THE BOOK OF SNOW & SILENCE BOOK BIRTHDAY!

Hello, Dear Readers! Happy THE BOOK OF SNOW & SILENCE Release Day!

Wooohoooo!

From today, if you order the ebook of The Book of Snow & Silence it will arrive instantly on your Kindle, laptop, tablet or other device, AND you can order the absolutely GORGEOUS paperback version of the book too. Look at this, guys, just look:

I've had some really amazing covers - as well as some duds, I'll be honest - over the years, but I think this one is my favourite since the original cover of my very first book, The Swan Kingdom, back in 2007. It's just so damn pretty. These sorts of deep, jewel-toned bluey-greens are actually my favourite colours in the world, and I could honestly sit and stare at them, and all the lovely details in this artwork, for hours at a time. So pretty, my precccciousssss... *Strokes cover gently*

If feeling this way about cover art is wrong, baby, I don't wanna be right.

Ahem. Where were we? Oh, right. To celebrate the release of my TENTH NOVEL FOR YOUNG ADULTS (omg omg, breathe, Zolah) I've got some lovely treats in store for readers.

First, to encourage everyone who possibly can to review the book - because reviews are life, Dear Readers - I'll be doing a special giveaway when The Book of Snow & Silence reaches ten reviews on Amazon. The reviews don't have to be long, or extensive, and they should be completely honest, don't worry! Once we get to ten, I'll pick one lucky winner from the entrants to recieve:

• One proof paperback copy of The Book of Snow & Silence, signed and personalised
• One paperback copy of my last book The Hand, the Eye & the Heart, signed and personalised
• Two signed and personalised bookplates
• The Book of Snow & Silence full-colour postcard
• The Hand, the Eye & the Heart full-colour postcard
• Other assorted swag

If you would like to be entered into this giveaway, you don't have to do anything fancy - literally just tell me in the comments below. THAT'S IT. Just leave me a comment. When we reach ten reviews, I'll use a random number generator to pick a winner. Of course, sharing this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter or other social media will speed things up - because hopefully that will encourage people to read and review the book - as would posting a review of your own on Amazon, but all you *have* to do is leave a comment below this post. 

Secondly... I made another book for you?

I made this one all myself! Do you like the cover? It's pretty good, right? I honestly impressed myself with this - I wasn't sure I could figure out how to get it all done, but I really wanted to offer readers something special for release day. This is ebook only - it's novella length - BUT it will be FREE for you to download for the next five days. Unfortunately Amazon won't let me make it permanently free. After that it will only be 99p, though.

SEA FOAM has an exclusive prequel story for The Book of Snow & Silence. It also has poetry, deleted scenes, and fragments from my writer's notebooks, some of it related to published works, some from things that never saw the light of day at all. There's an epilogue to Shadows on the Moon, scenes that I wished I had included in The Name of the Blade Trilogy, and the start of a Twilight spoof that I was never able to take further. Hopefully you'll enjoy it and find it interesting, so if you want it FREE, then get over there and download it ASAP.

To sum up: if you want to enter the giveaway, comment below (and cross your fingers that we get to ten reviews fast). If you want a free novella-length book which includes a Snow & Silence prequel short story, get over to Amazon now.

Have a lovely Book Birthday, muffins!

THE BOOK OF SNOW & SILENCE COVER REVEAL! (And pre-orders!)

Hello, Dear Readers! Happy Tuesday, and I hope you're all having a pretty good week so far. Thank you so, so much for your RTs and shares for the announcement of THE BOOK OF SNOW & SILENCE last week. This book is really special to me. I love it. It's probably my favourite thing that I've written since Shadows on the Moon. Your support means more to me than you can possibly know, especially after I've been on such a long break from the blog and the book community. *Smooshes all*

Your general loveliness about The Book of Snow & Silence makes me all the more gleeful that I get to bring you this utter lusciousness today without having had to make you wait for aaaaaaages as in times past. The cover is coming right up below - BUT! Before we get there - yes, you, I know you were about to begin scrolling, just wait for a second, OK? - I also have MORE VERY GOOD EXCELLENT NICE NEWS.

As of today, pre-orders of the ebook of The Book of Snow & Silence are LIVE. Yep, you can order the ebook right here, right now!

