Tumultuous times and charming characters
The November 2022 Newsletter 🏔
Hello, friends. I hope you’ve all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving, if you celebrate, and have a juicy stack of TBRs beside your bed.
For me, it's been a great month: Nightbirds got a nice trade review, and I celebrated my birthday at a fancy winery and walked along my local coastline, where I stared at rocks and dreamt up scenes for Nightbirds 2. I had a delicious Thanksgiving feast with good friends. It’s also been a tough month: I had to push back my deadline for finishing Nightbirds’ sequel and had a panic attack for the first time in years. November made a point of reminding me that life is a tumultuous ride, and we are all a bag of complicated emotions. Sometimes all we can do is take things one day at a time and be grateful for all the small wonders to be found in each of them.
News
It’s official: Nightbirds is flying to my adopted home country!
The book will come out in Australia and New Zealand on February 28, 2023, with the truly wonderful Allen&Unwin. I am so excited that Nightbirds will be published here and can’t wait to share it with my local crew. You can preorder it right now, my Aussie friends (I’ve linked to Dymocks below, but you can find it wherever books are sold). There will be a special preorder campaign, which I will be revealing in the new year, so stayed tuned.
In other news, Nightbirds got its first trade review, from Kirkus, and they gave it a STAR (which apparently they don’t hand out all that often)! I’m flattered and honored and so pleased. Here’s the review:
Opposing forces seek leverage in a world in which intrinsic magic, widely believed to have been eradicated, is traded in secret.
Long ago, women known as Fyrebirds wielded powerful, even deadly, magic. Accused of witchcraft and persecuted by the patriarchal church, the remaining Fyrebirds survived by concealing their abilities and marrying into the Great Houses, whose wealth and influence offered protection. Generations later, the Fyrebirds have passed into myth, while Nightbirds, their female descendants, are vessels for subtler abilities that they themselves cannot wield; instead, their abilities may be temporarily gifted to others through kisses. While the Great Houses continue to fiercely guard and regulate access to the Nightbirds’ identities and gifts, those who fear—or have tasted—the Nightbirds’ magic are determined to unmask them. Socialite Matilde has never questioned the system in which she participates; she enjoys having (and being) a rare secret. But soon after she’s joined by street-wise Sayer and country girl Æsa, two new Nightbirds, an attack in the Nightbirds’ inner sanctum sets the three girls on a different path, one with massive personal and political implications. Their present-tense narrative perspectives establish clear distinctions between them as they navigate and boldly question the intersections of patriarchy, privilege, and fear that shape their world. Lush settings, careful worldbuilding, and taut exposition are seamlessly presented through the characters’ internal observations. Main characters read White; queer identities are woven into the story.
An electrifying, high-stakes series opener grounded in feminist themes. (maps)(Fantasy. 12-18)
Sneak Peek
I have been waiting for months to reveal these portraits I commissioned of my characters.
I wanted to create special Nightbirds cards, not unlike the ones Madam Crow lays before their clients each evening (f you haven't read the book’s prologue, in which this happens, you’ll find it in an older post). I envisioned one side showing the masked Nightbird with her codename. But when you flipped the card over, their true faces and identities would be revealed.
Brought to life by the talented and lovely Paulina Tłoczek (@𝚝𝚕𝚘𝚌𝚣𝚞𝚜𝚜), these cards are everything I dreamed they would be: intriguing, fierce, glamorous. It was such a delight to see someone else’s interpretation of what my magical girls might look like. I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out.
If you want to learn more about these girls, definitely listen to the episode of Pub Dates where Amie and I introduce our characters. I’m hoping to make these cards a part of my preorder swag, and there is a lot of exciting stuff going on behind the scenes on this front that I can’t reveal quite yet. Soon, though: very soon!
Meanwhile, on Pub Dates…
Over on the Pub Dates podcast, where Amie Kaufman and I are taking you all behind the scenes with us as our books head toward their publication, we’ve been busy, with two episodes published and one more about to drop.
Who’s Who in the Zoo
We talked to Gillian Levinson, Director of Paperbacks and Publishing at Random House Children’s Books, about all the different teams that contribute to getting a book out into the world. If you’ve ever wondered how a book actually goes from edited Word doc to the thing in your hands, this one’s for you!
Listen to Who’s Who in the Zoo here.
How to Support Authors
In this episode, Amie and I dive into all the different ways readers can support their favorite authors. Some of these cost money, others are free, and ALL of them make a massive difference when it comes to supporting storytellers in doing what they love. This is a great one to pass on to friends and family, and we hope it becomes a go-to resource for eager readers.
Listen to How To Support Authors here.
Mapping a World
Later today, we’ll be dropping an episode I’m really excited about, which is all about our glorious MAPS! We’ll talk about how we came up with our geographical worlds for both novels and how those imaginings were magically transformed into the lush, jaw-droppingly beautiful maps we are lucky enough to call ours. I talked in detail about Nightbirds’ maps in an earlier post, so if you enjoyed that, then definitely tune in for this one.
Calling all listeners!
Amie and I are about to record a fun and games episode, in which we answer listener questions and challenges. You can ask us to read a snippet from a kissing scene, or an action scene. You can ask us to choose which of our characters we’d most like to have an adventure with. You can ask us to read a paragraph from page 63. You only have a few more days to send them, though, which you can do by emailing pubdates@gmail.com, leaving us a voice message, or leaving us a comment over on our Pub Dates newsletter. Everyone who plays will go into the running to win themselves a digital advance copy of Nightbirds or The Isles of the Gods.
Recommendations
What I’m Reading…
Not a whole lot, shockingly! I’ve been too busy drafting. But I’m very excited to dive into A Restless Truth by Freya Marske, the second in a trilogy of fantasy historical romance books. Think Downton Abbey, but steamier and with magic.
Podcasts I’m listening to while I do dishes…
Noble Blood, a dark history podcast by Dana Schwartz. This is moody, atmospheric storytelling at its finest.
That’s it for this month! Leave me a comment and let me know what have you all been up to. What’ve you been reading and loving lately? Did you participate in Nanowrimo? What was your favorite Thanksgiving dish?
I'm sorry about the book 2 stress and I'm glad you were able to get an extension.
Those cards are STUNNING! And what a fun in-story way to present your fabulous girls!
And can't wait for the Christmas episode! So fun! Hope someone asks your question about kissing 🤣 Imagine there are plenty of scenes to chose from!