Celia Lake's Blog, page 9

Idea to Book: Eclipse

I love all my books – and all my point of view characters – but Thesan and Eclipse are particularly near and dear my heart. (I love Isembard too, mind you.) This staffroom romance at a magical school has a special place in the series, too.

Education and the foundations of Eclipse

I grew up in the US, but with British parents. Every year, my father would go off to spend a week or so in England – for research, to see shows in the West End (he was a theatre professor), and to see friends. He’d come back with his suitcase half full of books, many of them for me.

School stories

There’s a whole glorious literature of children’s school stories in British children’s lit. The ones I grew up on were mostly Enid Blyton’s St. Clare’s and Malory Towers books, and the Chalet School books (there are many, and the first half or so are set in a school in the Austrian Tyrol, but run on a British girls school model, before it moves due to the Second World War.) 

But there are many many other books of that type and certainly many references to the boarding school experience. The houses, the rivalries between them (even when you’re put in them in purely pragmatic ways), and the many things that students get up to when they’re not right under a teacher’s nose (and sometimes when they are) were all part of the tapestry for me. 

My own education and work

A little later in my life, I spent the last two years of high school at a private boarding school (in the US sense). There were a lot of things I loved about it, like many of my classes, the music, the various events and performances on campus. And there were many things I found incredibly challenging, both in terms of an immense and intellectual demanding workload and on a social level. We had massive amounts of homework (5 to 6 hours a night), everyone felt like they were under a lot of pressure to excel. And the social dynamics could be hellish if things weren’t going your way. 

And then I spent a decade working in a private day school in Minnesota. Much less of the strong identification based on which dorm you lived in, but it gave me a look at that environment from a teacher – or in my case, librarian’s – point of view. I got to sit in on a lot of conversations about how you balance a range of classes, both in any given year and across a given student’s time in the school. I heard a lot about which kids seemed to have it all, but were really struggling, and which were blooming with a bit of support.  More on this in a minute. 

Eclipse’s antecedent

From 2007 to 2015 (before the more recent revelations), I was part of a long running Harry Potter alternate universe project, startign very much as a dystopia and moving toward a more hopeful end. It played out in online journals with (for the last three years of the project), the same 12 people writing and plotting across about 90 characters. It taught me a tremendous amount about how to write across a span of time and a wide range of characters, and it also posed a number of questions around worldbuilding. 

Among other things, how on earth the Hogwarts class schedules work with the stated number of teachers without manipulating time. 

Starting with some basics of time and space

There’s a reason that when I started thinking about this writing idea I had, the first two things I did was to figure out some baselines for demographics (how many people total in Albion, then broken down by ages and education). And then I did a class schedule for Schola. Which admittedly works somewhat more on a “do a bunch of work on your own and your teacher gives feedback” model than US (or modern UK) systems, but is functional.

Character dynamics in Eclipse

Thesan in particular is very much a result of that project, as was my wanting to play with the dynamics that come out in Isembard and Alexander. Most of all, I found myself wanting to spend more time looking at what it meant to set up a magical school that made pedagogical sense to me, that made sense in terms of historical development of the teaching of magic, and that had biases and preferences, but on a more complex level.

The implications of the houses and subjects

Alchemy and Ritual magic are the two most respected magical specialities (along with the various magics that go into duelling, for those that like that sort of thing). But almost no class exists in a void: you need Time and Place (the advanced astronomy class focusing on locational and chronological magics) to manage some kinds of advanced ritual preparation and planning, for example, or certain alchemical potions and mixtures.

Similarly, I have a lot of thoughts about what it means to have houses that are based on magic, and what the different house magics might affect. We’ve seen some of these discussed briefly, but there will be more coming in the 1946-1947 school story that’s the last book in the Land Mysteries series, where our protagonists are in four different houses (Bear, Fox, Horse, and Salmon), and we’ll get to see more of the different implications of the house magics.

In general terms, Fox, obviously, is the socially preferred house, but the others all have their proponents and for good reasons.

Astronomy and magic

This brings us more or less tidly to astronomy. For many many centuries, astronomy – the observation and analysis of the movement of stars and planets – was closely woven with astrology, which ranged from calendrical systems around which rituals were based to magical implications, to divinatory. If all you know of astrology is personality focused, there’s a lot more forms of astrology out there!

In Albion, what Thesan teaches is on the more scientific end of the scale, in the sense of “Can we reproduce this effect?” Various alignments of the stars (as seen from our particular spot in the universe, as she points out), have some impact on different kinds of magic. Using these techniques to time a ritual, expose materia to particular conditions, or make relationships between time and space can all be powerful tools.

The Quadrivium

Astronomy is also one of the four pillars of the quadrivium, a set of sciences that drive the world and help us make sense of it. I couldn’t use this in the book, but there’s a modern description of them that talks about them as pure numbers (arithmetic), numbers in space (geometry), numbers in time (music), and numbers in time and space (astronomy).

Every student at Schola takes Trivium (the arts of rhetoric, composition, and generally being able to use your words well), and then can take one to all four of the Quadrivium classes. All first years also have a class session every day where the Quadrivium teachers teach the basics of their particular fields (emphasis on what you need to know for other magical skills), so everyone gets at least some broad exposure. 

