Authors

I'll be posting the whole list of chapter names in my next newsletter.

By popular demand – I wonder if other authors get so many demands, heh – here is the Cast of Characters. This is a basic version. You will have to wait until Maggie’s site, the app, or the Companion to Kair Toren, for the images version.

This thing is hyperlinked and should be spoiler free. Not every character is included. Some are meant to be discovered and others are too minor to mention.

Blanket permission to print and share on socials.

This Kingdom Cast of CharactersDownload

The post This Kingdom’s Cast of Characters first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

Fell asleep reaching for mah phone.

I think you might have a problem, my dude.

Yeah, he thinks his pan is half full, but actually…

That’s a really weird metaphor, my friend.

It really is.

He’s going to be pissed when he wakes up and finds THE PHONE IS MINE.

 

So there is no sigl for clearing bruisings? Mending doesn’t apply an rebuild can only work on muscles, do all people that might get bruisings (like soliders) have basicly constant bruisings or do they get enhanced priorly, sothat there is no reason to think about healing bruisings?

Hi! The editions are all visually different with different art and edges, but there is no different bonus content in them. The only difference is that some are signed.

At least the editor replied back to you. Hopefully nothing needs to be done so your draft will be ready for print

French publisher Monsieur Toussaint Louverture will publish their new two-volume translation of The Wolf’s Hour on May 22, 2026. They have not revealed the covers yet, but they have teased them. Monsieur Toussaint Louverture has previously published Boy’s Life and Swan Song.

Here’s their new Facebook post:

Après plusieurs tentatives, plusieurs directions, nous avons fini par trouver une forme de livre en mesure de correctement accueillir, aujourd’hui, les romans de Robert McCammon, qu’ils soient inédits ou non, qu’ils soient amples ou resserrés, qu’ils parlent de psychopathes ou de loups. Ces livres étaient pourtant sous notre nez (bouché, donc) depuis quelques années !

La Bibliothèque McCammon s’inscrit dans la continuité du geste esthétique engagé avec Michael McDowell et Pedro Oyarbide.

Une fabrication française, un format accessible, pour faire découvrir, simplement, l’un des plus grands conteurs contemporains.

L’Heure du loup, volumes 1 & 2, paraissent ensemble et l’histoire forme un tout. Le volume 2 inclut une nouvelle inédite consacrée à Michael Gallatin.

Précommandes la semaine prochaine. Sortie le 22 mai.

In English:

After several attempts and exploring various directions, we have finally found a book format capable of properly housing Robert McCammon’s novels today—whether previously unpublished or not, whether sprawling or compact, and whether they feature psychopaths or wolves. Yet, these books were right under our noses (stuffed-up noses, evidently!) for the past few years!

The McCammon Library continues the aesthetic vision first established with Michael McDowell and Pedro Oyarbide.

Produced in France and featuring an accessible format, this series offers a straightforward way to introduce readers to one of the greatest contemporary storytellers.

*The Hour of the Wolf*, Volumes 1 & 2, are being released simultaneously, forming a complete, cohesive story. Volume 2 includes a brand-new, previously unpublished short story centered on Michael Gallatin.

Pre-orders open next week. Release date: May 22.

As we mentioned in December, Earthling Publications is producing a signed limited edition of MINE, the last Robert McCammon novel to receive the limited edition treatment. Copies were available as part of a bundle back in December, but the remaining copies will be going up for pre-order on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, at Noon ET. The book features art by Tomislav Tikulin. Three of the art pieces are shown below.

Full information and ordering details will be posted here on Tuesday!

Earthling’s MINE art by Tomislav Tikulin Earthling’s MINE art by Tomislav Tikulin Earthling’s MINE art by Tomislav Tikulin

A new Dresden short story hits the shelves soon in Paranormal Payback! This collection of urban fantasy stories holds an all new Dresden Files story featuring Goodman Grey. Paranormal Payback is available April 14th!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Yesterday, we read about Maggie going on tour and witnessed some of the excitement of being able to see Ilona and Gordon live.

