The sketch of the cover for the Inheritance features an interior of a cave. Bear and Ada are silhouetted on the ledge looking into a vast cavern where a couple of wasps are flying in the distance. More than one answer is allowed. If you are reading it through the email and getting code salad, click this link to vote.

In the interests of not making Mod R work on the weekend, comments are locked.

The post Very Important Poll: Yes Wasps or No Wasps first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

To whoever needs to hear it:

• The dog doesn’t die
• Ada doesn’t die
• Elias also doesn’t die
• Elias doesn’t have a spouse
• Ada and Bear will escape the breach
• So will the REDACTED
• Ada and Elias will meet
• The story will not end in tragedy
• The publication of the story is not cancelled; we are waiting for the cover and the final first draft – ha! – before we start with the preorders.
• The story will come out this summer.
• If BDH really likes the book and feels the story is not finished, we will write a sequel. – I can’t believe I’m saying this, but dear God, the emails. Please stop stressing about this.
• It will be okay.

I know we are all stressed out because the world seems to be burning, but we’ve never had this much reader insecurity communicated to us during a serial. We don’t do tragic endings. Once again, this is a roller coaster ride, and it is very well maintained. It will bring everyone safely to the ground.

::hug::

If this keeps going, we might have to nominate Mod R for sainthood.

Comments are locked because it is the weekend.

The post It Will Be Okay first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

Australian Availability

First, we are very sorry This Kingdom is still not currently available in Australia. This is happening because of the particular way the Australian book distribution works. A lot of Australian booksellers don’t use automated metadata feeds, which probably means nothing to anyone who is not in the publishing industry.

The important bit is that books distributed to Australia by Australian publishers usually pop up for pre-order 3-4 months before the release date. This Kingdom will follow this same pattern: you should see if for preorder around December 2025.

We apologize for this inconvenience. It is better in the long run, because the availability of the book in Australia will be much wider. Instead of shipping individual orders from US, the local bookstores will stock it, which hopefully will mean less frustration for everyone. We want to keep the local bookstores in business, whether they are in US or Australia.

Cover Thoughts and Questions

We are so glad so many of you are excited about Maggie. Some of you emailed us with questions, most of which we can’t answer due to spoilers. Here is what we can say:

The three circles on the cover stand for 3 moons of Rellas, and the bird is a magical creature. It’s not really a bird in the narrative, it’s a cross between a mammal and a feathered dinosaur, but that’s how the artist imagined it. The creature itself isn’t a major part of the book, so it’s more about what it symbolizes. Hopefully it will make sense once you read the book.

We both really love the cover, because it is at once very different from everything that’s out there now and oddly nostalgic. It looks like the kind of book you found in the library, took home on a whim, and discovered a different world between the covers.

To continue that point, just to clarify one more time: This Kingdom is an epic fantasy with a romantic subplot.

It’s not a grimdark where things are hopeless and everyone dies. It’s not a romance where we meet the hero on page 2, and he immediately goes after the heroine, and we have lots of spicy times with an occasional sword fight thrown in. It’s not a heroic fantasy like Kate Daniels where the protagonist is a genius swordswoman and often solves her problems by kicking people in the face while firing off hilarious oneliners.

It’s an epic fantasy with a romance woven through it. There is a lot of worldbuilding, intrigue, violence, a large cast, and several dangerous love interests. It deals in archetypes. We have a found family, a cute pet that doesn’t die, but we also see people murdered in gruesome ways. It’s the kind of book George would enjoy reading if he decided to abandon his obsession with managing the Galaxy for a couple of evenings.

Maggie is just an ordinary person. She isn’t a virtuoso fighter or an all-powerful mage. She doesn’t know how to kick people in the face. She does occasionally solve her problems with violence, but only as a last resort. She is a fan who ended up in her favorite book, so she is weaponizing her book knowledge.

It is still our voice and our style, but in an epic fantasy form. We will have excerpts and samples for you closer to release to hopefully help you decide if this is the kind of story you might be interested in reading.

Inheritance, etc

While This Kingdom is our current traditionally published project and takes precedence, we have other things we are working on.

Mod R sent us a list of many questions regarding the Inheritance.

Schedule?

Inheritance should come out this summer, then we are working on Maggie 2, then on a self-published project, then Maggie 3.

Sequel to Inheritance?

The inheritance will have a sequel. Mostly because the sequel was requested numerous times. The story grew unexpectedly, and it looks like Ada will need more time to flex her new powers and come to terms with Elias existing. So let’s say one more.

Crossover?

By now most of you have caught on to the Innkeeper elements, but this will not be a full crossover. Ada and Dina are unlikely to meet, which isn’t to say that Dina will never spot a human woman with a very large German Shepherd shopping at Baha-char in some distant future.

Signed copies of Inheritance anywhere? Do you want release events with anyone?

As of now, we are not planning a zoom or signed copies or any kind of release publicity, because we are behind on Maggie #2.

Shop opening for release?

Probably not. We have a lot on our plate. People have been asking for I Am Chalant items, so if we do something, the selection will be extremely limited. But right now the store is unlikely.

Let’s see what else is in this admin list, reminder for Candice, reminder for audio, copyedit arrangements, sign the contracts… Okay I think we mostly covered things.

Now the bad news: we will be skipping the Friday installment this week.

Guys, I’m exhausted. Like I’m so, so tired. We crash wrote the Inheritance very quickly, and we had to do copyedits and proofread on This Kingdom at the same time and juggle the artist and audio contracts. Real life also has been a little dense lately. I feel like Ada: A million moments and all of them taken.

The edit for the Inheritance is substantial. The story won’t significantly change but there is a lot of clean-up. As always we will be streamlining and addressing inconsistencies that creep up in the first draft. And since we were tired, we underwrote the finale, and predictably, to no surprise at all, the editor pointed that out.

I’m sorry, I have got to touch grass for a couple of days before we dive back into the edit. We don’t want to give you a scene that might be completely recut in the final draft. So we will see you Monday.

The post Wednesday Updates and Skipping Inheritance on Friday first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

::waves:: Happy Monday!

Behold the gorgeous cover for the Inheritance by Candice Slater. Please click to enlarge. It is very fun enlarged because you can see all the different elements Candice put into it. The actual painting is much larger, so we all zoomed in on it and scoured it for the little details. Candice is ridiculously talented. We will see about including it somewhere into something, because it is so pretty.

While we are on the subject: if you like this style and would like to hire Candice Slater, absolutely do it. Not only she is skilled and talented, but everything was on time on a ridiculously tight schedule. Incredible artist and a fantastic creative partner. Clicking on her name above will lead to her website.

Oh, and the back cover for the printed edition.

What Is It?

THE INHERITANCE get the caps treatment, because it has officially crossed into novel territory. It is almost 75,000 words long, which puts it into the same category as CLEAN SWEEP and MAGIC CLAIMS.

THE INHERITANCE will have a sequel. It was meant to be a stand alone, but we ended up with the origin story instead. Not the plan. Not the plan at all, but it is what it is.

THE INHERITANCE is connected to one of our other series, and at least one of the characters from THE INHERITANCE will be featured in the final duology.

THE INHERITANCE will feature at least 8 illustrations from Candice Slater. They will be rendered black and white on Kindle or other devices that do not have color capabilities and in color on the devices that do like Kindle Colorsmart, phones, andtablets that are not dedicated ereaders. The print edition art will likely be black and white. There are no plans for an illustrated special edition at this time. We will likely do that when we have a sequel finished and bundle them.

When Is It?

THE INHERITANCE was sent to our copyeditor and she expects to have it back to us this Friday. We will need to implement changes and respond to her queries which will take us 2-3 days.

There will be no preorder. We are hoping for the publication date of Friday, August 8th. This is a soft date, ebook only. Print will take a couple of days to pop up for sale because it is processed differently. Audio will take a few weeks. It’s a much longer process.

Ebook – hopefully Friday August 8th. There might be unforeseen delays for some reason, so it could be pushed to the beginning of next week, but the goal is Friday.

Print – shortly following the ebook. It will be POD with horrible pricing. We are sorry, but we must make at least $1 per print book.

