aliettedb

Read for Pixels fundraiser and Google Hangout

2017-03-11T10:11:15Z

I’m delighted to be taking part in this year’s Read for Pixels’ fundraiser, which aims to fight violence against women. The fundraiser just went up, and I’m offering a Parisian Bundle, which will let you curl up with The House of Shattered Wings, good food, and a print of gorgeous artwork by Likhain, featuring Françoise and Berith, two characters from The House of Binding Thorns (a Fallen and her mortal lover). You can also get a Skype call with me if you’re so inclined. And there are plenty of goodies from the likes of Laini Taylor, Mary Robinette Kowal, Michelle Sagara…

This weekend only, author Karen Rose is matching all donations up to $4000, so now’s the time for donating if you want to!

To support the fundraiser, I’ll be taking part in Read for Pixels’ Google Hangout on Sunday March 19th, 4pm Paris Time. I’ll be reading from my forthcoming The House of Binding Thorns: ruined and decadent Paris, magical intrigues, dragons in human shape, and kissing and stabbing (not necessarily in that order :p), and taking questions about my writing.

More info here, and access details to the livestream channel here.

Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard

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House of Binding Thorns excerpt!

2017-03-09T20:42:22Z

Tor.com has published an excerpt of The House of Binding Thorns (chapter one, to be more specific). In which we return to the House of Hawthorn, its Fallen head Asmodeus, and to alchemist and angel essence addict Madeleine–aka “character in deep trouble” ^-^

Read Chapter One Online!

More book info here (coming your way April 2017 from Roc in the US and Gollancz in the UK/RoW!)

Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard

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Starred Publishers Weekly Review for HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS

2017-02-13T16:00:26Z

First reviews of The House of Binding Thorns are coming in… And Publishers’ Weekly gave it a starred review!

“Meddling gleefully in the affairs of devils and dragons, this affective sequel to 2015’s The House of Shattered Wings touches the heart as often as it cuts throats (…) Having fully crafted her world, de Bodard is now completely in control: she can move swiftly from gentle poetic touches to bloody Grand Guignol gestures, and she sure-handedly holds the reader by exposing the vulnerabilities and needs that drive even the seemingly all-powerful figures of rebel angels and ancient serpents to surrender to a higher collective power.”

Full review here.

More book info here! Coming quite soon now (sayth the author, hiding under the bed).

Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard

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Giveaway for ARC of HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS

2016-12-02T10:00:27Z

And as promised, here’s the giveaway for one ARC of The House of Binding Thorns: ruined and decadent Paris, Fallen angels, alchemists, a dragon kingdom under invasion, and backstabbing aplenty! Open anywhere in the world–I’d of course much appreciate it if you could review the book on goodreads, for instance, (it does help the author *sheepish grin*).

I’ll close it next Thursday, and probably post some highlights of the food question as well.

Here are the promo cards:

(the HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS ones have got a random quote from the book at the back, the HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS ones come with both US and UK covers and have a pull quote)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The multi-award winning author of The House of Shattered Wings continues her Dominion of the Fallen saga as Paris endures the aftermath of a devastating arcane war…

As the city rebuilds from the onslaught of sorcery that nearly destroyed it, The Great Houses of Paris, ruled by fallen angels, still contest one another for control over the capital.

House Silverspires was once the most powerful, but just as it sought to rise again, an ancient evil brought it low. Phillippe, an immortal who escaped the carnage, has a singular goal—to resurrect someone he lost. But the cost of such magic may be more than he can bear.

In House Hawthorn, Madeleine the alchemist has had her addiction to angel essence savagely broken. Struggling to live on, she is forced on a perilous diplomatic mission to the underwater Dragon Kingdom—and finds herself in the midst of intrigues that have already caused one previous emissary to mysteriously disappear…

As the Houses seek a peace more devastating than war, those caught between new fears and old hatreds must find strength—or fall prey to a magic that seeks to bind all to its will.

For more information go here.