And as Thesan points out, astronomy has a lot of other implications for how you look at the world, about seeing what’s there by what you can’t see and how it affects things. 

The complexities of being a teacher

Finally, but by no means least, I really wanted to write about the complexities of being a teacher, and trying to be a good one. Like I said above, I worked at an independent high school for twelve years. The last eighteen months or so, I was the teacher librarian, and so had a homeroom, advising duties, and so on as well as being a librarian. 

More than you can see: Eclipse’s large cast

The thing I’d already  known – but I learned even faster – was that there’s always dozens of things going on in a school that you only know about tangentially. No matter how good a teacher you are, you cannot keep up with the individual private lives of even a couple of dozen students, never mind several hundred. (The school I worked at was about 400 in grades 9-12, so larger class size than Schola, but not that many more students.) 

There were some kids I got to know really well, and still miss (and sometimes wonder about) and those conversations were pretty wide ranging. What they were up to in the arts, in sports, in their classes, what they were considering for college. There are a bunch where I had very specific kinds of conversations with them – they’d check in on the daily trivia question in the library, for example. Or where I knew they liked these books a lot. But I often didn’t know a lot about their classes, their sports. Sometimes I’d pick up bits and pieces sitting with other teachers at lunch time.

But there were also plenty of kids where I maybe knew their name and that was about it. For whatever reason, we hadn’t connected on something specific, they weren’t the ones who hung out in the library whenever possible, they had other places to be. 

What that means as a teacher

Sometimes the kids I knew needed a lot more time and attention – the chaos of a friend breakup meant they needed somewhere quiet to figure out what to do next. Or they were stressed, and needed somewhere to hang out that wasn’t associated with grades directly. Or where I’d look the other way if they listened to music with headphones on.

(I still have the librarian death glare that can shut up people being too noisy at twenty feet or better, but I also believe strongly that if you’re in a library minding your own business, you should get to listen to music on headphones if you want to. Or read what you want to, even if it’s not what you ‘should’ be reading.) 

And sometimes I knew something was up with them, but I wasn’t the right person to help (or to help more than tracking down someone they knew and trusted a lot more).

Thesan and Isembard

Thesan and Isembard are right there in that mess during Eclipse. There are some students both of them know fairly well, and more where one or the other knows them, but not both. There are also just plain a lot of students! Thesan has some advantage, because she’s one of the only teachers (the other three Quadrivium teachers are the others) who actually teaches everyone in an academic course, however briefly. 

We have more to come of Schola in 1946-1947. That’s the school story, and one of the student protagonists and point of view characters in that is Leo, Thesan and Isembard’s son and younger child, who has lived his whole life at Schola. I’m very much looking forward to sharing more of that in due course! It’ll be out in May of 2024.

Curious? Eclipse has all this, and quite a lot more! If you want more about Schola (and Thesan and Isembard), Chasing Legends (found in Winter’s Charms) takes place on their first anniversary. There’s also an extra, With All Due Speed, available via my newsletter, that covers their engagement and wedding. Later on, they appear in Best Foot Forward, and there’s more of both of them to come in the Land Mysteries series.

The post Idea to Book: Eclipse appeared first on Celia Lake.

Bound for Perdition is here!

Get your copy of Bound For Perdition now!

In 1917, Lynet has done what seemed impossible. A skilled bookbinder, she’s worked to create magical journals that can readily communicate with each other.

When she returns from leave for the death of her father, she’s given a new challenge – make them faster and cheaper. She and Ellis, the papermaker on the project, struggle to figure out how to move forward. When Reggie is assigned to help them, Lynet isn’t sure what to do with him – or make of him. Recently invalided out of the front, he’s like all the Schola men downstairs who ignore or insult her. But he’s also willing to fetch the tea, take instruction from her, and share some good ideas.

Reggie isn’t sure how much help he can be, but he’s soon swept up by the project’s potential and fascinated by Lynet’s skills and knowledge. When problem after problem crops up for the project, he’s willing to do what it takes to protect the work and keep moving forward.

Lynet, a bookbinderReggie, figuring out who he is nowMagical research and developmentDealing with recent griefA house party or twoMagical journals and their implications

And for those of you who’ve read other books of Albion, a look at Temple Carillon and his wife Delphina, in 1917.

Get your copy of Bound For Perdition now!

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Idea to Book: The Fossil Door

Welcome to our Idea to Book post for The Fossil Door! I’ve been spending a lot more time with Gabe and Rathna recently, thanks to writing Old As The Hills and Upon A Summer’s Day (coming out in May and June 2023), and getting to spend time with both of them at two different points in their lives has been fantastic. 

The Fossil Door has so much that I love – an amazing location, portal magic, and of course the way Gabe and Rathna get to know and trust each other.

Out in the world

I mentioned in last week’s post about Carry On that that was the book that I was writing when the pandemic hit the United States. It was a little challenging to be writing a book that has such a closed in feeling, with most of the action taking place in a room and bit of garden at the Temple of Healing. And as I said, not surprising that the next book, The Fossil Door, took on the wide open landscape of the Scottish Highlands. 

