R.L. LaFevers's Blog, page 2

Courting Darkness Tour!

Hello, hello! I can’t believe COURTING DARKNESS will be out in the world in less than a month! I’m also hugely excited to share the cities I’ll be visiting with the Courting Darkness Tour!

 

Also, in case you missed it over on Instagram, I have some very cool tour swag I’ll be giving away.

As much as everyone loves the new covers of the His Fair Assassin paperbacks, the truth is most of us just can’t get enough of fierce women with weapons, so we had character cards made, illustrated by the extremely talented Salome Totldatze! I love them and hope you do too! And if you’d like a set, come see me and tour and they will be yours!

Courting Darkness News!

Hello, hello! I wanted to share with you a few updates on COURTING DARKNESS. First, the pre-order campaign is LIVE! If you’re at all interested in having the book as soon as possible, or swag, or cool goodies, please check out the link and get your receipts uploaded! Supplies are limited and I hear they’re nearing that limit . . .

 

Secondly, the reviews are starting to come in and I’m THRILLED to announce that COURTING DARKNESS has received THREE starred reviews so far! Some of my favorite excerpts:

 

 

 

Lastly, stay tuned! We’ll be publishing February tour details soon!

Exclusive Fall Fantasy Tour Swag

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!

 

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!

 

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

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!

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.

New Covers and New Tour!

They’re here!

 

The new paperback editions of the His Fair Assassin trilogy publish today! The new covers are so gorgeous, I’ve been staring at them all week. In celebration of the new covers, I’m also having a giveaway over on Instagram. If you’d like a chance to win a set of the trilogy with the new covers, pop on over there (I’m @rllafevers) and check it out.

There is also some fun new material included in the new editions! For all of you who felt Dark Triumph ended too soon, you’ll be happy to know there is a new epilogue in this new edition. Grave Mercy also has a new epilogue as well as an additional scene. Mortal Heart includes a Q and A with yours truly.

BUT! That’s not all! In case you missed it on Twitter, I’ll be attending YALLFEST this year! I’m so excited to finally have a chance to participate in this amazing book festival and hope I will see some of you there.

BUT! Even that is not all the good news! Right after YALLFEST, I will be going on a short book tour to celebrate the publication of the new paperbacks. It won’t just be me–there will be three other amazing Houghton Mifflin Harcourt authors on tour as well, including the incredibly talented Megan Shepard, Rebecca Schaeffer, and Emiko Jean.

We’ll be at Square Books in Oxford, Mississipi on Monday November 12, Parnassus Books in Nashville on Tuesday, November 12, and the final stop will be at Book People in Austin on Wednesday, November 13! I’ll post the times and more details when I have them. And be sure to check back to learn about some exclusive tour swag I’ll be giving away!

New Mortal Heart Cover!

And at last, the final redesigned cover is revealed! I present you with Mortal Heart’s newest cover!

I love this new cover SO MUCH. It captures the ferocity of the book and evokes so many elements of the followers of Arduinna as well as Mortain. The extra material in the new paperback edition includes some fun Q and A that I had a lot of fun answering.

Here’s a link if you’d like to add it on GOODREADS.

As well as preorder links for those who want them.

IndieBound        Powells        BN      BAM        Amazon

Also! I had forgotten I had a couple of Pinterest boards I made while writing Mortal Heart that I never got around to making public. There’s one for Mortal Heart and one for Hellequin!

Also, also! I neglected to put up a GOODREADS button for COURTING DARKNESS. (Picture my publicist giving me a HARD side-eye!) If you’d like to add it now, feel free. Maybe if we get enough adds, I can share something fun.

D’oh! And COURTING DARKNESS pre-order buttons! (Can you picture said publicist banging her head on the wall? Because yeah, I’m SO BAD at this.)  But save receipts because there WILL be a pre-order campaign–with cool stuff!

