So, I have some bad news, some good news, and some more bad news.
Bad news #1 is that there is a global pandemic on at the moment (you may have noticed, even if, like me, the major difference in your life is the explosion in your email inbox) and this has Repercussions. Many people are seeing Very Bad Repercussions Indeed, so let us all be thankful that the repercussions for publishing books are not quite so dire.
They do, however, mean that I am unable to give you a date when The Wound of Words will be available in paperback (and the date I gave to the National Library will need to be amended). I can’t sign off on distribution until I’ve seen a proof copy, and I won’t be seeing a proof copy until such time as postal services are available for non-essential traffic – and that’s assuming the Print On Demand facility is still up and running. (Subscribe on the Home page if you want to be the first to know when the paperback does become available.)
Enough of the bad news for now: have some good news! The cover for The Wound of Words is complete! Feast your eyes upon this:
GIMPed by yours truly – with tuition from the Caped Gooseberry – and typographed by the talented Evelyn Doyle. (Those of you who gave your opinions on the range of suggested cover images may be interested to know that the image which featured as Contestants #1 and #8 was in the end not usable because the original file was too small – something I thought I’d previously checked.)
And now for a soupçon more bad news, alas: the release date for the ebook version has also been delayed until May 15th. Also, I suspect, a side-effect of the pandemic, albeit a rather more indirect one. Or possibly I am just not as good at getting my ducks in a row as this gentleman.
But let us not end with bad news. Feast your mind’s eye (or ear, or however your personal brain processes text) on the following blurb.
***
There are words which change lives…forever.
Andrei just wants a chance with the girl of his dreams, but he knows she’s keeping a secret from him—an imperial secret, a disturbing secret, and one that will not leave Andrei and his love alone.
Now he’s on the run from a murderous monster, with only one chance to save himself and those he loves: hunt down the heart of the dreadful curse that has fallen on the Czar and find a way to end it for good.
Followed by nine feet of animated stonework, a petrified exhibitionist, and his grandmother’s sullen apprentice, he must struggle through winter’s deadly chill to uncover the truth before everyone he knows is changed forever.
***
And just to cheer you up (yes! more good news not hinted at in opening paragraph!), I can tell you that The Wound of Words ebook, though not available to read until May 15, will be preorderable from this very Friday, April 17th. You won’t get the actual ebook then, alas, but you can stake your claim to a copy and have it delivered to your (cyber)door the very moment it is released to the world at large.
So there you have it: some bad news, some good news, some bad news, some good news and some more good news. Have a picture of a kitten.