Why Scotland? For one thing, I hadn’t done a book in Scotland yet, and I felt I should. For another, looking at pictures of Scottish landscape pretty much always makes me happy. And I could have Highland ponies, who both fit the story, and who are delightful beasts, well adapted for their environment.

But as I was doing the research about where to set it, and what sorts of lore I might explore, I hit on two other things. The geology around Glencoe is really fascinating, for one thing. And Rathna has skills there (and Gabe has interests), so that seemed a great option. That area is actually the first place where people figured out some of the geology around ancient volcanoes (with a layer of sedimentary rock on top, hence the fossils…) 

Likewise, the lore of the beithir is quite compelling. Who doesn’t like a terrifying beast with poison in its tail, where you have to run to the water to escape it? In fiction, at least, since I certainly wouldn’t want to bump into one… 

The portals

The Mysterious Powers series is all about the institutions of Albion, and that very much includes the infrastructure. I’ve seen comments about the (relatively) low levels of visible magic in my books. My internal comment is nearly always “It’s all in the infrastructure!” Not just in the portals, but the magic in the journals, in various kitchen devices or ways to heat the home. It’s not flashy or obvious, but it definitely improves life. 

The short story on the portals is that before the Pact in 1484, they were all made by the Fatae. Part of the agreement of the Pact was that the Fatae taught a small group of people how to create new portals (with some limitations) and how to maintain the existing ones. 

There are a couple of big limitations with portals. Up until the 20th century, getting them to go over water that didn’t include a bridge was impossible, so the only portals of that kind that exist were Fatae-created. (The portal at Schola is a good example, as are the portals that allow cross-Channel hops, like the portals in Paris.) 

The other is that they take a long time to create, and they must be fitted to a precise location. Deciding on that location – as discussed in The Fossil Door – is complex. It has to take into account both logistical things like “if we put one here, can we get a cart with materials through?” and the underlying geology and ecology of the space. 

At any rate, I wanted to write more about portals. (And there’s more about them coming in Old As The Hills.)

Not from that sort of family

Another thing I wanted to do in this book was the contrast between Gabe – absolutely a child of every privilege in Albion – and someone who didn’t have those advantages. There was a substantial population of people from what is now modern India in London by the point Rathna was born, many of whom had come over as ayahs or lascars (as her parents did). However, they often had a tenuous space, trying to figure out how to navigate England’s expecations. 

I also wanted to write someone who was competent, but who was still coming to grips with her own sense of identity. Rathna has a child’s understanding of her family’s culture. Though she had some access to other people who were Hindu at Schola, that only went so far, especially when Rathna was nervous about admitting her own lack of knowledge. (Dipti Acharya, the deputy headmistress, is also Hindu, though from a quite different caste and background.

Having her taken in hand by someone who was very embedded in the vibrant and close-knit Spitalfields Jewish community was a way Rathna found a home – but that didn’t solve all of her questions. Navigating that balance has given Rathna a lot of skills, along with her challenges, but it takes time for her to grow into that. 

Most importantly, in some ways, her parents did not have magic that she’s aware of, and did not make the Pact. If they’d lived, she’d likely have been plucked out of their home and gone to Schola (her magic is particularly notable) and that would have been a whole different set of challenges. On the other hand, it means navigating Albion’s society (especially the parts who are adamant about breeding and bloodline) is tricky. Marrying into one of the ancient families is even more so.  

And a bit of wish fufillment

Gabe is my favourite nerd boy. (Also the favourite nerd boy of my editor, Kiya.) And he is absolutely showing his ADHD all over the place, isn’t he? 

He’s bit of wish fufillment from all the folks I know who are ADHD in specific. About what it means to have parents who look at their kid and go “Ok, not entirely sure what to do with this, here, but let’s see what works for him.”

Gabe was absolutely a terror in childhood, but he was lucky enough to have thoughtful parents, and an extended network of adults who could and did mentor him and direct him in useful ways. (Including, if you’ve read the extras for The Fossil Door, explicitly explaining where he’s causing himself problems and talking through alternatives.) 

Getting to write him as an adult in 1940 in the two books coming out in 2023, when he’s grown into himself and got coping mechanisms that work (but where some of them maybe need some adjustment for new circumstances and needs) was also a complete delight. I’m hoping you’ll enjoy him just as much there. 

Until then? If you haven’t read The Fossil Door and this sounds interesting, that’s a great start!

The post Idea to Book: The Fossil Door appeared first on Celia Lake.

Do you get my newsletter?

And if so, did you get a newsletter email from me today (Friday, January 27th, 2023)?

If you didn’t, sign up for my newsletter here. (Again!) Read on for a bit of an explanation. And if you’re not on the newsletter, check out more below on why you might want to be.

The explanation

I’ve been working on moving to a newer version of my mailing list software. As part of that, I decided not to move people who hadn’t interacted with the list in any way for at least 9 months.

(I sent out two reminders in hopes that people who do read but don’t click things would notice, and I’ve moved everyone who clicked on the link to stay on the list.)

The problem with any kind of cleanup like this is that the “did you interact?” mechanisms are all sometimes inaccurate. If you got caught in this, I’m sorry! Signing up again will mean you’re all set.

If you’d rather not get the introductory emails talking about my books, just reply to any of the intro emails welcoming you to the list, and I’ll move you out of that series. However, if you don’t have a copy of both Ancient Trust or Outcrossing, you might want to stick around.

