Fantastical histories for modern feminists
I wanted the covers for the Roboticist of Versailles books to match so needed to redesign The Archimedean Heart. I had a lot of fun collaborating with my daughter on cover designs.
What do you think? What kind of book do you think it is?
Something on your “to-do list” that never gets done.
How do I choose one? How about updating my bullet journal, the To Do list of all To Do lists.
Here’s the cover for the Vitruvian Mask. What do you think?
The Vitruvian Mask, the full sequel to the Archimedean Heart is FINALLY done. As in ready to publish. <shocked face>
With many thanks to my extremely talented editor AJ Sikes and my kind and inspirational readers, Dover Whitecliff and Sharon Cathcart.
Here’s what it’s about:
The electric lights of Paris have been extinguished.
1882. The Naturalist revolution is over. Adelaide, once Doctor-Scientist for the old queen of France, was on the losing side. Now she’s hiding from the new king’s Police Sécrète.
Pregnant and alone, she seeks refuge in a Parisian hospital but things have changed there too. What was once a cathedral of Science is now a bastion of ignorance and superstition.
The battlefield veterans whose Augmented prosthetics she once created are now shunned by the new regime and come to the hospital for her help. But her nemesis and the father of her child has returned to France and threatens to reveal her to the authorities.
Can Adelaide repair her Augmented patients without losing her freedom … or her life?
The Vitruvian Mask continues the story of Adelaide Coumain, the Roboticist of Versailles, that began in The Archimedean Heart.
Coming soon: the cover reveal. Then a special giveaway for my subscribers.
The Vitruvian Mask, the next episode in the saga of the Roboticist of Versailles, will be published next year (WOOHOO!) so I thought it time to collect all of the those stories in one page on the blog. Everything from the early origin stories of Adelaide Coumain, the Roboticist of Versailles, to her most recent adventures can be accessed from that page. And there will soon be bonus content. Yes, free stories!
Pandemic time is weird. Hoping the pandemic is waning and life can be, I dunno, normal-ish?
So what have you been up to?
I wish I could say I had spent the lockdown producing like mad but nope. I survived. I didn’t get sick. But I didn’t finish a book nor did I start one. But I am crawling out of my creative void and editing the Vitruvian Mask! Stay tuned.
As a White woman, it’s been horrifying to confront all of the violence towards Black people in the U.S. Silently watching is no longer an option for those of good conscience. But how to do it right, without causing even more harm to People of Color and without being some kind of White Saviour?
This article helped sort out some of that for me. If you’re interested in helping but are unsure how, read the article.
via Dear White People, This is What We Want You to Do
#blacklivesmatter
I spent the last five months drafting the sequel to The Archimedean Heart
and it’s finally done! Woot! Adelaide’s arc is complete!
It took me a long time to finish the last few scenes for some reason. Just couldn’t get into writing.
Finishing a first draft is always such a relief. Although I did a lot of planning and pre-writing, I have some revising to do, but not right now. Now I will sit back and breathe.
Hoping to publish this one in Spring 2021, but we’ll see. Post-production always takes me longer than expected.
A harrowing look at the effect of domestic violence on a woman writer’s career:
Longreads “Whatever happened to…”
Envy over her success led her husband, also a writer, to become violent. She fights every day for her safety — and to avoid being relegated to obscurity like so many writers who are mothers.
The author had to publish this anonymously because of fear of her abuser.
Why isn’t your book selling?
Kristen Lamb, self-described Professional Troublemaker, lays it on the line for authors, indie and traditional.
Original image courtesy of Juhan Sonin via Flickr Creative commons. No sales or lackluster sales. It isn’t the reader’s fault. It’s the book. Really. This is tough to hear. I know. It’s a writer’s worst nightmare. You researched, you wrote, you finished, and then published your book. You wait for the sales and…. *crickets* This…
via No Sales or Lackluster Sales: It Isn’t the Reader, It’s the Book…Really — Kristen Lamb
BJ Sikes, author 