Hello, pals. It’s been a while since my last update. But on the plus side, I come with lots of news. I hope some of this will brighten your day, in what is an extremely difficult week for so many of us.
Which is to say: if you don’t have the brain space for publishing news, if you scroll further down you’ll find bunny photos.
Some highlights, since our last chat:
The Jasmine Throne now has a cover, revealed on SciFi Now (and below!)
You can order The Jasmine Throne in advance via these links
The Jasmine Throne’s publication date has been moved from April to June 8th 2021 (June 10th in the UK)
Empire of Sand was listed as one of the Time 100 Best Fantasy Books!
Without further ado… the cover!
I really love it so much. Sometimes I just stare at it. This is totally normal behaviour, probably.
The cover was designed by Lauren Panepinto; the art is by Micah Epstein. They did an absolutely fantastic job, and I really appreciate the work they and my editor have done on making the cover reflect the content. A brown woman! In a sari! Staring out at you! It just feels so MUCH, you know?
Or maybe you don’t. I’m not, admittedly, articulating this very well. But seeing a desi woman in a sari, on the cover of the kind of genre book I’ve always loved and always wanted to write is - huge. Maybe a little indescribable. Lovely, though. Maybe I cried a bit.
To expand on other news a bit: I’m absolutely blown away that Empire of Sand is considered (at least by someone at Time) one of the top fantasy books of all time. All time is a lot of time. (I’ve written the word ‘time’ a lot. I know.) Lists all have their limitations - some of my favourite books were not on there, after all - but it’s still a great feeling, and a real privilege.
I’m sorry the publication date of The Jasmine Throne has been pushed back to June, but I hope it’ll be worth the wait. You can pre-order it online via links here, if you’re inclined to. This is very helpful in indicating excitement for a book to publishers; but I also know it’s more than six months until the book is out, so it’s understandable if you are not quite yet inclined!
There will be a small pre-order campagin; but I’ll save that until January, at the earliest. Hold onto your receipts.
Life Stuff (aka Bunny Stuff):
In my last update, I told you about my new pet rabbits, Esme and Gytha. A trip to the vet revealed that Esme and Gytha were not wee girls, but were in fact wee boys. I was quite happy for them to keep the same names, but a family vote was clear: the boys needed ‘boy names’. (I know, I know.)
If you think I used this decision as an excuse to name them after a different set of characters I love:
Yes.
So Esme and Gytha are now Wei Ying and Lan Zhan. If you’ve watched The Untamed you’ll know the provenance of their names, but suffice to say that if you like yearning, necromancers, crying your heart out, m/m love stories, and bunny rabbits, you’ll want to check this series out.
A non-exhaustive list of things about them that are joyous about Wei Ying and Lan Zhan bunny: their long, tufty tails. Their intense delight at the sight of cabbage. The fact they love eating birch leaves, for no reason I can fathom. Their pale, fluffy bellies and the way that Lan Zhan likes to sleep with his entire belly exposed, in what I have dubbed the ‘melted bunny’ position. The way that Wei Ying leans on Lan Zhan’s head to reach the hay at the top of the rack. The way Lan Zhan gets so excited by food that he runs in circles. The way that Wei Ying inhales any food in sight… and eats Lan Zhan’s food while he’s running in circles. Oops.
But the best moments are when they climb onto your knee and placed their paws on your chest, and just breathe all snuffly and soft against your cheek. Or when they let you pet their heads. Lan Zhan likes to lean on your leg and close his eyes and let you stroke softly across his forehead, up to his pointy ears.
I am not convinced rabbits love the way humans love. But to have a small prey animal trust you so utterly is a kind of love. It fills your heart right up.
I’ll leave you with one final image and some advice: fling yourself into life the way Wei Ying flings himself at cabbage. With gusto (maybe make sure you have someone underneath you to catch you, as Wei Ying does with Lan Zhan, bless them).
I’m sending love to you all - these are very Trying Times, and I hope the bunnies are a little solace. Until next time. xx