I’m currently suffering with a godawful flu – which has impeded even my ability to watch terrible Hugh Grant films. But normal service will resume soon enough, I’m sure.
I’m also aware I’ve left things up in the air a bit when it comes to my various projects, so here’s a State of the Hall update.
The first is a bit complicated because it relates to my non-writing life. Basically, midway through last year my day job changed pretty substantially and became a lot of more demanding. This is mostly really exciting, because I’m fortunate enough to love my day job about as much as I love my writing job, but it took me longer than I thought it would to adapt my writing around my new schedule.
The most direct impact of this is, as a few people have already noticed, the publication date of Ardy III (provisionally titled, How To Belong With A Billionaire) has been pushed back to late 2018. I know this is really frustrating, especially because the second book ended where it did, and I’m really sorry. But the book is definitely coming! And I can’t wait to give Ardy and Caspian their much-deserved HEA.
Something that has also been impacted, although I don’t think it will affect readers quite so explicitly is that some time last year I announced a queer m/f Regency trilogy, which I was very excited about. Unfortunately, due to the day job thing, I fell behind on the delivery date for it and the schedule no longer worked for the publisher – so that’s on the back burner for the foreseeable. It’s a book I really enjoyed writing so I do hope to come back to it at some point in the future, but I’m having to manage my commitments a lot more carefully moving forward.
I’ve also had a few queries about Nettlefield. Basically, 2016 and 2017 were just such shitty years in terms of, well, everything (Alan Rickman and Carrie Fisher died for God’s sake) that I didn’t really want to put out a sad book. Well, I mean it’s not sad exctly, but it’s quite bittersweet. And I just don’t think this is a time for bittersweet. So I’m afraid that’s also back burnered until, well, something changes.
Finally, though, here is something awesome. When I first started writing back in … yikes … 2014 … I used to split my output pretty evenly between queer contemporary romance and, um, shall we say weirder offerings? With one thing and another, things shifted heavily towards romance, so something i really wanted to do in 2017 was redress the balance a bit. Aaaaaand I’m happy to be able to say that is happening!
Recently, my amazing agent sold my queer fantasy novel to an equally amazing editor at Ace. The book is provisionally titled The Affair of the Mysterious Letter (though I don’t think I’ve ever written anything that hasn’t had its name changed before publication) and it’s probably best summed up as: bisexual lady Holmes and puritan trans Watson solve crimes in a weird fantasy city. It’s not really very much like anything I’ve written previously, because it tilts much more towards fantasy than Prosperity or even Kate Kane. But if you were into the way I went about building the worlds in those books, then you might enjoy this too. I mean, the book is completely mad, but it’s also a joy to write, I think it’s in super good hands and I can’t wait to share it with you.
As ever, if you have any questions or concerns, by all means throw them at me in the comments.
Otherwise, all that remains to be said, I think is: OMG YAY.
So many things I want to say but they all boil down to YEAH (other than the flu)!!! I can’t wait to read a new “weird” book by you-particularly one that is a fantastical mystery.
Thank you!
I also say YEAH. And a bit of *cough*.
Congrats with the Ace contract!! Well done!!
So sorry to see Arden and Caspian delayed (OMG they are so hot together, and I really love Arden 🙂 )
Glad RL is good for you; and hope you can still fit in the writing!
And hope you’ve gotten over the nasty flu bug 🙂
**Hugs**
The third book will be with you before you know it – but I’m super happy to hear you’re enjoying Ardy and Caspian’s story.
And I am definitely continuing to write, it just involves a bit more negotiating around other things than it used to.
I just got an email from amazon.com saying that Ardy book 3 is being pushed to February 2019. Really disappointed and cancelling my pre-order.
Please take care of yourself and Yoo-hoo for the weird book. <3
Hahaha, thank you 🙂
Yay, update! I’m excited for the fantasy novel, that sounds great. I’m so sorry that you are still sick (((AJH)))
I’ve been sick FOREVER. Urgh. But I’m definitely on the mend.
OMG, YAY! Looking forward to all the books, but particularly the fantasy. Congrats! <3
Thank you 🙂 I’m so excited.
Booo to all the yucky germy stuff but yay yay yay to all the other good stuff! I’m happy that both of your jobs are bringing you happiness, even if you do need to clone yourself to get all that writing done 😉
Oh, I hadn’t thought of cloning myself. I’ll try that next time 😉
And thank you 🙂
Congratulations!! I’m so incredibly excited for you. ❤❤❤
Thank you! 🙂
Yay for all the book related news! I’m thrilled for you! I do hope you start to feel better soon, though! ❤
Thank you – and me, too. This flu is a BASTARD.
While I’m sad Nettlefield and the queer m/f Regency are getting postponed, I’m super excited about your new project and can’t wait to read it.
