Well, this snuck up quickly — The Curse of Earthias, my latest book, is now out!

Hi everyone! Just a little announcement post (I know the title says it, but I thought I’d elaborate).

After much hard work revising and editing (read about it here), I’m finally able to share with you the book which evolved from two different ideas I had back when I was about twelve. It’s been a long time coming, and I put it aside so many times to work on other projects, so it’s amazing to think my little manuscript is now an actual real life book.

While not the first full manuscript I wrote, I started drafting very early versions of chapters one and two when I was in high school, and while those chapters have been lost in the depths of time, I believe that the tone I tried to capture then still resides at the heart of this final version.

Also, on an interesting note, one of the main characters is autistic like me, though as he isn’t human (he’s an Earth Healer – similar to an elf) and the entire story is set in a fantasy world, the term ‘autism’ is not used anywhere in the book – but the traits are there. It was interesting discovering this, as it wasn’t intentional and the first draft was completed long before I was diagnosed. I suppose I put more of myself into him than I thought.

Anyway, without further ado, I present to you The Curse of Earthias:

Taken in by Queen Celeste of Xylantria when she was a child, a young woman called Yusumi finds herself accused of murdering her beloved mentor.

With the help of her friend, the enormous wolf-lion Jidan, she flees the royal city. Soon after, they meet Xanna and Kai, two Earth Healers from the mystical forest of Earthias. They are on a journey to find a cure for their cursed Wise Woman – a curse cast by human magic, which has been dead for centuries.

But behind the scenes, a darker power is at play. Pursued by demonic and undead forces, can they find answers for the Earth Healers and clear Yusumi’s name?

Advertisement

Updates!

Hi everyone, it’s been a while since I spoke about any writerly stuff, so I thought I’d share a few things I’ve been working on.

I’ve just finished going through the edits I received from my publisher for my upper middle grade/YA fantasy, Nekromancer’s Cage (which is coming out in June!). I had to rework the first chapter and fill in a few little details here and there, as well as approve the changes made during proofreading.

As editing goes, it was quite a light one, but I had a tight turn around time, so it still took a lot of energy and concentration to get done. And, of course, the moment I sent it off once I’d finished, I discovered a typo in the first paragraph. I quickly addressed it and sent the fixed version off straight away, so in the end it all turned out fine!

I’ve also started work on a new middle grade novel featuring witches, trapped spirits and a stroll into death, though as I’m a very light outliner, many of the details are still hazy. But for me, that makes the writing process much more fun, and I’m looking forward to continuing with it.

Last month, I set myself the task of illustrating one of the picture book stories that have been lounging idly on my desktop for far too long. It was definitely a challenge, as I haven’t spent any significant time drawing since I left school, and as lockdown was put in place mid-way through, I was short on a few tools that I probably should have used. The results aren’t spectacular, but I’m still pleased with myself for sticking to a project like that — normally, if there’s little writing involved in a project, I lose my drive for it after a week or so and it gets put on hold indefinitely. Not this time, though! I’m not sure what I want to do with it now, so I’ve put it away for a while so I can come back to it later with fresh eyes.

It was definitely a learning curve, as I quickly realised that my text didn’t leave as much room for the illustrations as I’d thought, and so the story had to be reworked and worded more succinctly. Even if nothing comes of this particular story, at least I have that lesson to take away from it.

That’s all from me for now. I’ve decided that I’m not going to talk much about lockdown unless it’s directly relevant to my work, as I’d like this blog to be an escape from all of that (even if I do post infrequently). I also believe that there are people far better at discussing things like that than me, so I’ll leave it to them.

Happy reading/writing/querying!

P.S. I forgot to mention, a few weeks ago my publisher released the Italian edition of my middle grade portal fantasy, The Door Between Worlds. It’s the first time one of my books has been translated, which is exciting.

Cover reveal and pre-order!

Hi everyone, just a quick post to say that one of my latest young adult books is up for pre-order on Kindle, releasing on June 24th, and I can now officially reveal the gorgeous cover my publisher has designed for it:

When Apprentice Alkemical Apothecary Johnathan finds out that the Board of Alkemists are forcing the shop to close down due to the severe illness of his mentor, his career hopes are shattered.

To make matters worse, Johnathan returns home that evening only to discover his neighbour on the verge of death. Unable to save him, Johnathan is left only with his dying words and boxes of notepads, along with a marketing leaflet naming them as ‘Super Notes’, handy notepads that never let one forget what was on them – something that would certainly come in handy as a business opportunity.

Unfortunately, Johnathan’s new venture leads him to encounter an unlikely gang of thieves, and a deadly conspiracy. Facing the reality that he could be responsible for the disaster, Johnathan teams up with the thieves to root out the origin of the Super Notes, and stop whoever is behind the danger that threatens their city.

 

If you’re interested, then you can pre-order it here.

 

Happy reading!

 

The Origin Stone…Cover Reveal!

Hi everyone, I’ve had another update from my publisher, Next Chapter, about the re-release of The Origin Stone (for those who don’t know, the publisher who had it previously closed down just after Christmas, and as Next Chapter have published all my other books, they were pleased to give it a new home).

I don’t have a release date yet, but they did send me the new cover design – and it took my breath away. It’s simply an amazing piece of design work, and the image of Emily is exactly how I’ve always pictured her. I also love how she’s positioned at the entrance of a tunnel; I really feel it signifies the journey she has yet to come, and oozes atmosphere.

Honestly, I was almost in tears when I saw it, I was so impressed and overwhelmed. I’m hoping such a wonderful cover will finally give it the attention I (and my publisher) feel it deserves:

Another update on The Origin Stone (and other books)

Hi everyone, I received an exciting email today from my publisher Next Chapter, which was a publishing contract for The Origin Stone! I’m really happy they’ve taken it on, and I’m also impressed with how quickly they got back to me about it, as it’s only been a few weeks between the publisher who had it before, Nuff Said, closing down, and submitting it to Next Chapter.

