Yesterday afternoon, I boarded a plane to fly from Kona, Hawaii back to San Francisco. Now I’m home again. It’s summer there, but it’s the holidays here, and the clocks have changed, and everything’s backwards. The trip was unplanned—I booked the flight just four days in advance—and while I’m no good at spontaneity, I’m glad I went. I got to spend time with family, soak up the 80 degree weather, do some snorkeling, watch the sunrise turn the clouds pink. All good things.
Main Projects
To Poison a King + Preorder Gifts
Last month, I revealed the cover and release date for my upcoming standalone fantasy, To Poison a King. If you missed it, you can read the full announcement here.
When I first started drafting this book, I gave myself permission to write the story exactly as it came to me, without expectation. The resulting novel is an ode to imagination, written with the characters at the forefront, full of meaning and heartache and magic. It's important to me, and I can't wait to share it with you.
To Poison a King is currently available for preorder, and this launch, I’m running my very first preorder gift campaign! Anyone who preorders a copy of To Poison a King (in any format) can submit their receipt for a gift from me, which will include a signed bookplate and at least one more goodie—I’m still hammering out the details, but it’ll involve original art related to the story. You must be following me on Instagram to participate, as the campaign will be run through that platform. If you’re interested, save your receipt! More details and instructions to come. *Open to US residents only.
Manuscript #5 (Space Fantasy)
Earlier this month (and for the first time ever, twice in one year!) I got to write the end, marking the finish of my fifth fantasy novel. This book is goofy, fast paced and plot driven. It’s the most casually worded book I’ve ever written, and it’s also my first YA! Though it’ll be a while before this book sees the light of day, I’m already so excited for you to meet these characters and read their story.
Manuscript #6 (To Poison a King Companion Novel)
Companion novels are not quite sequels and not quite standalones. They’re often set in the same world as each other, but feature different characters and separate storylines. I’ve recently started writing a companion novel for To Poison a King (which I’m really excited about!) and aim to have the first 30k words drafted by the end of this year.
Secondary Projects
The River of Reversal
I’ve written a novella called The River of Reversal that’ll serve as a prequal to To Poison a King. I aim to push it live next month! It’ll be free and easily downloadable: a gift of sorts, and also a way to introduce you to the world of Selene and Elias.
Book Recommendations & Reviews
I’ve always shared book recommendations with you guys, but I’m also trying to writing more thoughtful reviews for the books that really wow me. You can find an updated list of those here!
NetGalley.com
I’ve joined NetGalley.com, which offers readers advanced copies of new releases. In this case, I’ll be working with NetGalley as both a reader and an author, and I hope to use the opportunity to bring you guys recommendations for some of the more buzz-worthy books out there, as well as to help promote new and upcoming authors.
Additional Book Things
November Freebies
Every month, I like to partner with other authors who are offering readers free books. It’s a great way to discover new favorites, so follow the links below to check out the full giveaways.
Best Free Indie Fantasy - 99 books
Free Fantasy - 46 books
November Gales and Fantasy Tales - 42 books
Portal to Fantasy Presents Fall Fantasy - 158 books
Dragons and Spaceships - 87 books
Fantasy for All - 122 books
Sci-Fi Fantasy for November - 79 books
Save To Poison a King on Goodreads
For those of you on Goodreads, you can now save the book as Want to Read!
Housekeeping
Social Media
I'm on Instagram! And not really but sometimes on Twitter! And also on Goodreads and BookBub! Many of you are good with these occasional updates, and that's rad, but if you'd like more you can follow me on any of the above.
My Affordability Policy
I’ve written up a personal note regarding my book affordability policy. Please read this post if you'd like to learn more.
Leaving Reviews for The Elvish Trilogy
Elvish has now well surpassed 1,000 reviews on Amazon. Your support has directly impact my success as an author, so to all of you who've taken the time to leave a review, thank you, thank you, thank you. If you'd like to continue to support me, I would so appreciate some new reviews for Elder and my latest release Ember. Let's show these books some love, too!
Thank you for sticking around, reading what I have to say and supporting me on this crazy journey. And as always, happy reading.
-S.G.