Hi everyone! If you’ve been following my blog, newsletter, or Twitter, you’ll know that I have been hard at work this year on my first adult fantasy project; a gaslamp fantasy based on cruel gods! I wanted to give a little update on how that’s going and what you can expect from me later this year.
I also have an Upcoming Books page on this here website that I try to keep updated with any news or progress on my books.
But first, let’s start with my ongoing Young Adult fantasy series.
Sand Dancer Progress
First, a big thank you to those who have read the sequel to Sand Dancer, Fire Walker, which came out in February. Your support and reviews mean a lot to me and I couldn’t write these books without you. I’m sure many of you are keen to continue Mina’s adventure with the next book in the series, though unfortunately I don’t have much news for you. The goal was to finish and release the third book this fall, but I’m uncertain on the current time scale. I finished my draft of this third book in January earlier this year, and I’m currently waiting to begin edits once my publisher has finished collating their feedback. Unfortunately, publishing can be a slow process, and my publisher has other books that need their attention too, so we’ll all have to be a little patient!
As soon as I have news about the third Sand Dancer book, I’ll let you know. I’m keen to start writing the fourth one.
Gaslamp WIP
As you may (or may not!) know, I’m currently working on my first adult book, a gaslamp fantasy crossed with a portal fantasy and with a mix of steampunk and gothic cosmic horror vibes. If that sounds like a crazy mix, then that’s because this is one crazy book! It’s completely different from Sand Dancer, with a main character that is opposite to Mina. In fact, this book is quite dark, and would not be recommended for younger readers of Sand Dancer due to the adult content.
If that intrigues you rather than scares you, then I’ll be announcing this book over the summer months. Right now, this book is currently sitting with an editor and then I’ll be polishing up the final edits. By the end of August, the book cover art will be done, and I’ll be ready to announce this book to the world. I’m expecting to release this book between September-November, but check back in August for some REAL news!
I’m completely in love with this book, the Edwardian-steampunk world and its cast of characters, and I can’t wait to finally show it off.
Why Self Publish?
Whilst the Sand Dancer series has been published by a small press, I have decided to try my hand at self-publishing my gaslamp WIP. There’s a few reasons why I’m taking the plunge.
The biggest reason is because I am a big fan of indie publishing. That may be obvious because I co-write a blog to support indie authors over at Uncharted Library!
To me, going indie represents freedom, creativity, and innovation. Indie authors continue to impress me with their amazing self-published books which explore areas which may not be marketable to the bigger publishers. Traditional publishing has its dark side and I personally cannot abide snobbery and gatekeeping when it comes to fictional worlds. Especially when traditional publishing is still so far behind when it comes to representing diversity.
So to me, going indie has always been my dream path. There are advantages and disadvantages to both traditional publishing and self-publishing, but going indie reflects my soul. I like having the freedom to run my own business, to decide what stories I want to write, and to publish on my own time scale. This path isn’t for everyone, and I’m expecting it to be a lot of hard work, but I’m willing to give it a try.
I also run my own Indie Authors Discord server for indie and self-published authors, and so I’d like to self-publish my own books to gain knowledge of self-publishing and better serve this community.
This will be a big step for my career as an author, but I can assure you that my books will always be delivered with quality in mind. I am definitely the kind of author who refuses to stop editing and polishing a book until it’s perfect.
Thank you for joining me on this journey into new worlds. If you’d like to keep updated on my books more frequently, then please do sign up for my newsletter, which I send out once a month or whenever there’s exciting news afoot. Alternatively, you can stalk me on Twitter. I won’t bite!