Now, I don’t have any idea when it’ll be out again, as the email simply contained the offer, but as the book has already been edited and proofed, there shouldn’t be too much work to do on it, which hopefully means a speedy publication. Regardless, I’ll keep you all updated with how it’s going.

What was also exciting is that Next Chapter also accepted the two new poetry collections I submitted to them a few months ago, as well as my upper middle grade/ young adult fantasy crossover book, Nekromancer’s Cage, which I sent to them just after The Origin Stone. Nekromancer’s Cage has been on submission for a long time and though it garnered lots of interest, no one took it further than that, so it really is a relief to have  a publisher for it at last. I’d say it’s quite a dark read, while still containing lots of humour – if I had to compare the tone of it to one of my other books, it’s probably closest to my third Half-Wizard Thordric book, Unseasoned Adventurer. I know that’s somewhat vague, so I’ll also mention that it contains magical post-it notes, musical bandits and a talking cat.

I know that having so many books accepted at once will mean lots of revision, so this year is likely to be full of editing various projects and juggling things around, but revision is something I enjoy (I think because quite a lot of it is puzzle solving).

Overall, I’m really pleased that I have a home for these books, and it’s a most encouraging start to the year.

 

Unofficial Detective’s 2nd book birthday!

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, then you probably already know this, but Unofficial Detective, the first book in my Half-Wizard Thordric trilogy, has been out for two years today. And looking back, things have been a little crazy since then.

These past two years have been full of personal struggles, but one thing that’s been a constant throughout, despite lack of time, depression and overall burnout, has been my writing.

[Side note: I’ve written at least one book every year since 2011, and though I had so many manuscripts, I only found my first publisher in 2017.]

Since Unofficial Detective has been out, nearly every book I wrote before then has either been released or is currently under contract for release next year. And the books I’ve written since its release (3 novels, 3 picture book manuscripts, 3 poetry collections – including A Book For Pandora, which came out in February this year) are either awaiting editing/being edited or on submission. Add that to the fact I blog every day at the moment, and even I have to admit it’s a lot of work.

Now, I often forget the sheer amount of effort I’ve put into a project as soon as I move onto the next, and as my focus is usually on what I’m currently working on, it’s been a long time since I’ve looked back and appreciated how far I’ve come. But today I stopped to think about it, and it left me both overwhelmed and immensely proud.

Being a writer has been my dream since I was a little girl, and while it’s true I earn very little from it – for me, earning money from writing has never been the point – I can genuinely say I’ve achieved my dream and will continue living it.

So, I think the note I want to end with is that for any aspiring writers out there wondering if getting published really is attainable, just stick with it. Yes, it probably will be hard and you will feel like quitting completely at some points, but if it’s what you really want, then no one can stop you. And that remains true regardless of whether you’re looking into traditional publishing or self publishing.

Lastly, a list of all my published works to date:

Half-Wizard Thordric trilogy

Unofficial Detective

Accidental Archaeologist

Unseasoned Adventurer

 

Stand alone books

The Door Between Worlds

The Origin Stone

 

Poetry

A Book For Pandora

Unofficial Detective merchandise!

My publisher surprised me today by announcing that they’ve designed merchandise for Unofficial Detective, the first book in my Half-Wizard Thordric trilogy. I’m rather chuffed with how they look, and just how many options there are (mugs, t-shirts, cushions, posters).

There are two different designs, one featuring the book cover, and one with just the main image:

If you would like to order one, you can get a 10% discount by using the code NCHAPTER. You can find them here and here.

As always, thanks for your continued support!

Some bookish updates!

After finishing my latest draft a few weeks ago, I’m taking a mini-break from writing fiction to catch up on my TBR pile and generally chill out, as I’ve had a lot of stuff going on lately.

Some of the more exciting things that have happened are:

Unofficial Detective, book one in my Half-Wizard Thordric trilogy, having now been released as an audiobook (link here).

A Book For Pandora, my full length poetry collection, also now available as an audiobook (which surprised me when my publisher suggested it, but I now think is a great idea, especially for those who find it hard to read poetry — sometimes a different medium makes all the difference — and you can find it here.)

The cover for my YA speculative fiction, The Origin Stone, being entered into All Author’s cover competition (you can vote for it here – thank you kindly!)

Poetry uploads will continue as normal, and there may even be a book review or two coming up too.

As always, thank you for reading my humble blog.

Kate out!

It’s publication day! The Origin Stone is here!

Hello everyone, as you probably guessed from the title, my first young adult book, The Origin Stone, was released today!

After some hassle with Youtube, I managed to upload the Q&A video I promised, which also contains a bit of background info on how the book came to be, and a reading of the first chapter.

I’d be thrilled if you could check it out and share it with anyone you think might enjoy the book.

Here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is0-mc8O5Sk&t=1s

The book is available in paperback and as an ebook from the following:

Book Depository

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

Foyles

 

Happy reading!

The Origin Stone giveaway reminder

Hi everyone!

As The Origin Stone’s release is nearly here, I just thought I’d remind you all that I’m holding a giveaway and Q&A on my twitter and facebook pages.

Ask me a question on writing, life, the universe and share/retweet to be in for a chance of winning a paperback copy of the book.

Here’re the links if you want to take part:

https://twitter.com/KaptainKat90/status/1106861778112311296

https://www.facebook.com/authorKathrynRossati/

Have fun (and yes, you can be creative with your questions, as long as they’re PG13)

Kate out!