Cold Magic Arrives, and the Progress of Cold Fire

My Orbit US author's copies of Cold Magic arrived, which means it will hit the bookstores in a few weeks (official date Sept 2 in UK/Commonwealth and Sept 9 USA/Canada). I have been told that copies will be available for my late August signings in Australia, whose dates and times I will reiterate in a post before I leave for Down Under.

This leads me to reflect on Cold Fire, still under construction.

I had really hoped to have the basic first draft of Cold Fire done before I left for Sydney, M...