Welcome to my plans for 2024. Of course, it’s always possible that reality will interfere at some point, but here’s what I’m hoping for in the coming year:
Publishing
I’m hoping to release six novels in 2024. The first three are fairly straightforward (and they already exist in various stages of draft and editing).
February 9th: Perfect Accord
(pre-order now!)
It’s the spring of 1923 and Charlotte’s brother Gabe is about to get married. Everything’s changing at home. When her friend Victor – the man she’s expecting to marry – gets entangled in a new group with a particular fondness for Arthuriana, Charlotte agrees to go with him for a fortnight at a remote estate in Somerset. Nothing there is what she expected. That goes about triple for Lewis, an alchemical perfumer working on the estate and desperate to help his brother. Third book in the Mysterious Arts series.
May 3rd: The Magic of Four
Did you want a school story set at Schola? This novel, the last in the Land Mysteries series, follows four students in their second year at Schola as the secret societies pick members. They’re Leo Fortier (younger son of Thesan and Isembard), Rosalba Carillon (youngest daughter of Lizzie and Geoffrey), Avigail Edgarton (youngest daughter of Gabe and Rathna), and Jasper Pride (third child of Ferry and Rufus Pride).
There’s a lot going on here – besides the societies, there are the usual school challenges of musical performances, sport, and interpersonal awfulness. There’s also a mystery to solve and more than a bit of Schola’s particular magic.
August 2nd: Facets of the Bench
Griffin Pelson has a problem – or rather several of them. The courtroom in Trellech that is his particular responsibility needs a fix, and no one’s sure what will work best. There are also ongoing questions about whether his health – changed by the Great War – means he’s fit for a step in his professional life he’d very much like to take. When he goes to Whitby in search of a specialist who can work with the needed jet, he meets Annice Matthewman, whose life is increasingly unsustainable. This one is also a love letter to Trellech and her magic. Fourth book in the Mysterious Arts series.
Then we get into the big new thing!
Mysterious Fields trilogy:
A trilogy (one romance over three books) coming out in the autumn. I’m aiming for September 20th, November 8th, and December 13th, but those dates might shift if needed. I do want to bring them out fairly close together so that people who don’t like the cliffhangers inherent in a trilogy don’t have to wait very long for the conclusion.
These deal with what I’ve referred to as “The Fortier Mess”. Once, the Fortiers – Isembard and Garin’s family – were a much larger and vastly more powerful and influential clan. In 1889 and 1890, a number of things happened to change that.
The trilogy involves high level politics in Albion – both among the Council and the Great Families. The romance is vastly complicated by an existing betrothal, several deaths, a difference in class and social status, and a need to make sure that a particularly awful magical problem can’t possibly continue.
The trilogy also contains appearances by a number of other characters who appear in later chronological books, earlier in their lives. (Alexander is just finishing Schola when the first book takes place, and the second book includes Cyrus’s challenge for the Council.)
(And just to reassure: I don’t like writing third act bleak moments centred in resolvable misunderstandings. The tension in ‘how do they get together’ in this trilogy comes from dealing with external circumstances.)
And an extra
I’ve got an idea for a holiday-related extra for sometime in December. (Kiya had a brilliant idea too late for me to make it happen in 2023.) I’ll likely aim for a December solstice release again, because I do like doing that.
Writing
So, that trilogy involves some ambitious writing plans to make those deadlines. I started writing Enchanted Net, book one of the trilogy in the middle of December, and so far things are going very well. If I can keep this up through to April, everything’s great. If not, I have backup plans, but they’d probably involve pushing at least some of the trilogy into 2025.
Starting in May
The next book in the Mysterious Arts series, a book that will feature a weaver in some form in 1927. Whether that’s Ferry’s apprentice mistress (as a late in life romance) or another one of her apprentices, I’m still deciding. I’m looking forward to the research for this one, starting with a one-day weaving workshop to make a scarf in January. (Photos will be on the newsletter!)
Starting in August
Ursula Fortier’s romance in 1947 as part of a trilogy of romances following the Second World War. I’m so much looking forward to this one – it’s about the land magic in several directions. It also brings the Mysterious Fields trilogy into the 1940s, with several people learning more about the relevant history and being able to understand more of what happened and the impact it had on them. This book contains a key character who went to Snap along with more about one of the secret societies we haven’t seen much yet.
I’m excited about a lot of writing in 2024, but this is probably the one I’m most anticipating. I’ve written some prequel extras for it already, and Ursula is a terrifying delight. She’s a bit of the best of both her parents, and also all herself.
Starting in November
Book six in the Mysterious Arts series, set in late 1927 and featuring Farran Michaels (previously seen in Seven Sisters and briefly in Goblin Fruit and Magician’s Hoard, in a romance with a singer at a London night club. And, I suspect, a look at the underground parts of London in some form.
Plus some extras. Probably.
We know how I get, right? I have a couple in various stages of editing, but I’m also working on a long-form extra about Silvia Warren (Claudio’s mother) in preparation for a romance involving him that’s in the writing stack for 2025 (the third in that trilogy of 1940s into 1950 romances. The middle one is Edmund Carillon, seen briefly with his mother in Three Graces.)
Other things
I’m so excited with how the Patreon and Discord have been going, and plan to keep that up in 2024. I’m hoping to do more regular blog posts in 2024 as well.
The Patreon is getting two public posts a month (same as 2023) and two extras from ongoing series a month (up from one a month in 2023). The extras are from series that are running parallel to other published works, and don’t have spoilers for anything that isn’t out yet. Read more details about the Patreon plans over on Patreon.
And I continue to love the Discord and our joyful mixing of historical info, cats, food, and Kiya and I doing back and forth commentary. Learn more about the Discord and maybe come join us?
In terms of other social media, you’re most likely to find me on Bluesky at the moment, but who knows what 2024 is going to mean for that landscape. My contact page has reasonably up to date info on where I am and what content is there.
My newsletter remains the best place to hear from me regularly, with my own news plus interesting links I’ve come across in the week’s writing (and reading).
