From the comment section:
I bought the “Audio That Shall Not Be Named” and did get my credit back; I just placed a call as well as the return did not give me the option as to why I returned it.
In my phone call I started with, “I want to tell you why I returned by audiobook – it’s a pirated copy”…
Customer Service Agent: Would that be Small Magics?
Me: …yes…
CSA: We’ve been numerous calls about that audio and we are working very hard to get this resolved and off our website.
Me: When you say “numerous”, how many?
CSA: Hundreds so far.
Me: Well the Authors have a very strong fan base *snickers*
CSA: So we have discovered over the past few days.
We, The Horde, The BDH loves House Andrews – Not Pirates!
Methinks Audible is scrambling and will be very happy to get this off the proverbial shelf and get their call center back to normal.
-D
Thank you, guys! You are awesome.
I have a snippet for you. This won’t stay up long and most of the snippets from this project will be removed soon, because it’s a work in progress.
Heart of a Knight
Will was walking towards us with a determined expression on his face.
“A noble is here to see you. He won’t give his name. He brought one bodyguard with him.”
Strange. Did Solentine send someone my way? “Did he say what he wants or who sent him?”
“He wants to ask you a question. He didn’t drop any names.”
If this was coming from the Shears, it was in our best interest to let him in. I would have preferred to cut ties with Solentine. He was way too dangerous, and if he ever figured out what we were doing, he would want to use us to his advantage. Unfortunately, he made it clear that he would be dropping by again, so a clean break wasn’t an option. Since we couldn’t avoid him, we had to maintain a reasonable relationship.
However, it was highly unlikely that our visitor was sent by the Shears. To Solentine, I was still an unknown. He wouldn’t recommend me to any clients. If he wanted information, he would come himself. He would want in on the conversation or he would ask me directly and then decide how much to pass on.
No, this visit was a bad idea.
“Please inform him that I’m not receiving visitors.”
Will nodded and walked back to the gate.
I grabbed a rag and poured my soap pudding into the molds.
“I can do that,” Clover protested.
“You have to be careful. It has lye in it. You can do the next batch.”
Will came back. “He says his name is Earl Berengur.”
I set the empty pot down.
I knew exactly who he was and why he was here. This concerned one of my favorite people in Delros. He wasn’t an extraordinary kind of person. I didn’t like him because he had great looks or was really funny. I liked him because he felt human. The inhabitants of Kair Toren did incredibly fucked up things to each other and waved them off without any guilt or regret. This man had done something horrible, and it tore him up. It was one of the rare moments of accountability when actions had real, personal consequences.
“Let him in.”
Will let out a shrill whistle. Kaiden popped out of a second-floor window.
“Get Raynald!”
Kaiden ducked back inside.
I walked over to the picnic area we’d set up by the wine tree and sat in a chair at our simple table. Raynald came striding out of the house, his sword on his hip.
“We have visitors,” I told him.
“What kind?”
“The Earl of Berengur with his bodyguard.”
Raynald nodded and parked himself behind me.
Will opened the door, and two men emerged from the tunnel into the courtyard.
The first was about six feet tall, with straw colored hair, and broad shoulders. He wore a brigandine, a kind of knee length tunic reinforced with studded leather, and a plain metal pauldron on his left shoulder. Solentine’s pauldron had been a fashion statement. This one was functional, with a rerebrace, almost a full metal sleeve. The man didn’t carry a shield, and he would use the arm to block in a fight. A simple sword hung from his belt. His features were sharply cut, and his eyes were alert and watchful.
His bodyguard was a couple of inches taller and wore a similar outfit, except for a full-face helmet, which hid his features. He also carried a simple sword.
They could have been private guards, mercenaries, men-at-arms, or sergeants of some knight order. If you met this pair on the streets, you wouldn’t give them a second glance.
The blond man approached the table and put a crest on it. Regular crests were embroidered, then stretched tightly over wood, and framed with braided cord. This thing was solid metal. A miniature shield, a green background with a white tower, wrapped in rising rose vines bearing blue flowers. The crest of Berengur.
“What can I do for you, Lord Berengur?”
“I am told that you sell information. I am looking for a man, and I will pay generously.”
That’s what I thought. To tell him or not to tell him? That was the question.
Berengur waited for my response.
Silence stretched.
“Do you sell information?” he prompted.
“Under the right circumstances. I’m trying to decide if helping you would do more harm than good.”
“What is the meaning of that?” his voice held a hint of warning.
“Let me ask you a question. A horse that carried you into battle has gone lame. There is no cure. He will never bear a rider again and the injury prevents him from being a stud. What would you do with this horse?”
Berengur frowned. “I would put him out to pasture. He has given me years of faithful service. He deserves a peaceful life. I don’t see how this is relevant.”
Maybe this would work out after all.
I pointed to a chair. “Please sit. Clover, please bring our guests some tea.”
Berengur sat. The man behind him remained standing. I didn’t have to glance back to know Raynald was watching the two of them like a hawk. He and the bodyguard were probably impassively staring each other down.
“Your brother is alive.”
Berengur didn’t seem surprised that I guessed who he was looking for. If I truly was a competent information broker, I would’ve heard about it. He’d been looking for his baby brother for over a year.
“He isn’t a captive. He is within the borders of the kingdom in a place of his choosing. He is remaining there of his own free will.”
Berengur’s face told me he didn’t believe me. I couldn’t blame him. He’d been scammed more than once.
“And how much will his location cost me?”
“Nothing.”
He studied me.
“I will not be charging you today. I know you love Pelegrin. I know your mother and you are both worried about him. You lost track of him after the Caladimos campaign. That was by his design. He doesn’t wish to be found.”
“And why is that?” His tone told me he was clearly skeptical.
“Pelegrin wanted to be a knight from a very young age. He admired your late father. Part of it is your fault. You used to tell him stories of your father’s bravery, stories you’d embellished. You made him into a heroic figure, a man of flawless character, who embodied all of the knightly virtues.”
“How do you know that?”
“That’s not important.”
