A novelette, a box set, and an admission of defeat
Jul 27, 2026 9:01 am
Hi
I hope you’re well and safe wherever you are in the world. If you’re new to my newsletter – welcome! It’s lovely to have you here.
Exciting news!
It's been crazy cold in the mountains the last couple of weeks - perfect weather to sit in my cosy room and look out at the garden while I get some work done! As a result, I've been very productive.
I'm very excited to announce that I've released my new novelette, Borrowed Days. It's a free gift to anyone who is interested in my books, and you can find it here:
As well as the novelette, I've put together a new box set for Books 1-3 of The Echoes of War series, called Beneath the Same Sky. The previous box set had got a bit messy - I put it together before I released When the Light Still Shone, and while the books are all standalone novels and can be read in any order, When the Light Still Shone's relationship to both Another Time and Place and The Last Goodbye meant that it worked best in the series as Book #3. So I've unpublished the original Echoes of War box set and replaced it with Beneath the Same Sky. That's probably all a bit confusing, but the upshot is that you can now get all three novels that are about US airmen in one box set, for only $7.99.
And as you probably already know, All That Remains is now available for preorder. You can find your preferred store at this link to my website:
https://www.samgrosserbooks.com/historical-fiction-all-that-remains. The Advance Review Copies will be available in a couple of weeks, so keep an eye out for a notification email from me if you signed up for one.
In amongst all the successes of the last few weeks, I've also had to admit defeat with getting paid for the Albanian translation of The Last Goodbye. If you've been following me for a while, you may remember how excited I was when I was approached out of the blue by Botimet Toena, Albania's oldest and most reputable publishing house, with an offer to translate and publish The Last Goodbye. I was thrilled. Emails were exchanged, a contract (vetted by the lawyers at the Alliance of Independent Authors - ALLI) was signed, a modest advance agreed.
Then nothing. Zilch. For months. Eventually, I saw that the book was on sale on their website and emailed to ask when I was going to receive my advance. I was fobbed off. Repeatedly. I sent a sternly-worded letter drafted by ALLI's lawyers. They requested more tax-related documents. I sent them. Still nothing. And a couple of weeks ago, I saw that they had the audacity to promote my book on a post on Instagram, which was a bit of a slap in the face. But at this stage, there really isn't anything else I can do - it's too small an amount to be worth pursuing through legal channels so I guess I'll just have to chalk it up to experience.
Still, onward and upward, as they say …
What I'm reading. Sycorax by Nydia Hetherington. Interesting imagining of the origins of the witch in Shakespeare's Tempest who has already died when the play opens, but whose presence casts a large shadow. I love these retellings of female figures in old stories.
What I'm watching. Odysseus. Went to the big screen for this one. It really does live up to the hype. An epic, moving, and immensely enjoyable interpretation of one of the oldest stories in history.
I'll be in touch again soon. Hope all is well with you and that you're reading something wonderful.
Kind regards
Samantha
Here are the links to my books. Have you read them all?
https://www.samgrosserbooks.com