Congratulations on the day job stuff and on the bestest book news!
Boo to the flu. Hope you feel better soon!
Thank you 🙂 And I am definitely on the mend!
Congrats on the exciting developments in your day job! Looking forward to the new books and will gladly wait for Ardy3 – I’ll just re-read Bang and Blow some more. And kudos for balancing both work worlds. Death to flu germs, sorry you’ve been ill and hope you’re back in fine form soon!
Thank you so much for the good wishes – I’m way, way better, although I’ve still got the cough of a consumptive poet.
I will try to get my skates on with Ardy3 and hopefully it’ll be with you before you know it 🙂
Thanks for the book updates! Lots of things to come so that is wonderful news. Hope you and Ducky feel way better, way soon! You’ve been missed out in the internet world….
Awww, thank you. I’ve been intermittent on social media, but it’s good to be back. I missed everyone 🙂
Chanting: WEIRD-BOOK! WEIRD-BOOK!
Bring it on, can’t wait.
YESSSS!! WEIRD BOOK!
I am always in awe that you manage to juggle writing with your real life job.
Glad that you are on the mend and delighted with the prospect of new books even if the anticipation for Caspian and ardy is extended . I’ll have to read and listen a few more times .
Well, sometimes I drop them both on the floor and things get broken. But I think I’ve got things together again, thank heavens. And thank you for your patience with Ardy. It’ll get here, I promise 🙂
Wow, you wrote all the books you’ve published in less than four years? Greedy as I am for more, I feel very fortunate to get one new novel a year from my very favorite writers so am not surprised that new other job has demanded your time.
So sorry you are still sick; flu is dangerous. I’ve made sure to get the annual vaccine since I discovered a frequent side effect is weeks of depression after the basic bug is conquered in addition to all that time being sick; such a terrible waste. Virtual hugs or whatever else might help.
Will buy anything you choose (are able) to grace us with.
I think the expectations on writers varies very much from genre to genre. I mean, one book in a decade is considered super fast for fantasy, not referencing any authors in particular 😉 But, in romance, one book a year is practically dead in the water. I usually shoot for two, but the changes with my day job have knocked me a bit off schedule.
And thank you for the kind thoughts – I’m much better, and I’ve actually got a bit of a post-flu high which I think is my body recognising it isn’t horribly ill any more. Yay!
Yay! And life can get in the way. I credit Courtney Milan with attracting(addicting?) me to romance since before I found one of her books, the authors I’d tried I found meh. I am still waiting for several works in progress from her while admiring her bravery and following her IRL story. Certain no names mentioned fantasy writers are way too violent for woosie me. Stay well. So glad you write. 🙂
I’m sorry (I don’t really know if this is an apology to you or myself lol) but I only discovered you at the end of last year unfortunately. However, I loveeee your stories, your characters, your writing! I’m so eager for more Ardy baby and I am definitely looking forward to your new releases! They sound really interesting and I expect to get sucked into those worlds just as quickly. So omG yay! Can’t wait to read what you write, and I wish you a speedy recovery from the germs!
Oh bless, you definitely don’t have to apologise to me – I’m just happy when people discover me at all, whenever it happens. I’m delighted you enjoy my writing, though, and I hope to be delivering more of it to you in, well, a moderately efficient fashion 🙂
And I’m pretty much alllll better now, thank you for asking 🙂
Bring on the weird! Love those “out there” books. Glad the day job is something you love and are excited about! Well done. TWO jobs you love.
Yes, it’s rather an embarrassment of riches. But no complaints here.
And thank you for the kind words – hope the book lives up to its weirdness pitch 😉
I’m so excited for bisexual lady Holmes and puritan trans Watson! Hopefully Nettlefield and the Regency trilogy will come out at some point, but I’ll happily wait for as long as it takes. And congratulations on fitting in all this writing around your day job! I hope you feel better soon. 🙂
I’m definitely hoping to be able to come back to the Regencies, although Nettlefield is feeling ever more unnecessary as the years go by.
But the fantasy has been an absolute joy to write – so hopefully it’ll be fun to read too 🙂
I cannot scope with how existed and excursion I am for you!
<3 <3 <3
Congratulations on the day job changes! I’m glad to hear you’re loving both it and your writing 🙂 And that queer fantasy novel sounds intriguing, really looking forward to that. Ardy3 will be here before we know it, and then I can read the whole series in a sweep, which I am sure I will love. Hope you beat that bug soon and that you are being taken good care of in the meantime.
Thank you so much for the good wishes – and I do hope you enjoy Ardy when the trilogy is complete.
I haven’t met anything you’ve written that I havent loved, so yippeee!
