pre-order!
Or, if you’re game, stick around and read on.
Background Notes
I always considered the Annals of Altair complete at 2 books. This is apparent in their structure, which is pinned to the US Constitution. A Boy Called Hawk uses the main body for its chapter numbering (Preamble, Articles, and Sections) and A Rumor of Real Irish Tea uses the amendments (27 in all).
My younger self thought it was funny to have the Constitution as a meaningless frame for a hypothetical future in which that document itself had become meaningless. Actually, my current self thinks it’s funny too.
So.
A third book was not on my radar. What was I supposed to pin it to, the tax code?
The Plot Thickens
Still, I had family members that asked for more, and I knew that more happened beyond the scope of those first two books. Besides, if the original structure was meaningless, and meaninglessness was the point, then abandoning it for a meaningless chapter-numbering system would be fine.
Confident in that reassurance and the knowledge that I don’t have to publish everything I write, I tackled a third book for NaNoWriMo.
Back in 2015. (Seriously did not realize it was that long ago, but the timeline checks out. Tsk tsk, Kate.)
The story stalled at the third act, as my stories chronically do. I played with it a bit over the years, but it was definitely a back-burner project.
Why?
Well, I’ll tell you.
This series gets the least amount of traffic among my literary canon. Not a surprise. It’s dystopia lite instead of the gossamer fantasy that is my usual fare, so it’s easily skipped. It was also more like a personal art project than a commercial endeavor. Hence, for a while, I saw it as my weakest link.
We don’t draw attention to the weakest link.
But I truly love the story and its cast of characters—on both sides of the conflict. My initial vision to spin a yarn about four kids escaping an oppressive government morphed into a tale about the rotten little antihero tasked with bringing them back. By the end of the second book it was clear that Oliver and Emily were more the main characters than Hawk, Hummer, Honey, and Happy. I’ve always known what became of them afterward, and part of me always wanted to write it.
However, it seemed self-indulgent to work on a book that strayed so far from my perceived fantasy brand, and that few people—if any—actually wanted to read.
So what changed?
For my birthday last year, I sat down and conducted an inventory of my writing: unpublished projects, planned-but-unwritten projects, and works-in-progress. The list was kind of a slap in the head: I had 20 books in some form of development, not including my notebook of story kernels, and not including the six published books I still needed to switch over to my imprint.
The creative pile-up weighed me down. When you have too much debt, you get rid of the smallest one first. Thus, Oliver Invictus, 75% complete, moved up in the work queue.
(As a side note, the idea for Soot and Slipper hadn’t even occurred yet. I’m not great at managing my plot bunnies.)
The final impetus to complete the draft came from a comment on my blog last April. It’s one thing for people you know to ask for more of your work—there’s always a voice at the back of the head saying they’re only being polite, or that it’s their way of expressing a compliment. It’s quite another for a stranger to speak up. That’s a call to action.
And, as it happens, answering that particular call was within my ability. So.
Long story short (too late)
I estimate that roughly twenty people outside my own family might actively want this book. I hope more than that will read and enjoy it, but if its total market saturation is only those twenty, I still consider it time and effort well invested.
Mostly because I want this book.
Whether Oliver Invictus has a large audience or a small one, I’m excited for its readers to experience the next leg of this upside-down world.
And why September 18th?
It’s Oliver’s birthday. It seemed a fitting day to bring his story to light.
♥
Look at these covers, you guys! They look like they belong together! +1 Branding skills for me!
Project Updates and Other Ramblings
Greetings, my friends! It’s time for a few project updates. Some bad news, some good news, maybe…? Idk. So, as Li Shang says, let’s get down to business.
First of all, I want to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who has read Soot and Slipper, double-thanks to those who have recommended it to others, and triple-thanks if you took the time to rate and/or review it on the venue of your choice.
Full disclosure: as a general rule, I don’t read reviews. My mother does, though, and she thinks it’s fun to pull them up and read them aloud to me as I hastily vacate her presence. You, my lovely readers, have been SO NICE.
Thank you. I am overwhelmed and humbled and grateful that you have found value in my work. You are awesome and amazing.
And speaking of value…
(Terrible segue, I know.)
