I know--I'm ridiculous, popping up to do a long blog series and then disappearing again. Still, I suspect half of you are on vacation anyway!

Nevertheless, I have to share this, because I am just so excited. OF METAL AND WISHES, formerly "Factory Ghost," was a book I never meant to write. It hit me sideways while I was on sub with SCAN, and I wrote it in a few weeks. It came tearing out of me, the voice, the world, the characters. It is so different from Sanctum, more lyrical, I guess--but in its own way, no less brutal. It's an odd duck of a book that landed me with an editor and an imprint I hugely admire.

And today I get to share the jacket copy!

There are whispers of a ghost in the slaughterhouse where sixteen-year-old Wen assists her father in his medical clinic—a ghost who grants wishes to those who need them most. When one of the Noor, men hired as cheap factory labor, humiliates Wen, she makes an impulsive wish of her own, and the Ghost grants it. Brutally. 

Guilt-ridden, Wen befriends the Noor, including their outspoken leader, a young man named Melik. At the same time, she is lured by the mystery of the Ghost and learns he has been watching her… for a very long time. 

As deadly accidents fuel tensions within the factory, Wen must confront her growing feelings for Melik, who is enraged at the sadistic factory bosses and the prejudice faced by his people at the hand of Wen’s, and her need to appease the Ghost, who is determined to protect her against any threat—real or imagined. She must decide whom she can trust, because as her heart is torn, the factory is exploding around her … and she might go down with it.

That's the long version. The short version: this is Phantom of the Opera set in a meat factory. But I added a few twists of my own. And if you want a hint, I offer you this gif (lovingly provided by an early reader, also the intern who plucked Sanctum from the slush). This image also sums up how I feel about this book.


You can add Of Metal and Wishes to your to-be-read pile here ...