Wishing you better as soon as possible. You’ve got Ducky to look after you so that’s good
Well, unless Ducky gave me duck-flu…
And thank you, I’m super excited!
Quite thrilled to hear about your Holmes/Watson fantasy – Kate Kane is fabulous so I look forward to anything fantasy from you (hmmm, that might be all your writing now I think on it, lol). A little sad about Nettlefield not quite happening yet, but as a still recovering fan of Bowie…I can understand.
Yay! For all things you write! And congrats on day job being grand.
Thank you so much. I’m thrilled to bits to be able to get back to doing some genre work, alongside the romance 🙂
Also sorry about Nettlefield but I really can’t bear anything even a teeny bit sad at the moment.
It’s so so cool that you love your day job!!! The world is too full of people doing things they don’t even remotely like for money and dreaming all their life long of quitting one day to do things they really like.
Congrats on the completely mad book thing! And now I’m seriously conflicted because it does sound pretty weird. But it’s YOUR book. And I doubt you could write bad even if you tried to. And I also can’t believe you’ve only been writing for three years! Wow! But weird. But yours. Hmmm…
Thank you – I’m very lucky, both to have a day job I love, and to be able to write too 🙂
Well, not every book an author writes will work for everyone – you can always check out the blurbs, samples, etc. when it’s available and see if it’s for you. But thank you for the vote of confidence! 🙂
You know what, I am reading Prosperity and can now be 100% positive that weird or not, I’ll buy, read and love it.
And if you ever run out of ideas, I suggest you retell a phonebook. It will surely be a lovely, funny and hot read!
All the congrats on selling that queer fantasy novel! The Affair of the Mysterious Letter sounds super intriguing, and I shall look forward to it! <3
Also, sorry that you had to re-shuffle your publication schedule. That's always a tough one, especially when it means that something falls through entirely. All the hugs!
Ahhh, thank you, I’m so excited.
And, yes, re-shuffling is super tough but I think it’s worked well for everyone, and I’m hopeful I can come back to the Regencies at some point in the not too distant future.
Hurray and congrats on spending time on an agreeable and hopefully also nicely paid day job! The writing will happen at a different pace and you still seem to find a way. Amazing! Absolutely fantastic and exemplary. May your publisher(s) be patient too, as we, your readers and fans await all your new creations. – And no more flu or anything like that this year! xo
I think I’ve had enough flu to last me a lifetime, but at least to the end of this year.
And I’m hoping to do a much better job of managing both my schedules (life and writing) so, err, less patience is required on the part of both publishers and readers.
You deserve every wonderful thing happening in your life right now. And there’s so much you can’t even. I’m glad to be a recipient of all things you write and is it weird that I had a little bit of angst about whether or not you were going to give Ardy and Caspian an hea? Thanks for clearing that up.
And how did I miss that you were doing only the very bad Hugh Grant films??!! Lol. All this time I was all, “dude, there’s some less cringy HG films out there!” Lol.
Congratulations on all the jobs success and feel better soon, Alexis.
Oh no – I’m so sorry you felt angsty about Ardy and Caspian. I know I left them in a rough place, but I’m absolutely committed to the HEA/HFN of romance.
Well, technically I’m doing ALL the Hugh Grant films. It’s just … mostly … they’ve been very bad.
And thank you for the good wishes and kind words <3
Thanks for letting us know what’s going on with Arden and Caspian. I literally just finished How to Blow it with a Billionaire and read the preview of Ardy3.
I was almost wrecked by the end of chapter 3. How did this happen??? I’m so grateful you told us they will have either an HEA or HFN. Please make it an HEA, because after waiting so long for the ending to their story I don’t think I can live with just an HFN Thank you so much for writing great stories for us to read. It’s been quite awhile since I read something that touched me so deeply.
I guessed when I first read this that the preorder for A Husband for Whenever was a bit of a mirage, but ordered it anyway just in case it wasn’t. Deliciously fluffy queer regency by you will be received with great delight whenever you should have world enough and time to write it. Happily I managed to order your existing works before recent terrible events occurred in the world of romance, and I’ll probably buy Pansies again whenever everything is available again. It’s my favourite of yours both because it’s lovely in itself and because I grew up in the north east; you caught the feel of the place, and the qualities that make me hold it in affection. I have a serious wish for it in audio format, but will console myself with Ardy.
Can’t imagine better news to jostle me along in recovery from surgery than word of your particular take on the world of Holmes and Watson (the latter of whom I have always thought got a rather raw deal in the original). Delighted is not a strong enough word; I shall have to think of a better one. In the meantime: thank you, thank you.
I just read books 1 and 2 of your Billionaire series and LOVED it! I am however just heartbroken how things were left…and even more so after reading the first 3 chapters of 3. Please please please tell me we really dont have to wait til Feb 2019 for their HEA.