Ebook Pricing
Around the time I released S&S, I had multiple people tell me I need to up my ebook prices (including a couple of commenters on my own blog, haha). I’ve kept my prices low as a courtesy, but those discussions have left me with a lot to ruminate on. After several weeks of wishy-washy contemplation, I’m ready to capitulate. Sort of.
Over the next few months, my ebooks that are 50K words and above will all get a price update to $2.99. For Tournament of Ruses, The Legendary Inge, and Namesake, this is no increase at all. The Annals of Altair series, Kingdom of Ruses, and Goldmayne will each go up $2.
I did look into upping the price on the longer books (90K+ words) to $3.99, but price increases statistically lower sales. Basically, I’d be charging more for fewer people to buy, to the benefit of no one. So that’s been shuffled to the side for now.
For the time being, my two fairytale novellas will remain at $0.99. I know I could probably raise their prices as well, but I like them as introductions to my writing, so the low courtesy pricing makes sense to me.
It’s not that big of a difference on most of these, but hopefully the new prices will better signal that yes, I do value my work and I want readers who value it as well. I don’t have an exact timetable for when each price increase will happen (see below for why), so this is your courtesy notice that if you want any of my books at their lower price, grab them sooner rather than later.
And that brings us to…
Project Updates
When I created my imprint (Eulalia Skye Press) a couple years ago, I intended to transfer my earlier titles over. It hasn’t happened for a number of reasons.
Or, well, mostly because of all the paperwork involved. I’m using a different trim size under ESP than with my earlier titles, so transferring over means re-typesetting six books, which also means new covers. And that in turn means updated ebooks, which would ideally correspond with the aforementioned price hikes. In short, it’s a lot of dominoes that have to be lined up and tumbled, and since I’ve already been through the process with these books, I’ve dragged my feet on doing it again.
But I finally learned InDesign (as the print version of Soot and Slipper will attest, yeehaw), and I really ought to use that subscription to its fullest. So.
Annals of Altair Books 1 – 3
The print versions for A Boy Called Hawk and A Rumor of Real Irish Tea are no longer available. They will return shortly. This series gets the least amount of traction in my collected works, so no great loss.
For the ebooks, the price increase is effective immediately. I’ve uploaded new covers and reformatted book files for a nicer reading experience. Because these were my first books published, I’ve also done a medium-light edit (cleared out excess verbiage, cleaned up the writing style, etc.).
The stories are the same. They’re just not quite as wordy.
For those who want a hard copy (Hi, Mom!), the typesetting for the print versions is complete. I just have to upload files, order proofs, and make sure everything is pretty. My self-imposed deadline is the middle of September, for Reasons.
Look for this newly rebranded series on Amazon.
Ruses, Goldmayne, and Inge
I’m not messing with the wordiness of these books. Goldmayne is meant to have a folksy fairytale voice, so my older style of writing still works. The same goes for Inge and the Ruses books, to a lesser degree.
Kingdom of Ruses, however, will get the addition of a bonus short story, “The Prince among Men.” It’s roughly 4K; I wrote it a few years ago to answer that burning question, “But where did Will go?” And then I had nowhere to publish it, because it was too long for a blog post and too short for a standalone novella.
L O L
Since I’m adding a short story to the end of Kingdom, I think I have to dis-enroll it from Kindle Unlimited so that it doesn’t look like I’m trying to game the system for more page-reads. There were shenanigans to that effect a couple years back, as I recall, and I’d rather not chance having a book flagged because previous readers are skipping to the end for some added content. So whenever that update happens, no KU for a few months. (Sorry, my lovely KU readers. It will return eventually.)
These four books will update in the following order (theoretically): Goldmayne, Inge, Kingdom, Tournament.
Namesake
And now we arrive at the elephant in the room. “Wasn’t there supposed to be a sequel to Namesake, like, a year ago?” Why, yes. Yes there was. And then it turned into two sequels and I threw a creative tantrum.
I have a hard-and-fast rule of not publishing a book that needs a sequel written. Namesake can stand on its own, so I waffled over whether even to write the follow-up. When it split into two, that waffling doubled. I am still working on them, but there’s no timetable for completion.
