Release Day

Well, it's here. Ashes to Fire releases today as an e-book, with the paperback following on March 21, 2017.

This is a big moment. This book has been in the works for over two years, and it features the peerless, intimidating Queen Mona as its protagonist. With some quality snark and action provided by Mae, the continuation of the characters from Woodwalker, the introduction of new characters, new stakes, and a (probably doomed) romantic arc, I should be dancing on rooftops in excitement for this release.

​But I'm not. Instead I'm feeling more like this: SPOILERS BE DAMNED, I'M NOT IN THE MOOD. Three times I've started writing this blog post, and three times I've ended up crying. In this worldwide political climate, it just seems so stupid to promote a dumb little second-string fantasy. It feels like sidling in among mourners at a funeral and saying, "hey, I know this sucks and all, but check out what I made!"

I know, I know. The arts are important, the arts are what we fight for. It's what I've been telling myself for the past two months. And it's true. But it doesn't make the feeling go away.

So please, buy my books--start with Woodwalker and go on a park ranger-esque journey starring a woman of color, and then pick up Ashes to Fire and join the struggle for peace and independence from a tyrannical regime while watching an interracial romance unfold. But while you're at it, here are some better diverse books I've recently read that you may enjoy, or better yet, broaden your view of the world:

Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older
Copper Sun by Sharon M. Draper
Maud's Line by Margaret Verble
Nimona and Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson, et al
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Gloryland by Shelton Johnson 
Six of Crows ​by Leigh Bardugo

Others that are on my To Read list include:
​
Not Your Sidekick by C. B. Lee
March by John Lewis
The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami
My Lea by E. Mellyberry
Salt Houses by Hala Alyan
Breath of Earth by Beth Cato
Daughters of a Nation: A Black Suffragette Historical Romance Anthology by Kianna Alexander, Alyssa Cole, Lena Hart, and Piper Huguley

Take care of yourselves.

Take care of each other.

Do good work.

​One crisis at a time.