Well, we made it! Or some of us did. I don’t know about you, but I’ve felt increasingly like a zombie movie where fewer and fewer people haven’t been bit, and I’m not sure if I’m going to be a casualty during the climax or make it in time for the cure. Friends have been sick with covid; friends have lost large numbers of family members to it. I’ve been locked down in isolation since last March and it looks like I’ll be here until the fall later this year.

I don’t think a huge amount is different from the end of the year recap but onward!

What’s New

The Silent Places!

I’m so grateful to everyone who bought a new book by me in a totally different genre, and also those who left a kind review. I’m still tremendously proud of it and so glad many of you enjoyed it.

I also continue to be the absolute worst person at evaluating triggers for people, so if you found the domestic violence warning at the start insufficient, I am very sorry. I do hope going on Imogen’s journey provided at least some catharsis and validation for the survivors who read it.

Also new…the Etsy shop is live!

…after Christmas, which certainly bungled some plans to sell signed books, but the pandemic delivery of paperbacks did not come on time.

Still, if you know someone with a birthday coming up–or someone you want to send a gift to just because–I’ve got a few gift packages ready. The gift boxes come with quality handmade goodies in addition to a signed book and packaged ready for giving.

The other thing launched in 2020 will go into the next section…

What’s Upcoming

…because it’s still in progress!

About half of Season of the Bitch is up at Patreon. I’ve still got to get this month’s last few chapters done and posted, then it’ll conclude next month. It’s funny that fifteen years ago I was doing eSerials regularly, often writing by the seat of my pants, and finishing chapters the night before posting them–and it was fine!

Now? JFC I am too old for that shit. I much prefer everything done in advance, but this is my fault for last minute thinking I was going to write a short story that turned into a novella.

You can catch up for $1/month (or sign up for a year in advance with a discount), getting this and other goodies as well as the big archive of other stories in thanks for your support of my writing.

A few months after it’s done and I’ve had a chance to run it through edits, I’ll post it in its entirety for all patrons, and there’ll be an annotated version looking at the differences between the zero draft and the final for those into that kind of thing.

And also, this little thing up for preorder…

So I’m keeping the initial worst-case scenario date of June 1.

Might it be ready sooner? Maybe. If it is, the paperback will release early. But honestly, this book…I’ve been banging not just my head but throwing my entire body against it for months. I had problems I didn’t know how to fix, going in circles, desperately trying to talk it out but Shawn hasn’t been too helpful. Mentally I’ve been, uh, a little taxed these last several months, so not in the best place to figure it out. I finally feel like I’m on the right track but this next revision pass is very, very slow…then it’ll need another pass from me to smooth it out, then the copyeditor gets it, then I do another pass, then I have to proofread…

June 1 seems the best amount of time for me to get this right, and honestly I think anyone put off by that date has likely already abandoned the series, so I can’t worry about it. And even if it’s all polished and ready sooner, that gives me a buffer of time to get more work done on other books before I have to deal with people stealing this one–the violation of piracy always leaves me a wreck for several weeks.

This new one is also set to be at least as long as Emperor’s Tomb (possibly a little longer when all is said and done), so it’s a beast to work with but will give readers a good chunk of distraction to fall into while the pandemic rages on this summer.

Betrayal and sacrifice follow Livi Talbot on her darkest adventure yet.

Still reeling from the ultimate betrayal that has set her entire world off-kilter, the hits keep coming when Livi’s estranged mother—who abandoned the Talbot family twenty years ago—shows up without warning. She’s looking for a pre-Incan stone idol in the ruins of an abandoned Spanish mission that has escaped looters for centuries, and she wants Livi to find it.

Livi wants to be anywhere but home, and a trip with her family to Peru is just what she needs to clear her head—even if it involves reconnecting with her mom. But a heartbroken adventurer is a distracted one, making Livi the perfect target for supernatural guardians in the jungle…and more danger from those closest to her that she might not see until it’s too late.

Preorder: Kindle | Kobo | iBooks | Nook

Although there is no date yet (maybe starting this summer?) 2021 will also bring Elis O’Connor back to Patreon in Witch Hunt.

As previously said, Elis’s series is pretty much dead in the water otherwise. I thought I might’ve been able to alternate it with Livi’s books, but I can’t really spend all the time writing unprofitable things, so I’m going to let some other projects simmer this year and see what else might fit in that space.

(Doesn’t mean I won’t ever continue Elis’s series, but after Witch Hunt it’s on the backburner and will probably be used for Patreon serials when I feel inclined to pick it back up again. Working on a failed series is a little like being kicked over and over again, though, and not exactly conductive to the fun and excitement one needs when writing–especially when I’m already prone to depression, and when I need to use my limited time for things I’ll get paid for.)

