This Is My Secret: The Blog and Website of Writer Kristin Cashore

Look what just arrived in the mail. My UK/Australia/NZ tenth anniversary edition, from Gollancz, is ready to release on September 20! I knew about the new colors and classic look, but I didn't know about the hint of map in the background, or that was it was going to be a hardcover. I'm so pleased. Happy birthday, Katsa!

Seems like there are a lot of book birthdays recently. Today, Jane, Unlimited comes out in paperback. Not only is she at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but at Powells, she is a Pick of the Month! She's probably also at your favorite indie bookstore :o).

Also, I want to share something I've been doing lately, in case it's something you might like to do too. Do you know about Postcards to Voters? Now and then, when I have a few minutes, I've been writing postcards to Democrats who live in districts with important upcoming elections. It's an impressively organized system — very easy to get as many addresses as you have time for instantly — and it makes me feel less powerless and more hopeful. If you're a person who wants more registered Democrats to show up at the polls, consider checking it out! (Edited to add: the voting date for Danny O'Connor is actually August 7, not August 2, so if you're joining in, do NOT copy my postcard! Agh!)

I have a new book coming out in Fall 2017, and I'm finally allowed to talk about it. :o)

It's called Jane, Unlimited. I won't say a lot for now—more will be forthcoming—but for today... Jane has led a small and mostly ordinary life, raised by her aunt Magnolia—an adjunct professor at a small college and a world-traveling deep sea photographer. But when Aunt Magnolia dies unexpectedly on one of her expeditions, Jane finds herself adrift, and when an invitation comes from an old acquaintance to accompany her to a gala at her family's island mansion called Tu Reviens, Jane leaps at the chance. There, her story takes a turn, or rather, five turns. What Jane doesn't know is that Tu Reviens will offer her choices that can ultimately determine the course of her untethered life. But at Tu Reviens, every choice comes with a reward, or a price.

This book has been years in the making, and has gone through more revisions than any of my previous books, probably because its str…

Hi everyone. Just one more note about Bitterblue: if you're a Nook reader or read on an app that supports Nook books and have been considering buying the Bitterblue ebook, do it on Tuesday, September 17, when I understand Bitterblue will be the Nook Daily Find. I'm told it will cost only $2.99 that day. (Edited to add, Tuesday morning: There was some price confusion this morning, but it is, indeed, now available at that link for $2.99. My apologies for the earlier mixup.)

Also, I got my author copies of the paperback edition in the mail the other day, and I have to say, the Firebird imprint at Penguin did a really beautiful job with the paperback. Included as extra backmatter is a printed version of a long post I once wrote about the process of (hand)writing and revising Bitterblue -- that post, for those with long memories, that had pictures from my notebooks, etc. Of course the paperback also includes all of Ian Schoenherr's beauteous art.

By the way, the Bitterblue USA/Canada paperback will be released on September 17, which seems to be next Tuesday. Boy did that ever sneak up on me. In case anyone's been waiting for that, just wanted to pass on the word. It's open for preorders at various book buying sites – and don't forget to support your local indie!

Some news deserves mention on the blog: in Germany, Fire, or DieFlammende, debuted on the Spiegel adult hardcover bestseller list. Shazam! Thanks so much to my German readers. I cannot wait to visit you in March.

Also, FYI to American and Canadian readers: Fire is just coming out in paperback (the release date is January 25). Shazam!

(I've been trying to incorporate the word "Shazam!" into my vocabulary more often. Am I overdoing it?)

I'm going through a stretch in which my dreams are directly related to exactly what I just did. The other day, I took a trapeze class, listened to the soundtrack of Les Miserables for the FIRST TIME EVER (how had I gone my whole life without doing this?), and had a dream that night that Derek Jeter (the shortstop for the New York Yankees) and I were setting off to rescue Jean Valjean (the hero of Les Miserables) together. I'm not sure what we were rescuing him from or if we succeeded; the dream seemed to be about the journey. Derek Jet…

The extremely silly gentleman to the right (click to make him bigger. Really. You want to see him bigger) is my friend and fellow writer Will Ludwigsen, who was flabbergasted to find Graceling in the dumps at his local Barnes & Noble. Check out his strange, sad, and lovely story "Remembrance is Something Like a House" in Interfictions 2: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing, just released by Small Beer Press. My sister, secret codename: Cordelia, and I had the pleasure of listening to Will read this story around the campfire a couple Halloweens ago. Cordelia was dressed up as Randolph the Orange-Nosed Reindeer and I was dressed up as a Leprechaun for Change. (This was right before the 2008 election. Beyond that, don't ask. ^_^)

So, I promised that I'd let you know if I stumbled across any gems in my reading. I have. The Magician's Elephant, by Kate DiCamillo, is a book about magic, love, and longing, and it is fabulous.

A FAQ.

Can you tell me when your b…