Clover brought out a platter with tea and a tea kettle and poured it into two cups. She set the cups in front of us and withdrew a polite distance away.
“Like you and your father, Pelegrin joined the knightly order of the Defender. The knightly orders spend a great deal of time discussing the knightly virtues, while simultaneously training their squires in violence. And yet, they never address what happens when those two halves of knighthood come into conflict.”
He furrowed his eyebrows. “I do not follow.”
“Pelegrin was knighted at seventeen and given his first command at eighteen. He was very young. His view of the world was simple, but I don’t need to tell you that war is complicated and messy. It demands brutality and sacrifices. Pelegrin was put into an impossible situation, and he had to make a decision that conflicted with everything he had been taught to believe. It haunts him. He dreams of it over and over. He thinks he failed the legacy of your father and failed himself as a knight.”
Berengur stared at me, his face shocked.
“He’s deeply damaged by what he endured. He let the war touch his soul, and he felt too much. When he looks at his hands, they’re still covered in blood, and he feels like he can’t wash it off.”
“Where is he?” He didn’t say it like a demand. It was almost a plea.
“He has chosen to recuperate at a monastery. He hasn’t taken his vows and has no plans to do so, but he conducts himself as a monk. He does manual labor. Growing things in a garden soothes him. He is accepted by other monks, and the abbot, who is very experienced in these matters, is helping him to come to terms with his past. It’s a simple life and that is all he can handle right now. He is healing, slowly, gradually, but he is healing. If you go there and force him to return to your castle, if you take that little peace from him, he will obey you, but one day you will walk into the grand hall and find him hanging off a beam.”
Berengur drew back.
“I urge you with everything in my power to let him recover. When he is ready, he will return to you on his own.”
Silence fell. I drank my tea.
“You truly believe he will take his own life?”
I did. But being convinced of it and trying to explain it without the numbers was a different story. Funny how we took statistics for granted until there was none.
“He’s thought about it. He hasn’t done it because it would be selfish, and he doesn’t want to hurt you or your mother. We place such a crushing burden on the knights. We tell them they’re supposed to be heroes, defenders of the realm, people of superior character and breeding. Then we send them into a slaughter and force them to butcher. They experience fear. They exist in constant vigilance, always ready to fight for their lives. They watch their friends bleed out and die, and they have no time to grieve. Nobody warns them about this. Nobody sings songs about a young man trying to push his guts back into his stomach, or being so scared that the world turns dark, or being knocked off your horse and drowning in the muddy field in your heavy armor while riders stomp on your back.”
The two men in front of me were very still.
“We do this to them and then we expect them to return to a peaceful life as if nothing happened. Some of them get a taste for the killing and can’t let it go. Some of them can. Others like Pelegrin need help and time.”
“What did he do?” Berengur asked.
“He was put in charge of a border village that was a vital point in the supply chain for the front line of the Caladimos conflict. The village sympathized with the Empire. The emperor’s agents promised them ten years free of taxation if the region raised the Crimson Banner.”
Come to our side, everything will be great, we have cookies. Of course, we won’t tax you. What are you even talking about?
“The village didn’t resist openly, but the first night Pelegrin lost two of his soldiers. He found them in the morning with their throats slit. The next night he lost another to poison, then two more to hunting arrows. The empire’s forces were leagues away. This was home grown resistance. He gathered everyone in the town square and told them that the next time one of his people was killed or harmed, he would take the life of a villager. A life for a life. He hoped it would stop.”
“It didn’t,” Berengur guessed.
“They didn’t believe him,” I said. “They thought he was young and soft. Another soldier died in his sleep, and Pelegrin picked an old man, the village head, marched him to the center of the village square, and ran him through. The man’s daughter, a young woman about my maid’s age, drew a knife, and stabbed the battle chaplain, who was the only unarmored member of Pelegrin’s command, in the back. He died on the spot. Pelegrin dragged her to the body of her father and cut her throat as well. The killings stopped.”
“The villagers thought their status as noncombatants protected them,” Berengur said. “Once he killed an old man and a young woman, he communicated his willingness to retaliate. They realized they were not immune. His actions prevented further deaths, both soldier and civilian. He has nothing to be ashamed of. Nothing he has done would damage his standing as a knight. Those are the realities of war.”
“And that is precisely the problem. In his eyes, he is a monster, and yet he was hailed as a hero when the conflict ended. To Pelergin, either nobody understood that he was a monster and when they found out, the whole world would turn on him, or everyone knew what he has done and they cheered him on for his evil deeds, which would be even worse. How could he ever measure up to his father’s legacy, the man who in his place would have brought the villagers to his side by his authority and the sheer force of his will alone?”
Berengur choked on air. “Our father had done things far, far worse…”
“You didn’t tell him any of that.”
“Of course not. Pelegrin was seven years old when Father died. He was a child!”
I drank my tea.
“You were trying to protect him then and I’m trying to protect him now.”
“Why?” Berengur asked.
“Because I understand his burden, and his story moves me. My father also had seen war, and his soul took years to heal. I can tell you the name of the monastery.”
I’d given him enough to find it anyway.
“In return, I want two things.”
“Name them.”
“First, swear to me that you will go alone, that you will not speak to your brother or let him see you, but speak to the abbot instead and you will do your best to heed his council.”
“I swear,” Berengur declared.
“Second, I need to know who referred you to me.”
“His name is Shodel. He works in the Three Moons and sells information on the side.”
No hesitation. Dropped his contact’s name just like that.
“You will find Pelegrin in the monastery of Pious Planters north of Praul Britin.”
“You have done me a great favor.” Berengur jumped up and took his crest off the table. “I will not forget this, my lady.”
He turned to leave. His bodyguard bowed to me. It was a deep slow bow. He straightened and followed his liege to the tunnel.
SOOOO GOOOOD. Between this and the other snippet you posted recently (fair pay! people who care about infrastructure and logistics! people who care about what people actually need! competence!) I dearly hope to be able to read this whole story someday. I’m very intrigued!
+1
It might be more disbelief than I can suspend. And I live in a socialist country.
Can you expand on that please, Siobhan? I think I need to understand why you said it.
