Some news about BREAKER, and a few other things

I have now seen the second draft cover for BREAKER, and I have to say, it is a bloody good cover. For reals. I don't think it'll be too long now before I can reveal it to the world, and I am pretty excited about it.

But that isn't the only news -- you can now pre-order BREAKER from The Book Depository! Not gonna lie, it would make me extremely happy if you did. You can do so here. (Thank you thank you thank you!!!)

On a completely different note, you might remember I posted the first book trailer for Dawn Kurtagich's THE DEAD HOUSE a few weeks ago. Well, now there's a brilliant brand-new second trailer for it, again featuring my very talented sister Amy Lloyd, over on Entertainment Weekly. Check it out here, but warning: it's scary as hell.

As you have guessed from my pyjamas (because I'm sure you can tell from the tone of this post that I'm wearing pyjamas as I write it), I'm still in the editing cave, but am on track to finish this round of edits today -- hooray! Then tomorrow I'll be cutting down my neighbour's tree, just to keep things interesting. Know that I'll be singing this in my head as I do it, whether I want to or not:

Kat out x

YALC Wrap-up!

That was QUITE a hectic weekend! When I say 'hectic', I of course mean fabulous, but with tired, achy feet. YALC 2015 was a roaring success, with loads of amazing panels and workshops and free sweets in the green room (shh, that's probably meant to be a secret!) and author signings a-plenty.

As I'm meant to be thigh-deep wading through the editing swamp, I'll limit my ravings to a few bullet points of My Favourite Things from the Con:

• Getting lost immediately when I arrived in London, looking up and spotting author Tatum Flynn sipping prosecco on a balcony (as you do).
• Watching Dawn Kurtagich talk horror at the first panel of the con, and being glamorous AF with her senorita fan and platform sneaks.
• Joining my amazing agent Molly Ker Hawn to talk in the Agents' Arena about how agents and authors work together, and getting lots of smart, interesting questions from the folks who attended. 
• Checking out Firefly Press's fabulous stand, and signing quite a few copies of BLACKFIN SKY!
• Meeting fellow Molly-clients Simon P. Clark (EREN) and Alwyn Hamilton (REBEL OF THE SANDS).
• Seeing all the cosplayers (though I was devastated not to spot Hayley Atwell or Sigourney Weaver, sob!)
• Catching up with friends old and new, and meeting lots of twitter pals and bloggers and writers for the first time. Y'all know who you are. *MWAH*

Here are some snaps from the weekend...

Molly Ker Hawn & me talking agenty-authory stuff:

THE DEAD HOUSE, before it sold out; Dawn Kurtagich, making herself at home onstage; Casual Sith. 

    

Me with Janet Thomas from Firefly Press, and BLACKFIN SKY on the wall of books & on the Firefly Press stand!

 

 

With Moira Fowley-Doyle, and with Frances Hardinge, getting books signed.

 

Dawn, me & Hayley Long (whom I've waited to meet for AGES and she is AWESOME.)

 

L-R below: Me, Tatum Flynn, Marieke Nijkamp, Sarah Benwell, Lucinda Murray, Luna (of the Little Library), E M Castellan, Dawn Kurtagich. Photo belongs to Tatum Flynn, but I nicked it off twitter.

YALC and celebrations and cake

Hello! I figured it was time to emerge from my (sweaty) editing cave to give an update on the ol' blog.

A couple of weeks ago, Firefly Press celebrated their first birthday -- a whole year of publishing great YA and children's books! They invited all their authors and other fab peoples from the world of books to mark the occasion down in Cardiff. I went and met/caught up with a ton of wonderful people, and ate some pretty excellent Chinese food. Also, cake.

The Firefly Press crew

Next week, I'm heading down to London for YALC (Young Adult Lit Con, 17-19 July) which is being held within London Film and Comic Con. I will be doing an agent-author talk at 2:30pm on the Saturday with my agent, Molly Ker Hawn, followed by a signing of BLACKFIN SKY at 4:15pm. I'm also really looking forward to attending loads of the talks and workshops, especially the horror event on the Friday, which my pal Dawn Kurtagich is taking part in. There will be photos!

I have also seen the first draft of the cover for my next book, and it is WONDERFUL. I mean, I love it. For realsies. And I can't wait for it to be finalised so I can show the world how pretty it is.

I've started listening to audiobooks while I'm out and about (this is about the only way I can try to gain any ground with my teetering TBR), and have gone through 3 in the last couple of weeks which I absolutely loved. If you're looking for great audiobooks to listen to, I highly recommend READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline (read by the amazing Wil Wheaton!), EVE & ADAM by Michael Grant & Katherine Applegate, and BRUISER by Neal Shusterman. Next on my list is THE DIVINERS by Libba Bray.

As for my non-writing life, I've been taking some time away from the cave to go on a few adventures. Here are some pics taken from my Instagram account (feel free to follow me there, if you are so inclined!):

A photo posted by Kat Ellis (@katelliswrites) on Jul 5, 2015 at 10:19am PDT

A photo posted by Kat Ellis (@katelliswrites) on Jun 21, 2015 at 9:00am PDT

A photo posted by Kat Ellis (@katelliswrites) on Jul 3, 2015 at 4:52am PDT

Kat out x