This blog post is a mea culpa. I apparently don’t know how to estimate times to publishing, as I’ve been giving wildly optimistic dates for when book 3 of Spellgiver is coming out. Yes, I have finished every last word, and the book is with my editor. But I’d forgotten just how long the editing process takes. This is not a comment about my editor, it’s only to say that this book is *big*.
So, the new date: March 1, 2020. It will not go later than that, because my editor has promised to return it Feb 10 at the latest, and getting this book out will be my highest priority once she’s done. To all of you who’ve asked me when “To Flee a King” is going to get released (and that list has gotten long), I’m truly sorry for the delays.
On the positive side, you can see the new cover above. As usual, my artist Raoul Vitale has done a beautiful job. Everything about this book is ready to go save the final file back from the editor.
As I described last time, “To Flee a King” will take us deeper into the questions that surround Larin’s entire world—how did magic come to be, who are the indigen, and most importantly: how did humanity, which is so different from the indigen creatures, come to exist here? All with the backdrop of a political landscape that has changed wildly in the four years since book 2. Not to mention some very odd characters, who provide their own mystery. “To Flee a King” is the first part of a journey that is partly an escape and partly a quest to find the Meaning Of It All, a journey that will end with book 4, “Secrets of the Land.” I truly hope and believe that the wait for book3 will be worth it, because just about everyone who’s read it has been wildly enthusiastic (you can see my first Goodreads review from Fantasy Book Review here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46854601-to-flee-a-king). Stay tuned.
As a small consolation to all my readers, you should know that I have several short stories that I’ve posted for free. People on my mailing list have seen some of these, but I wanted to mention them again here, so you have something to read until book 3 comes out 😊. Enjoy!
Silver Birds (Fantasy Short Story)
Description: In the snowy mountains at the Top of the World, the Cedarite monastery’s magic guards the Ingar river above the great falls, preventing the foolish from plunging 8000 feet to the Lands of Blood. It is a mission and an order that senior monk Roald adores—the only thing he might love more is his substitute father, Cedarite prelate Grandfather Nils. But when Nils reveals the magical secret that has kept humanity in the land above the clouds, Roald will have to make an impossible decision. A decision between the life he loves, and the one he could have.
Get it here: Get Silver Birds short story
Egghead (SF Short Story)
Description: In the 22nd century, Seattle’s coastline is lined with desalinisation plants, Raineer has lost its snowcaps, and insect-sized drones monitor a populace that is rapidly evolving into a separate species via biomods. And in that world where particul-ash lies heavy in the skies, cop Fred Barlin must uncover the truth about one particularly odd strain of biomod that threatens to out-think us all.
Get it here: Get Egghead short story
Multiverse Marshals (SF ShortStory)
Description: The crazy 21st century physicists who told us about “Many Worlds” turned out to be right. And in that infinity of overlapping dimensions, a gambling-addicted, less-than-motivated cop Len and his beautiful wife Ryssa must travel the multiverse, looking for a killer with more analogs than a copycenter.
Get it here: Get Multiverse Marshals short story
Gronnvolk (Fantasy Short Story)
Description: In the misty forests of 8th century Saxony, an outcast girl smells doubt like lye, and can effect wondrous magic with tree-carved runes. But when she meets a mysterious stranger in those green woods, she must decide whether the last of her people’s lore should be used to fight Charlemagne’s Franks, who have embedded in her homeland like pebbles in wool. And she must decide whether her runes and talent for all-seeing will in the end drive away her only true love.
Get it here: Get Gronnvolk short story
Recall (Science Fiction Novella)
Description: With dementia ravaging her brain, Helen is trapped in a cognitive impairment facility, abandoned by her family and left to die. But as the fog descends, she finds herself accosted by two teams of doctors: a spider-tattooed man with robotic good looks yet nefarious goals, and a bland man in a white coat who may just be her salvation. As the two teams fight to treat her, it becomes clear that the organization behind the white-coated mystery man with his miracle cure is more bizarre than anything she’s ever seen. Or could ever imagine.
Get it here: Get Recall short story
Tlacuatl (Historical Fantasy Short)
Description: In the waning days of the Aztec empire, Tlacuatl must travel to Tenochtitlan, using magic devices left by an ancient race to defeat the evil at the heart of the city.
Get it here: Get Tlacuatl short story