Thanking you in advance,
++1
*swooooon* Maggiieee omg!!!!
now I’m wondering whether an isekai factor is indeed involved in her information specialty.. or just remember a previous life or something omg the wonders *squeeee*
it smells strongly of isekai to me. video game isekai variant especially the way she knows how things will go with branching future points but not how they will look i relation to her doing things if it was general seer power she would know more after her ripples but the information feels… static like snapshots. so that’s my bet. either way I am greedy for it and deeply hope we actually get it eventually when they are ready!
In another snippet she made a reference to something “modern” to our world so I was also thinking it was some kind of isekai or transmigration thing? Usually not my favorite genre(s) but I feel like if anyone is gonna do it right it’ll be House Andrews, haha. Although I recently read Beware of Chicken and it was great. I’m pretty sure Ilona reads/watches xianxia (guessing based on past blog posts, correct me if I’m wrong) so it’d be interesting to see if those types of elements were an inspiration?
Possibly an author type isekai, where the author get transplanted into their own novel.
I’m thinking isekai, reincarnation, or just physic. Whatever it is, I am all for it!
I like this. Thank you.
Thank you for the snippet. Your generosity is appreciated.
Woot! Can’t wait to read the whole thing.
+1
+1
When, when, when!?
Maggie!
sooo good!
Give it to us!!!!
Give it to us yesterday and make it longer!!!
BAHAHAHAHA. +1
😂 +1
😂😂😂 Did we say that out loud? Yep! +1
lol
If you write it, the BDH will buy it and fiercely defend it against all comers.
Yes.
Oh, this was lovely! I’m so intrigued and want more (BDH always wants more). Thank you for sharing this.
So so good. Can’t wait for this. 🙂
Thank you. I like this.
This is going to be an amazing story. You keep giving us new worlds and real people within them. I am soo excited for it.
What a lovely snippet. Thank you so much!
Hee hee. I love it when unsuspecting Big Corporate discovers the power of the BDH.
Hear the Horde roar!
+1
(Also I love it when HA graciously shares delicious snippets – thank you!!!)
thank you for the snippet House Andrew — so glad to hear it is a work-in-progress because it is a good story, compelling and intriguing and distinctive — happy June!
Thank you! 🎉🎉🎉
Thank you for the Snippet! I hope to read more in future.
“…because it’s a work in progress” SQUEE
Inner BDH going when, when, when, SQUEE
even your snippets are incredible!
ACK! ACK! ACK! *flails*
Intriguing lead-in to a good read – thank you!
aaaaahhhh I’m so excited!!! this wip will be a feast, a FEAST I tell you.
Thank you and best of (BDH) luck on the removal of the stolen works! All hail the BDH!!
ModR, do you know what ‘isekai’ is? Because you know EVERYTHING, I have complete faith you’ll know this one too.
Heading to NYC tomorrow, with N95 masks in hand. Best wishes to all being impacted by the wildfires (Canada, US, Australia and anywhere else)..
Good luck in NYC, I’ve seen some shock tiktoks of what it’s like 😞. My heart goes out to all affected by the wildfires.
Isekai is a subgenre of Fantasy which centres on the Stranger in a Strange World trope. A character (usually the protagonist) is suddenly transported from their world into a new or unfamiliar one, either as themselves or in a new body.
Isekai is the name it carries at the moment, as it’s been popularised by Asian or Asian-style entertainment (manga, K and C dramas, webtoons etc), but ofc works of literature in this subgenre exist everywhere – think Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland etc 🙂
Although very similar in certain aspects, most people agree that time travel and second-chance stories do not count as isekai. The transdimensional element, aka the world/universe being different, is crucial.
hello know is Not the right place and the Theme is off but please ansfer this question.
In the Kd World we have See so many divrent Typs of were pepople .
is there Rabbit weres ?
have send a Email over this site but have go possible the Wrong way .
thangs for the Info bye
No 🙂. Shapeshifters are generally predators with 1 exception- large herbivores like buffalo and bison https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/types-of-shapeshifters-in-kate-daniels-world/
Thank you! I was wondering about the same thing! Vers good explanation 😘
Spend as much time inside as you can, but when you have to go outside, your nasal passages will thank you for masking up.
I live in Portland, Oregon. The pictures from New York are bringing back nasty memories of the summer of 2020.
I also lived in Portland that summer.
Yech!
I had a GO! bag packed for 3 weeks!
I second the comments, definitely mask up in NYC! I live in the SF Bay Area and well remember the Day the Sun Never Rose – Sep 2020. I normally wake between 6-7am, but woke up around 10 am, because the daylight was all wonky. Realizing I had no milk for coffee, I ran to the the grocery. The weird thing was that although the sky was that bizarre deep orange, there was no – I guess you’d call it ambient? – light. I had to turn on the headlights of my car, it was darker than midnight. There was a greeter outside the market (remember when they counted how many people could go in at a time)? She was welcoming people in, saying, “Happy Apocalypse Day. Happy APOCALYPSE Day. HAPPY Apocalypse Day.” Such a freaky day!
The air in NYC is much improved. Rain is expected on Friday, so the air will be even better.
Yes, while we are still under an Air Quality Alert, conditions are significantly improved. Whew! Can’t believe fires from nearly 1000 miles away can make conditions so awful!! It must be hell to be close to the fires. Really feel for all the affected.
Excellent news on the piracy, and a groovy snippet. Thank you!
Want want want🤩🤩🤩
Mmm. Man, now I can’t wait for Magic Clams. Tasty, tasty clams…
Heh.
This is amazing – as expected. Thank you so much for this. Writing like this helps bring the realities that so many people live with (or not) about war. What’s that quote .. yes, by Albert Camus, “Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth.”
OMG I want to read more of this. this lady seems like my next fav heroine ❤️❤️❤️
❤️ thank you.
Lovely. just lovely. B
Whoop! Go BDH! That is so cool!
Omg I love this snippet! This is going to be an amazing story. So so looking forward to it. Thanks so much!
Hurrah Audible + BDH, glad this scammer/piracy issue is being actively dealt with and tided up.