Where to Buy

And if you need more idea of what you’re in for, here’s the Pinterest board for the book:

Follow Aliette’s board House of Binding Thorns on Pinterest.

Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard

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ARCs of HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS are in!

2016-12-01T10:31:41Z

The dragon has decided, being Chinese, that it wants to hoard knowledge rather than gold.
Ok, ok, not much knowledge there unless you count a dark fantasy Gothic thriller as knowledge (I’m sure you’ll learn lots of things about Paris :p).

I’ll be setting up a giveaway but that’ll have to wait until next week as the house is currently in the throes of plague (aka norovirus plus laryngitis, a combo I heartily don’t endorse).

For more info about the book, go here.

And if you’d like to pre-order:

Where to Buy

Hardback (US)

Penguin Random House Amazon US Barnes and Noble US indie stores The Book Depository

Trade Ppb (UK)

Amazon UK Waterstone's Blackwell's WH Smith The Book Depository

Ebook/audio

Amazon US (Kindle) Amazon UK (Kindle)

Pre-order now
(like last time, pre-order and/or buy in the first week after release and you’ll get something–I can’t give details yet but there will definitely be a reward to make it worth your while. Pre orders help me, the author, too, because they tell the publisher that readers are enthusiastic for the book and obviously I want to keep my publisher happy!)

Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard

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Cover reveal: US edition of THE HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS

2016-08-11T14:02:14Z

So… cover time!

Tor.com has kindly agreed to reveal the cover for the US edition of The House of Binding Thorns. It’s still by the awesome Nekro, with art direction by Adam Auerbach, and it looks gorgeous.

Here’s a little teaser:

Head on over to Tor.com for the full cover, and the official cover copy aka “what this book is about in more detail”. Be warned, however, that if you haven’t read The House of Shattered Wings and intend to (though you don’t need to have read The House of Shattered Wings to enjoy this, it’s standalone), this contains major spoilers.

If you want a between-the-books snippet and a look at the Pinterest board, you can head on over to the official novel page on this website, here.

The book will be out April 4th in hardcover from Roc in the US, and April 20th from Gollancz in the UK and the Rest of the World, and you can pre-order the US edition right now [1] (*cough* pre orders are really important for authors because they’re an indicator of how much people are excited about the book, so if you happen to want this I’d be very grateful if you did preorder. Also, did I mention this is standalone? It is standalone, you don’t need to have read The House of Shattered Wings to enjoy it, and my admittedly biased opinion is that this is a better book because I definitely gained a level in novel-writing between both books.*cough* [2])

Where to Buy

Hardback (US)

Penguin Random House Amazon US Barnes and Noble US indie stores The Book Depository

Trade Ppb (UK)

Amazon

Ebook/audio

Amazon US (Kindle) Amazon UK (Kindle)

Pre-order now

[1]I put in the link for the preorder of the UK edition but I’m a little less sure about this: the Kindle link looks right, but the default amazon link is to a hardback edition that I’m pretty sure isn’t coming out (and last time people who did order the hardback edition never got their books, so I’m a little leery of the same thing happening again).

[2]There will also be preorder freebies like the last time, but I’m still working on what these should be!

Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard

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HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS trade paperback out in the US today

2016-08-02T15:32:02Z

Just a quick note that if you’ve wanted to buy The House of Shattered Wings but thought the hardback was too expensivve, or if you just want to see what all the fuss is about… today is the release date of the US trade paperback edition (and the ebook prices have been lowered to match, too). In a turn-of-the-century Paris devastated by a magicians’ war, political and magical intrigues, Fallen angels, Vietnamese immortals, and rather too many dead bodies…

More info on the novel here.

