Greetings, lovely humans. Um, this is such an overdue post/tinyletter. I look forward to getting back to newsletters are that are me hemming and hawing about the creative process, because this one is going to have a lot of news about Cool Projects That Help Feed Humans, Dogs and Cats, so buckle in.
Probably the most shameful thing about not having done a newsletter is that mine and Christopher’s second middle grade came out! At the end of May! This means you can now get two books where smart kids solve mysteries in a hotel for monsters by this crack husband-and-wife writing duo. The Lost Legacy is now out in paperback, and The Sphinx’s Secret is in hardcover. These are books we wrote for our childhood fantasy-adventure-loving selves, to delight each other, and for the children we love best. They make great gifts for pretty much every type of middle grade reader in your life, and hey, you might even dig them as an adult. We put lots of little jokes and references in for each other, so it’s a little like unpacking the layers in a Pixar movie. The Sphinx’s Secret has: a secret Cabinet of Wonders in the basement of the New York Public Library, sphinxes now and in ancient Egypt, time travel, a sword with a name, an evilish wizard, and a very good dog! Who can resist?
Get this series wherever fine books are sold (if they don’t have it in stock, they can order it for you). Handy links to Amazon, B&N, HarperCollins, and Indiebound. And if you or your kids read and enjoy, Amazon reviews are always appreciated. They help people find books!
(Speaking of which the Lois Lane series is also all now in paperback, with Triple Threat’s paperback release in May — but there is so much NEWS I’m not even going to belabor that.)
I’ve told you guys about the super-fascinating collaborative style of Serial Box before, and now I can finally blab the details of the serial I created and wrote with the AMAZING Rachel Caine and Carrie Ryan. Dead Air grew out of my love of true crime, radio shows and podcasts, my town of Lexington and accurate southern stories (!!!), and mysteries. And I got to do it with two of my favorite writers and people who are also into those things. The details:
Explore your true crime obsession in a whole new way with Serial Box’s latest multimedia innovation in storytelling from three of today’s hottest storytellers Gwenda Bond, Rachel Caine, and Carrie Ryan.
Welcome to Dead Air, where M is for midnight, Mackenzie…and murder.
Mackenzie Walker wasn’t planning on using her college radio show to solve a decades old murder, but when she receives an anonymous tip that the wrong man may have taken the fall, she can’t resist digging deeper.
It doesn’t take long for Mackenzie to discover gaps in the official story. Several potential witnesses conveniently disappeared soon after the murder. The victim, a glamorous heiress and founder of a Kentucky horse-racing dynasty, left behind plenty of enemies. And the cops don’t seem particularly interested in discussing any of it.
But when the threats begin, Mackenzie knows she’s onto something. Someone out there would prefer to keep old secrets buried and they seem willing to bury Mackenzie with them. Thankfully, she’s getting help from a very unexpected source: the victim’s son, Ryan. The closer she gets to him, however, the more important it is for Mackenzie to uncover the truth before he gets buried alongside her.
Read or listen to weekly ebook and audio episodes of the serial novel Dead Air and then check out Mackenzie’s podcast for a uniquely immersive experience. Does the truth lie in the serial, the podcast…or somewhere in-between?
This is going to be SO COOL, you guys! And I have a special discount code you can use to order that gives you 25% off the entire first season of ten episodes — you’ll get weekly episodes as synced up audio and ebooks in a nifty free app on your phone (or on your desktop or other device, whichever you prefer) and then you can check out weekly episodes of the podcast that are timed to go with the novel.
You can find out more about all this and how Serial Box works (think HBO for reading) here: https://www.serialbox.com/deadair
Or if you’re like, I don’t need anymore I want to ORDER PLEASE — bless you — go to:
http://serialbox.com/redeem and use the code DEADAIRAPO18
It works out to $10.50 or basically a buck an episode and is only good until July 31. I can’t wait for people to get this one. I’m so proud of what we made together. Being a showrunner is a lot of work, but really fun.
You may be like, Gwenda, that is enough news. Surely that’s all the news, but um, sorry? Two more things!
I’m writing the first Stranger Things novel, which is a prequel about Eleven’s mother Terry and her experience with MKUltra. Cool, huh? I’m in the deadline cave hard on this one, feeling so lucky and grateful, and having an absolute blast. It’ll be out in February!
Annnd last but not least, I’m co-hosting a new podcast called Cult Faves with the one and only Cher Martinetti (who founded SyFy Fangrrls and is its editorial mastermind). We’re exploring our shared obsession with cults with each of us picking and leading a discussion of a different cult each week. It’s been a lot of fun so far and our first episode just dropped — we discuss our first introduction to cults, why we’re so fascinated with them, and then dive right in on a little known cult called The Source Family. So check it out and consider leaving an iTunes review? We’re doing this all DIY and every share or subscribe helps. Plus, I think it’s going to be such a fun trip. Take it with us!
We’re on iTunes and most everywhere else (or will be soon) (you can also find us by searching!) — or you can listen from our Anchor page. Because I love you, I’ll give you a sneak preview of what we’re doing for next week’s episode — we’re going to be talking about all about a cult that never actually existed, the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. SUBSCRIBE, Y’ALL.
And that is truly all the news! For now. More soon. That is actual content. In the meantime, I hope summer is treating you nice.