Hi there, fellow wallowers! Happy New Year!

It’s 2025. And for me, that means debut year. Higher Magic hits the shelves on October 7th, and you can preorder it now!

To celebrate, I’m sharing a couple of character sketches. (Please note: I may be a professional author but when it comes to drawing I’m firmly amateur.)

Anne has been the heart of Higher Magic from the start. It was there in the short story I wrote before I knew this should be a novel, and its presence only grew in revisions and eventually edits. Who doesn’t love an irreverent, Jane-Austen-quoting narration skull who regularly reveals the main character’s most embarrassing thoughts?

Bartleby is the neurodivergent disaster main character of my heart. She’s got the most advanced case of imposter syndrome in the universe, but she keeps trying anyway. Despite the odds. Despite past failures. And especially despite her own brain.

I can’t wait for you to meet them both (and the rest of the crew)!

Hopefully, I’ll be able to share the gorgeous cover and early readers’ blurbs soon. Either way, I’ll be sending my regularly scheduled newsletter at the end of the month.

Until then, thank you for wallowing with me.

~Courtney