Mod R presented me with a list of questions. Let us get to it.

When will the preorder be availlable?

We don’t know. Well, that was easy. The usual MO is to wait until the cover is done because people tend to preorder in higher numbers once the cover is up. Maybe having the cover is proof that the book exists?

When will the cover be available?

We don’t know that either. I’m knocking these out of the park today.

Can you make Tor publish it faster?

Hahahaha. No.

Will there be opportunities for signed books or bookplates?

Absolutely.

Will there be a e-book and audio version or just print?

There will be all the things. Tor is fully behind this release. So here is how this book sold: it went to several publishers on Thursday and on Friday morning Tor came back with an offer so impressive, that our agent called for an emergency zoom meeting to discuss it. They read it that evening, and they really wanted this book. So there will be everything: ebook, print, audio. The whole kaboodle. We’ve discussed maps and extras.

Will there be special editions/ hardcovers/ book boxes, since it’s Tor? We want all the special editions (Fairyloot, Broken Binding, Forbidden Planet and Illumicrate mentioned specifically) 

We don’t know. But our personal feeling is that yes, there likely will be special editions. We are working on some extra scenes, deleted scenes, and so on.

Can you share a cover artist at least? Are you using Luisa Preissler?

We don’t know who the cover artist is. No idea. It probably will not be an object cover, simply because there have been so many of them that it’s hard to come up with a new distinct image. The direction is more toward illustrative rather than graphic. And that’s all I can say.

A note about Luisa Preissler: Luisa recently changed her creative direction. She is taking a break from covers and is working on landscapes instead. She now paints beautiful gouache art. Here is that story in Luisa’s own words and images, and here is how her first gallery went.

(She is teaching a class on her Patreon and I really want to take it. I haven’t yet, because I paint very, very badly. Like hilariously badly. Only my singing is worse.)

So although Hugh 1’s cover is in desperate need of a makeover and we would love her to do both Hugh 1 and 2, we are not sure that she will have an opening in her schedule. We will definitely bring it up, but we might have to go in the new direction.

And now you know why sometimes we do things other than sequels to the beloved series. Artists, writers, and musicians don’t usually stay in one lane. Creativity is a layered, branching expression of one’s inner self. As we go through life, the direction of creativity changes because we are affected by events that happen to us and the world around us. It is the natural evolution of us as human beings.

Will it be translated into French/ German/ Spanish etc?

Probably. Let me tell you a little bit about foreign rights so you will have a cool industry insight.

Twice a year, the publishing world gets together at two major book fairs: London and Frankfurt. The Frankfurt one is held in Germany and it is the largest book fair based on the sheer number of publishers who attend. It usually happens in October. London Book Fair, which is almost as large, is happening this week, March 11-13. It is held in London, to no one’s surprise, and both our agency and Tor will have a presence.

These are not reader-centric events, but rather events where publishers and agents from all over the world get together and talk about upcoming projects and sell and buy foreign (to them) rights.

While we don’t expect to have offers from foreign publishers, because the final edit was just turned in and hasn’t been accepted yet, This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me, and this was so long to type, let’s call it This Kingdom for short, This Kingdom will be “a topic of conversation.” At least that’s what our agent told us.

To sum up: yes, we expect interest from foreign publishers and we will let you know what is happening with that when we know something ourselves.

Does that mean you are going to London?

No, London Book Fair is not for the authors. But we would love to go to London. And Ireland.

Why are you using comps to announce the book?

We are not. Tor is using comps to announce the book. Comps are mostly for industry insiders to let them quickly identify what the book is about. For some reason, you guys are really concentrating on them, but it is a minor detail.

Will the series be called Maggie the Undying?

Yes. We all loved Maggie as a title, but unfortunately it’s really hard to go to book 2 with it. Something has to beat out the Undying. And then you end up with Maggie the Undaunted or something equally silly.

Is it a series or a standalone?

It is definitely not a standalone. The original plan was for three. The caveat here is that Book 1 ended up being enormous, so Book 2 will likely be equally so, and we may pack the story into two books instead of three. But for now, three is where it is.

Are the 808 pages Word pages or formatted pages and what will be the final length of the book?