But not all of us could be there to ask our questions and give them our love. So now we’re fixing that:

Maggie Zoom

Ilona and Gordon will be hosting a Zoom Q&A on Saturday, April 18th at 10 AM Central Time to chat with us about everything This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me and what comes next.

REGISTER FOR MAGGIE ZOOM

I have almost three hundred questions gathered for the Zoom list, so over the weekend I’ll be whittling them down into something manageable for our brave authors to tackle. To be fair to the Horde, they knew exactly what they were doing! Of course we barsaed all over it.

If you have more questions, please continue the discussion on the spoiler thread for now. Since the book is longer than usual, we need to protect our fellow readers who may still be making their way through it.

The Q&A will be posted on the Ilona Andrews Moderator YouTube channel a few days later, but if you want to interact with our IA live, please register as Zoom spots are limited.

The bit more

When is the Maggie sequel coming?

We wouldn’t be BDH if we hadn’t started asking this even before release day.

The good news is that House Andrews are hard at work on it, and it is shaping up to be a substantial draft. We like big books and we cannot lie, the other Hordes can’t deny, when a draft comes in with a wordcount high and a plot that won’t de…Ok, I hear you, Sir Modsalot out. 

As soon as the manuscript is ready to move to the next stage in the traditional publishing process (developmental edits), we will hear about it here first.

Ilona and Gordon have just come off an intense release cycle and tour and went straight back into writing the Maggie 2 draft and ongoing admin work. We’ll need to allow them a little breathing room so they can keep doing what they do best: telling us the stories we love.

To put to rest the conspiracies already cropping up thanks to my people, Team Facts be Damned: yes, this is a planned trilogy. No, there is no cruel joke at play intended to leave us with an unfinished series and just two novels like Maggie’s own situation. In over 20 years of publishing, House Andrews have never failed to deliver on a contract. The best thing we can do is wish them health, rest, and long creative lives so they can keep feeding the Horde for years to come.

And reread, just in case … If one day we wake up on the streets of Kair Toren we’ll need to know exactly which Duke to ask for help. (Jk, of course we would go to Clover.)

Audiobook news?

The traditional audiobook recording for Beast Business (Augustine’s Hidden Legacy novella) will begin soon – once it enters editing stage, we will be able to estimate a release date better and will announce it.

I’m very happy to share that the actor who was chosen for Augustine was such a perfect fit that he will also be recast as Pancakes Montgomery in the Graphic Audio dramatized adaptations of Catalina’s Hidden Legacy trilogy, which should make for a wonderfully consistent listening experience for us.

I also have a 70% off promotion for the Burn For Me dramatized Graphic Audio adaptation on Audiobooks.com, as a Friday treat.

I do not have any official news about the dramatized adaptation of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me, by Graphic Audio or otherwise. The traditional audiobook, narrated by the wonderful Kristen Sieh is available from all major retailers.

International editions of This Kingdom?

German readers in particular seem to be very worried – keine Sorge!

• The German edition of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me has already been announced by Cove Verlag and is scheduled for September 25, 2026
• The Spanish edition coming from Editorial Hidra is planned for June 2026
• The French edition, handled by Éditions Bookmark, will also release in June, and will come in three formats: boutique edition with reversible dust jacket (art by Luisa Preissler), bookstore edition and digital

That’s it for this Friday update. Thank you again for these past two weeks of discussion, theories, laughter, and sheer joy of seeing the Horde in full swing!

The post Maggie Zoom Q&A and a bit more first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

https://kriswrites.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Consecrated-Ground-Book-Trailer-Small-.mp4

Here’s the book trailer, specifically designed to feature the Kickstarter, for my noir novel, Consecrated Ground. This is the novel that I mentioned on Tuesday, the one that the original editor slapped an offensive title on (which stuck for nearly two decades). I’m using the original title.

This novel is historical through and through, although, like its compatriot in the Kickstarter, the novel straddles two different timelines. Memory and crime feature in both novels.

There’s also a short story collection in the Kickstarter, and it has some previously unpublished stories. Readers who are in my newsletter told me they wanted to see more short story collections, so I’m working diligently to give them what they asked for.

I hope the trailer interests you enough to send you to the Kickstarter. Consecrated Ground won’t be available anywhere but the Kickstarter for several months. So if you want to get a copy early, head on over now.

