Maybe I should have called this post: Book Deal, Take 2: Beautiful and Terrible Things.
Beautiful and Terrible Things is my next novel — the story of six friends who remind us that friendship has the power to validate, destroy, transform and save lives.
I have bad news and good news. And the bad news is now water under the bridge, so we won’t dwell on it, except to say that the publisher that originally bought the rights to Beautiful and Terrible Things, almost two years ago, was unable to release the book on schedule, due to various issues.
So instead of celebrating a spring or summer release of the book, I spent the past few months querying new publishers and crossing my fingers the book would find a home.
The good news: It has. I have just signed a contract with Black Rose Writing, which will release Beautiful and Terrible Things in the summer of 2024!!!
Yes, waiting another year will be hard. But I’m so grateful to Black Rose Writing for giving this story life, when all looked lost. (As all but the biggest-name authors know, securing a publisher is HARD; securing two publishers even harder.)
I know several authors who are published by Black Rose, including my Writers Group cohort Tina O’Hailey (check out her amazing psychological thriller Dark Drink), and all are very happy. In particular, their team does a bang-up job of marketing, so I look forward to all of that fun when the time comes.
Teaser for Beautiful and Terrible Things
So, what is Beautiful and Terrible Things about? Here’s a description:
Charley Byrne isn’t really living. At age 29, she hunkers down in her apartment above the bookstore she manages. Then quirky activist Xander Wallace lures her out of social exile with the prospect of friendship and romance. Charley joins Xander’s circle of friends diverse in their heritage, race, gender and sexual orientation. She thrives—even leaving her comfort zone to join protests in a city grappling with social justice ills.
But the new friendships bring back-to-back betrayals that threaten the bookstore—Charley’s haven—and propel her into a dangerous depression. Can her friends save the store? And Charley?
How to Fill the Next 11 Months
While waiting for the book to be released, spend some quality time with the six friends in The Wallace House of Pain, my novelette featuring the cast of Beautiful and Terrible Things. In The Wallace House of Pain, activist Xander clashes with his conservative father in the course of a series of dinners. Each of the other five friends accompanies him to one of the meals.
For another preview of sorts, you can read my short story Two Kinds of People, which was published in Smoky Quartz. Two Kinds of People focuses on Sunny and Buwan, two of the six friends in Beautiful and Terrible Things.
And be sure to subscribe to my blog using the box at the right, so I can keep you posted on the novel’s progress. Blog subscribers will have access to oodles of bonus materials like extra scenes in the lead-up to the book’s release.
