Mod R sent over the April questions. There are a lot of Innkeeper questions. They are very helpful to us because they let us know what to clarify in text, and for that reason we probably will try to answer the majority of those in the narrative rather than the blog. But I did want to touch on this one. It gets asked frequently.
Is there a plan or are you just making it up as you go along?
Both. There is an overall plan but the details get finalized as we are writing. For example, we have three challenges ahead of us. During each challenge, the 3 lowest ranking candidates are eliminated, until we have 3 candidates left for the finale. This is the framework of the spousal selection, but things rarely go smoothly. Our internal timeline is to take roughly one week for each challenge. Hopefully we can stick to it.
A lot of questions regarding the mystery project.
Is the snippet from a book you are planning on publishing?
I’ll be honest. The fact that our agency didn’t see this as a viable project shook my confidence a bit. Gordon is bulletproof when it comes to that and he feels that this project is worth developing. We have almost 30,000 words on it. It’s very different from our previous work, so this would be a bit of a gamble.
I know IA said that it’s different than their normal stuff- but I don’t recall them explaining how–less romance, maybe?
Also
Will HA be staying in the romance genre? Or is there the possibility of branching out (especially with the new self-publishing thing)? I could really use a book without romance as the central focus/storyline these days!
The mystery project has romantic elements but it’s not as romance focused as Hidden Legacy. It would be more along the lines of Blood Heir level of romance, meaning it’s there, it’s important, but it’s not the central theme. It’s a slice-of-life fantasy, meaning that instead of a mystery where someone must solve a murder, the narrative is more about the character surviving and altering the events that are taking place. For example, the original Star Wars trilogy is an epic fantasy with a definite goal, while Mandalorian series is a slice of life.
As to moving away from romance, we finished our commitment to Avon and Hidden Legacy. As an aside, we’ve seen some advance reviews for Ruby Fever – they are overwhelmingly kind, thank you. We are very glad that the conclusion of the series was satisfying. We are free from all publisher commitments, so we may choose to continue Hidden Legacy on our own with Arabella trilogy or some shorter works with Rogan and Nevada or Catalina and Alessandro. We do not have any solid plans at this moment.
While romance is a wonderful genre that brought us many fans, our next work is likely to have romantic elements rather than be categorically romance. This is not at all reflection of the genre. It’s more that we’ve worked in that space for 6 years, and it would be good from the creative point of view to switch gears. We may pivot back to it at any point.
Everard is the love interest, right?
Eh…. There are several interesting men in that work.
The man next to him, in a grey cloak with the hood down, was younger by two years. His skin was darker by a couple of shades, and there was something lupine and dangerous about his face and the way he looked at you, emotionless, calm, and merciless. His hair fell to his shoulders, and like the stubble sheathing his award-winning jaw, it was completely white, Solentine was handsome, but his best assassin was sizzling hot, and to top it all off, his eyes were a bright shade of blue.
Because why not? After all, who could possibly remember a stunningly handsome man with honey-colored skin, blinding white hair, and piercing blue eyes running from the scene of the murder? He would blend right into the crowd.
The two men stared at me.
Wow. The double impact was almost too much.
It’s a fun world. Very different from what we’ve done so far.
But don’t worry, we know that you have your favorite series, and we have taken your wants into consideration when planning our schedule.
So is she a seer? Does she see the death of people that she meets? Or is that info strictly for the benefit of the reader? She has currency, so why is she so hungry? Who is she running from?
I’m wondering if she’s telling this in hindsight, or whether it’s a time travel issue or precognition?
All good questions.
Can we have the Blademaster snippet back, please?
Mod R, if you don’t mind, could you please unlock that snippet for another 48 hours and link it here?
In return for unlocking the snippet, I have some questions for you. Our next post will be a poll. We would appreciate your participation as it will help us determine the format and nature of our future projects. I am bribing you to do a little bit of market research. Since we are flying solo, we are own marketing, publicity, and sales. Oy.
Gamble away I have loved everything you guys have written and loved the snippet
Maybe you need to send this to another publisher. There are so many authors in
many genres that have a little bit if romance as an aside to the main story… or maybe even none.
Just a few examples: John Sandford and Ctein’s “Saturn Run”, Mat Haig’s “The midnight library” and “The Humans”
Or Robin Sloan’s Books. Stella Cameron’s Alex Duggins Cotswold mysteries.
Lots of Seanan McGuire’s, and Patricia Briggs , and C.E. Murphy’s books aren’t about romance.
