Mod R has been painstakingly gathering your This Kingdom questions and here are some non-answers.
Will there be any art in the ebook?
The official hardcover and ebook from Tor will have a black and white map.
Is this art (Candice’s Landmarks and Leesha’s Sushi) in the hardcover?
No. We have the hardcover, so we can confirm that there is only the map. The art we’ve been posting has been commissioned by us for inclusion into marketing materials and bonus things.
We have not posted any art from special editions because we do not own it.
Is the picture of the Hireling Temple in Maggie 1 or 2?
Neither. It is referenced in both books, but we do not visit it except in bonus material.
When are the special editions going on sale?
Umm, we are not sure, and we are not sure we are allowed to say.
Is there bonus fiction material in the special editions?
There is a short story in one of the US bonus special editions that explains things. Those who don’t end up buying that special edition will learn the exact nature of that episode when Book 2 comes.
How long is the Book 2 right now?
123,121 words and it needs to be longer, so we are working on it very hard.
Does Book 2 have a title?
Yes.
Can we be told the title?
No.
When can we have a round-up of all the editions available everywhere before release in March?
When the collective publishers allow us to do that. Right now we are not allowed.
Why?
We are not sure. It must have something to do with the way those special editions are distributed. Some of them are subscription-model book clubs and they have secrecy.
Why can’t we get art and bonus stuff?
You can. Or you will be able to. More on that after the release. We have invested into art for this trilogy from multiple artists. We will need to get our investment back so we will be doing things with art and bonus fiction. We have deleted scenes and scenes from other characters. We are not ready to discuss anything until we have something concrete to show you.
But will we have pretty things and mugs and all the other stuff?
Yes.
Some authors are doing special boxes…
::putting hand over twitching eye:: Are they?
Hypothetically, we would be open to special boxes. There are enough interesting things in the book to put together a very fun Kair Toren experience box. There is tea, and coins, and stuff.
But that would be after the release. We would not want to compete with other special editions and boxes, so you would be able to buy something like that for rereads, later, to revisit the city with your favorite copy of This Kingdom, whether it is in hardcover or ebook or audio.
Right now we must concentrate on writing.
People often ask me which of our characters I resemble the most. I am Cookie from that bit where he is trading with the muckrats.
::raises her hands up in the air and makes big circles::
An enormous rock blocked out the sun and crashed to our left with a shocking thud, sending the bodies flying from the impact. I felt it through the horse. The damn boulder was the size of a house. Fifty feet closer, and all of us would be on the ground.
The white stallion went into full gallop. My terrified horse followed, running for her life. We were flying through the battle, right in the middle of the enemy advance.
This was suicide. We were all going to die.
See? This is where we left off today. Rocks fall. Everyone dies. Must deliver sensawunda. Chi? Chi.
Can we have the countdown clock on the front page for TK?
Ehhhh… yes. Let me get the banner fixed first and I will get it up there.
PS Mod R:
What we can definitely have is DEALS!
If you’re in the US and an Audible Premium Plus member, Audible are running an Epic Series Sale until February 22nd, including 11 titles from Ilona Andrews, in both the Innkeeper and Kate Daniels series.
If you’re in the UK, Waterstones have a preorder sale until the 20th of February with code FEB26, including the This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me hardback (not special edition).
Finally, the lovely people at Graphic Audio are running a sale for everyone – 55% off selected title until March, including the KD series, Innkeeper series and the Hidden Legacy titles.
First?
Certified first 🙂
Thank you!
Yay! 🥳
Thank you! 🤗
I didn’t even look to see about comments.
🤦♀️ Guess I should’ve commented before reading and studying the art and maybe I would’ve gotten a Mod R certification. 😯
Oh, well. 😄
Love, love, love
I am so excited for the countdown banner. I tend to base the passing of seasons on the countdown banner. It helps to get through the slogging days when I have something to look forward to.
that’s what I call cliffhanger lol
Happy writing & looking forward to release day
I heard you can solve your problem with a fart gun and a shoe. I don’t recall if it’s the left or right, though. Good luck!
The BDH – so demanding, so challant. Thank you for the care and feeding you provide. lol You spoil us.
Remember- if you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything- and make time for tea breaks!
The Six-Fingered Man approves this message…
It was the left shoe. Chi! Chi!
W*iting p*tiently…
How many days to go?!
But as always: THANK YOU HOUSE ANDREWS!
Wait. I thought this will be a duology but there’s one of my favorite words in here. It says trilogy? *makes a big happy dance*
Cheese, I do love your blog posts. They keep my going.
Thanks for the souldfood 😀
House Andrews sold 3 books to Tor 🙂 Before Maggie 1 was even done with edits it was hard to tell whether that would be 3 Maggies, or 2 Maggies and something else, maybe.
Now that Maggie 2’s draft is close to being finished, it’s clearer that the series will be a trilogy 🙂
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Three books instead of two? More story for us? If I weren’t at work I’d be dancing (I may be on my break, but I’m still in a no-dancing zone).
