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I came home from work last night to find this box of treasuresÌýsitting on my kitchen counter:

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OMG, guys, they’re HERE. Sooo excited. And the cover turned out even prettier than I had hoped. My fiancee was excited to see her credit inside for the cover art, too. ^~ It’s our first collaborative project (you may all say AWWWWW now�)

One thing I did notice is that in the years since was published, BSB has upgraded their book-paper. It’s now whiter, and smoother, and lighter weight. All of which make for a sleeker, trimmer book for your bookshelves. However, I was a little surprised at first at how thin the book seemed in comparison to my other two. is 302 pages, so about 12 pages longer than Branded Ann,Ìýyet it’s more than 1/8â€� slimmer because of the new paper. Good news: less space taken up on your bookshelf = ROOM FOR MORE BOOKS. But, being a girl who likes her books thick and juicyÌý(fat booksÌýequal longer stories, right???)Ìýwhen I first held it upÌýI thought â€� Gosh, didn’t I write more than this? It seemed like a pretty darned hefty manuscript to me! I had to spend some time holding the two books up to each other for comparison and verifying that the new book is, in fact, longer than its predecessor.

So I guess the point is, when you get your copy, don’t worry if it seems thinner than you were expecting. There’s just as many words in there and just as much adventure and romance as my usual offerings, I promise.

And I don’t know that I will ever get over how surreal it is to open up a real, honest-to-god paper-and-ink book and find the pages filled with words that I wrote. Reading the digital copies is one thing, but seeing those words printed on paper� somehow that makes it feel official. I’m a writer, ya’all. It doesn’t get much more legit. And even after all these years it still feels a little unbelievable.

But that’s not all that came yesterday. I also got a delivery of new book cover flats (they’re like postcards, with the book synopsis and website links and other promo goodies on the back), and a shipment of supplies for one of the super-awesome prizes that will be included in my upcoming giveaway packs. So excited about the giveaway, guys, I CAN’T EVEN. I’m hoping to be able to post some sneak peeks of the prizes this weekend. So again, if you’re pre-ordering, PLZ TO BE SAVING UR RECEIPTS, okay? I’ll have something set up where you can send them to me (and/or a photo of you with the new book. Those are even more awesome.) Everyone who sends me one will be entered into a drawing for a prize pack, of which there will be many, ’cause I honestly wish I could afford to send every last person who’s ever spent the time to read one of my stories a great big thank you pack of prizes.

And for those of you who would like to win a signed copy, I’m going to be launching a Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ giveaway at midnight on February 17th. And, because I’ve been getting so many requests for the e-book’s release date, I may just decide to do an e-book giveaway too.

For good measure, I am also tossing out here a set of new character art for the three main characters, because I’ve been working hard to re-render them in time to make pretty book things. You can find more on the new , too.

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Here� have some romantical TalonxShasta court dancing , guys� page. BTW, my talented fiancee actually made the blue feather necklace model just for meeeee. I am a lucky lady ^~

I have another little deleted SWORD OF THE GUARDIAN scene for you lovely folks today! This one is a bit that fitsÌýright after the last Deleted Scene () and where the book picks up with the feather-in-the-tree incident. It has an assassination attempt! And mystery! And MORE TALON! Ìý :)

Also, I got my e-book copy of PRAYER OF THE HANDMAIDEN yesterday. ÌýSquee!!! And Bold Strokes has . Heads up: if you preorder, save your receipt and watch this blog (and/or my and ) because I am going to be running a giveaway drawing for everyone who sends me a receipt showing a POTH purchase by 3/30/15. TheÌýprize packs I’m putting together have some seriously cool stuff, which I am making for you with my own two little hands, over the next few weeks, because that is how much I lurve you guys. â™� ÌýSo keep checking back, okay?

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I have another deleted Sword of the Guardian scene for you this week, my friends! This one is a bit longer, and goes into more detail regarding the deal that Soltran makes with Talon.

A couple of constructive-critical reviews ofÌýSotG questionÌýthe somewhatÌýdubious nature of Soltran’s decisionÌýtoÌýmake a girl-disguised-as-a-boy into a bodyguard for his daughter, Ìýin spite of what hisÌýunknowing court or populaceÌýmight think. This scene provides a little more insight as to his reasoning (the soundness of which, dear readers, you may evaluate for yourselves.) In fact, this entire scene provides a much deeper look at Soltran’s character, in general. There’sÌýa bit part for Nurse, too, and she’s always fun to write.

One of the more problematic bits with this scene is the way Talon’s crossdressing is perceived by the King, who immediately labels it as heresy against the Goddess. ÌýThere will be readersÌýwho just don’t like that in their fantasy, and that is okay. Truth is, I don’t LIKE it either, but that’s how Ithyria is at this point in itsÌýhistory. Some readers have noted similarity between the Ithyrian religion and traditional Catholicism/Christianity, and they are not wrong. Goddess or not, the Ithyrian religion has evolved over a thousand years into something that depends heavily on ritual, ceremony, strict rules of conduct and censure of anything that doesn’t conform to majority norms. And in a medieval setting where men’s physical strength is needed for war and women are typically sidelined with the task ofÌýkeeping future generations alive, misogyny is a somewhat hard-to-avoid consequence. (Which is ridiculous, because one could argue that dying in battle is a much easier featÌýthan living a long life of heavy labor in the support of others â€� but that’s an entirely different blog.)

