Authors

How frustrating! So sorry. Hopefully you’ll get the edits soon.

This just seems so strange. I thought sales on the new series were going well. I’m certainly planning on continuing to buy each book as it comes out! Is the publisher putting this on a back burner?

Technically, the first thing I finished reading was Anton Chekov’s The Seagull for my theatre history class. I’d read both the play and the short story the first time I was in college 100,000 years ago, and didn’t like them then. I decided to give the dang thing a chance again. Still didn’t like it, but I understand it now. Also, the prof mentioned in passing that we should read the play with Hamlet in mind. I did, and wow, that helps. It also explains why I don’t like The Seagull (besides, you know, the symbolism, the suicide, the unlikeable characters). Hamlet is my least favorite Shakespeare play. Reading a later play based on Hamlet does not make me like that story any better. (Sigh.) So yes, I’m not recommending it…

I am still reading a very long, very dense novel that I’m loving, but it blocked my easy reads of lighter fare for most of the month. I read a few other things that aren’t worth recommending and are, in fact, quite forgettable. 

So…here’s what I liked in March.

 

March, 2026

Abramovich, Seth, “The History of Mel Brooks, Part One,” The Hollywood Reporter, January 29, 2026. Full disclosure: I’m not the biggest Mel Brooks fan. His humor is too broad for me. Dean has tried to make me like Blazing Saddles as long as we’ve been together, and I just don’t. I saw it when it was released, I saw it with him when we were first together, and then later, he made me watch it again. The famous fart scene? Not funny to me. This is not my kind of humor. However, I do like some of his films. Young Frankenstein is a personal favorite as is Silent Movie (which no one ever mentions), particularly the scene with Marcel Marceau. I saw The Producers on Broadway because I adore Nathan Lane. We saw the show the very first week, scoring tickets through magic. And while I found it funny, I found it funny the way I usually find Mel Brooks’ material funny: I understood the joke and wished it would make me laugh.

That said, I admire the crap out of Mel Brooks. He’s 99 now, still creating, and still moving forward. This interview is all about risk and reward, about taking chances and about staying true to your vision. The introduction says this of Brooks’ work:

Across nearly a century, Brooks has repeatedly tested the limits of taste, commerce, politics and patience. He has offended studio executives, television censors, foreign governments and polite society at large, often all at once. He also has reshaped the grammar of American comedy, leaving behind a body of work that includes The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, History of the World, Part 1, High Anxiety and Spaceballs. Several of those films were dismissed or misunderstood on arrival, only to be adored later. Others were instant detonations. All of them bear the same unmistakable fingerprint: an artist who believes that nothing is sacred except the laugh itself.

 Read this interview. It’s amazingly wonderful.

Armstrong, Kelley, Watcher in the Woods, Minotaur Books, 2019. This is the fourth Rockton novel and it does not stand alone. It starts shortly after the previous book ends. If I could have read something this dark before bed, I would have finished this book in one of those all-night marathon sessions. As it was, I read it when I could, and finished quickly. The unique setting and strong characters make both for good thrillers and fascinating reading. Start with City of the Lost and have fun.

Carter, Ally, Cross My Heart And Hope To Spy, Little, Brown, 2016 edition of a 2007 book. I love the Gallagher Girl Books. Set in a secret school for girls who are going to grow up to be spies, these books are delightfully adventurous. This time, Carter adds some rather mysterious teenage boys to the mix and a few teachers who might or might not be what they seem. This is my bedtime reading. It doesn’t usually keep me up (although the ending of this one did), but it is memorable and the characters are grand. (Btw, Books2Read malfunctions more than not for me, so you might have to find the book on your own.)

Carter, Ally, Don’t Judge a Girl by Her Cover, Little, Brown & Company, 2016 edition of a 2009 book. I blew through this book even though it’s my nighttime, don’t-stay-up-late read. Instead of one chapter, I probably read three or four per night, and then hurried through the ending because I just had to know. Carter introduces a Big Bad in this book that will factor into future books. (I know this because I’m deep in the next one.) I love the relationships the girls have with each other, and this school sounds like a great deal of fun. Books2Read malfunctioned again for me, so I don’t know if it’s the book or if it’s Books2Read (which seems to have gone downhill), but I was only able to get two links for you. If you prefer to shop elsewhere, you’ll have to look up the book on your own. Believe me, it’s worth the time.

