Hello All!

Happy summer! We have crossed the meridian, the solstice is past, and it is now officially summer up here in the northern hemisphere! I hope you are avoiding storms, wildfires, and the other delights the season has been offering us.

As usual, it remains an exciting time to be a Russianist, but in between feverishly checking Izvestia and other news sources, I thought I’d share some exciting updates of my own. After all, politics are fleeting, but art is eternal.

First of all, I’ve decided to release an audiobook and a special illustrated edition of The Midnight Land. I have recorded all of Part I and will hopefully have it up and available later this year (and, fingers crossed, Part II as well). Since this is all 100% human-generated, with no AI, and I’m doing it on the side of all my other projects, it’s rather slow going, but when it’s finished, you’ll have the assurance of it being completely, authentically me, not a robot. Stay tuned for samples, which I will hopefully have coming soon!

Second of all, I’ve commissioned some artwork from 100% human artists for the special illustrated edition I’m putting together. I’m hoping to put out a beautiful hardback edition, maybe as a boxed set, although I’m so excited by the sketches coming in from the artists that I may add them to the ebook versions as well. In the meantime, I thought I’d share the rough sketches I’ve gotten so far. They’re just pencil sketches of what should end up being color pictures, but I think they’re great!

This is a sketch of Slava, the main character of The Midnight Land, done by Madison Stafford. Madison is actually a former student who’s about to start a graduate program in illustration, so I snapped her up to do some work (including maybe new covers) over the summer. So far I really like the sketches she’s shown me, so I have high hopes! Let me know what you think of it, and if you like illustrations in general.

And here’s a sketch of the map I’ve commissioned from Naksha, the artist who did the maps for The Singing Shore. He’s going to try a colorized version as well this time around, so it should be interesting to see how that turns out. Once again, I have high hopes!

Oh, and I promised puppies, so here we go. After losing my sweet and saintly Renee this spring, I wasn’t sure when I would get another dog, but the pack was so sadly diminished that I started checking out local shelter websites, just in case the perfect dog came along. Well, he did, and much sooner than anticipated! Meet Fitz (named after FitzChivalry Farseer), an incredibly sweet, goofy, naughty three-month-old puppy. He’s a rescue from the street, so I can’t be sure what his ancestry is, but he sure looks like a purebred Dachshund. The pack is now rebuilding, and Fitz is certainly keeping us all on our toes!

No doubt I will be back soon with both book- and pet-related updates. In the meantime, happy reading!

E.P. Clark