It’s gone. You can’t get it anymore. It’s unavailable.
Dragons of the Ashfall was the first book of the War of Leaves and Scales. The series is a YA steampunk fantasy epic featuring different young women struggling in a terrible society with an invisible dark influence. Book one came out last December, and book two, Dragons of the Clockwork City, was set to come out this coming December.
Maybe you noticed the tenses of the verbs there. If you read the book, maybe those tenses make you nervous. Maybe you should be nervous.
Dragons of the Clockwork City will not be coming out this December, and Dragons of the Ashfall is no longer available.
But why?!
Dark Owl Publishing is a great outfit. They do good by authors and get the novels out there. My first novel, The Keeper of Tales, is through them. I have no regrets working with them. They’ve been a dream!
But something happened with Dragons of the Ashfall. See, Dark Owl specializes in horror. They sell horror well. They do great stuff in that genre! However, Dragons isn’t horror. It’s YA. That means it sells to a different audience, one that Dark Own doesn’t specialize in.
About a month ago I met with my publisher, and we talked about it. They were set to publish book two, but why publish a second book if the first isn’t selling? They wanted to keep working with me, though, and I really want to keep working with them. As I said, they’re a great outfit and have treated me exceedingly well. I prize this relationship!
So we talked for a bit and came up with a solution.
I’m taking back the rights for the War of Leaves and Scales. Sometime in the next few years I’ll finish writing the four-book series, and Dawnsbrook Press will likely put it out. (The earliest they’ll be published is over the summer of 2023, though likely later.)
Meanwhile, Dark Owl Publishing will be getting a horror book from me. We’ve already been talking about concept, and we’re both happy with what I’m planning to write for them. (I’ve got two novels to finish before I get to that one… but I’m hoping to get a manuscript to them no later than January 2023!)
In other words, we traded. I get one book back from them, they get a different one from me.
And I’m really happy with this setup. I get to attempt that YA saga still. It’s not lost; it’s just delayed. Meanwhile, I get to keep working with an awesome publisher, but this time in a genre they’re far more experienced with. As far as I can tell, it’s win-win.
And it’s win for the readers as well. Yes, it means that those of you who read Dragons of the Ashfall will have to wait a bit to complete the saga, but it will be coming. And now you also get a bonus book out of me! It’ll be horror, which I know is not everyone’s jam… but let’s face it. I’m writing a lot lately!
So if you don’t see a Dragons of the Clockwork City book coming out this December, that’s why. But don’t worry! It’ll come when the time is right!
Jonathon Mast: Author 