A New GRACELING Audiobook, an Excerpt from SEASPARROW, and a Moment That Inspired Me

Posted & filed under Arctic Circle, audiobooks, events, Graceling, Graceling Realm, Seasparrow.

Hi all!

I’ll start with a reminder that I’m now doing events for Seasparrow, which releases on Tuesday, November 1. I’ll be at An Unlikely Story on Tuesday 11/1, I have an online event with Once Upon A Time on Wednesday 11/2, and I’ll be at Harvard Book Store on November 15. Please see my Events page for details.

Next, you can now read a short excerpt from Seasparrow! Thanks to Tor.com for making this possible. Read the excerpt here.

Another Seasparrow announcement: Fairyloot and Gollancz are doing a special signed Seasparrow edition, to match their signed editions of the earlier books. An exclusive cover, solid sprayed edges, patterned endpapers. Supplies are limited! Learn about the Fairyloot edition here.

A poster for the Seasparrow Fairyloot special edition, showing the Gollancz UK cover (a reddish-golden bird flying above an anchor, with ice at all four corners, on a black background) and golden edges.

Next, I’m pleased to announce that Graceling is being newly released in audio, read by Xanthe Elbrick, who narrates all the other Graceling Realm audiobooks in the US. I love the work Xanthe does bringing my worlds to life, so this is lovely news. The audiobook releases on January 10, 2023, and you can preorder it on your favorite digital audio retailer now!

Audiobook cover for Graceling, with art by Kuri Huang. Read by Xanthe Elbrick. A stylized woman holds a knife in a forest, in colors of green, blue, brown, and white.

Finally, I’ve been sharing some photos over on twitter from my artist residency with The Arctic Circle, an experience which directly influenced much of the setting of Seasparrow. For just over two weeks, we sailed on the tall ship Antigua through the Arctic Ocean around Svalbard. (Search my blog with the term “Arctic Circle” if you’d like to see lots of pictures.) In Seasparrow, Hava learns how to climb the mast, and finds it a frightening but also liberating experience. Here are a couple of photos of the research I did. John Hirsch took the first one (with the phone I shoved at him!), and Barbara Liles the second.

On the left, I stand on ropes in the rigging of a tall ship, wearing winter gear, while on the right, Captain Mario Czok climbs with me and gives me tips. An icy sea is behind us.

On the right, Captain Mario Czok gives me tips as I begin my first climb.

Here I am climbing on my own. My harness had two hooks, so I was always hooked in. Nonetheless, it was scary! The ship was moving, and it fell very high and cold.

That’s it for today. I suppose I’ll have to come back soon to share my Halloween costume :), but in the meantime, happy reading, and I hope I’ll see some of you at an event in the coming weeks!