About my newsletter

I send out a newsletter on most Fridays (I sometimes skip one if I don’t have anything at all to share). I talk about any news and upcoming events – things I’m doing, books coming out soon, etc. Today I talked about the mailing list update, and about a story that my editor, Kiya Nicoll, has in an anthology that just came out.

I share things I’ve posted other places. This week, that’s the blog post about Carry On, and a public post on Patreon about how I’m tracking what I’m reading this year.

Finally, I wrap up with a bit about what I’ve been writing that week, along with three or so links to interesting things I’ve come across in my research. (A number of my newsletter readers think this is the best part, and look forward to it.)

Also!

The newsletter is the place to get access to my extras of various kinds. When you sign up, you also get Ancient Trust, a prequel novella featuring Geoffrey Carillon and Thomas Benton, when Carillon returns to Albion after the death of his brother in 1922. It overlaps with Outcrossing.

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Idea to Book: Carry On

The next book in our Ideas to Books series is Carry On, set in 1915, almost entirely in the Temple of Healing in Trellech. 

When I started thinking about the Mysterious Powers series as a way to look at what was going on with the various institutions of Albion during and in the aftermath of the Great War, I knew I needed to be a little more consistent about planning out my timeline. (Unlike the Mysterious Charm books, which bounce around the 1920s out of sequence.) 

Wanting a book during the Great War

Given the timeline, that was probably going to be my first book. And it made sense for that to be involved with war service in some form, or the impact on institutions that were directly supporting fighting, such as the Temple of Healing. 

And of course, if we posit that both sides have magic that they can bring into play, it makes sense there might be magical injuries. Certianly, there are injuries that magic can solve somewhat more easily than contemporary surgical or medical techniques of the period. (Among other things, magic deals somewhat better with infection, which is a serious benefit in a pre-antibiotics era.) Not at all perfectly, mind you, but a lot better. 

At the same time, I wanted a book that was set in Albion, rather than overseas. That meant something involving longer or more involved healing. 

I also wanted a book where the main characters were not entirely familiar with how things were done here right now. Elen had done her training at the Temple of Healing, but by the the time Carry On begins, she hasn’t been based there for over a decade. Roland isn’t paying a lot of attention to start out (for good reason on his end). But he’s also only generally familiar with how things work, and not at all up on the usual protocols. 

Thinking about the strain on the Temple of Healing

I was also already thinking about the impact on the Temple of Healing from the war effort. 

For one thing, you have a lot of Healers and nurses who can going off to serve at the front, or at least much closer to it. That means other people coming to the Temple of Healing. There are new staff in a lot of places, and a constant feeling of not being entirely sure what to expect. Some materials are going to be in shorter supply. Or there are going to be new guidelines for who gets priority. Carry On looks a bit at what that’s like.

And with new magical weapons and dangers, there are also going to be things you don’t know how to treat or help or improve yet. Sometimes, existing techniques will work. Sometimes you’re going to need to do a lot of problem solving before you can do anything useful. 

What does magic change?

The second part of the problem, though, is all about magic. 

Healing magic draws heavily on the energy or vitality of the Healer or the people supporting the Healer. It’s a renewable but limited resource. If you drain your Healer to nil, they’re going to need a long time to recover. (Thalia, in Mistress of Birds, is an example of what happens when someone who’s being used as that sort of magical battery also gets drained too much too often.) 

There’s also the distinction between Healers and nurses, where they have different kinds of training, different kinds of ongoing work, and so on. Healers are generally more focused on acute healing needs, while many nurses are focused on supportive and especially ongoing healing care. The Healer might be able to heal up a wound. But the nurse is the one helping you recover from what that did to your body, managing fevers and symptoms, and overseeing things like potions, rehabilitation activities, and so on. 

Healing baths

I also definitely wanted something that dealt with healing pools and baths. They have a tremendously long history in the British Isles and elsewhere. (Bath, for one thing, and its famous baths originally dedicated to Sulis Minerva). 

Here, Rhoe has been overseeing the baths for about 14 years (she takes over in late December 1901, just after Sailor’s Jewel.) She’s well established and comfortably settled in her position. Her role is an explicitly religious one, in the sense that whoever has it needs to not only be a sworn Healer, but a committed priest or priestess of the deity they’re sworn to. This means there both is and isn’t a lot competition for the role.

The healing baths are a more subtle form of healing than surgery or crisis care. The results are often a gentle shift of experience that allow someone to get less tangled about their injury, feel a bit of a blessing, or otherwise begin to knit up what was damaged by whatever brought them to need healing. But of course, immersing yourself in hot water and relaxing also has some powerful benefits sometimes.

The local waters

When I went digging into the history of healing wells in the area of Trellech, I was delighted to discover there some fascinating details. The main well of note in Trellech historically is known as “the Virtuous Well”. Here’s some info from the Megalithic Portal (a great site for looking for healing wells, megaliths, and other such things.)

But there are also some lovely posts with more details about legends associated with the well and another post that includes a description of how the number and speed of the bubbles rising in the well could be read as a form of omen or divination.

