The Resurrection Plot is nominated for a Scribe Award!

Hello, all! A lovely bit of news since my last letter: my novel Assassin’s Creed: The Resurrection Plot is on the shortlist for the Scribe Awards, in the Original Novel—Speculative category. These awards are determined by a panel of judges and given out by the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers; the winners will be announced later this month at San Diego Comic-Con.

I’m thrilled for a few reasons! This is my first Scribe Award nomination, and it’s always wonderful to have one’s work recognized by one’s peers. It’s an extra nice surprise to get a nomination for book 2 in a duology. Also, I worked really hard on this particular book, in collaboration with my patient and wise editor, Gwendolyn Nix. It was a big challenge to make sure all the elements were working together—the book 2 character arcs, the known history across several countries and a couple of decades, the invented plot, the videogame canon, the political themes—all within a tightly defined word count and on deadline. I wanted to make it accessible not only to those who knew nothing about Assassin’s Creed, but also to people who hadn’t read book 1 (The Magus Conspiracy). I also wanted to make it satisfying for the fans of the franchise, and especally for the amazing, supportive fans of the first book.

Tie-in writing sometimes gets portrayed as an easy paycheque for writers, but that has not been my experience. It’s made me a better novelist and has helped me to understand other strains and traditions of modern storytelling, and has introduced new readers to my work. (Also, it has helped me send even more people down historical rabbitholes on Wikipedia.) The most heartfelt and touching reader mail I’ve ever gotten comes from my tie-in books.

So a big thank you again to Gwendolyn and the whole team at Aconyte Books, to Bastien Jez for the cover art, and to everyone at Ubisoft who supported this book and created the world it’s set within. And to my agent, Jennie Goloboy, without whom my books would just be files on a hard drive. And a shout out to everyone else on the Scribe Awards ballot—it’s an honour to be in your company.

Also, the audiobook of The Resurrection Plot is currently 60% off. Narrated by Moira Quirk, who is great.