For 2014: GoH at Fantasycon 2014 (York, U.K.) I’m super stoked! If you can make it, do! (September 5 – 7)
I also plan to attend Loncon 3 (London Worldcon), which is shaping up to be quite an event.
It’s unlikely I’ll be attending any conventions in the USA in 2014.
As it happens, 2013 was a remarkably packed year for me, publication-wise:
February 2013:
Apex Magazine‘s Shakespeare-themed Issue 45 included a reprint short story “My Voice Is In My Sword” and an interview.
May 2013:
Fearsome Journeys edited by Jonathan Strahan (Solaris/S&S) with an original novelette for this sword & sorcery/epic fantasy anthology, “Leaf and Branch and Grass and Vine.”
June 2013: (the Big Event of my publishing year)
Cold Steel: Spiritwalker Book Three (the final volume of the trilogy)
Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review and said “Elliott pulls out all the stops in this final chapter to a swashbuckling series marked by fascinating world-building, lively characters, and a gripping, thoroughly satisfying story.” Yes, that makes me happy. There are a number of reviews of the novel I really adore but I will spare you quoting them all because I am humble and polite that way.
July 2014:
Open Road Media published 8 of my backlist novels in ebook form. Whoo!
(The 4 Novels of the Jaran, the Highroad Trilogy, and The Labyrinth Gate)
August 2013:
The Secret Journal of Beatrice Hassi Barahal.
[The link is to the PDF version. The print version is currently out of stock BUT more copies are in and it should be available in the print version again by January 10.]
An illustrated short story, text by Kate Elliott and AWESOME black & white illustrations by the spectacular (and Hugo-nominated!) artist Julie Dillon. This was a blast to write and I love the illustrations SO MUCH. Let’s call it “Bee’s version of the events, with a coda.”
Fall 2013:
The audiobook for Cold Magic came out from Recorded Books.
October 2013:
Unexpected Journeys, edited by Juliet E. McKenna, an anthology of fantasy stories for the British Fantasy Society. An original novelette, “The Queen’s Garden.” This anthology is only available to members of the BFS, but I hope to reprint the story elsewhere in the upcoming year.
Also: ALL of the Crown of Stars novels (DAW in the USA and Orbit UK in the UK) are now availlable in ebook versions as well as print. Because The Crossroads Trilogy is also in e-format, all my published novels can now be easily obtained. E-books are changing the field in massive ways whose fall-out we cannot yet predict, but in terms of a backlist it has been a great thing.
That covers publication of fiction. My favorite posts of the year (ones I wrote):
The Creole of Expedition: Part One and Part Two
Charles A Tan kindly did a Storify of my tweets about “SF Civility”
Love and Infatuation in the Spiritwalker Trilogy
Spiritwalker Inspirations and Influences.
The Status Quo Does Not Need World Building
On Fan Art (and how it inspired The Secret Journal).
I’ve missed something I should have listed but if I’d remembered what it was I wouldn’t have missed it.
Liz Bourke did an interview with me on Tor.Com that I quite like.
And Aidan Moher (A Dribble of Ink) and I did a re-read of Katharine Kerr’s excellent DAGGERSPELL that I thought went really well.
What’s ahead for 2014?
The two convention appearances in the UK. And a lot of writing.
Forthcoming projects:
A short story collection with Tachyon Publications. (2015)
A YA fantasy (Little Women meet epic fantasy with a dash of Count of Monte Cristo) from Little Brown Young Readers. (2015)
An epic fantasy with Orbit Books.
I’ll keep you posted.
I have two more Julie Dillon illustrations, these in color, that I will be releasing into the wild ASAP.
Most importantly, thank you to all of my readers. This can happen because you are all reading/listening/etc, and I treasure each and every one of you.