I suppose I should really have posted about this on the day itself, but I was absolutely exhausted that evening. Apologies.

Anyhow, The Lost Plot is now out in the UK. I hope people enjoy it. Picture me, if you will, doing my best to look blase and calm over in this corner, while hiding my nervous twitches. At least I have Christmas panics, er, preparations to distract me.

And it will soon be out in the US, too – just another month . . .

There’s also currently a giveaway running on Goodreads for The Invisible Library, my first book – US readers only, I’m afraid.

I’ll try to post again before Christmas. If I don’t, then a very happy Christmas and New Year to all of you. And thank you for reading my books. It is very much appreciated.

It’s December, and we had the work Christmas lunch today. (And a rather subdued afternoon afterwards, with a lot of coffee to assist attempts to stay awake . . .)

The Lost Plot comes out in the UK in (checks calendar) five days. (It’s the 9th now in the UK. Don’t judge me for staying up late.) I am in the usual state of delight that a book I’ve written is going to be published – I mean, wow! – and also terror that nobody will like it and I’ll be a dismal failure, etcetera. As ever, impostor syndrome and author paranoia don’t respond very well to common sense and logic and reassurances, however kind they are.

Ah well.

For people in the UK, Goodreads is currently doing a giveaway for copies of The Lost Plot, running up to December 14th.

Other than that, I’m working on edits of book five (and I may be able to share the title and UK cover for that soon – trust me, it’s a beauty), panicking about Christmas stuff, writing cards and organising presents, dealing with the day job, trying to control an unhealthy fascination with bolts of kimono silk on ebay, eyeing my flat and trying not to think about how it needs hoovering, and so on. In other words, the usual.

And playing/singing Christmas carols. Because one of my personal rules is that I don’t indulge in them till we actually hit December and/or Advent. It makes it more fun that way. But now that we are thoroughly into both December and Advent, let’s turn up the volume and put the old favourites on –

Nowell! Nowell! Nowell!
Nowell, sing we loud!
God to-day hath poor folk raised
And cast a-down the proud…

So, well. I have my head down most of the time at the moment, what with book five, book four, and work as usual. I know you’re all out there, and I appreciate the support, and I apologise for being too busy to write much here at the moment.

(I did go to the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show on Saturday, but that was something completely different. Rumours that I came back with a bag full of silk and quilting cotton and books and yarn are very accurate. It was great fun.)

I’m going to be at the Super Relaxed Fantasy Club on Tuesday in London – it’s being hosted by Pan Macmillan (my publishers! yay!) and also there will be Lucy Hounsom, John Gwynne, Laura Hughes, and other people too. If you’re there, I look forward to meeting you. Though I won’t be able to stay too late – I have to get back to Leeds for a filling at the dentist the next morning. (Yes, that is such a wonderful way to start the day. Unfortunately, the only thing worse than having a filling is needing a filling and not getting a filling, so . . .)

When I write “saloon”, I wonder if I’ve got the correct number of ls, then I add it in to check and get “salloon”, then I realise that no, “saloon” was definitely the right spelling . . .

Er. Anyhow. This is your regularly scheduled last chance warning for several special offers. I don’t have much news besides that: still working on book five, still wrapping up warm as it gets colder.

The Lost Plot giveaway (US only) is still up on Goodreads, though only for another couple of days.

The Invisible Library, The Masked City, and The Burning Page are all still at 99p for Kindle/ebook on amazon (UK only) for another couple of days. They’re also all three at 99p on iBooks (UK again only, sorry), for those who prefer that format. However, I don’t think this is going to last past the end of October, so take your advantage while you can, if you’re after any of them.

(It always feels a bit inappropriate to be pushing special offers like this at people reading this blog – probably we’re just all too socialised when we’re young about not “showing off”. Still, I assume there are people out there who might like to know . . .)

My American publishers are wonderful people who are doing a giveaway for The Lost Plot at the moment. Check it out at:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/258312-the-lost-plot

Dates are from Oct 10 – Oct 30, 2017, and sadly it’s only for the US, but if you want a chance at a copy . . .

