A Freebie, a Book Launch, and a Cover Reveal!

You have to imagine me pounding my fist into my hand as I prepare to deliver you all the news. And then you have to imagine me rubbing my freezing fingers because we have had a cold snap in New Zealand, and I am pleased I did so much sewing with wool earlier in the season. My coat is not only a compliment magnet, it is delightfully warm. Thank you, past self!

Launching Second Chance Charms

Second Chance Charms, the next installment in the urban fantasy adventures of not-very-good magician and rec center admin Charlie Cross is launching next week! Ebooks are coming out for sale and on Kindle Unlimited August 14, wherever that is for you, and paperbacks/hardcovers will be available for general sale from August 30. Pre-order now!

As you know, I love my community-focused urban fantasy. This one in particular was a lot of fun to write, as Charlie gets spicy with her part-incubus boyfriend and we're introduced to one of my favourite fae characters in the entire series. Also, I won't lie. I know some of you are going to hit the cliffhanger at the end and be REAL MAD, and I am super here for that. Please tell me of your suffering, or better yet, review.

I will quickly add this is just a placeholder cover for Death Magic and Dahlias. A professional will design the real deal!

Free First Chapter

If you cannot wait that long to read new work from me OR you would like a free thing (and who wouldn't?) I am celebrating the anniversary of my Patreon by releasing the first chapter of Death Magic and Dahlias, the sapphic cosy fantasy I intend to serialise on there1.

Most of my Patreon bonus work is exclusive to patrons (THANK YOU, PATRONS), but this first glimpse is FREE to everyone, so go ahead and check it out!

And while you're there, take a look at the Patreon. Patrons can get a variety of great things, including early copies of everything I publish, Kickstarter campaign discounts, monthly bonus stories, the joy of knowing that you're helping a human writer pay her bills, and the rest of Death Magic and Dahlias as I write it.

Cover redesign reveal

Those of you following my marketing journey on Instagram will know that getting new covers on the Olympus Inc. romcom series is part of my drive to be a better book marketer and get my books into the hands of their ideal readers1.

The cover service I used is inexpensive and fast, but also sort of renowned for needing very careful instructions to deliver desired results. I am not particularly great at articulating my desires in visual vocabulary. This is what we call a perfect storm.

So I decided I would start not with Persephone in Bloom (on sale for $0.99 right now, btw), which has to anchor the whole series, but with The Love Labyrinth, a standalone novella. I figured I could get some practice in the kind of things I needed to say and learn how to create proper cover briefs on something less crucial.

It took six rounds and some handholding from more visually adept friends, but we finally have a cover I was happy to say yes to. I am delighted to introduce the new cover for The Love Labyrinth:

Fashion designer Ariadne. Escape room artist minotaur. Unlock this puzzle.

This is a sneak preview - I'll update you when the new cover version is for sale. I'm also planning to release The Love Labyrinth in print for the first time to celebrate!

Promos worth checking out:

  • August Love, where a lot of romances are on varying degrees of sale. Persephone in Bloom is in there. Personally, I am looking forward to reading Mail Order Minotaur and In A Jam.
  • If you haven't already signed up for the FaRo Society newsletter, I really recommend it - many, many great recs and freebies, and dedicated to bringing you the best in romantasy, paranormal, urban fantasy and monster romance, and gaslamp and cozy fantasy romance.

What's Kate reading?

  • The World of the White Rat. T. Kingfisher's Daggerbound is coming out later this month. In order to ensure that my heart is ready for a Learned Edmund romance, I prepared by re-reading all seven extant novels in the world of the White Rat, a very sane and normal thing to do. Paladins, y'all.
  • A Study in Sparkling. Jodi McAlister's new Hobart romance takes wine as seriously as it did academic life in An Academic Affair. I do enjoy romances where intelligent characters are shown to care about something. There are also first-rate epistolary moments, including some sexting.
  • All Hail Chaos. Sarah Rees Brennan's epic portal fantasy continues and I ate it up. I would like to be best friends with the Golden Cobra, please and thank you, and I am cheering Rae on, although from a safe distance. In real life, you can't fix him. In fantasy? Guess we'll see!
  • Dear Diary. Marie Cardno has a talent for making eldritch horrors from the beckoning void into sweet and vulnerable romantic leads. Don't ask me how. It's a gift.
  • The Unicorn Hunters, Katherine Arden. LOOK. Rachael Craw basically grabbed my face in her hands and said READ THIS NOW and I did, and now I'm saying it to you. Incredible alternative history with magic (and unicorns, and the uncanny, and SISTERS, and an absolutely incredible dangerous romance) and I'm just... LOOK. I am always, always going to be a sucker for "what if we take this historical/fictional woman who had a terrible time because misogyny and empire-building and continual fucking pregnancy in order to supply heirs and we rewrite her story so THINGS WERE BETTER." Yes. Yes, we should do that. That's why there are happy endings for all the women of Olympus Inc. Everyone pls read The Unicorn Hunters! It's so smart and so good.
  • Non-fiction audiobooks: Gowanus Crossing: A Brooklyn Boyhood by Vincent Coppola, where the stinking streets come alive with capital c Characters. Jennifer Wright's Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York's Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist which was brilliant and funny and full of rage. I love authorial commentary when it's clear that's what it is, and Wright is very clear that she is reading her historical subject through an ahistorical lens. I also started Lisa Baril's The Age of Melt which is great, but I had to stop listening to it because it gave me climate panic. Not that we shouldn't be panicking - but I'm usually listening to audiobooks while I drift off, and that's not restful.

I'll be back with some brief news next week, and then I'm going to get very excited about Second Chance Charms!

Kate.

1 Will I ever stick to one genre??? no.

2 This is not to say I don't like Alison Cooley's original Olympus Inc. covers. On the contrary, I love them! But I didn't know enough about the market to give clear comparative analysis, so I ended up with covers I really like, but that don't fit the romcom visual genre, an unfortunately common indie author error.