Kate Heartfield's Blog

Over the last decade, depending what projects were in drafts or edits in a given year, I’ve bounced from century to century, often overlapping (in the last year, for example, I’ve worked in the 19th century for Assassin’s Creed, in the 5th century for The Valkyrie, and the 20th century for the forthcoming novel, plus a bit of short fiction in the 16th century, plus some research in other periods for future work…) So sometimes I’ll watch TV or movies set in a period, not as research, exactly, but...

This is a question authors sometimes get, and it’s a lovely one. (Thank you!) There’s a short answer, and a longer answer, and ordinarily I don’t inflict the longer answer on people in casual conversation. But I’m going to elaborate here, because hey, what are blogs for? And it’s the time of year when people are buying books (right?) so maybe this will be useful.

Caveat that everything I’m about to say applies to traditionally published authors (some parts of the answer might be different for...

This was a busy year for publications, and the promotion work that goes along with that! I had two new novels out in the world in 2023:

There were also two releases that don’t “count” for things like awards because they weren’t out for the first time in 2023, but they were milestones in my life all the same:

I was reminded of a writing milestone anniversary today, so I thought it would be fun to look at what was happening with my writing career if I go back in five-year intervals from 2023. (I say “writing career” rather than “writing” because while it would probably be instructive to look at examples of how my writing itself changed over that time, I don’t have the energy to do that today!)

FIVE YEARS AGO: In late 2018, I had just published my first novel, Armed in Her Fashion, with a small Cana...

Back in August I decided to buy a typewriter. I’ve never really used one — I learned typing in “Informatique” class in French immersion in 1989, a class that, as I recall, spent a great deal of time on teaching us how to plug our monitors in, when it wasn’t teaching us hands on home row. But I wanted one for a few reasons.

First, because I’m sick (literally) of spending so much time staring into a computer screen. I am starting to feel like Jimmy Jet and His TV Set, that soon my eyes wil...

I’ve lived in Ottawa since 1995. The writing community here has helped me immensely as an artist — from the open mic nights at the Tree Reading Series where I first read my fiction in front of people, to the writers’ critique groups that have welcomed me, to the Ottawa International Writers Festival where I’ve been a host, a guest, a board member, to Can*Con and the other science fiction and fantasy writing events where I’ve made so many friends and learned so much. I would not be the writer I a...

I’m very pleased to say that The Embroidered Book won the Aurora Award for Best Novel this weekend. Luckily, I had made some speech notes and put on a fancy dress just in case! What a lovely honour even to be nominated along with Silvia Moreno Garcia, Guy Gavriel Kay, Premee Mohamed and Emily St. John Mandel. My speech is here, at about 1 hour and 12 minutes, if you’d like to watch.

This is my second Aurora award. Armed in Her Fashion/The Chatelaine won for best novel in 2019. (I’ve also ...

I drove home from the airport this afternoon after a week at a convention and visiting family, flopped onto the couch with my phone, opened up Facebook and saw a post listing the World Fantasy Award shortlist. To my astonishment and delight, there was my name in the short fiction category! (Some awards give the nominees a heads up before the list comes out, but the WFA does not.)

I’ve never been nominated for a World Fantasy Award before, and this is the first award nomination for this story....

Today’s the publication day for The Chatelaine, my weird fantasy novel set in Bruges in the 14th century. There are many things I love about this novel: the spiteful, middle-aged woman at its heart, her companions (her head-in-the-clouds daughter, a sharp-tongued mercenary, a widowed and bereaved miller’s wife, a bourgeois townswoman). There’s a beast who lives in a canal, and strange creatures forged in a beast that people call “Hell” even though it’s not really. And Hell is captained by a woma...

The second book in my Assassin’s Creed series releases today! It’s available in ebook and audiobook everywhere (Edit to add a correction: looks like the audiobook is delayed until August 1). The paperback is out now in North America, but it’ll be another few months for the UK paperback.

The Resurrection Plot follows Simeon and Pierrette to Cairo, and then all over Europe, as they unravel a Templar plot rooted in their own pasts.

My heartfelt thanks to everyone at Ubisoft and at Aconyte Boo...