I've been waiting to film this video for weeks if not months and I just can't wait any longer.
I’m losing sleep over it so that's the one and only reason why I’m filming it today
although I would have had to film it in the next few weeks regardless. Because
I have a new book coming out this September. Yes my second published work will be coming out this
September but it's very different from my previous book. If you didn't already know almost exactly a
year ago last summer my first ever published work came out which was ‘Greek Myths: meet the heroes
gods and monsters of ancient Greece’ by myself and illustrated by Katie Ponder which was published
by DK and is a children's non-fiction book. But this September I’m publishing my first ever adult
fantasy novel and I do actually have a proof copy that I can show you. This is the proof copy of
my fantasy novel. I feel like there is probably a much more articulate
better structured way for me to talk to you all about this but I also just feel so overwhelmed by
emotions that this is probably the best you're gonna get. So this is my adult fancy novel
it's a proof like mentioned, that's why it has this big band on it that says ‘not for resale’.
This will not be on the final copies. And for anyone interested this is the back of the book.
I will insert a full image of the cover in to this video however so you can see it properly and fully
and I don't even know where to start with talking about this book and the fact that it is actually
going to be available for people to read in a few month’s time, it is so nerve-wracking because not
only is it quite different from this, it's in the genre that I’ve always written in, I’ve always
dreamt of publishing in and I’m also going to be self-publishing it so it's a massive undertaking
and a massive endeavour. If you would like me to talk more about the self-publishing process
in a separate video then let me know, I don't want this video to turn into that. But I had a lot of
back and forth thinking about what the best way to approach publishing this book in particular
would be and I decided to go for the self-publishing route for a variety of
reasons that like I said I can I can talk about in a separate video. And that's not because I
don't love traditional publishing obviously this is published traditionally and I am actually
working on a second traditionally published work which I’ll obviously share more information with
you all when that's been finalized and we have a release date etc etc, it might be
a little while yet but super excited. I love both self-publishing and traditional publishing and I
think there is a place for both and it just felt right for this work. It just felt right for this
book that I poured my heart and soul into over the past three years. So my book as you can probably
see is called The Flames of Albiyon. It's the first book in a high fantasy adult series so
there will be sequels, I’m currently working on book two as we speak, I mean not literally as we
speak but possibly when you're watching this I’ll be working on it although I’m probably just going
to be sitting at my computer anxiously awaiting to hear your feedback and your comments on this
video when it goes live and like I said I’m so nervous but nobody cares Jean, stop talking about
how nervous you are and talk about the book. So my book like I’ve already mentioned is high fantasy,
it is also very firmly within the hope punk sub-genre. So if you're not familiar hope punk
is the term that's been coined for books that are effectively the opposite of grim dark. So you have
grim dark fantasy things like Game of Thrones and then you have hope punk science fiction and
fantasy a little bit more like the Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. And the
overarching theme is that it is a more hopeful tone. My book is not grim dark, of course there
is tension, there is drama, the characters have their ups and their downs but it is a book that
I hope will bring you joy and comfort and that you can invest emotions into the characters with and
that you can just come away from feeling hopeful. It is the fantasy book that I want to read, I
basically wrote the fantasy book I want to read, which I think is true of most authors,
because I am constantly on the hunt for not only fantasy where there is hope but also where there
is queer representation and my fantasy book is a queer fantasy book. The protagonist in this story
is called Adairia. She is a young scholar that lives and works at the Albiyon university and
during the course of the novel we also follow her developing relationship with another young
woman, and dragon companion because this is if you can tell from the cover a dragon story. I am
an absolute sucker for the traditional dragon fantasy narrative and I wanted to put my own
spin on it so I think probably the best thing for me to do at this point is to read to you the
blurb and that way you might get a little bit of a better understanding of what the book's all about.
A century since the monarchy was overthrown, the country of Albiyon
has become a haven for its citizens, the young scholar Adairia included.
Raised within the Albiyan university’s walls she has dedicated her life to the pursuit of
knowledge. Preferring to hole up in the library than seek adventure elsewhere,
she has grown accustomed to her comfortable routine… until the day everything changes.
When she unwittingly awakens a sleeping dragon’s egg, Adairia is thrust into unfamiliar territory.
Never having dreamed of dragons she is forced to seek out guidance from the exhilarating Isla,
last direct descendent of the royal family and companion to a century’s old dragon.
Together they must navigate the surprises to come; for beyond the prospect of a new-born dragon
Albiyon is about to face a dangerous conspiracy that threatens the peace of their realm.
Flames of Albiyon is a story of friendship, love, and acceptance that celebrates queer identity.
