Category: <span>River of Souls</span>

Category: River of Souls

Janet Watson Chronicles, Promotion, River of Souls, The Time Roads

Holiday Gifts (aka, Shameless Self Promotion)

Looking for holiday gifts for family and friends? Shopping for yourself? Consider a few of my books…

Passion Play

Epic fantasy. Magic. Multiple lives. My River of Souls stories include not only the eponymous trilogy itself, but also the prequel duology Mage and Empire, as well as several related shorter works, Thief of War, River of Souls, and Nocturnall.

Therez Zhalina is the daughter of one of Melnek’s most prominent merchants. Hers is a life of wealth and privilege, and she knows her duty—to marry well and to the family’s advantage. But when Therez meets the much older man her father chose, she realizes he is far crueler than her father could ever be.

She decides to run. This choice will change her life forever.

A Study in Honor

Science fiction. Political thriller. No Unnecessary Men. The Janet Watson Chronicles.

Set in a near future Washington, D.C., a clever, incisive, and fresh feminist twist on a classic literary icon—Sherlock Holmes—in which Dr. Janet Watson and covert agent Sara Holmes will use espionage, advanced technology, and the power of deduction to unmask a murderer targeting Civil War veterans.

“Readers who pick this up for the novelty of Watson and Holmes as black women will be impressed by how well O’Dell realizes them as full, rich characters. This is a real treat for fans of Conan Doyle and SF mysteries.” — Publishers Weekly

The Time Roads

Alternate history. The Time Roads is a series of linked novellas about mathematics, murder, and time.

As the young queen Áine Lasairíona Devereaux takes the throne, Europe hovers on the brink of war. In a series of braided stories, Claire O’Dell has created a tale about a queen who seeks to guard her kingdom, and the brilliant Éireann scientists who strive to conquer the nature of time.

“Different and cunning, The Time Roads serves up history too magical, too thoughtful, and too explosive to be dubbed merely ‘alternate.’” —Cherie Priest, author of The Clockwork Century series

NotMansfieldPark, River of Souls

And God Said, Let There Be Print

I am DELIGHTED to report that—after many trials and tweaks and close examination of the proof copies, plus a few tears along the way—the print edition for my River of Souls trilogy is now available on Amazon.

*breathes a huge sigh of relief*

One thing I’ve learned over the past year, is that I need to be 1) far more conservative with my time estimates, and 2) far more diligent about setting and keeping to deadlines. However! The books are done and published, they look gorgeous, and I finally have the covers I’ve always wanted.

And now that’s done, I can turn back to my long-neglected project NotMansfieldPark. At last count, I’d reached the 1/3 point, or around 23K words. I’m now going through the existing text to reacquaint myself with the details, and to tweak the details and smaller character arcs. It’s such a lovely feeling, to create new worlds.

Promotion, River of Souls

Price Drop!

Between health issues and various other annoying interruptions, my progress on the print editions for my River of Souls trilogy has been much slower than I had anticipated. However! My designer and I are working on the final details for the third and final book, so in celebration, I’ve dropped the price on the e-book editions to $2.99 each.

You can find the e-books on any major vendor site, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Apple.

River of Souls

Promotion, River of Souls

Release Day for River of Souls

I am so EXCITED to report that my epic fantasy trilogy River of Souls is out today. The original edition came out starting in 2010 with Passion Play, and Queen’s Hunt and Allegiance following a couple years later. All three books landed great reviews, Queen’s Hunt earned a place on the Locus Recommended Reading List, and Passion Play won the RT Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Epic Fantasy. All very awesome!!!

And the same time, I never…quite connected with the original covers. Gorgeous, yes. Colorful, sure. But to me, they didn’t truly represent the story or characters or setting. And later, after I wrote the prequel novels (Mage and Empire), I discovered some plot inconsistencies.

So. Once Tor returned the rights to me, I decided to release a second edition, with new covers and updated text. I commissioned new artwork from the amazing Jessica Shirley. I badgered my long-suffering spouse into designing new covers. And I spent several months editing and proofreading the manuscripts. The e-books are now available, individually or as a bundle, at all the usual vendor sites.

What is this trilogy about? It’s about politics and intrigue, about magic and multiple lives. It’s about confronting hard choices, life after life. It’s about one young woman’s journey toward independence.