Just, when you see Goddess (Book 2) finally make its appearance, you can rest assured that Eidolon (Book 3) will be close on its heels. I won’t leave you hanging from that cliff for long. Pinky promise.
Final Thoughts
A disproportionate amount of my writerly life has been me feeling like I fall short of other people’s expectations. I lack follow-through, I disappear for weeks or months on end, I hoard creative control, and I happily nest down in my comfortable corner of obscurity. The truth is, I only ever wanted to write. It was never my dream to publish a book.
So here I am, ten titles down the road and wondering how the heck this all happened. It has been a long, meandering path, and there is still so much meandering yet to come.
Long story short, thanks for joining me on this journey. Life is full of surprises, y’know?
Music and the Written Word
For all you book purists out there, the paperback of Soot and Slipper is now live! (Click HERE) In honor of this momentous occasion, I’m going to explore a fun little element of writing: the background music.
Some writers need total silence. Others need speakers blaring. I fall closer to the second category, where listening to music can help me focus on my writing, but with a caveat: I can’t usually handle new lyrics. If I don’t know a song, my brain will turn more toward discerning its content than unraveling the scene I’m supposed to be creating.
Hence, my playlists often feature instrumental arrangements or foreign-language singers. But one other element comes into play when I pick my writing songs: the atmosphere. Every book is different.
DISCLAIMER: I don’t have any connection with the artists I’m discussing in this post. I’m not an affiliate for any of the sites I link. I just really like their music.
The Music of Soot and Slipper
As a Cinderella retelling, Soot and Slipper has a light and fluffy atmosphere, with some maybe darker undertones at play. (No spoilers, haha.) The playlists I gravitated toward definitely reflected that.
Music Backdrop #1: Eurielle
Around the time I started toying with the plot idea, I came across Eurielle on YouTube. At times epic and other times floating, her music has echoes of Enya if Enya were orchestrating a feature film about ghosts and medieval yearning for salvation.
Her album, Arcadia, provided backdrop #1 for this novella. She sings in English, Latin, and French. Probably the most influential song was “Je t’Adore,” which came to represent Eugenie’s first masquerade. It starts with gravitas (“Liberate me from the fire” is the Latin phrase, which works nicely with my recurring theme of embers and ashes) and then transitions into an airy refrain.
Eurielle on [iTunes] and [Amazon]
Music Backdrop #2: Boggie
This artist has been on my radar since the video for her song “Parfüm” went viral a few years back. A Hungarian jazz singer, she has songs in Hungarian (of course), English, and French. I have two of her albums, the eponymous Boggie and All Is One Is All.
Her playful song “Camouflage” became Pip’s anthem. And really, it suits him to a tee.
Boggie on [iTunes] and [Amazon]
Music Backdrop #3: Erutan
Sometimes I got too lazy to sign into my digital music account. (This is true first-world laziness, I fully admit.) Both of the above artists have YouTube channels, though, and after a few video plays the algorithm kicked in to find me similar songs.
And Erutan appeared in my suggestions.
Kate Covington AKA Erutan (“Nature” spelled backward) combines medieval instrumentation with etherial vocals to create an otherworldly musical experience. She sings both original music and covers arranged to her celtic-influenced style, with intertwining melodies and harmonies that stoke the imagination. I suppose, in many ways, she might represent the fairy of my tale.
From what I can tell, Erutan is an independent artist in every sense. She’s ridiculously talented, too. You can support her by watching her videos on YouTube or buying her tracks on [iTunes] or [Amazon].
Honorable Mention: Cœur de Pirate
So this artist didn’t show up in my algorithm until a couple days after I finished the Soot and Slipper draft. Since I was on a French kick, though, I gave her a listen. When I encountered her song “Combustible,” it embodied Marielle so well that I had to include it here.
I will definitely be listening to more of her in the future. (Especially since I’ve bought two of her albums so far.)
Cœur de Pirate on [iTunes] and [Amazon]
A Musical Trend
On looking back at the playlists I listened to while writing this book, a lot of them had Halloween and/or phantasmic overtones. Although Soot and Slipper was the very soul of creative escapism for me, that secondary atmosphere is oddly fitting.
If you enjoyed the songs above, please consider supporting the artists. Music, like books, can’t happen without a lot of work.
♥