Book 22 in the main Familiars series is now live.
The owl returns, as does another ghost from the past. Arthur Saldovado must balance his duties to his brother with his duty to the entire clan. Can he and Lelia find a way through when the Hunters become the hunted? It will take all of their experience, wiles, and allies when what had only been worrisome becomes Preternaturally Familiar.
When two men—and their patron and priestly deities—collide, the entire empire trembles!
Note: If you are new to the series, this could be a stand-alone as well as part of the series.
I’m 2/3 of the way through final edits on Noble, Priest, and Empire. The book is very long, for me, and takes time to work through. If all goes well, I will release it over the weekend. [taps wood]
Preternaturally Familiar will also release in September, probably closer to the 15th. I have all the edits, but the Merchant book was promised earlier.
A reader asked about which books are in print, and if more would be available. The answer to the first is:
Alexander, Soldier’s Son – The Russian-flavored urban fantasy stories.
A Carpathian Campaign, Grasping for the Crowns, and Against a Rising Tide – three alternate history/secret history books set in Eastern Europe between 1914-1945.
Familiar Tales 1&2, 3&4, 5&6 – these are two-in-one omnibus editions of the Familiars stories.
The last four Cat Among Dragon books are also out in print.
Forcing the Spring and Golden Harvest – two of the Colplatschki alt-history/ mil-sci-fi/ colonization fiction stories
I had hoped to have Familiars 7 and 8 out this summer, but things didn’t go as hoped. I am looking at my budget and will probably start trying to release at least the first four Shikhari stories, and the first four Merchant books. To be honest, print doesn’t earn back the cost of production, at least not at the moment. I can keep the e-book prices relatively low, but to keep the print books close to affordable (below $20 US, preferably below $10 US) is difficult.
Just to let you know what is coming, if all goes as hoped . . .
Overly Familiar will release before the end of the month.
Noble, Priest, and Empire will release in late August (or sooner if I get the edits back earlier.)
P— Familiar will come out in mid-September, to coincide with FenCon. I finished the draft on Tuesday, and it needs to sit and simmer before I go through and start revisions and corrections.
I’ve got a couple other things in the works, including some short stories, the start of a book set in a world like post-Roman Scotland, and the next in The Elect series.
Hi! I need some volunteers to read over Overly Familiar to spot tyoops, [name here], and other little problems.
One thing I want to make sure about, is that the story flows well and that the ending isn’t too abrupt. (There’s a thread still hanging, but it is tied up in the next book, never fear.)
My e-mail is on the About page, for those who haven’t done this before.
Many thanks!
Update: I have what I need. Sarah, if you see this, please contact me so I can get a copy of the manuscript to you. Otherwise many thanks to all who volunteered, and to all my readers!
I will be without reliable internet for the next few weeks. I have some posts pre-loaded, but have closed comments on them, since letting people out of moderation will be greatly delayed. I apologize in advance for the lack of content. I’ve been trying to get the next two Familiars books done. One is finished, the other is half-way there almost, so there will be *taps wood* new books in July, August, and probably late September or early October.
Short version – busy. This is crunch week 2.0 at Day Job, with the year wrapping up.
I’m at 50K words on Overly Familiar. I’ve also sketched out the next main-series Familiars novel, and am starting to work through some ideas for Familiar Generations. I hope for an August release for this one, and perhaps a September or early October release for the next Familiars after that.
Noble, Priest, and Empire is with the editor. I don’t expect to hear back until late June, for a mid-July release. I have the cover art already.
Blogging will slow down in June. If things go as they appear to be going, I will be without internet for several weeks. I hope to have three or four posts per week, and I might turn off comments, just so people don’t get trapped for three weeks or so in Moderation Limbo. We’ll see.
Well, Noble, Priest, and Empire is off to the editor. I hope to have it back in late June, for a July release. I may price it a little higher than the others, $5.95 US, because of the length. Or I might keep it at $4.95.
I am 30K words into Overly Familiar, and have a bit of P-Familiar done. That will be the end of the main Familiar Tales series. Things will shift over to the Familiar Generations as the “youngsters” move into the limelight.
If all goes well, two more Familiars sets will go into print format by the end of summer.
I’m currently reading part of C. V. Walters, Alien Brides romance series. The stories are steamier than I usually prefer, but I really like how she takes some of the least-positive paranormal romance (PNR) tropes, flips them so that there’s a reason for the characters to do things other than “holding the idiot ball”, and makes fun stories out of it.
On a completely different note, I’m also working my way through Poland: The First Thousand Years. It is a political and intellectual history of Poland. It is very well written. I”m also nibbling on a history of the Butte mine disaster of the 1910s. Nibbling because reading about mine fires and the aftermath is not pleasant. It’s a very good book, just on a hard topic. There are a few other histories I’m gnawing away at as well.
Amazon is running a sale on the three Familiars Onmibus editions, $3.98 each. Each omnibus is two e-books. I don’t know how long it will last, so if you have been considering buying a print edition, now’s a great time.
Cat Rotator's Quarterly 