What I’m Working On

Um…stuff and things!

Revisions are eating a lot of my brain right now along with freelance work. I’m looking at taking a week off of freelancing every quarter this year just to have a rest and focus on writing so I don’t get too burned out. I’m also waiting to see what other zero drafts are going to bubble to the surface and be ready to be written this year.

I’m doing my annual re-read of one of my favourite series right now prior to the next book’s release, and considering Livi Talbot. I wrote Solomon’s Seal first in 2012, so these books have occupied my brain for nearly a decade. Because I don’t keep notes, everything is jammed in my brain, and I think it’s probably time to build like an actual series bible.

When I’m done this revisions pass on Yampellec, I think I’ll just take a week off from everything and reread the entire Livi series–or at least the main books–and build a proper bible. We’re not quite halfway through the series and this’ll save me going back to flip through things every time I forget something, as well as check all the very early threads I laid out and have been weaving in. (There is also an incredibly stupid factual error in Shiva’s Bow I missed in research that I’ve been meaning to correct, so I might as well do that too.)

Other than that…we’ll see what I get done this year!

How I’ve managed to finish ANYTHING this year is a mystery to me, but here we are, a quarterly state of the union with actual THINGS!

What’s New

Before I get to the book stuff, a note I mentioned last time I was looking at what stressful things I could start cutting out. I’ve archived the Alchemy Red Facebook group, which doesn’t mean it’s deleted or that it won’t come back later, but even as my readership expands, it doesn’t get used any more (and perhaps even less) than it used to. That is entirely my own fault because I don’t start conversations or remember to post much (I hate Facebook), but it’s just become One More Thing That Gives Me Anxiety, so it’s archived for now. If suddenly readership explodes or Facebook stops being a nightmare for me to navigate and deal with, I’ll un-archive it. I’m sorry, it’s just where I’m at right now.

I’ve left my Facebook page up for now, even though I never use it. There are a fraction of readers who still use it for updates, so I’ll keep posting there periodically. I’ve also left up my newsletter although it remains a lot of work for very few returns at this point (and stress! more below).

Anyway, releases!

There was a short story out this summer for Patrons of Snark who get the West POV stories, called Asset’s Protocol.

It’s set partially during Emperor’s Tomb (and explains what West did to find Livi), which will come back to bite him and you’ll learn some of it later in Yampellec’s Idol. The other part of it is set well before Solomon’s Seal, though, with some things I suspected but didn’t know for sure. He has insisted to me that he’s going to preemptively tell Livi the truth about that little detail before she figures it out secondhand, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

What’s Upcoming

Two things up for preorder!

What will likely be DECEMBER, though I have an emergency buffer of Feb 2021, is my first domestic thriller The Silent Places.

It’s been nearly a year since Imogen Sharp’s husband Nick went missing—and a year of everyone in the Yukon village of Red Fox Lake whispering that she killed him.

With interest in the case rising again as the anniversary of his disappearance approaches, a journalist comes to town and sparks new rumours. Did Nick take his own life without leaving a note? Did he leave of his own volition? Or did his would-be widow have something to do with it as everyone believes?

When the story reaches national news and Imogen’s photo is plastered everywhere, something darker than local rumours comes to her door. Because five years ago Imogen Sharp didn’t exist, and now even the most remote place in Canada can no longer be her refuge.

I am SUPER super excited. Like you have no idea. It bloomed fully formed in my head earlier this year complete with the ending, and since I’m so close to it–and it’s so different from what I usually write–I was very worried. But early feedback has been extremely positive so I’m a little more confident now that I stuck the landing (and expecting a cover quote from someone very special; I’ll update the cover when that comes in).

It’s a brutal book, to be sure, but it’s unflinching and unapologetic and (I hope) a catharsis.

You can preorder it now and I’ll be updating the release date in the coming weeks to the firmer one when I’ve got the next revision pass done.

Kindle | Kobo | iBooks | Nook

Also, look, this one is up too!

This book.

This fucking book.

The more I love something, the more insecure I get, apparently.

It’s already bringing out all my worst fears–mainly that it’s not going to sell at all and readers will have forgotten about the series. I put out my newsletter all excited–folks have been hitting the site for a year and asking me about updates, so I was like here! Here’s the preorder! Know that the date will move up by a few months!–and…like I kid you not, the same people who’ve been checking for updates for months literally unsubscribed from my newsletter with the preorder announcement as “no longer interested”.

(“How do you know this, Skyla?” you ask? Because IP addresses and email addresses and folks selecting why they’re unsubscribing–believe me, everything is built for writers to track and analyze, unfortunately.)

