Audio rollout coming
Hi folks! Super duper aware that the world is ew, gross right now, and apart from voting (which I get to do twice in Canada in the next couple of months) and just staying informed, I figure my job is to write some stuff that will provide a sweet escape should you feel you need for one.
To that end, I’m pleased to announce that Oberon’s Bathtime Stories will be available on many audio platforms, not just Audible. In fact, you can preorder it now in a number of places—but not Audible, yet! I’ve discovered that when you don’t give Audible exclusive access to your stuff, they don’t move very fast to post it. It will be there, certainly by the release date, April 8, but I’m not sure when exactly it will appear.
In the meantime, it’s available on Apple, Spotify, Chirp, something called Storytel if you’re overseas, and most importantly for folks in the US/Canada, Libro.fm. Can I bend your ear about that?
Libro.fm is an audiobook platform that has its own little mobile app so you can listen on your phone if you want, and it offers a subscription model or a la carte purchases too, but bestest of all: Your purchase will help a local independent bookstore of your choice. Which means you’re helping a small business in your community rather than a billionaire. I subscribe to them and have directed the money to Perfect Books in Ottawa. The app works great. I’m a happy camper. Plus I think they give you two free audiobooks when you sign up? (Not sure if that deal is still going, but that’s the deal I got.) It’s pretty sweet. Tell you what: Sign up and get Oberon’s Bathtime Stories for free.
And let me tell you, the bonus material at the end is pretty rad. It’s The Dead Flea Scrolls, Oberon’s religion for dogs, which you can find in print as bonus material at the end of the trade paperback edition of Trapped. (It’s there in ebook too if you have the recent edition.)
(By the way, if you were a paid subscriber to Words & Birds last year, you’re getting the audiobook free! We have the file ready and we’re in the process of setting up the download page and codes and everything. The goal is to get it to you by the end of March.)
In the same vein, for print and ebook, I recommend Bookshop.org if you are in the US or UK. They also allow you to direct a portion of your purchase to a local bookstore, and I have mine set to The Poisoned Pen in Arizona, where I grew up and where my mom still lives. They have a free app to download that will let you read your ebooks in iOS or Android. Oberon’s Bathtime Stories isn’t there yet in ebook, but will be. It is, however, available there to preorder in print! Heck, you know what? Here’s a one-stop shop to get any of my books you’re missing and benefit your local indie store.
ONE MORE THING: Luke Daniels and I are splitting royalties on the audiobook equally. Your purchase helps us both buy a taco.
NO, WAIT, ONE MORE THING: The print, ebook, and audiobook will be available in your library! YES! And we get paid for that too. So please request it now at your library (or through the Libby app) in whatever format you like so that they can order it for you! Since it’s a novella and a small press, they need some requests to make that purchase. Appreciate you doing that—I’d love to have Oberon available to folks who use libraries. (One reason we are distributing widely instead of using Audible is that if you go with Audible you aren’t available to libraries!)
Ok. That’s all for now except what I’m reading these days, eh? They’re kinda similar in that they involve magic shops...
Water Moon
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on a magical quest when a charming young physicist wanders into the shop, in this dreamlike fantasy novel.
FEATURES A UNIQUE ORIGAMI JACKET that folds into a boat, joining the characters in an enchanting way. The jacket artwork is also printed directly onto the hardcover case underneath.
“Race through a lush world of pure wonder and romance—kites made of wishes that become stars, origami that holds time in its folds, and a night market in the clouds—in this lovely, cozy fantasy reminiscent of Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea.”—Booklist (starred review)
On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see a cozy ramen restaurant. And only the chosen ones—those who are lost—will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets.
Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop’s new owner to find it ransacked, the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen, and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike its other customers, for he offers help instead of seeking it.
Together, they must journey through a mystical world to find Hana’s father and the stolen choice—by way of rain puddles, rides on paper cranes, the bridge between midnight and morning, and a night market in the clouds.
But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own—and risk making a choice that she will never be able to take back.
The Rainfall Market
If you could swap your life for a better one, which would you choose?
On the outskirts of Rainbow Town, there is an old, abandoned house. They say that if you send a letter detailing your misfortunes there, you could receive a ticket. If you bring this ticket to the house on the first day of the rainy season, you'll be granted entrance into the mysterious Rainfall Market—where you can choose to completely change your life.
No one is more surprised than Serin when she receives a ticket. Lonely and with no real prospects for a future, Serin ventures to the market, determined to create a better life for herself.
There, she meets a magical cat companion named Issha and they search through bookstores, perfumeries, and fantastical realms while Serin tries to determine what her perfect life will look like.
The catch? Serin only has one week to find her happiness or be doomed to vanish into the market forever.
And all the while, a shadow follows quietly behind them…
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