SOLD OUT in 22 minutes after the official announcement! Please join the Wait List to be notified of any additional copies after we do our manual check of the available numbers against the orders we have received. Thank you! (You can also check out the retailers below.)

Pre-order from Subterranean Press

From Lividian Publications:

Lividian Publications is proud to be publishing a deluxe signed, numbered, and slipcased Limited Edition hardcover of Speaks the Nightbird by Robert McCammon, the first volume in his acclaimed Matthew Corbett series. Due to the massive size of the story, this deluxe special edition is split into two volumes, housed in a slipcase. Vincent Chong provided stunning color artwork for both of the dust jackets along with a full-color frontispiece and exclusive black and white illustrations for the interior.

This edition is designed to complement our Limited Editions of The King of Shadows, Seven Shades of Evil, and Leviathan, which were inspired by the editions published by Subterranean Press and Cemetery Dance for the previous books in the series. Speaks the Nightbird was originally published by a different small press and that edition doesn’t look and feel like the other Limited Editions and did not have Vincent Chong artwork. So, for someone making a complete set of the Matthew Corbett series, this new edition will match the rest of the series on the bookshelf.

Retail Price: $195
Publication Date: Fall 2026
Page Count: 888

Special Features:
• Full-color dust jacket artwork by Vincent Chong
• Full-color frontis artwork by Vincent Chong
• Black and white interior illustrations by Vincent Chong that are exclusive to the signed editions
• Includes a collectible bookmark

Deluxe Production Features:
• Offset printed on an acid-free archival quality paper stock
• A fine binding
• Hot foil stamping on the front cover and spine
• Smyth-sewn to create a more durable binding
• Twine head and tail bands
• High-quality endpapers
• Sewn-in satin ribbon page marker
• Custom-made slipcase stamped with hot foil and featuring a unique die-cut window
• Signed by Robert McCammon
• Limited to 750 signed and numbered copies

Here is a link to the product page to learn more or place your order while these limited supplies last.

Don’t forget that our books are also carried by some of our favorite small presses and retailers:

Bad Moon Books
Buchheim Verlag (Germany)
Camelot Books
Cracked and Spineless Books (Australia)
Jake’s Rare Books
Kathmandu Books
Midworld Press
Overlook Connection
Pat Cramer, Bookseller
SST Publications (UK)
Subterranean Press
Veryfinebooks
Ziesings

Thank you, as always, for your continuing support and enthusiasm. We have another very exciting announcement in the works for next week on April 10, so stay tuned.

In reply to Bill.

Yes, I’ll let you know. I did finally hear back from my editor this week, but unfortunately the edits still aren’t done. I’ll put up a post when I know more.

Thank you very much for this! Interesting stuff… I hope that progress with Book #5 continues apace!

I’m assuming that you’d tell us if the First Edits had been received?

In reply to Bill.

Hi Bill,
Benedict said it be out in November for book 4

The tour began on March 31 at BN in Arboretum at 5:00 pm. We came in a little early, were led to the back room, and shortly after they brought us out. We follow the nice bookseller to the signing space and see 200 people. And they all go, “Yay!” except that there is 200 of them and it sounds more like, “Rawr!”

We have a short Q&A, we got to signing, and we sign until 10:30 or so. Author math: 1 new book plus 3 books from home = 4 signatures x 200 = 800 signatures. 500 signatures is about 3 hours. We have an awesome time, and then the readers leave and we stay and sign stock. And more stock. And more stock.

We finally get through it and call our Uber, and it takes us home. We land, eat something – I am very proud of myself for ordering takeout to be delivered with perfect timing – it was left by the door by the time we arrived but it did not sit long enough for racoons to steal it. We eat, finish packing in a tired stupor, and pass out for about 4 hours.

We get up at 5:00 am, and by 5:30 am we are on the way to the airport with our bags and our airline apps. We get there, check in the bags, go through TSA Precheck and they send me right back. My TSA precheck is not there. It turned out that there was a typo in my KTN, the frequent flier number. Now that I know about it, I manually fix it everywhere.