Well that was an odd experience. I am not unfamiliar with reading blurbs out to you on
camera on my channel but I have certainly never read my own blurb or have I? I don't know if I
have ever read the blurb out loud to you on this book and that's probably because I didn't write
the blurb. With traditionally published fiction or non-fiction the blurb is not typically written by
the author but in this case I wrote my own blurb with a little bit of help from beta readers and
I hope that I included some of the parts of the story that mean the most to me within that blurb
to indicate to you what the story might contain and whether it's going to be for you or not,
but also without giving too much away, there is a lot more that happens in this book than is just
in that blurb. There is bisexual representation in the protagonist but there is also a range of other
sexuality and gender identities within the book. If you'd like more details again I’m happy to
share them with you, it also like I said combine so many of my favourite things in one place,
it has dragons, it is set in a world where there is no longer a monarchy, although this mirrors
your typical medieval-esque Celtic folklore inspired fantasy world it's a world without
kings and queens and that was something that was really important to me because I find it
so rare to come across fantasy where there aren't kings and queens and where the aim of the story
isn't to just overthrow a king or queen and put in place a new king or queen. I didn't want that,
I wanted this realm and the people in this realm to be represented by something much closer to a
democracy. Although of course there are always those that object to that kind of equality in
society, who perhaps have lost out on wealth and power since the fall of the monarchy. The book
also largely takes part in a university. there is a large central Albiyon university in this world
and it is also somewhere that foundling children are left who have no parents and are raised by
the university, some of whom like Adairia and her friends go on to pursue that life of academia and
scholarly interest within the building others of whom move away whilst new students come in
who were not raised at the university and it is a place of knowledge and curiosity
and learning that serves the entire community, and it is Adairia's home at the end of the day,
and where she meets the dragon's egg that is the beginning of this entire story. There is also as
you can probably gather a romantic subplot to this book between Adairia and another character but
there is also a focus on friendship and Adairia's friendship and relationship with the other
characters in this book because again friendship is something I think is so important and something
I am always wanting to read more of in fiction, to read non-toxic supportive friendships and I wanted
to have that part of this story. So those I believe are the main motivators behind this book
and my writing of this book. Like I mentioned it all began three years ago, I started this book in
around September of 2018 and I finished the first draft of the book in august, september of 2020 so
two years later. It took me two years to write the entire plot and storyline and I’ve spent the
last year since then redrafting and rewriting and improving and adding in and taking away
and talking to beta readers and seeking out proof readers and editorial assistance and
just making the book hopefully the best it could possibly be for anyone who may choose to read it,
because that might be you. I mean the idea that anyone is going to buy this book and read my
story that I’ve poured so much of my heart and soul into is so overwhelming and um also
completely outside the realms of imagination. Again I’m gonna not try and dwell too much on
all of the feelings that are bubbling up inside me because that's not why you're here. But the book
itself if you're interested will be coming out on September 2nd, so pretty much exactly three years
since I first sat down to start writing it which feels kind of magical and appropriate. It is also
currently available for pre-order on kindle, so again I chose to self-publish this and I’ve
learned a lot about the self-publishing process over the past year since I made that decision and
one of the things that I have uncovered is that I can't offer you a pre-order of the physical
copy only the e-copy but there will certainly be a physical copy as you can tell from the book I’m
holding right now but without the not for resale stamp don't worry, so if you are interested in
the ebook version you can currently pre-order it on kindle, it is literally there you can click
pre-order and it will appear in your kindle at midnight on the 2nd of september which is
so wild to me. But if you would prefer to pick up a physical copy then you will have to wait
until the date comes out to purchase it but realistically you're not going to be getting it
much later than you would in your hands if you had been able to pre-order it so just keep an eye on
this video and pretty much all of my other social media where I will be sharing links as it becomes
available for now I know that it will definitely be available in physical copy on amazon alongside
the kindle edition but I am also publishing it through lulu which is a self-publishing printer
and distributor. So they have an online shop, I know other authors who have worked through lulu
in the past, one of my favourite self-published books ‘Here, the World Entire’ you can buy on
lulu and it ships internationally. I’ll link their website down below just for anyone that's curious
but they also offer a distribution network where they will get it into other online bookshops so
again I can't tell you exactly where it's going to be available physically at the moment but it will
definitely be available in two places that ship internationally and one of which obviously isn't
amazon for those who don't want to shop via amazon and as it is a published book with an isbn number
there may be scope for ordering it in to book shops and but that is obviously something that
is a little bit more difficult with self-published work. But like I said you can pre-order the kindle
edition which is just so exciting and it will be available on the kobo ebook shop as well as the
kindle ebook shop so if you don't use kindle but you still want an ebook copy it will be available
in other ebook formats and lulu also offer ebook formats. So I will be publishing on lulu and
getting a kobo pre-order up as soon as possible. So that's currently where it's available. You can
also mark it as to read on goodreads if you just don't want to forget about it because
it is on goodreads and I just can't believe it. It feels surreal that I can click on the kindle
link and the goodreads link and see my book cover with my blurb right there. Naturally I love this
book and I love the characters or I wouldn't be embarking on this adventure and if you're somebody
who enjoys high, celtic inspired fantasy with queer characters and dragons and hope punk vibes
then maybe you'll love it too. So I will obviously have it linked anywhere you can go and look at it
down below in the description box. I’m really not sure what else I’m supposed to tell you,
if there's anything super important to go over in this video, I feel like I said already I’ve
covered the most important aspects, I have given you the summary I have told you a little bit about
the characters and my motivation and the setting so hopefully you've got a bit of a flavour for the
Flames of Albiyon. I would love to hear from you if this is something you're interested in
if it sounds good to you because like I said I wrote the book that I always wanted to read and
I’m hoping I’m not the only person that wanted to read those things all in one place but yes it's a
little bit surreal having just filmed this video and coming to the end of this video without really
being able to talk to you all about it yet so I’m going to try and get this edited and uploaded on
the same day so that this evening I can respond to your comments and hopefully chat a little bit
more with you back and forth there because I just want to share it with other people, I
just want to talk about it with other people, I want this to exist beyond mine and my beta
readers imaginations and to share this story and these characters with you all so I think I’m,
I'm gonna go, I’m gonna go and edit this video. I’m gonna go I think I’ve covered everything but
like I said if you have more questions, if you're interested in anything else I’ve mentioned in this
video then just leave your comments down below. Like I said I can film more videos about this and
I’m even thinking I might do a whole live stream on release day for publication as a little bit of
an online book launch so let me know if you'd be interested in that, I can maybe do a little
bit of a reading like you get at traditional book launches so that might be fun but yes until next
time happy reading and happy writing and I will see you all again in the next one, bye everyone.