Happy belated release!
First, huge thanks to S.C. for stepping in as the last minute copyeditor, since our scheduled CE had an emergency.
Second, thank you to Mod R, who had read and edited the manuscript several times and handled things when a technical glitch on Amazon ate the cover. Much appreciation to Natanya W. of Nancy Yost Literary, who liaised with Amazon and got it eventually fixed. If the cover is not showing up on your Kindle, please delete the file and redownload.
Beast Business Questions
There are some mild spoilers below. Read at your own risk.
Matilda’s First Bond?
“You must be Matilda.” I smiled at the little girl.
She nodded.
“Is that your dog?”
She nodded again.
“What’s his name?”
“Bunny,” she said in a small voice.
Bunny looked at me with the kind of suspicion usually reserved for rattlesnakes. Cornelius was an animal mage, a rare brand of magic, which meant Bunny wasn’t a dog. He was the equivalent of a loaded assault rifle pointed in my direction.
“He can smile,” Matilda offered. “Smile, Bunny.”
Bunny showed me a forest of gleaming white fangs. I fought an urge to step back.
Andrews, Ilona. White Hot: A Hidden Legacy Novel (p. 10). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Animal mages do take on the traits of their first bond, but they also tend to bond to the animals who are most compatible with them. Like Bunny, Matilda is disciplined, serious, efficient, and believes that things must be just so.
Konstantin reappeared. Rooster fell silent and panted at him.
“Rooster barks at 112 decibels,” Matilda informed him. “She can continue to bark for hours without straining herself. If you change shape, she will bark. If you attempt to escape, she will bark. If you try to separate from her in any way . . .”
“She will bark?” Konstantin asked.
“Yes. If she barks for longer than one minute, the electronic sensor in her collar will send an alert. Cutting the collar or removing it will also trigger an alert.” Matilda stared at him. “If anything happens to Rooster or her collar, I will know. I will come. I will bring friends. I hope we understand each other.”
“Crystal clear,” he told her.
Andrews, Ilona. Ruby Fever: A Hidden Legacy Novel: Romance and Supernatural Suspense in Texas (p. 206). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
(A Hidden Legacy Novel: Romance and Supernatural Suspense in Texas? That’s new. I didn’t know Avon added that.)
Where was Kitty during Ruby Fever?
With her mother. Kitty is still a baby.
If Diana was almost overcome with the animals in the menagerie, how did Matilda survive?
Matilda is special.
How deadly is Augustine really?
Extremely. Augustine is an assassin by training. If he wants you dead, it doesn’t matter how protected you are, he will kill you.
How bad was adolescence for Augustine? There are hints that he and his family were traumatized and not just by the family murders. How did he get that scar on his cheek?
Augustine’s father was a difficult person. While he wasn’t physically or emotionally abusive, he wasn’t what you would call a warm parent. Of all the Houses we have shown so far, Montgomery is the most likely to be targeted because you don’t hire them unless there is a crisis. They know a lot of potentially damaging information and a lot of shady people view them as enemies.
Augustine’s father was very focused on security and survival, and when Augustine was growing up, he was idealistic, in a somewhat similar way that Connor was. His father wanted him to assume the responsibility for the House and the firm and tried to train and mold him in his own image.
Both Connor and Augustine were well educated and encouraged to think for themselves at an early age, and both of them rejected what they saw as the rigid thinking of their fathers and the inherent imbalance of power within the society. Unfortunately, for the two of them, that “rigid” thinking was the result of bitter experience, and both Connor and Augustine ended up with emotional and physical scars.
The society portrayed in Hidden Legacy is not aspirational. None of us would want to live in a system like that. It’s a cautionary tale about what happens when some have a great deal of power and others have none. Everyone is damaged by this, even the most powerful.
Does Cornelius know about panthercakes?
Yes.
Will Arabella and Tia become friends?
Yes.
Why does Arabella say she needs a friend because she doesn’t have one, isn’t she friends with Augustine’s sister and her own sisters?
I have more than one friend, and I talk to them about different things. I’m sure you do as well. Verena is a school friend, and Runa is basically family. But neither of them fully understands how Arabella feels about her magic. Tia can relate to it on an completely different level.
Do Augustine and Diana end up together?
I looked to the left where Cornelius sat at the table with his daughter, sister, brother, and surprisingly Augustine Montgomery. I was hoping Cornelius would bring a date as well, but he hadn’t. I wanted him to meet someone, but there was nobody like Nari. An animal menagerie, including Sgt. Teddy, Zeus, a small pack of attack dogs, a few birds, and three cats napped behind them.
