Writer's Grove

Candle & Crow

Coming October 1: Candle & Crow, the final novel of both the Ink & Sigil series and the Iron Druid universe! I’ll continue to write short stories and novellas in the universe as the whim takes me, but this is the last big book that wraps up everything for everyone. Not only do we get resolutions for Al, Buck, and Nadia, but we get final farewells from Atticus, Granuaile, and Owen as well, plus a cameo from Leif Helgarson. And the crow…well, she’s had a wild ride, hasn’t she? And it only gets wilder.

Major props to artist Sarah J. Coleman (@Inkymole on social media) for this gorgeous hand-drawn cover. I have THINGS to SHARE, but take yourself a good gander at it, and then check out the blurbity blurb below:

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Iron Druid Chronicles comes the final book in the “action-packed, enchantingly fun” (Booklist) Ink & Sigil series, as an ink-slinging wizard pursues the answer to a very personal mystery: Who cast a pair of curses on his head?

Al MacBharrais has a most unusual job: He’s a practitioner of ink-and-sigil magic, tasked with keeping order among the gods and monsters that dwell hidden in the human world. But there’s one supernatural mystery he’s never been able to solve: Years ago, someone cast twin curses on him that killed off his apprentices and drove away loved ones who heard him speak, leaving him bereft and isolated. 

But he’s not quite alone: As Al works to solve this mystery, his friends draw him into their own eccentric dramas. Buck Foi the hobgoblin has been pondering his own legacy—and has a plan for a daring shenanigan that will make him the most celebrated hobgoblin of all. Nadia, goth queen and battle seer, is creating her own cult around a god who loves whisky and cheese. 

And the Morrigan, a former Irish death goddess, has decided she wants not only to live as an ordinary woman but also to face the most perilous challenge of the mortal world: online dating. 

Meanwhile, Al crosses paths with old friends and new—including some beloved Druids and their very good dogs—in his globe-trotting quest to solve the mystery of his curses. But he’s pulled in so many different directions by his colleagues, a suspicious detective, and the whims of destructive gods that Al begins to wonder: Will he ever find time to write his own happy ending?

WOOHOO!

I hope you’ll give a gift to your future October self and preorder here, which is a landing page with handy links to all the vendors for hardcover, ebook, and audio (yes, you can preorder the audio now)!

So in my newsletter, Words & Birds, I have a bunch of extra goodies like a contest to get signed copies for sharing Candle & Crow on social media, and new Oberon bookplates, and news about print editions of Oberon’s Meaty Mysteries. And over on Chuck Wendig’s blog, Terribleminds, I kinda geek out about how the sirens you see on the cover (the bird women) were always supposed to be bird women instead of mermaids with a come-hither look. Here I’d like to geek out about some other stuff that isn’t on the cover: THE BLUE MEN OF THE MINCH.

I don’t want to spoil anything here about what the Blue Men are up to in the novel, okay? I just want to gush about how freakin’ cool they are as magical critters. Because they’re fairly unique in the world’s mythologies: There aren’t parallels for them like there are for many other monsters and gods. For example, there are many thunder gods and goddesses of wisdom, gods of the sea, gods of fire, and so on. There are likewise many water spirits, treefolk, and variations on brownies, kobolds, you name it. But there’s nothing anywhere like the Blue Men of the Minch. They’re uniquely Scottish.

The Minch is the stretch of sea betwixt the Outer Hebrides and the mainland of Scotland. It’s been one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world ever since there was shipping. Vikings came through there and raided. There are regular ferries scurrying back and forth all the time. And just a huuuuge buttload of cargo from around the world passes through there every day.

The Blue Men will drag you down to the ocean floor—they have plenty of parallels in that sense—but where they differ is that they’ll give you a fighting chance first. Or rather, a verbal chance. You want a captain who can think quick on his or her feet, because the Blue Men will speak a couple of lines of poetry at you, and if you reply in kind, they’ll allow you to pass. Reply in prose, however, or be rude, and you’re going to be breathing seawater very shortly. There are plenty of theories about the origins of the Blue Men and attempts to explain what they “really” were, like maybe a tattooed guy in a canoe who might look like he’s rising out of the water, and you can check them out on their Wikipedia page, but come on. They’re cool Scottish members of the Fae.

So you have the Blue Men to look forward to; the continued struggles of the Crow Whom You Know; Al and Buck’s shenanigans; Nadia’s enterprise with Lhurnog the Unhallowed; sirens who aren’t sex fish; and you’ll finally see the shite that Gladys Who Has Seen Some Shite came to see, and so much more. It’s a book chock full of stuff and things, and I hope you’ll enjoy and get your friends in on the fun. Thanks so much for reading!