Welcome to our first go at a fresh newsletter!
What can you expect from me here?
news about my books: upcoming releases, events, covers, and snippets I won’t be releasing elsewhere - you deserve something special for letting me annoy you directly
news about me: what I’m up to, and what I’m watching and reading, the thoughts whirling around my brain, etc. I cannot promise these will be deep or profound, but they will be mine.
To start with, I have a lot of book news to share with you. I also have a lot of book news I can’t share with you. I find it infuriating when I see other authors coquettishly say that they have exciting news but they can’t possibly reveal it yet (because I want to knooow)… but god is it fun to be on the other end.
The Isle in the Silver Sea - now in paperback!
The Isle in the Silver Sea is out in paper and available for purchase anywhere you buy books—it is cheaper and floppier than its hardback progenitor. Please buy it, dog ear it, and mistreat it on public transport. I’ll love you for it. The UK edition has a pretty silver spine, but I also love the dark glossy look of the US version.
Buy it here (or anywhere else you like)
It is very odd to talk about Isle (nickname: TITTSS) in events now, because I wrote it so long ago. Since it released, I’ve written two whole other books. My brain is full. But if you love butch knights, angry femme witches, deconstructions of nationalism, cats who are definitely normal cats, Arthuriana, and reincarnation then I think you might enjoy this one.
So what comes next?
Next up for me is The Lady Thorns, out 6th April 2027.
This is my fairytale villain romance. Sort of.
The Lady of Thorns is a departure for me: it’s in first person, more romantic than epic, and tightly focused on a small cast. Like the Burning Kingdoms trilogy and The Isle in the Silver Sea, it’s sapphic. But in Gothic tradition, beyond the main romance, the novel has layers of toxic dynamics and relationships that permeate the whole story.
If you go in and say to yourself, hey, the vibes between this maidservant and her royal mistress and that huntswoman are deeply rancid, I can assure you I did that on purpose. I’ll resist digging into what I intended to say with this novel - in many ways that’s up to you - but I will say, when I think of villains in fairytales, I think of what indoctrination and redemption look like, and what monstrousness really is.
Here is a tiny, tiny excerpt to give you a taste of it.
The underfolk are in all the stories we tell, a single dark and jagged thread woven into every golden tapestry. They capture, consume, and betray fair maidens; they are heartless tricksters, monsters born of the deepest stone, inhuman and inhumanly wicked. By the end of every tale, the wicked underfolk suffer the punishment they deserve. They die in agony. They die reviled. All those winter tales rush to my mind like a swarm of moths, a grave portent.
The last embers of the candle gutter. I hear the creak of the door behind me, and a single sharp inhale—the prelude to a scream. My shoulders tighten; my hands clench in my lap. I hold my breath, and wait for my fate to meet me.
Here is my truth. My dark thread.
I am a monster. There are no happily-ever-afters for women like me.
And… after that?
Now that I’ve spent two books in a more romantic space, I’m keen to return to an epic space, with romantic elements - something in the vein of The Jasmine Throne. Grand worldbuilding, messy relationships… this is the genre space I find I love the most, and I feel energised and excited to explore it again.
But I have something else before then. And that’s all I’ll say for now.
Events!
I have an upcoming event in Aberdeen and the Wayword festival, in October, with V.L Bovalino.
I recently hosted Rachel Gillig on her tour for The Knave and the Moon in Bath. I also hosted Natasha Siegel for the paperback release of As Many Souls As Stars, at Sevenoaks Bookshop in Kent. I really love hosting other authors, and I’m really looking forward to doing more of it in the future.
Life Stuff
This isn’t going to interest you unless you like Dungeons & Dragons. Skip down to Books.
For my fellow ttrpg nerds: I’ve been watching campaign 4 of Critical Role. I am extremely stressed by the Schemers table. Brennan Lee Mulligan is a monster. I say this with admiration. I think you need both sadism and great patience to be a game master, which is why I fear and respect all my friends who regularly DM campaigns.
In other D&D news, I’m currently in three tabletop RPG campaigns, and for the first time in living memory I am playing one (1) character who is not a cleric. Scylla is a deeply weird snake lady and fae pact warlock. My other characters (a divorced dad tempest cleric in Saltmarsh, and a very put upon twilight cleric in Strahd) would not like her very much.
RPGs have been a huge source of joy for me in the last few years. One of my struggles with writing professionally has been that stories have always been my hobby and my relaxation. Although I am so happy I get to write for a living, what am I meant to do for fun? How do you relax doing the thing you now do to pay your bills?
I’ve tried other things, of course—but nothing scratches the itch like storytelling.
Collaborative storytelling has come in clutch for me. Watching Critical Role has really underlined the beauty of stories told by groups of people—the synergy, the serendipity, the pure joy of making something with your friends. CR is obviously for profit, but the stuff my friends and I make up around a dining room table, or on Zoom, isn’t for anyone but us. There’s no money involved, or editorial insight, or fears about success or failure. Success is measured by the good time you’ve had. Nothing more, nothing less.
Books
A few friends and I have been working through the Booker longlist, annotating and swapping books.
So far I’ve read:
All Them Dogs by Djamel White - Dark, gritty, a tragedy with a nasty twist. I’d love to see a television adaptation of this.
Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman - I sometimes joke that LitFic is about men in academia who sleep with their students; this is about that, but is also weird and experimental and very fun. Stereotypes are often rooted in truth, but they’re not necessarily bad.
It’s likely I’ll still be reading the longlist until 2027 and beyond, at the rate I’m going. But it’s refreshing to read outside of my comfort zone, and my brain loves gnawing on something new or experimental.
In SFF I’m currently on Gutterwitch by Esmie Jikemi-Pearson (out March 2027), which is electric and wonderful - it feels both nostalgic and fresh at the same time. I’m also beginning to read Season of Steel (also March 2027) by Maia Kane, which was pitched to me as sapphic Bridgerton meets Pacific Rim, which?? SOLD.
And that’s all for today! Thank you for your time, and let’s catch up in a month. (Or when I next have some news to share.)