Camp Nano (again...)

It's that time of year again. The one where I try to accomplish something totally un-accomplishable. At this point I literally cannot remember what I wrote for Camp Nano last year, though I'm sure I wrote something.

This year, though, I'm doing something completely new to me: an anthology. And not just that but an anthology of Grimm retellings - something I have only worked on before for a short amount of time, and which went terribly not-good. Hoping these retellings will be much better, and nicer to me.

I can't say much about the stories, other than I am very excited about them, and they're YA high/epic fantasy set in a completely new world called Fissure. If you follow my instagram you might have seen my map drafting a few days ago. 

The anthology will be heavily diverse, i.e. inclusive of ethnicity (though not the exact same ethnicities we have, since it's not set on Earth), sexuality, and disability. I'm also hoping to switch up a few fairy tales to turn the kind and gentle kings into queens, and the wicked queens into kings because feminism and trope inversion. 

Also Bluebeard is a woman now.

So that's what I'm doing this April.

~Saruuh

The Lux Guardians update!

Do you want the good news or the good news?

I'll start with slightly-not-good news: The Revelation won't be released until Spring 2015. But - good news: The Revelation isn't book two in The Lux Guardians series.

I realised recently that the reason The Revelation wasn't happening, why its plot wasn't moving fast enough, why all the important things weren't happening, was because the characters and the series just wasn't ready for it yet. When I knew that, I could go forward with writing book two, and since then I've got a considerable amount of it fixed. Not that it needed fixing, I was just too dumb to realise what it was - the book that needed to be written, needed to happen, before The Revelation could. I hope that makes sense.

Either way, if it doesn't, just know that everything is going according to plan now.

The second good news: because of this realisation, and because I know exactly what this second book needs to accomplish and how to get it there, it will be released in time for the original release date October 7th. But better than that - it will be released ahead of the original release date. I'm thinking August but don't hold me to that. I still have schedules to plan and work around other books I'm writing.

To put it simply: you will have the second book of The Lux Guardians this Autumn. This also means the series will be four books now, instead of three.

Anyway, here's the cover. It doesn't match the alleyway scene of the other two covers, but since it fits the feel of the book, I'm not too bothered by it.

What do you think? Would you rather it matched the alleyway covers for The Forgotten and The Revelation? Let me know your thoughts.

~Saruuh

THE BEAST OF CALLAIRE Pre-order & ARCs

I'm a little delayed making this post because I've been extra busy this past week. But The Beast of Callaire is now available for physical pre-order! And not only do you get your book faster than people who don't pre-order, get it signed and personalised, and have the extra bonus of making me squeal with joy, but you get free swag. A fancy metal bookmark with beads and pretty charms, postcards, and stickers! 

Pre-order here!

This swag package is available for all who pre-order in both digital and paperback forms (and send proof of purchase) - digital pre-orders will go up in the next month on Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, and (with a slight delay) iBooks. I'm sure Sony Ebooks will also offer it for pre-order too, but I'd have to check that and I am quite lazy, plus nobody has yet downloaded any of my books through Sony, so I'm thinking it's a less popular vendor. 

But that's enough about pre-orders. Look at my shiny new proofs! Complete with grumpy teenage Nolan who did not want to participate in photo taking! Click to enlarge.

Ahh so pretty. So comfy to lay on!

Here's the form to request an ARC, if you're interested in reviewing.

Hope you're all having lovely Wednesdays.

~Saruuh

On negative reviews...

I probably shouldn't enjoy getting negative reviews half as much as I do. Every time a review for The Forgotten or Under comes in I inflate with joy. Really. I inflate, like a balloon, or like Harry Potter's aunt. Before I had reviews, I thought they were just a really cool thing to have. People reading my book and saying things about it! Maybe they even liked a couple of things! But I've since learned the error of my ways. Reviews aren't just cool and exciting and humbling ... they're extremely helpful.

It's been nine months since The Forgotten was first published, and I have an equal amount of positive and negative reviews (possibly one side is more than the other, I haven't compared numbers). What these opinions have done for the Lux Guardians series, though, is much wider than maybe recommending the books to a handful of people. 

Reviewers have pointed out things about TF that are blindingly obvious to me now, but never occurred to me before. Like, for example, six POVs is far too many (Why did I think that was a good idea? Rookie mistake!) and they switch far too often, leaving the reader disconnected from the characters. Also people find it confusing for the same reason and are unable to keep up with the plot (though that may just be related to the plot itself, which is admittedly convoluted and complex - for good reason.)

This isn't to say I don't enjoy reading positive reviews because I do. I love them. I squee. I freak out. People enjoyed my book?? It cannot be! But negative reviews aren't completely worthless. Well, not the ones that give reasons, anyhow. If your reviews are all 'THIS BOOK IS TERRIBLE! AWFUL! THE DEVIL'S WORK!" I probably wouldn't pay much attention, but critical reviews ... those are gems.