We grab some kind of weird breakfast – airport food is always a little sus – and get on a plane. We land in Minneapolis at 12:30 pm. We get to the hotel, which is amazing. It’s called the Graduate and it is straight out of a Dark Academia novel. It’s right by University of Minnesota and there are lounge spaces and long, ancient looking tables everywhere. The students use it as a secondary Student Center. I stole pictures for you from their website.

It would be an amazing event space. Like I want to write a dark academia novel so we can have the book release party there.

We drop our bags off and get an Uber to Tropes and Trifles. The city is under siege. Every house and business along the road has signs ICE OUT and WE LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS. Minneapolis’ community game is strong. Deepest respect.

I will say that if you would like to visit, do not hesitate. We felt safe, and Tropes and Trifles takes great care of their visitors.

We arrive to the store about 2:45 pm and we are shown to the table filled with books. We keep signing but somehow the boxes keep coming.

We also meet a very good boy.

We presign the books until about 5:00 pm, when we get a little break to grab a bite. The only options around Tropes and Trifles were a BBQ restaurant and a bakery, so we grab an uber back to the hotel and eat at their restaurant. Nothing wrong with a BBQ, but for a signing event, you want something light.

We eat quickly, grab an uber, and arrive to the signing venue, which takes place in this amazing church. Except that there is no table. Usually there is a table, but this time, there are only chairs.

I have a pantsuit that only looks good when I am standing or half hidden behind the table. Had I know this, I would’ve worn a dress. I went with the suit because an ice storm was coming and it was cold. More on that later.

The signing starts and again, there are many people. We do a short Q&A and at some point, I do a Vanna White impression with a giant cover. Except I am not quite that fabulous, hehe. The session goes well, we switch to the signing, and we sign. And sign. Tropes and Trifles has a 6 book limit, so the presigned hardcover plus up to 6 books from home.

It takes a little bit, and we get everyone through, and arrive to the hotel around 11:00 pm. We grab a little sleep, get up at 5:00 am, and by 6:20 am, we are at the airport. We are due to fly to Chicago, where we need to catch a connecting flight to Lexington.

Remember the ice storm? It is spreading across the Midwest. Chicago is not accepting planes. The flight is delayed. We sit. We wait. We board. We sit. We wait. We deplane with our bags. We sit. We wait.

At this point I call Jocelyn, who is Tor’s publicist, and explain that there is no way we are connecting in Chicago. She magically manages to rebook us on a later flight. We should be getting into Charlotte at 5:00 pm now. The signing is at 7:00 pm. Plenty of time.

We sit. We wait.

We board. The plane is de-iced. We wait. We wait.

We finally take off.

We land in Chicago, speed march to the right gate, and stop. The domino effect is in full force. Our connecting flight is now delayed by two hours.

More texting to Jocelyn, who connects to Joseph-Beth, and the store graciously agrees to move the event to 8:30 pm. We had an unprecedented level of support for this. Thank you so much to everyone involved.

I check the email, and see a message from Mod R, which says, “Everything is fine,” which is usually a code for “The sky has fallen, but Mod R picked it up and put it back.” The website had crashed, and she had to contact the host support, who got it fixed in record time. I thank her and ask her to post the delay announcement.

We sit. We wait. We talk to other people who are sitting and waiting. We look for some place to charge things. We sit.

Finally we board and fly to Lexington. We land at 8:10 pm, grab our bags, and call an Uber, except the uber driver is 12 miles away. What? So, we cancel the uber and grab a taxi, and it takes us to Joseph-Beth. We are reasonably sure that everyone has likely left by now.

We make it to the store at 8:30 pm. Joseph-Beth – a beautiful store, by the way, and if you have a chance, you absolutely should visit – has two floors of books. As we are riding the escalator up in our travel clothes with our bags, we hear the “Yay-Rawr!”

Nobody left. We go straight into Q&A, and there are pictures of us with readers where Gordon looks amazing, because he always does, and I am wearing upscale sweatpants and a T-shirt that says “Easily Distracted By Dogs.” Sorry. It couldn’t be helped.

We get through the line – one person flew in from Germany, omg – and by that point it’s 11:30 pm and there is a lot of stock. The store graciously offers to stay with us until we sign it all, but we feel bad about keeping everyone late, so we agree to come back in the morning.

