Hello friends,

I write this week with a worn-out brain. Very pleased to report I have finished the draft of the Tudor spy novel I’ve been working on since the spring. I tore up the first third and re-wrote it, then I tore up the first two-thirds and rewrote it, then I wrote to the end, then did a quick revision of the whole. Working title The Realm Invisible. The draft is about 97,000 words and is finally in my editor’s hands. This will be my ninth published novel, coming from HarperVoyager UK in 2027 or 2028.

While I wait for her feedback, I’m turning my attention to the edits from another editor for my novel The Swordmaster, which is the novel I have coming later this year from Solaris, as part of their Vampires of Dumas series. I’m enjoying getting back into that world, which is a lot of fun.

My freelance work is busy too; I have two big projects on the go.

At some point soon — not yet, as I have these other projects to finish first — I intend to give my poor brain a few days off, but for now I’m refilling the well, feeding it from a variety of sources. As I write this (on Wednesday), I’m watching a panel series from McGill University called Thinking Inside Macbeth - Reimagining Shakespeare. Tonight, I’m going to see Cory Doctorow speak about technology and society in the new Perfect Books lecture series here in Ottawa.

And hey, maybe I’ll go to the National Gallery, which is a thing I do when I need to reset my brain.

Those of you who have read my novel The Chatelaine (previous title Armed in Her Fashion) will know that it was inspired by the Pieter Bruegel painting Dulle Griet:

Marie Brennan has written a powerful new poem called Dulle Griet Stages a New Assault, also inspired by the painting and the folklore behind it. In her commentary on the poem, she mentions learning about the story through my novel, which I love — if there’s a hope I have for my storytelling, it’s to shore up and reinforce and add links to the web of stories, and to send people down rabbitholes, and start and continue conversations. Marie and I did an event together a couple of years ago hosted by Brookline Booksmith, talking about our Norse novels (The Waking of Agantyr for Marie, The Valkyrie for me).