Meanwhile, I’ll be off wrangling The House of Binding Thorns revisions…

Where to Buy

Hardback (US)

Penguin Random House Amazon US Barnes and Noble US Indie Stores The Book Depository

Trade Ppb (UK)

Amazon UK Foyle's Waterstones Blackwell's WH Smith The Book Depository

Ebook/Audio

Amazon US (Kindle) Amazon UK (Kindle) Kobo Blackstone Audio (US audiobook) Orion Books (UK &RoW audiobook)

Trade Ppb (US)

Amazon US US indie stores The Book Depository

Mass Market Ppb (UK)

Amazon UK Foyle's Waterstones Blackwell's WH Smith The Book Depository

Buy Now

Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard

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The House of Shattered Wings on Locus Recommended Reading List

2016-02-01T20:58:36Z

So…
Locus just released its 2015 Recommended Reading list, and The House of Shattered Wings is on there, under Best Fantasy Novel. Which is, er, kind of amazing.
(equally amazing is that I also have “The Citadel of Weeping Pearls” under Best Novella, “In Blue Lily’s Wake” and “Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight” under Best Short Story. That list also has a lot of my friends–congrats to everyone on it!)

And here’s some quotes from the Locus summation of 2015:

“[a novel] which featured some of the most striking and memorable fantasy settings of the year, Aliette de Bodard’s House of Shattered Wings, with its ruined Paris haunted by fallen angels” Gary K Wolfe

“Aliette de Bodard delivered her best novel to date, with The House of Shattered Wings. I’m not usually one for tales of fallen angels, but this story of Europe in ruins, where Lucifer and his cohort have taken up residence in Paris was a page-turner and deserves to stand among the fantasies of the year.” Jonathan Strahan

“I (…) had fun spotting Parisian landmarks and learning about Vietnamese dragon lore in Aliette de Bodard’s The House of Shattered Wings.” Cheryl Morgan

“Aliette de Bodard’s The House of Shattered Wings (Roc) reimagined Paris after a devastating war, as seen from several different vantage points in society. It’s not de Bodard’s first novel, but it is surely the one that will propel her to the recognition she deserves.” Graham Sleight

“The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard is a novel I’d like to call epic, though its particular subgenre is impossible to pin down. Set in a Paris that never was – decayed from the aftermath of a great and terrible war, possessed of a baroque, fin-de-siècle air – ruled by fallen angels and magicians, it’s a novel of secrets and murder, outsiders and alchemists, power and change. Difficult to describe, but fantastic to read. Although a sequel is alleged to be forthcoming, it stands alone – which always makes for a pleasant change.” Liz Bourke

The Locus Poll and Survey for 2015 is also open–come and check it out and vote for your favourite fiction of the year (I’m going to be on auto-repeat, but don’t hesitate to vote in that kind of poll even if you don’t think you’ve read enough in the field this year: everybody’s votes count, and “I’m not voting because I’m not well-read enough” is a very common way people, especially those from non-dominant cultures, exclude themselves)

Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard

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The House of Shattered Wings bonus art!

2015-08-26T10:00:22Z

And to celebrate the US and UK release of The House of Shattered Wings, here is some art! Below, courtesy of Faithom, a sketch of head of Asmodeus, head of House Hawthorn, having an argument with Selene, head of House Silverspires (from chapter 10 if you’ve read the book!).

And below is the painting the amazing Tade Thompson very kindly did for the ebook In Morningstar’s Shadow (which you can still get if you send me a picture of you with the book, ebook or audiobook!). We had to darken it quite a bit for lettering, both to match the darkness of the UK cover, and because it was hard to set letters against the background of the Arc de Triomphe–so I thought I’d post the undarkened version, so you can see the detail (and the creepy eyes in the night!).

Read Chapter One!
Read excerpt from Chapter Three!
Read excerpt from Chapter Four!

Where to Buy

Penguin Random House (click orange button for links to retailers) Amazon.com Amazon US (Kindle) Kobo Local Indie Stores (US)

Amazon UK Amazon UK (Kindle) Foyle's Waterstones Blackwell's WH Smith

The Book Depository (UK edition, free shipping)The Book Depository (US edition, free shipping)

Buy Now

Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard

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The House of Shattered Wings on BBC, and free ebook offer extension!

