Courting Darkness

FAQ: Do I Need To Read The HFA Trilogy Before Reading Courting Darkness?

Monday, January 21

Do I need to read the His Fair Assassin Trilogy before reading COURTING DARKNESS_-1 copy

I get asked this a lot, so thought I’d try to address it here.

Courting Darkness is meant to be able to be read without having read the original His Fair Assassin trilogy. But it is not the first book of Sybella’s adventures.

If you read an ARC and were lost—I’m sorry. That is one of the absolute downsides to ARCs—they are unfinished and sometimes relatively unpolished copies. I made THREE more rounds of line edits after the ARCs were printed. A large portion of those changes were to help make Courting Darkness more accessible to new readers and help bring former His Fair Assassin readers up to speed.

I think we succeeded in making it less confusing to new readers. But part of that depends on what sort of reader you are.

Some readers hate to read reviews or synopsis and love trying to piece together the backstory from context clues. Others like every detail spelled out and like a lot of explanation in the narrative. There are definitely readers who hit Courting Darkness cold and thoroughly enjoyed it! Where exactly their reader preferences fell on the above spectrum, I’m not sure.

Part of the problem as a writer was finding a way to revisit the events of Dark Triumph without utterly violating who Sybella is as a character. She is an extraordinarily private person whose past was so difficult that she blocked out most of it for four years. Those early memories will never be something she takes out causally to mull over. To have her do so felt like it cheapened her experience, turning it into something exploitative, even though it would have filled readers in on what had happened in her past. But honestly, I think those experiences of hers will mean more if they are experienced with her rather than recounted in a narrative recap.

So I believe (hope?) you can read Courting Darkness first. With luck, you will enjoy it enough that you’ll want to know more about Sybella and give Dark Triumph a try—it will answer so many questions you might have! But it is very likely that reading Courting Darkness will be a richer experience if you’ve read the trilogy first. But if you haven’t, don’t despair! Sybella’s full backstory will be revisited more fully in the second book in the duology—when events give her no choice but to confront it.

 

Exclusive Fall Fantasy Tour Swag

Thursday, November 1

Hello! I’m so sorry I’ve been so quiet for so long. But I have been working on some very cool things that I can finally share with you all!

Fall Fantasy Tour

 

Remember the Fall Fantasy Book Tour I mentioned a while ago? Well now I can share the tour exclusive swag for all who come to the events! Every person who buys a book at one of the tour stops will receive: a His Fair Assassin bookmark, a Courting Darkness bookmark, a crow feather tattoo (which plays a big role in Courting Darkness!) and an enamel Wolf not Sheep pin!

 

HFA Tour Swag

(I cannot even tell you how much I love this pin–designed by the amazing Icey Designs.)

IMG_2282

However, I realize that not everyone can make it to these tour stops, and it’s a short tour, so, if you’d like to ‘participate’ in the tour and be able to have the tour exclusive swag, if you order the His Fair Assassin paperbacks from any of the three stores on the tour stop (Square Books, Parnassus, or Book People) I will personalize your books AND send you the swag.

I know this is tough because some of you have already bought the books. However, it’s really NOT a preorder, but tour specific swag. But I also completely get that tours can be hard for readers to get to and hate for them to be shut out altogether, so this is kind of the compromise. And there will be a couple of tour swag package random giveaways—mostly because I apparently suck at the concept of ‘exclusive’. 🙂

Oh! oh! AND, one lucky winner at each tour stop will win a copy of this amazing, exclusive Grave Mercy Poster created by the amazing Phroilan Gardner!

IMG_2008

Anyway, I hope you are as excited about this cool stuff as I am. BUT MOSTLY I WILL GET TO SEE SOME OF YOUR LOVELY FACES.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you order the personalized book from the book stores you will likely need to choose a DIFFERENT mailing option than MEDIA because they cannot put anything but the book in a media mail package. Please check the booksellers’ website or call them to be certain of mailing requirements.

Courting Darkness Cover and Excerpt!

Wednesday, May 2

At long last I can share with you the stunning cover for COURTING DARKNESS!

 

 

I couldn’t be happier with it! It SO captures the mood of the book! You can read the first chapter and meet the newest of Death’s daughters, Genevieve, on USAToday’s HappilyEverAfter. A little teaser:

I was born in the upstairs room of an ancient roadside tavern, a group of common whores acting as midwives. My mother, too, was a whore, although perhaps not so very common. Would an ordinary woman invite Death to her bed on a dare?

You can read the rest of the chapter here!

 

TO PREORDER: INDIE BOUND    B&N    BOOKS A MILLION    POWELL’S    AMAZON

(And be sure to save your receipts because there will be a pre-order campaign!)

TO ADD TO GOODREADS:

It’s FINISHED!!

Wednesday, April 11

Yes, yes! The new book is finally DONE. Not just first draft done, but DONE DONE.

IMG_1279

It is the longest book I have ever written. It originally clocked in at 195,000 words–but I KNEW that wasn’t working. So with only eight weeks before our DROP DEAD deadline, I began a major restructuring/revision and got it down to a much leaner, cleaner, (hopefully!) more compelling 165,000 words. Even so, you guys will practically be getting a twofer–two books for the price of once (word count-wise, anyway) and two stories woven into one. (That’s why the manuscript has two colors.)

Oh–and I can finally share the title:

Courting Darkness

 

And a little bit about the book . . .

Death wasn’t the end, it was only the beginning . . .

Sybella has always been the darkest of Death’s daughters, trained at the convent of Saint Mortain to serve as his justice. But she has a new mission now. In a desperate bid to keep her two youngest sisters safe from the family that nearly destroyed them all, she agrees to accompany the duchess to her new life in France, where they quickly find themselves surrounded by enemies. Their one ray of hope are Sybella’s fellow novitiates, disguised and hidden deep in the French court years ago by the convent—provided Sybella can find them.

Genevieve has been undercover for so many years, she struggles to remember who she is or what she’s supposed to be fighting for. Her only solace is a hidden prisoner who appears all but forgotten by his guards. When tragedy strikes, she has no choice but to take matters into her own hands—even if it means ignoring the long awaited orders from the convent.

As Sybella and Gen’s paths draw ever closer, the fate of everything they hold sacred rests on a knife’s edge. Will they find each other in time, or will their worlds collide, destroying everything they care about?

It publishes February 5, 2019. I know, I know! We said Fall of 2018! Technically, February 2019 IS CONSIDERED part of the Fall 2018 list. No, it doesn’t make sense to me either. And I’m truly sorry for the delay. In my defense, the end of 2017 went out with a BANG–including wildfires, floods, and mudslides resulting in FIVE evacuations in less than four months. I have to tell you, it’s reeeeally hard to stay on deadline under those conditions.

So I think that brings us up to date. I begin copy edits next week–we’re on an expedited production schedule trying to make up for lost time. Because of that expedited schedule, there should be Advanced Reader Copies at ALA. There are also some exciting things in the works–including a pre-order campaign with cool prizes. Oh, and they are releasing new paperback editions of the original His Fair Assassin trilogy with new covers. I will share those as soon as I can.

And I’ve started an Instagram account. I know I’m wildly late to the party, and to be honest, I am not great Instagram material–I am a serious anti-glamorous author. No pristine house with color coordinated bookshelves or a charmingly decorated office. Even so, I’m finding it a fun place to hang out. You can find me over there at: https://www.instagram.com/rllafevers/.

More later!