No posts and now two posts in one day. Woo!
Today is hopefully the last day of the roof construction. I misspoke in my previous post. We are actually on week 3, not week 2. My temper and nerves are frayed to the maximum capacity, so hopefully this will be coherent.
Business Stuff
Magic Clams (hehehe) is proceeding as scheduled. The copy edit comes back to day, and so far we are still on track for the release.
The audio of Magic Tides is being recorded. The past 6 months tells me that no matter who performs it, the Audio BDH will Hate And Have Problems, HAHP – a new BDH acronym, but it should be coming out on June 13th. Magic Claims will follow soon after.
We will be migrating the site some time early next week. We have simplified some things, made free fiction more prominent and easier to find, and given the site a facelift. More on the changes when we go live. But if you see weirdness early next week, you’ll know why. We will be losing some recent blog posts due to the peculiarities of the migration.
Someone asked if we would bundle our Writing Article blog posts into an ebook for convenience. I don’t have an answer for you on that. The problem with this project is that we would need to distribute it, which means we would need to charge money for it. Which means we’d need to come with $2.99 or whatever worth of content. Not sure we have that right now in blog posts alone.
In other professional trials and tribulations, we’ve been doing prep work for other projects, trying to do all the tasks on a variety of stories that are related to writing but are not writing. Making a fantasy language, even with Vulgarlang app, is time consuming and terrible. Someone do it for me but make it sound exactly the way I want it to sound. Oy. I’m this close to just stealing Welsh and altering the spelling.
Fun Stuff
In leisure news, I’ve almost finished the cross-stitch dragon. Doing backstitching now with mixed success. Lots of frogging. Frogging is a craft term meaning ripping out what you have sewn. It comes from “rip it, rip it” which sounds like ribbit, ribbit, the frog sound in English language. Slavic frogs say kwuh, by the way. No idea how that came about. Clearly there is a frog language barrier.
Gordon and are both playing Solasta: Crown of the Magister, a computer game based on the latest rule set of Dungeons and Dragons, where we lead a party of adventures on a variety of quests. I’ll have you know my 4-person so-classic-it’s-cliché party rules supreme. I’m running a 2-handed Oath of Tirmar Arun Dragonborn Paladin, a Sylvan Elf Swift Blade dual-wielding ranger with ambidexterity, an Einar Hill Dwarf battle cleric, and a High Elf Shock Arcanist Wizard. I gave everyone outrageous stats and I have no regrets. Smiting the undead is the most satisfying thing either. And the game asks me every time, so I feel like a powerful overlord. “Yes, you have my permission to smite this enemy. Proceed.” And then the paladin chops them in half. Muhahaha!
Gordon is running a druid instead of the cleric and some kind of sorcerer. I question his choices.
I know that Baldur’s Gate 3 exists, but I have issues. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about: Baldur’s Gate 3 is the triquel? the sequel to award winning D&D game series, Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate 2. It is on the older side and it featured the same type of play: a party of adventurers doing quests. Baldur’s Gate 3 is being developed by Larian Studios famous for their Divinity series, which I played. Right now it’s in Early Access, which means that you buy the game for the right to preview it and play through part of it before it is released. Basically it’s like paying to read half of an ARC and when the book is published, you get the whole thing free.
So it sounds great, but as I’ve said, I have problems.
First, the price. $60 to beta test the game? Second, it is showing no signs of leaving the Early Access. Third, Larian games tend to take themselves too seriously. What I love most about D&D is the funny interactions between the characters. Give me Minsc and Boo any day.
Larian thinks that “No one has as many friends as the man with many cheeses!” is the height of comic genius. Meh. Their character interactions are so stilted, and their plots lean toward tragic and gloomy.
That’s one thing Solasta does right. The interactions between the characters are hilarious. The character models are horrible, however. OMG.
And now I’ve caught you up on some of the things happening with us.
I have enjoyed all the different readers and both audio and GA versions (Steve West will always have a special place in my heart though😉).