I loved all of the Star Trek and Stargate series and none of them were about romance. Captains Kirk, Picard, And Janeway didn’t have to find “their Person” in order for those series to be wildly successful.
Think of your own Innkeepers books. It was lovely that Dina got to have Shawn in her life, but these would be wonderful urban fantasies if you had left the romance out and marketed them differently.
I don’t think the BDH is about romance per se. We love your wisdom, imagination, and humor; the way you take us out of our hum drum dat-to-day and whisk us off to wonderful imaginary worlds, even for the time it takes to read a snippet.
I can’t imagine that you would loose even one of the BDH and you could gain a young adult, etc. market that isn’t looking for romance.
Romance is only one of the genres I read and I don’t need it in order to enjoy fantasy, or mystery, or thrillers.
Your mystery project is fascinating without the heroine needing to find her someone in order to be complete. I’m hooked on just what you’ve given us so far, and I’m sure another publisher would love to get their hands on it, if you decide not to go indie. Much success with it.
I concur. Romance is nice but the plot, the one-liners, and as Chris says, “we love your wisdom, imagination, and humor…”. Please write and publish this one.
Thank you, Ilona Andrews for the post and thank you mod R for the links to snippets.
I think it’s interesting.
Boy this sounds AMAZING!!!
I’m all in – just tell me where to send the money. Love these 2 characters!
100% will buy this blademaster book/another slice-of-life fantasy, kickstarter or otherwise! I originally liked stories driven by other plot elements rather than solely romance so I’m with you for any new genre forays you may make:) (Except straight horror… that’s never been my cup of tea, but then again with HA… I’d give it a shot…)
So very curious about the blademaster story, I didn’t get to read it at first and I am HOOKED. I want to read it *now*
Author Lords, please write anything you want, I am sure it will be good. AND I KNOW (lol after years of reading) that the BDH won’t care a jot what it is. They will grab it, read it, love and hate it, moan and beg for more of *this* or *that character*. And then, they will do it all over again when the newest work arrives… 🙂
I am glad you put them up because I had missed them the first go round. I would buy. I can see why they think it isn’t commercial, but I think it is salable to the hoard.
I read ur mystery project snippet and to be honest, the genre may be different but the essence is still you. So i don’t see any reason why ur project won’t be successful! Gud luck!
I wonder if the challenges are for the candidate or the team.
I also wonder if they are aimed to get rid of any candidates, like the duskegubs or Donkamins.
I hope Wilmos is still hanging in there.
Hello!
Long time reader, here. I look at the blog about twice a week.
I cant get anything when I press the Blademaster link, but the Mystery Project link works.
The Blademaster link was unlocked for 3 days only.
Oh. OK :((
I would like House Andrews to keep in mind that … while I’m not sure I have a Favorite Series – that what I really have are Very Well Loved Authors and a NEW Favorite Series I just haven’t discovered yet. I just like good writing and you consistently deliver this. Even books that are my least favorite of yours (please don’t take that as anything other than someone trying to rank favorite chocolate, it’s impossible) are often better than many many others I’ve tried (no naming names). So! Fan for life! You write it, I read it. I would try anything you wrote because your “brand” is quality for me. Wander into new genres, explore new themes, have fun! Just… you know… take me with you!
I still can’t access The Blademaster link. It says its error 404.
Hi Rhea,
If you’ll notice this post is from early last week and the text says the Blademaster is to be unlocked for 48 hours ????
Just to say, you guys are wonderful. Write whatever you wish and I will read it. Keep writing and keep enjoying what you write. I’m sure your interest, enthusiasm and trademark awesomeness (snappy dialogue, strong hilarious characters) will always makes it a favorite for me! Xo
I loved blood heir. The romantic love making was not missed. Im one that reads these books for the adventures, the romantic interest i like kept minimal. I have a hood imagination of my own do not need it spelt out for me. Cant wait for Blood Heir 2.
The link to ‘The Blademaster’ displays an error message. Is this no longer available? Loving the weekly excerpts of the new Innkeeper novel. Thanks Sue
Hi Sue,
The Blademaster was only available for 48 hours, as Ilona specified in the article ????.
Hopefully we’ll see more from that world!
I’d probably skip it if it was literary fiction (ugh) or true crime (ew)- I just hate absolutely everything about those two genres- but it looks like swords-and-horses fantasy, possibly romantic fantasy, so I’ll preorder when that’s available.