IndieBound        Powells        BN      BAM        Amazon

And lastly, don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter if you’d like to be the first to see covers, read deleted scenes, and be in the know about all things His Fair Assassin!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I meant to reveal it last week, but we were slammed with record breaking heat–107 degrees with no air conditions and a power outage. So yeah. Best laid plans evaporated.

New Dark Triumph Cover!

I’m so excited to share with you yet ANOTHER aMaZiNG cover created by the uber talented billellis! To be honest, the original Dark Triumph cover went through many trials and tribulations (maybe I’ll detail them for you all in an upcoming newsletter!) but this one makes up for that tenfold!

I love the richness of it, the beauty of the jeweled dagger feels like such a corollary for Sybella. Then of course the vipers swirling in the shadows pretty much sums up Sybella’s life. And really, it feels like we could all use a little of Sybella in our life right now, no?

The paperback reprint will also have extra content in the form of a new epilogue. A lot of you wanted just a teensy bit more at the end of the book, so we are happy to accommodate that wish. (I will put up a pre-order link as soon as the book goes live on bookseller sights!) And if you haven’t signed up for my newsletter–do! I have lots of deleted scenes from DARK TRIUMPH that I will be sharing in the coming months!)

Also, in case you missed it, there is more Dark Triumph content on the website, with an article on the charbonnerie, and the strong influences of some of my favorite fairy tales. If you haven’t seen them already, you might want to take a look.

Can’t wait to show you Mortal Heart’s new cover SOON! (Again, subscribers to my newsletter will see it in all its glory later this week, along with a deleted scene with Annith and Balthazaar.)

Newsletter Coming!

It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for YEARS, but am only now (with COURTING DARKNESS finally put to bed!) getting to: a newsletter!

I know, I know. Does the world really need another newsletter? Maybe not. But if you are hungry to know more about the His Fair Assassin world, the mythology, the history, occasional outtakes, insights to the writing process, and occasional author thoughts on writing and Life In General, then this is the place for you. Oh! And did I mention that newsletter subscribers will be THE VERY FIRST to see the new paperback reprint covers? As well as have access to exclusive content, writing workshops/worksheets, deleted scenes, and sneak previews?

And if all of that doesn’t tempt you, all subscribers will be entered in TWO drawings. One for a  COURTING DARKNESS advanced reading copy and the second one for a set of the new paperback reprints when they publish in October. Everyone who subscribes before June 30 will be entered. (Yes–even those of you who signed up YEARS ago when the subscription form first appeared.)

The newsletter is tentatively titled The Inner Sanctum, although if you have any title ideas, let me know in the comments! If I use your idea, I will thank you with an ARC of COURTING DARKNESS. You can sign up HERE or in the sidebar.

And to whet your appetites just a little bit, here is a teaser preview of the new DARK TRIUMPH cover:

 

Also, feel free to mention what topics you’d like to read about in a newsletter. It’s for you, after all.

New Grave Mercy Cover!

Hard to believe its been SIX YEARS since Grave Mercy first came out! And in honor of the release of Courting Darkness, my publisher is issuing new paperback reprints of the entire His Fair Assassin trilogy! Like the Courting Darkness cover, they were designed by Billelis. They are wildly different from the original covers, and I think this new one for Grave Mercy is stunning!

 

 

The paperback reprint will also include Extra Material–an unused scene from when the girls were at the convent together and a new epilogue. They’ll be available in October. I hope you love it as much as I do! (And this is probably a good time for me to point out that if you currently own a partial set of the original trilogy, and you want them all to match, now would be the time to complete that set while the original covers are still available.)

Stay tuned for the Dark Triumph cover next month!

(p.s. I am finally, finally going to be starting my newsletter. If you’re interested in some of the history behind the books or deleted scenes, more info about the HFA world, or general news/info/goodies about the books, the sign up link is in the sidebar.)

Courting Darkness Cover and Excerpt!

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!

It’s FINISHED!!

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

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!