Presenting the sequel to Far Removed, which is titled, Our Ways Unmasked. Finally, I no longer need to refer to it only as “Book 2”. We get to see a bit more of our mask-wearing protagonist in this artwork. The wings in the “W” of “Ways” may have a few layers of meaning. Does anyone remember the moving sculpture from the first book?
I’d like to thank FanFiAddict, Willow Wraith Press, Jamedi, Jeanette Jensen, Boe Kelley, Bromantasy, and Grimoire Ink for sharing the cover far and wide. If you’d like to read the blurb and learn a little more about Unmasked, you can find that information on Goodreads. You can also take a look at my process video on Youtube (at the end of this post).
I made the mistake of not limiting ARC orders, so the form was flooded with bot accounts. Very annoying! So I apologise to those real readers who filled out the original form. I’ll need you to fill out this new one below, so I can reach you.
On Our Ways Unmasked
Our Ways Unmasked became something of an Odyssey, taking the characters to new locations and cracking open the more supernatural aspects of Knyadrea.
I am a plotter (in a loose sense). Even though I knew the direction this story would take from the first draft of Far Removed, I encountered surprise changes that would colour moments differently. It became a challenge to wrap up the last few chapters, but my beta readers really helped me to articulate what it was I wanted to say as the story came to a close.
On a sequel, you feel the pressure to meet expectations. You worry you’ll forget to address something important. Now that I am rereading Our Ways Unmasked (which has been copy edited), I’m confident that it delivers on the promises made in Far Removed. I can’t wait to share it with you!
On What the Apidecca Duology means to me
Prismer and Oklas formed a very significant part of my 30s. They were older than me when I started writing this duology, and we will be concluding it at the same age (in our late 30s). In many ways, they have been a meditation on this phase of life. The space between young adulthood and middle age. Our youth is spent building our egos and skill sets. Sometimes we reach the dreams we were pursuing, sometimes we fall short of them. But even if we get to the place where we wanted to be, we can’t stay there. We don’t get to invite change in, it overwhelms us constantly. And seasons of deconstruction often come alongside seasons of building.
Writing this duology, I was processing disappointments, and the things I will never be. I was also processing the importance of community, and our need to do away with pretence to strengthen bonds. It was cathartic to write the fluctuation between despair and hope, to open up opportunities for my characters when I didn’t believe any would come to me. Oklas and Prismer will stay with me for the rest of my life, but they are no longer so insistent that I keep writing about them. As they move on to new things, so must I. I can’t say whether or not we will reunite later in life for another book. That would reveal too much about the duology’s ending, which I’d like my readers to discover for themselves. I now feel more free to write characters who are very different to me. Who could be much older or younger than I am.
On Losing
Yesterday, I learned that Far Removed won’t be making it to the next round of SPFBO XI. It had a surprisingly glowing video review from Noah Brisk, and I appreciated that he had so many good things to say about it. What meant the most to me is that he said the “level” of the book was not inferior to others he’d read. It just leaned a bit too heavily towards sci-fi for this competition, and he felt it ended too soon. I tend to agree that much is unresolved by the end of the book. It is full of possibility, but it withholds answers. Far Removed was always about characters having to reconcile with a loss of control, so it feels fitting. I hope those who’ve been wanting to know what happens next will come back for Our Ways Unmasked. At 131k words (compared with 92k on Far Removed), it has answers to most of your questions.
As a young adult, I assumed that only poorly-written books didn’t make it past the first round of competitions. Surely if you had a decent piece of writing or art, you would make it to the semi-finals or the finals? It turns out that losing is a routine experience for even the authors I admire most. Inspirational biographies just like to skim past it. The kind of success you can turn into a badge or title is so elusive, you may not capture it after a lifetime of attempts. Others will obtain it before they even know just how precious it is. I don’t know what the shape of success even looks like. The few small victories I’ve had in my art career, I can put down to timing and luck far more than any improvements in skill and approach.
Maybe that’s why I don’t write about winners – too many stories teach you to expect your efforts will be rewarded quickly. I need stories that will help me build resilience when nothing is working. That teach me how to have fun while taking shots at different opportunities. Someone recently told me “don’t question the quality of your net when you don’t catch any fish. Just cast it again and again.”
Watch the video below and give some of the other cut books a chance. Having read one of them, I respectfully disagree with some of the more critical assessments listed.
Where to Order Our Ways Unmasked
Pre-orders can be found on Amazon. I may be able to set it up on Itch.io next. Because I use Draft 2 Digital to distribute wide, I will probably only have pre-orders for Kobo, Barnes & Noble and other retailers once the ebook is ready to upload. Please consider adding Our Ways Unmasked to “want to read” on Goodreads if you use it.
C B Lansdell 