Following hot on the heels of yesterday’s post, I am so, so, SO super excited to announce that How Not To Acquire A Castle is now available for ebook preorder! Kindle preorder will be coming in just before Christmas, since I can only put that up 90 days out, and print preorder should start appearing early to mid December online everywhere.
I think I said once that Where Shadows Rise was a book of the heart, because I wrote it for my sister. Well, How Not To Acquire A Castle is another book of the heart – one I wrote for me. Mercury was the first character I ever finished a novel for, when I won NaNoWriMo back in 2007. That novel turned out to be the second in a series, so I backed up, and wrote the first book a few years later. That’s How Not To Acquire A Castle, which underwent a fairly major restructure (you might remember it a bit from that Epic Plotting Video two years ago when I visited le Twin, Liana Brooks) and then, this year, finally emerged like a butterfly into the light.
You guys. I love this book.
Mercury is smart and snarky and flirty and did I mention wicked smart? She’s a no-holds-barred, totally reluctant hero, who will stop at nothing to protect her city – whether from invaders, or bad leadership, or both. It’s hers. No one else can have it.
I have such Plans for this world. SUCH. PLANS.
To start with, you can expect the initial Mercury trilogy to be out next year. (Hopefully, forbearing death or dismemberment. I’m working on Book 2 at the moment.) After that, I have no specific timeline, but at the very least there will be some books about one of Mercury’s sisters, probably some books about her mother, at least one featuring one of her brothers, and some other additions that may or may not have Mercury’s family in them, I haven’t got to that point yet. But this is a large, sprawling world that I plan to luxuriate in – and I can’t wait for you to join me 🙂
If you know me in person, especially if you’ve been a student of mine, or a long-time friend, or if you’ve stalked me enough online to know my ridiculous, quirky, stupid sense of humour, then you’ll have a fair idea of what to expect from the tone of this book: it’s Terry Pratchett, if I had had the honour of being him. Ha. 😀 That, or else it’s one of the me-est books I’ll ever be able to write.
I hope you’ll welcome Mercury into your life – and I know that you, like all the other first readers, will welcome little Bystar into your heart. If you want to check it out, you can read the first (unpolished) chapter here.
Guys. Mercury is out. I am so, so excited.