So if you take Magic Bites and Magic Burns and put them together, that will be about the right thickness. Typical KD was 90-95K, because the publisher wanted it that way, and this is around 180K.

Is there romance or isn’t there? How spicy is it?

It has strong romantic elements, meaning that you can yank romance out of the book and it would be still make sense. Like Kate books – you can remove Kate and Curran’s relationship and they will still make sense. The romance is slow burn. You will just have to read it.

So is this a twist on the concept from Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint?

Oh good question. Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint is a manhwa, a Korean comic, and a webnovel.

The manhwa is available on Webtoon and the official translation of the webnovel might have been up for preorder some time recently. Not sure about that one.

ORV throws the reader into his favorite book as a character. He starts tugging at strings and influencing events. This is a common trope used by a lot of portal (isekai) manhwa and anime.

The variation on that is being thrown into a video game. If you are in the market for an anime with that theme, there are so many, but I want to mention two here just for fun. First, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! The heroine ends up stuck as a villainess in the dating video game with hilarious results. Vegetables! All the vegetables ever.

The trailer, which is below, doesn’t do it justice. This anime is available on Crunchyroll. Although the trailer is subbed, the anime is dubbed and the dub is pretty good. (Link for newsletter readers.)

Once you watch that, there is this gem in Hidive.

From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad’s Been Reincarnated! has the exact same premise, but he is a middle aged dad, which leads to ridiculous moments, such as him telling another girl that her presence in the magical academy could mean only one thing – her parents love her very much and they want her to succeed.

But back to the Omniscient Reader, yes, This Kingdom has the similar premise of a reader being thrown into a book and changing events as they unfold. But Omniscient Reader is structured like a LitRPG, meaning it has a video-game like narrative. The character goes through a sequence of escalating fights with emphasis on classes and skills. It has more in common with Solo Leveling than Maggie.

(That genre is super fun. In fact, we are working on a very derivative novella in that genre on and off in our spare time because it’s been nagging at me and Gordon suggested that we need to download it onto page and out of my brain.)

This Kingdom has zero LitRPG elements. It is all about political intrigue and fantasy kingdoms, which is where the GOT comparison comes from. There are no defined classes or skills, there is no system window, etc. There are heists and murders and to quote Maggie, “Deadly swordmasters, thieves prowling through moonlit streets, dark magicians, ruthless nobles, hideous monsters…” It’s is meant to be an archetypical fantasy.

So a little bit different. A better comp would be the Lout of Count’s Family, which is available on Tapas. Highly recommend. And now we have it in novel form, available on Amazon and presumably everywhere else. Tada!

I haven’t read the novel, but the manhwa is awesome. He is the best dragon dad ever.

Since Maggie is getting sprayed edges, is there any news for a Kate hardcover/sprayed edges, uniform box set release?

We don’t know anything about sprayed edges or where they will go or what they will look like. We first saw it on Tor’s announcement.

We’ve brought up the possibility of reissuing KD in hardcover to Ace, which originally published that series. They are not interested in pursuing that at this time. As much as we all love Kate, it’s an older series.

How are you feeling about all of this?

Cautiously excited. For me there is a little bit of a disconnect, because in my head Maggie was a small weird book, and now This Kingdom reads like a medieval thriller. The book has grown bigger and more vivid. But despite the many editorial passes – or maybe because of them – I love the story. I love the world. I love Maggie and her fierce fandom heart. We both hope you will enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it.

The post All the Questions first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

I wonder about how more and more books are being written in the present tense. I have a hard time getting into something written that way. Past tense is where it’s at for me and I’m so glad you write that way. Maybe I’m just getting old, but what’s up with that?

I’m not sure why this is. I also noticed it, because present tense is harder for me to read, so I’m more likely to bounce off a book featuring it. I heard someone say that it’s because traditional publishers supposedly push you to write in past tense and since a lot more titles are self-published, that’s not longer true. I don’t buy it because I’ve read books in present tense published through traditional publishing houses.

If you have any theories, please share in the comments.

Are there rules to writing a good blurb for romance novels? Should I stay away from the “She is…. He is… Together they are…” formula or stick with the tried and tested?

