M.A. Carrick's Blog, page 7

Rook and Rose Book 3, Chapter 6

Still catching up! I’ll admit I’ve been slow to post the progress-blogs because our non-linear approach continues, and I don’t feel like I can report in on a chapter being done when I already know we intend to backtrack and add a scene to it, even if we thought it was done at the time. But we have now slotted the addition in: a scene which has to do with a neglected side relationship, which didn’t seem that load-bearing until we looked further down the road and realized it would NOT work to leav...

The Rook and Rose trilogy now has music!

I have a long-standing habit of making “soundtracks” for my novels (i.e. mixes of existing music) and The Mask of Mirrors is no exception. But now I can add something far cooler to that: a piece composed specifically for the Rook and Rose trilogy, courtesy of author, artist, and musician Yoon Ha Lee. You can listen to or buy the Rook and Rose theme on Bandcamp — and while you’re there, check out his other works! They include “Ninefox March,” a composition eight years in the making for his own Ma...

Rook and Rose Book 3, Chapter 5

I continue my slow attempt to catch up!

I wrote a line into this chapter (which may or may not remain in the finished version) where one of the characters says that the attempt to do X has failed, so there’s no point in continuing on with the rest of the plan. A suggestion the character they’re speaking to rejects wholeheartedly, because who says the goal of the plan is to accomplish only one thing? It’s a species of what I’ve talked about before, where scenes need to serve more than one purpose...

Rook and Rose Book 3, Chapter 4

For various reasons the first part of this book (which will be divided into three overall) has something of an alternating structure: one chapter of exciting! spectacle! followed by one that spends more time on quieter character moments. So, having had our caper last time, this time we get the character stuff. (Not that the two are mutually exclusive, of course.)

It’s a bit of a grab bag, actually, which is unavoidable at times. Though we like our chapters to have a distinct identity — not just ...

Rook and Rose Book 3, Chapter 3

In which, as is traditional, we get our caper on again!

I guess that’s a minor spoiler, but really only in structural terms — we do have a habit of putting some swashbuckling action into Chapter 3 of each of these books, a la the Lacewater duel in The Mask of Mirrors. This particular one features a plan going very wrong and then a plan to fix that being not through at all well enough, though in fairness to the person who failed to do the thinking, the outcome was still probably better than if th...

Rook and Rose Book 3, Chapter 2

Retroactive progress-blogging continues! I’m glad that a number of you spoke up in the comments to various versions of the previous post to say that you enjoy these things; it helps me feel that it’s worth the contortions to say interesting things without giving spoilers.

Though having looked back at my posts for The Liar’s Knot . . . wow, heh. Should any of you try to slug those against the book itself come December, be aware that if you’re scratching your head and thinking, “I can’t figure out...

Revenge of the Return of the Rook and Rose Progress-Blogging

Up until now, I haven’t been blogging the progress Alyc and I are making through the draft of the third Rook and Rose book. It gets harder to do this sort of thing the further you get into a series; what I can say about the story is always constrained, of course, because I don’t want to give wild spoilers, but it gets even more so with subsequent books. When I progress-blogged what became The Mask of Mirrors, I could talk about R– and D– and so forth without any of y’all knowing who I meant. Now...

Rook & Rose: Hot Drinkable Edition!

Subscribers to the M.A. Carrick newsletter got a head start on this, but now Alyc and I are very pleased to tell you all: we have partnered with Dryad Tea to create five Rook and Rose-themed tea blends! They are as follows:

Rook & Rose — A lush, wine-red blend that can be as sharp or as sweet as you like. Hibiscus, rose hips, and berries decorate a rooibos base. Lacewater & Pearl (Ren) — This tea moves between worlds with a con artist’s ease, wedding the rich warmth of cacao to the wakeful edge...

Pi (chart) Day!

Happy pi (π) day!





Those of you who’ve watched one of our recent virtual events know that I’ve been making astrological charts based on one of the magic systems and the in-world calendar of The Mask of Mirrors. Because that system (numinatria) is so intrinsically tied to mathematics and sacred geometry, it seemed fitting to do a chart for pi day.









Numinatria is an esoteric magic system of numerology and sacred geometry. The numbers 0 through 10 and their corresponding...

Upcoming events of awesomeness!

It has been bonkers around here for the last two months or so, with a nigh-constant stream of interviews and promotional events. That’s slacking off at last, but there are two more coming up that I want to particularly draw attention to . . .

First, this Sunday, February 28th, we’re getting the band back together! Myself, Alyc, my husband, and two friends of ours from my grad school days (Emily Dare and fellow author Michael R. Underwood) are getting together for a Rook and Rose Blades in the Da...