We get to Origin hotel, which is also gorgeous, fall on our faces, and fall asleep.

We are up at 6:00 am, we grab breakfast. Breakfast at the Origin in Lexington is a religious experience. Like it is so delicious, and it looks like one of those highly edited food shots. It was perfect. By 7:30 am we are in an uber and on the way to the store.

We get there, we are let in, and we sign stock. And we sign. And we sign. At 9:15 am, we had to leave for the airport, but we got through all of This Kingdom stock and we will be sending bookplates to Joseph-Beth for the rest.

We get to the airport, and the plane is delayed. We wait, we wait, we wait, we we board the plane, and then we are finally in Baltimore. As we are going to get our bags, Jeaniene Frost, who is co-signing with us, is texting me wanting to know if we are alive. I confirm that we are alive and we agree to meet for dinner. It is Gordon’s birthday.

We end up at a Brazilian steakhouse. But this point I am so tired of eating highly fried and rich food, that I find some marinated eggplant on the salad bar and I eat it like there is no tomorrow. Midway through dinner, a woman comes over and gives us this hesitant look.

Me: Hello.

She: ILOVEYOURBOOKS.

We took lovely pictures, chatted, and it was a very cute moment. She couldn’t get a ticket to the signing because it was sold out and ended up at the restaurant by pure chance. Serendipity. On tour all of our time belongs to the readers and book stores, and all of us are very glad that we were able to meet her.

The next day, we make a quick excursion to Collector Corner and Black Sheep Yarn Store, where I buy yarn I do not need. Black Sheep Yarn store is lovely and they tried very hard to explain their return policy to me. Returning yarn. Heh.

We meet with Jeaniene and her sister for a quick brunch, get back to the hotel, change clothes and arrive to the BN. We are welcomed, led to the back room, and then brought out.

No table. Oh, and it’s worse. It’s not chairs. It’s tall bar stools. Note to self: dresses next time.

We have a ton of people again, everyone is asking questions, I scroll through Maggie 2 to prove that it existed. Jeaniene Frost is MC’ing like there is no tomorrow, and then we all transition to the signing.

There were some heavy moments at this signing and some happy moments. At one point someone accidentally grabbed my phone instead of theirs, and somehow took a bunch of pictures – I must’ve happened to unlock it just before – and then apologized profusely. I texted the pictures back and took a photo for posterity. Hehe.

We signed until just after 9:00 pm, and as soon as we finished, the lights went out, and we had to go. We got back to the hotel, fell on our faces, and slept until 4:00 am, at which point the uber came to pick us up so we can be at the airport in time. We got there at 5:00, gave them our bags, somehow dragged ourselves through the security and to our gate, waited again, got on a plane, flew, landed, ubered, and at noon walked through the door of our house.

We put the bags aside, changed clothes, sat on the couch, and fell asleep until 4:00 pm, when it was time to pick up the dogs from boarding.

It was an amazing tour! We got to meet so many people. Thank you for all of the smiles and the old, well-loved books. It was our privilege to spend time with you!

And now I have the grand announcement. Ta-da!

Here we go:

• #9 New York Times Bestseller in Hardcover and Ebook
• #10 New Times Bestseller in Hardcover
• #14 USA Today Bestseller (We have #14 bestselling book out all books in US)
• #2 Sunday Times Bestseller in UK – huge thank you to Waterstones
• #6 Independent Books Store Bestseller

And we have regional lists:

• #13 North California Independent Bookstore Alliance
• #14 Southern Independent Bookstore Alliance
• #7 Mountains and Plains Independent Bookseller Association
• #8 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association
• #9 Great Lakes Independent Bookseller Association

We haven’t had a true hardcover edition since Magic Triumphs. Hidden Legacy had very tiny hardcover runs, primarily aimed at libraries. We are coming back from an almost 4 year traditional hiatus (Ruby Fever came out in 08/2022.)