Audio – we are delighted to announce that THE INHERITANCE will feature a dual POV. Ada’s parts will be voiced by Hillary Huber, who voices older Kate in Magic Tides and Magic Claims. Elias’s parts will be voice by James Konicek, who performs as Mahon in Graphic Audio Kate Daniels series.

Both Hillary and James have very full calendars, and we are incredibly fortunate to work with them. Because we blew past our original audio date – deadlines do not make a whistling sound as they fly by – we are now waiting for the slot to open up in their calendar. That means that the audio will arrive in a few weeks to a few months time period. The contracts are signed; there will be an audio; we just cannot give you a firm date.

Where Is It?

THE INHERITANCE will be available across all of the usual retailers and, if things go well, directly from our website. More to come later. Please watch the blog for announcements.

Questions collected by Mod R

How much of the book have we seen as serial already?

It’s hard to say, because we added scenes, but about 90-95% was posted on the blog.

Backseat Driver edit from Mod R: Ilona’s being very conservative here. We’ve seen about 60k words and the developmental edit brought the manuscript to 73k. So we haven’t seen about 18% of the story … and copy edits are still to come! We’re getting a Horde feast on the 8th! Squeee, more to devour devour devour!

Will it definitely have a sequel? Also timing of sequel?

Yes on at least one more. Because THE INHERITANCE was never meant to be a novel, we do not have any idea when we can get to the sequel. Hopefully soonish.

Did you always plan on them not meeting?

Why do you think they are not meeting? Wait for the book.

Did you plan on Elias not having such a big part of the narrative?

Do you remember Magic Bites? People kept asking, “Why, oh why do you have the Beast Lord in this book?”

Can we pay for an unfinished, unedited, unillustrated version?

No! Absolutely not. It comes out in two weeks. Our prose is not golden, and it requires multiple edits.

There was a comment that said you wrote Ada because she showed up in Hugh’s story and “wouldn’t leave you alone.”

Look, I know other authors sometimes make it sound as if they have no power over their characters or the characters made them do something. That is usually a shorthand for describing inspiration. It’s very hard to convey how inspiration works.

The characters don’t make us do anything. They are figments of our imagination. We could have forced Ada’s story to be a novella. We didn’t because quality controls kicked in.

Imagine you are cleaning the house because company is coming over. You picked up most of the clutter, the house looks decent, but you didn’t vacuum. It looks kind of okay without vacuuming, but you know you haven’t done it. You know it’s dirty.

Writing is a little bit like that. You know when a scene is missing or a character isn’t developed properly because you wrote too small. Eventually you give up and vacuum the floor, because you are a professional and you don’t want to put out half-baked stuff.

Ada never showed up in the Hugh story. I think the confusion here came from the fact that at some point I mentioned that we discussed Hugh, realized that it is completely unsuited for serialization, and we had an idea for a novella – stop laughing – that would make a much better serial. Serials do best with a very specific structure: action-packed scenes, limited character cast, a relatively straight-forward plot. Otherwise people get confused and forget who was who and why they were in the narrative.

When will the Inheritance posts be archived?

They will stay up until you can purchase the book.

The release Zoom chat?

Ehhh. Do you want one? Let us know.

Thank you once again for reading the serial with us! We have to go and work on some proofreader queries for This Kingdom, but fear not, we will try to keep you entertained with something once or twice a week.

The post The Inheritance Cover Reveal first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

Woof! We’ll be celebrating the release of THE INHERITANCE (Book 1 of the new Breach Wars series) with a live Q&A event:

Join Ilona and Gordon on Saturday, August 16 at 10 AM Central on Zoom – register here.

We’ll be diving in the breach to tackle all things Inheritance, from mature female protagonists to mysterious Talents, everyone’s favorite grumpy Guildmaster, and of course, me! Best girl Bear, the not-so-little K9 wonder.

If you’re interested in anything specific like future writing plans, how Maggie is doing, pets and stories – comment with your question below. I’ll make sure to take the list to the humans, only slightly chewed.