Andrews, Ilona. Ruby Fever: A Hidden Legacy Novel: Romance and Supernatural Suspense in Texas (p. 369). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Will there be a sequel? Arabella trilogy? More…
We are so glad that you like it enough to want a sequel.
The novella was written, because we left hints about Augustine and Diana and never followed through. And we received persistent questions about how Arabella came to be mentored by Augustine. It felt like the world had a missing piece and it was bothersome. That piece is now in place.
While it would be fun to do Augustine and Diana sequel, we are done for now. It is demonstrated that they get together in the main series, but how exactly that happens for now will have to remain a mystery. If we return to it, it will likely be a duology only.
As far as Arabella trilogy: Hidden Legacy is complete for now. That trilogy would have to take place several years in the HL future, when Arabella is not only an adult but is established. It would be a major project. We would probably want to seek partnership with a traditional publishing house because the first 2 trilogies were traditionally published. We are not in the position to start a new project of this scope.
HL, KD, and Edge have complete main arcs. People bring up Hugh and Blood Heir, but those are side stories.
The Innkeeper and This Kingdom have unfinished main arcs. Those are our priority. We are going to be concentrating on that, because we need to complete those storylines. We have got to see if Maggie survives. And if Dina and Maud find their parents – the Innkeeper part of the BDH should get to see it happen.
Why is there a difference between the content in snippets and published books? The preview of Augustine had different stuff in it…
You know what, good point. We should stop snippeting things until the final file is ready. It’s a bad habit. Until we go to publication, the story elements are fluid, and some people really have a hard time with it.
Why are posts and free snippets archived?
People have asked if this is a resource issue. It’s not.
We get a lot of traffic spikes. The culprit is the free serials. When a serial is running, people are reading each chapter multiple times, and they comment and then come back to check responses to their comments, which causes an increase. New releases and giveaways also result in sharp increases in traffic. The graph of the site’s sessions looks like a hysterical hedgehog.
Over the years, we moved from generic hosting to a virtual server, to dedicated hosting, then to a better dedicated host, and we hung on there as long as we could until we were basically kind of fired as a client, because we outgrew it, so now we are here. Each move had to be made. We are with WP-Engine right now.
(Yes, I know about the Mullenweg/WP-Engine drama, we were not affected. We’re using the WP-Engine because it can handle the traffic, the up time is great, and the customer support allows me to immediately jump on the issues.)
The matter is complicated because we cannot cache the blog. If you are unfamiliar with caching, the short simple explanation is that your browser takes a screenshot of the page and then serves that stored page to you when you access the site. So instead of loading fresh images, etc., it loads a slightly older version, which significantly speeds up the loading.
We’re caching everything else, but when the blog is cached, people don’t see their comments pop up right away. They attempt to repost the comments numerous times and then email us in a panic and sometimes in outrage. So, we’ve elected to keep the blog un-cached.
(The reluctance to cache has recently bit us in butt, because we had crawlers causing 504 timeouts. Sogou web spider was the bane of my existence for a bit, but the latest block finally took. There was a suggestion to go to P6, but it’s a patch, and eventually, probably sooner rather than later, we may end up either caching the blog or disabling the comments. That will go over like a lead balloon with BDH. I don’t know what the hell to do about that. Maybe we will go to a dedicated site for serials only, but again, the problem would just reoccur. I guess, no serials? I don’t know. Eh. Sorry about tech issue vomit.)
We could move away from WordPress as the hosting platform, which would buy us a bit more speed and breathing room, but majority of people are comfortable with it. If we move to a new model, people will have to learn how to use it and I will have to learn a new UI, and I don’t have the time for that.
Back to archiving: it happens because posts get outdated. Publishing landscape changes and what was true a couple of years ago isn’t true now. Plans change as well. And personal life moves on. Nobody wants to read my two-year-old surgery trauma posts, heh.
When short stories or deleted scenes get archived, it is usually for one of two reasons.
One, they were multicategorized. Each post has a category and sometimes there is more than one. We archive by age of post and category, so if a post is tagged Pets and Free Fiction, and we archived Pets for that year, it hides the post. We’ve been trying to move all of the free fiction to its own pages, but time is in short supply, and I get to it when I get to it.