2015-08-24T20:26:48Z

So… many many thanks to everyone who’s signal boosting The House of Shattered Wings: it’s pretty amazing to see the book in people’s hands!

I wanted to give people a heads-up that I recorded for the BBC World Service: it’s a roundtable on magic chaired by Tim Marlow and featuring Scott Penrose (head of the Magic Circle in the UK), Kevin O’Regan (experimental psychologist) and me as the fantasy novelist :). You can listen to it here, or it’ll be broadcast tomorrow at 8:00 GMT in the UK.

Also, because it’s been amazing, and because I put it late, I’m extending the preorder offer for another two weeks: get back to me with a picture of the book/your ebook reader with the book on it/the audiobook before September 8th, 23:59 GMT +1, and you can get a FREE copy of In Morningstar’s Shadow, an exclusive ebook of short vignettes that illuminates corners of the world and characters of the novel. For more info on the ebook see here.
ETA: this is for either the US or UK edition.

The caveat is that this is basically run solely by me and that I’m running a bit ragged: I will do my best to get back to you as soon as I can–if I don’t, I beg for your patience.

(if you’re seeing this on LJ or DW, please go to the original post to send the form: the captcha isn’t working in crossposts).

Still undecided? You can sample a bit before making up your mind.
Read Chapter One!
Read excerpt from Chapter Three!
Read excerpt from Chapter Four!

Where to Buy

Penguin Random House (click orange button for links to retailers) Amazon.com Amazon US (Kindle) Kobo Local Indie Stores (US)

Amazon UK Amazon UK (Kindle) Foyle's Waterstones Blackwell's WH Smith

The Book Depository (UK edition, free shipping)The Book Depository (US edition, free shipping)

Buy Now

Coming up this week: Worldcon, a roundup of stuff I’ve been doing on the web, and some bonus House of Shattered Wings art!

Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard

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Shattered Wings Thursdays: House Silverspires

2015-07-23T20:13:23Z

Welcome back to Shattered Wings Thursdays, the weekly feature of art related to The House of Shattered Wings. 26 days to release of the Roc hardcover edition (and 28 days to the Gollancz trade paperback). Getting closer and closer!

Ludwig Rösch (Austrian, 1865-1936), Die Pilgramkanzel in St. Stephan. Pastel on paper, 65 x 52 cm.

So, by popular (well, twitter) request, the last few episodes of this will focus on the different magical factions of the city of Paris: I won’t have time to do them all, as I’ve only got 3 of these left, but I hope to tackle some ground!

House Silverspires is the heart of the book: its setting, and a place a lot of characters in the book call home. It stretches, as said before, over Ile de la Cité: only the eastern part is inhabited, the Prefecture, Commerce Tribunal and other buildings in the West are only sparsely populated. Though founded by Lucifer Morningstar (oldest and most powerful among Fallen), House Silverspires is currently headed by his Fallen student, Selene, after the disappearance of Morningstar twenty years before the start of the novel.

As said previously: the colours of Silverspires are red and silver, and its coat of arms is the sword of Morningstar (one of those big, unsubtle two-handed swords) against the silhouette of Notre-Dame. Its motto is “Aspicete solem ortum” (“look to the risen sun”). Its philosophy of life can best be summed as “whatever works”. Anything is acceptable as long as it keeps intact its dominant status in the city, and the House has a (well-deserved) reputation for ruthlessness and playing fast and loose with rules (though Selene has pursued a gentler policy). It is also, unquestionably and even in decline, the foremost House in the city, an impregnable fortress with an iron grip on politics.

Notable characters from Silverspires: Selene’s lover, the archivist Emmanuelle; Javier, the House’s priest (and resident Spanish-French) who acts as Selene’s right hand; Madeleine, the geeky alchemist who provides the House with its magical artifacts; and Isabelle, a newly arrived and naive Fallen.

Previous iterations of this:
1. Meet nuked Paris
2. The Fallen
3. The Houses
4. The Immortals
5. The Colonies

Read Chapter One!
Read excerpt from Chapter Four!

