I'm back, with news again. If you follow me on Instagram, you've probably noticed all the buzz around One Must Die over the past couple of weeks. So, now I'm here to give a little background on this secret project.

Around Christmas time last year, or maybe Thanksgiving, a group of my author friends got the idea to write a book together. The past few years there have been a lot of authors collaborating on book series, particularly collections of novellas, but I have to be honest, I personally don't have time to read through a set of fifteen novellas by unknown authors. Since these are typically standalone books with maybe a common theme (like fairytale retellings) I usually just buy the ones by authors I'm already familiar with or particularly curious about. But that sorta kills the idea of finding new readers for all of the authors involved in these projects.

Enter our book. Besides all being authors of our own books, we're also all moms, some with extra jobs (several of us are also editors), and some very busy homeschool teachers. We decided to take the idea of writing a set of books or an anthology of short stories, and chose to write one book, together! Since we live all over the world, this is what our planning sessions look like. It can be a bit chaotic, but it's also been a whole lot of fun. Together we created a location, a very loose game plan, and a cast of characters. We had a couple of ladies who ended up being too busy to participate, but in the end the six of us have put together a Steampunk Murder Mystery novella telling the story of seven young people competing for a fortune beyond imagination, all the while knowing that one of them will die.

(Authors pictured are Sarah Everest(me), Candice Pedraza Yamnitz, C.C. Urie, Claire Kohler, Lydia Mae, and Amber Lambda)

The story is currently out with Beta readers, and we're so excited to put on the finishing touches. The release is set for October 31st, but here is the preorder link, where you can also get your hands on the book as well as some super fun merch, including this color print of all the characters:

https://onemustdie.square.site/

Over the next month we'll be sharing more details about the characters, the authors, and more, so be sure to follow along on IG (@transientdrifter) for more details.

Aside from this, I've been busy formatting Bohemian Dragon Awakening! I have the preorder almost set up, and next newsletter I hope to share the cover and all the details about this final book in the Darkening Dragons trilogy! I'm so excited to finally have this book ready to go. It's been a long time coming, and I love that this story features the country where I currently reside: the beautiful Czech Republic.

Stay lovely Word Lovers, and I hope to have more to share soon,

Sarah