Two, some free stuff gets taken down for editing. We are trying to put together an anthology of freebies that can be downloaded from the store and hopefully would provide a good introduction to each series. Unfortunately, that is on top of everything else. And right now, we are 105K into Maggie 2, it is not done, and there are thousands of pages to sign still. ::shudder::
Mod R informed me that Questing Beast was caught up in the archiving. I fished it out. Here it is. I will add it to free fiction section at some point. But, I mean, just because something was posted as a freebie doesn’t mean it will always stay that way. There is some weird entitlement happening here. Last I checked, it is our IP and we can do whatever we want with it.
Upcoming blog stuff: you will see a lot less of me in the next couple of months. I need to write and this post took 2 hours. Books must be a priority, because you are not here to read my ramblings. You are here for the books.
I wish you a calm and happy week.
Actually… I kind of AM here for everything and anything you write?! 😁
But seriously: Thank you for all you do – and especially the time you take to humour the BDH!🪶
This part. I enjoy seeing how the snippets change from draft to final but I’m nerdy like that 🙂 thanks for a wonderful addition to HL.
+1
Exactly, it’s a neat peek into the process for me 🙂
Also they hype me up to unbelievable levels ahaha
Same here!
First of the business! 😁
Lovely Kitty icon, Mod R!
I agree – here for everything written by HA. Beast Business was fantastic. I love returning to one of your worlds.
You said it so well! I totally agree.
To the people who analyze the difference between a snippet posted 2 months ago, and the published product… wow? LOL. I am just happy to have something to read. Maybe my memory is too short.
Thank you for investing hours to update us and provide technical backstory that most authors would just wave away as not something we should be worried about. We are too chalant about everything.
Rest your hands, rest your brain, and get to work! Thank you for sharing your worlds with us!
Ditto!!
+1! 🤗
+1
I appreciate whatever you share – it’s your blog after all.
+100
💯
“TW: Snippets are *preliminary drafts* from works in progress. They will almost certainly differ from the published work, and may be cut altogether. This is entirely at the judgement of the authors. *Read at your own risk*. This blog is a no-whining zone.”
You can post it, but not everyone will read it.
Hehehe, the voice of experience there 😀 I love it.
Too right.
Amen. Astonishing that someone would be so rude as to question authors.
Gratitude, people.
We well-mannered people say Thank You.
We appreciate your generosity.
It is your blog, your IP, and your creativity.
Please ignore any who seek to stifle it.
Listen, instead, to those of us who gently support and cheer you.
—————-
Btw, I was hesitant to read Maggie, because I am crusty, reluctant, stuck in my shell, and slow to embrace anything new.
In most aspects of life, including my reading for fun. 😉
Well, I am home sick, and I read the preview of Maggie. Wow! Stupendous!
I would pay a lot to read the rest now.
For hours, I forgot about being sick. The soreness eased.
I still snuffled, but didn’t feel so miserable.
You have a gift. We cherish you.
Thank you for bringing light to our lives.
+1
Ditto here too.
+1
I loved Beast business.
yes I appreciate your organizing all your work so it is easy to find, and the blog! but obviously your IP and I know all reasonable members of House Andrews will remember that! (though BDH may not).
Both love and dismay! Beast Business got me really into Cornelius and Arabella and see them in a whole new light and I was initially soothed that there’d be an upcoming Arabella trilogy… it is a tease!
Hey, where were the diana and Augustine hints? I think I missed them.
They’re quoted above 🙂 Diana and Augustine sitting together at Runa’s wedding. Also Diana calling on Augustine to come pick up Matilda in Sapphire Flames.
If it seems subtle, that’s because the BDH are salt-crusted seadogs of the shipping lanes, and we don’t need much to sail! The existence of PantherCakes has been debated for years now.
Next Land, ho! moment will be Innkeeper. Are we right about ship Karakun? Karat of House Krahr + Dagorkun, Under-Khan of the Hope Crushing Horde. They agreed on something at one point, so like…LUUUURVE! May the wise yentas be with us!
😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤔
Subtle? Subtle?! We’re talking about the BDH, right? Subtle is not in our lexicon or vocabulary.
About Karakun…we’ll see Mod R. We’ll see. Who knows, Karat may find someone else the Horde can ship with wind sails. 😉😂😂😂
I love when Karat says she’s too logical to fall in love (paraphrase). There’s nothing wrong with being single. But if she does fall in love, I hope it’s hilarious. Still, being single is good!
Same I missed them too! But I love the ship.z
Hello!
I absolutely love all your series and often find myself re-reading them. I’m curious if there’s any update on “The Inheritance” — will there be more books coming out soon?
Looking forward to hearing from you!