Oaths and religion

Another key part of Carry On is looking at the fact that Healers and nurses make oaths. Unlike much of Albion, they don’t make them on the Silence, but rather to a power, deity, or religious focus that they consider meaningful. (This is because the healing oaths predate the Pact, and so does the Temple of Healing as an institution, though the current physical form is post-Pact.)

As Elen notes at various points in the book, a number of people are Christian and swear to the Christian trinity, but others may swear to saints, to gods and goddesses of healing, or to other deities near and dear their heart.

Varying approaches to religion

There are people who make their oaths in ways that aren’t deistic or don’t fit into that model, but they’re relatively rare in this period and Elen doesn’t know any directly.

In most cases, the people making these sorts of oaths are doing it as a lay member of that religion or practice, without any of the obligations of a priestess, priest, or other sort of clergy equivalent with obligations to others of the same faith and practice. (Rhoe, again, does have these obligations, though as of yet, we haven’t seen her talk about the details.)

One of these days, there will be a better explanation in canonical text. The short version is that Albion decentralised Christianity due to a combination of the Pact, the Dissolution of the Monastaries under Henry VIII, and then the last straw of Cromwell’s Protectorate. Many of the Great Families went into something that mixed reconstructed old family lore, largely forgotten Roman traditions, and ‘this works, why not use it’, all in a polytheistic context. Some people continued as Christian, either Catholic or Protestant. And of course, there are meaningful Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim communities (in Albion, as well as in Great Britain at large) by this period.

Writing this at the beginning of the pandemic

One final note about this book is that I began writing Carry On at the beginning of February 2020. By the end of the book in late April, the tight focus on a tiny number of locations was feeling distinctly claustrophobic. (My job was fully remote from March 15th 2020 through to September 2021, and I’m still hybrid as I write this in January 2023.)

I actually prefer being at home quite a lot, and it has been great for my wordcount and writing in several ways. But it’s also not really a surprise that my next book, The Fossil Door, takes place in sweeping and wide-ranging Scottish landscape, is it? 

The post Idea to Book: Carry On appeared first on Celia Lake.

Idea to Book: Forged in Combat

Time for another in the ongoing Idea to Book series. This time, we’re starting with the prequel to the Mysterious Powers series, Forged in Combat.

(Yes, even though it’s my most recent release as I write this.)

Forged in Combat is the romance of Arthur and Melusina Gospatrick, the parents of Roland Gospatrick, hero of Carry On (the first book in the series.)

Prequel

First and foremost, I wanted to spend some more time with Arthur and Melusina. Maybe especially Melusina, who strolled onto the page in Carry On, perched on Roland’s bed, and cheerfully offered candied ginger. She is the sort of person who draws every eye in the room with how she dresses and presents herself, and then holds them by sheer force of personality.

Arthur, in contrast, is just as competent, but he’s a lot less showy about it. (He lets Melusina do the showy.) He’s quite happy to blend in with a group of other Army officers in uniform, and distinguish himself by getting things done as smoothly as possible. I was curious, though, about how he got to the position he has in Carry On.

Before I wrote Forged in Combat, I settled down to do an extra for Carry On, of Arthur and Melusina’s side of things during that book. (It’ll be out in the first few months of 2023 once we get it edited.)

I loved getting a chance to see how Arthur and Melusina’s relationship works, even when one or the other of them has been away for extended periods of time due to their respective work and careers. (Long story short: they are very enthusiastic about flinging themselves into bed together as soon as they get the opportunity.) 

And from a publishing point of view, I wanted something shorter that could lead into the Mysterious Powers series, both to entice new readers and to use for various promotions and other options.

India

This book was also a chance to spend a little time in India, which looms so large in the British history of the time (and for very good reason.) At the same time, it’s definitely not an area of my deeper understanding and experience. 

As I started looking at when exactly to set this, I discovered that 1882 was a particularly interesting period. Lord Ripon, the Viceroy at the time, was notably progressive in comparison to his predecesor, and by 1882 was actively undoing several of the nastier of the laws of that predecesor. (He also has an interesting personal history – read the author’s notes in Forged in Combat for a bit more!) 

I knew that Melusina had grown up partly in India, as the daughter of someone fairly far up in the Colonial Service. (And, like many of those children, was sent back to England or Albion for her education.) She therefore has a particular understanding, there – but she also grew up across the subcontinent and left when she was twelve. 

But India also presents an interesting contrast in other ways more directly relating to my own worldbuilding. Where Albion (and those who have grown up in the magical community of Albion) has a particular relationship with magic, India doesn’t work by all the same rules. That wasn’t something I could get into in the length of a novella, but I wanted to at least hint at the diversity, range of approaches, and competing attitudes among people making their lives in India – and those stationed there for a period of their lives. (While, of course, having generally sympathetic protagonists.) 

I don’t have immediate plans to explore more stories in India (or other places in the British Empire of the period), but I hope to figure out a way to return to it and deepen some of these stories at some point. 

Generations

Finally, this is partly about generations.

