[From the Eye of the Storm] Jon Skovron's Newsletter #34
From the Eye of the Storm #34
Here we are at the launch of Bane and Shadow, the second book in the Empire of Storms trilogy.
Well, technically, it came out in the UK last Thursday. But tomorrow is the day it comes out in the States. So if you’ve read Hope and Red, go buy it, please. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
I’m not sure why I’m so anxious for this release. Maybe because this book cuts so deep for me. While I was writing it, my friend Eve Reinhardt Caripides passed away after a long battle with lung cancer. I dedicated the book to her memory because both my grief at her loss and my admiration for her courage can be felt throughout. It is a much darker book. A book in which the consequences of the choices made in youth begin to take their toll. And yet, as always, I try to find both the beauty and humor in the darkness. And I promise you that no matter how dark this book gets, it will all be redeemed in Blood and Tempest. Always darkest before the dawn, & etc…
I did an interview at CivilianReader.com. The subject matter is pretty broad, but includes talk about Bane and Shadow, hints at my mysterious side project, and a gratuitous Steinbeck reference.
Hope and Red Sales!
For those of you who haven’t read Hope and Red yet, but were thinking about it, there are a few sales going on:
For US readers, the e-book version is still on sale for $1.99. Not sure how much longer this sale will run. I think it ends sometime in early March, so if you’ve been meaning to grab it, now’s the time.
For UK readers, Hope and Red will be featured Feb 28th only on Amazon’s Daily Deals for 99p! Wut! So cheap! Get it!
Currently Reading
I just finished The League of Seven by Alan Gratz. It’s the first book in a middle grade series that came out way back in 2014. The galley has been sitting on my shelf, and I’m only just now getting around to reading it, and I wish I’d picked it up sooner. It’s an incredibly fun book—a joyful mashup of steampunk, clockpunk, airships, alternate history, superpowers, Cthulhu-style monsters, and a whole lot of heart. Any book with mind-controlling insects, robot ninjas, and rayguns pretty much wins, in my opinion. But it’s Gratz’s energetic, earnest prose that truly sold me on it.
Now Listening
Emel Mathlouthi’s sophomore album, Ensen, only came out three days ago, and I already love it. If you’re not familiar with her work, imagine if Joan Baez and Massive Attack had a Tunisian lovechild. That’s probably a little reductive for such a richly-inspired artist, but it gives you a general sense of her tone and style. Her first album, Kelmti Horra, became famous, or perhaps infamous, for its protest songs inspired by the struggle in her homeland of Tunisia. She was banned there, and moved to France so that she could continue to write music and perform. So while her music is lovely, at times even etherial, there is an underlying grit to it that I find incredibly satisfying.
Check out this video for the single “Ensen Dhaif”.
And that’s it for this issue of the newsletter. Sorry for sending it late in the day, but we’re not supposed to publicize Kindle Daily deals until the day of the sale, so I wanted to make sure UK readers would already be asleep. That’s close enough, right?
I’ll see you on the other side of this launch!