issue IIX

Let's keep it simple -- when I have something exciting to share or a promotion I think you'd like to know about, I'll send it out in a newsletter no more than once monthly. I'll try to include a fun behind-the-scenes tidbit at the bottom for your entertainment, and I'll do my best not to waste your time or clutter your inbox unnecessarily! 

Facets of Fate Cover Art is Here!

Cover art designed by Eileen Wiedbrauk -- who has done ALL my Fate of the Gods covers from day one! 

I talked about this collection in my last newsletter (back in April! Wow. May got away from me there!) and since then, I've been hard at work formatting and finishing! 

Now I have more details to share:

1) This book will release FIRST in paperback. Not because I want to trick anyone (the ebook release will follow shortly thereafter) but just the timetable on MY end is tight with another project, and I want my formatter to have the time she needs to get the ebook properly pretty, so no one gets something that looks like gobbledegook because I cheated on quality control and skipped actually HAVING it formatted for your e-reading pleasure. (Possibly this is me being too honest but. Authorlife, friends. We all sometimes overbook ourselves, I fear.) Also my personal impetus for releasing this collection is so readers can finally have TEMPTING FATE in print -- something I've been asked about repeatedly since Mia's novella released, so that's what I've been most focused on achieving first thing!

2) If you didn't see the post on my blog in May (caution, Spoilers for BEYOND FATE!), after the newsletter -- the *all new* story, titled FINDING FATE will focus on Marcus! For some of you, I know, he is NOT your favorite but I think he deserves a shot at redemption! (Also he really grew on me in draft two and I kind of love the guy!)

3) FACETS OF FATE is coming to you in JULY! 

4) A brief reminder of the other stories included in the Facets of Fate collection:

Tempting Fate (Mia and Adam's story)

Bride Price (Previously available only online at Birdville Magazine, and newly revised -- for its BM publication, I removed some of the more specifically Fate of the Gods elements, and I've always wanted to put them back in for you.)

Taming Fate (The story of Eve and the oft-referenced Marquis DeLeon)

Mortal Flesh and Homecoming (Two very short flash pieces, previously available only online on my blog.)

5) Also if you're wondering, in my head, that figure on the horse trying to outrace the storm that may or may not be representative of Thor's presence is definitely Ryam DeLeon. Which is 50% of the reason I *love* this cover for the collection, so much of which relates to the House of Lions, and also just the way in which Eve's mortal friends and family get so unwittingly entangled in the affairs of the gods, whether they want to be or not. (I'd argue that this applies to Adam, too, if not quite so exactly.) 

Find me at HNS Portland!

If you're in the Portland, Oregon area of the country on June 24th, come see me at the Historical Novel Society Conference Book Signing! I'll be attending primarily as Amalia Carosella, but I'm always happy to sign anything as Amalia Dillin as well. (DAUGHTER OF A THOUSAND YEARS, BY HELEN'S HAND, and TAMER OF HORSES will be available for sale at the conference bookstore, but if you have copies of anything of mine at home, feel free to bring it along.)

You can also register for the Readers Festival and enjoy some fun panels and coffee and tea with the HNS Portland Guests of Honor, Pulitzer Prize Winner Geraldine Brooks and acclaimed author David Ebershoff. (But you absolutely don't have to register for the Readers Festival to attend the signing!)

If you're attending the main conference, I'll be presenting a panel with Kate Quinn, Libbie Hawker, and Judith Starkston, moderated by Margaret George, about Myth and Legend vs the Historical Record, discussing how to reconcile these elements together (if they can be at all) to strengthen your historical fiction!

If you see me -- don't hesitate to say hello! At the signing, I'll have #NAMEthatBUTT stickers and magnets as well as bookmarks for DAUGHTER OF A THOUSAND YEARS, my HELEN OF SPARTA books, and TAMER OF HORSES!

Did You Know:

I'm working on a secret project right now as Amalia Carosella that's slated for the fall/winter -- how about a little tiny sneak peek?

“Butes-Akheloios came to me with nothing but the clothes upon his back, the finest linens and softest, most supple leather for his belt. Nothing but for the seed he planted in my womb, and the love he showered upon me. Every day, I climbed the spire to sing, and he would wade into the sea or climb the tumbled rocks hunting for our supper, and every night we would feast upon one another, sated and satisfied in spirit even when our bellies still growled with hunger.”

Aglaope closed her eyes, imagining what she had never known. Longing spilled over her body like so much sea spray, leaving gooseflesh upon her skin. “It must have been glorious.”

“To know a god’s love is no small thing, for however long it might last,” Thelxiope said. “But knowing our time together would be short made it all the sweeter, for Akheloios has greater duties than plowing us, as god of the rivers and the sweetest water. And so far from his domain, he cannot linger without weakening.

“Even so, Butes begged me to sail with him, when he had finally gathered wood enough for a skiff. He begged and pleaded, promising me rich lands and food enough that I might never hunger again. But the mother’s sickness had me by then, and I knew the sea would be no friend to me. And how could I leave my mother? My grandmother, who would never survive the journey, old and tired as she was. Someone had to sing for them, and my mother’s voice had grown too hoarse to manage it, if I had gone.”