Happy New Year! I hope your world and year ahead is filled with much happiness, joy, and moments of awe and wonder! Thanks as always for being a newsletter subscriber and supporter! If you haven’t yet and want to, you can easily Subscribe Here (the form appears at the bottom of this page).

Meanwhile, I am very overdue with an update so there’s lots to share.

Channeling My Inner Cartophile Tendencies

As a cartophile and a former cartography student, I especially love when novels include ornate and detailed maps of fictitious worlds, so it was inevitable for me to create one, and something I looked forward to creating for The Way of the River. Not only are maps an artistic endeavor and enjoyable to look at, but from a writing standpoint, they are an incredibly helpful tool in working out locations and travel routes so that writing can be more detailed and concrete when describing characters’ movements within a story.

That said, those that follow along my Instagram account will have already seen this updated map of Eldmoor and surrounding lands. But for those of you who are subscribers to the newsletter, I thought I would share a little more about the new details and locations I have placed on the map.

A Peek into Book Two by Way of the Updated Map

As a newsletter subscriber, I wanted to go further and give you a special peek into some of the things to come in Book Two by way of the new map. If you saw the last version of the map, you may notice that there are (at this writing) three new locations added to this edition of the map. Prior prime locations that appeared on the map that are in Book One include Kellandale Manor and Kellandale Wood, as well as towns and villages of Waterbridge, Craggybog, and Cavenwell, the nearest town to Coddlefin’s Training Grounds.

New locations on this version, which you will appear in the upcoming Book Two, include the village of Dalbane (which appears in a pivotal chapter I am currently working on); the city of Ashtal—where the Wolton, O’Conor, and Meade families are working together to establish a community school in response to the recent restrictions imposed on the educational system in Eldmoor; and the port town of Lesser Swale, which is not only the route to Adrai, where Lina’s relatives on her mother’s side are from, but also one of the main receiving areas where exotic animals from around the world that have been captured by Coddlefin’s minions are brought in by sea, and trained over to his grounds up north.

Book Two Progress Report

As far as progress on Book Two, I am just finishing up an exciting (and very satisfying-to-write) Chapter 8, and heading into Chapter 9. All chapters are well-outlined, but Chapter 8 (the title of which has changed since the last Instagram post mentioning it) came with a big surprise—to me! One of the main characters decided, as I wrote, to change the course of the story by making a bold decision to do something that hadn’t occurred to me while outlining. The alteration in course of action is very in what it means for the story, and required I go back and revise some of the future chapters, but it is well worth it. I can’t wait to share it when the book is complete.

Beta / ARC Readers for Book Two

I still don’t have a release date as of yet, but what I do know and want to share now, is that I will be seeking out Beta Readers as well as ARC readers for Book Two (I will be offering limited spots for each), and offering pre-orders this time around, instead of starting with a Kickstarter Campaign like we did with the first book (which was incredibly rewarding! For those of you who took part in the campaign by backing the first printing of Book One, your support is everlasting and has helped set up the launch for Book Two…I cannot thank you enough for that!)

For those that might be interested in being either an ARC or Beta reader,, I wil share more details as time goes on in the updates in this newsletter.

Already Specially Priced Book Club Bundles Reduced through February 11th!

For those who belong to book clubs, or are considering starting one, I am offering Book Club Bundles of 3 and 5 books at a reduced bundle price, and it also includes reduced shipping! In addition, through February 11, the bundles are further discounted so if you’re interested now is a great time to grab them!

Until the next time, see you on FB and/or Instagram, where a book giveaway is taking place. All are welcome to enter, and all information and instructions can be found on this post January 2023 Book Instagram Giveaway.

—Shan