Thank you for the beautiful snippet. 🥰
Stay safe and keep healthy. Hopefully the scrapes from your fall are scabbed and almost healed.
I really enjoyed the snippet! Thank you!
Thank you for the snippet….I hardly know Maggie and I already love her!
And thank you for telling us about the BDH’s march against the pirate! It does not surprise me at all.
So, the lesson in all of this is:
Never get involved in a land war in Asia, never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line, and NEVER EVER mess with HA unless you are willing to deal with the consequences as dealt out by the BDH!!! 😂💕💕
😂 Too true. It’s a good thing we use our powers for good
Amen!
+1. Soooo true!
Honored and happy to be a member of the BDH! Your generosity towards us and your ongoing dialog with us is so awesome! House Andrews is the best! Down with pirates!
Thanks so much for the snippet!!! Intriguing…
Absolutely fascinating!
Love the snippet, although I didn’t deserve it, I’m still a reader, not a listener.
But thank you for the glimpse in a new world – so exciting!
And having a war so close to us (I’m in Europe) just reminds us daily what horrors the soldiers have to face – you write that so well.
My mother has lived through WW2 as a child and the things she has seen…they haunt me sometimes.
But this is not the place, so thank you again, dear authorlords.
One thing I really enjoy about todays world is that when I run across a term I don’t know (rerebrace) I can pause, look it up quickly, and get a picture with little interruption to the flow of what I’m reading. It helps visualize the scene and is so much better than what I used to do, which was write it down and look it up later.
Thanks for the snippet.
I had to look it up too, then a better picture because the first was total body gear. I was astonished to discover you can buy a rerebrace on Amazon! Since I’m not into re-enactments, it never occurred to me anyone would want set.
Great snippet. House Andrews never ceases to amaze me with their characters. I am already eager to read (crossing fingers) a whole novel in this world even if I had only read this one snippet. Whoever said it was not marketable should go sit in a corner. It is incredible how many characters you bring to life in a snippet. And if the plot line hints at ending an evil in the world, well, we are living in a world where evil needs ending and soldiers and others suffering from trauma need care; awareness in a compelling story.
Thank You! Looks Great! I hope that you have Puddles on the list to develop in the future…..
Okay, so India has a really popular instant noodle – Maggi. Pronounced exactly the same as Maggie. And they have a really catchy advert which has the chorus of “Maggi, Maggi, Maggi”. And yes, I am singing that over and over again.
Maggi is everywhere! I first saw it in Germany, then later there it was when we moved back to America. It was invented in Switzerland, then acquired by Nestle.
This snippet is incredible!! The sneak peaks into this new world are captivating & so intriguing. Cannot wait for you to let us into this new world!
Love the snippet! This may be something you already know, but this sounds a lot like “moral injury” which is common among Veterans. If you’re looking to add more to this section, there’s a lot of helpful research about it and more coming out in the next year!
Excellent!! Can’t wait!
Wow, thank you for the unexpected snippet! What a treat!
I’m so glad that the BDH has made impression on Audible, ha ha.
I cried. This will be a wonderful story when it is complete. So, let me just say again, I cried. I still have a big lump in my throat. I won’t jiggle your elbow, but just say thank you.
great to hear both stories! look forward to the new book 🙂
The power of BDH!! And thank you for that very intriguing snippet.
*smiles* *happy* Thank you
Sigh-
Thank you.
Ohhhh soooo good! Thank you kind and benevolent authors😀
wow, lovely snippet! such a different word, but one I know we would all grow to love!
I’m hanging in the air waiting for more!
Down with pirates, arrrgh!
Down with pirates, more clams!
I just wanted to say thanks for approaching the really painful topics of PTSD and moral injury in your writing. I work trying to help people recover, and there is so much stigma and so much shame and self-blame that goes on. Thoughtful, empathic and understanding writing like this can make a world of difference. Thank you.
+1. This was deeply moving.
This is what I luv about HA stories. They are nitty gritty, they make you think.
Perfect timing.
Love it and very intrigued. Just had a rubbish moment of self pity and feeling very down. This hit the spot and lifted my spirits. Thank you .
🤗
Wonderful! I love it. I’d like to read the whole book if you were so inclined to write one. Thank you.
Thank you for the snippet!!! So excited to buy Maggie’s book when it’s ready!!!!!
what other snippet? and what is the title? want to preorder because im too lazy to look for things lol 😅 and i might forget and i cant bear losing out on reading this.
thank you so much for the snippet! im so excited
This project is not out on preorder yet 🙂 and doesn’t have an official title but is affectionately called “Maggie” by fans.
The other snippets are here:
https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/busy-week/ and
https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/maggie-maggie-maggie/
Thank you, ModR! I hadn’t connected these snippets, and the added context is really helpful.
Wow! Just wow! Maggie just keeps getting better!!
I’m excited by anything you write but damn has this got me to giddy levels!
oh yeah I needed this, it has been a hard 5 weeks, with daughter being in and out of the hospital.
I hear you – it’s been rough for me too. Sending good thoughts and a virtual hug.
Well… Let me just make go and make some more room on my bookshelf! This was such a great snippet, thank you so much for sharing it!
Thank you so very, very much.
Well done BDH!
And a great snippet – thank you!
Nitpick, but to the best of my knowledge, a brigandine would be better described as “a tunic reinforced by metal plates”, not “a tunic reinforced by studded leather”. For that matter, as far as I know, studded armor was never really a thing — when armor looked “studded”, you were probably dealing with a brigandine and the studs were specifically for anchoring the metal plates to the fabric/leather covering.
If you know something I don’t or this is an intentional choice, then fair enough, but it did throw me for a second.
Still, though, it was a fun snippet when I wasn’t getting nerd-sniped.
It’s a fantasy world of the author’s creation 🙂
Yup, true enough. As I said, if it is intentional, then fair enough. It’s just that
the mismatch felt odd to me.
Well, I’m hooked! Looking forward to this muchly.
I am so very excited to devour this story! Thank you for the snippet!!