Where to Buy

Penguin Random House (click orange button for links to retailers) Amazon.com Amazon US (Kindle) Kobo Local Indie Stores (US)

Amazon UK Amazon UK (Kindle) Foyle's Waterstones Blackwell's WH Smith

The Book Depository (UK edition, free shipping)The Book Depository (US edition, free shipping)

Pre-order now

Full Pinterest board:
Follow Aliette de Bodard’s board House of Shattered Wings on Pinterest.

(and there’s a map of the book’s key locations at the bottom of the novel’s page)

Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard

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Giveaway winners: signed hardcovers of THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS

2015-07-19T08:52:24Z

So… by the magic of Rafflecopter, the following people have won a signed hardcover of The House of Shattered Wings:
-Peter S K
-Michelle Clarke
-Jessie M

Congratulations!

Yeah, I added a third hardcover as there were so many entries! Really delighted at the enthusiasm for this.

If you feel like you missed out: the RT Book Reviews giveaway of 5 ARCs is still on-going here. (and even if you don’t, there’s an extra excerpt with the giveaway, featuring geeky alchemist Madeleine and Head of House Hawthorn Asmodeus).

Other House of Shattered Wings news: Freda Warrington at Book Riot lists it as one of 5 books to get into paranormal fantasy (honored to be in the same list as NK Jemisin!):

One of the darkest and strangest fantasies I’ve ever read, containing the creepiest villain ever, the appalling Asmodeus, it haunts you long after you’ve finished it.

(yes, the same Asmodeus that’s in the excerpt. Isn’t life fun? )

Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard

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Shattered Wings Thursdays: the colonies

2015-07-16T15:00:58Z

Welcome back to Shattered Wings Thursdays, the weekly feature of art related to The House of Shattered Wings. 33 days to release of the Roc hardcover edition (and 35 days to the Gollancz trade paperback). Getting closer and closer!

(Detail on map of Saigon by Favre, 1880)

In the alternate universe of devastated Paris is still pretty close to the 19th/early 20th Century; and that means that France still has a pretty large colonial empire. Post-war, it’s actually fragmenting a bit because the colonists have trouble communicating with home (there are, say, ships to Vietnam but there aren’t very many of them). But “fragmenting” mostly means people setting up their own private kingdoms, and not any kind of independence, of course…

Vietnam is not yet called Vietnam in the book because that’s either a very old (Nguyen dynasty) or fairly recent name. It has three political subdivisions: Tonkin (north), Annam (centre), and Cochinchina (South), all with slightly different statuses; and it’s part of Indochina (which also includes Cambodia).

Previous iterations of this:
1. Meet nuked Paris
2. The Fallen
3. The Houses
4. The Immortals

Read Chapter One!

Where to Buy

Penguin Random House (click orange button for links to retailers) Amazon.com Amazon US (Kindle) Kobo Local Indie Stores (US)

Amazon UK Amazon UK (Kindle) Foyle's Waterstones Blackwell's WH Smith

The Book Depository (UK edition, free shipping)The Book Depository (US edition, free shipping)

Pre-order now

Full Pinterest board:
Follow Aliette de Bodard’s board House of Shattered Wings on Pinterest.

Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard

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Chapter one of The House of Shattered Wings online

2015-07-01T09:00:35Z

Just a quick heads-up that I put chapter one of my upcoming Gollancz/Roc release The House of Shattered Wings online for your reading pleasure

It is almost pleasant, at first, to be Falling.

The harsh, unwavering light of the City recedes, leaving you in shadow, leaving only memories of relief, of a blessed coolness seizing your limbs. Nothing has turned yet into longing, into bitterness, into the cold that will never cease, not even in the heat of summer.

Cover reveal: House of Shattered Wings (US edition)

2015-03-18T10:05:25Z

So… September is just around the corner, and I’m quite happy to reveal the US cover for House of Shattered Wings, aka “OMG OMG so pretty” (also, creepy. Yes, this is a dark fantasy book, why do you ask? :p). The art is by Nekro, who also did this lovely piece I pinned on Pinterest a while back.