The only thing that ever bothered me was when the completely wrong word was used (for example, there was a reference to Kate’s father but the word “mother” was said instead). It’s a little jarring when listening and I did wonder who was in charge of comparing the narration to the book but it didn’t happen too often so 🤷♀️.
I loved Baldurs gate.when my son was you g we played it for hours, obsessively. He is 32 this year. I should but it for him as a present. Ps. Totally feel you regarding roof replacement. 3 weeks would nake me mental. I’m surprised you guys didn’t move into an Airbnb for a couple weeks. They have been tearing the road apart in front of my house for a week and it’s just heinous.
I already have a part 3 for Baldur’s Gate, from the same people who did 1 & 2.
Sad about the HAHP- just got started listening to Magic Bites on GA. Haven’t finished it yet, yay! and I love Kate and Curran and the whole beautiful GA world. I love Nora as Dina and I love her as Kate. And I can’t believe it’s over 9 hours. I feel so lucky!
There is no such thing as too much D&D. Also, how is it possible that The Shift is not an RPG setting that I can buy for my gaming needs?! Waaaant! Neeeed!
In Sweden the frogs say kvack kvack!
I recently finished the Graphic Audio version of Magic bites and I love it! I’m usually not in to audio books but this kind of dramatized audio I really enjoy. I’m so looking forward to more of them!
Chinese frogs says “kwah” too 😛
Afrikaans frogs go “Kwaak”. Close
I still have my Neverwinter Nights collectors edition with all the expansions for PC, got it on PS4 as well. Love it to death. I met Minsk and Boo in Neverwinter Online for the first time. Fun game, but needs newer hardware than I can afford to play.
Baldurs Gate was just before my (gaming) time, so to speak. My parents were insanely strict with us in terms of gaming and book content, so DND was on the verbotten list.
Magic Tides, Magic Clams, it just segues so beautifully!
BTW, We had a small Hamster stuffy that we tossed at each other yelling,”Go for the eyes Boo!” Can cheese compete with that? No.
*member of quiet majority slowly raises hand while giving side-eye*
I’m an audio BDH sitting here absolutely fat and happy with all audios. While I am generally easy to please, I don’t think I’m an anomaly.
Is there some statistical analysis that would show to be done to show that there is a vocal minority complaining? Thank you for continuing the work of audio releases. It’s very important to many of us.
*slides back into the happy quiet*
I’m not much of a video gamer (I’ve spent more time writing code for games than playing, on the serious ones) but during the pandemic I joined a group of mostly west coast friends playing various TTRPGs over zoom. For me it’s all about the snark, the improv, and the bullshitting with friends. (Also, I am just charmed, as the only woman in the group, that all these guys talk about their lives and support each other so well. Often with snark and bullshit.)
I’m going to come down pretty strongly on the side of no audiobook hate. Every narrator I’ve heard from your guys has been at least Very Good. I would probably listen to Steve West read the phonebook. I loved Renee Raudman, but I’m glad y’all changed things up.
(It’s not that I don’t have preferences. Male narrators who do all women in a breathy falsetto grate. There is a specific type of stuffy british accent that tends to irritate me. But mostly of it I can shrug off. Especially on 1.5x.)
Have you played any of the pathfinder computer games? Wrath of the Righteous is more like a crusade and kingmaker is more classic rpg and you build your own kingdom but I loved them both. They are slightly buggy on the console versions but the computer versions are less so and they’re just so fun. Great characters
thank you for a game info. I am checking it right now 🙂
In The graphic audio of Sweep of the Blade I noticed that Maud’s accent would switch from Southern to British.I think that was an accident. Is that HAHP?
It’s to differentiate Vampiric vs Human, I believe.
Hi Kelly,
That is not a mistake, it is a deliberate choice made out of regard for the nuance in the text 🙂.
