Summer 2024 update
It's been a while, but I have a lot of news to share.
Greetings! It’s been a long time since I sent out a newsletter, so I’ve got a lot to share.
The most exciting news is that my next novel is now available for preorder! THE SECRETS OF UNDERHILL will be published in January 2025 by Quirk Books. Check out the beautiful cover art and the description:
An eleven-year-old apprentice fights to save an ancient grove of magical trees that hold the key to her community's survival in this page-turning fantasy adventure. Perfect for middle grade fans of Kelly Barnhill and Jessica Townsend.
Nick Sixsmith has spent her whole life on the road. The daughter of a traveling arborist, she moves with her mother from town to town, caring for the ironwood groves the communities rely upon. When a dangerous blight takes hold of these magical trees, they must journey to the city of Mistwood--her mother's hometown--for answers.
Nick can't wait to explore the prosperous city of Mistwood and all it has to offer: bustling markets and workshops, neighborhoods built under a roaring waterfall, and the vast ancestral grove of ironwood trees. But dark secrets simmer beneath the surface as people start to disappear and tensions rise in the city.
As the mystery grows, Nick and her new friends from Mistwood must follow the trail where it leads them: underground, to a strange, enchanting world called Underhill. Only there, among the roots of the ancestral grove, will Nick find a way to save her new home and the ironwood trees.
This immersive fantasy adventure combines vivid world-building with timely themes of environmentalism, and young readers will be riveted until the final page.
I cannot even express how much I love this cover. I feel very fortunate that I’ve always loved my book covers, but this art by James Firnhaber and design by Elissa Flanigan is so beautiful and so perfect that I can’t stop staring at it. The lush greens, the glimmers of magic, the feeling of an ancient forest crowding all around... it perfectly captures the mood of the book, and I love everything about it.
I am also very touched by the lovely things other authors have been saying about it. Here are a few of the quotes:
“The Secrets of Underhill is a gorgeously rendered story of strange magic, environmentalism, and what it means to care for the ones we love and the world we live in. This is the exact kind of book that would have hooked me as a young, reluctant reader. I adored every page.”
- Rebecca Mix, New York Times best-selling author of the Mossheart’s Promise duology
“A journey to the heart of a spellbinding new world. The Secrets of Underhill is a dazzling, deeply rooted story about how vital it is to feed curiosity, tend to our communities, and nourish a lifelong love and respect for all living things.”
- Nina Varela, author of Juniper Harvey and the Vanishing Kingdom
January doesn’t seem that far away anymore, and I am so excited to share SECRETS with you. You can preorder it now in the usual places:
Indiebound - Bookshop - Barnes & Noble - Amazon
But it gets more exciting. I actually have two books coming out next year. SECRETS will arrive in January, and later in the year the second one will come along.
THE BLADE THAT BINDS US is a YA dark fantasy/queer romance co-written by me and Leah Thomas. In fantastical version of medieval Iceland, a witch and a blacksmith’s son are bound together by a little spot of accidental necromancy. Also featuring: blood magic, fish magic, many monsters, hidden folk, boys who are bad at flirting, a lesbian druid commune, a living mountain, and a lot of tears.
It will be published by Tiny Ghost Press, an indie publisher that focuses on queer YA books. We don’t have a cover or any links to share yet (we’re in the middle of copyedits right now), but both Leah and I are excited to be working with Tiny Ghost and looking forward to sharing BLADE with you in autumn of 2025!
I am currently at work on a short story for an exciting upcoming anthology: OF SHADOWS, STARS, and SABERS, edited by Jendia Gammon and Gareth L. Powell as part of their launch for their new publishing imprint. The roster of authors they’ve got for the anthology is, frankly, a little intimidating, and I am so excited to see what everybody comes up with.
If you’ve got a few bucks to spare, you can contribute to their Indiegogo campaign.
Meanwhile, Hunters of the Lost City has proven to be the little book that could, and I am so proud of it. In 2023 it was chosen as an honor book for the 2022 Oregon Spirit Book Award from the Oregon Council of Teachers of English, and this year it is one of the nominees for the 2024-2025 Black-Eyed Susan Book Award from the Maryland Association of School Librarians. It’s such an honor to be recognized by teachers and librarians!
Finally, a different sort of update:
This year I have started writing a weekly column for Reactor Magazine (formerly Tor.com). My column is the Science Fiction Film Club, where every week I talk about a different sci fi film from all around the world and all of film history. I have been having so much fun researching and writing about these movies, and I love the comments from both regular and occasional readers of the column. So many readers have great things to add (as well as suggestions for films to watch!) and I look forward to their contributions every week.
Here is a selection of the films I’ve written about so far: Godzilla (1954), Blade Runner (1982), World on a Wire (1973), The Brother From Another Planet (1984), and Solaris (1972).
The Sci Fi Film Club is ongoing and updates every Wednesday. I always share the chosen movies ahead of time, so feel free to jump in at any point and watch along.
As you can see, I haven’t been radio silent because nothing is going on. It’s quite the opposite. I’m feeling very busy with all kinds of things. It’s a bit weird being in a long lull between book releases, plus some added stress from overlapping deadlines, my agent leaving the business, and a whole lot of other boring, mundane troubles, none of which are worth writing about. Next year promises to be busy with two book releases, so I’m going to spend the rest of this year working on new things to share in the future.
Until next time—take care!