I love the snippet, but did I miss something? Is this potentially a new book, series???? I know I read the blogs pretty faithfully, but I missed something
It’s a work in progress, in an entirely new universe. Hopefully it will turn into a book, for now House Andrews are writing a story 🙂. It’s one they’ve wanted to tell it for a long time, it’s a work of passion. There is no preorder yet and we don’t have many details on it, but the fans are calling it Maggie.
But I wonder if it will be released soon, because that’s when all the old snippets disappear in the almost ready to release time.
love it, cant wait. ….dont want to wait
Maggie’s description of the impacts of training for war on a young mind hit so viscerally. I’ve listened to so many veterans talk about their experiences in exactly these types of terms, and that depth and realism is heartbreaking but also so profound. I cannot begin to say how meaningful it is to see this type of psychological conflict respectfully and accurately represented. Thank you for treating the subject with the care it deserves.
So well said. Exactly right.
Loving it 😍. Can’t wait
Oooh! Tasty!
Thank you for the snippet!
I am glad to know this may be a published work. I *really* want to know more.
I know we will hear when (/if) it gets closer to being finished, so I cannot agitate for a time frame. Just know that I *want* to…
This is wonderful! So excited!
Cool
Danke
As someone who works with veterans with PTSD, this hits really close to home. Without being gory and only slightly depressing, you managed to hit the nail on the head about the reality that our soldiers face when they get home from war (no matter what country they’re from). I know this is a work of fiction, but I hope that your readers see that this is a very real issue and yet you framed it in a very relatable way that also fits into the narrative of your WIP. I’m now super excited to read the finished product!!!
I started reading the snippet and immediately thought “not interested in reading anything knights” then finished reading the snippet and thought “I need to read this story”. LOL, the characters in Andrews’ stories are so compelling!
this made me cry. thank you
This is beautifully written. The fully masked knight bowing to express all the unsaid words, ever, moved me to tears.
Thank you.
Squeeee! Thankyou for the snippet! Starting to fall in love with this character and world
Hoping this turns into something. I’m already hooked!
maggie, Maggie, MAGGIE!!! <3
This made my day. I love the intrigue with the reality. The insight into human nature and family dynamics is top notch Thank you both for sharing. Snoopy happy dance if my 5th knee replacement was good enough. Almost there.
Thank you for the snippet. Like the others, this hit home with me. I saw something similar with my older brother after he came back from Iraq and Afghanistan. He was down in Killeen teaching trauma medicine and came to visit me and my mom in Fort Worth. We just let him be and didn’t ask questions.
The power of the Horde is mighty! Instead of “don’t mess with Texas” it should be “don’t mess with the Book Devouring Horde”. 😁😎
I’m so excited. I will certainly buy! Please make it a novel and not just a short. Seems like there is so much story and interesting characters to learn about. Well deserving of a book instead of a novella. Regardless, I will gratefully purchase whatever you decide to drop 🙂
This snippet is amazing!! I can’t wait to hear more about this world! I hope they have dragons in there somewhere. 🙂
Yay for the snickering, yet politely fierce, BDH!!!
If this is a “one for you” writing project that we some day get to read more of: EVEN MORE YAY!!!!! (BDH-style)
I needed this today. It’s been a rough month. I’ve just finished re-reading The Protector of the Small quartet too, so this month’s theme continues …
When I tell you, I will slam that preorder button so hard it will BREAK the INTERNET – the ENTIRE internet – the MOMENT this is available…
Whoa! So much truth. What is it with men, theoretical glory, and war? And then so much heartache and shame because of the things they were forced to do. This hits home, especially after Memorial Day.
The authors are kind. The authors are generous! The Horde obeys. 😉
woo-hoo! Did that make my day and leave me wanting more!!!!!
Thank you sooomuch, grey smokey day so I cannot work in my garden. Now I feel better.
Oh I am going to really like this book.
I love this!!!
Very cool. I hope you have fun with this new project. May you the authors and mods and your teammates live a 1000 years.
Thank you so much for the snippet. I am now, obviously, hooked. I am not going to beg for the whole story as we have a Wilmington story in a few days. <3
Bless the BHD for pestering Audible !!!!!!
Tears rolling down my face! Gut wrenched. How unbelievably accurate and how terrible.
I need the rest of the story.
It has been such an exhausting and stressful week. This snippet was just what I needed! Thank you!
Oh I love it! Will absolutely buy. Will pre-order. Will probably request that my library buy the audiobook.
😃😃😃❤️❤️❤️
Wow wow wow!! wow for the wonder of BDH. And Wow Wow for this story. Too bad too few Hollywood movies show this side of conflicts.
I love your writing and all your stories but I am especially excited about this project.
This was a great snippet.
Thank you!
Sqeeeeeee! And, Thank You!!!!
This should be compulsory reading for anyone who decides which matters relating to veterans get funded. Many others have said similar things in the abstract or in respect of individual experiences, but this works at both the general and personal level.
I am living for this. It’s giving me old school fantasy vibes a la Moon and Bujold, maybe even a nod of McCaffrey and Rosenberg but with a lovely Andrews flair and I am into it 😁😁
Ooh… Can’t wait to see this project all put together!
What a fantastic snippet, I loved it!
Thank you
Intrigued.
ah, the BDH can’t be beaten! We can be charmed, wooed, pleased, begged but never beaten *lol*.
loved the snippet, so much is contained in so relatively little writing. Among other things, a cautionary tale about embellishing the truth to make a story interesting and the dangers thereof.
My dad was a WWII combat vet ( he landed about a month after D day w 3rd army) and he never really talked in depth about his experiences. I always wondered why, why he told the funny stories,or his 72 hr pass in Paris where he walked for 3 days&didn’t sleep.
