It’s been three weeks since Dagger and Coin made its appearance in the world, so I guess it’s time to start sharing some extras! Today I’m sharing some of the images I have held in mind while writing the story.
First, here are Soraya and Raisa, and a very apt quote for Soraya:
And here’s a poem that always, always makes me think of Soraya. (Click on the photo to enlarge it.)
To see more of the images, quotes, and songs that inspired Dagger and Coin, check out my Pinterest page:
Today’s the day! Dagger and Coin, the companion novel to Sword and Verse, is available NOW in hardcover and e-book. I like to think of this book as the rage feminism fantasy epic that we all need right now, featuring Soraya Gamo, the sharp, ambitious would-be queen who must learn to work with her former enemies to rebuild a broken society.
Order now at: harpercollins.com | IndieBound | amazon.com | barnesandnoble.com
Heidi Heilig, author of The Girl from Everywhere says “Rich in politics, intrigue, and betrayal, Dagger and Coin is a complex feminist fantasy featuring a tough and prickly ex-princess that I couldn’t help but adore.”
Kirkus says: “Soraya’s compelling narration makes the minutiae of management as thrilling as the betrayals, murders, and desperate gambits propelling the plot…A fine balance of political intrigue, relationship drama, and thoughtful characterization.”
School Library Journal says: “MacMillan has created a complex, nuanced world. Strong female characters taking the lead in a fast-paced plot will appeal to fans of fantasy, mythology, and works by Kristin Cashore…Those who haven’t read the first title in the series will not be disappointed or confused. A good choice for fantasy shelves.”
Wednesday, October 10 at 1:30 PM: “The Heroine’s Journey” at Fall for the Book (Fairfax, VA)
I’ll be discussing feminism and fantasy with Deborah Schaumberg, author of The Tombs, at Fall for the Book.
Saturday, October 13 and Sunday October 14, 11 am-5 PM, Maryland Renaissance Festival (Crownsville, MD)
I’m thrilled to be launching Dagger and Coin at Page After Page Bookstore at the Maryland Renaissance Festival! Join me to get your signed copy, learn how to write your name in the language of the gods, and collect some groovy swag!
Sunday, October 21, 5-7 PM: Choices and Consequences – Writing Workshop at The Ivy Bookshop (Baltimore, MD)
Geared to Grades 7-9. $30 registration fee includes a signed copy of Dagger and Coin and an Ivy Journal. Grades 7-9. RSVP to 410-377-2966 or MarthaAtTheIvy@gmail.com by October 14. Learn how to analyze your story through the lens of choices and consequences to create coherent plots, compelling characters, and satisfying endings. Click here for more information.
Friday, October 26 and Saturday, October 27: West Virginia Book Festival
Saturday, November 10, 11AM-1PM: Read Local Kick-Off Party at Winchester Book Gallery (Winchester, VA)
Come help us kick off the Maryland/Virginia/Delaware/Washington D.C. Read Local Challenge! Join us for an all-ages storytime at 11 am, featuring American Sign Language stories and songs, followed by games and crafts featuring the 42 books in the Read Local Challenge and a book signing for both Nita’s First Signs and Dagger and Coin. You can win great prizes just by participating! Find out more about the Read Local Challenge here.
Check out the complete calendar of upcoming appearances for more information!
I’m on the Reading with Your Kids podcast today talking about writing in multiple genres, ambitious female characters, and addressing the political through fantasy in Dagger and Coin. Click here to listen for free!
Sword and Verse comes out in paperback today! To celebrate, I’m doing a giveaway on Twitter:
Watch for more exciting giveaways later this month as we get closer to the hardcover release of Dagger and Coin on October 9! The book got its second trade review recently, and it’s another great one! Booklist says: “MacMillan builds tension slowly, and soon readers will be locked into the wrangling for power and influence that goes into forging a new foundation.” Read the full review here.
I also just the great news that Sword and Verse paperback and the Dagger and Coin hardcover will be released in the UK by HarperCollins 360!
I was delighted to be interviewed by Jedlie for his podcast, Reading with Your Kids. We discussed the benefits of signing with all children, the power of bilingualism, and how Nita’s First Signs came to be.
Click here to listen to a recording of the podcast.
Click here to read a transcript.
City of Islands by Kali Wallace
Summary: In a foggy archipelago called the City of Islands, magic drifts on the air as songs. Twelve-year-old Mara has always been fascinated by the spell-songs and dreams of becoming a great mage. Orphaned as a little girl, Mara was taken in by a bone-mage called Bindy. But when Bindy was killed by a rival, Mara lost both her home and her best chance to learn magic. Now Mara is a servant for the powerful Lady of the Tides. She earns her keep by diving in the murky ocean, searching for magical treasures that might please the Lady. Mara still yearns to learn magic, but it’s hard for a poor, orphaned servant to dream when the path to becoming a mage is open to only an elite few. Then one day, while diving for the Lady, Mara finds the skeletons of strange hybrid creatures: a lizard with wings, a horse with horns, and many more, the likes of which have not existed in the city for centuries. The entire trove of bones is humming with a powerful spell-song. Mara is convinced the bones will earn her the opportunity to study magic. But rather than rewarding her discovery, the Lady gives Mara a challenge: to learn where the magical bones came from by sneaking into the Winter Blade, an island fortress ruled by the very same sorcerer who killed Bindy years ago. What Mara finds will reveal chilling truths about her own past, as well as secrets about the history of her beloved city that are more dangerous–and magical–than she had ever imagined.
Kali Wallace creates a stunning and unusual world in this fantasy that is at once bound up in myth and legend and grounded in the gritty reality of fish markets and hardscrabble village life. Mara is a brave, determined, and ultimately thoughtful heroine who both yearns for and fears magic, and is willing to ask difficult questions about the responsibilities that come with power. The people that she cares about – loyal Fish Hook, caring Izzy, even the stately and distant Lady of the Tides – are fully drawn characters, some with their own surprisingly motivations. Underlying each of Mara’s discoveries is the yearning for family and grief for the loss of her parents and Bindy, the bone mage who took her in as a child. In uncovering secrets about the long-gone founders of the City of Islands, she also uncovers parts of her own past she might have preferred to stay hidden, and must come to understand a new definition of family.
CITY OF ISLANDS is out now.
Stories By Hand with Kathy MacMillan 