I’m now back from Vienna – which was awesome. I met some very nice people there (hi, Birgit and Eva!) and I saw a lot of the city – though there was far more that I’d have liked to see. I saw the National Library, the Art History Museum, the Sisi Museum and the Royal Apartments and the Royal Treasury and the Spanish Riding School and the Josephinum and the Prater and . . . (fingers give out)

It was magnificent. And the food was awesome. And I saw Don Giovanni at the Opera House, and Tanz der Vampire at the Ronacher. (My first time seeing Tanz der Vampire, though I’ve listened to the music often enough – it’s probably a good thing that was my last day, or I’d have been trying to find a way to manage to go a second time . . .)

Anyhow. Back to work. Or rather, back to work next week, as I have the rest of this week off. (And will be using the time to catch up with work on book five.)

On a money-saving note, The Masked City is still available on Amazon.co.uk for Kindle at 99p, and I see that The Burning Page is now also available on Amazon.co.uk for Kindle at 99p. I have no idea how long this will last, so if you’re after one or both of them, this is a good moment to take advantage.

It seems to be a new month and a new offer. Well, it is a new month and it is a new offer.

The Masked City ebook is now reduced on Amazon (UK, sorry). I have no control over this sort of thing, but isn’t it convenient?

Off to Austria tomorrow. Trying not to panic as I go through my mental list of things to check. A pile of stuff is waiting to be stuffed into my suitcase, etcetera. Was calming down earlier by watching The Great British Bakeoff while knitting. (That really is a very good way of calming down. I strongly recommend it.)

Am also suffering slightly from fictional blowback – after rereading a number of the Miss Marple short stories (Agatha Christie), I find myself imagining trying to explain things to Miss Marple as if she was standing next to me. It’s easy enough to explain Great British Bakeoff, but rather more difficult to explain the Umineko manga. “Well, it’s about a murder mystery, which is then repeated in different variations, and there are demons and witches and Knox’s Ten Commandments and swordfights . . .”

The Invisible Library is still available as an ebook on Amazon at a very reduced rate (just £1.19) until the end of the month. (And it seems to have been selling very well indeed – thank you, anyone who bought it! If I weren’t so very English, I would be running around and going *squee*.)

I’ve been interviewed by Taiara Desirée on the Brazilian website Bloguesia – you can find it here. (In Portuguese, and many thanks to Taiara for the interview and for translating it.)

Bloguesia interview

Otherwise, I’m looking forward to next week’s holiday in Vienna. Reports that I’ve been going demob happy at work and babbling about all the cool stuff I’ll see and do are vastly exaggerated. I only babble a bit. Besides, one of my coworkers is off to Cuba in a few weeks herself. So it’s not as if I’m the only one doing surreptitious holiday research in a spare browser window . . .

I am delighted to be able to say that The Invisible Library is going to be published in Estonia, by Varrak. This is absolutely fantastic. I’m so – well, I’m running out of superlatives here, but I’m absolutely thrilled that my books are being popular not only in English, but in other languages as well.

There is probably personal bias here. My father was a lecturer in French literature before his retirement, so I grew up with the concept of books in other languages as, well, a thing – that they existed, and that the more books that were translated and available to read in all languages, the more we all got out of books in general. So while I’m very pleased that my books are doing well in English-speaking areas, I’m also punching the air and going, “Yes!” whenever I find that they’ll be translated into another language as well.

I’m sure Irene would understand.

In other news: The Invisible Library e-book on amazon.co.uk continues to be just £1.19, and I think it’s staying that way till the end of the month, so I’ll probably be posting about it again in the near future. The Lost Plot is signed off (signed, sealed, and delivered) and with the publishers in both the UK and the US. Book five . . . is still being worked on. Cats are involved.

For all those being afflicted by any or all of the ongoing hurricanes (from Harvey through to Katia), my sincere sympathy, and I hope you’ll all be okay.

It seems that the Kindle/ebook version of The Invisible Library is currently available on UK Amazon for just £1.19.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00M44051E/ref=series_rw_dp_sw

So if you want to pick it up cheap, now’s the moment . . .

(With apologies to all those who aren’t on UK Amazon.)