City of Hope and Ruin

Aaaaand it’s out!

City of Hope and Ruin, a fantasy-with-lesbian-romance novel by Kit Campbell and yours truly, is now out in the world! You can buy it in the following formats:

(Amazon | Paperback | Nook | iBookstore | Kobo)

The Amazon and Kobo links are good worldwide, so they should automatically direct you to your country’s store. The trade paperback version is available only on Amazon.com at the moment, but will also be rolling out to the various international Amazons in the near future, so check back soon. (ETA: See Update #4, below.)

If you’re in or near Toronto, you’re invited to our book launch! It’s May 29, 2 PM, at my awesome local SF&F bookstore, Bakka Phoenix.

This is the official post for City of Hope and Ruin, so I’m going to pin it to the top of the blog for a while and keep adding updates at the bottom as we do interviews and so on.

In the meantime, here are some more links to explore:

The official book page at Turtleduck Press is here, and you can read Theo and Bree’s first meeting here.

We’ve been blogging about the process of co-writing a novel over at Turtleduck Press, here.

City of Hope and Ruin has a Goodreads page. There’s also a Pinterest inspiration board where you can see how we pictured our two protagonists and their respective worlds.

The Turtleduck Press website is here, and the Facebook page is here.

If you liked this novel, check out the other stuff we’ve written! Here is my bio and here is Kit’s.

Here’s the book description again:

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Every night the monsters hunt.

A city that is the whole world: Theosophy and her companions in the City militia do their best to protect the civilians from the monsters, but they keep crawling from the Rift and there’s nowhere to run. Theosophy knows she’ll die fighting. It’s the best kind of death she’s seen, and at least she can save lives in the meantime.

They say the Scarred carve you up while you’re still alive.

A village in the shadow of a forest: Refugees from the border whisper about the oncoming Scarred, but Briony can’t convince her brother to relocate his children to safety. Briony will do anything to protect them. She owes them that much, even if it means turning to forbidden magic.

When Theosophy and Briony accidentally make contact across the boundaries of their worlds, they realize that solutions might finally be within reach. A world beyond the City would give Theosophy’s people an escape, and the City’s warriors could help Briony protect her family from the Scarred. Each woman sees in the other a strength she lacks—and maybe something more.

All they need to do is find a way across the dimensions to each other before their enemies close in.

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If you’re inclined to help, here’s how you can:

• Obviously, buy the book! It’s available in all the major ebook stores and as a trade paperback (that’s the bigger size).
• Once you’ve read it, leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads, LibraryThing, etc. Visibility and perceptions of quality are the biggest problems for indie authors, and reviews help with both those things. They don’t even have to be 5-star reviews — we’d really rather you were honest. (An honest 3- or 4-star review will tell a prospective reader more about whether they’ll like the book than a glowing 5-star review.)
• Tell others about our book, whether on social media or in person.

UPDATE #1

Our blog tour is just beginning. Here’s what’s up so far:

Q&A (Kit): http://shutupandreadgroup.blogspot.ca/2016/05/q-with-kit-campbell.html

Character interview with Briony (Kit): http://coldhandboyack.wordpress.com/2016/05/12/visit-the-city-of-hope-and-ruin-on-lisa-burton-radio/

Dual Q&A (Kit & Siri): http://moredibell.tumblr.com/post/144226598682/kit-and-siri-are-two-friends-of-mine-and-half-of

Q&A (Siri): http://ellenvgregory.com/2016/05/16/book-launch-city-of-hope-and-ruin/

UPDATE #2, May 16/16

For non-US readers: We have just learned that the trade paperback edition will not be available outside of Amazon.com until early June. In the meantime, you can still buy the physical book, but you’ll have to order it from here.

Exception: if you live in or near Toronto, you’re in luck — you can buy it at the in-person book launch on May 29! We’ll also have copies of some of the Turtleduck Press anthologies I’ve been involved in. Please RSVP so we know how many books to order.

UPDATE #3, May 18/16

We’re running a Goodreads giveaway! It’s open to all US and Canadian readers, as long as you’re on Goodreads. There are 3 copies of the paperback up for grabs. Contest closes June 18. Enter over here.

If you’ve read the book already, don’t forget to leave a review on Goodreads or Amazon! Scroll up to read more about why that’s so important for indie authors like Kit and me. You’ll earn untold riches…or at least our undying gratitude.

UPDATE #4, May 27/16

Canadian readers, the paperback is now available on Amazon.ca (here)! For other non-US readers, you may also find it available on your country’s Amazon store — check here to find out.