I love zoomies! But Zoom spaces are limited, and they tend to go fast. Please be sure to register ahead of time to reserve your spot.

Not sure what 10 AM Central is in your dimension? You can figure it out using your favorite time zone converter – Ada likes this one.

For anyone who cannot attend the zoomies live, we’ll do our best to patrol and record the session and share the video on YouTube and on the blog next week.

I’m off to roll in something questionable. See you Saturday!

The post Zoom Q&A for The Inheritance Release first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

Welcome to the Breach Wars!

The Inheritance actually slipped into Amazon circulation late last night, so we had to scramble a little bit to match it on our store. I have a few store queries to take care of and I will jump on it right after this post.

Obligatory cover and synopsis.

We are at war. The interdimensional invasion brought us unimaginable suffering, but it also awoke talents slumbering deep within us, a means to repel and destroy our enemy. Every day new gates open, leading to breaches filled with monsters and valuable resources. If you are a Talent, your country needs you. The world needs you. Be the hero you were born to be.

Adaline is a Talent. Ten years ago, she had a happy marriage and a job she loved. The invasion shattered both. Now she works for the government, searching the breaches for magic metals and medicine to help Earth repel an interdimensional enemy. Two kids, one cat, bills, benefits, mortgage and school tuition…Risking her life became routine.

She had gone into the dimensional gates hundreds of times. She was always well protected. This time everything goes wrong. Now Ada is trapped in the labyrinth of alien caves unlike any other. Her only companion is a scared German Shepherd named Bear. Together they must uncover the breach’s secrets and escape, because Ada promised her children that she will come home.

The future of humanity depends on it.

Or buy from your favorite retailers.

A quick note regarding EU access to the store. The company that onboarded our EU tax compliance assumed that all books are tax free in US, which caused an issue when I tested the store and it dramatically failed to collect Texas tax. We had to temporarily remove EU access, but they assure us that everything is fixed. Once I get through the customer issues, I will try reopening and we will see if it works.

This was such a fun serial to write. Thank you so much for coming along on this adventure with us!

PS from Mod R: This is also our INHERITANCE spoiled thread. For everyone who rushed to the end (I see you, I am you) – there are added scenes along the way, all the new content isn’t just in the last chapter.

The post Happy Book Birthday to THE INHERITANCE first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

Dina:  Welcome, dear BDH, to the new edition of the Frinnterviews. Today we have two guests from a different Earth with us: Adaline Moore, Dimensional Breach Resource Assessor; and Elias McFeron, Guildmaster of Cold Chaos. Our chef prepared special refreshments and some snacks.

Elias: Are these… what are these?

Dina: They are gourmet triple chocolate cupcakes, and they are shaped like Guardian Guild emblems.

Elias: Why Guardians?

Dina: Orro thought you would have fun “devouring” them. Since they are your rivals.

Elias: I wouldn’t say the Guardians are our rivals. We all stride toward the same goal: repelling this invasion and protecting our planet.

Ada, rolling eyes.

Elias: What about those?

Dina: These are cheesecake bites with piped mauve flowers, and this is whiskey and honey panna cotta with chocolate Grasping Hand dipped in red wine glaze.

Elias: How did he make the red lattice?

Dina: I’m not sure. I think it’s a type of cookie called coral tulle.

Elias: I’ll try the cheesecake.

Ada: Are you allergic to nuts?

Elias: No. Are there nuts in these?

Ada: Yes.

Elias: Good to know. … These are incredibly delicious.

Ada: We are sitting inside a semi-sentient tree, disguised as a house, while it is generating its own space-time by bending the rules of physics, and you are eating cheesecake.

Elias: What can I say? I’m a man of courage.

Ada: Yes. Nerves of steel. And low blood sugar.

Elias, smiling: Things got a little heated in the Ft. Campbell breach. We came out barely an hour ago. It’s always a race to the gate once the anchor is destroyed.

Ada: Did 101 Airborne finally give up and call the guilds in?

Elias: We were asked to assist. I’m sure they had it well in hand.

Ada: Let me save you some time, Dina. You’re not going to get much out of him. He is in Guildmaster mode. He will give you smooth, political answers in a way that ensures that absolutely nothing he says could be used against him or Cold Chaos.

