After last month, some of you may want updates on my burns (because you are nice like that). I will save that for the end of this month’s blog post. In the meantime, I have a lot of bookish news to share.
In June, I was invited to join Willow Wraith Press. ‘What is Willow Wraith Press about,’ you may ask? I will direct you to the intro on the home page:
A collective of nerds who write the types of books we want to read & see on shelves, read the gamut of middle grade to adult fantasy, science fiction, & horror, and draw fantastical creatures & worlds. Anything and everything is on the table.
Does this change anything related to my online activities? Well, my reviews will likely go on WWP’s site before I post them elsewhere from now on (especially if it’s the first book in a series).
While I am not nearly as prolific at content creation as some of the other members, I will join WWP’s book club. It’ll expose me to some indie books I wouldn’t find on my own, which is exciting. And maybe I can also introduce the rest of the team to other corners of the indie community too.
Accountability partners are keeping me on track as I edit my sequel. My 2nd drafts are pretty clean, but I am still undecided on some names for things like foods and gadgets. I also keep having to refer to my tide and moon phase charts to be sure of the timing of each chapter. We’re at the 60% mark, and I started revisions in March. If I can get this ready for betas by late November, and my editor in early December, all will be well. I seriously overestimated my speed when I thought I’d be sending the manuscript to him first in June, and then in August.
Now, to follow up with something that actually is coming in August…
Cover Reveal for Austringer’s Wrath
Book Two of the Gifts of the Auldtree Trilogy
I read this book’s predecessor, Starlight Jewel, last year and found it riveting. If you enjoyed Far Removed for its nonhuman species and flawed protagonists, you may like this series for similar reasons. It is about an assassin, who is a human-sprygan (or tree person) hybrid.
Cover illustration by Samantha Slaughter (the woman—Axly—and the spider)
Cover illustration and interior art by 21 (Braga the basilisk)
Cover design by Shane Phillips
From the ashes of spiders, scorpions, and humans, Kazir was formed by the seed of a fallen star. Her beginnings were of ash, but from the sands she learned of all that was monstrous and menacing in the world.
Page Count: 392
Genre: Dark Epic Fantasy
Release Date: August 26th, 2025
Available Formats: eBook, Paperback
Now, about the aftermath of the fire…
The first two weeks saw me visiting the hospital to have my bandages changed every 2-3 days. I relied on lifts from friends and family because I couldn’t drive. While this was happening, I also had 3 different sets of insurance contractors trying to coordinate arrival times. Sometimes the cupboard people came late and the painters/tilers couldn’t proceed with their work. The repairs ended on 14 July. The kitchen now looks amazing!
Skin doesn’t repair as quickly as furnishings. It’s interesting how the body responds to pain. It’s like, ‘I’ve felt this enough, let’s make it a background sensation.’ Or sometimes it decided, ‘This is too much now, I’m checking out.’ I remember my ears ringing, my vision blackening, and then – gone. The fainting usually happened when the bandages were being changed. It’s useful to remember the experience for writing. I started notifying the nurse when the early symptoms came about.
I’ve been doing my own bandages for some time now, and have perfected the technique. Honey-based ointment first, then Jelonets, gauze and bandages. My thumb and index finger got the worst of the burns. I recently started going to an OT to stretch the webbing near my thumb. If you don’t move enough, you can get contractures which cause your skin to heal in ways that limit your range of motion. The exercises have helped loosen the new skin and I am starting to see the wrinkles around my joints again. The body’s healing capacity is remarkable.
After drawing with my left hand, I’ve started using my right hand again. It’s going well enough, but the thumb is stiff. It feels like you’re wearing a tight latex glove with a hard cap over your thumb joint so you can’t bend it all the way into your palm. The OT believes it’ll loosen up but it needs more time to heal than the other fingers.
Above is the left hand and right hand (bandaged) for the sake of comparison. The goal is to get my thumb tip to touch the base of my pinkie finger. I can’t yet do that but not so long ago, I could barely bend it at all. So I’ll call this progress.
That’s all my life news for now, I will catch up with you in August. Hopefully by then I will be able to do even more.
C B Lansdell 