ECHOES AND EMPIRES by Morgan Rhodes January 4, 2022 Penguin Teen/Razorbill

http://www.penguinteen.com/cover-reveal-echoes-and-empires-by-morgan-rhodes/

New book news!

ECHOES AND EMPIRES

January 4, 2022 from Razorbill (Penguin Teen)

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A snarky seventeen-year-old must team up with an enigmatic criminal to cure herself of dangerous forbidden magic in the first book of a new fantasy duology from Morgan Rhodes, the New York Times bestselling author of the Falling Kingdoms series.

Josslyn Drake knows only three things about magic: it’s rare, illegal, and always deadly. So when she’s caught up in a robbery gone wrong at the Queen’s Gala and infected by a dangerous piece of magic—one that allows her to step into the memories of an infamously evil warlock—she finds herself living her worst nightmare. Joss needs the magic removed before it corrupts her soul and kills her. But in Ironport, the cost of doing magic is death, and seeking help might mean scheduling her own execution. There’s nobody she can trust.

Nobody, that is, except wanted criminal Jericho Nox, who offers her a deal: his help extracting the magic in exchange for the magic itself. And though she’s not thrilled to be working with a thief, especially one as infuriating (and infuriatingly handsome) as Jericho, Joss is desperate enough to accept.

But Jericho is nothing like Joss expects. The closer she grows with Jericho and the more she sees of the world outside her pampered life in the city, the more Joss begins to question the beliefs she’s always taken for granted—beliefs about right and wrong, about power and magic, and even about herself.

In an empire built on lies, the truth may be her greatest weapon.

Pre-order links via Penguin: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/671081/echoes-and-empires-by-morgan-rhodes/

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As I write this, I’m working on the copyedits for Echoes and Empires. I’ll be sharing the gorgeous cover soon. And I can’t wait to get a new book out there in the world!

Behind the Scenes of Falling Kingdoms

It’s been a minute, my friends! I don’t have any shiny news to share with you at this very moment, but I thought I’d check in and say “hi!” and share with you a little something that Falling Kingdoms fans might find interesting.......

The original ending of Gathering Darkness!!

I’m going to put a spoiler break here, since there are spoilers ahead! ***********

Immortal Reign: Deleted Scene

I think enough time has passed since the release of Immortal Reign that I can share another deleted scene? This is from just after the climax of the book, right near the end of the book!

SPOILERS ... read at your own risk!

The fate of Spirits & Thieves #3

A regular question I get lately is “what’s going on with Spirits & Thieves #3?” I apologize to all those who’ve asked me online only to receive a response of absolute silence from yours truly until today.

It’s time to answer that question.

I am very sorry to say, that the last book in the Spirits & Thieves trilogy... and what I considered the 9th book in the overall Falling Kingdoms series... has been indefinitely delayed. I prefer to say that rather than “canceled” because I choose to hold out hope that there might be a chance to revisit this book some time in the future.

Here’s the hard truth. While my Falling Kingdoms series sold at healthy numbers, took me onto three group tours with Penguin Teen, got me invitations to many festivals and conferences, and put me on the NYT Bestseller’s list twice... Spirits & Thieves didn’t see this level of success, capturing only a fraction of the readers that followed the FK series.

This is both disappointing and embarrassing for me to admit. I have no solid reasons why ABOSAT didn’t sell as widely as its sister series did. I gave both series my heart and soul...and blood, lots of blood (the characters can confirm that)...but the bottom line is it just didn’t work out.

Publishing is a business...and as much as editors and publishers (and authors!)  love books simply for the sake of them being fantastic, tangible pieces of magic and escapism, it is a business. And business decisions need to be made.

Sad to say, I feel that I can take a great deal of the blame for the trilogy’s untimely demise due to the fact that writing two multi-POV epic fantasies a year had started to take its toll on me. I suffered from what I can only describe as “creative burnout” for a couple of years, with only enough stamina to produce one book a year. Therefore, book 3 of ABOSAT got bumped from its original release date. Had I managed to hit my initial deadline, THE CURSED HEIR would have come out before Immortal Reign. Alas, I can’t go back in time and fix this mistake.

When the schedule was adjusted and ABOSAT3 was to come in 9th in this larger “series,” I had planned to connect a lot of dots...such as, does the bloodstone ring have something to do with Maddox’s magic? (Yes.) Is Valia actually the person we think she might be? (Yes.) And just who did Cleo descend from? (No comment at this time, but it’s not exactly who you might have guessed.)

And that cliffhanger! I never would have left readers with that insane cliffhanger at the end of The Darkest Magic if I thought there was a chance there wouldn’t be a follow up. So I’m very, very, VERY sorry for that. 😢

Some readers might now be thinking: Will I write this book anyway and provide it to fans for free?

I really wish I could. I really wish I had the time and creative energy to write THE CURSED HEIR and make it available for those who are dedicated and invested in this trilogy. Writing is my job, my full time job, and taking 8-12 months to write, edit, and produce this book is just not in the cards for me at this time. Again, I apologize to those disappointed by this news.

I have considered doing a FAQ page with answers to some of the more pressing issues that would have been resolved in book 3, but for now I’m going to hold off. I don’t like to say it’s 100% absolute that this book will never happen. Because it could. Maybe. Someday. But I can’t make any promises at this time. Clearly, if tons of people discover the first two books in this trilogy, that would likely prompt a third, but the odds of that when shiny new books are being published every week are very slim.

So what’s next for Morgan?

Good question.

I am currently working on a rather awesome story (if I do say so myself) and something I sincerely hope I can share with you all sooner than later. I believe it will appeal to both FK fans and new readers.

I am a writer. I write. I love writing, I love books, and I love the publishing business (even with its disappointments). And nothing is ever going to change that.

In the meantime.... thirsty for more books that I’ve written? I have them!

Please check out my pseudonym www.michellerowen.com -- she doesn’t write epic high fantasy, but she’s (I’ve!) got lots of fun novels that you just might love while waiting for the next Morgan Rhodes book!

Thank you so much to everyone for your support.

Morgan ❤️

Immortal Reign - Cut Scene

Immortal Reign has been out for over two months! I can hardly believe the time has gone so quickly! Thank you to everyone who has read it and who has followed and supported the Falling Kingdoms series for the last six years. You are awesome!!

I thought it would be fun to share a scene I ended up cutting (or, really, revising greatly) for the final book. While working on the first draft, I tweeted that I was writing a “medieval drinking game” scene. Alas, when all was said and done, it took the focus off the main action by delving into previous “issues” for our characters. But it’s still kind of fun.

Obviously, be aware that there are SPOILERS for Immortal Reign and the whole series in the following. Read at your own risk!