Dina: Is that true?

Elias: Depends on the nature of the question. While we are here, I have several questions myself, Ms. Moore.

Ada: I prefer Assessor Moore and I’m not here to answer your questions. I’m here as a courtesy to everyone who put us in the Amazon #1 bestseller spot. The authors worked very hard, and they are very proud.

Dina: Is she pleased?

Ada: She showed the #1 to the computer repair guys to get his desktop repaired faster.

Elias: That’s not pride. That’s communicating the urgency of a crisis requiring immediate resolution.

Dina: How did that go, by the way?

Elias: He might need a new motherboard. They adjusted the BIOS, and it’s working for now.

Ada: Our time in the spotlight was short. They’ve already shifted gears to working on the extra material for the special editions of This Kingdom.

Elias: Mhm. I’ve read it. It’s good. An interesting isekai.

Ada: I had no idea your vocabulary included that term. Perhaps, the vice-guildmaster’s influence?

Elias: I’m well read. Although I prefer LitRPG myself. Back to questions.

Ada: Dina, did you have any questions for me?

Dina: Yes. Are you planning on returning to your work as an Assessor?

Ada: That’s what I do. It’s my small way of contributing to our fight against the invaders.

Dina: Do you plan to make use of the knowledge acquired in the breach?

Ada: Of course. Assessors are constantly learning. We gather information in every breach we enter.

Dina: Elias, my next question is to you. Have you chosen the name for your cat?

Ada: You must be joking. My children watched him interact with Mellow. The guildmaster is definitely not a cat person.

Elias: It’s between Reaper and Buttercup right now. We will figure it out. Speaking of names, Dina, did you know that human linguistics is quite interesting? No matter what language it is, when people pronounce unfamiliar names for the first time, they tend to pause slightly. It’s an unconscious hesitation. Also, we tend to start sentences with names.”

Dina: I didn’t know that.

Elias: Curious, right? When one says something like Ighrr tsee Rakalan dresst, and the other person starts the next sentence with Rakalan, it’s a good bet that Rakalan is a name…

Ada: …

Elias: It’s interesting what a qualified linguist can glimpse from a recorded conversation. I have a whole bunch of names, Rakalan, gress, Tsu…

Ada: Dina, if you care about the survival of our Earth, expel him now.

Dina: I’m sorry, the Guildmaster had to leave us early. Duty calls.

Ada: Thank you.

Dina: I understand the need for discretion. Secrecy is paramount to the very existence of the inns.

Ada: I appreciate you inviting us to visit. Before I go, I did want to ask one question.

Dina: Of course.

Ada: Have you ever heard of Baha-char?

***

Quick reminder that our Inheritance Zoom Q&A is tomorrow, Saturday August 16, at 10:00 a.m. Central Time (CT).

Good news: registration has been extended so if you want another chance to join us live, the link is here.

Not sure what that is in your neck of the woods? Use a handy converter: Find your local time vs. Central Time.

The session will be recorded and posted on YouTube and here on the blog sometime next week.

The post Frinnterview: Ada and Elias first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

We are happy to share that THE INHERITANCE paperbacks have now populated on most retailer websites.

These are print-on-demand (POD) editions and include the interior illustrations, rendered in black and white for the print format.

BOOKSHOP

AbeBooks

BookTopia

Above are links to a few of the major retailers that carry it. The distribution for the paperback is handled through Ingram, which means the book will populate across many other international sellers as well. If your favorite store isn’t listed here, a quick search in their catalogue should bring it up.

If you’d like to order through your local indie bookstore, or if you’d like your library to order a copy, you’ll need this ISBN: 9781641973403.

Audiobook news: the audio format of THE INHERITANCE is also in the works!

Narrators Hillary Huber and James Konicek have been given detailed pronunciation guides and will begin recording soon. This will be a dual POV, unabridged, traditional audiobook.

We expect it to be available mid-autumn, and in the meantime, we’ll share audio clips and snippets as soon as they’re ready.

The post THE INHERITANCE Paperback Format first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.