Queer Fantasy and Weird Tales for the People
A quick update on The Book of the New Moon Door:
My Great Rewrite is done, clocking in at 164,315 words and 438 pages. My intrepid beta readers are finishing up the last few chapters, and after I’ve gone through their comments, I will be doing line edits forever (for the next three days).
Tomorrow, I get to draw a map. This will be a Real Fantasy Book with a map in the front. I’m very excited.
That’s it for the moment. Stop back on Monday for a cover reveal and more updates!
The Decemberists, “O Valencia!”
Good morning!
I am almost done with the Great Rewrite! This week, I’ll be finishing up my new draft of The Book of the New Moon Door, doing some final edits, and getting everything formatted with IngramSpark. My beta readers have been hard at work, and Brooke (of the Figuratively Speaking Tarot) has painted me a cover, and I’m so excited to show it to you.
A rough schedule for this week:
There will be a new chapter on Patreon tomorrow, and last week’s chapter will be here for free reading on Wednesday. We are racing toward the end! Just as a reminder, the published version will have some significant differences from the serial version, including a different ending. I hope you enjoy both versions.
On Friday, I’ll stop back in for an update on the publishing process.
The cover reveal will be on Monday, November 20, which is also when I’ll open up preorders for the third and final time.
Thanks for being here! Have an excellent week.
Also, our pressure on Congress and the Biden administration is working: keep calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Saving lives is the most important thing.
Donovan, “Sunshine Superman”
Good morning! It’s Monday again, so here’s a song.
I’m nearing the end of the Great Rewrite of The Book of the New Moon Door and will be finishing it up this week or early next week. Then comes the last edits and all the formatting. In the meantime, I’ll have a new chapter on Patreon tomorrow, and last week’s chapter will be up here on Wednesday.
While I was writing this, the news broke that the death toll in Gaza has broken 10,000. Please contact your representatives to demand an immediate ceasefire. Here’s Amnesty International’s petition.
May you be safe this week.
Low, “Half Light” (from The Mothman Prophecies)
Good morning!
If you’ve met me, you probably assumed I had seen The Mothman Prophecies a number of times, but I must confess that I had never watched it until two weeks ago. I was sick with a stomach bug and had a cat on my lap–the perfect time to catch up on cultural landmarks I missed.
After that, Covid followed my husband home from work, so I haven’t left the house more than three times in the past three weeks or so. This is probably fine. I did have a negative test yesterday, so I am on my way to passable health.
I’m making good progress on The Book of the New Moon Door! I’ve recruited a couple of beta readers to look over my draft as I complete it. In the meantime, expect a new chapter on Patreon tomorrow, and last week’s chapter here on Wednesday.
I hope you are staying well! Have an excellent week.
I am excited (and a little chagrined) to announce that The Book of the New Moon Door will release, come hell or high water, on December 15, 2023.
I very much wanted to manage an October release, but life circumstances and my inability to estimate how long a task will take got the better of me. I’m just about finished with the rewrites of Part One, which is the longest portion of the book. Parts Two and Three should proceed quickly and comparatively smoothly. I plan to have my files ready to submit by mid-November, giving me a whole month for approval and ordering proofs. (For comparison, I submitted my files two weeks in advance of Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea‘s release date, a window of time I do not recommend in the slightest.)
So, what does that mean for the two markets I’ll be attending next month? The first will be Bitchcraft Fair on Saturday, October 8, and the second is What the Hex on Sunday, October 22. (Links will take you to the Facebook events. I’ll have more information on both as we get closer!) I will have a form for preorders of The Book of the New Moon Door, which will be signed, wrapped, tied up with string, and sealed with my Space Whales Press seal, pictured above. Listen, everyone loves book mail, but book mail in an antiquated package is even better. I’ll have a mockup for you soon, so stay tuned! If you preorder at either of these events, you should receive this package via USPS Media Mail in early December, before the book goes live to online retailers.
If you can’t make it to either market, and you’d like to receive Fantasy Bookmail that must be unsealed like a secret missive, I should have extra copies toward the end of November or beginning of December that I will make available here on the website. I’ll have more information on that once my files are formatted and approved.
I hope that these special preorders will delight you. I truly appreciate your patience with me, and I am working hard to make The Book of the New Moon Door worth the wait. Thanks for being here, and stay tuned for more updates.
Hozier, “De Selby (Part 1)”
Good morning!
I’m continuing to work on The Book of the New Moon Door. I’ll be back at the end of this week with an update on an estimated release date. The short version: this is a big book (not Wheel of Time doorstopper big, but about twice as long as Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea), and an October release date is probably out of reach, but I plan to prepare some extremely fancy signed preorders for my two events in October.
In the meantime, I’ll have a new chapter on Patreon tomorrow and last week’s chapter here for free reading on Wednesday. I hope you’re enjoying the serial version, and I hope you’ll enjoy the published version more.
Thanks for being here! Have an excellent week.
Dessa, “Call Off Your Ghost”
Good morning and happy Labor Day! I hope you have a rest from your labors today.
First, the usual suspects: new chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door on Patreon tomorrow, and last week’s chapter will be up here on Wednesday.
I am plugging along on rewrites, and they continue to go slowly. I did finally get my meds, thanks to the combined efforts of my husband and a very nice pharmacist, so my brain is much more functional and my writing pace is increasing. Time is running out, but I’m not quite ready to officially call an October release out of the realm of possibility. Give me another couple of weeks, and I’ll make the call then. I have two events in October (Bitchcraft Fair and the Autumn edition of What the Hex), so I really want to have a new book in stock, but I can offer preorders if I don’t make it.
Thanks for reading, enjoy the holiday, and stop by again soon!
Tori Amos, “Juarez”
Happy Monday again!
I have very little to report today: I’m working on rewrites of The Book of the New Moon Door, and there will be a new chapter on Patreon tomorrow, followed by the latest chapter here on the blog on Wednesday.
As always, thanks for being here, and have an excellent week.
Sinéad O’Connor, “Jackie”
Happy Monday.
I am hard at work on rewrites for The Book of the New Moon Door. I was originally trying to keep up with Journey to the Water as well, but I think at this point I need to concede and put Journey on hiatus until New Moon Door is done. Since I have plenty of chapters of New Moon Door, I can post one a week (first on Patreon and then here) for the next month or so.
This is for a number of reasons:
First, rewrites are going to take a lot of my time. The original draft of The Book of the New Moon Door is over 170,000 words long. In order to achieve an October release date, I’ll need to finish the new draft ideally by the end of August.
Second, I’m not going to lie to you: Baldur’s Gate III came out. I’m a fairly disciplined writer, but I’m not that disciplined.
Third is below the cut for medical stuff and complaining about the US healthcare system:
Continue reading “Song of the Week”The Black Keys, “Have Love, Will Travel” (Richard Berry cover)
Good morning!
The newsletter is going out at noon my time (US Central Daylight), so if you haven’t signed up yet and want event news and additional cat pictures, be sure to sign up here before then. (It’s supposed to be an embedded form, but WordPress and MailerLite aren’t getting along.)
August is going to be the month of rewriting The Book of the New Moon Door, so I’ll be getting ready for that today and starting this week. In the meantime, there will be a new chapter on Patreon for your reading enjoyment tomorrow, and the latest chapter of Journey to the Water will be up here on Wednesday. New Moon Door may take all of my waking hours this month, but I’m planning to stay on top of the alternating posting schedule. I’ll let you know if that changes.
Also, please wish Brooke safe travels today, as she’s heading back from Witch City Tarot in Salem!
Thanks for being here! Have an excellent week.
