City of All Seasons, but mainly next Spring

The novel I co-wrote with Oliver Langmead will be published by Titan in April 2025.

This is a brilliant thing to be able to put on the blog because I’m hugely looking forward to seeing this book edging closer to publication. I had a blast working on it, collaborating with such a wonderful writer to come up with a story that I love and a city I only wish I could visit for real.

As it says in the Bookseller announcement:

City of All Seasons tells the story of two inventors who are trapped in mirrored versions of the island city of Fairharbour. In one it is winter and the other constant summer. When they find a way to communicate with each other, the pair try to discover what happened to their city and how to repair the fracture between worlds. 

There’s a bit more on bookselling websites:

A vibrant and emotional science fantasy about cousins trapped in mirrored worlds – the resplendent and verdant summer city and the ice-carved wastes of the winter city. For fans of Every Heart a Doorway and This is How You Lose the Time War.

Welcome to Jamie Pike’s Fairharbour – a city stuck in perpetual winter, its windows and doorways bricked shut to keep out the freezing cold, its residents striving to survive in the arctic conditions.

Welcome to Esther Pike’s Fairharbour – a city stuck in constant summer, its walls crumbling in the heat, its oppressive sunlight a relentless presence.

Winter and Summer alike have fallen under the yoke of oppressive powers that have taken control after the cataclysm. But both Fairharbours were once a single, united city. And in certain places, at certain times, one side can catch a glimpse of the other. As Jamie and Esther find a way to communicate across the divide, they set out to solve the mystery of what split their city in two, and what, if anything, might repair their fractured worlds.

Ollie describes the novel as ‘a celebration of our mutual love of finding new challenges and frontiers in speculative fiction to explore’ and I’m in total agreement with that. Writing can be a lonely business. Getting to create something so wonderful with another writer who totally gets where you’re trying to go was joyous.