I’ve been loving exploring three generations of the Edgartons as I get into the writing that will come out in 2023. We have Alysoun and Richard’s romance in Pastiche in 1906 and Gabe and Rathna’s romance in 1922 in The Fossil Door. (And an upcoming book will spend some time with Gabe’s sister Charlotte and her husband-to-be.) The upcoming Old As The Hills and Upon A Summer’s Day will be focusing on Gabe and Rathna later in their lives in 1939 and 1940 (when they’re both in their prime as adults). That book introduces their children. Their youngest, Avigail will be one of the point of view character for the last book in the Land Mysteries series, a school story in 1946-1947. 

Getting to look at Arthur and Melusina, both earlier in their lives and later on, when their son is a grown man, was a delight. I’m intrigued by seeing how people grow into themselves, and how the seeds of who they become are in where they began. Exploring some of those generational stories is something I do intend to come back to in future (if not immediately.) 

I was in particular fascinated by both their certainty about what they want to be doing, but wrapping that into their familial expectations. Roland in Carry On does something similar, but it comes out looking quite different in the end, in terms of what he turns his hand to.

If any of this intrigues, check out Forged in Combat!

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Come join the conversation!

Starting today, we’ve got two great new places to chat, and for me to share more about my writing and Albion. I have the best readers, so I hope you’ll join me in one or more of these places, depending on your own preferences.

(Extra thanks to everyone who responded to my survey in November 2022 for helping me figure out which options made the most sense to try out!)

And a huge round of appreciation to Kiya, who has helped me get the Discord set up. (Kiya wears many hats – often literally – as well as being my editor, first reader, and other half of my brain.)

A lot of my characters enjoy a social situation, but it’s the Dwellers at the Forge (and Martin and Galen in specific) I think of when it comes to great conversations. Discord

Discord offers a text-based chat server (you can share images and links, too). It’s a low-key way to hang out and connect without other people and have slower conversations without a social media algorithm deciding what you see.

All sorts of topics are fair game! I’m glad to chat about books – mine and most all others – but also historical amusements, food and crafts, interesting astronomy, and whatever else seems interesting.

Our server is called Albion’s Delights. It’s a private server just to keep it more manageable, so you’ll need an invite link. You can get one from any email newsletter I’ve sent since the start of 2023, or by becoming a Patron on Patreon. (And if either of those are a problem, drop me a note.)

Curious? I’ve got a guide with more information about our Discord and how to get started. It’s also got a copy of the rules if you’d like to check that out before joining us.

Patreon

I have a Patreon!

A few readers (thank you!) have asked for more ways they can support my writing. I also was looking for a place where we could have more space for actual conversation, and where I could share some posts about things that don’t quite fit into the authorial blog here. (A number of people are interested in more about my writing process and tools, for example.)

Starting out, there will be two public (free) posts a month. If you become a Patron at any level, you’ll also get early access to another post every month. This will either be a chunk from an upcoming extra or to a deeper dive into a research topic. Both of these will be available for everyone via my newsletter or blog later on.

Learn more about Patreon and how I’m planning to use it.

I’ll be linking to public posts (and letting people know what I shared for Patrons) in my newsletter too.

Other places

I’ve updated my contact page to have all the info about where I am these days online. Here are the big three:

My newsletter is the best way to get all my news first! It’s also where you can get extras about different characters, amusing research tidbits, and other fun details.

I’ll be making weekly blog posts here, focusing on the world and people of Albion, as well as talking more about specific books. I love getting questions from readers, so if there’s something you’re curious about, get in touch and ask!

I’m eyeing the state of Twitter very cautiously right now, and am mostly active on Mastodon at @celialake@romancelandia.club. I also just set up a new Instagram (@celialakebooks) account, which will likely mostly be book announcements. (But also the occasional photo as I go about my life. Right now, swans!)

The post Come join the conversation! appeared first on Celia Lake.

My plans for 2023

Now that I’ve talked about what I got up to in 2022, it’s time to look forward into 2023. I’m incredibly excited about my plans for 2023. There’s quite a lot to come! Publication dates may shift a little, but I expect them to be fairly close to the following.

Coming out in 2023

This year, I’m alternating between a series of 1920s books (Mysterious Arts) and books dealing with the Second World War (the Land Mysteries series).

February 2023 : Bound for Perdition

 It’s the middle of the Great War in 1917. Lynet is a bookbinder, and she has been charged with creating magical journals to help the War effort. Reggie is newly invalided out, and trying to figure out where he can be helpful. When the project keeps accumulating challenges, they have to figure out what’s going on and how to make some progress.

Bound for Perdition is the first book in the Mysterious Arts series. It includes a look at some of what Temple Carillon was up to during the Great War. Also has a brief cameo appearance from Geoffrey Carillon.

Late March or early April 2023: Nocturnal Quarry

A character-focused novella (not a romance) and second in the Land Mysteries series. This follows Alexander Landry on a trip through the east coast of the United States. It offers a bit of a resolution to the question of Theodore (from Best Foot Forward), an old enemy from Geoffrey Carillon’s past. Also Alexander’s own family history and a glimpse into the land magic of the United States.

I had a lot of fun writing a book that takes in Washington D.C.’s diplomatic culture, Brown University’s splendid Egyptological collection, Boston, and a few glorious bits of New York City.

May 2023: Old As The Hills

The third book in the Land Mysteries series, Old As The Hills takes Gabe and Rathna through their own challenges in 1939 and 1940.