I love Maggie, but I also understand that it is a dense book with a lot of worldbuilding. It is not a YA/NA, it is not that spicy, and it is in a genre largely unknown to Western audiences. Books like that don’t usually hit the lists unless they have a film or TV tie ins. Tor had gone above and beyond to promote it, but between the long break in our publishing career, the hardcover price, and writing in a different genre, I didn’t expect any fireworks.

This is unbelievably amazing. I was shocked. Absolutely shocked. How did this even happen?

We worked so hard on this book, and right now all of it seems worth it.

Thank you.

You are the best.

The post The Tour and the Lists first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

Okay, so I screwed up. When UK sent the packet listing the editions, the wording was slightly confusing.

This is the regular UK hardcover.

Regular UK Hardcover

This is the International HB hardcover.

International UK HB hardcover

It is my fault. I did not confirm. The pack of promotional materials made it seem like this was the regular UK hardcover, so we advertised it as such. Nobody caught it on our end or the publisher’s. The publisher sent advertising materials with the plain edge hardcover on April 1st, which we did not see until this Monday because we were on tour. This is on me. I am very sorry.

My suggestion is to return the book. Right now the only way to get sprayed edges in UK is to buy the Waterstones Edition, so if you want the sprayed edges, I would return and purchase the Waterstones. I am not sure where or how one would get the International UK HB, but I will have the ISBN for you when Tor UK provides it. Thank you to Kat in the comments: ISBN 9781037400674.

I apologize. It was not my intention to engage in false advertising.

Everyone who purchased the plain edge UK edition expecting the painted edges will have an option to receive a free ebook copy of the upcoming Guide to Kair Toren, which will include art and bonus material. We know it’s an inadequate compensation, but we hope it will help a little. We will provide you with the details on how to get that free copy closer to the publication date, which hopefully will be around the end of May/beginning of June.

We will explore additional options to make it up to you. Mod R is currently out for an important errand, but when she returns, she will forward your emails to me and I will contact everyone who emailed personally to apologize.

The post UK Cover Correction first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

In reply to Benedict.

No choice but to wait it out.

https://kriswrites.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Candid-Shots-Kickstarter-low-quality.mp4

We’re running a Kickstarter as of about five minutes ago. It features a brand-new crime novel that I hesitate to call historical, because part of the book is set now. I’m proud of that book, Candid Shots of the 1970s, but it also surprised me. I thought it was going to be a short story, but the characters took off with it, and told me a story that I did not expect. Yep, that’s how I spent my December holidays, listening to characters tell me about an afternoon on a Minnesota lake that turned into a massively traumatic experience by evening.

The second novel appeared under a different title. It was published in the 1990s, reprinted in the early part of this century, and got great reviews. The first editor also gave it an offensive title that I will not use here, even to tell you which novel it is. This one is a true historical, with a crime in the center. And it’s noir, so expect dark. We’re reissuing it with the original title, Consecrated Ground.

The final book in the Kickstarter is a collection of short stories, two of which are brand-new. There are some award nominees in the collection as well. I think you’ll all have a lot of fun with this one.

In addition, there’s a mix of workshops and other mystery short fiction collections. So you can find all sorts of reading.

The video above is for the Kickstarter itself, and gives you a good sampling of what’s in it.

Head on over. The Kickstarter will run until Thursday, April 16, but the sooner we hit our goal, the sooner we start on the stretch goals. Then you’ll get even more reading—and, if we get to the upper level of the Kickstarter, an online workshop that I put together last year. Here’s the link!

Hello, everybody. Mod R is taking a few days off, which are very deserved. The blog is now back in my incapable hands, muhahaha!

I owe you a tour write-up, which will be posted tomorrow. Thank you to everyone who came to see us! I will report on cities, hotels, funky travel, yarn, and delicious cookies. OMG, if you are the person who gave us the cookies, I must have the recipe.

Also, we have some admin that will be coming up: zoom dates, Maggie’s site, extras, art stuff, etc. For everyone who asked about the app I used: the app is still in beta, we need to fine tune it, and I promise once it’s done, you can have it,

Today I am here to let you know that Diamond Fire is out from Graphic Audio. I have some audio samples for you.

Sample 1. Sample 2. Sample 3.

Promo: I did it!

The post Diamond Fire GA is Out first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.