The Blood of Queens Cover Reveal and Release Date

Editing... Done.

Formatting... Done.

All the ancillary prep work... Done

Cover... AMAZING!!!!

Thea Magerand has outdone herself AGAIN. Not only did she create the stunning artwork above, she put up with me while doing it!

And... Here... We... Go...

 

 

Today (technically yesterday, but I hadn't sent the file) marks the start of editing on The Blood of Queens, Book 2 in The Crow's Gambit!

I'm super excited to be working with the wonderful Fiona McLaren, who was the editor for The Blood of Crows. I've attempted to take as much of her feedback from the first book into account before sending it to her, but I'm most definitely not perfect (that's where she comes in).

The biggest difference this time around being that no one other than me has even seen the full manuscript yet. I've shared bits and pieces with others, but up until now I've been the only one who knows the how this one ends.

Needless to say, I'm mildly terrified, more than a little bit anxious, and definitely excited to see someone else's thoughts on what Ren, Molly, Haim, and the rest of the gang get up to in Book 2.

The schedule with Fiona runs through December, and I'll try to keep everyone posted. TBoQ is currently on target for an early-ish 2024 release.

The Blood of Queens - The End

I've been on vacation from my day job for the past week and a half. And what does a writer do when they're on vacation? That's correct, I've been writing and revising, with a little bit of going to a big nerdy fan convention in the middle.

Late last week I typed those important words "The End" on the penultimate chapter of The Blood of Queens, Book 2 of The Crow's Gambit and sequel to The Blood of Crows. The revision I just finished is the last "major" revision prior to getting it in the hands of my editor. I'm very much hoping to work with the same editor as book 1 (Fiona, check your inbox, we need to talk schedules).

The revision itself was pretty extensive. Chapters were chucked, created, burned to the ground and rebuilt, plots were rewritten, characters were renamed (leading to me learning far more about the ins-and-outs of Tiddlywiki than I ever wanted to know), and copious cups of coffee were poured onto my brain. But in the end, it all seems to work. The heist at the climax of the book works and feels pretty exciting, and the characters all end up at a place that's very different from where they began.

While I sort things with Fiona I'm doing a polishing pass and fixing all the small issues that I can see, eliminating echoes and crutch words where I can find them. I'm essentially doing that thing that people do before the cleaner comes over, where they pick up all the odds and ends and wash the dishes etc. Then I'll be reaching out to my Beta readers to see who's interested in giving me some tough love.

All told, The Blood of Queens sits comfortably around ~107,000 words, which works out to somewhere between 340-360 pages. So it's fairly in line with the length of the first book so far.

 I'm finding that I thoroughly enjoy this little stint of being a full-time writer. Perhaps someday I'll make enough for it to be a reality, instead of what I do with my vacation from the place that makes it so I can pay the bills.