Most of the great offers on the new ebooks have been for the US sites, but now it’s time for Canadian and British readers. BLOOD & CHRYSANTHEMUMS is on sale for $1.99 all this week.

The new (and beautiful) ebook editions of Cold Hillside and A Terrible Beauty are on sale for $1.99 until August 2nd, wherever fine ebooks (and some not so fine ones, I suppose) are sold!

BLOOD & CHRYSANTHEMUMS ebook is on sale today (July 18) for $1.99 at all the usual places.

The new ebook edition of THE NIGHT INSIDE is on sale at Amazon and Barnes & Noble for $1.99 today (July 14th) only.

The beautiful new ebook editions are now live and waiting for you. Or your friend. Or your mother. Or your sister. Or your second cousin. Or random strangers.

Anyway, I’m very happy about it, especially as it’s a nice distraction from rewrite #3 of the Witch Novel ending.

Huzzah!

First off, obligatory PRE-ORDER/UPCOMING RELEASE note. The new ebook editions will be out on July 9th.

Despite being very busy (trip to Italy – yes, pictures will come – family visit, general stuff), I managed to read 30 books. I suppose the two long plane flights did help.

FICTION

The Grief of Stones, by Katherine Addison. One of the things I love about Addison’s work is that she just pitches you into the world and somehow you figure out what you need to know. Lots of things are never explained because the explanation doesn’t matter to the story. Ok, I admit, this is the second book about Witness for the Dead Thara Celehar but I can’t be expected to remember all the world details. Anyway, another fine additional to a compassionate series.

Saint Death’s Daughter, by C.S.E. Corey. Winner of the 2023 World Fantasy Award. The protagonist comes from a long line of court-appointed assassins with wonderful names like Abandon Hope, Irradiant, and Unnatural. When misfortunes befalls her feckless family, she finds herself up against the Blackbird Bride and her flock of wizards. Rich and funny and dark all at the same time.

The Thrice-Drowned Saint, by C.S.E. Corey. I didn’t like this as much as Saint Death’s Daughter, but I did love the angels (remember kids, every angel is terrible) and the uncles.

Refuge, by Merilyn SImonds. This one had lingered on my list until I finally decided to read it. I thought the structure worked well and was even willing to forgive a few too many “Forest Gump” cameos. I do love a crotchety older narrator, and Cassandra MacCallum, her island solitude interrupted by a young Burmese refugee claiming to be her great-granddaughter, is a fine one.

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, by T. Kingfisher. A lovely romp that’s guaranteed to make you hungry.

Rose/House, by Arkady Martine. Another audiobook. This novella is part mystery novella, part commentary on architecture and the worship of ‘art monsters’, part meditation on AI, and part homage to “The Haunting of Hill House”. Since I like all of those things, I thoroughly enjoyed this.

NON-FICTION

The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World, by Jeff Goodell. Continuing my upbeat reading with this timely one. Glad I live in Ontario.

City of Fortune: How Venice Won and Lost a Naval Empire, by Roger Crowley. Sadly, this one didn’t come in until I was home from Venice, but it was a good read just the same. It focuses on the period of Venice’s naval dominance (vs. an entire history) and provides the right balance of love and clear-sightedness about the history, strengths, and weaknesses, in this unique place. Venice is one of my favorite cities in the world and I think it generally gets a bum rap (particularly in fantasy fiction). As Crowley points out, Venice’s only resource was naval and mercantile prowess – if they didn’t trade, they didn’t eat. They had to be good – and ruthless – at both of those things.

Knife, by Salman Rushdie. I listened to the audiobook (read by Rushdie) of this collections of “Meditations After An Attempted Murder”. I have read some Rushdie, but not in a while, and I found his thoughts about life, love, creativity, and the writing life interesting.

Move Like Water, by Hannah Stowe. Subtitled “My Story of the Sea”, this recounts Stowe’s life around, in, and studying the ocean. Lyrically written and immersive (ha!).

Well, I’m not sure about the art, the prestige or the spite parts, but I did like this piece by John Waters from the 2017 Venice Biennale.

New e-books editions with gorgeous new covers come out July 9th but you can pre-order now, if that strikes your fancy. Here’s more information from the good people at Open Road Media.

Don’t let the forces of doom and enshittification drag you down. This is still a wonderful place.

Happy Canada Day to all.

In theory. I’m on version #3 right now, which is somewhat frustrating. I know what has to happen, but I’m struggling with the balance of ‘show vs. tell’ (no, Nancy, you cannot just narrate all the sections you don’t feel like writing …. or can I?) and finding the final paragraphs.

One of my challenges is that the first draft actually came quite easily, and I enjoyed writing it, which is the kiss of death. I got carried away and thought “no, bad thing X doesn’t need to happen, it’ll be fine….” but that was definitely not the case. One of my test readers pointed this out immediately and I had to admit it was a ‘fair cop’ (to quote Monty Python). I’m quite happy to go back to the original version but it does make some of the denouement much harder to manage.

I’ve generally known how each of my novels ends from fairly early in the process, though I don’t always know the mechanics of how the characters get there. For THE NIGHT INSIDE, I remember telling someone that I had the two main characters walking up a set of stairs to confront the antagonist and I had no idea what was going to happen when they got to the top. They found this baffling, but they weren’t a writer.

A TERRIBLE BEAUTY was probably the easiest one – after all, it’s Beauty and the Beast. It could just end with a kiss (so to speak).

With COLD HILLSIDE, I knew I wanted to leave certain things ambiguous and that the climax was really a discovery rather than an action.

I have to have faith that I’ll get this one sorted, but I hope it won’t require many more drafts.

JUST A REMINDER: All four novels will be available in beautiful new e-books editions on JULY 9TH. Pre-orders are open. Thanks!

Back to blue again. I love the vibe of this one and it works for me, even if all the little details aren’t right. It’s eye-catching, which is what you want in a cover.