Ten…nine…eight…
As the ball drops this New Year’s Eve, here’s all the news from Stabenowland…
…seven…
Death of an Eye dropped on December 6th. Set in Alexandria in the time of Cleopatra, it’s the first novel in what I hope will be a series of history mysteries featuring the Eye of Isis, Cleopatra’s private investigator/hatchet man/fixer. My first first novel in a long time and I’d forgotten how hard it was to write a first in series, trying to create an ensemble cast that will be interesting enough to keep me interested in writing it and you interested in reading it. Fingers crossed…
…six, five…
At present I’m working on the 22nd Kate Shugak novel, called No Fixed Line. The title comes from the Robert Frost poem ‘There Are Roughly Zones,” this passage:
…though there is no fixed line between wrong and right,
There are roughly zones whose laws must be obeyed.
A plane crashes in the Quilaks on New Year’s Eve, the only survivors two children who don’t speak English. The crash occurs in the middle of an off-and-on blizzard that began the previous Thanksgiving (where Kate21 ended), the NTSB is busy elsewhere, and ex-Trooper Jim Chopin is pulled out of retirement (temporarily! he insists!) to try to identify the aircraft, collect the corpses, and determine why no flight has been reported missing. Meanwhile, Kate Shugak receives an unexpected and unwelcome charge from beyond the grave that will change the face of the Park forever.
[Publishing in November, signing at the Poisoned Pen on November 9th.]
…four…
After which (somebody hold Sandy Nolfi down) I will be writing the fifth Liam Campbell novel. The marvelous and miraculous Nic Cheetham at Head of Zeus in the UK is reprinting the first four, and I have wreaked havoc on Liam and Wy’s lives. She said modestly. Here’s a clue:
…three…
And then I’ll get to work on the second Eye of Isis novel, which begins with Tetisheri disappearing into the bowels of the Great Library of Alexandria to read through the case files of Eyes past. Think she’ll find a cold case to tackle? Me, too.
…two…
In re Storyknife, there is nothing but good news to report. The Rasmuson Foundation has awarded us $400,000 in infrastructure costs that will kick in as soon as we raise the last of our construction funds, Nancy Nordhoff is matching every dollar donated to Storyknife from the end of October to the end of the year in our end-of-year campaign, and we are hoping for good news from the Murdock Trust in the first half of next year. All by way of saying we hope to begin construction in 2019 and to be in operation in 2020.
Thank you all, every one of you, who have donated to the cause. You are nurturing and sustaining the women writers of the future, and you better brace yourselves for being bored to tears by being thanked because we will never stop. Starting now:
Thank you!
…one. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to you too Dana.
I am so very happy to read all the good news! Sandy will be insufferable, but it is her turn. Thank you for all that you do. Is it wrong to hope for a Starvin the future? If not, I do understand. Happy New Year, Almost!
I’m so excited, I just can’t hide it! I’m about to lose control and I think I like it!!!! I think I have the four Liam in hard cover, let me go look!!!! Later! HNY !!!!
Heart is all a flutter! A new Liam Campbell! Thank you, Dana.
Happy New Year Dana!
That’s one hell of a year ahead. Looking forward to all good things for you,friend and for Storyknife, as well.
Hurrah on all counts! Cannot wait for Kate and Liam! And Dana, you’ll have one last chance to meet me (wink) when my hubby and I return to Homer next July. I’ll be in touch hoping for a meet!
Thank you for the New Years gift!! Liam! I love him!
Were you the one who recommended P F Chisholm and Sir Robert Carey? If so- many thanks! I just finished the first one and laughed out loud at parts- and was totally discombobulated at the ending!
I was! I’m delighted to hear that you enjoyed it.
Hey Marty, I plan to be in Homer sometime in July too. Maybe we can meet up for a drink, or something….. So looking forward to the new books, and I’m going to try to be in Scottsdale on Nov. 16th!!
Happy New Year to you, Dana, and to all Danamaniacs.
Happy New Year from The Lizard in Cornwall, England, to all at, and in “Danaland”. Thank you so much for the brilliantly good news in the bulletin. Waiting with bated breath for 22, the next Eye with Liam and Wy making a much welcome return too!! Thank you Dana and to all who are part of the team x
All good news…can’t wait for Kate, Liam, the Eye, etc. I got “Death of an Eye” for Christmas and finished it in one day. Liked it so much, I decided to read the Silk and Song series. I’ve read all three in the last couple of days. I didn’t think I would like them….I was so wrong….I loved them. Happy New Year, Dana, and to all the Danamaniacs.🎉
Delighted to hear it! Thanks, Judie.
Busy lady. Excited about all!
