Cover Reveal: Second Chance Charms

Lovely readers, I begin this epistle in the dim morning. We are getting very close to switching back to New Zealand Standard time, so I am currently rising before the sun, an event both unfortunate and beautiful, I GUESS.

Below is a COVER REVEAL and some talk about CITY INFRASTRUCTURE, so read on!

In the meantime, I am about to enter Goblin Deadline Mode for Second Chance Charms, which is off to my copy-editor in the first week of April. I know what's going to happen, which is always a relief, and we're nearly there, but the manuscript is currently missing a climax, a denoument, and a sexy scene. On the plus side, it includes a lot of notes that say things like [transition here] or [say something about centaurs].

There won't be a newsletter next week, is what I'm saying. Next week I intend to spend my non-dayjob hours staring at the wall, watching Australian crime-comedy and perhaps engaging in some slight fishing up of horrors from the turbulent deep.

How fortunate that this week I have so much news to share!

FIRST, if you are going to Ages of Pages, it is your final chance to pre-order books from me – this way you are guaranteed to get the books you want, and also get a neat homesewn gift bag made by yours truly. Pre-order form for Ages of Pages!

Ages of Pages Pre-Order Form
I will have limited stock available on the day - purchasing in advance is the best way to make sure you get what you want. All pre-orders come with postcards and a me-sewn gift bag! To pre-order: Fill in this form before Sunday 29 March I send you an invoice for your pre-ordered books You pay the invoice before Tuesday 31 March (via bank transfer or PayPal) I sign and package up your books and bring them to Ages of Pages! You collect your books from the Karen/Kate Healey table on Saturday 2 May. PLEASE NOTE: There is no refund possible for books that are not picked up on Saturday.
Google Docs

See you in Kirikiriroa!

SECOND, I have been making some changes to my Patreon to accomplish two goals: 1) to make it easier for people to support creative work in straitened financial times, and 2) to get more readers for my monthly bonus content, of which I am immodestly proud.

I consulted with my patrons before I made these changes, and they have really stepped up, taking advantage of the lower pricing for the Bonus Content tier – now only $US 10/month!

For that, patrons get:

  • exclusive new content, every month (novelettes, short stories, essays, ephemera, unpublished novel extracts, performance pieces--I'm eclectic)
  • the back catalogue of monthly bonus content, including "The Proposal of Persephone Erinyes" and "Where We Walk, We Walk On Bones"
  • your name in the acknowledgements of everything I publish
  • early e-books of everything I publish myself, including Kickstarter-funded books
  • a special Kickstarter tier offering a discount on print copies
  • And hopefully soon: the milestone goal of a serial story, in addition to the above!

Patrons at the (US$5/month) Early Reader e-Books stage get:

  • early e-books of everything I publish myself, including Kickstarter-funded books
  • a special Kickstarter tier offering a discount on print copies
  • the milestone goal serial story

There is also a new, Patron-suggested, support-only tier. For US $2/month you get to experience the warmth of knowing you're supporting the creative arts and helping me pay my author bills.

This tier comes with no regular rewards. However, I will probably drop surprises sometimes, because who doesn't like presents?

If you would like to support my work more directly, help pay for things like this newsletter, and keep money out of Jeff Bezos's gross, democracy-subverting billionaire hands, then the That Healey Girl Patreon is absolutely the way to go.

THIRD, it's time for a cover reveal!

Dun dun DAHHHHHHH:

Charlie is watching you

I worked closely with cover designer Melanie Reese on this design. In book time, it's late spring in NYC, which has historically been my favourite time to visit. Because Second Chance Charms is a book where the mystery plot has a strong alchemical element, I wanted greens and golds, turning a little acidic to suggest potion magic.

We chose from a selection of stock footage shots of the same model for Charlie, and I really liked this one. The stance is confident, but contained, which is exactly right for where Charlie is during this book. After the shocks of Magician First Class, she's growing more attuned to the shifting currents of power in the city, and she's wary of possible consequences. Which won't stop her from leaping into situations she should probably think more about first, because Charlie.

And finally, the background image there is of the Angel of the Waters, a statue on the fountain in Central Park's Bethseda Terrace. The Angel of the Waters, created by Emma Stebbins, has an interesting and very gay history, and commemorates the opening of the Croton Aqueduct, a huge engineering project that brought fresh, clean water to New York from 1842.

I am a big nerd for city infrastructure; I love thinking about the necessary tasks that are bigger than all of us, and the projects that people must work together to accomplish for the common good. Collaboration and community-building are important elements of the Sparks & Recreation series, and the Angel of the Waters is an important symbol of that. Plus, there may or may not1 be a visit to this iconic landmark in the text.

For more about Second Chance Charms, follow the Kickstarter!

In the meantime, I suppose I had better finish writing a book.

Have a good week, everyone!

Love, Karen/Kate.

That Healey Girl is the weeklyish newsletter of Karen (or Kate) Healey, a romance and speculative fiction author who lives in Ōtautahi, New Zealand and shakes plots loose by wandering along the river.

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