Wintering

I finished my first draft of XO, Xena this weekend!

This is the last Olympus Inc. book (for now) and concludes a series of six novels, a novelette and a novella. That's eight books, written over the last two and a half years. A lot of plot threads to wind up! A lot of characters to check in on! Xena is with my lovely editor now, and I am so grateful to be done with the most laborious part of the job.

Tonight, I drink champagne1!

The next step is taking my editor's notes into account and making adjustments/cutting bits. I like editing, especially when I can let go of my perfectionism enough to accept2 there is no such thing as the perfect final draft. After that, I get to write my author's note, which is going to be fairly lengthy for this one, because my intertextual bullshit got even more intertextual than usual:

  1. I did my usual Greek myth reimagining-women-as-neither-monsters-nor-victims by making Polyxena an adventurer and fighter whose tendency towards sacrifice is much more useful than "getting sexily3 slaughtered at the tomb of Achilles by his awful son".
  2. Her love interest is Cressida, a character who isn't from Greek myth at all, but was added during the medieval reimagining of the Trojan War as "the Matter of Troy" as the image of a faithless woman, and was then picked up by people like Chaucer and Shakespeare. She's often described as "false Cressida" because, after being traded to the Greek camp from the Trojan side, she was nice to the Greeks instead of staying faithful to her Trojan lover. Like, omg, why would a woman in danger seek to appease her captors?? Why might she want to keep all these armed men happy with her?? A MYSTERY.
  3. Xena is a tall, athletic woman with long, dark hair and incredible martial arts skills who is trying to put her past behind her, and Cressida is a feisty little blonde with wit and sass who loves to perform, and I was in high school from 1995 to 1999. And I didn't know know I was bisexual until well after Xena: Warrior Princess came off the air, but gosh, some things just stick with you, I guess. Happy Pride, everyone!

I got through the final chunk of writing sitting cross-legged on my bed (my traditional manuscript finishing pose, do not recommend) while Christchurch was pelted with icy rain. In between checking details on how to fight someone who is wielding a gun with your bare hands (also do not recommend) and writing heartfelt dialogue, I played twenty-minute chunks of Frostpunk4, an absorbing city-building game where you create warmth and community in the face of extreme weather conditions and political unrest.

You know, for fun.

My hips and shoulders are not happy with me, but the relief of finishing is an effective analgesic. I'm really happy that I'll be bringing you Xena and Cressida's story in just under a month - pre-order now from your favourite e-retailer!

Oh, hey, are you a new reader? Welcome!

Good Stuff

I have been in MUST FINISH DRAFT tunnel vision for what seems like fifty million years, but I have retained enough external awareness to consume the occasional morsel of news or allow myself a reviving sip of fun reading:

  • Ghost allows me to see how many people click on links (although not which links individual members are clicking on, which is good!) and in my last newsletter, the most clicks were gained for "space opera heist" and "steamy orc fantasy". You are my kind of people, you delightful criminal pervs.
  • I've got Penelope Pops the Question in another promo: this one is Summer For All. I've personally picked up (and am enjoying) Anna Pulley's Love Where You Work, which is a hot and witty F/F workplace romance, with some fabulous character work. If you like what I do with mothers in the Olympus Inc. series, you will probably find Clare's mother intriguing.
  • Murderbot is on TV! SANCTUARY MOON is on TV! I've been re-reading Martha Wells' brilliant Murderbot Diaries series, which is comfort reading for me, and while the show is taking some liberties, overall I'm really enjoying it. In particular, I love every single time that The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon and its incredible wigs appear in MurderVision.
  • Strange Horizons is a renowned online speculative fiction magazine which I have occasionally written for and which has given my work some very kind reviews. This year is its 25th birthday, and among other things, they're doing a great podcast series called SH@25, and running an awesome Kickstarter to fund their 2026 publishing. Go check it out!

Enjoy your week! I, personally, am going to ride the rush of first draft completion all the way into the weekend.

1 The good stuff, sent by my lovely newsletter reader and friend Keith, who gifted me bubbles and chocolate to get me through the final deadline wormhole. The chocolate is long gone, but I saved the champagne!

2 Reluctantly.

3 Euripides goes to some lengths in his Hecuba to make this a heroic death, and give Polyxena some dignity, but he also found it v. important to note that as she prepared herself for death she tore her top open and her boobs were AWESOME, like a STATUE'S.

4 Here's how to play Frostpunk, by me, noted gamer. Set a timer on your phone, put an earbud in, and put the phone in a different room. When the timer goes off, you will probably still do a turn or two more, but eventually you'll get up to turn off the annoying noise, and the game's vise-like grip upon your mind will loosen just enough for you to register you need to, like, eat. And probably pee.