Woo Hoo! Nothing but good news! Always excited for Kate and now Liam too!!! Is the new book going to come out in an audiobook? I’ve been waiting but I guess I can actually read it! I did read Kate 21 several times waiting for the audiobook 🙂
That is a lot of exciting news. I can’t wait for all the books. You are going to be doing a lot of typing and research.
Ginger
A lot of excellent news!
Currently re reading ‘Kate’ as I needed something very cheerful in a trying time.
Have a splendid and wonderful New Year –
Pippa
(Gosport, south coast of England)
Wow! You are going to be a busy, busy lady, and I can’t wait to enjoy all of them. Happy New Year, Dana!
Happy New Year! Your news is very exciting. Thank you for writing wonderful stories, stretching our minds, and doing your own thing with your writing! Can’t wait!
Wow, that is an impressive list of to dos! You are inspiring. OK, I Will finish my cat face sweater, and write the Sherlockian story I’ve been doodling about…and then the third Murdermobile.. A Kindle published series I started eons ago….. I’m not even taking bets on the quilt I have 1/4 finished……
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year Dana ! Thanks for great news of more great reading to come!
Thank you for posting this – it gives me a target to be looking for the new Shugak. I had been looking for a place to get a note to you, in thanks for the Shugak series (and Campbell as well, but, well, Shugak…) when I found this. I had read most of the series, out of order, as I round them, over the past few years. And then in 2018, went through the whole series, twice, in order. (Plus the Campbell series.) What I live hoping for is a Shugak story that tells us more about the first days of Kate and Mutt, both of them scarred and younger, beginning their relationship, and their partnership. Even a short story… (Begging, here…) I even had to get the PBSKids/WholeFoods stuffed wolf puppy this past December…
(I’m in New Orleans, a wolf would be inappropriate. – Someone in my neighborhood has brought their two wolf mixes several of the past couple of years, the they’ve been miserable even in most days of December-February.)
That’s a great idea about a short story, Charles! You never know, I might take it and run with it. (And I cannot tell you the pity I feel for those two hybrids in NO of all places. And no wolf hybrid should be anywhere near large quantities of human beings anyway, never mind the humidity.)
Barb Simmons Dana, I have enjoyed all of your books, including the Coast Guard ones. I love your new ones that include history, so you our learning at the same time , your enjoying the story. Thank you
Thank you so much, Barb! I had a ball writing Death of an Eye and I can’t wait to start on the next one.
Going on our first trip to Alaska….Viking oceans first! Thanks to your novels…looking forward to beautiful scenery…Denali for 4 days..just got Death of an Eye..will start immediately….thank you for your books.
I’m so glad you’re coming, I hope you have a wonderful time! Mostly I hope you have great weather. (And that you enjoy the book.)
Another reminder of a suffering Mutt puppy – “dog” found freezing in Estonian river turns out to be a wolf. https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/dog-rescued-from-freezing-river-is-actually-a-wolf/ The full set of pictures of him are here (even if the post is in Estonian): https://www.facebook.com/loomakaitse/photos/pcb.2561682393859310/2561681963859353/?type=3&theater and are wonderful (since the story has a happy ending). This wolf’s eyes are amazing (if the wrong color for Mutt).
Is there an audiobook for Death of an Eye? My wife is driving me crazy with the “see how to pronounce …”. If not could you please put up a guide? Video or series of audio files or just a printed list of the names? Thank you! [My wallet is ready to buy the audiobook!]
I’m excited about Kate and Liam, too! Hope to see you in November!
Hi, Darryl–No, no audio book yet but my agent is on the case.
PLEASE more Tetisheri! And Cleopatra – the most sympathetic and dynamic portrayal of this famed woman. Never mind those other books: More Eye of Isis, please!!
I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to hear you say so, Teri, thank you! But you better run and hide now because the Kate fans will be after you.
As soon as I read the prologue, I realized that you must love Mara Daughter of the Nile as much as I do. I reread that book every year. And I too loved the twist at the end, so unexpected, about Apollodorus’s backstory. A stroke of genius. Looking forward to the next book! As well as the next Kate (I reread Breakup every year as well, my all time favorite Kate)
Thank you for the compliments! I did read Mara when I was younger and loved the time and place. I liked less the treatment of Hatshepsut, but that’s a topic for our book club down the line. [grin]
yes, Mara was written in the 1950s and the story unfortunately reflects those attitudes with the treatment of Hatshepsut (although H gets the last word I think at the end when she says her fame, her buildings and her accomplishments will outlast Thutmose’s…and they have!). So I look at Death of an Eye as redeeming Mara’s story in a way, as well as a tribute to it, in that Tetisheri is fighting for Cleopatra as Pharaoh, helping to subvert, even overthrow her brother Pharaoh…the mirror image as it were of Mara’s story. Kudos. Let me know when you start the book club 🙂
PS–I found a bio of Hatshepsut. I think she’s going to be a hero of my Cleopatra.