A Title for Book 16!
Hello lovely everyone!
I have many updates and no time to post (ack!), but I wanted to put all of this news somewhere that’s not Instagram, so please forgive me while I charge in and out and fling some updates around! 😊
FanWing Fest: These sold out so quickly I barely had time to post about it; I’m so sorry to everyone who didn’t get a ticket (or couldn’t make it to one of the cities!). On the plus side, this hopefully means we can do it again next year (in new places!), if they all go well! The first one this past weekend in Minnesota was so lovely — a million thank yous to Red Balloon Bookshop and everyone who made the day so wonderful, and also to Joy Ang for coming to be our surprise guest!
The TV show: I don’t post about it much because (a) everything is a secret until it’s officially announced, and (b) it’ll be hard to believe it’s real until it’s actually on my television (I feel like TV is a mystical wonderland where it’s a miracle that any shows ever happen!). But we did get to officially announce something this week, so I’m delighted to share that Aaron Waltke is our showrunner!:
‘Wings of Fire’ Animated Series at Amazon Sets Aaron Waltke as Showrunner
I’m so excited to work with him; he’s smart and funny and really cares about being true to the books, and I think you all will love him!
(In case I haven’t said this enough, I also loved and miss everyone from the Netflix version; they were all beyond wonderful! I hope they are all getting to make amazing other things!)
Hopefully there will be more news on the show soon — I’ll let you know whenever I can! 😊
Graphic Novels: The next one is Wings of Fire: Legends: Darkstalker and it’s coming out on November 4 (eeee!), with art by Jake Parker and colors by Maarta Laiho — oh my gosh, I cannot wait for you to see the whole thing!
And while Jake was working on this, Mike was working on Book 9, so hopefully that one will be published close behind (like, end of December, is the plan!) — we’ll see if I can hit all the deadlines for it (it’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me), but I’m very excited about that one, too! 😊
Merch: I’ve been seeing unofficial Wings of Fire shirts at my events for ages, and I’ve never minded it when the art is made by lovely fans (some of my favorite Wings of Fire art in the world is from artists like Biohazardia and Kat2Nite!). But a lot of what’s out there now is using Joy’s art without a license, so when we got the opportunity to work with a company called Trevco to make official, licensed shirts, we thought it would be awesome to get some into the world!
We’re starting with just a few designs, but hoping to add more (if you have ideas or requests, let me know!) — for now, I think the easiest way to find them is at this link:
and then scroll around for the different options (I’m pretty sure everything comes in both adult and kid sizes and several different colors, you just have to find them!). (Also please keep in mind this is brand new, so it’ll hopefully be easier to navigate eventually!)
Some of these shirts are also being sold at the FanWing Fests, so for the next few months, to celebrate all the awesome young artists and writers I’m meeting, I’ll be donating my portion of the proceeds from the merch sales to We Need Diverse Books, specifically for their Books Save Lives grants, which will go to support libraries at schools in the states I’m visiting. I love their mission of building diverse book collections that both reflect the students and expand their perspectives, especially in communities that have been affected by book bans and book challenges. So, basically, my hope is that with each T-shirt or sticker you buy, you’re helping put a book in the hands of a kid who needs it, spreading empathy, and supporting some amazing authors and intrepid librarians, too! 😊
Thanks to the sales of the Bullsitoy plush danglers and cutie cuffs, we have been able to donate a whole lot so far to the Amazon Investor Coalition to help protect the Amazon rainforest — I’m very grateful to all of you for that! (And I’m still hoping to get a link where you can buy those online eventually — fingers crossed!)
Book Recommendations: I’ve read a couple of books lately that I loved SO MUCH, I need you all to know about them! First up is The Gate, the Girl, and the Dragon by Grace Lin, which just came out a week ago:
I think everyone knows that Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is one of my absolute favorite books in the world, so I’m wildly thrilled to have another book like this from Grace, with her beautiful illustrations and magical storytelling and fascinating dragons! I’ll be talking to Grace about the book on May 21 at 7pm at Porter Square Books, but I haven’t added it to my Events page because I don’t want anyone to think it’s a Wings of Fire event! I’d love it if you want to come celebrate Grace and her beautiful book with me, though! 😊😊😊
And then for adults, I read and adored The Mars House, by Natasha Pulley:
As I said in my newsletter: Oh my goodness, you guys, I loved this book SO MUCH. I didn’t want to ever stop reading it; it is so weird and unique and delightful and funny and thoughtful and strange and perfect. And there are mammoths! On Mars! That communicate and have strong opinions! That is only a small part of it; there is also a murder mystery and a complicated romance and even more complicated politics, but it’s all wonderful. If you liked Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell (another one of my favorites) or authors like Malka Older, Martha Wells, and Naomi Novik, I think you’d like The Mars House, too!
And finally, Book 16!: It has a title! Which is a thing I usually don’t figure out until I’m done writing it, but this one came to me and I really like it, so I hope you do, too . . . it is called (ready? drumroll…):
The Hybrid Prince
(This is not even remotely the cover; it’s just a (very pretty) placeholder, so don’t get excited about it! A real, beautiful cover by Joy is coming soon!)
Whooooooooooooo is the Hybrid Prince and WHAT is he up to OOOOOOOO I can’t wait for you to find out! As soon as I finish actually writing this book, ahahaha, which I had better go back into my cave to do! 😊😊😊
More soon! Hugs to all of you!
More Splendid Books I’ve Read and Loved Recently:
