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Shoutout to my audio fans. Gods of Rust and Ruin is available in audiobook now, and perhaps even more beautifully produced than the first book. Natalie Duke once again did a fantastic job bringing the characters to life, and I’ve been getting compliments about her male voices–they don’t sound squeaky and artificial.

If you’d like to check out the audio sample, just click on the image below.

For those of you who missed the first book, here’s a link to it: Gods of Blood and Bone Audio. If you already have the ebook, the audio is available for even cheaper than normal via the Whispersync link on either Amazon or Audible’s book page.

If you don’t have an Audible subscription already, you can get the book free when you sign up with them. Otherwise, it’s also available on Amazon and iTunes.

If you’re coming to my website from the audio version, sign up for my newsletter to be notified directly when the next book in the series is produced. I’ll be sending Gods of Myth and Midnight to Natalie in a few days so she can get started on it. People on my newsletter also get a free copy of Gods of Smoke and Stars, the novella set at the end of Book 3 with a cast of all our beloved characters.

Anyway, I better get back to work so I can write more stories for you guys.

Happy Reading,

Azalea

Gods of Smoke and Stars is live on Amazon, and has been sent to all the people on my newsletter list. I’m setting it up so that future signups will get the free download link automatically, so you’re not out of luck if you haven’t already signed up for it.

While I was creating the cover this time, I took some screenshots of the process. This was the fastest I’ve ever created a cover, at about ten unbroken hours of work. Of course, I regretted that afterward when I realized I hadn’t eaten that day, my hands had started shaking, and I was dizzy with the lack of sustenance.

One interesting thing about line work is that noses are way bigger than we think they are. When you outline a nose, it (the width especially) always looks disproportionate to the face. I taught myself to draw as a young teenager, and I remember being shocked at how big and broad my nose was when I did my first realistic self-portrait.

My old computer died in a way that I couldn’t fix myself a couple days before I did this illustration. I’m a pinch-penny so spending money on a new computer was painful to my soul, but I really like my new set-up. The screen is big enough to illustrate things without zooming in and out constantly, and I can now have two windows or applications visible at the same time.

I really suck at hair, and my next artistic goal is to get better at it. Still, the writing comes first so it might take a while.

And voilà! All finished. I want to do more stuff like this. I’ve started an illustration of another character in GOSS, and I’m puttering away at it as I have time. This is also a good reminder to me that I have posters I want to do a giveaway for. They’ve been sitting around for a while because I haven’t had time to coordinate the giveaway. Things like this make me wish I had an office assistant. (“Maybe one day,” Azalea says wistfully, looking off into the distance with a misty expression.)

Other relevant updates:

GOMM’s paperback (Book 3) is available for purchase, just in case I forgot to mention that when it went live.

GORR (Book 2) is coming out in audio sometime in January, probably mid-month.

Gods of Myth and Midnight has been released, and is available for purchase on Amazon, or to borrow through Kindle Unlimited.

It’s the longest book I’ve ever written, coming in at over 600 pages (184,000 words). You can see the size of the printed manuscript below. In my opinion, it’s also the best book I’ve written so far. (Sorry for the poor image quality–my phone is ancient and so is its camera.)

Despite its length, it’s taken me less time than the previous two books to write, which means I’m getting faster. That’s very exciting to me, because it means I can write MORE BOOKS!

My name is Eve Redding. I accidentally initiated the apocalypse.

Earth had just been plunged into interplanetary war with a far superior alien race. Half my teammates had the Sickness, a disease with no known cure, which drove you crazy as it killed you. I was being blackmailed into doing nothing about either issue by a queen who was afraid of my power and didn’t believe in the prophecy of the gods.

With basically no idea what I was doing, I set out to fix everything I’d broken.

Read Now

For those of you interested in the paperback, I’m working on getting that set up. It’s a bit of a process, since things need to be perfectly formatted both on the inside and with the cover (spine width, text placement, etc.) I have to receive the proof copy by mail, and once I’m satisfied that everything looks right, it will go live in the store a few days later. I estimate you should be able to buy it in about 2 weeks.

Over the last few months, I’ve been working with Natalie Duke, a talented voice actress, to produce Gods of Blood and Bone in audio. We’re finished, now, and the audiobook is available. For people who like listening to their stories, the audio brings the characters to life in a whole new way, and I’m very pleased with it. I’ve read Gods of Blood and Bone probably over a dozen times, and since I wrote it before that, by now the last thing I want to do is read the 500-page book once again. When I listened to Natalie’s rendition, I actually found myself getting excited and laughing aloud again.

