Release the Wolves, will be out in a mere month, and thus begins the deluge of content for the book! There will be giveaways. There will be a TikTok and Instagram tour. There will be posts every week about the world, the characters, the map and the interior art I got to draw for the hardcover, tips for surviving the monster apocalypse, etcetera.

For those of you who are new subscribers and have never heard of this book before, let me answer what I imagine are the most burning questions in this completely made-up interview with myself:

Does this book contain wolves?

Not a single one.

Whyyy is it called that, then?

The idea for this book came to me while reading about the reintroduction of wolves into various wildernesses in order to control the population of prey animals, such as rabbits and deer. Which made me think: there are lots of good, scientific reasons for doing this, and in the big picture it makes sense, but how did the rabbits and deer feel about it? And what if those rabbits and deer were people, that some other people had decided were inferior and should be hunted and ravaged every few generations in the name of societal balance? From there, the misty, conquered land of Varen was born, where every seventy years, a Release occurs, and an unstoppable horde of monsters rolls across the countryside, killing and destroying everything in sight . . . until our hero Argo decides he’s had very much enough of being the prey.

What can I expect reading this book?

This is a middle grade fantasy adventure, but dark. Think, hmm, Edgar Allan Poe meets LOTR? You can expect:

Marshy, misty atmospherics
Spooky villains
Monsters of all sorts
Twists, turns, and ethical dilemmas
A blacksmith’s apprentice hero named Argo
A monster huntress bent on revenge
Themes of guilt, power, responsibility, trust, and learning when to let go.

Who is it for?

For middle grade readers and up. That said . . . Content warning for parents and educators: This is upper MG. Some retailers will list it as 8+, but personally, I wouldn’t give it to an eight-year-old. Maybe a ten-year-old, maybe an eleven-year-old, but it’s dark and sad in places, and features lots of peril and scary things. Just know that if you’re coming off Cinders and Sparrows, my last middle grade book, this one is considerably less cozy and considerably more high stakes.

book teaser

Giveaway

If you’re a Goodreads member, enter below to win one of five hardcovers of Release the Wolves!

Goodreads Book Giveaway