April 30th, 2014 • 100K, Shorts

This is actually two! two! two! announcements in one, sort of.

First, Orbit’s putting out an omnibus edition of the Inheritance Trilogy! Cover art is below, and it’s lovely, innit? Feels to me like it ties together my first published works with my upcoming works nicely, since the art’s in a similar vein with that of The Fifth Season. It will be available in print and ebook form.

But second — note that little bit of text at the bottom of the omnibus cover.

So, yeah. That’s the seekrit. I needed a bit of a palate-cleanser after writing The Fifth Season, and this idea had been tickling me, so I decided to scratch the itch.

Here’s what “The Awakened Kingdom” is about:

SOME TRUTHS MUST BE LEARNED THE HARD WAY… As the first new godling born in thousands of years — and the heir presumptive to Sieh the Trickster — Shill’s got big shoes to fill. She’s well on her way when she defies her parents and sneaks off to the mortal realm, which is no place for an impressionable young god. In short order she steals a demon’s grandchild, gets herself embroiled in a secret underground magical dance competition, and offends her oldest and most powerful sibling. But for Eino, the young Darren man whom Shill has befriended, the god-child’s silly games are serious business. Trapped in an arranged marriage and prohibited from pursuing his dreams, he has had enough. He will choose his own fate, even if he must betray a friend in the process — and Shill might just have to grow up faster than she thinks. The long awaited sequel to the Inheritance trilogy — a novella by award winning author N. K. Jemisin where a godling must struggle to grow in the shadow of her parents.

Now, please note, this is a novella and not a full novel, so it’s perfectly appropriate to keep calling the Inheritance Trilogy a “trilogy”. (No, I will not start calling it the Inheritance cycle. You’ve been down that road, Neo.) A few old faves will appear, but for the most part this is a new story with new characters. Also note that it’s not finished yet, so a) don’t ask me about it, b) I don’t know how long it will ultimately be, and c) a lot of things change between my drafts anyway so see point A again.

At the moment the story is a bit more lighthearted than the main trilogy, which is to say not quite as many people have died horribly yet. (C’mon, ya’ll, you know me by now.) Shill is a true child god — unlike Sieh, who just played at childhood — and frankly I’m loving her; writing her basically means contemplating how a being with an adult-level intellect, Phenomenal Cosmic Power, and no freaking clue about anything blunders through complicated events. But as the marketing text notes, a good chunk of the story will take place in Darr and focus on a young Darren man, in a society in which men have few rights and forced male circumcision is a thing — so still some Serious Stuff therein.

The novella will be available as a standalone ebook, note. And everything will be out December 9th of this year.