Open for an Audible Surprise! 🎧

Look ma, I’m finally using Substack a year after setting it up!!

In my defense, the past year has been pretty hectic between car troubles, power outages, drawn-out internet issues, and life in general being just a little Too Much™. But hey, we’re here now, it’s the 1st of July, and I have some fun news to share!

(It’s also Canada Day but, in my opinion, that is the least exciting thing happening today 😤)

FIRST THINGS FIRST

WE HAVE A RELEASE DATE.

The Bloody Spade audiobook will be dropping AUGUST 2ND on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes!! I’m going to save most of my gushing for release day, but let me just say: Hunter McCoy has done an exceptional job and we’re super excited to share it with you (we’ve even got singing and a little Zelda easter egg tucked away in this thing! How cool is that?).

In the meantime, you can feast your ears on this shiny new preview from Chapter Three. And keep your eyes peeled for more announcements, because we’ve got some fun stuff planned (a live chat, giveaways, and all that jazz).

p.s, if you’re supporting me on Patreon, you can listen to the full chapter now 👀

SECOND THINGS SECOND

I realized that with June gone it’s already been almost two whole months since I brought the Cardplay Duology to a close with Bleeding Heart. I didn’t get to enjoy that release to the fullest due to the issues mentioned at the start of this post, but it’s been wonderful to the see such heartfelt reception among readers, and the audiobook festivities should make up for it a bit as well <3

While Bloody Spade focused primarily on Iori’s dilemmas, trauma, and growth as a character, book two shines the spotlight on the story’s second MC, Ellen Amelia Jane. After spending the majority of the first book managing the external parts of her life (Iori’s arrival in it, her brother complicating it, plus her new Joker responsibilities), her focus now shifts inward to the parts she’s neglected while tending to everyone else’s needs.

Of course, finding out what she wants amidst Blackjack’s evil scheming is going to be a challenge. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s exactly the push she needs.

So now that the duology is complete, what’s next? Well, I’m not finished with this headworld just yet! I’m in the early stages of ugly-drafting a short story that follows Iori through his younger years. I also have a prequel novel(la?) planned for later down the road which tells of the original Keepers and Circ’s fall from grace. Before that, however, I intend to jump into a blossoming scifi fantasy headworld occupied by werewolves and rebels and radioactive wastelands.

Stay tuned for more on that in the near future!

LAST THINGS LAST

I fully intended to talk about this months ago but got waylaid. Back in February, I got the opportunity to read and blurb an ARC of M. L. Wang’s queer YA magical girl fantasy!! I still haven’t found time to write up a proper review, but you can check out my blurb below.

If any of that sounds like it’s up your alley, be sure to check out the book’s Goodreads page or head on over to Amazon to grab yourself a copy. It’s a complete trilogy, too, so there will be no waiting around for sequels. You can blast straight through the whole thing straight away if you want to 😌

And that’ll do it for my first post on The Bee Hive.

Thank you for reading! <3

What I’m reading: Curious Tides by Pascale LacelleWhat I’m watching: Skip and LoaferWhat I’m playing: N/AWhat I’m listening to: Always Open Podcast