On Old Friends and New Beginnings

I was halfway through writing A CONJURING OF LIGHT when I realized I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. 
My characters were on a boat in the middle of the sea, en route to a floating market, when I called my editor, Miriam, and said, “I’m not done.” 

Miriam asked if I needed another book in the Shades of Magic arc—an idea we’d floated once or twice, when trying to decide if the series was a trilogy or a quartet—and I said no. There was a story I was telling in Shades of Magic, a story that started with a simple black stone, a story I wanted to finish. 

CONJURING was the book where I was supposed to tie off all the threads. Closed the doors. Write the end. 

And I did.

But I also took a chance. 

As I wrote, I starting weaving in a few new threads. Not many. Just enough to catch the lock, keep the door from closing all the way.

By the time I finished Shades of Magic, I’d started Threads of Power. 

I knew I wanted to tell a new story, one that included the cast of Shades of Magic without focusing exclusively on them. I envisioned a set of three interconnecting books, each with its own protagonist—a tinkerer who can pull the threads of magic, a noble who has her birthright stolen, a con artist born with a lucky streak but no power—their lives intertwining against a backdrop where a prince has become king, a thief has become a pirate, and new dangers are beginning to threaten the three Londons. 

And here we are. 

I couldn’t be happier to announce that the story that began with a peculiar coat and a picked pocket will officially continue. Not because I dreamed it, but because readers have loved Shades of Magic enough to force it on their friends, neighbors, colleagues, because my agent believed and my editor believed and my publisher believed and you believed it was possible. 

The first three books in the new deal will be Threads of Power. The fourth will be a project tentatively titled BLACK TABS–about a female assassin in futuristic NYC. Additionally, I’m writing VENGEFUL, the sequel to VICIOUS, and a stand-alone story called THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LA RUE, about a girl who makes a Faustian bargain to live forever, only to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Needless to say, lovelies, it’s going to be a busy few years ❤