Promotion, River of Souls

Final Stretch…

The Kickstarter for my River of Souls trilogy has ten more days to run, and we’re 73% funded. Remember that KS campaigns are all-or-nothing. We need to reach 100% by November 5th to make this all happen. So please, consider pledging. For $25 you will receive all three novels, plus the coda story, as e-books. $45 gets you the print editions. And there are so many other options. Check out the rewards here.

If you’ve already made a pledge, or finances are just too tight, please consider spreading the word to your friends. Thank you.

Janet Watson Chronicles, NotMansfieldPark, River of Souls

Happy 4th, Our World is on Fire

It feels as though we are living in the latter days of the world. Unfortunately, we don’t have Crowley and Aziraphale to take on the bad guys. Elections this year will matter more than ever, but we need more than a few elections—we need to reform our country from the ground up. Universal healthcare. Free college education. Automatic voter registration. Stop gerrymandering. Mail-in ballots for everyone. Defund the police.

That would be a good start.

Meanwhile, at home, I have finally started writing again. I finished my Janet Watson story, now titled My Journal of a Plague Year, which you can read on AO3.

Also! I’m making sparkly good progress on my #NotMansfieldPark novella. At least, I think it’s a novella, but it might end up a very short novel. I’ll find out when I reach the end. 🙂

Personal, River of Souls

Hello, COVID

This past month has been surreal. Also, scary, frustrating, and more than a bit demoralizing. In early March, spouse and I spent a week in Arizona. We relaxed in the resort’s heated pools. We went on a hot air balloon ride. We took leisurely walks in Saguaro National Park. It was lovely and invigorating.

The day after we came back home, spouse’s company switched over completely to Work From Home, a few days after that, the state went into quarantine, our son lost his job because the gym closed, and I came down with COVID-19. The following week, my publisher canceled my second pirate novel as part of their cost-saving measures.

On the one hand, this was all very stressful. On the other hand, we were very lucky. Son and spouse are healthy. Spouse still has a job. Though I was mentally and physically exhausted, my symptoms were comparatively mild. And the cats were delighted to have everyone home.

I’m now recovering and taking things one day at a time.

River of Souls

Draft complete…

 

I am stoked to report I’ve turned in a complete draft for THE EMPIRE’S EDGE, the second book in my Mage and Empire series.

Around September of last year, I’d sunk into the dark depths of writer despair. The first third of the book worked just fine. I also knew the ending, or so I thought. But each iteration of the middle left me with a raging headache from frustration. Too complicated. Too implausible. Too convenient.

So in January, I went on a mini-vacation to Alaska. In between drinking Alaskan beer, walking around on frozen rivers, and a splendid visit to the Arctic Circle, I finally realized where the plot had meandered into the swamp, and how to rescue it.

In the last month, I’ve laid down 18K new words and met my deadline. The middle section needs expanding, and the second half could do with a lot of polish, but oh my gosh, I am so happy with how the story ties together.

Awards, Janet Watson Chronicles, River of Souls

Award Eligibility (2019)

2019 marks the first year where I’ve had two novels released in a single year. Both books are available in both electronic and print form. If you’re reading for awards and need a copy, please let me know.

The Hound of Justice (Harper Voyager, July 2019) is the second book in The Janet Watson Chronicles, set in a near future US divided by a second civil war. The first entry in the series, A Study in Honor, won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery. In Hound of Justice, a drone kills fifty people and injures hundreds more, and people speculate on a potential presidential assassination. Holmes and Watson are reunited to unravel a plot that has been concocted by one of the greatest enemies they have ever faced.

“O’Dell movingly portrays a proud woman struggling to regain her professional skills in a country still plagued by racism. Readers will hope this inventive series has a long run.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A Jewel Bright Sea

A Jewel Bright Sea (Rebel Base Books, September 2019) is the first book in Mage and Empire, an epic fantasy series set in the same world as the award-winning River of Souls trilogy. It was her talent for tracking magic that got Anna Zhdanov sent to catch a thief. A scholar’s daughter sold as a bonded servant, she has no desire to recover the Emperor’s jewel for herself. But a chance to earn her freedom has driven her to the untamed Eddalyon province, awash with warm breezes, lapping waves, and more danger than she could possibly guess.

“This is a fast-paced sword-and-sorcery pirate adventure filled with magic and double-dealing and high stakes for the characters, and I enjoyed it a lot.”
—Martha Wells, New York Times bestselling author