Hello Foxes!
Going with an unusual Tuesday/Wednesday email for Reasons, which shall become clear. You’d think that the newsletter appearing a few days later than usual would have helped with the following problem, but alas…
Ack! I’ve failed!
I made the following declaration in my last missive:
I had hoped to have the new Darkhaven cover ready to show you this time, but art being what it is (and also software, which has been giving me some grief), it’s not ready yet. Next time. Hold me to it!
And I have made no progress on the cover. None. I haven’t even opened the document to look at it. I could say I’ve been busy with other work, and that is absolutely the case, but the truth is I’m a bit scared of it.
Quite scared of it. So far I have this:
Which is… a start. I also have a face to put on it, but getting those two things to play nice together DID NOT WORK last time I tried because I know exactly how I want it to look in my head, and my art, like my characters, has an obnoxious tendency to ignore my grand visions and do whatever the fuck it wants.
I also can’t find the right typeface. That’s just hours and hours of staring at font databases, which I would quite enjoy, but there is a point where investing more time has diminishing returns, and I hate admitting when I’ve sailed past it in a happy sea of ‘oooh, that one’s pretty for [insert book I haven’t written yet]’.
Writing updates
I have made more progress in writing land, though. First revision of Angels is complete, which means I have all the pieces I need (I think) in roughly the right order. Now I’m going through and putting it all into a timeline so I can make sure I don’t have days lasting for 36 hours or weeks vanishing into a time rift or the couple kissing in the rain at the same time one of them is off on a daring rescue mission. Both of which do happen in the book ;) Who doesn’t love a kissing in the rain scene?
The big challenge with Angels is the complicated political intrigue going on in the background. I’m trying to keep it romance first, politics distant second, but there’s a lot to manage.
Still, I figure you probably like a bit of political intrigue and conspiracy (since I can’t write a book without it), so let’s get into the book fairs!
Intrigue me
Fantasy with political intrigue is one of my favourite things. Save the sword fights and dragon riding for another day because I’m much more interested in conspiracies, power plays, clever schemes and conniving villains.
So here’s a pile of them!
And since we mentioned kissing…
We’re here on a Tuesday (US time) because it’s the Romance Book Blast!
For today only, you can pick up hundreds of romance titles across all the sub-genres for free! And it includes Another World’s Stars, my gender-swapped Sleeping Beauty retelling, which you can now find on all major e-retailers. (Previously published on Ream; if you read it there, it’s the same book.)
Jump on it sharpish, because it’s one day US time, so if you were sleeping when this newsletter arrived and are reading much later, it may be closing soon.
All right. I’m off to do battle with cover art. Send me courage!
Happy reading,
Kel