I actually have a question, which of the 3 types of magic does an animal mage have? I can’t figure out if it’s elemental, mental or arcane.
It’s got to be mental, I think?
E.g., in the short “Marty” (included in Beast Business!), we see Matilda’s point of view where she is trying to convince the ferret to come out of the pipe by sending him thoughts of tasty treats. That seems to me like a form of telepathy, but less word-based because animals (I presume) don’t think in words.
I think the bond that animal mages form with their animals is distinct from the ability to mentally communicate with them, because both Matilda and Cornelius can send thoughts to Marty, but only one of them would be bonded to him.
I’ve just realised that I’m assuming that an animal only ever bonds to one mage. (At a time? Ever? If a mage dies, could an animal bonded to that mage choose to bond with a different mage? I’m getting sidetracked.) In any case, perhaps that is an unwarranted assumption!
Regardless, I think it’s established that animal mages can sense, and to some extent, communicate with animals to whom they aren’t bonded, as long as they are sensitive to that type of animal. That’s how they form the initial connection which can become a bond, if both the mage and animal choose it.
Remember how excited Cornelius was that Matilda could sense a spider? That was so sweet. One of my favourite scenes. Sorry, sidetracked again!
One thing I find very interesting is the implication that plant mages like the Sherwoods might be mental mages too – in Wildfire, Edward Sherwood makes a comment about “we biomages” in regards to Cornelius’s chickenhawk, Talon’s, behaviour. The scene where Edward’s bonsai reacts to his rage tends to support this theory.
I have formed an impression from the examples of elemental mages that we’ve seen (Adam & Tatiana Pierce, Stephen Jiang, David Howling, Felix Morton, Alexander Sturm, the Adé-Afẹ́fẹ́ family…) that their connection with their element(s) is more like a person interacting with an impersonal force than with a being.
They may care deeply about nature, as demonstrated by Stephen Jiang’s refusal to commit an act that would result in massive loss of (plant, fish, and evil construct) life. But I’ve never had the sense that their element reacts to THEM in the manner of a living creature, like Edward’s bonsai tree does.
I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS. Anyone else? 😀 😀 😀
I really like your analysis here – I would have to agree with all of it because that’s how it makes sense to me too!
Also, there’s some science hinting at a level of sentience in plants – tree crowns growing in the same direction still leave space between them, never end up tangling, tree roots experiencing drought miles away send signal to other tree roots miles down. So it would make sense that some neurological signals are sent/received by plant life to connect with biomages. (There is a whole religion in India that will not eat root vegetables because that means the death of the plant, or fruits like eggplant because plucking it off the vine kills the vine. Only foods that are either harvested at true end of life – grains, or fruits that are meant to fall off)
And it would be as opposed to elements being manipulated by elemental mages because there isn’t any sentience in elements.
Arcane mages should really be making friends with Animal mage houses just to see if it could be better understood what arcane life suffers through when summoned irrationally into HL earth. Like, imagine your a tigrionex sitting on your couch, catching up on your fave shows, only to be sucked through a portal the next minute and used as bullet meat. They are my least favorite category of magic users in the HL universe and a difficult read when their scenes come around. I actually enjoy gore as long it is the good/bad killing the bad, innocents come into the picture and I want to check out. But I want to think of Arcane mages as like a subset of elemental then, because they aren’t connecting with any life, they’re just creating portals – alchemical/metaphsyical thingies.
I see your point of thinking and agree on animal mages being mental. I had always considered plant mages as elemental as Earth is an element, but will have to consider this thinking!
Perhaps it’s both? Like, maybe plant magic is elemental, but for those with a secondary mental magic they can bond with the plants too? I’m probably wrong. 🤷♀️ Just a rambling thought. 😄
Thank you again for Beast Business! I read it while stuck at home sick, and it was the best medicine. ❤️
Hugs & Thank you all!!
Understood. And if we get Arabella scenes at random that would be a fabulous bonus, while knowing it’s not going anywhere in novel form. She’s just so cool.
Thank you for making our days better with your books!!
Loved Beast Business. It did fill in the Augustine/Diana hints, and deliciously so. Also, I now want more Matilda so badly. You made her canonically the 4th Baylor/Harrison sister.
I am also patient and want more Innkeeper and Kingdom. So please, mostly, keep writing. I will read it with maximum chalant. Thank you
Thank you for everything you all do, including all the people who help you do it!
We love your books, your generosity, and how you use your talents to spread joy when the world is scary. We feel it, and we thank you.
