City of Night, as some people have noticed, was originally announced as a March 2010 release — but in happy news, it’s been pushed forward a month, to February 2010. (In the publishing industry, forward=earlier; back=later; I found these terms confusing when I first started working in a bookstore because forward implied, to me, going forward).
The cover was painted by Jody Lee, who has always done wonderful covers for the West novels; as you can see, this one is no exception, and I was very, very happy when I first laid eyes on it (which was at the Worldcon in Montreal). I just finished correcting and returned page proofs for City of Night to DAW, which is the last stage of pre-publication in which I’m involved, so the book is entirely finished at this point. Yay!
I am, however, still working on the following book, House Name, and it’s not done yet, not because I haven’t been writing, but because, well. It’s a wee bit longer than I expected it would be. Everyone act surprised.
I’ve been mostly absent on-line while trying to catch up on deadlines. Writing the novels does take time–and I always account for that when I’m planning ahead. What I sometimes fail to account for are things like copy-edits and page-proofs, which, sadly, also take time, so I’m frequently overly optimistic in the months leading up to a deadline, and then frequently entirely desperate and impossible to live with as the deadline looms larger.
In other news, I’ve turned in Cast in Chaos. Line-edits, copy-edits and page proofs are a few months in the future for that book. I’m also writing a novella set in the Cast universe, but I’m not entirely certain which of three possible stories I’m actually writing; it’s for an anthology titled Harvest Moon, which should be out sometime in 2010.
When I finish House Name, which should be very soon, I’ll have breathing room and the mental energy to be more social, so I should actually be around more often. Thanks so much for your patience.
I’m surprised. Really…
Count me surprised, also. (Turn aside to snigger into my hand.)
Love the cover. JLN goes great work on your book.s
i love the cover of this book! Sweet!
I realize it’s unfair to demand academy award acting, but…
Yay! Let the countdown to February begin…
The cover artwork is gorgeous. I’m assuming (I know, I know) that’s Rath?
Great news about Cast novella.
As to acting surprised…well…would you settle for a good, honest effort?
Awesome. I was just recommending you to a friend tonight and thought that I had a much longer wait till the next book.
Looking forward to it. :)
As to acting surprised…well…would you settle for a good, honest effort?
Yes, but I want to see one first!
(Also, I drink coffee or tea when I see the less than honest efforts, and sadly, they cause me to cough, or worse, inhale, at the wrong moment, on account of the laughing).
“(Also, I drink coffee or tea when I see the less than honest efforts, and sadly, they cause me to cough, or worse, inhale, at the wrong moment, on account of the laughing).”
Then I guess I’ll know what those spatters on the cover are when my copy arrives!
Is Cast in Chaos the Dragon Court book?
I have another question: In Cast in Shadow, when Kayline returns with Catti, she meets several aides, and they weren’t human, Barrani, Aerian or Leontine. Which left 3 races, one of which she’d never met because of their racial agoraphobia, and the other 2 were a Dragon and a Tha’lani Ybelline.
Does anybody know what the 7th mysterious race is? I haven’t seen mention of them elsewhere in the books.