Anniversary Time!
Giveaways and online appearances this week!
It's been a year since this book first splashed onto the scene, a wild year of weird hopes and old dreams fulfilled.
I turned forty. I got married. I rode a lot of roller coasters; certainly more of them than last year. I wrote a whole second book after this one, in that time, and the third is roving out, here and there, whether I want to be working on it yet or not.
Kharise wants to be heard, and Crown of the World Unbound is her book, in the way that Bringer was Vi's and Shepherd was Mehren's. I’m looking forward to having the trilogy together (even as I already have even more projects I’d like to do in that world beyond that).
It's been a wonderful adventure so far and I am so grateful to everyone who has been a part of this journey—especially my fellow derbyfolk.
In upcoming events—I will be appearing, in my publishing/editorial capacity as Jay Wolf, on three different online events!
At the Flights of Foundry digital convention, on Sunday, 29th Sept, at 5pm EDT, (programming hour 53), I will be appearing on the Reforging Sword & Sorcery panel with Oliver Brackenbury and C. Thomas Lafollette, with my dear friend, author and podcaster Valerie Valdes. Check out the whole event! The FoF team have done a great job making a digital convention look easy. Dream Foundry is a wonderful community for writers and creative professionals.
On Monday, 30th September, at 8:30pm EDT, I will be the special guest on AJ Alexanders's Twitch program Sprinterviews, where I will be talking about various career things (and working on a painting for an upcoming Song of the Scourgelands project during the sprints, if technology allows).
Following that, on Thursday, October 3rd, at 7pm EDT, I will be appearing on a very special episode of New Edge Story Chats featuring a double-bill of stories by Bryn Hammond and Dariel Quiogue, in support of a very special new project.
My anthology publisher, Brackenbury Books, has their third project of 2024 actively crowdfunding right now—Double-Edged Sword & Sorcery, first in a series of novellas duplexed in the classic 2-in-1 style of a vintage Ace Double. I've been able to peek behind the curtains a tiny bit on this production and I think it's going to be a real knockout for fans of classical sword & sorcery adventure. They're aiming high and have some really good rewards and stretch goals in store. Back it today and be a part of the New Edge!
The Story Chat event link will be available on the Backerkit page and recorded for later viewing as well on YouTube if the timing doesn't align.
I was off last week for various travel-related hijinks—my husband took me to the charming Knoebels Amusement Park in PA for part of our “we didn’t get a honeymoon, let’s go ride some roller coasters” summer. As a wooden coaster aficionado, I really enjoyed the Phoenix but the Twister was a must-re-ride for us—it’s positioned on a hill in the woods, so it has a deceptively menacing frame, but its banked curves and central “twister” effect are the best part.
I haven't finished reading my next book for my unofficial SPFBOX dark fantasy review (shameful!) but I'm going to try to make these letters a more regular bi-weekly occurrence again soon. I don't really like the extreme hustle culture of excessive newslettering, but I do like the short missive format and it kept me accountable, when I was doing it regularly.
I’m making steady progress on several projects at once but none have borne out yet and it's tough, as a person who really needs a win every so often to make the hamster wheel of slow to interminable progress somewhat more bearable. This week, I'm choosing to take the win of the first year in-print, and the total of three books and a novelette, to date, that will be out under my banners by the end of this calendar year; projects I'm hopeful and anxious of, all in one. I'm grateful for everyone who has come along with me for the ride.
(Yinz know I love a good roller coaster by now.)
Until next time,
Entering giveaways ‘til Hell won't have it,
—M.
Yay! Good luck today and this week! All the things!!
You did a lot in the past year! Looking forward to reading Shepherd next.