*elbows the haters in the ribs*
Thank you. Thank you for writing and giving us all a place to be that isn’t here and now. I’m happy to read snippets and advance bits ‘cause they’re fun, but I also have worked with authors and know what happens between the initial writing and the final published book. If the BDH is getting snippy about those difference, just make us wait for the published book. Y’all aren’t machines, you are people with lives and I’m sincerely happy you do what what do. Thank you.
I am happy for all you do, and not expecting anything (and buy at least all digitally available in my country, and guess I am not the only one who would do do also without the blog, so please do not worry)
Stress can make sick, please look after yourself
Dear Lord I had no idea about the cacheing and reloading and server-ing and so on. What a massive load of work. Thank you for the books! Thank you for Matilda. I loved reading these specific snippets. “Bunny can smile.” always makes me laugh.
I am truly sorry for BDH entitlement, truly, but you have to know that it is partially the fault of House Andrews. Everything you write is just so GOOD that we get desperate if we want to reread something from the website and it is gone.
We ARE whiny and grasping and I know that all of us lobbied for more Augustine and Diana even as we praised Beast Business. I felt guilty because I can hear Ilona in my head saying, “Can we not just have one DAY to be happy our book is out?— which is absolutely fair commentary. Even so I mentioned the ton of House Andrews projects I am needing IMMEDIATELY in my thank you message for Beast Business.
One good thing to take from this: the BDH is up for whatever you want to write. We love the current worlds and want to visit all our friends there, but we are in if you have a new world in mind, too.
This Kingdom (the idea of a character yanked into a portal) would not usually be my cup of tea and yet I LOVED the extended preview and I’m now dying to read more Maggie. Likewise, The Inheritance isn’t my usual sort of thing, but I loved it and have read it more than once already. If you ever write the dragon-rider book you snippeted for us, that will be my new thing I am dying to read.
Basically, just take my money!
The BDH is the best community ever, but the dushegubiness comes with the devouring nature!
It is *literally* our middle name 🤣
So, you are saying that BDH in reality stands for Book Dushegub Horde and it was just renamed to be polite to the forum guests?
I now have this mental image of a mobile tree in the middle of a library, sucking all the intellectual content out of the books, leaving a trail of empty tattered book covers filled with paper dust behind it….
We are polite and evolved in our dushegubiness. While we consume all the books voraciously, we do not destroy the books themselves! That’s anathema! We only destroy those who oppose our books! 😉😄
lol That is quite the mental image!
Thank you for taking time to soothe the BDH. We have so many problems with wa**ing and pati**ce (I don’t remember where to put the *!) We do read everything you give us. And we want the interweb to archive it for us! Because we are lazy! We are also tired of learning new systems (insert diatribe of why paper books will never be out of fashion here) But, we love the new Beast Business. We love serials and snippets. We’re just like the Wild Things – we’ll eat you up we love you so!
Remember we will gladly take what you give us. If you don’t give us what we want, we’ll enjoy what we didn’t know we wanted.
I think Sharla said it best. Like most of the BDH, I want everything you write, including things you may never write…..and I am happy for all the glorious bounty you share whenever and however you share it!
Totally understand the whole “let the world go by while I do what I have to do” stuff. There are other priorities than babysitting the Horde. When Mod R has the chance, she can wrangle the Horde just fine.
Thank you for all the good books, snippets, and answering questions when you really don’t feel like answering them.
Personally, I love the snippets and the differences which later become apparent. They illustrate how the story matures thru development and edits and re edits.
Sort of like evaluating whether like the child better than the teenager – they are part and parcel of the same person, just with differences caused by time and experience
+1000!
I loved that I thought I knew what was going on based on previous snippets but that things had changed. It was a great surprise. I also think I was someone who asked about the changes but more as being interested in the process and how the differences impact the overall story. Especially because I saw discussions about it. I’d never expect a draft and the final copy to be the same. That would be weird.
Keep up the boundaries. The BDH (and yes, I am a member for sure) is insatiable, past the point of rational sometimes.
It’s just the way we roll….
Thank you both plus Mod R for all you do for the BDH!
IF Maggie survives? IF Dina and Maude find their parents? You tease!! (But… but they do, right?? 😧🫣😉)
please keep posting snippets and serials. I don’t care if they are totally different than what ends up in the published books. in fact, I enjoy that. I come to this blog because I love the way you write. I love having little hits of your author goodness in between your releases. I don’t expect consistency here on this blog, as you say time moves on, things change. One of the trends that irks me the most is anyone digging up an old post of any sort from a gazilllion years ago and saying see? this person is a (fill in the blank). People change, evolve. have new ideas. Readers/writers change, evolve. I cannot enjoy Lord of The Rings anymore, though there was a time in my teens I literally did nothing for a week but read those books. Why would we want you to stay the same here on this blog? Appreciate you answering all yhe questions and referring back to what you have written to sort out consistency in the published stories but here? I enjoy your unfettered imagination.
I was a Whovian long before becoming a member of the BDH.
To a Whovian Canon is holy. 😉
So I’m divided on this one.
But I can live with snippets not being canon.
The Inn Talks are different. Those feel like canon.
Augustine asking George how married life suits him, four years after Beast Business, has me worried for PantherCakes.
The BDH salutes the Whovian emissary and will try to put this in appropriate fandom terms:
Different worlds to host them all, different timelines to find them, one Inn to bring them all, and on a Friday bind them … just so we can have a bit of fun before the weekend 😉
🤯You just blew my mind, Mod R
I relate with Nl not being able to read Lord of the Rings over again, but never will I stop rereading any of the Andrew’s books!!
BDH forever!🤣
BDH! BDH! 😁
When I watch any of the Lord of the Rings movies, I always say “it’s (the Ring) just a plain gold wedding ring. What harm can a plain gold wedding ring do?”
So, in the context of the Inn…I ask “it’s just a quaint Inn in rural Texas. What shenanigans can a quaint rural Texas Inn get into?” 😉😁🤣🤣🤣
There’s about 5 books on that subject 😀
+100 to this:
“I come to this blog because I love the way you write. I love having little hits of your author goodness in between your releases. I don’t expect consistency here on this blog”
As an illustration of that, I was loving today’s bits and enjoying the admin background, but THEN – a link to Questing Beast, and early HA short, and reading that again, I forgot everything else!
What is this strange voodoo the two of you can do?!?
I love and value everything you put on your blog – snippets, ramblings, whatever. It’s all so entertaining! You are the only author whose blog I follow and I’m a bigger fan than I would be otherwise because your generosity drew me in deeper and keeps me coming back. Thank you for sharing so much with us!
Thanks for sharing. I had no idea that you have to work so hard (and learn so much) just to keep the blog/website on line!
You answered my questions, and now I’m fangirling so much. I am honored that you put so much effort into the answers. Thank you!
First let me just say how appreciative I am of the blog and the generous offerings currently here! Coming here weekly is very much so a treat for me.
The entitlement you mentioned is something I have also seen. I respect the way it has been addressed. We should all remember how lucky we are! Seldom do authors dedicate so much time to their fan base outside of book releases. I think this may be a side effect of para-social relationships.
Planning to purchase the newest book today, and I’m sending warm thoughts your way! So excited already for Maggie 2.0 🙂
Thank you for what you share and how you share it!
I vote choose peace always – if we don’t have comments on the blog but it makes your life better? That’s a win!
Apologies for members of the BDH who don’t seem to understand how the writing process works. * bangs head on desk *
Loved Augustine and Arabella and appreciated that you gathered up all the tidbits for us in one place. I also laughed at the “we don’t have a multi-verse . . .” I’m honestly surprised it didn’t add “despite the BDH’s best efforts . . .”
I’ll happily take whatever words, snippets, short stories that are actually short stories, short stories that turn into novellas, or whatevers you provide.
thabks for beast business. I really enjoy whatever you publish and nice think the snippets that are sometimes different are kind of fun, tho as you day also a bit of a surprise when they dont get followed thru.
I do have a question about one Arabella snippet that I caught that fed into the scene where Linus removes his objections to something with the recordkeeper,and it implied something between Michael and Arabella (Ruby Fever). What happened to the snippet of Arabella and Michael? I saw it once then it disappeared…. intriguing. 🙂
There was no Arabella and Michael of the Records Keeper scene.
There is an Arabella and Prince Mihail scene in RF 🙂
“Last I checked, it is our IP and we can do whatever we want with it.”
LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!
Seconded. Sorry that reminders from you are necessary, but weird entitlement is having a moment. Again. Still. It’s The Neverending Moment.
Paper copy of the book? Please and thanks
Print copies are already available – POD paperbacks for example from Barnes &Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/beast-business-ilona-andrews/1149328521?ean=9781641973724 and Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Beast-Business-Hidden-Legacy-Andrews/dp/1641973722/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0 etc.
