20 June 2023!

After more delays than anyone would like, this is finally happening! 20 June 2023, four weeks from today, will see the North American release of Unnatural Ends. What this means for you, if you’ve pre-ordered any physical copies, is that you should CHECK and UPDATE YOUR MAILING ADDRESS. It has been a while, after all, and if you’ve moved in the meantime (as I have) you don’t want the thing you’ve paid good money for to be sent off to the wrong place.

You may have noticed that I specified North American release up there. This is because we’re also getting a UK release a month later, in July. (I think this means that those of you in the UK will have the satisfaction of getting your ordered copies in before Waterstones.) Inkshares is breaking into the UK market, and guess what they’re using as a battering ram?

That’s right. That’s me on the cover of the issue of The Bookseller distributed on the second day of the London Book Fair last month. The other guy is Fulton Ross, author of The Unforgiven Dead, which you should definitely check out because it’s a darn good read.

We’re just counting down the days now!

News! Good news, and not-so-good news.

Let’s get the not-so-good news out of the way. I’ve received word that the release of Unnatural Ends might be delayed another two or three months, though nothing is confirmed yet. This is, apparently, down to some marketing strategy: Inkshares wants to put some extra effort into getting this book into the public eye, and there might be something to aiming for a release in the spring as opposed to the middle of winter. They’re weighing the pros and cons now, and I’m trusting them to do what’s best.

In much better news, we now have a cover!

Credit goes to Tim Barber of Dissect Designs, who’s done some amazing work on a number of other Inkshares titles. For Unnatural Ends, he’s taken the fractured family situation at the core of the story and expressed it as a jumble of mismatched pieces forced together. Brilliance, I think.

Now we just have to wait for Inkshares to work their marketing magic (consider telling your local library) and for the book to make its way to the bookstore shelves.

The winners of the Inkshares Mystery Contest have been announced, and I’m happy to say that "Cat’s Paw" is on the list! This means we will be going forward with all the editing and rewriting and nosegrinding that goes into the publication process, and, probably a year from today, the book will make it into your hands.

Onwards!

Dear friends and followers,

I have recently heard rumours of orders being made but not going through. So, here’s an important announcement: I ALWAYS THANK EACH AND EVERY READER FOR THEIR ORDERS WHEN I SEE THOSE ORDERS COME IN. I usually do this through e-mail within twenty-four hours; if I’m in conversation with you at the time, I’ll thank you there and specifically say that I saw the order come in--especially if I’ve previously thanked you for expressing an intent to order.

IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE A THANK YOU FROM ME, THAT MEANS SOMETHING IS DREADFULLY WRONG.

Or it might mean that I’m out of town and have no access to the internet, but that’s a vanishingly rare occurrence. I’ll acknowledge your order and thank you for it as soon as I possibly can.

Now that’s out of the way, let’s look at the book again. I’ve got another character to introduce: Inspector Horatio Parker, the policeman assigned to the case.

Until next time, have fun, and keep reading.