So much news, really, it’s a bit ridiculous.
My novels Bone Shop and Broken Mirrors are going to be audiobooks, available from Audible.com! I’ve known about this for a while, but was waiting to announce until contracts were signed.
Cool things: Jessica Almasy will be the narrator again, as she was on the first four audiobooks in the Marla Mason series. And! Audible has commissioned Dan Dos Santos to do new, original covers for the audiobook editions, so there will be consistent cover art for all six volumes. I am SO EXCITED. I talked to Dan a bit last week about possibilities for illustrations, and he has some fantastic ideas. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with.
No idea when the audiobooks will be available. (I mean, they have to actually record them and everything.) You’ll know when I do.
In new fiction news… A bit over a week ago I wrote a story, “The Secret Beach,” at a playground while my kid napped in his stroller. Most of the stories I write these days are commissioned and written with a specific market in mind, but this was like the old days: an idea, some images, a few phrases, a character, and just writing as fast as I could. I typed it up that night, revising as I went; did a couple of read-throughs to clean up the language; got my wife’s opinion; sent it off. Six days after I wrote the first line, I had an acceptance: look for it in a future issue of Fantasy Magazine. Yay! I had a story in their first issue, back when they were still print. It’s nice to be back. (That was actually the second place I submitted the story — the first gave me a “close but not quite.” Rejections never stop entirely, y’all, but they mostly stopped stinging after the first two hundred or so.)
My Memorial Day weekend has been spent largely in thrall to my novel Briarpatch, making what are (I hope) the last changes before it goes to copyedits. Lots and lots of little things, and a few big things, and it’s a better book for it. Draining work, though. I still love this book. My most personal novel since Rangergirl. I’m glad you’ll all get to read it.
I also laid down a few words on City of the Fallen Sky, which is moving along nicely, if not quite quickly enough. I still have two months to finish. It’s enough, but it won’t leave me much time for video games or TV show marathons in the evenings. After that deadline, I have six months before another book is due, so I’ll be able to take it easy in the back half of the year.
Unless some irresistibly interesting project presents itself…
Awesome news about the audiobooks and amusing timing for me, as I was going to drop a line to ask about the last two . . . and here you are, announcing it like you read my mind. 😉 Thanks, and thanks also to Audible, Dan Dos Santos (woo-hoo!), and Jessica Almasy.
It took me a little bit to warm up to Ms. Almasy, but once I did (early on!), I bought the rest and I’ve enjoyed getting back into the Marlaverse. 🙂