A book about a devastated Paris, fallen angels and the ruins of a once great House? Sounds about right!

(more seriously, I really like this. It’s got oodles of atmosphere, it says creepy in all the right places, and the burning feathers are just a lovely touch from the opening scene of the novel. This is meant to be Morningstar’s throne in Notre-Dame, in its current state, and I love the ruined city in the background! I’m sure that makes you want to pick up the book, right? *big grin*)

And here’s the cover copy:

In the late Twentieth Century, the streets of Paris are lined with haunted ruins. The Great Magicians’ War left a trail of devastation in its wake. The Grand Magasins have been reduced to piles of debris, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine has turned black with ashes and rubble and the remnants of the spells that tore the city apart. But those that survived still retain their irrepressible appetite for novelty and distraction, and The Great Houses still vie for dominion over France’s once grand capital.

Once the most powerful and formidable, House Silverspires now lies in disarray. Its magic is ailing; its founder, Morningstar, has been missing for decades; and now something from the shadows stalks its people inside their very own walls.

Within the House, three very different people must come together: a naive but powerful Fallen angel; an alchemist with a self-destructive addiction; and a resentful young man wielding spells of unknown origin. They may be Silverspires’ salvation—or the architects of its last, irreversible fall. And if Silverspires falls, so may the city itself.

More info here, and you can pre-order the book here: Amazon.com|Barnes and Noble|Book Depository|Amazon UK (obviously the last amazon link is the UK edition, which won’t have this cover). Out tail end of August (August 20th for the UK edition, beginning of September for the US edition).

Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard

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“The House of Shattered Wings” and a sequel to be published by Roc

2015-01-15T14:04:55Z

So… remember my novel that is going to be published by Gollancz on August 20th, 2015? The one set in a post-apocalyptic Paris ruled by Fallen angels–featuring a Vietnamese immortal with a grudge, a washed-out alchemist and a naive and idealistic Fallen?

People have been asking me about a US release; and I’m quite pleased to announce that it’s happening! (*squee*). The fabulous Jessica Wade at Roc has picked up The House of Shattered Wings (along with its unnamed sequel): it will be published in hardcover in August 2015 (more squee. My first two hardcover editions. There’s something special about hardcovers and I can’t wait to hold these in my hands).

Among other squee-worthy things, I get to share a publisher with the fabulous Zen Cho (whose own book I’m very much looking forward to); and other people whose books I read as a child/teen (I’ll actually always associate Roc with Guy Gavriel Kay, which makes me feel… very outclassed).

You can find the press release by Zeno here.

A reminder of the cover copy:

A superb murder mystery, on an epic scale, set against the fall out – literally – of a war in Heaven.

Paris has survived the Great Magicians War – just. Its streets are lined with haunted ruins, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine runs black with ashes and rubble. Yet life continues among the wreckage. The citizens continue to live, love, fight and survive in their war-torn city, and The Great Houses still vie for dominion over the once grand capital.

House Silverspires, previously the leader of those power games, lies in disarray. Its magic is ailing; its founder, Morningstar, has been missing for decades; and now something from the shadows stalks its people inside their very own walls.

Within the House, three very different people must come together: a naive but powerful Fallen, an alchemist with a self-destructive addiction, and a resentful young man wielding spells from the Far East. They may be Silverspires’ salvation. They may be the architects of its last, irreversible fall…

So. Belle Epoque aesthetic (swallowtail coats! Top hats!). Political intrigues. Magical Houses in Parisian landmarks, from Notre-Dame to Saint-Lazare Station to La Samaritaine. Dead bodies. What are you waiting for?

Oh, right. The pre-order link (pre-orders are good for authors. And for editors :)). The book is available for pre-order here on amazon.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go jump up and down for joy…

(picture credits: Kirkstall Abbey by Rick Harrison. Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License).

Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard

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