Tag Archives: inheritors’ cycle

Inheritors’ Cycle update

Posted on by

I’ve had a number of people ask over the past couple of years whether there would be more books about Belinda and Javier (THE QUEEN’S BASTARD, THE PRETENDER’S CROWN). I finally have an update about that, and the answer is, “Not for the foreseeable future.”

This is a business decision, not a lack of enthusiasm. The people who have contacted me about the Inheritors’ Cycle have loved it, as do I, as does my publisher. But let me try to explain what happens in the life cycle of a book (and writer).

THE QUEEN’S BASTARD sold pretty well; THE PRETENDER’S CROWN, rather less so. Therein lies the problem.

When bookstores order books to put on their shelves, they look at the last book a writer has produced. If that book sold 10 copies at their store, then they’ll probably order 9 copies of the next book. Maybe even eleven. It doesn’t matter if it’s part of the same series. All that matters is who wrote it.

So if the last book sold 3 copies, they’ll order two. And it still doesn’t matter if it’s a different series. They’ll order two, and that means only 2 people are going to be able to grab it off the shelf when it comes in. And they might say, “Great, those sold, we’ll order two more!”–but if there’d been 10 in the first place, and 10 people had snatched them up, they’d be ordering 10 more.

So if PRETENDER’S CROWN sold 3 copies, the bookstores aren’t going to say “Oh, different series, these ones move faster!” when DEMON HUNTS comes out. They’re going to say, “Oh, she only sold 3 books last time, let’s not order more than that.”

You can see the potential knock-on effect this has on a writer’s career.

So at the moment, both the larger part of my reputation as a writer and the market is interested in urban fantasy, not alternate history epic sci-fantasy. That’s what’s selling for me, and it’s what my publishers are interested in, and it is therefore what I’m interested in.

Don’t get me wrong. I hope the worm will eventually turn and I’ll have the opportunity to go back and write more in that world. But for now, well, this is how I pay rent, so I’m pitching urban fantasy ideas, and we’ll see how that goes.

THE PRETENDER’S CROWN contest/give-away

Posted on by

I have just received two early copies of THE PRETENDER’S CROWN. It is, in my ever-so-humble opinion, absolutely beautiful. In fact, it’s so pretty it makes me want to re-read it, which isn’t all that usual. :)

So! I have two copies. One must go on my Shelf Of Books I Wrote, but the other, I think, cries out to be sent into the world. So there will be a contest!

I will be the director. You will be the Casting Agents. The book will go to the person who builds what is to my mind the best complete cast for THE QUEEN’S BASTARD. The integral characters, therefore, are Belinda Primrose, Robert Drake, Lorraine Walter, Sandalia de Costa, Javier de Castille, Eliza Beaulieu, Marius Poulin, and Sacha Asselin. Bonus points for also casting Dmitri Leontyev, Rodrigo de Costa, Irina Durova, and Akilina Pankejeff. And I’ll be really impressed if you also cast Viktor, Ilyana and the gondola boy. :)

The parts don’t have to be cast with current actors, I wouldn’t say, or people at their current ages. That makes it more fun, I think. :)

Here’s the catch: I only have the one copy to send out, and this post goes out at mizkit.com, cemurphy.net, mizkit.livejournal.com, Facebook, and Myspace. I expect answers will come in from most of those places, so you might not see the winning entry wherever you actually do your own answering. I will, of course, post the winning entry here.

Let’s see. I’ll choose a winner (EDITED: deadline extended!) at noon EST on Tuesday, April 7.

Have at!