Reading this snippet I understand at least one reason, he didn’t want to glorify what he had done, didn’t want either of his sons looking up to it as something glorious,something to idealize ( it was only as an adult I learned what he had done. Among other things he had a million dollar wound , that could have sent him home, he ducked the hospital and went back to his unit,later he got a 2nd wound with serious shrapnel in his back. He also earned a silver star by going back into his tank destroyer whose engine was knocked out,in freezing cold temps during the bulge, literally a sitting duck, &he and another crew member he convinced to go back knocked out 6 German tanks threatening an infantry column in retreat. The M36 tank destroyer was very lightly armored, lot less than a Sherman&was designed to do rapid hit and run attacks.If a tank round or an artillery shell hit them they would have been toast. ). Sorry for the core dump but the snippet opened the memory:)
My dad regarding his time in the Philippines during WW2:
“Well, the sea water bleached my mustache green” and “Please, Concetta, ask the laundry ladies to not starch the undershorts”.
🍿 interesting
Thank you for the further snippet.
I seem to recall some other bits that related to the same character (or maybe it was stuff from “the trunk”). They weren’t snippets at the time, because it was not a full-on project. Something about a meeting with someone on a restaurant or rooftop terrace? And the lead-up to staying overnight at the inn/rooming house, with watching some riders come through the gate? It is the client meeting on the terrace/rooftop that I am trying to recall…
I realize that now this is a project that will become a book or a novella or something, those early bits may have no part in the plot/story that is developing. I was just trying to recall that I had seen some of Maggie before the two (now 3) snippets that Mod R lists in the comments above.
Clams/Claims … so close. Checking the countdown clock daily.
There were a couple of other fragments shared before, you remember well. They have been archived and are no longer available since the project was picked up again and they’ve gone through edits 🙂
Thank you — see, I’m not going crazy …. !!
Looking forward to the story when it happens, to see what the back-story has become.
Don’t forget to ask your webmaster to change the favicon to a square image. The current rectangle is squished. 🙂
I wonder if the bodyguard had one of these happen to him.
The deep slow bow definitely means respect and acknowledgement.
‘Nobody sings songs about a young man trying to push his guts back into his stomach, or being so scared that the world turns dark, or being knocked off your horse and drowning in the muddy field in your heavy armor while riders stomp on your back.’
So good, can’t wait for Maggie. I’m not sure how she goes from being a College Graduate to this (maybe its not a MODERN College, as what we currently think of, but she also said ‘never had a parking ticket’ so that definitely reads as modern whereas this all seems very medieval.
So intrigued, can’t wait (of course the BDH hates that word 😉 )
Wow! I’m hooked already. Can’t wait for this new book series. Sounds awesome.
Thank you for the snippet! I hope everyone who ordered the pirated book gets their money back.
Oooh, can’t wait for this to come out! Thanks for the peek!
I’ve had a pretty cruddy day up until now. Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
Ooh! I do love me some snippets, Thankyou , made my day.
I’m glad they’re working quickly to try and fix the pirating issue! What email/ contact method should we use to send info to if we find other pirated items? (I saw a version of the comic that was posted somewhere other than the legit location)
You can always email me directly at modr@ilona-andrews.com or use the contact form on the website 🙂 https://ilona-andrews.com/contact/#inquiry
For adaptations, it’s best you get in touch directly with the company that puts out the product- so in this case Tapas or Graphic Audio etc 🙂
thanks!
used the form and I’ll send tapas a note, too. keep up your great work!
Thanks for the snippet. The compassionate and accurate depiction of the realities of training for war and war itself, as well as how they can impact everyone from recruits to veterans, reminds me strongly of how Sean’s experiences as Turan Adin from the Innkeeper series were described. Different scenarios and written with different phrasing but conveying the same devastation and trauma. Thank you.
That was so good, thank you!
Ah. That one hurt my heart.
Also happy that pirates are being vanquished.
Our hearts can hold a lot of things all at the same time.
HA and BDH for the win! Now I’ve got Queen’s “We Will Rock You” running through my head. Thanks, y’all. Now it’ll be there until it gets kicked out by the clams. 🤣
Snippet! OOOH hooo ho, in the words of meme “take my money!”
more, more, more…
pleeeese
SO EXCITED!!! This snippet is amazing.
It still amazes me how easily I’m captivated by your stories and characters. I’m already in love Pelegrin’s character and hopeful that he’ll overcome his grief, and guilt. We didn’t even technically meet him.
So touched! A childhood friend of mine went to fight in Afganistan in “support-missions” with the UN-troops and came back severely traumatised. I immediately had to think of him! So many years later, and the memorys still deeply affects him! I had to think immediately of my friend, when I read this!
Thank you for your strong words!
Love from Switzerland!
Inga
Thank you! ❤️
What a tasty treat!! So much to look forward to!!!!!
Ohhhhh! I really hope this is a big fat multi book universe! You guys really have a gift. From the little dribbles you shared I already want to read more. I am interested in main character and-probably my fav part of your writing in each of the other series and stand alone books-the secondary ones. I have so many questions about these people and this world already! You have sucked me in and I am ready to throw my hard earned money at you!
thank you!!!!
I can’t wait to read this in a book! Thank you so much for the snippet.
love love love love love!
thank you for the snippet!
and thank you for writing about ptsd and the invisible scars of war. as someone with ptsd, it helps me to see it brought up in public, in books, rather than swept under the rug and never talked about. my cousin killed himself after getting back from iraq and being unable to live in the normal world. he left a letter asking his sister to lie and say he died in a car accident, but she wouldnt. she doesnt want it to be a shameful thing that he lost his fight against depression and everything else he was dealing with. because he fought to live. he fought hard. he tried to get help from the VA. but he lost his battle with his mental health. when you have to fight that hard to get through every single day, it wears you down until theres nothing left to fight with. the more we can remove the shame from this and make it something that is ok to talk about and ok to have gone through, the better for everyone.
Thank you for sharing his story, Laura, and the empowering words.
Mental health is health. Period. Trauma and stress can and do affect every system in the body. As the recently published book title says, the body keeps the score. This shouldn’t even be in question anymore, but old attitudes die hard. Your family is doing their part to move the needle. Thank you for that.
I have an uncle drafted to fight in the Vietnam War….he served 3 years and appeared to come back okay…a charmer, with employable skills and the Vietnam ‘extra credit’ that allowed him to score good government jobs.
