Good morning, all! Just wanted to bring you a quick status update. I was hoping to have Detonation Boulevard, the second book of the Wisdom's Grave trilogy, in your hands this week, but I have to officially slide that back to August 15th or thereabouts (there's some wiggle-room in either direction). We're still in editing and rewrites, polishing the manuscript up the best that we can.
Y'all know my stance on editing: it's super-important, never to be rushed, and absolutely vital to the process. So right now we're thinking it'll be done around the 12th, at which point I just have to do layout and last looks before I can get it out there. There most likely won't be a pre-order period: I'm already making you wait for it, so once it's ready, it'll just go directly on sale and I'll give you a heads-up that it's available. And on that subject, here's the official blurb:
"When NYPD detective Marie Reinhart met Nessa Roth, a Manhattan socialite and dabbler in the occult, sparks flew. Then came the gunfire. Nessa and Marie are the Witch and her Knight, characters from a fairy tale brought to life and trapped in an endless curse: to meet, fall in love, and be torn from each other’s arms by violent death, again and again for all eternity. Now they have one slim chance to escape their doom. It lies in Wisdom’s Grave, the resting-place of the first witch who ever lived, and the wellspring of magic.
"To find it, they’ll have to cross over two thousand miles of hostile territory from New York to Las Vegas, pursued by the law, the criminal underworld, and a cult of demonic bounty hunters. Their enemies have political power and an army of ruthless assassins. They have a book of black magic, a Cadillac, and a gun.
"The American heartland is about to become a war zone. And as portals to other worlds tear open, showing the way to secrets buried since the dawn of time, Nessa and Marie prepare to make their final stand."
Oh! One last bit of news. It's official, my publisher has given next year's Haunted Palaces a new title. It's now going to be called Ghosts of Gotham, which is apt because while there are no actual haunted palaces in the book, there are most definitely ghosts. Awful ghosts. Ghosts that do things with people's teeth and eyeballs. So that's happening.