I'm delighted to announce that Bound into the Blood is now available at a variety of retailers in both paperback and ebook formats.
Much of the book takes place over the summer in the human world and reflects the changes that are the result of the discovery of the rock-wights and the new status of Gwyn ap Nudd, King of Annwn. For those of my fans who enjoy foxhunting, there's a bit of a puppy show, too.
I'm starting a new series, The Affinities of Magic, which will feature a young man who founds an industrial revolution and builds an academy for magic. Structures of Earth, the first book in that series, will come out this summer, to be followed by more work in both series.
You can find out more about Bound into the Blood and where to buy it here. As always, if you like the book, I encourage you to write a review wherever you bought it, or to post one on Goodreads or Amazon. Reviews make a big difference to authors.
Prologue
It was time to move again, he decided. Soon. He searched his face in the mirror. Ten years in one place was enough. The first jokes about how young he still looked had started, and his unchanging appearance would only raise more questions if he lingered much longer.
He grimaced. It’s getting harder each time to set up a new identity, he thought, to stay off the grid. Maybe I should move to another country altogether, one with bigger problems than surveilling its citizens. I could last a long time in some country in Africa, if I could figure out a way to get there without a passport. And there are interesting beasts there to turn my hand to.
Or maybe I should just stop and put an end to it, the last of my line of the special breed, the pure blood.
He’d done what he had to do, twenty-odd years ago, and he remembered it still each morning when he woke. Nothing much had seemed real to him after that, after he fled and left it all, worlds behind. His death wouldn’t seem real either, when it came, he suspected, just the long-delayed natural conclusion. Well, at least he’d be done with it, then. He was tired of the fight. It would be a welcome relief, a silence and a forgetting.
I finished the first draft of Bound into the Blood, book 4 of The Hounds of Annwn, a couple of weeks ago and set it aside to ripen. It always helps to wait a couple of weeks before doing the editing — gives you a chance to approach it more like a fresh reader.
Since I write near-final first drafts, with all the loose ends tied up, the editing process is more of a copyedit and proofread set of activities which proceed in a certain order.
First I run the manuscript through Autocrit, scene by scene. This helps me identify repeated words, in particular, and cliches. It's depressing how often when writing that you come up with just the perfect word and then, one paragraph (or even one sentence) later, you decide to use it again. Must have something to do with it being fresh within your mind. A mechanical editor tool like Autocrit is invaluable for reducing this problem — it sees things the human mind ignores (“the the” is always a favorite).
I fix any loose ends that might remain (I make notes of them in each scene as I write). Then I format the book for ebook and print BEFORE I proofread it. It's much easier to proofread something if it looks different — bigger font, different wraparound locations, whatever it takes. I read through it relatively quickly, for feel (and typos), then I go back and read through it slowly for typos. I typically find 30-50 errors at this point, so one more read-through is always a good idea.
I toss a version round about this time to my husband, but I'm usually done before he finishes reading. Still, I incorporate his finds, too.
I expect the book will be up for sale in about two weeks (or sooner). I'll announce availability as soon as it's up — first to my newsletter subscribers, and then here on the blog.
As some of you know, I moved from Virginia to Pennsylvania in May, just as I was finishing King of the May. We relocated to our vacation home in central Pennsylvania, an old log cabin (with improvements) nestled into a hollow of the Allegheny mountains.
No one had lived in the cabin for 10 years beyond a few relatives visiting during hunting season, so the place had to be emptied, cleaned, repaired, and painted. On the Virginia end, this included moving two different households to a single smaller location and a warehouse, so it was beyond complicated. I did my best to keep writing each day but the dust is still settling and will be for a while. (Half of my office is still in boxes.)
You may have noticed that King of the May is published by Perkunas Press, still in Hume, Virginia. It will take a little while for me to register the business in Pennsylvania, and after that new printings (and my bio) will show the update.
Architectural detail of the main cabin (1820s) or thereabouts
Recent – porch roofs needed a bit of leakproofing.Nearby shed in happier times. Dead shed now.
Shed imploded after being whomped by a fallen willow.
Meanwhile, I've started on Bound into the Blood, book 4 of The Hounds of Annwn. Since I include the first chapter of the next book at the end of the current one, I had to write the first chapter before I could publish King of the May. So I have a pretty good idea how this one is going to roll out.
It will be a more intimate book than King of the May, as The Ways of Winter was more intimate than To Carry the Horn. George will look for answers about his father's family, and the search will take him to strange places with unusual companions (Seething Magma will be coming along).
These four books of The Hounds of Annwn will cover most of a year, from mid-October to end of summer. Interestingly, they are coinciding with the same seasons in real life as I write them — helps me stay in the mood.
I'll produce some more short stories in The Hounds of Annwn world, and collect them into an anthology (sign up for my newsletter to hear about each new one as it comes out and read it for free on my blog), but after Bound into the Blood (sometime this fall/winter), I intend to begin a new fantasy series, The Affinities of Magic.
Depending on the wishes of my readers, there may be more adventures in store for George Talbot Traherne. Please let me know — I'm listening.
I'm delighted to announce that Bound into the Blood is now available at a variety of retailers in both paperback and ebook formats.
