EotS #61: Launch Week
It’s come at last. Launch week for The Ranger of Marzanna! Of course all the in-person events have been canceled, but Orbit Books as been wonderfully adept at setting up online events. I still prefer in-person events, of course, but the great thing about virtual events is that all of you who might have wanted to attend an event but don’t live near DC can now do so easily from the “comfort” of your home. If so, here are your options:
Tuesday, April 21st @ 6-7pm
A livestream video conversation between me and fellow Orbit author Melissa Caruso. Though neither of us realized it at the time, we actually cross-blurbed each other’s books, so naturally our director of publicity thought we would be a good match.
Here’s what Melissa said about The Ranger of Marzanna:
“THE RANGER OF MARZANNA pits brother against sister in a bewitching, snow-swept world, where political schemes collide with the machinations of a death goddess. A magical tale of power and sacrifice, manipulation and betrayal.”
And here’s what I said about Melissa’s book, The Obsidian Tower:
“THE OBSIDIAN TOWER is brimming with delights: gripping suspense, bombastic magic, political scheming, fascinating creatures, and ill-advised romance. Yet what I love most is that at its heart, it is simply the story of a young woman opening herself up to the world and embracing her own potential.”
So yes. I suspect this will be a very up-beat, mutual admiration sort of conversation hosted by our publisher. If you’re interested in watching, here’s the link.
https://www.crowdcast.io/e/9mr9xtqx
Orbit is using a service called Crowdcast. I believe it does require an email address, but otherwise it’s free. You can pre-register if you like, or just show up any time during that hour.
Wednesday, April 22nd @ All Day
I will be doing an AMA on Reddit’s r/fantasy subreddit all day long. If you’ve never participated in something like this, I basically just post an introduction on the message board there in the morning, talking a little about me, and then invite questions. People can then literally “Ask Me Anything”. I did one for Hope and Red years ago and it was quite a bit of fun. So if livestream video isn’t your thing, I invite you to participate in this one.
Thursday, April 23rd @ 5pm
Orbit has started a regular event series on their US Instagram account, @orbitbooks_us that they’re calling #OrbitTavern. Each Thursday, Orbit Creative Director (and acclaimed mixologist) Lauren Panepinto sits down with an author to discuss their newest book while making a cocktail or non-alcoholic beverage to pair with their work.
I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with Lauren a few times during my occasional visits to the Hachette offices in New York and she is very cool, so I’m looking forward to this. I expect it to be super laid back, so if that sounds most appealing to you, or if you want to learn how to make a new cocktail, I believe you can watch and participate either on the Instagram app or on the website. You just need to search for #OrbitTavern, my user name @jonnyskov or Lauren’s @Planetpinto and you should find it.
Friday, April 24th @ 7-8pm
And last, but certainly not least, local DC independent bookstore Solid State has invited me to do a Twitter Live event with them. Similar to the Instagram event, I think you can use either the app or the website and look for @jonnyskov. Since this will just be me, I intend to a do a substantial reading from the book. So if you’d like to see me read (and not to brag but I do have some skill), this is the one to check out.
Er…I should probably mention that I have never done any kind of livestreaming before, so this whole week will be…interesting.
Now Listening
Just real quick: Fiona Apple has released her first album in eight years, Fetch the Boltcutters. It is ferocious and weird and everything I wanted. Check out this track, “Shameika”.
And that’s it. Please come say hi online this week. And then after Friday, I will probably need to crawl into a hole and recharge for several days, or perhaps longer, so probably no newsletter next week.
Take care of yourselves,
_j