It’s available at Audible, Amazon, and iTunes.

If you have any trouble with that embedded sound clip, you can also check out the sample here: Audible

I also have a limited number of Audible free review codes remaining, for both the US and the UK. I’ve said this before, but books need reviews for the same reason people wear clothes. They reassure people the book isn’t a crazed lunatic, and give some hint about what kind of experience they might have if they decide to spend more time with it. If you’re an audio listener and want to get a free copy in exchange for an honest review, email me (author@azaleaellis.com) and let me know. I only have a few codes left.

If you’re coming to the website from listening to the audio, sign up for my newsletter to be notified when the next book in the series is produced.

If you just want to know about Gods of Myth and Midnight, it’s about time to get excited. I’ll be back in a couple days with concrete news about the third book in the series.

As the title of this post says, I’ve finished the first draft of GOMM, and I’m pretty excited about it. I stayed up till 4 o’clock in the morning a few days ago finishing and then printing out the manuscript. Here it is.

I get a sense of satisfaction seeing the physical manifestation of all the hundreds of hours of work I’ve put into the book so far, especially since the stack of paper is pleasingly hefty.

I’ve still got a few hundred hours more work to do in Revision, and then more again to do an illustration and get it ready to publish, but this is a big step towards completion. I don’t have a tentative release date yet, but as soon as I do I’ll give you guys an update. It shouldn’t be more than a few months out. If you’re interested in helping me to polish the story by being a Beta Reader, or getting an early copy to read and review, as always the newsletter is the place to be.

I’m going to get back to the writing, and as always thank you guys for reading.

I’ve had a few questions about the paperbacks for Gods of Rust and Ruin, so I just wanted to—belatedly—do a quick post to let you all know that they are available on Amazon. I announced it to the mailing list, then got busy writing, and forgot to post it to the blog as well. I got a couple boxes of books in, and took a picture of some on my desk.

I’ll be doing signed giveaways of these in the next few months, probably after I’ve finished the first draft of Book 3, Gods of Myth and Midnight. If you’re interested in a signed copy (as well as other perks like sneak peeks of the next book or signed posters), the mailing list is where to be.

In the meantime, I’m working hard on the next book, and I’m excited about what I’ve written so far. I’m about 140 pages in, and I think this is going to be the best book yet. It may also be the longest book yet, as if things continue at this pace, it’s going to be over 500 pages.

P.S.—I know it’s cheesy, but you guys are all precious to me. Thank you for being readers and fans of my books.

First, I’d like to say thank you to everyone who did an advance read, purchased, or reviewed Gods of Rust and Ruin. The launch did quite well, and the series managed to break through the top 2,000 books in the Amazon kindle bookstore, and reach the hands of a lot of enthusiastic readers. This is literally all thanks to you guys, my readers.

For those of you interested in a paperback of GORR, it’s on its way. Literally, the final proof from the printer is in the mail coming my way now, and as soon as I can look over it to make sure everything is laid out without glitches, it will go live for purchase. I’ll also be doing some giveaways of signed print copies, to those on my mailing list.

Now, to what everyone wants to know.

What’s the status of Book 3?

I’m finished plotting it, which is the first major step. I’ve got 87 index cards, one for every planned scene. I usually end up adding a few more while actually writing the novel, but this gives me a good idea where I’m going, and how long the book is going to be. You can see the stack of cards and my notebook on my writing desk (which is covered in paint, because it’s also my art desk) below.

Before writing each scene, I take the card, and expand upon it with a paragraph or two in my notebook. I call this Brainstorming, and it makes the actual writing a lot faster and easier, because I’m not writing into the metaphorical dark. I’ve written the first couple scenes already.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that I’ve been seriously struggling with carpel tunnel symptoms in my left wrist. This has been going on for years, but it’s gotten a lot worse in the last six months. It makes typing difficult, along with pretty much everything I need to do that requires two hands. I’m wearing a brace 24-7, and I’m looking into more ergonomic keyboards, as well as experimenting with dictation as an alternative to typing.

This may slow me down a bit, but it’s not going to stop me. I’ve got about 200 hours of brainstorming and writing to complete, and I’m going to be chipping away at it. Does anyone know any good ergonomic keyboards for something with especially small hands?