It’s finally that time! After more than three years of writing, editing and generally fretting about getting the book ready, Frostfire is actually going out into the world. Official release day is the 1st of November, but a trickle of people have already got their hands on it through whatever nefarious means they prefer. Hopefully it’s going down well, and will continue to do so!

If you haven’t already and would like to purchase it, Frostfire is available at:

Amazon
Waterstones
Book Depository

In other news the launch party for the book is going to be on Friday November 2nd at Waterstones Stafford. Stop in if you’re in the neighbourhood – I’ll be signing books, talking about them a little and generally being present. There will be wine and cakes if that swings your decision!

Finally, as the banner at the top suggests, I’m going to be doing some streaming on Twitch this coming month. Starting Thursday 1st and continuing Monday 5th, Friday 9th and on the following Mondays and Fridays I will be writing live on the internet over on twitch.tv/World_Smith. Expect a fresh fantasy story, possibly partially directed by you the viewers (depending on who shows up). There will definitely be signed book giveaways each week, and guest authors joining in too. Questions and answers from chat probable!

Hopefully it’ll be a fun time that people might learn a thing or two from as well! Hey, if there’s more than a handful of you there, I’ll certainly be happy…

Last blog post until Frostfire’s November 1st release! Time flies, and hopefully the books will too. Unless of course you prefer the eBook version, which is now available to pre-order here.

Of course, I get to be a proper author even sooner than that – in a matter of weeks I’ll be doing my first school event at my old primary, which ought to be somewhere between strange and fun. There should be plenty more events to come, and maybe one or two interesting surprises I can share soon, if plans work out.

Before I get deep into the publicity process though, I thought I’d write a little about how Frostfire came to be, all the way from when it was Frostsliver to its current polished form.

I had the idea for Frostsliver a good year or so before I began writing it. The concept of an living icy companion was suggested to me by my partner during a brainstorming session for books in the Infinite Sea universe where all my fantasy stories so far are set. From there I developed the sentient glacier that gave the ice its power, the bonding system and the culture that my protagonist, Sabira came from – but only after I was told of the Chicken House Competition by my Mum.

Previously I’d come runner up with Scaled in a competition for Bloomsbury, so I jumped at the chance to try again. In the six months had before the entry date I went through three draft versions (eventually to become more like ten after a proper editor got hold of it).

Though I was pipped at the post by Nicki Thornton’s Last Chance Hotel – out now and already doing well – Chicken House chose to take a chance on me as well. There was a lot of work to be done, trimming nearly half the words out and adding plenty more, but with essential assistance from my editor, Kesia, as well as other Chicken House team members, we’ve got to the final printed version. No more changes allowed!

(Hope there’s no embarrassing spelling mistakes left after all that)

Only a month left until you all can find out whether you like the finished result as much as I do!