You can find more retailer links on the Featured Release page 🙂 https://ilona-andrews.com/featured-release/
You can also order from your local indie bookstores by providing them with the Ingram print ISBN code, which for Beast Business is ISBN 9781641973724.
You guys (includes mod R) are absolutely awesome. I adore your style & tbh- would probably read your grocery list just as avidly. Ignore the greedy ones & keep on how you are.
I loved Beast Business so much and am ready for more Diana and Augustine! What a great story.
With absolutely no judgement because I appreciate how fast the story made it’s way to us, I did notice a few typos in the version of Beast Business I purchased through Book Funnel – are there any updates planed through that medium and if so, are there instructions how to do so?
Hi Madison, I have sent you a private email, I hope you don’t mind 🙂
An excellent post! Thank you for the answers, the snippets, the serials, the ramblings… and I hope you know, we would read your shopping list.
I loved Beast Business! Between the Maggie Preview and Augustine/Diana yumminess (AND Arabella being the best Arabella of all time), I felt very spoiled last week. Good luck with Maggie 2 writing – you are doing great and we are cheering for you!
Beast Business was delightful, thank you for indulging us! I love all your work so much, I regularly send people to your site to see what I am fangirling about.
I hope that Maggie 2 unfolds smoothly for you, that you can find a balance between getting it done and happy, healthy hands and mind, and that the weather stops being crazy pants! If the noise from social media is getting on your nerves, please mute us for a while, although I admit to selfishly hoping that you won’t stop altogether. The authorlife posts are interesting and satisfying in a different way than the snippets and serials. That said I agree with everyone else that these are *your* decisions to make, or not make, as you choose.
Sending sunshine and flowers and cherries and bird calls from summer in Tasmania
Separately from my dissertation on biomages vs elemental mages above, I wanted to express how much I loved Beast Business – and its extras! – and how grateful I am for all the writing we receive from House Andrews, in every form.
I love the blog posts and snippets and serials and extras, but more than anything, I want Ilona and Gordon to be well and happy. (Also Mod R! Thank you for all your work and dedication <3 ). If you ever needed to step away from any part of your work, whether that meant no more blog posts or no more books, I would want you to do what is best for you, regardless of my personal feelings.
If you ever stop doing any of the things you've done in the past, I may miss them, but that's a me problem. I will always be thankful for everything you've given us already. Your writing brings me so much joy and comfort.
At the same time, if you ever feel inspired to write more in the Hidden Legacy world, I will be ecstatic, but I am also super excited to find out what happens in the Innkeeper series, and not-yet-invested-but-definitely-intrigued with Maggie the Undying (I fully expect to love it, I'm just waiting on reading the sample chapters for now because the wait would be too long!) and I will be absolutely delighted to read the second Hugh novel or a Blood Heir sequel or another Wilmington Years novella or Inheritance sequel or literally anything that you choose to write and make available.
I hope it doesn't sound like I'm devaluing the works by saying it doesn't matter which comes next, because that isn't at all how I feel. I will just always be excited regardless of which characters and series are involved because I love all of them. They're all just so engaging!
As others have also said, you owe us nothing. Thank you so much for providing us with so much anyway.
I am so grateful for all of the amazing stories you write for us to escape into. You and Gordon are my favorite authors and I am in awe of your world building. Each world is always so vivid, yet different from one another, and I feel entirely immersed while I’m reading. I even got my husband hooked on your books 😁 All that is to say thank you for all the stories you have gifted us throughout the years, and I think you’re both amazing
+1000
You are very patient and kind. And we really do appreciate you. But we, the BDH, are maybe a little TOO invested.
For me, snippets are interesting, and a hook to the full story, but once the story itself comes out, the snippets are over. The story is the reality.
I do love the deleted scenes though. They may not fit into the flow of the main story, but they add depth to the characters. And I like reading about life at Casa Andrews.
PS: If Arabella ends up as only occasional short stories, it is still really interesting watching her mature.
Well, we actually like your ramblings AND your books… 😉
But of course, time can only be invested once.
So… thank you.
And for the record, we still would like to read more of Arabella, Tia and Matilda and Kitty and Augustine and Diana. You entirely brought that on yourselves because your characters make it so impossible to let go. So we will wait for those stars to align again.
HA – THANK YOU for all that you write. You do you and we will continue to be the BDH for anything you give us and be grateful and excited.
Chalant Horde Member disagrees with HL being a complete story arc.
