Category: Chronicles of Ghadid Trilogy

Chronicles of Ghadid Trilogy, The Unconquered City (Book 3)

A Trilogy, Complete

K.A. Doore

Hard to believe that I had a book come out this month, huh? Let alone the last book in a trilogy. This month has been a year in and of itself: plague, civil unrest, a reckoning in the SFF sphere, and so many other things.

Kinda makes you feel like a little book birthday isn’t all that important. But, even if our enthusiasm is a bit dampened, it’s still good for us to highlight and celebrate those littler moments. The advent of summer. The slow realization by white America that racism didn’t end in 2008. Fireflies. A coming together of communities big and small to support and protect and uplift one another. Cat snores.

A trilogy, complete.

The Unconquered City is now out there in the world for you to read, review, purchase, request from your library, pose with, sit on, or use for decoupage. If you’ve been waiting these past 15 months for the series to be complete – well, have at it.

I am enthused about this trilogy being out there, I really am. I am relieved, too, because it has been a whirlwind 15 months of promotion and copy edits and page proofs and panels and the realization of a dream. And I am ready to work on the Next Thing, whatever that may be.

While I slink off to do just that during this, Our Year(s) of Pandemic, here’s a round-up of some of the interviews and essays and reviews that went up in the last month:

Interview with the Fantasy Inn – in which Travis and I chat about dvorak, Roman history, and the Fun (TM) of writing a series out of order.

Worldbuilding for Masochists: Take Pride in Your Worldbuilding – in which I chat with Marshall Ryan Maresca and Rowenna Miller about creating a more inclusive world in your fantasy, the importance of queernorm, and the potential pitfalls of not thinking things through.

Interview at Civilian Reader – in which I disclose that I am, in fact, three gators in a dress, the rage that inspired The Impossible Contract, and my opinion of SFF today (hint: it’s glowing).

Author to Author with Jo – in which I talk about hope and trauma, the difficulty of writing a trilogy, and research into climate change mitigation efforts.

Books Within Reach – in which I talk about my early introduction to the SFF genre through the books on our home bookshelf, and the books I hope to keep on my own future bookshelf for my child to discover.

TorCon’s Chaotic Communal Storytime – in which I and several amazing authors must come up with a story line by line from a series of plot twists, sight unseen.

And last, but not least

Undead Camels, Angry Spirits, and Prickly Protagonists – an amazing review of the final novel by the amazing reviewer, Liz Bourke.

 

Plus, of course, there are two short stories (Casting Bones, Cause of Death) and a full novella (The Siege of Ghadid) if you still yearn, as I do, for Ghadid.

Chronicles of Ghadid Trilogy, Short Story

The Siege of Ghadid: Final Wave

K.A. Doore

In celebration – and anticipation – of the third and final book in the Chronicles of Ghadid series, I’m sharing an in-world novella that takes place sometime during the events of the second book, The Impossible Contract.

That said, if you haven’t read The Impossible Contract: stop. Do not pass go. Do not progress forward. Warning warning, danger danger. Turn back. Read book two first. Then come back. You will thank me.

There are four parts to this novella and I will be sharing them in the days leading up to The Unconquered City’s release (June 16th!!).

Part one, part two, and part three went up earlier. If you’d prefer, you can read the whole thing in pdf.

Today, I present:

The Final Wave

(CW: blood, gore, major character death)
Continue reading “The Siege of Ghadid: Final Wave” →

Chronicles of Ghadid Trilogy, Short Story

The Siege of Ghadid: Third Wave

K.A. Doore

In celebration – and anticipation – of the third and final book in the Chronicles of Ghadid series, I’m sharing an in-world novella that takes place sometime during the events of the second book, The Impossible Contract.

That said, if you haven’t read The Impossible Contract: stop. Do not pass go. Do not progress forward. Warning warning, danger danger. Turn back. Read book two first. Then come back. You will thank me.

There are four parts to this novella and I will be sharing them in the days leading up to The Unconquered City’s release (June 16th!!).

Part one and part two went up earlier.

Today, I present:

The Third Wave

(CW: blood, gore, major character death)
Continue reading “The Siege of Ghadid: Third Wave” →

Chronicles of Ghadid Trilogy, Short Story

The Siege of Ghadid: Second Wave

K.A. Doore

In celebration – and anticipation – of the third and final book in the Chronicles of Ghadid series, I’m sharing an in-world novella that takes place sometime during the events of the second book, The Impossible Contract.