Neville, Stuart, “Juror 8,” Ink and Daggers, edited by Maxim Jakubowski, Titan, 2023. I’m still working my way through this volume. It’s heavily noir, which I like mostly, but occasionally the stories have left me cold. Which is why I love this Stuart Neville piece. Yes, noir. Yes, dark. But the voice is marvelous and the characters so dang real. I have several Stuart Neville books on my TBR shelf and I avoid them because he is so dark. But maybe now I’m feeling up to them…

Pirandello, Luigi, Six Characters in Search of an Author, multiple publishers, first published in 1921. Well, I’m remarkably consistent. I loathed The Seagull when I read it as a twenty-year old, and I loved Six Characters back then. I love it now. It was a fun read for my theatre history class. The other students were baffled as hell by it, but I love metafiction and this is one of the first well known pieces of metafiction. It was fascinating to learn that Pirandello was friends with Mussolini. (It was also fascinating to hear the prof, who is as liberal as they come, try to justify that friendship.) The discussion was glossed over in class, but it got me thinking about the age-old argument—do you judge the author by what they do or what they’ve written. I know with Rowling, I will not support anything of hers, because she’s doing active ongoing harm at the moment. Reading an old Pirandello play, aware of all the things Mussolini would do after the two men got to know each other…well, I just want to avert my eyes. In other words, I have no justification for recommending a play from someone who was a fascist, and yet, here I am, doing it.

Start charging interest on missed sales due to delays on their part? *wink*

Seariously, it is rediculous but I guess you can use the time on book 5.

In reply to Sean.

My current guess is about 10.

How many books are anticipated for this series?

Maybe it’s an April Fool’s joke?

He doesn't know . . . yet.

You asked for an art roundup guide to the main players of Kair Toren.

We’ve put our best agent on the case. Please don’t tell her any spoilers in the comments.

Unless otherwise specified, all art will be available as bookmarks, vellum inserts, and other goodies in the merch store when it reopens in mid-April.

Happy Friday, and happy (re)reading This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me! If you haven’t grabbed your copy yet, you can find retail links here.

Sushi art by Jenn Munson

I am stelka.

Maggie calls me Soo’sshi.

I know secrets.

Also fish.

The fish men complain. They make signs about me.

This means I am thriving.

You want all the humans in one place. So you can understand them.

I already do.

But I will show you. Watch closely.

Maggie art by @luisapreissler for OwlCrate special edition

This is Maggie.

She did not wake.

I fixed it.

This one is bright.

I stay. I watch the dark places.

Now she is mine.

She has den. I added fish.

Den is better now.

We keep each other.

Solentine Dagarra art by @helena.illustrated

Would steal fish.

Sharp teeth inside smile.

This one kills clean.

No mess.

No noise.

Like biting the back of the neck.

Hands smell like metal and endings.

I would sit close.

But not that close.

Sun Margrave art by @helena.illustrated

This one stands.

Like stone that remembers.

Keeps pack from tearing one another apart.

Does not bend.

Does not break.

Teeth stop here.

If gone –

too much blood.

Clover art by @helena.illustrated

This one runs the den.

Counts. Fixes. Decides.

No teeth.

But all things move when she moves.

Even the tall dangerous ones.

She lives where food is.

Calls me vermin. I hiss.

Keeps everything in place.

Man from the Garden art by @helena.illustrated

Human from garden.

This one is quiet danger.

Like a hunter who already chose.

I do not like being chosen.

Pretty. Not safe.

Watching.

Would not nap near.

Would not share fish.

Would not bite first. Maybe second.

Sleepless Duke art by @luisapreissler for OwlCrate special edition

Humans should be simple.

This one is not.

He feels like story.

Stories bite.

This one is above hunters.

Above teeth.

This one is storm.

He burns bright.

Many fish. Many hiding places.

Doran Arvel art by @helena.illustrated

This one shines.

Like fresh meat in the sun.

Wants to be watched.

Always watches too.

Mostly Maggie.

Teeth still sharp.

Like trap.

I stole his fish. I go where I want.

Tasted like flowers.

For a better Stelka-to-human translation and a tour of Kair Toren locations (including the full map of the Kingdom of Rellas) you can revisit Ilona’s kingdom art reveal post here.

The post An Accurate Stelka Guide to the Humans of Kair Toren (Character Art Roundup) first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

Emily has failed.

