Closing chapters

Thank you so much to everyone who has followed this blog, supported THE REAPER, posted reviews and shared the news about this book. My childhood dream came true this year and it was made all the better because of everyone’s love and kindness. I did loads of things this year, like running a workshop at Black Ballad’s Big Weekender, facilitating a panel at the Black British Book Fair, and speaking at Comic Con, Waterstones Bookfest, Waterstones Bristol, and Nottingham. My publicist sent me everywhere! It was great meeting so many new readers.

Now for something less fun. Those subscribed to the newsletter would have already known this, but I thought it’d be best to announce here that the sequel to THE REAPER (which is the penultimate book in the GETHSEMANE series) has been pushed back to 2027. I worked tirelessly throughout 2025 to avoid this happening, but I have no control over when my books are released. It does feel like my series is being held hostage and it’s left me unmotivated to work on my most recent edits. Creative purgatory is a difficult place. I think this is a warning to anyone who is currently querying a series: unless your eventual publisher can guarantee that you’ll be a priority author/lead title/super lead/whatever other equivalent there is, you may find yourself feeling burnt out by the process, as it’s highly likely your publisher will shift your series around to make way for their big sellers (after all, THE REAPER was pushed back a year for the same reason). It’s not a great experience for a debut, as you’re still trying to build up a readership from scratch and those kind of delays can haemorrhage the sales of your future releases. I’ve been on contract since 2022, and by 2027 I’ll still only have one published book to show for it. Books 2 and 3 have been written and re-written since 2024. Mentally, I’m ready to move onto the next stage of my career.

However, the paperback is coming out in 2026 so I might try and organise some events to celebrate it!

In better news, I’ve been writing a lot. A LOT. I’ve got three manuscripts completed, and three proposals for other books. I’m determined to retake 2026. I want to reclaim my lost time. I don’t want to let the next year close without something to show for it. I’m putting this down as a goal here, that I really, truly, desperately want to sell a book to a publisher in 2026. So desperate, in fact, that I banged out 60,000 words between November and December this year just to make sure I have something to send to my agent in January. Let’s start 2026 with a bang. I can’t wait for her to read this one - it’s so unhinged and ridiculous and she was excited when I pitched her the idea at lunch last month. We’ll see how she likes it!

When in doubt, write it out! Now that it’s all done, I can go back to reading. I’ve almost finished BLOOD BOUND, which releases in May 2026. It’s excellent!

I hope you have a restful Christmas and New Year!