Anyway,Ìýwill shed some light on some of the rotten things that are being attributed to the Goddess’s name. And the third Ithyria book, which I am in the early stages of writing, is going to take it further. So bear with our poor dark-agesÌýIthyrians for a bit, if you will. They have as much learning and growing to doÌýas a peopleÌýas we have. â™�

Enjoy!

Hey guys, I’m currently doing a quote-of-the day thing on my ,Ìýbecause I am soooo excited about Prayer of the Handmaiden’s upcoming release. These are teeny sneak peeks at the new book, weeks before the release date.ÌýYou’re welcome to join in if you want! Just leave me a FB comment, or tweet me (), or comment on my blog, or even shoot me an email â€� and give a number between 11 and 302. I’ll post a quote on Facebook from that exact page of the new book! It might be racy or action packed or angsty or even a little enigmatic…but I promise no spoilers. ÌýI’m doing one a day, first-come-first-served.

Also, I have ♥BIG PLANZâ™� in the works for some super-cool prize packs Ìýâ€� everything from a drawing for an autographed copy, to some early-purchaser rewards and raffle! So stay tuned forÌýmore infoÌýin the next couple weeks.

Today I’ve added â€� this one was the prologue of the original Sword of the Guardian manuscript, intended to provide Talon’s backstory and explain how and whyÌýshe began to live as a boy. It was cut from the final draft for many reasons, one being that it is a very violent event witnessed by a child, and depicts the rape and murder of Talon’s mother (not exactly the gentlest way to start out a fluffy princessy romance, yeah?) Therefore, I’ve prefaced the page with a trigger warning â€� this one may not be for everybody. But, if youÌýare okay withÌýsome grit with your fantasy, thisÌýwill give you an idea of how Talon’s male disguise got started, and where her vendetta against the barbarians and her near-obsession with protecting her sisters stems from.

Coming up next week, I’ll be sharing an expanded scene wherein the King discoversÌýTalon’s secret and enlists her as Shasta’s bodyguard. In the meantime, how about adding Prayer of the Handmaiden to your Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ want-to-read list? Or hey â€� , if you want (though we BSB authors always like it best if you wait to order directly through Bold Strokes â€� they should have a pre-order option available soon too.)

Stay tuned!

Well, friends, the official release date for Prayer of the Handmaiden will be March 17th, 2015. Bold Strokes usually has pre-orders available early, so I’ll be sure to keep everybody updated when those open up. In the meantime, check out the spiffy cover! My talented fiancee turned one of my Daz renders into a painting for the cover art.

To celebrate (and get ya’all pumped upÌýfor release day) I’m going to be adding some bits and pieces to theÌýwebsite over the next few weeks. You’ll notice there’s a new page in the Fan Service section â€� check it out, because I’ve put up , that were cut from the final Sword of the Guardian manuscript. Because SotG was such a long rough draft, I actually have a handful of scenes like these that I thought you guys might enjoy. So keep checking back, because as part of the countdown to book launch day I’ll be posting aboutÌýone a week. And, there may beÌýone or two from Prayer of the Handmaiden that will get added eventually. ;)

� by Heather Rose Jones.

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No. Seriously. So this book is 18th century female bodyguard yumminess, with a little mystical religion, an androgynous sword-wielding duelist, a spunky, scholarly heiress and a greedy villain. I’m not even halfway through and already in love. This is the kind of stuff the world needs more of! The writing style is pretty and true to its historical period, the social conventions are rich and political without being impossible to follow� Go find this book and read it, my friends. It’s altogether lovely.

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AND OMG THE AUTHOR ISÌýIN THE SCA. No wonder her book feels authentic. SO MANY OF THE HEARTS!!!

Had a blast yesterday at , a laid-back, lesbian-owned coffeehouse / bar in downtown Denver, where the group hosted it’s first readers� appreciation event. It was a great chance to sit down with a few readers, drink coffee, and chat about books and any other topics that struck our fancy. Sold a few copies, signed a few more, got to meet with some of the folks I’d met at Pride and some that were new� We gave away prize bags, donated books to the Blush & Blu bookstore/library, and just generally had an awesome time. Can’t wait to do something like this again! Here are a few pics:

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Cathryn and Me

Mary, Me and Jenny

The OiC book display

Chatting

The Blush and Blu bookstore

The one thing we forgot was to get a pic of the attending OiC authors!! Oooops! Next time, though. ;)

Big thanks to everyone who came out to support the event! Now to spend the rest of the day working on Ithyria book #3. ;)

put together this awesome video of at Denver Pride this year. Very proud to be a part of this fantastic group of writers!