Five Things You Didn't Know About Today's Release
Happy paperback birthday, Chaotic Orbits!
This summer keeps slipping away, and today is the day that my latest, Chaotic Orbits, is finally out! This is an omnibus edition that compiles all three original novellas + a brand new short story in a gorgeous new cover:
Fun Facts About This Book:
I started writing this book in Arizona, after an unsavory conversation with someone at a convention who didn’t think I could write a non-Star Wars book with spunk that would sell. Every time someone buys a copy of the book, they prove him wrong. 🥰 I literally dedicated the book to spite.
When I wrote Star Wars: The Princess and the Scoundrel, I originally pitched them the title Chaotic Orbits—which is a real astronomical term to mean two celestial objects that are orbiting so erratically, they will eventually crash into each other. This felt appropriate for Han and Leia, but it wasn’t a “Star Warsy” enough title…and when I then got the idea for Ada and Rian, I knew that was the right opening.
I have never had a book change less in editing than this one. I did almost no rewrites at all, and only nominal changes. It was like lightning in a bottle to write them that fast—only a few weeks for each novella—and have them come out of my brain exactly how I wanted them to.
Ada Lamarr is named after Ada Lovelace (one of the Western world’s earliest female scientists who invented computers) and Hedy Lamarr (a midcentury actress who was as smart as she was beautiful—and helped invent Blutooth). Rian White is named after Rian Johnson, director of Star Wars: The Last Jedi and The Knives Out Mysteries, and Benoit Blanc, the star detective of those mysteries—“Blanc” means “white.”
My mother always told me that if I used the “F” word in a book, it would never sell. The combined omnibus uses it 159 times.
Other fun facts!
The artist for the cover is Dani Pendergast, who is also the illustrator for Leigh Bardugo’s Demon in the Woods.
The bound paperback costs less than one hardcover novella! You get all three novellas for less than the price of one!
Not only do you get all three, you also get a bonus short story! Which is a prison break story from Rian’s POV (and it almost half the size of a novella, so it’s big one!).
Need more short stories? The adventure Ada has between Book 1 and Book 2 is going to be a part of the Owl Crate anthology, Future States
It’s not just me that thinks this book is good! It got a Star from the Library Journal! And Publisher’s Weekly called it “An un-put-downable page-turner” and Locus said, “More, please of Ada’s adventures, much much more!” and Paste Magazine said “Reading Ada’s voice is a sheer joy. She’s catty, caustic and utterly charming…” Thanks, guys! :)
And last, but not least: you can get signed copies with a beautiful foil art print only from my local independent bookstore, Malaprops!
Upcoming Events:
Join me and Sara in our upcoming launch for The Blood Queen!
This is the only place to get a signed copy of The Blood Queen by both of us, plus exclusive art prints! ALSO: I’ll be sliding in some Dragon of the Deep goodies with every book ordered there as well….
Other news…
I just sent a newsletter with the exciting information on my latest book announcement—I’m writing Leia and Luke in Star Wars: Twin Crossroads!—you can read more about it here. Since that one was just last week, I won’t belabor this email with a bunch more, but thank you for sharing the joy with me!
Congrats! Putting on my TBR pile!
HAPPY BOOK DAY, BETH!!