2015 Writing/Publishing Retrospective

Yes, 2015 was an exceptionally busy year for me. It’s not that I write quite that fast but that I had no fiction released in 2014 with the exception of The Courtship, a Spiritwalker-related short story posted on my blog. Due to scheduling, two novels, a short fiction collection, a novella, a short story, and several long non-fiction pieces appeared this past year. I also attended four conventions.

Here is the 2015 rundown of professional (money-making) pieces [and a quick comment about when the piece was actually produced]. I don’t list blog posts on my blog or as guest posts elsewhere although I wrote several I thought were pretty ace.

January:

A review of The Steerswoman by Rosemary Kirstein appears in Cascadia Subduction Zone.

[I wrote this in 2014.]

February:

The Very Best of Kate Elliott, a short fiction collection by Tachyon Publications, is released to quite good reviews and with an exceptionally excellent Julie Dillon-illustrated cover.

[All the stories in this collection were written prior to 2014. The introduction was written in 2014.]

March:

An essay titled Writing Women Characters as Human Beings published at Tor.com.

[An ongoing project that went through multiple revisions, I finished this in 2015. I hope to finish a companion piece in 2016.]

April:

A reprint of my novelette “On the Dying Winds of the Old Year and the Birthing Winds of the New” appears in Lightspeed Magazine (the story appeared for the first time in the short fiction collection). It is set in the Crossroads universe.

[This piece has been around some years but the final revisions were done in 2014.]

May:

I wrote the foreword for Speculative Fiction 2014: The Year’s Best Online Reviews, Essays and Commentary, edited by Renee Williams and Shaun Duke and published by The Book Smugglers Publishing.

[Written in 2014? I think? Or early 2015?]

Guest of Honor at SFeraKon in Croatia. I tell you this: The Croatians are THE BEST.

I’m already exhausted and we aren’t even halfway through the year.

July:

San Diego Comicon, panel and signings. BIG. REALLY BIG.

August:

My Young Adult debut novel, Court of Fives, is published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. The audiobook (narrated by the wonderful George Dolenz) is published by Hachette Audio. Among other things, CoF was listed as one of NPR’s Best Books 2015.

[First draft written Winter 2012/13, revisions 2013 into early 2014]

Sasquan/Worldcon, in Spokane, Washington. Fun for me. Bad forest fires for the people in Eastern Washington.

October:

Guest of Honor at Sirens Conference together with Rae Carson and Yoon Ha Lee. Wow, this was grand. You should come in 2016.

This month I also turned in final revisions for Poisoned Blade, Court of Fives 2, scheduled for publication in August 2016. I wrote the first draft and completed three revision passes, all in 2015.

November:

And then, yes, volume one of a long-awaited (by me if by no one else!) new adult epic fantasy, Black Wolves, published by Orbit Books.

[First draft written 2013-2014, revisions 2014/early 2015]

Black Wolves has an audiobook narrated by the fabulous Richard Ferrone, and published by Recorded Books.

December:

The year rounds off with two final pieces of short fiction.

Night Flower is an ebook only novella, a prequel set in the Court of Fives world.

[Written and revised in 2015.]

The Beatriceid is a short fiction feminist retelling of the Aeneid, in verse, set in the Spiritwalker universe and published by The Book Smugglers.

[Written and revised in 2014.]

Whew. What was I thinking?

Tomorrow: 2016 Prospective & maybe a resolution or three.

NIGHT FLOWER – Available Now!

Exciting news: NIGHT FLOWER is now available exclusively as an e-book! Thanks to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and The Novl, you can download the Court of Fives prequel for only $2.99 through these e-tailers:

Apple iBooks | Google Play | Kindle | Nook | Kobo | Goodreads

night flower 1
NIGHT FLOWER focuses on Jessamy’s parents, Kiya and Esladas, and their serendipitous story prior to the events of Court of Fives:

When adventurous Kiya leaves behind her country home for a new life in the city of Saryenia, she meets a young soldier by the name of Esladas while working in the marketplace…and despite neither of them speaking the same language, chance encounters and stolen moments lead to a blossoming romance.

Everyone around them seems to be frowning upon their relationship, but how can they let it go when there’s this feeling in their chest that tells them that something great could come out of it? Is their love worth becoming outsiders for the rest of their lives?

 

For more information, visit The Novl’s official NIGHT FLOWER post. Happy reading!

ICYMI: Kate Elliott Interviews & Guest Posts

In case you missed it, here’s a roundup of Kate Elliott’s recent online appearances:

Nov 5 – John Scalzi’s Whatever Blog Guest Post: The Big Idea
“Change always happens, but as Kate Elliott explains in this Big Idea for Black Wolves, the opening novel in a new fantasy trilogy, not all change happens at once.”

Nov. 13 – Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog Guest Post: 10 Fantasy Novels Whose Depictions of Women Did Not Make Me Smash Things
“Long ago, in a galaxy far far away, […] it [was] almost impossible to find fantasy novels that gave me a fresh, provocative, innovative landscape without simply replicating the same dull and retrograde roles for women. Fortunately these days it’s new world dawning and I, for one, am thrilled.”

Nov 20 – Fangirl Happy Hour Ep. 27: “That Darn Internet”
“This week on Fangirl Happy Hour, Renay and Ana welcome Kate Elliott back to the show to discuss H.P. Lovecraft, the World Fantasy Award, fandom, rec the best pigeon dating game you will ever play, and answer some listener questions.”

Nov. 23 – Tor. Com’s Rocket Talk Ep. 69: Kate Elliott & Emma Newman
“This week’s episode features fantasy and science fiction authors Kate Elliott and Emma Newman on their recent novels, what it’s like to write aged characters and what kinds of resistance exists in society to hearing those stories. They also discuss the rarity of anxiety disorders in fiction.”

Dec. 2 – Lady Business Guest Post: The Call to Adventure
“Kate Elliott shares the old opening to her new novel, Black Wolves, which came out November 3.”

E.P. Beaumont Interview: The Muse of Research with Kate Elliott
“Kate Elliott took time from a very busy schedule of writing, revising, and promoting her work to grant this interview. As reader, I’m entertained; as writer, I’m taking notes.”

Happy reading!