Technically, I sort of already did this on Wednesday, but here’s the big deal post for the cover of the last book in the Vacancy series.
As always, cover by the lovely Anna at EerilyFair Design!
That’s right, she’s pink and she’s coming out early because I am just so dang excited about her! The Willful Inheritor will be released in…August? Yeah, almost definitely, but the date itself is a little up in the air. If you put money on the 25th, you’d probably win, though I’d like it to be earlier, so I’m not setting anything up on preorder just yet. The important part of this post is, here’s the cover!
The other important part is me saying thank you to anyone’s who has read The Weary Traveler or The Wayward Deed. A lot of people have either told me they’ve enjoyed them or left really lovely reviews, and I’m just so pleased. Bringing this story to its fruition after starting it over five years ago, letting it languish, reviving it with gusto, shelving it again and feeling like a failure, then holding it in my hands and loving it so much just to watch it disintegrate before finally just choosing to make it happen and buckling down has been pretty wild and satisfying. It’s not like I think of it as some epic quest or magnum opus, it’s just special to me, and I’m glad to be able to do it.
It also reminds me that everybody has something precious to them. If we’re self aware enough, we can be honest about our projects’ faults and failings, and I know this series is far from perfect, but I do love it, and it’s a good reminder that other things out there are equally loved by other creators. I think that can sometimes be a hard concept for people who don’t make things to get, or even for people who do make things but in a different category (because we all really do make things). This isn’t to say nothing should ever be criticized or even panned, but I think being the tiniest bit more generous in our judgment of creative works, or at the very least more open to finding the good or the loved bits, is something we can all work on. It’s something I know I can–I can really be a dick about things I don’t like, though I do try to only air those opinions to Husband.
All I’m saying is, getting so close to the end of Vacancy has done a lot for me, and I’m pretty grateful. So, look at it! She’s here! Or, she will be soonish!
A.K. Caggiano 