This is great in more ways than one. The official release date for both the ebook and the paperback is the 30th of June, two weeks away - but if you pre-order the ebook before that release date, you'll get it for £1.99. I don't know about you, but I think that's a saving well worth getting your paws on.

If you don't want to pre-order for whatever reason - for instance if you don't like ebooks and are planning to wait for the paperback - don't worry! I promise there will be goodies for you as well. But I'll wait for release day to get to those 😘

I also wanted to give a head's up to blogger/reviewer friends: if you're interested in reviewing this, email me at z d marriott (at) g mail dot com and we can arrange to send you a PDF proof. A book like this lives or dies based on reviews - mainly Amazon reviews - so it would honestly mean so much to me if people would be willing to leave *honest* reviews, even just a few words, on the book's Amazon page.

And now, without further burbling on my part... the cover art reveal!

DRUMROLL PLEASE!

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Look at the beauteousness!  

 

 
The icy blue-green northern lights colours! The ominous stormy clouds billowing up behind that tempting crown - which happens to appear to be constructed of snowflakes and ice!

The subtle glacier cracks on the title font!

WE LOVES IT MY PRECIOUS. I'm always so happy when details that are important in the story are so strong on the cover art, and this is not only perfect for this book, but a damn knock-out in it's own right. Thank you so much Lauren, Cover Designer Extraordinaire! Me and my characters salute you!

OK, to sum up - pre-orders are now live (eeeeeiii!) and reviewers and bloggers can email z d marriott (at) g mail dot com to ask for a (non-pretty, but final text) proof if they're interested. Reviews are life, muffins!

Let me know what you think of this cover art in the comments 🙂

NEW BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT!

Hello, hello, hello and happy Friday, Dear Readers! Forgive me friends, for I have sinned: I know it's been a year since my last post - but please don't hate me!

A lot has happened in that year, some of which I don't really want to go into, including serious illness in my family. I also finished my time as an RLF Fellow at York St. John University - a posting I loved so much and will always look back on as one of the happiest times in my life - and I'm now in the final term of my Master's Degree in Creative Writing, working on my dissertation. So, you know. It's been busy. I'm sure you've been busy and had amazing ups and down since I last posted too - sound off in the comments if you like. I promise to reply to each and every one, as always.

But in addition to all that, I also did something you might be a bit more interested in.

I wrote a new book.

And it's going to be out... er - well - at the end of the month? EEEEEEEIIII!

Ahem. Sorry to spring it on you like this - but I hope you don't mind too much? It basically just means you don't have to wait for ages while I accidentally tease you, right?

Today I'm going to share some of the details of my ACTUAL FACTS TENTH NOVEL (omg) and I hope that next week I'll be able to do the cover reveal, and tell you the official release date, as well as a few other juicy details.

So first up - what's the title?

DRUMROLL PLEASE!

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THE BOOK OF SNOW & SILENCE

Ta-dah! So what's it about? Here's the back cover blurb:

Girls of Paper & Fire meets A Game of Thrones in THE BOOK OF SNOW & SILENCE, a darkly romantic queer fantasy inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid.

Fierce Princess Theoai is devastated when betrayal by her own sister destroys her chance to inherit their mother’s crown. Exiled across the sea to wed a prince she has never met, she soon finds that taking possession of her new crown will be more perilous than she could ever have imagined. The snowy realm of Silinga is rotten to the core, and Theoai’s handsome Prince is spoiled and reckless, with eyes only for the beautiful mute who washed up on the shore the day after Theoai’s arrival: Shell. 

But though she enchants the entire palace with her unearthly dancing, Shell is more than just a romantic rival, and against her will Theoai is drawn to her. As they both navigate the glittering, treacherous court, their relationship changes from hostility to friendship – and then to a love that will shake the very foundations of the cold kingdom that seeks to tear them apart.

THE BOOK OF SNOW & SILENCE is a sweeping, Feminist novel of enchantment, ambition and, above all, love.

Here is the link to add it on Goodreads if you want.

And the link to the book's Pinterest board and the playlist on Spotify, although I probably spent a good 50% of my time listening to the Blue Planet soundtrack as well; it's so perfect.

Some aesthetics!

And finally under, the cut below - a new and completely exclusive snippet from the first chapter of the book! 🠋🠋🠋🠋🠋

What do you think of this, my lovelies? Let me know your thoughts below - and I'll be back next week with even more bookalicious juiciness for you. Take care of yourselves until then.