That depends on what you mean by a blurb. From an author’s point of view, a blurb usually refers to that little bit of praise you see on the cover from other authors.

It’s hard to see but that bit above, where we say that Jessie’s book is “space opera at its finest” is the blurb. If that’s what you you want, the usual format is one sentence about the book itself and one sentence about the author.

I think you probably mean the summary for a query or a synopsis for the back of the book. In that case, if it’s a romance, the romance itself is the central conflict and the plot. So yes, it should have a few sentences about the heroine and her struggle and then a few sentences about the hero and his struggle (assuming hetero romance from the question.) Then it should show the shared conflict.

Alternatively, it can all be from the heroine point of view with the hero mentioned. This part of the query similar to a book synopsis on the back of the cover, so it might help to look at the back covers of some published books you like and see how they structured it. They are typically written for readers, so if you are doing it as a query, you want slightly less excited language.

Here is how I built a query for a hypothetical romantasy. Let me know if it helps or if you would like to ask a more detailed question.

Have you ever written an unhappy ending?

Yes. I usually don’t share that story, because it is unsettling. It’s one of our earlier short stories, very Russian, very folklore driven, kind of an homage to Gogol, and it has that classic Russian literature ending, which makes you go, “Well… I don’t know how to feel about this. I should be relieved but I’m not, and now I will think about this too much all day.”

If you want to read, it’s here, but you are diving into it at your own risk.

The post Present Tenses and Unhappy Endings first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

The slow editorial trudge continues.

Saturday:

Sunday:

Mod R is my witness, I keep cutting and cutting and somehow there are more words.

Thank you for all of the encouragement. You guys are too nice!

I received an interesting question the other day: if you could choose a comfort read among your books, what would you choose?

It’s probably Silver Shark for me. It grew out of my experiences more than any other. Don’t get me wrong, when I think about my childhood, it’s sun-filled and bright. The garden, the flowers, the River Street with the huge river flowing slowly past, the parks, the friends…

However, the older I grew, the more aware I became and the bleaker my life looked. It’s normal for teenagers to be nihilistic, but everything was truly falling apart by the time I was 14, and it only got worse from there. My adolescence is desaturated in my memories.

I had a chance to Google-drive past the house where I grew up, and it was in ruins. It really hammered home the point: that life is over. The place of my childhood exists only in my memories. It’s bittersweet, but the place where I live now is wonderful. It’s vivid, and bright, and I’m grateful for it. Yes, US has its problems, and I will complain about them as much as any American, but it’s a huge upgrade compared to the life I left behind.

Which brings me to another question:

Could we get a post sometime where folks share their favorite comfort read portions of House Andrews books?

This sounds like fun. Of everything we’ve written, what scenes or books do you go to when you need a little bit of comfort? One lucky commenter will get a signed book from our shelves.

Please don’t recommend other authors, as we will have a separate thread for that.

The post Comfort Reads first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

Ok, strap in!

There are no spoilers in this breakdown if you’ve read all the published books , but it does contain a little extra information. This comes either from the Hidden Legacy portal that used to exist on this website or sneaky bits from House Andrews Q&As. You’re not going to tell on me, will you . As always though, if it’s not in print it’s subject to change, so please be mindful of that. It stops at Emerald Blaze, the most recent book at present moment for this post.

Grandparents Generation:

Frida Afram: Magister Exemplaria (pattern mage) of unknown level, with a mechanical specialisation. Frida is an Army veteran and runs her own garage business, where she “talks” to the armoured vehicles Houston Houses bring to her to fix. She adores her grandchildren and drama, as well as her tank Romeo and taking a blowtorch to her latest knitting project.

Leon Afram: Magus Sagittarius (sharpshooter mage), Notable level, threat-based like his grand-daughter Nevada. He was also in the Army. Originally from Quebec, he was Black Canadian. He and Frida encountered problems for being a mixed race couple, but love conquered all.