That said, if you haven’t read The Impossible Contract: stop. Do not pass go. Do not progress forward. Warning warning, danger danger. Turn back. Read book two first. Then come back. You will thank me.

There are four parts to this novella and I will be sharing them in the days leading up to The Unconquered City’s release (June 16th!!).

Part one went up last week.

Today, I present:

The Second Wave

Continue reading “The Siege of Ghadid: Second Wave” →

Chronicles of Ghadid Trilogy, Short Story

The Siege of Ghadid: First Wave

K.A. Doore

In celebration – and anticipation – of the third and final book in the Chronicles of Ghadid series, I’m sharing an in-world novella that takes place sometime during the events of the second book, The Impossible Contract.

That said, if you haven’t read The Impossible Contract: stop. Do not pass go. Do not progress forward. Warning warning, danger danger. Turn back. Read book two first. Then come back. You will thank me.

There are four parts to this novella and I will be sharing them in the days leading up to The Unconquered City’s release (June 16th!!).

Today I present:

FIRST WAVE

Continue reading “The Siege of Ghadid: First Wave” →

Chronicles of Ghadid Trilogy, The Impossible Contract (Book 2)

Happy Publication Day to THE IMPOSSIBLE CONTRACT!

K.A. Doore

Somehow this day has finally arrived after a million years in-between. Sometimes it felt as if I’d never see this book out in the world, sometimes it felt as if it were arriving so fast, too fast. Either way:

We’re here.

THE IMPOSSIBLE CONTRACT, the book I wrote just for me, just for fun, after trunking three books and trying to figure out what I should do next, is completely out of my hands and out there, somewhere, for you.

I feel like I’ve said a lot about this book over the years. I’ve talked about my internalized homophobia and how this book was the first one I wrote that reflected me and my friends instead of the heteronormative world I’d grown up in. I’ve talked about the query and how I went from 130k words down to 105k. I’ve talked about how this book was the first book I wrote but became the second in the series. I even talked about how I got my agent, waaay back in 2015.

I have talked to death about this book, and I am more than happy to let it go and no longer be mine, but yours.

My hope is that you enjoy it, that you have fun, and that you feel a little bit more like there’s a place for queer people in fantasy – even dumb, fast-paced, zombie-ridden fantasy.

 

The Impossible Contract can be found at anywhere wot sells books:

Barnes & Noble

Indiebound

Amazon

 

 

And, as a bonus, you can already pre-order book 3, The Unconquered City!

Chronicles of Ghadid Trilogy, The Unconquered City (Book 3)

Revealing Book 3: The Unconquered City

K.A. Doore

I have been exceptionally lucky when it comes to book covers. We can all recite the warnings we receive upon entering into the publishing world about having no control over our covers, we can all share a few nail-curling stories we’ve heard, where covers aren’t just wrong for the book, they’re outright wrong for the market (*horrified gasp*). But often, the only control an author has over the process is crossing their fingers reeeeeeaaal tight.

Thankfully, I’ve had a team that not only listened to the things I asked for, but absolutely know what they’re doing.

With The Perfect Assassin I got a spot-on Amastan and an angry jaani. With The Impossible Contract, I got a spot-on Thana and a purple wrap and a garrote and a sandstorm.

And with The Unconquered City… well, let’s just let you see?

 

 

 

It’s Illi! With a sword! And what is going on, why is there water?!

I can’t tell you that, but I can tell you that this is a book that brings the other two together, and it’s a book about family and resilience and forgiveness, and it’s also a book with fights and conflagrations and camels.

You’ll just have to wait until June 16, 2020 to find out the rest! But thankfully you can pre-order in the meantime. 🙂

Chronicles of Ghadid Trilogy, Short Story

Short Story: Cause of Death

K.A. Doore

Happy autumn!! To celebrate the fact that The Impossible Contract comes out in less than two months, here’s a short story about another of Amastan’s cousins, Menna – saver of souls by day, taker of lives by night.

Ao3 Tags: Capable priest is too good at her job, denial is not just a river in Egypt, non-consensual murder, oh noes, sinnamon rolls, one good apple unspoils the bunch, not quite relationship goals, disaster lesbians, surprise corpse, workaholics anonymous

CW: Death, violence, murder, teensy bit of gore

8000 words

Continue reading “Short Story: Cause of Death” →

Chronicles of Ghadid Trilogy, Short Story

Short Story: Casting Bones

K.A. Doore

Happy July! Here’s a short story about Amastan’s cousin, Azulay – gambler, assassin, and soft cinnamon roll extraordinaire.

