Unboxing Day for THE SHADOW GALAXY!

And breaking news about my epic dragon fantasy! Read on...

Feb 1

Hi all,

I am over the moon and galaxy to show you my just-unboxed author copy of THE SHADOW GALAXY: a Collection of Short Stories and Poetry! My upcoming traditional debut arrives on March 3 and you can preorder it now from your favorite bookseller. Wanted personalized copies? Mysterious Galaxy has you covered if you want to read up on that. Note that the event is hybrid and can be watched anywhere.

Watch my unboxing video! (And if you want to retweet that, you may. It’s also on my Instagram account if you want to share it there, and I really appreciate it!)

Now, book tour details are incoming, and I’ll send those in a separate email soon. I just got a signing reserved for March 10 in Los Angeles at The Grove’s Barnes & Noble!! Very thrilled about that.

As if that weren’t fab enough, my first full-length epic fantasy novel, THE VALE OF SEVEN DRAGONS, is now out on submission as of this past Monday to major publishers via my literary agent! A number of publishing company editors requested it sight unseen, and even beyond the list of publishers we’d already sent it to. This all happened very quickly. WHAT is going on!?

This is the first time any words of mine will have been seen by editors of Big Five publishers, as well as some stellar non-Big-Five imprints that I love as well.

The pitch document that my agent sent to those editors is stunning. In it, she compared me to Robin Hobb, Brandon Sanderson, and T. Kingfisher. WHAT!?

What happens now? We wait. This could take months. It could happen faster. The goal is to get a publishing contract and hopefully an advance (I have never had an advance before, only royalties contracts). And then, hopefully, by 2025 (doubtful 2024 is possible at this point), you’ll have a dragon book from me.

If things roll quickly with VALE, we might have to shove everything else off the desk, so to speak, if they want sequels. The fun part there is that I *also* have two other fantasy novels in the pipeline that could actually be set in the same general universe…separate from any sequels. Whew!

Meanwhile, my latest work in progress is an unsettling, near-future sci-fi mystery, and I’m in conversation with someone from NASA this Friday about a facet of it. This is a quite different book from my others, and it’s getting kind of personal, but that’s good and very grounded.

After that, I will finish my campy/gory/glamorous horror novel that has turned some heads. So, two books will be written this year at least. I hope to write a third.

For now, I have two 2023 debuts headed your way: THE SHADOW GALAXY and autumn’s young adult Lunarpunk SFF adventure, THE INN AT THE AMETHYST LANTERN. I also have a late-spring appearance in a media tie-in anthology that’s high fantasy and is a great story. More info on that when I’m given clearance. At this point, though, GALAXY takes center stage for this Spring.

Thank you so much for all your support. I am just so delighted to share this adventure with you!

Ad astra,
Dianne

J. Dianne Dotson's Notes from the Spiral Arm is a reader-supported publication. You’re always going to get a free newsletter! To receive special new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.