Victoria Tremaine: Prime Truthseeker, Head of House Tremaine. After 12 miscarriages and the death of the man she loved, she bought the sperm of a Prime donor and used the comatose Misha Marcotte as a surrogate mother for her son, James. She was horrible to James, in the hopes of toughening him up, and currently uses the same merciless hand with the Baylors. After James’ disappearance, she frightened the Prime world with her ruthless interrogation techniques. Self admitted “abomination”. Currently held at Shenandoah State Correctional Facility, a luxury Prime prison, for her involvement in the Caesar conspiracy.

Unknown Male Prime of House (previously known as) Molpe: Greek Siren, excised from his House and found by Victoria when he was “terrified to use his power because it brought him nothing but misery”. House Molpe has changed their name as it gave too much of a clue into their Siren talent. They claimed only women of the line inherited it, and chose to have only male descendants. BDH theories about him abound, but The Cool Aunt lets us know he is alive and well and still in contact with La Tremaine.

Misha Marcotte: Metamorphosis Prime, Beast of Cologne. Lost her humanity and reason whilst in Beast form. Purportedly drowned in the Rhine by combined European military forces, she was in fact kept under constant sedation, in human form. Victoria Tremaine used her as a surrogate and subsequently had her sterilised. Misha’s talent passed onto James through maternal microchimerism and from him to his youngest daughter, Arabella. Misha is deceased.

Parents Generation:

James Baylor: A magic carrier, but with no manifest magic talent of his own. Son of Victoria Tremaine, he ran away from her and lived his entire life in hiding. He chose the surname Baylor at random from a Houston telephone book, picking one of the most common options. Married Penelope when they were both very young and became primary carer for the children when she went in the military. With Penelope, formally adopted her nephews, Bern and Leon. Started Baylor Investigative Agency and set the family up with a way to earn their living as well as a solid principle foundation on how to live their lives. Died of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumour (MPNST) when Nevada was 19.

Penelope Baylor: Magus Sagittarius of unknown level, not threat based. Sniper, Army veteran and former POW, Penelope returned from the war with PTSD. The kind that makes it extremely difficult to adjust to civilian life, similar to Rogan’s. If you have to fight, fight to kill. In an altercation with her sister Gisela and her boyfriend at the time, the latter threatened and tried to grab Bern and Leon, who were already living with Penelope. She tried her best to break his neck. He survived and pressed charges against Penelope, which caused her to lose her PI licence. The charges rolled through the court system and were dismissed on the condition that Penelope underwent therapy, which she did, but her licence was never reinstated. Currently is in charge of the security of House Baylor.

Gisela Afram: Magus Sagittarius, unknown level. Penelope’s sister and “not the best mother” (understatement) to Bern and Leon. Her two sons have different fathers, who are unknown but heavily speculated on by the BDH. Current whereabouts (as of EB) at the Royal Club inside Zona Rosa of Mexico City.

Arrosa Rogan: Prime Telekinetic and dual Empath. For more on her family of origin, the Ramirez, please see the family tree at the beginning of Diamond Fire because we could be here for years. Mother to Connor Rogan and mentor to Catalina Baylor. Current whereabouts: the Basque region in Spain, but she has a big house in Texas she wants Rogan and Nevada to fill with grandchildren.

Will Rogan: Prime Telekinetic of outstanding rank, like his son. Came from an incredibly straight laced family. After surviving several murder attempts, he was obsessed with producing a Telekinetic Sensate offspring so they would be safe. Shrewd businessman. Deceased.

Marcello Sagredo: Prime Antistasi, Count Sagredo. Murdered by Arkan at a the wedding of his best friend roughly 15 years ago, when he tried to defend the groom, who was the true target. Survived by his wife, 3 youngest children (including Alessandro) and his father.

Sigourney Etterson: Prime Venenata, Former Gold Staff of the Texas Assembly. Single mother to Runa, Halle and Ragnar, all Prime Venenatas. Secretly an assassin working for Diatheke. Deceased.

James Tolbert: Significant Purifier, ex-husband of Sigourney and father of the 3 Etterson siblings. Whereabouts unknown, good for nothing.

