The WITCHY EYE/DARK IMMOLATION Book Tour!

Hey folks!

Let's talk about some more tour-related stuff. First of all, if you haven't already, check out my post on the Dark Immolation Blog Tour. Some cool stuff coming your way via the interwebz.

But, for those of you more physically-minded, I'm SO FREAKING EXCITED to announce the joint Witchy Eye/Dark Immolation Book Tour!

Some of you may recall my praise of D.J. Butler's flintlock American epic fantasy novel, Witchy Eye. (I've also recently placed it on a "top 5" list of fantasy novels--trust me when I say it's an awesome book written by a brilliant author. For those of you wondering, if you're enjoying the Chaos Queen Quintet, chances are high you'll love Witchy Eye. It is, in a word, delightfullybrilliantandspectacular.)

Well, he and I are officially going on tour together, beginning July 10th! We'll start in San Diego, work our way up the west coast to Seattle, then head inland to end our tour in Boise.

Seven stops, six cities, four states, three of the coolest people you'll ever meet*, and two top-notch fantasy novels make for one freaking awesome book tour. Prepare yourselves, world. The Witchy Eye/Dark Immolation Book Tour is coming.

Here are all of our official stops:

Monday 10 July 7:30 PM (PDT) - Mysterious Galaxy Books
San Diego, CA

Facebook Event Page (San Diego)

Tuesday 11 July 7:00 PM (PDT) - Borderlands Books
San Francisco, CA

Facebook Event Page (San Francisco)

Wednesday 12 July 3:00 PM (PDT) - Reader's Guide Bookstore
Salem, OR

Facebook Event Page (Salem Afternoon)

Wednesday 12 July 7:00 PM (PDT) - The Book Bin
Salem, OR

Facebook Event Page (Salem Evening)

Thursday 13 July 7:00 PM (PDT) - Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing
Portland, OR

Facebook Event Page (Portland)

Friday 14 July 7PM (PDT) - University Bookstore
Seattle, WA

Facebook Event Page (Seattle)

Saturday 15 July 7PM (MST) - The Rediscovered Bookshop
Boise, ID

Facebook Event Page (Boise)
Rediscovered Bookshop Event Page

If you're in the area, do come say hello, bring a friend, buy a book (or two!), etc. We'd love to see you!

Also, Rachel and I are working on Phase 2 for the Dark Immolation book tour, and those plans should come to fruition in September. That phase will include more of Utah, the Mesa/Pheonix area, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles, so stay tuned for news on that front.

Basically: awesome things are happening and life is good.

* We'll have a stowaway of sorts accompanying us :-).

BabyB (is no longer a baby...)

Baby B* says to buy my new book, Dark Immolation! And according to her shirt she'll be patrolling tonight, so you'd better do as she says...😆

* Also "Baby B is clearly no longer a baby anymore...I might have to advance her moniker to "Little B"...😢

Check out the DARK IMMOLATION Blog Tour!

As part of the promotion for Dark Immolation, I'm making the interwebby rounds! Keep your eyes peeled for the following posts on Dark Immolation and the Chaos Queen Quintet!

Also, check out these other guest posts that didn't quite make the banner in time:

Tor.com: The Reapers are the Angels and the Dynamic Utility of Prose

Mary Robinette Kowal: My Favorite Bit

I'll be posting links to each of the blog tour sites as they're published, so stay tuned for those!

26 June: The Tattooed Book Geek

27 June: Titan Books Extract*

28 June: Books for Life

29 June: Laura Patricia Rose

30 June: Alice R. Dempsey

3 July: Bookish Outsider

4 July: Angel Wings and Petticoats

5 July: Abi's Book Reviews

6 July: Japan Reviewer

7 July: Literary Wisdom



* Book Mood Reviews unfortunately had to bow out of the tour due to some personal matters that arose, so Titan Books stepped in and posted an extract from Dark Immolation in place of this review.

DARK IMMOLATION

Here we are, folks! Dark Immolation, book two of the Chaos Queen Quintet, has been unleashed upon the english-speaking world! (It was technically unleashed two days ago, but I've been so busy I forgot to post about it! Hopefully you've been following me on all other forms of social media and have kept up 😁.)

The book is available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats, so choose your preferred format and have at it!

Overall I'm quite happy with this book, and I cannot wait for all of you to read it. Check out the synopsis:

A new religion is rising, gathering followers drawn by rumors of prophetess Jane Oden. Her sister Cinzia--once a Cantic priestess--is by her side, but fears that Jane will lead them to ruin. For both the Church and the Nazaniin assassins are still on their trail, and much worse may come.

