The official pub date for The Light of Burning Shadows in the UK was supposed to be August 6, but if you live in the UK and have been looking for the book you’ve probably noticed by now you haven’t found it. Turns out there was a small glitch in the delivery and the book will begin showing up in stores by the end of this week.

When I was writing A Darkness Forged in Fire I was in a relationship that was ending. When I wrote The Light of Burning Shadows I was single and dating madly (er, by which I mean a lot, as opposed to lunatic-like, although my dates might beg to differ). No doubt that colored my views on the relationship between Konowa and Visyna. Still, just as I had hope I would find the love of my life, I hoped these two characters would find a way, too. Actually, what I really hoped is that I would figure out how that might happen. I’m still working on it, but it’s been more than a little gratifying to see some blogs pick up on the relationship – as imperfect and challenged as it is – and root for it to survive and even succeed. This is all preamble to introduce you to a romance/mystery blog where I recently had the honor of being a guest blogger:

http://moonlightlacemayhem.blogspot.com/2009/08/magic-muskets-immortality-and-editor.html

A huge thanks to Carrie for the terrific article, and for asking me to participate.

As an editor I publish 30+ books a year which means I deal with a lot of authors. Some of them have websites and I thought it might be nice to make introductions as I’ve received a few emails asking me about what I do when I’m not writing the Iron Elves.

So, in no particular order, here they are:

Charles V. Jones, author of Boys of ’67, Red, White, Or Yellow and a forthcoming book on Marine Combat Photographers in WWII
http://www.redwhiteoryellow.com/

David Danelo, author of Blood Stripes and The Border
http://www.danelo.com/

Kirsten Holmstedt, author of Band of Sisters and The Girls Come Marching Home
http://www.girlscomemarchinghome.com/

George Bradford, author of the AFV Plans series and Rommel’s Afrika Korps
http://www.geocities.com/firefly1002000/

Robert W. Black, author of The Battalion, Cavalry Raids of the Civil War, Ghost, Thunderbolt, and Wizard, and the forthcoming The Ranger Force and Ranger Dawn
http://robertwblack.com/

Joseph Balkosi, author of Beyond the Beachhead, Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, and From Beachhead To Brittany
http://www.angelfire.com/md/29division/

Many of you know that I am a huge and vocal fan of Terry Pratchett. I don’t recall when exactly I discovered Discworld, but now I can’t imagine my life without the adventures of the denizens of that magical place. I think my favorite character is Moist Von Lipwig, but there are so many to choose from that it’s hard to put one above the others.

It was wrenching to hear back in 2007 that Terry had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, a progressive and ultimately fatal brain disease. It’s a horrifying disease, and one I think with particular terrors for the writer as it attacks one’s ability to think and remember. Terry’s written an incredibly moving and, to paraphrase him, ferociously upbeat article about facing this disease and the right to die with dignity in the Daily Mail, and it hit me hard enough that I wanted to share it with you:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1203622/Ill-die-endgame-says-Terry-Pratchett-law-allow-assisted-suicides-UK.html

The man has guts.

The Light of Burning Shadows officially hits shelves today in the UK. Yesterday, my British editor sent me cover drafts for the mm edition that will come out next summer and all I can say is wow! It’s going to look very cool, or rather, hot.

There’s yet another free giveaway of The Light of Burning Shadows going on, this time over at Fantasy Book Critic. I think it’s big of them to do this as they really didn’t like the first book. You can find the contest and enter here:

http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2009/08/giveaway-light-of-burning-shadow-by.html