Except as I became an adult, I began to see the pattern. About every seven years, his life would fall apart. Postal Inspector—drunk on the job, fired. Hospital security management–stealing drugs from the hospital pharmacy, fired. In arrears for rent, up to a year. Credit cards maxed out. Car repossessed. Divorced and for many years estranged from his daughter and son. They have reconciled now that he is confined to a nursing home, slowly slipping away from a combination of dementia, and a body that went through much more abuse than the extended family knew about.
The one time I asked him about the ‘Nam’ (at an extended family bbq) he never answered me, but went missing for a week.
Warfare was always damaging, but modern warfare might be the pinnacle of mental brutality, especially in countries like the U.S. where we haven’t had a war directly on our soil, so that civilians can share the physical, psychological, economic and sociological costs.
Lots of hugs. I am so glad my brother didn’t go that route after his missions. It is very hard to see someone close to you shut down and not want to talk.
What people do not realize it is those who do not talk about their time in the military are the ones you have to watch closely.
Again, lots of hugs to you and everyone in the BDH who goes/went through this with a family member (or yourself) who is and was in the military.
When this snippet is reborn as a book, the BDH vows to protect the precious from the evil scammers and plagiarists. Horde! Arm yourselves with your phones, tablets, and computers and be vigilant! We will triumph over evil this day and in the future!!! (insert rousing battle cry and sound track here. I prefer The battle of pellenor sequence from Return of the King)
Good job BDH!!🥰
Thank you for the great Maggie snippet!
Looking forward to the whole story when you’re ready to share it (I avoided the dreaded w**t word 😜).
Since so many of us jumped at the chance to get an audio version of Small Magics only to find disappointment created by unscrupulous pirates, can House Andrews please please please give us an official audio of small magics? Pretty, pretty, please?
Yes, an official audio will happen 🙂 https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/quick-faq-about-fraud/
Thanks for the intriguing snippet.
I just got through to audible and they gave me my money back for the pirated book, no problem. So sorry for this experience for you, but it seems that audible will do the right thing at this point if asked.
I was intrigued by the question about the war horse. I really liked Berengur’s answer. How to know if a stranger is trustworthy by how they treat their animals.
And loved, loved, loved this snippet!!
Thank you so much!! 📚📚📚
Love the mysterious bodyguard with the deep bow.
thank you! thank you! thank you!
A powerful lesson in a gift.
Many who have had combat experience, or provided support, will relate to the description of Pelegrín’s plight.
Furthermore, PTSD is not only the province of the soldier.
Please find a way to keep this posted as long as possible.
Oh not much better than hearing of something being a work in progress from my favorite author couple, but to get a hot snippet like this? Icing, pure icing! 👌 Thank you!
Can’t wait for this story! Tyvm!
O. M. G!!!!!!!! I love this. More & lots of it please.
Loved this and look forward to buying the book!! Useless bit of informtion. a Knight named Berengur – I thought of Hugh – then realised his surname is d’Ambray and googled it, coz I knew I knew the name. Hugh Berenger was the sheriff in the Cadfael books!
OoOoOooooo thank you!! 😁😀❤️
wow!!!!! another deeply moving, wonderfully realized IA world…coming into view….
Okay. I’m sold.
When can I have more of that?
Thank you for your recognition of PTSD, it’s so well done in many of your characters. The best stories (for me) have emotional consequences that impact character growth, and you do this without being all “grim dark” ;-). Violence always has consequences. My partner is a vet and works with the VA: I appreciate the frequent reminders both that this pain does not go away, but there is also hope that life can get better too.
Thank you, it’s a great snippet. Can’t wait to read the book once it comes out!
I hope the pirate situation is resolved quickly
My paperback copy of Magic Clams was waiting for me when I got home last night. The conversation went something like this:
Bad Angel: “No, put that down. You have to work tomorrow.”
Good Angel: “But, but, book. Pretty, shiny, book.”
BA: “Yes, it’s very shiny, but you have to work tomorrow.”
GA: “Look, there are the two best words in the English language: ‘Chapter One’.”
BA: “Yes, I get that, but you took off next Tuesday so you could read the ebook when it came out at midnight and not worry about being too tired for work.”
GA: “But, but, shiny…”
BA: “If you start reading that book you won’t stop until you’re done and then you’ll be tired at work tomorrow.”
GA: ….
BA: “Are you listening to me?”
GA: “Shut up. I’m reading.”
BA: “You bitch! You started without me? Go back. Go back go back gobackgobackgo… Ah, Chapter One.”
GA: “Told you.”
BA: “Shut up. I’m reading.”
Luckily, since it’s a novella, I finished by 1:30am, so not doing too bad at work today.
Hi,
I’m a regular BDH member, and normally post under my own name. And Mod R can see my email address, so that’s cool.
Crying.
Have not read anything in a long time which so accurately hits what it is like for us to come home afterwards.
NO ONE except our brothers and sisters who were there, understands what it was like to see and hear, smell and touch, what we deal with during and after. It truly does alter who you are. Forever.
Killings. Rapes. Children. Families. Any kind of bodily damage you can imagine. And worst of all, having to learn how to live with what you and your best buddies in the world, what all of you did, failed to do, saw, endured, participated in, ignored or covered up. All of it.
There’s a reason veteran suicides are so high.
Without SIGNIFICANT, PROFESSIONAL HELP, drugs & booze & withdrawing from your family and life, all are the best ya got. And suicide can and often does seem a really good alternative. (Tried it back quite a while ago. Fortunately was too f****** drunk & high, so it failed. Spent over a decade in therapy.)
My point is, this may be the best, and is certainly one of the best getting into the head of a veteran struggling with the aftermath I’ve ever read.
Really, brilliantly written. Thank you. Thank you very much.
“I think we only have one sacred obligation, one sacred obligation as a government. And that’s to care for those we send, give them what they need, and care for them when they come home. And that is above everything.”
— Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States
YouTube: Inside the Obama White House, Real World Entourage
Second Hour 01. 8:05–8:17 minutes.
Brian Williams, ABC News
“And just as they have kept the ultimate faith to our country, to our democracy, we must keep the ultimate faith to them.