Ao3 Tags: anxiety, angst, gambling, pretending to be bad at this, cinnamon roll, bad choices, only choices, everything’s Fine, how (not) to make friends
CW: Mild violence, domestic violence, heights, death

Continue reading “Short Story: Casting Bones” →

promo, The Impossible Contract (Book 2)

Pride Month Pre-Order Extravaganza

K.A. Doore

It’s that time of year!

What, ant season?

No, it’s –

Oh yeah, hurricane season. Thanks for the reminder, I need to restock my –

No, I meant –

Oh! I remember now. Monsoon season. But that doesn’t start for another two weeks.

I mean, yes, all of those, but it’s also PRIDE MONTH. The time of year we queers celebrate how far we’ve come and reflect on how much further we have to go, when we remember that it takes standing up and making ourselves actually visible – however terrifying and dangerous that may be – to make any progress.

In that spirit of visibility, me and some other authors put together a special little pre-order campaign, just for Pride. We all know pre-orders mean the world to debut and small authors, and it means even more to marginalized authors. We’ve made some big strides in recent years when it comes to how many queer books are out there, but we’ve still got some ways to go.

So here’s what we got for you. For the month of June, for each of these four books that you pre-order, you’ll get a special, signed, Pride-themed bookplate. Each of us has made our own fancy bookplates just for this, and we’re excited to send them to you!

All you have to do is pre-order, and then fill out this form.

That’s it!

And here are

THE BOOKS

Lord of Secrets by Breanna Teintze
July 25th 2019 by Jo Fletcher Books
Magic is poison. Secrets are power. Death is . . . complicated.

A delightful necromantic romp through a dark and complex world with magic as boundless as it is painful, terrifying undead monstrosities, and secrets layered upon secrets.

Outlaw wizard Corcoran Grey is just trying to find his imprisoned grandfather. To do so, he’s just break out of prison, break into an ancient underground temple and avoid killing himself with his own magic in the process.

Oh, and handle a ego-centric, power-mad, necromantic demigod. You know. Easy stuff.

It’s also got some straight up gay necromancy and I loved this book so much.

Rep: M/M
Pre-order: Publisher | Dymocks | Amazon

The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith
October 1st, 2019 by Ace Books

A story about stories, ones we tell ourselves, the ones we tell others, and the ones buried so deep we hope no one ever finds them.

Hell’s Librarian is just supposed to tend to the unwritten books under her care, to keep the characters from escaping their stories, and mend any that manage to get away, only to inevitably be drawn back, battered and bruised.

She’s not supposed to let any of those characters stay free and she’s not supposed to leave the library for any length of time and she’s absolutely, 100%, No, Don’t, supposed to get involved a power struggle between Hell and Heaven.

Well, she tried not to. That should count for something, right?

Rep: F/F, Bi
Pre-order: Publisher | Indiebound | B&N | Amazon

Wild Life: Dispatches from a Childhood of Baboons and Button-Downs by Keena Roberts
November 12th 2019 by Grand Central Publishing

The memoir from the daughter of two famous primatologists, Wild Life describes an adolescence split between the wilds of an island camp in Botswana and the even more treacherous halls of an elite Philadelphia private school.

In Africa, Keena slept in a tent, cooked over a campfire, and lived each day alongside the baboon colony her parents were studying. She could wield a spear as easily as a pencil, and it wasn’t unusual to be chased by lions or elephants on any given day. But for the months of the year when her family lived in the United States, this brave kid from the bush was cowed by the far more treacherous landscape of the preppy, private school social hierarchy.

Wild Life is ultimately the story of a daring but sensitive young girl desperately trying to figure out if there’s any place where she truly fits in.

Rep: #Ownvoices lesbian
Pre-order: Publisher | Indiebound | B&N | Amazon

The Impossible Contract by K.A. Doore
November 12th 2019 by Tor Books

In this not-exactly-sequel to The Perfect Assassin, Thana’s got a huge reputation to live up to as the only daughter of the Serpent. When the opportunity to finally prove herself arrives in the shape of a particularly dangerous contract, she doesn’t think twice. Of course she’ll do it.

Even if the contract is on a foreign diplomat with the ability to bind a soul under his own control. Even if somebody else wants her mark dead, and doesn’t care who gets in their way. Even if it means pursuing her mark across the desert and into the heart of the Empire itself. Even if she’s got to tamp down on these feelings she has for the healer who’s come along for the ride.

Even if it turns out the man she’s supposed to kill might be the only one who can stop something far more evil?

Even if…

Rep: F/F
Pre-order: Publisher | Indiebound | B&N | Amazon