Main Characters Generation:

Nevada Baylor: Prime Truthseeker (Magus Elenchus), untested level Magus Sagittarius, threat based (never misses if shooting at someone who endangers her life). Very magically powerful, but started off without much magical education. Took over the Baylor family business at 17 and operated in crisis mode for years. Instrumental in saving Houston several times over and dismantling the plots of the Caesar conspiracy. Head of House Baylor and of the family business until her late 20s. Currently House Rogan. Gave birth to the her son, Arthur, at the end of Emerald Blazes and is enjoying her HEA with Mad Rogan.

Catalina Baylor: Siren Prime, Magus Sagittarius of untested level (with blade specialisation). Very sheltered in her childhood due to the effects of her power, Catalina is now the Head of House Baylor, runs Baylor Investigative Agency and is the Deputy Warden of Texas. Unlike most other mages, she doesn’t need to expand effort in order to use her talent, but rather in order to keep her power from “spilling”. Extremely intelligent, she is an expert in magical theory, House contracts, Prime life etc. She has mentors in Arrosa Rogan, Linus Duncan and Victoria Tremaine, the latter being also her primary enemy. In love with her now fiancé, Alessandro Sagredo, since her teen years.

Arabella Baylor: Prime Mage Metamorph, Beast of Cologne. Can access various traits of her Beast (strength, olfactory sense etc) in human form. Can keep her humanity and reason in her shifted form. Youngest Baylor, she is sensitive and temperamental as well as very practical and observant. Likes cute guys and would rather nope on Maths (a whole entire mood). Underestimate at your own peril.

Bern Baylor: Upper range Significant Magister Exemplaria, like his Grandmother Frida, but primarily IT manifestation. Gentle and level-headed giant, he is the background checker of the Baylor Investigative Agency and reliable to a fault. Tall, muscled and a wrestling and judo athlete. In a relationship with Runa Etterson (“leaves the house for her” level of in love, so it’s definitely serious).

Leon Baylor: Magus Sagittarius, like the Grandfather he is named after, not threat based. Dark Horse of House Baylor, refuses to get formally tested. Never misses a shot and can plan bullet trajectories. Hilarious, if a bit disturbed sense of humour. Suffered a lot as a teenager thinking he lacked magical talent and physical prowess. Mad Rogan fanboy (who amongst us can cast the first stone?).

Baylor spouses or confirmed hunny-buns:

Connor Rogan: Telekinetic Prime, Tactile and weak empath/telepath gift. Also known as El Huracan, Mad Rogan, Sexy Drago…ahem. I got distracted. Where were we? Right, rebellious teenager, military career where he got used as a demolition superhero by the Army. Constantly in war mode until he meets the love of his life, Nevada Baylor, and opened to the world again. A billionaire, has multiple businesses, including his own security team, Castra, and staff of military rescues. He’s very funny (just ask Peaches), loves chocolate mousse and is best friends with Pancakes Montgomery, for his sins.

Alessandro Sagredo: Antistasi Prime, excised son and heir of the aristocratic Venetian House Sagredo. Code names: The Artisan, The Wolf. Witnessed the death of his father at the hands of Arkan when he was 10 years old and has made it his life mission to get revenge. Posed as superficial Eurotrash international playboy whilst working as the assassin’s assassin. Has 1 piece Evil Grandfather, 1 mother, 2 sisters, a deceased father, and a deceased older brother who died as a baby. Loves spicy peppers but they do not love him back. Currently the Keeper to the the Deputy Warden of Texas- in other words doing what he loves most, which is protecting Catalina Baylor, his one true love.

Runa Etterson: Prime Venenata, Head of House Etterson. Older sister to Halle and Ragnar, best friend of Catalina, serious girlfriend (wants to join the family) of Bern. Very loyal to House Baylor, who helped her when no one would. Helped save Nevada and Rogan’s wedding and instrumental in saving Grandma Frida’s life in EB.

Benjiro Heart: Sgt Heart is Rogan’s second in command. The Baylors tip toe around Penelope’s relationship with Benjiro for fear of pushing too much, and so shall we. (But also, Penjiro 4ever!)

Grandkids generation:

Arthur Rogan– the Bébé (Moira Rose accent). Prime Telekinetic for sure, and who knows what else (except House Andrews). Newborn at the end of EB, we already know he gets up to a lot of adorable trouble.

The post Baylor Family Tree first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.