Well hello there!
It's been a long time since I sent out one of these newsletters. There are reasons for that, and I'll get to them shortly, but I hope you're all doing great and are ready for some good news! We've got three things to talk about: Piety the Knife, Possessed, and a new book. Let's jump in.
For those who need a refresher, I landed my second literary agent, Diana Fox, with my dark fantasy novel Piety the Knife. We've been working on that book for a while. Took longer than we'd hoped due to a combination of factors, including 2024 being an absolutely hellish year for her.
In the interim, I wrote the sequel and laid out plans for finishing the series. I also moved to France permanently which was … a lot. The time flew, and I barely did any writing for a while there. I'm firmly established in Paris, now, and ready to dive back in to writing. In fact, I already have!
Piety is on hold. It's basically ready to go, but we're not shopping it to publishing houses right now. Why? Because dark fantasy goes in cycles and right now editors aren't buying it. Diana loves the book and wants to give it the best shot she can at getting published, so we're holding off and seeing how things look in the new year (and maybe beyond).
It's frustrating, but I'd far rather wait than just send it to a bunch of editors and get a bunch of "loved it, not going to buy it" responses! We've no doubt Dark/Epic Fantasy will come back around. It's an evergreen genre that always gains new fans. It's just a matter of timing.
To keep myself busy, I decided on two projects: the first is that I'm going to self-publish my contemporary fantasy Possessed! I've been talking about doing that for some time, but what makes this time different, is that I've already engaged an editor and paid her to begin working on the book. Putting my money where my mouth is, so to speak. I don't have a release date for Possessed yet, but it'll be sometime in 2026, probably the first half. I'll have more information on the book and its release soon! For now, please enjoy this snippet:
“But I thought demons had names. Matthias is always going on about them. Beelzebub and Corson and all them.”
“Those names mean nothing to me. How are you not getting this? Is this how Hindu people feel when some well-meaning idiot asks them how they celebrate Christmas?”
“I get it. You’re not Christian.”
“I don’t know that those other demons, if they even exist, would call themselves Christian either, but—”
“Fine. So what should I call you?”
“I don’t know.” The demon seemed to think about it for a second. “Just try to think of something cool.”
“I’m going to call you Matt Demon.”
Another pause. “Try much harder to think of something cool.”
“Too late!” Amber laughed. “Shoulda come up with your own name. You are totally Matt Demon now.”
“Don’t make me crash this car.”
Could he do that? Amber didn’t think he could. Not if she fought him. It was one thing to move her head or threaten to walk to the bathroom without her permission. It was another thing to try to kill her.
“You’re not crashing anything,” she said. “Maybe if you stop being such an asshole, I’ll think of something else to call you.”
No response to that, so Amber drove for a while in silence. She was about five minutes out from Dylan’s house when the demon spoke again. “I think this banishment spell might be the best thing for both of us.”
The other project I'm working on is the third book in the Piety series. Yes, it's a little weird to move on to another sequel when we're not even sure if the first two books will ever sell … but it's what I want to write. This series is, in my opinion, the very best stuff I've ever written. I'm going to finish it, whether or not it ever gets traditionally published. This third book will either by the next in a four-volume series, or parts of it will make it into the final book if we decide to go for a trilogy.
I started the first draft on November first and, as always, will be writing on it seven days a week until it's done. I'm currently averaging just over 2,000 words per day, which is great! The book tells the story of a curse long-established by the time Piety and his friends make it onto the scene, and provides a lot of historical background for the world I've built that I think people will really enjoy. It also sets up a lot of well-used princess tropes and then smashes them all to pieces!
Now that I'm up and moving again with my writing, this newsletter will resume its bi-monthly updates. So I'll see you all in the new year with more news!
Thanks,
-Chris
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