Volume Three has a cover! And a title! And a release date!

Originally published at Jacqueline West. You can comment here or there.

And here it is:

THE BOOKS OF ELSEWHERE, VOLUME THREE: THE SECOND SPY.

Gorgeous, isn't it?  Poly Bernatene just keeps making me happier and happier.  Check out the three volumes, all lined up together–

THE SECOND SPY will be released on July 5, 2012.  It's already available for pre-order from Amazon, but I hope you'll buy or pre-order it from your favorite local bookstore.  (BTW, Here's an interesting blog about one of Amazon's latest schemes, written by an independent bookstore owner.)  Of course, you could also order a signed copy through my own local bookshop, Best of Times, once the book is released…

When I visit schools, kids often ask me which of my own books is my favorite, and I always say that it's the one I'm planning to write next, which is still pure dream and excitement and potential, without any flaws in it (yet).  And this is the truth.  But it's also true that I had a ridiculous amount of fun while writing THE SECOND SPY, and I can't wait until it's out there in the world, being read by people I've never met.

My copies of the Greek and Catalan translations of THE SHADOWS recently arrived — and here they are, atop my Christmassy tablecloth.

(It's a wonderfully odd thing not to be able to read a single word of your own book.)

In other fiction news, I've just sold a short story, "The Emperor's Nightingale" (a sort of dystopian/environmental retelling of  Anderson's fairy tale) to Aoife's Kiss, and am looking forward to seeing it published next summer.

Tomorrow is the Anderson Center's Holiday Celebration of the Arts.   I'll be there from noon to five, signing and selling copies of THE SHADOWS, SPELLBOUND, and CHERMA.  If you're in the Red Wing area and are looking for unique Christmas gifts, come and visit; the beauty of the Anderson Center itself makes it worth the trip.