The world she knows is gone. The multiverse itself is becoming a playground of a mad god, a once-human monster so powerful that reality itself is breaking under his gaze and all timelines are collapsing into one. Existence as we know it is over. If the mad god is not stopped, the multiverse will simply cease to be. But how can one kill a god?

Spilt in two, trapped in her worst nightmare and frozen in a single moment of time, Emily is reality’s only hope. But as she hops from timeline to timeline, meeting strangers wearing familiar faces and travelling across worlds very different to the one she knows in a desperate bid to gather the knowledge and resources she needs to stop a god, she is pursued by a creature out of myth …

And a nightmare that has walked beside her from her very first day of magic.

Download a FREE SAMPLE, then purchase from Amazon US, UK, CAN, AUS or Draft2Digital

Conflicted.

Yes, Kit is not a very reliable texter and does avoid conversations about Ty especially with Ty's sister (unfortunate for him that Livvy can hassle him literally eternally if she feels like it) and when they meet again in TWP they haven't been texting for a while. They are fond of each other, though, in a familyish way.

Happy release day to everyone receiving the Tor UK edition of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me today!

If you want your own copy, here are some of the retailer links:

WATERSTONES Blackwell’s

I know it meant more w*iting for us, and the two extra days were torturous enough to make the stiffest upper lip wobble. But in fairness, we are getting some of the prettiest hardcover edges around:

Tor UK hardcover

And there’s even more good news to celebrate: This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me has been named one of Amazon’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of April, while also holding a strong lead in major categories like Epic Fantasy and Romantic Fantasy.

Huge congratulations to House Andrews on such an outstanding launch and to the Book Devouring Horde for coming out in force to welcome it!

I have lists of all the great questions you shared on the spoiler discussion post and I love how everyone is interacting with the story. While we wait for House Andrews to come back from the signing tour and join the discussion, you can read this interview they did for the April issue of BookPage.

One more hype and I’m done: This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me has also been selected as part of Book of the Month’s April lineup! It’s so exciting to see it included, and we’re grateful to @bookofthemonth for the support.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I will be heading to my local Waterstones to ever so subtly nudge their copies of This Kingdom to their best, most visible lives on the shelves. Public mod service.

UPDATE FROM THE SIGNING TOUR:

House Andrews are signing everywhere they go! In case you didn’t manage to make it to the events, but are in the vicinity, you can still grab your own signed copies:

The Barnes& Noble Arboretum in Austin, Tropes and Trifles in Minnesota, and Joseph Beth in Lexington have numerous signed copies of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me.

In addition, B&N Austin has signed Hidden Legacy copies.

Tropes and Trifles has signed copies of Beast Business, Inheritance, Sanctuary, and Innkeeper and Hidden Legacy (including the little paperbacks which are being phased out).

The post Keep Calm and Maggie On first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

A wise man once asked a rhetorical question like this: who by worrying can add a single hour to their life?

Excited to read #4 and #5

She's seventeen. She and Ash are probably a few months apart in age though his age is slightly harder to pin down.

I also love Irene, but alas, you cannot take a lynx on a read trip easily. It does not mean Ty will never meet Irene tho.

She does think they should work things out, but she isn't really meddling. She at some point does warn Kit not to break her brother's heart (again) but otherwise she doesn't interfere, probably because she realizes that if they were to mend things with each other, it would have to be their decisions on their own terms.

Hi! Well, BVD takes place in the time period between book 2 and book 3 of The Wicked Powers. So it can't be published until after book 2 regardless of schedule — you're right that working out a schedule for a co-written book is doubly complicated since you have to work with two people's schedules!

In the market for some original art used for Robert McCammon novels? Artist Steve Crisp illustrated gobs of book covers in the UK in the ’80s and ’90s, and many of his pieces are being exhibited on IX Gallery. His original art pieces used for the UK paperback editions of BAAL, BETHANY’S SIN, and MYSTERY WALK are included in the exhibit and are available for purchase.

Penny Dreadful: The Classic Horror Art of Steve Crisp

Even if you’re not looking to purchase, the exhibition is a lot of fun to see!

Robert McCammon (and I) have nothing to do with this sale, I just thought you’d be interested in seeing it, at least.

Thank you all for such an incredible release. The turnout, the messages, charts performance and the flood of enthusiasm have launched a thousand Mod R squeees. It’s been wonderful to watch the story resonate with the people it was written for.