Here is what the director explained:
“ We threaded a tricky needle with this book, given the conventions that had
been established in the last book (eg, Maud speaking in her natural dialect with both Arland and Helen) and the information introduced in this book (the fact that Maud is fluent in vampire dialects without the aid of speech implants; the need to distinguish
Ancestral Vampiric from Common Vampiric; the importance of Maud feeling like she can be herself around Arland unless/until he provokes her to “go vampire”). I also wanted to cultivate the idea that Maud speaks her native tongue to Helen unless they’re in public,
but/and that Helen answers in Vampiric because that’s what she’s grown up speaking, and kids tend to prefer to speak the language of the society around them.”
For more details, please see https://ilona-andrews.com/2022/sweep-of-the-blade-graphic-audio-is-fixed/
Wow these ppl really think of everything!
I’m not much into audio books but that’s very impressive. If I ever do audio I will 100% do some House Andrews books.
I love Minsc and Boo, and played HOURS of Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn. The absolute best!
I have a question. I’m not sure if this the correct format or not. Is Small Magics available on Audible? If not is there a reason? I would like to add it to my audible collection but did not see it among your other books on Audible. I am a huge fan and spend many hours listening and then listening again to your books.
Thank you for sharing your wonderfully world view with us.
Hi Joan,
There is no audio version to Small Magics. One of the reasons would be that the content gets periodically updated, with POV scenes and shorts added all the time, which is easier to do on the text files. I will mention it to House Andrews and their agency that you would like to have access to it in other formats as well 🙂
I think its going to release this year so its even not worth to spend any money before realease (of any game too imo), gaming industry is totally in shambles and developers always realease messy games that you have to wait for them to fix weeks after…
Hey Mod R! I’m trying to find any references to if or when SOTH will be done by Graphic Audio. Did I miss something? I’m loving the GA versions even though I’ve listened to the audible versions many times.
I can’t say too much officially, because the ink hasn’t yet dried on agreements, but there is news there and it’s the good kind of news 😉 .
Watch this space!
Minsc! Butt kicking for goodness!
I agree about Baldurs Gate 3 and would add why the hell do they think characters having sex is a selling point.
Thank you for all that you do. I was wondering if
Julie’s story was going to commence any time soon?
Hi Susan,
At the moment, Ilona Andrews are not announcing future projects unless they are in the final stages of a manuscript and can roll out the preorder. This is in order to manage both workload and reader expectation.
The current offering is the Wilmington Years, a series in the Kate Daniels world. It addresses some of the things that happened between Magic Triumphs and Blood Heir, and is paving the way for the Ryder sequel 🙂
I am curious. In the Blood Heir Hugh calls Julie to find out if she is alright. During the call Hugh is concurrently yelling at someone to “ put down that cow” or else he threatens to tell his (the cow lifter) Mom. When do we find out who the cow lifter is ??? I am very curious about said lifter, LOL!
It’s been confirmed during Q&As, so it’s not such a spoiler: it is Hugh’s son 🙂. You can see more peaks into Hugh’s home life in the Wilmington Years series https://ilona-andrews.com/katie-daniels-books/#wilmington – and of course we will learn more about how he got there when the sequel to Iron and Magic comes 😊
Your in keeper series has been a revelation. I love many offers for the different styles, but this was a brand new exciting concept and I loved every bit of it until I came to the end and I’m waiting for the next books but I don’t see anything about any other innkeeper series. I haven’t found out what happened to Klaus other than that he’s an arbitrator. I haven’t found out what happened to the parents don’t leave me hanging. Thanks, Deb.
Sorry, I didn’t realize auto correct had change some of my words, but I think you can figure out the gist of it
Hi Debbie,
The Innkeeper series will continue 😊, we will find out all the mysteries. Atm House Andrews aren’t announcing projects until they are in their final stages and ready for preorder.
I’m interested by the cross stitch dragon! Is it an Anne Stokes? Because I’m about to start one that came as a free pattern in a British cross stitch magazine. (I’ve looked to see if there’s some way I can search for previous mentions that might explain more but can’t find one)