Happy Snoopy Dance!
Whoop-whoop! More books for us! 🤸🤸🤸🤸🤸
**Doing the Snoopy dance!**
Chi!
I am looking forward to seeing all the lovely artwork someday as the special editions not possible for me.
Deals, snippets, bonus content, OH MY
We are lucky to have such magnanimous benefactors!!!
All I can say to all those questions is wow.
I’m picturing Ilona as Cookie and the Horde as the muskrats. Chi! 🤣
Does that make us (the horde) the muskrats?
DO YOU WISH TO DISCUSS
I love Cookie, who could not.
I have every Audio book possible, and have preordered Maggie.
It’s getting pretty exciting waiting for the release!!
I’m excited about the upcoming release of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me.
But I do not understand why publishers have all of this secrecy around the special editions. It doesn’t make any sense to me as a reader and as a buyer of books.
If they want to sell special editions, shouldn’t they want to advertise the release dates and to clearly state which publisher or book box has a special edition to offer?
If anyone can explain why this is a good business model, I’d love to know. I’m so confused.
My guess is that details are still be ironed out. Announcement will happen once everything, including production, is set.
It’s less about secrecy for secrecy’s sake and more about coordinating multiple moving parts across different companies and available resources. Exclusive features, artwork, and bonus materials, all delivered at different times from different artists – have to be then approved, allocated, printed and distributed, sometimes to locked geographical regions or exclusivities, depending on the layers of contracts and NDAs. Throw in delays, strict printing queues and paper scarcity, it’s a concerted effort to make everyone’s shared calendars find a good reveal date 🙂
I am not sure, as I am not familiar with day to day workings of the special edition publishers.
There may be many reasons. Logistics is a huge one. As COVID taught us, your shipment can get stuck without warning or there might be surprise tariffs. I would imagine they wouldn’t want to announce anything until they have things locked in. Also, they don’t always want the art out there before the release of the official book. Some of it can be spoilery.
And then a lot of them are on a book club model, where you pay for the annual membership. In that case, it is only fair that people who paid for the membership get the first dibs on the special editions, and then the general public gets the overflow sales.
Honestly, I think it’s a strategy to induce FOMO, particularly in the case of limited-number runs. The more information consumers have ahead of time, the more thoughtfully they will make their buying decisions.
eh, imo it’s less about fomo and more about the hassle. I buy from a few different small publishers, and since covid they’ve started announcing releases once it’s been printed, instead of when they sign the contracts. This is because of all the numerous delays some books went through, and if you think the horde is bad, try explaining to someone who you took $300usd or more that you don’t know when they will get their book. (and 300 is on the low end for some publishers)
if it’s a book of the month club or Aardvark book club. they will do hints for the people already subscribed to the service to get them excited for the pick that month. that way when the books drop they know which ones they want to try.
if it’s book of the month club they will have with that that’s more basic on BotM and then the company also owns Allurial which does real fancy editions.
HA does not need to compare themselves to “some authors”. Oy.
I think they were muckrats, but auto corrupt is devious.Anyhow I just finished an old Jim Kjellgard in which muskrats figured prominently (Swamp Cat) so mention of muskrats is welcome either way.
Thank you thank you for all the words!
HA is the best, and the BDH is the most chalant fandom.
Will now return to re-reading Beast Business in this interregnum.
you had me at “special boxes”
…. waiting, waiting, waiting
foot tapping
fingernail tapping
waiting, waiting, waiting…
Are the special boxes ready? I am ready 🙂
[special boxes = great idea = please include Kid2’s graphic art if possible]
ahhhhh Maggie pretty things! I’m so hyped!
Cool! Pretties incoming later! I’m very excited to see what you’ve planned for the gorgeous artwork. Already counting down and sighing loudly daily 🤣😜
*tries to look nonchalant very hard*
Is there… maybe… a chance for an Art Book for Maggie?
Joining this request with sweet cuteness- pretty please
I just want to say that I took the day off work on March 31. I will probably stay up all night reading and then be a wreck at work anyway, so this works out better for everyone (especially me).
I am very excited!
I am all about the special boxes or editions, typically I don’t do that, but recently got a re-released special edition of Jasmine Mas Psycho Fae and of course had to get the 2nd re-release – and now I am a trophy girl….who knew. I would love the same for Maggie – but I also want bling, I am all about the extras…..anyway will wait for later but have the kindle version pre-ordered b/c I will not hold off to read until I get a shelf trophy.
House Andrews make my day , A TRILOGY ! YES!! Thankyou.
I love your interaction with your readers! Thank you. Also wanted to say, personally I would rather you spent your precious work time writing/editing, etc., than working on special boxes. if it’s not part of your working time, it’s precious personal time, which we all need for mental and physical health!
“We have invested into art for this trilogy from multiple artists.”