Happily married for nearly two decades now, Gabe and Rathna are both at the top of their fields and in the prime of their lives. When Gabe takes on a complex investigation into magical protections in Albion and Rathna makes plans for a risky chance for hope on the Continent, they both know they’re risking their lives and their future together.

This is a novel focusing on an established happy marriage, and what it means to grow in a relationship together.

Late June 2023: Upon A Summer’s Day

A Gabe-focused short novel (probably around 60K words) that picks up immediately after the epilogue of Old As The Hills as the fourth book in the Land Mysteries series.

Gabe has been asked a question, and he knows he must answer yes. The consequences of that choice will shake up the Council, Albion’s upper echelons, and – with a bit of luck and skill – help Albion and Great Britain through the worst of the Blitz.

(Features Gabe, Rathna, Alexander, Geoffrey, Richard, and Alysoun as point of view characters. I am releasing these two quite close together. The end of Old As The Hills is as close to a cliffhanger as I’ve ever written, though it pauses in a sensible place.)

August 2023 : Shoemaker’s Wife

It’s 1920, and Owen has finally been demobbed. A shoemaker by trade, he returns to Trellech to figure out what his options are now. He doesn’t have the resources to set up his own shop. He married Clara, his wife, in a rush while he was on leave during the War. Now they need to learn how to have a marriage. When he can’t find work, he gets a job working for a theatre, getting drawn into their needs and problems. Clara, on the other hand, is not sure how to deal with a particular customer in the apothecary shop she runs for her aunt.

Learning how to have a marriage is a lot more than getting married. But if Clara and Owen can figure out their marriage, perhaps they stand a chance of tackling their other problems. The second book in the Mysterious Arts series.

November 2023: The Illusion of a Boar

The fifth book in the Land Mysteries series finds Lord Orion Sisley, Claudio Warren, Hypatia Ward, and Cammie Gates all thrown into working together to lure the German forces into thinking there’s a invasion planned somewhere there absolutely isn’t. It’s challenging, risky, and stimulating work – in more ways than one!

(These four last appeared on the page as students during Eclipse and Chasing Legends. Orion and Claudio were particular charges of Isembard Fortier – and still close with him as adults. Hypatia is Ibis Ward’s youngest sister, and Cammie is his step-daughter, but they’re close in age and treat each other much more like siblings. Even now they’re in their 30s. There will be a romance here!)

A word about the Land Mysteries series

I’d originally expected the Land Mysteries series to be three full-length relationship-focused novels (books 1, 3, and 5), 3 novellas that filled out events related to those novels (books 2, 4, and 6) and a school story. And then Upon A Summer’s Day got longer than novella length….

I’m incredibly excited about the story being told through this series, and the way the land magic runs through it so deeply.

Besides the five books described above, I expect to write two more in 2023:

The Three Graces will be a novella set in the first half of 1945 involving Alysoun, Lizzie, and Thesan taking on a particular sort of intelligence challenge (and picking up a thread from Bound for Perdition, back in 1917.)

And finally, I have plans for a school story set in the 1946-1947 school year at Schola that doesn’t have a title yet. It features Leo Fortier (Thesan and Isembard’s younger son), Avigail Edgarton (who also makes an appearance in Old As The Hills, Gabe and Rathna’s youngest daughter), Rosalba Carillon (Lizzie and Geoffrey’s youngest daughter), and Jasper Pride (third child of four of Rufus and Ferry). It takes place as the various secret societies of Schola are scouting for members – and of course, there’s a bit of a mystery to solve, too.

Also on the writing list

I’m hoping to write a novella of Gil and Magni’s romance (starting in January, and finishing it as makes sense). It involves Gil coming to grips with his injuries in the Sudan, Magni admitting his emotions, and a good dash of architectural magic.

February should find me writing The Illusion of a Boar.

Charlotte, Gabe’s sister, has quite an interesting adventure in front of her, and I’m looking forward to writing her romance (set in 1923, just after Gabe and Rathna are married). Third in the Mysterious Arts series, it has a bit to do with magical perfumes and incense. I expect to start this one in May 2023.

In August, I’ll start writing the school story.

And in November 2023, I look forward to writing a book about Griffin, who appears in Point By Point. This will explore the judicial magics of Albion and jewellery making, fourth book in the Mysterious Arts series. Among other topics, of course.

Let’s not forget about some extras…

Right now, I have substantial drafts of a number of extras, and I expect to produce a few more during the year. Things to come as I can get them edited and shared include:

Thesan and Isembard through the events of Best Foot Forward .Benton, during Best Foot Forward . (Of course. We can’t neglect Benton.) Arthur and Melusina during the events of Carry On .An increasing list of extras for Old As The Hills and Upon A Summer’s Day.

I also have an ongoing substantial extra following Cyrus from 1932 through 1946. I’m also contemplating the structure of something about Silvia Warren. (Both of these have to wait on publication until I finish the Land Mysteries series. But here’s a thing to look forward to!)

The post My plans for 2023 appeared first on Celia Lake.

What I got up to in 2022

It is the time of year where a roundup of what I did seems useful for a variety of reasons. (Come back next week for what’s coming in 2023!)

What came out in 2022

I put out four novels, two novellas, and a substantial extra in 2022. That’s a lot! Links here that aren’t the title (in the header) will take you to my public wiki. There you can see more details about people and places.