And we are being absolutely spoiled today in recognition of our formidable fluffiness!

A brand new character art reveal from Helena Elias, plus an entire bonus scene featuring reigning fan-favorite, Clover.

Spoiler safe after Page 130 Chapter 13, first scene

“So, explain your lady to me.” Shana wiped the table down with a wet rag. “Is she a noble or is she not? Because she’s confusing me.”

Clover sighed. It was a fair question.

They were sitting in the kitchen. The sun had barely risen, and the tea in her cup was hot and aromatic. She’d made a pot this morning, and it had turned out just right. Shana had taken over the kitchen, but they both agreed that Clover’s tea brewing skills were superior.

When Shana showed up in the chainmail and carrying a mace, Clover wasn’t sure they would get along. It took her less than 24 hours to realize that when it came to household staff, they couldn’t do better. Shana was experienced, practical, and capable and she was… solid, somehow. There was something about Shana that said “Mom” to her, although her mother and Shana looked nothing alike.

Back home, she and her mother butted heads. There was a time she couldn’t wait to get out. When the Maid Mother came with the offer to take her to the capital, Clover had jumped on that chance. She could still remember her mom crying when she was leaving, but her own eyes were dry. She’d been too excited and eager. Divine, she was such a stupid baby five years ago.

Now… There were times when she wanted her mom so intensely, she cried quietly into her pillow. Too much had happened, and most of it wasn’t good. There was a time in Derog’s basement when the loneliness tried to strangle her, and she thought her life was over. And then Lady Maggie came, and everything changed.

It was important that Shana understood that Lady Maggie was special.

“She is a lady,” Clover said. “Without a doubt. She looks you in the eye when she talks, and she keeps forgetting to bow her head, like she isn’t used to it. She is very educated. She knows things others don’t, and she can’t do her own hair. When she needs it put away, she makes a three-part plait like she is a child. She has great teeth, and her hands are soft.”

“But?” Shana asked.

“But she carries herself as if she isn’t.”

“Why?”

Clover sighed again. “I don’t know. When we took the house from the slavers, she cleaned the kitchen with me.”

Shana paused. “This kitchen?”

Clover nodded. “On her hands and knees with a rag. Like it was nothing. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen. I really tried. She just…”

Clover imitated holding a rag and scrubbed the invisible floor with it.

Shana stared at her.

“She washed the blood off and everything.”

“Are you serious?”

“It happened. There is more.”

Clover hesitated. This was a very sore point, but she’d been struggling with it for days now, and it was so nice to confide in someone.

She leaned forward and lowered her voice.

“I went to dump the dirty water. When I came back, she was in the bathroom. Scrubbing the toilets.”

Shana blinked. “Divine, preserve us.”

“She told me that we had to clean the house top to bottom to make it ours.”

Shana frowned. “I would have scrubbed the house too, just to get the stink of those fuckers out, but she is a lady. Toilets?”

Clover nodded slowly.

“If you don’t stop her, she will try to do things. Brew her own tea, cook, try to do the laundry…”

“Does she not understand it’s an insult to our skills?”

“I don’t think she does.” Clover gave her a slightly helpless smile. “I think she wants to help.”

Shana put her hands on her hips. “Oh no. This stops now. She is not cooking in my kitchen, I’ll tell you that. I have never needed a noble woman’s help to do my job, and I am not about to start now. Everyone has their duty. I’m the cook, you are the lady’s maid, and she is the lady. She needs to stay in her own carriage.”

Clover sighed. “If only.”

Shana reached over and patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. There are two of us now. We will steer her back on the road. If you have any trouble, come and get me. I will set her straight right quick.”

That was right. She was no longer alone. She had Maggie and Kaiden, and Reynald, who could kill anything, and now the Magnars. It felt like she’d been wandering in a dark forest for so long, she couldn’t even remember what the sun felt like and then stumbled out into a clearing with a fortress in it. The fortress wasn’t in perfect repair, but it was solid and strong, and there was sun shining on it, and everyone inside would defend it with their lives.

Clover smiled and sipped her tea.

P.S. Mod R: Now that we’ve had our goodies,

The US and UK editions of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me are separate releases, from separate publishers. If your copy is arriving on the 2nd of April, that means you are expecting the UK edition. That timing is correct, not a publisher error or issue as I have seen confusion in the comments.

The post Bonus Scene: Is She a Lady first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.