Jacqueline Carey's Official Author Site

May 2013

A quick update this month! As you may surmise from the cover art posted here on the homepage, Autumn Bones, the second volume in my Agent of Hel series is now available for pre-order. The release date is October 1st. Dark Currents, the first volume, will be released in mass market paperback at the same time.

I suspect a number of readers are waiting for the paperback (or the corresponding drop in price of the ebook) to check out this series, which I totally understand. It’s very different from anything I’ve done before. And in a way, it’s hard to describe. One of the reviews I thought did it best ran in i09, wherein Annalee Newitz declared it my best book in years and wrote, “Dark Currents is suburban fantasy wrapped around a crime thriller, which makes it sound like pretty much every other paranormal romance book you've ever read. But it's really not.”

Why not? As long-time readers know, I love tweaking the conventions of a genre. Throughout the series, I take a lot of delight in contrasting standard elements of paranormal fantasy with prosaic reality, resulting in images like a lamia in a backyard swimming pool or a frost giant driving a dune buggy. Daisy, my protagonist, isn’t exactly a world class kick-ass heroine – when it comes to a fight, she relies on skills she learned as a kid in Li’l Dragonz Tae Kwon Do classes to hold her own.

If that sounds a little too frothy, well, there are dark themes in the books, too; and universal human themes of love, loneliness and alienation. To quote i09 again, “Dark Currents is, in a sense, deceptively lighthearted. Blending romcom magic with some truly disturbing themes is incredibly difficult, but Carey makes it look effortless.”

At any rate, I hope everyone who enjoyed the first book is looking forward to Autumn Bones! It’s as much fun if not more, and sexier, too. And if you’ve been waiting for the paperback edition of Dark Currents, I hope you’re looking forward to its release. October seems a long way away yet, but time flies!

In the meantime, pay a visit to the Fan Art Gallery for a new entry with a lovely take on Phèdre’s marque. And if you’re in the Houston area, don’t forget that I’ll be at Comicpalooza on Memorial Day Weekend, May 24-26. I hope to see some of you there!