The Hare and the Oak

In the spring of 1926, Lionel Baddock comes to The Council  to admit that the landmagic is failing on his Suffolk estate. He wonders if there is a possible alternate heir. 

A short time later, Cyrus Smythe-Clive and Mabyn Teague find themselves locating a potential heir, and settling in to spend the next few months seeing if they can find a way to solve the problems with the land magic.

Point By Point

Lydia Pyle needs to make her name as a journalist. (Also in 1926 into 1927). When she comes to Galen Amberly for help investigating the aftermath of a story from earlier in the year, he agrees to help. It leads them into a realm of horse racing, a rather fast set, and dangerous ritual magic.

Mistress of Birds

Thalia Morgan is having a horrible time writing anything in the autumn of 1927. When her great-aunt needs a restorative trip to the south of France, Thalia agrees to stay at the house on the edge of Dartmoor. Once she’s there, though, she keeps finding a growing list of odd things. 

Adam Walton had a bad War, and he hasn’t found his footing since. When his uncle breaks his leg badly, Adam is sent off to make himself useful. When he’s asked to check on his uncle’s apple orchard, he’s baffled by the way the apples aren’t ripe, and then by other odd things he sees, or doesn’t see. It’s only when Thalia asks him about it that they can begin to get an idea of what’s going on – and what it might mean for both of them.

Ancient Trust

Ancient Trust is a free prequel novella you can get by signing up for my newsletter (unsubscribe when you wish, but my newsletter is the way to get extras! If you’re already on my list, check the link at the top of every email since June 2022 for all the extras that are out so far.) Learn more about what’s covered – and who’s involved!

This prequel novella begins in February 2022 when Geoffrey Carillon realises his brother has died, and he has inherited the land magic obligations. He and Thomas Benton must return to Albion and figure out how to build a life there, very different from the one either of them had expected, as well as try and figure out why Temple Carillon died.

With All Due Speed

With All Due Speed is an extra of about 20k words, covering the period from when Thesan Wain and Isembard Fortier begin discussing an actual engagement through to their wedding (the summer of 1925 through late December 1925), following the events of Eclipse. Learn more about what’s included.

As with Ancient Trust, you can get this and all my other extras by signing up for my newsletter, and there’s a link at the top of every email since June 2022 if you’re already on the list.

Best Foot Forward

In 1935, Geoffrey Carillon has a plan, and he needs Alexander Landry‘s help – despite the fact that Carillon is deeply suspicious of anyone associated with The Council for excellent reason. Can they work together to build a cover for their real goals in an increasingly dangerous and rapidly changing Germany? A bisexual/alloromantic and asexual/aromantic enemies to “it’s complicated” novel. 

This volume contains an epilogue novella, Intimacies of the Seasons which follows both men (and a number of their friends and associates) through the following year. 

Music plays a huge part in this book, and there’s a playlist, Best Ear Forward, if you wish to listen to the music referenced. Learn more about the pieces and why they appear in the book in a post on my website, as well as get a link to the playlist.

This is the first of the new Land Mysteries series, a 7 book series with a mix of novels and novellas that will take us through the Second World War.

Forged in Combat

Arthur Gospatrick was raised to be a military man from birth. Melusina Whymark wants to make her own way. When they initially meet, she has no time for an Army man, but several years later they are thrown together in Calcutta in 1882, where he might be the only way to achieve her particular goals of the moment. 

This prequel novella will be available for free in the spring of 2023.

And written in 2022…

More about all of these coming next week, but here’s a teaser of things I wrote in 2022 that will be out in 2023:

Bound For Perdition: 1917, and Lynet has been charged with creating magical journals to help the War effort. When challenge after challenge gets thrown in her face, she and Reggie have to figure out what’s going on, and how to make progress.

Old As The Hills takes place in 1939 and 1940, as Gabriel Edgarton and his wife Rathna turn their particular talents to the Second World War.

(I’m currently working on an immediate sequel to this, which will also be out in 2023, Upon A Summer’s Day, a Gabe-focused novella full of land magic, patterns, and necessary changes.)

Nocturnal Quarry is a novella following Alexander on a trip to America in 1938.

Shoemaker’s Wife is about what it means to make a marriage, and how to get through the aftermath of the War. In 1920, Owen is demobbed, coming home to Clara. They married during the War, barely knowing much about each other, and now they have to figure out what that means.

And of course, some extras!

The post What I got up to in 2022 appeared first on Celia Lake.

Forged in Combat is out!

I’m delighted to share Forged in Combat, a prequel novella for the Mysterious Powers series. It’s the romance of Arthur and Melusina, parents of Roland in Carry On. It takes place mostly in 1882 in the Viceroy’s Palace in Calcutta.

Melusina is building her own career as mistress of warding and protection magics. Arthur is following the well-trod traditions of his family in the Army. When Melusina takes on an assignment to help with a tricky safe problem in the Viceroy’s office, they find themselves collaborating – and more than collaborating.

CompetenceNavigating social expectationsDifficult colleaguesA strategically useful bustleReevaluating assumptionsLock picksSparking passion

Get a copy from your favourite ebook retailer!

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