It’s been five months since the launch of Ghostly Chords and the reception has been great! Everyone who read it and reached out to me has made me feel very special. Thank you all for reading! And if you have read it, I would love for you to post your review on Goodreads, it really helps generate long-term buzz on a book!
Despite the fact that the world has been flipped upside down (and then shaken up, and then stirred, and then flipped upside down again), I have been working on a lot of things for you all and I would love to share the progress on them:
The Ghost That Came for Tea - This is a prequel story to Ghostly Chords in which Deryn and Glyn are about ages 6 and 8, respectively. I wanted to explore the beginning fracture of the relationship between Deryn and Glyn. By the time we see them in Ghostly Chords, they are at odds with each other, but it wasn’t always that way. A ghost began to place a wedge in their sisterly friendship. Another thing this story allowed me to do was touch on the dynamics between Deryn and Glyn’s parents, Beatrys and Ivor, and their grandmother, Esyltt. Their relationships played second fiddle to the sisters in Ghostly Chords, so I enjoyed this chance to put them front and center. There are a lot of fun and cute moments in this novelette and I can’t wait for you to check it out. Status: Doing some edits from beta readers before getting it to the editor.
Sour Plum Juice - This was originally inspired by the novella and short story collection by Eileen Chang, Love in a Fallen City. The collection portrayed early 20th century Hong Kong in such a deeply engrossing way that I just had to do something in that setting. I also was playing with the idea remembering something that you never knew, something that was only ever described to you. I took inspiration from the Gros Michel Banana, a banana that is mostly extinct today and lives on in the flavor of Laffy Taffy. It isn’t quite done, but it is very exciting. It is my first real take on a unique cyberpunk setting, one that I hope will feel very grounded to you when you read it. Status: Working on the first draft.
Safari Warden #47 - This is my big project. I started it right after Ghostly Chords was published and walked away from the partially complete first draft to work on the stories above. I was watching a lot of videos and reading a lot of books on modern Chinese imperialism, and I wanted to write a story that puts what could happen in Africa as the viewpoint for this story. The first draft is nowhere near done, but I feel like the book has a lot of potential. I could go on, but I will leave you with that little taste. Status: First draft started, but nowhere near completed.
I hope you are all excited for all these different projects and I can’t wait to share them with you! Thank you again for all your support! Until next time, Ed