Without Arabella, only 2/3 of the story is done. Need Russian Bear Prince, the story of bill collecting, fashion for the beast as hobby, math torture, babysitting of baby Primes…
The arc of the main story is complete, the bad guys have been caught and punished, the good guys are safe and triumphant and even got to go on holiday 🙂
It’s a HEA with closure for the plots of grandparents, serums, conspiracies, House establishment and heritage, and most of all romance.
What we have are little openings for the new stories, which if we’re lucky will come when their time comes 🙂
Thank you for your p*tience.
Agreed
I took from this: Arabella-yes…in the distant future. So it could be like ten more years but I’ll still be here for it.
Something Ilona said echoes a thought I had about Arabella last week: that she needs to grow up. Not in a maturity sense, more… okay, so she was like sixteen when House Baylor was born, pretty much at the same time that her oldest sister left the family (it’s not like Nevada was exiled, but these Houses are serious political and economic business, Grandma Victoria was plotting (the whole thing about Rogan the rapist?) to make the separation worse, and they go from living in the warehouse to having to move to a compound and employ a permanent security team. Add to that Grandpa is Caesar and Grandma Victoria plots as easily- and readily- as she breathes and we have a LOT of massive changes very quickly.
At the same time, she loses Nevada to a House Rogan and Cat to the role of Prime Baylor and Alessandro and her mother to Penjiro. None of these things are bad, but it could leave an adolescent….untethered, somewhat lacking in the emotional support system she’s always depended on.
So Arabella adapts and becomes what her House and family need. But what about what Arabella needs? When is it going to be her turn?
I just thought: maybe Arabella’s going to be much older before she gets to figure out what she wants, like late 30s or even forties, because she spent the past twenty years in service of her House and business and family, and maybe that needs time to percolate for House Andrews, who are currently prioritizing other projects because that is their right.
My hope springs eternal!
Thank you for Beast Business … bang, there went my productivity for Friday. And I am happy about that. Loved the peek into Augustine, and into Diana as well, … and the Arabella POV peek was fun, as always.
Hope you (both/all) have a nice productive month and maybe a bit of vacation time to rest?
Ilona, just in case no one has said it lately, you and Gordon rock. =) Taking time to write Beast Business while working on Maggie amd probably Innkeeper… well, there are no words that are enough to express our gratitude and joy for this wonderful story. Thank you.
^^^
I absolutely loved The Questing Beast. And the egg laying at the end, perfect!
FYI, the cover isn’t appearing on Barnes and Noble for the paperback: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/beast-business-ilona-andrews/1149328521?ean=9781641973724
Hey Melissa,
Thank you very much for signaling and we’ve raised the issue with the agency, it will be restored soon 🙂
I want to reassure everyone that the book definitely has a cover, in print and epub. When you order it, it will be there! Such are Illusion mages, very temperamental with being seen. We might have to make it less delicious when the audiobook is released 😉
Update: It is up! The B&N system is continuously syncing and updating, we just have to give it a couple of days to get its bearings!
I figured House Andrews just broke the internet because too many people were buying the book! Glad it will be fixed soon.
I was just listening to the Innkeeper series again. I love it and miss it. When you schedule another one to be published I will be here for it.
Meanwhile, thank you for the new novella and free view of This Kingdom.
Hugh sequel not mentioned? Any updates on that?
HL, KD, and Edge have complete main arcs. People bring up Hugh and Blood Heir, but those are side stories.
The Innkeeper and This Kingdom have unfinished main arcs. Those are our priority. We are going to be concentrating on that, because we need to complete those storylines. We have got to see if Maggie survives. And if Dina and Maud find their parents – the Innkeeper part of the BDH should get to see it happen.
Emphasis mine 🙂 . The main unfinished series are taking priority at the moment.
Even for Hugh and Blood Heir, I would argue that the plots have left off in a good place, where we know that the romances are safe because we see Hugh and Elara in Magic Triumphs and they’re obviously Kissy Faceing – by Blood Heir they Kissy Faced so hard they have kids! Derek is smiling a satisfied smile at Julie/Aurelia and he’s locked in that future, so Metal Rose is not likely in danger. No one is dangling off a cliff either.
Have happily devoured Beast Business (twice already) since it arrived yesterday. Will look forward to (hopefully) finding out how the Diana & Augustine relationship progresses – yes, I know, not the same magic mojo skill set but if Nevada & Connor could do it, why not Diana & Augustine? And whether Matilda continues to call Kitty Kitty or whether she & Kitty agree on a new name for her….. Now awaiting the arrival of This Kingdom when the book is released in March:)
GOt the short story book. Read it in one day. LOVED it! Thank you!