Not bringing this up for sympathy (and by god, please, yes, go and unsubscribe if you’re no longer interested!), just if I’m extra pessimistic, this is why:

I am terrified of letting people down.

When I worry about the financial viability of the series, that’s not about me (although I like being able to eat)–it’s because I don’t want to have to cancel it and let people down. When I freak out about piracy, yes, a massive part of that is about consent violation, but the end result is that it makes it harder to work on things thereby delaying releases and I don’t want to let people down. I feel like I’ve already let people down.

The amount of pressure on all writers (but I think particularly self-pub ones) to churn out books rapidly is staggering, there are constant reminders everywhere that readers will move on and forget about your series–if you’re wondering why I don’t network and I act oblivious to all traditional marketing advice, that’s why. It’s just too much extra stress and pressure. I have a lot of anxiety with the state of Livi’s series in general and I already know all I can do is put out the best book I’m capable of and let things lie where they fall out of my control but…fuuuuck.

Anyway.

Betrayal and sacrifice follow Livi Talbot on her darkest adventure yet.

Still reeling from the ultimate betrayal that has set her entire world off-kilter, the hits keep coming when Livi’s estranged mother—who abandoned the Talbot family twenty years ago—shows up without warning. She’s looking for a pre-Incan stone idol in the ruins of an abandoned Spanish mission that has escaped looters for centuries, and she wants Livi to find it.

Livi wants to be anywhere but home, and a trip with her family to Peru is just what she needs to clear her head—even if it involves reconnecting with her mom. But a heartbroken adventurer is a distracted one, making Livi the perfect target for supernatural guardians in the jungle…and more danger from those closest to her that she might not see until it’s too late.

Kindle | Kobo | iBooks | Nook

If you’ve been eagerly waiting on this one and preorder, my god I love you, and don’t ever let my pessimism make you think I’m not grateful. I am nervous and excited for this one because I put about half my cards on the table and flip things in a new direction–I want so badly for regular readers to get this one and see where we’re headed next.

This book is coming SPECIFICALLY FOR YOU and my god I hope I don’t let you down. <3

I’m also doing a fun thing this month!

I was trying to write a short Halloween story for patrons and, well, you know how that goes for me. So now it’s a novella about Elis set five years before Blood Ties (which, you may recall, is about the time she got the tattoo of Ashur’s mark…). The first chunk will go up later this week, and more next month (and probably the rest in December).

Teenage witch—and budding serial killer—Elis O’Connor has been suspended from her elite private high school after rumours arise that she nearly killed a fellow student.

She figures this serves her right for failing to kill him and decides not to make that mistake with her next target: a sexist bully who has driven another classmate to suicide with revenge porn. Subsequent digging into the past reveals a years-long pattern of abuse she knows she has to stop–at any cost. Killing has never been a problem for Elis and there is no one else to hold the wealthy young cis men of Ridgeview Academy accountable for their actions, but getting to her next victim before he harms someone at the upcoming Halloween dance proves a challenge with her being banned from school property.

Overcoming suspension and grounding is the least of her troubles, however. Someone at Ridgeview has figured out her game and a trap has been set—and her only way out might mean accepting help from the very last creature she wants on her side.

ALL patrons will get access to this one, and you can join for a buck a month! (You can ALSO pay a year in advance if you prefer when you sign up and save 10%!)

What I’m Working On

Season of the Bitch kind of came out of nowhere, but I’m having a lot of fun with it right now–it’s a break after the intensity of working on revisions for The Silent Places. Elis has some scenes with her older brother Dev that have been a lot of fun to write, Nate is back being very frustrated with his teen daughter (I know so many of you adored Love Interest!Nate but I am 100% here for Exhausted Dad!Nate), and I am thrilled at the prospect of bringing in Ashur for a bit (this is his song, particularly when it comes up to the 4min mark, I see him ripping a hole in reality and I get chills). This is also back when Dev was dating Callie, who is a significant character in Witch Hunt so I’m hoping to bring her in here.

I’ll be working on Witch Hunt for next year’s big Patreon serial, and my second domestic thriller–Little Sadie–is percolating though I don’t think I’ll get to it until next year. I won’t be switching away from paranormal/UF by any means, but thrillers were my first love well before I’d even read fantasy (that and horror) and what I’d always assumed I’d be writing before life took me in another direction. I enjoy the standalone aspect as well and it’s been a wonderful break for my brain.

A reminder of my current Livi book policy: I won’t announce the next one until it’s ready for preorder going forward. Just because there isn’t a landing page on the site or I’m not talking about it doesn’t mean I’m not working on it, but I need to keep it to myself for anxiety reasons (patrons do get updates as part of their monthly support, however).

I’ll see you back here in the next few months when The Silent Places goes live and otherwise the next state of the union will be in January!