“As a nation — and people have all heard me say this for a long time — as a nation, we have many obligations, but I believe with every fiber of my being we have only one truly sacred obligation: to prepare those we send into harm’s way and care for them and their families when they come home — and when they don’t.
“ It’s a sacred obligation, not based on party or politics, but on a promise — a promise to unite all of us. There is nothing more important, nothing more sacred, nothing more American.”
— Remarks by President Biden at the 155th National Memorial Day Observance,
Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. May 29, 2023.
So good!
Thank you!
Magnificent!
I have several uncles and father in law who are veterans. My FIL (currently 96 and completely sharp) was in the Air Force for WWII. he was a tail gunner at the end of the war with Germany and then transferred to the Pacific theater. When he talks about coming home he still tears up because of the way veterans are treated and he is a very stoic personality. Uncle Chuck was in the Army infantry and marched from France to Germany in WWII. I interviewed him for a high school project around 1968 and he gave me an extremely santitized version of that time. I didn’t realize how much until much later.
Uncle Jack was in Italy with the Army but I think it was later after the worst was over. Again he never spoke of it.
Uncle Paul was in Korea in the army and he flat out wouldn’t talk about.
Uncle Don was in occupied Japan after the war and made it sound like a party but I am sure it wasn’t.
At that time I doubt there was any kind of recognition for the problems they faced.
Your snippet made me think of them and all of the others who served. Only my FIL is still alive.
Sign me up for this book right now! I’m hooked!🐡🐠🐟
I only skimmed the snippet because I have come to enjoy the benefits of delayed gratification and binge reading a la innkeeper… but it looks interesting!!!
Thank you very much for sharing this snippet!
Amazing! Would love to read a long short story, or novella, or (being greedy!) a full novel, set in this World, with these characters.
Thank you! 👍🏽
I know that the timing of the stuff y’all do has nothing to do with me but…
I am suddenly newly in the middle of some scary precarious health stuff and that there is a snippet today and a release coming on out on big biopsy today feels beyond serendipitous.
Thanks for the excellent timing, all!
Best of luck Anne, I hope it’s good news!
Anne, whatever news you get, keep your spirit hi. Ilona Andrews have kept me going through my chemotherapy with with weekly instalments of Sweep of the Heart. Hold onto what makes you happy. Blessings upon you for health and joy.
( Magic Bites) I got my audio from my local library i really like the sound effects on the story
Thank you so much and I’m so glad it’s being handled.
I so want this book
I’m very happy for the snippet. Thank you
Wow, thank you!!! What a beautiful snippet! Whatever this is, I truly hope some day it will be part of big, fat book that I will devour with pleasure!
On the subject of the “Audiobook that shall not be named” I can report that as of this afternoon Audible has removed it from its listing (at least within the app). So they are working to right this wrong. One messes with the BDH at their own risk… 😝
I didn’t buy it because I was saving the credit for one of the Graphic Audio adaptations that was about to come to Audible 🤷🏻♀️ Otherwise I would be on the phone complaining to them, too, right now.
It’s been removed since yesterday morning 😊, almost 2 days. The BDH took care of that!
Ooh, can we have some more please!
thank you for the snippet!!!
Oooo. I’m excited. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Wow!! that got me to my heart
Want to read the story please
This is sooo exciting! definitely eager to read more when the opportunity arises 😍
A snippet! What a wonderful gift!!
Now I feel bad; I didn’t get you anything…
I LOVED this snippet!
Question for RMod…there was a Maggie snippet – now taken down – where she met a retired knight on a terrace overlooking a bad guy’s residence. Is that Raynald?
Also looking forward to this book…
maaaaaaybe 🤐
Is it weird that I’m tearing up as I read this?
Soooo good. Please finish soon and thank you for sharing this!
WOW! Love it! So many emotions, people trying to do the right thing. This is going to be good!
I wonder if the bodyguard is an important part of the story? In this snippet he seems to be sort of casually mentioned a lot…
Clearly, House Andrews needs to be accidentally hit with a cloning ray…
“accidentally” 🤣
Mod R Mod R Mod R, I summon thee! Why hasn’t this book been published? It’s not that “it won’t sell well according to these people in suites who don’t actually read the books” is it? Please tell HA to kickstart this or any other books the publishers are “unsure of”. They will know by the backers if it works. Do like $15-$20 or so to get a ebook and $30 to get an ebook and physical copy and $40 to get a signed copy or something. The horde will make it happen. Please and thank you.
House Andrews are working on it at the moment and putting a lot of passion into it 🙂 . I’m fairly certain it will see the light of day!
You put down words to form images and feelings of what it was like to be a young vet who survived to be an older vet. Thank you for your skill with written words. Remember them all.
Mod R,
I keep seeing Iseki in the comments, but I do not have the knowledge of what that refers to. i can guess that it is some oriental art form? Something from anime? Some other thing that people who are better read than me know about?
Can you help me?
Of course 🙂
Isekai is a subgenre of Fantasy which centres on the Stranger in a Strange World trope. A character (usually the protagonist) is suddenly transported from their world into a new or unfamiliar one, either as themselves or in a new body but with memory and knowledge of who they were before (reincarnation isekai).
Isekai is the name it carries at the moment, as it’s been popularised by Asian or Asian-style entertainment (manga, K and C dramas, webtoons etc), but ofc works of literature in this subgenre exist everywhere – think Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland etc 🙂
Although very similar in certain aspects, most people agree that time travel and second-chance stories do not count as isekai. The transdimensional element, aka the world/universe being different, is crucial.
Thank you for your rapid response. It is appreciated muchly. I have been educated, and have learned something new. Which is sort of the definition of educated ofc. 😗
I’ve just got to say, Nobody grabs my attention like you. My awe is streaming through the universe, brighter than the sun. Whew, amazing piece. Thank you so much.
I’m loving the new project! I hope you’re having fun.
Oooh, this is very interesting. That bit about not having statistics… someone who is outside of their normal time/place in the world, me thinks?
Thank you for sharing!!