Knot, his true nature now revealed if not truly understood, is haunted by his memories, and is not the ally he once was. Astrid travels to Tinska to find answers for her friend, but the child-like vampire has old enemies who have been waiting for her return. And beyond the Blood Gate in the empire of Roden, a tiellan woman finds herself with a new protector. One who wants to use her extraordinary abilities for his own ends...

And, of course, the phenomenal cover:

Thanks, everyone! Now please excuse me while I continue revising book 3!

 

DARK IMMOLATION Launch Party!

Hello awesomes!

For those of you who don't know, Dark Immolation, the sequel to Duskfall and book 2 in the Chaos Queen Quintet, comes out next Tuesday (20 June). I'm SO excited for everyone to read this book. A lot of work went into writing it, rewriting it, and smashing it all up only to then cram it back together, and I'm very happy with the final product. I think it's a worthy sequel to Duskfall, and, again, I just can't wait for everyone to read more of the CQQ!

For those of you who might be in the Utah area, you're cordially invited to the launch party! We'll be holding the event at Weller Book Works again--they did a fantastic job hosting the launch party for Duskfall last year, and I'm happy to be working with them again.* Here's the general deets:

Dark Immolation Launch Party
Tuesday 20 June, 6:30 - 8:30 PM
Weller Book Works
607 Trolley Square
Salt Lake City, UT

We'll start with a sneak-peek reading from Dark Immolation, and then roll into a Q&A session. After that, we'll get to the signing! We'll have swag, including t-shirts, and of course lots of books. It's going to be pretty great.

Similar to last year, we'll be broadcasting the reading and Q&A live, this time via Facebook Live on my official Facebook page, so if you're not in the area but still want to participate, you can!

For updates on the event, it's best to stay tuned to the Facebook event page.

I'll see you on Tuesday!



* Incidentally, while we had an extreme shortage of books last year, we should have plenty this year!

Fyrecon Schedule

Fyrecon is a science fiction/fantasy conference in Utah making it's debut this year, and I'm excited to be attending and participating! Fyrecon places a bit more emphasis on classes over panels and refining one's craft (as you can see in their banner above), which I think is a great idea. It'll take place at the Davis Campus of Weber State University next weekend, 8-10 June. Check out my schedule below.

Fri 9 June at 4:30 PM - "Comic Books as Literature" (Building D3 Room 203)
This will be a class I'll be teaching solo, and I'm very excited about it. I love comics, and I think it's clear they have every bit as much "literary" potential as conventional prose. Here's the description:

Comics, even today, too often carry with them connotations of immaturity, laziness, and low-brow writing. That could not be further from the truth! In this class we'll discuss why comics are important and powerful. We'll look at a few specific examples of fantastic comics and see what we can learn from them.

Points the Class Will Cover:
a) Comics as Literature 
b) Maus and Watchmen 
c) What can we learn?

Sat 10 June at 11:30AM - "Understanding Story Archetypes" (Building D3 Room 307)
As many of you know, story structure is something I've taken great interest in. A few years ago I wrote a number of blog posts detailing my adventures through story structure, and I've slowly been developing that (and doing more research) and developing a presentation of sorts. So this will be a two-hour presentation where we talk about numerous versions of story structure, why it's important in general, and what we can do with it.

We'll explore a few different archetypes of story structure, and then apply our understanding of those structures to our own stories, hopefully coming to a deeper understanding of the stories we are trying to tell.

Points the Class Will Cover:
a) The Hero's Journey 
b) The Virgin's Promise 
c) Dan Harmon's 8- Structure 
d) Foolscap Method 
e) What can we learn? 

Sat 10 June at 1:30PM - "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Breaking the Tropes with Style" (Building D2 Room 110)
Well, it's a BtVS panel, so of course I'm on it, and of course I can't wait!

Sat 10 June at 5:20PM - "Is the Ultimate Evil Dead: What Are We Losing by Justifying Bad Actions? (Building D2 Room 110)
I'm looking forward to this one--it should be an interesting discussion. I have a lot to say about good, bad, shades of gray, and the differences between empathy and justification.

They're heeeeeere...

First of all, today is the last day to vote for Duskfall for the David Gemmell Morningstar Award. If you haven't yet, you totally should (just go here). If you already have, THANK YOU SO MUCH for your support! You folks are amazing 🙌!

In other news, look what I recently received in the mail:

Shiny!

The release date is getting close, folks--June 20th! Check out the Facebook event for more information on the launch party!