Seven
Hey Friends,
This weekend I went to Toronto Comiccon, my first convention as a writer in 2 years. I have a familiar table setup and book pitch, and so the experience is something akin to dinner at the restaurant where you know what’s on the secret menu. It wasn't always this way — I used to get stomach cramps thinking about pitching. Now, I live for catching the eye of someone spying the lone novel at the con… and watching their face light up when I ask if they read fantasy.
This show is one of my favourites because it was where I hand sold my first seven copies of To Steal the Sun in 2023. It’s also a place where I get to sit with Eric, Dax Gordine (check out Forest Folk!), and the rest of the Raid Crew. Creating can be such a single player game — it’s comforting feel part of a team… and know another creator’s project well enough to explain it if they have to step away.
And then there are all the cosplayers, other indies, crafters… the vibes. I'm a bit nostalgic about the whole thing. Everywhere, people are trying to be themselves, express themselves, and be accepted. Magic, really.
This actually happened
A necromancer reached into her pouch and presented me with a tiny bone. I knew the power of this item — with it she could construct an entire skeleton to do her bidding. But instead, she placed it in my palm.
My well-earned reward.
I was among the first to spot her and her broadsword wielding, sunglasses-wearing Cavalier walking side-by-side and — not for a second doubting who they were — asking for a photo.
The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir is the absolute best. You should read it.
But if not — Gideon and Harrow, so well represented by these two cosplayers, are the stars of the show. I think the cover of Harrow the Ninth is my favourite book cover ever. And the writing inside is equally sublime:
“But Harrowhark—Harrow, who was two hundred dead children; Harrow, who loved something that had not been alive for ten thousand years—Harrowhark Nonagesimus had always so badly wanted to live. She had cost too much to die.”
Aside: I dream to see a To Steal the Sun or Aardehn cosplay someday.
The Travel
One confession about the weekend, summed up by a post in a creator group chat.
This was, sadly, all too true.
I took a train up to the convention on Saturday morning, which meant waking up at 5:20 AM. By the time the day was done at 7 PM… the switch in my brain that gets me to stop and rest got a bit faulty. And then… well… knocked sideways with the hammer of sleep deprivation, jarred loose by a few pints of beer, and then, mercifully guillotined by “the geographer.”*
I ended up crawling into a sleeping bag at 3:30 AM.
When the Uber dropped the rest of the crew at the convention centre at 9 AM the next morning, I was with them. But I didn't go inside. I kept walking to the train station.
I have regrets about this.
That said — I did get to read something amazing on the ride home that I want to share.
Six People to Revise You — This story absolutely captured me. I don’t want to spoil, so just read now, thank me later. (And yes, I read this story even when the only revision I needed was a stomach full of Gatorade and a complete change of blood)
Last but not least: Aardehn Update.
Questions I get:
“How’s the Kickstarter thing going?”
“Are-Done yet?”
“When’s that next thing coming out?”
“Honestly, how close are you?”
Answers I give:
“Great.”
“Oh, you think your [censor]ing clever, eh?!”
“Soooooon.”
But that last one is usually asked with heart and deserves an answer. So, here goes:
We’re looking at the distance right between almost done and done. That can be a gigantic chasm — but Eric and I, sitting at the con side by side, went through the entire 160 pages and identified every single gap that stood between us and leaping it.
The answer was 7.
Divine number.
“Seven deadly sins, seven ways to win, seven holy paths to hell and your trip begins. Seven downward slopes, seven bloodied hopes, seven are your burning fires, seven your desires.”
(Apologies to Iron Maiden.)
Seriously though — seven things left to do. Seven. And they’re small.
Small enough that we asked Raid to book the printer.
That’s how close we are.
Thanks for reading,
S.M.
P.S. The War with Art is having its biggest renaissance in almost 7 years! Makes sense, as we do have a classically trained painter helping. Check out part 2 of our interview with Eric J. Drummond.
P.P.S. Count that ingredient list.