TRILOGY??? 😱
PS: Thank you for taking the time to answer questions as best you could
This series has never been confirmed or discussed as a duology, I cannot understand why everyone was so certain it was 😅
My imperfect memory supplies something like Ilona saying on the blog waaaaay back when “we have a 3 book deal and we have a story line for Maggie 2 so we’ve promised that and something else”. Vaguely. Distantly. Badly paraphrased. Possibly incorrectly. Disclaimer here.
(This is me trying to think why people might think it was a duology, nothing more, no comment on anything, no complaint, just used to people asking me to figure out why stuff happened the way it happened and me reporting back, usually in a work setting and having to do with our in house CMS but my brain sometimes gets stuck in that mode)
Oh, wait, ModR says as much in an earlier reply and I was reading bottom to top. Please disregard my comment!
Yeah, that’s why i’ve switced to always reading top to bottom first.
eeeeee…I might have to go get some more kate books on graphic audio… I have what is available right now of innkeeper and hidden legacy. Looking forward to hearing catalina’s books in graphic audio in the future.
Ok, I’m probably going to make your eye twitch again (apologies), but I really want a big soft plushie of the stelka. And art. And all the things. And for the release date to come sooner. 😬😅
I just really want to know which special edition will have the bonus stories…. having the the art would be great, but I’m all about the extra story lol. I have already pre-ordered the book last year but may change it to the Special edition once it’s been confirmed which one has the bonus stories and if I am able to buy it (meaning not part of a book club) since space and money is limited.
Being in Europe, my local national retailer (don’t ask how that works, it’s a thing 😉) is always veeeery slow in putting up preorder options but compensates for it by putting up lots of international editions which means that now that I finally got to preorder, I got to choose from 4 different hardcover editions 😊 I based my choice on which sprayed edges I liked best, rather than just which cover, so it’ll take a wee bit longer to get here but I’m very happy with my choice 😊 Now I just need to block a whole weekend of me-time in early April to read 😄
It’s SO hard to wa*t! Want yummy book!
I wonder if the love interest for Maggie will be one of her favorite characters, or if it will be a character she knew of, but didn’t find overly compelling until she got to know them in the book world?
Nice thought. Interesting to ponder.
lol the horde is very chalant.
Um where was Cookie dealing with muckrats. I think I have and have read all the published books, but darned if I can come with that scene. And I like Cookie. Odd I’d forget something with him in it.
One Fell Sweep, in Baha Char 🙂
I LOL so loud hearing you said you resemble Cookie that the muckrats ran away.
Love the artwork, thanks for sharing.
“Puts hand over twitching eye” – are you related to a well-known fictional police detective from 2060 New York?? 🤭📚
Hehe, no, my left eye actually twitches when I am really stressed. Like that’s how I know I need tea and rest.
RE: “People often ask me which of our characters I resemble the most. I am Cookie from that bit where he is trading with the muckrats.”
… I know that you have a loving and considerate family, so I imagine that someone has bought you a Fart Gun?
I am so ready for March. I have my knitting needles, pattern and project yarn ready to knit through this book and audiobook.
love ya House Andrews and Mod R
“People often ask me which of our characters I resemble the most. I am Cookie from that bit where he is trading with the muckrats.”
This made me bust out laughing. Luckily I was not in public.
Hello Mod R – This is a “helpful” suggestion, so please (dis)regard it with all that implies: the “This Kingdom” cover is pretty and colorful, and a clever yarn dyer could design a beautiful yarn to match. Perhaps Ilona’s fans at Yarn Love could be convinced to create a limited colorway available sometime near the book’s release? BDH crocheted and knitters could buy directly from the maker without bothering HA?
Helpfully Yours.
Cannnnnn we have a page with the links for the special editions you CAN share? Or locations of availability? Even if images can’t be included for some at this time, it would be lovely to have the current list updated.
Occasionally I actually prefer the “regular” edition, but really being outside of the US, I need to be strategic with where I order from and may or may not have access to a special edition (booooo tariffs).
As far as the boxes, I wish more people did a box for finished series/omnibus editions w merch and the whole story.
Greetings! Replying to this blog post so as not to skew the giveaway post. Thank you, Ilona and Gordon, for offering this giveaway your creative souls AND for being decent human beings! Thank you, Moderataria Rhae’zalyndrix, for your creativity and ceaseless efforts to keep the Horde chalant! Reading the comments on the giveaway blog over the last 48 hours has been a true blessing to me! Seeing the countries represented gives me hope for humanity….. Sending peace, health and safety to all!
Whoa! Punctuation is critical…. Please read as “this giveaway, your creative souls” My apologies on the typo….
May your day be supremely magnificent!
I thought Maggie the Undying was a duology, but above it says trilogy? Did I miss something?
I now see the other comments asking the same thing. So excited it’s a trilogy 😀
No, it was not announced as a duology at any point 🙂