Announcements galore!

I have so much news to share with you all. SO. MUCH. 

If you don't want to read all of this, the TL;DR so you can scroll to your point-of-interest is:

1. I'm re-publishing DAYBREAK RISING with The Kraken Collective
2. DAYBREAK RISING edits = MAPS AND MORE STUFF!! 
2.5. DAYBREAK RISING sequel yayyyy
3. Collab w/dos_twinjas = get hypeee
4. F/F SFF graphic novel collab w/o_zabethy = HOPE YOU LIKE LESBIAN DRAGONS.
5. Lexicon 2017 panel guest! Yay! 

First things first:

1. I'm excited to announce that I am re-publishing DAYBREAK RISING with  The Kraken Collective!

As you may already know, The Kraken Collective is a brand-new, team-based publisher of LGBT speculative fiction with an emphasis on positive representation and uplifting stories. I was always going to be a part of it from its creation, but had to step back for a while due to some mental health issues (Ohai burnout, nice to see you again! Except, not.) anyway, that's pretty much better, and I'm back in full swing. I'm really looking forward to contributing to The Kraken Collective, and helping my fellow authors.

I shamelessly store the next section here from my collective cohort Lyssa Chiavari re: more about The Kraken Collective. (Thank you!!) 

The Kraken Collective is an alliance of indie authors who have pooled resources to publish high-quality fiction while retaining complete creative control over our stories. We aim to provide a wide variety of science fiction and fantasy stories, all starring LGBTQIAP+ characters. From alien hunting lesbians to complex political fantasy, The Kraken Collective publishes queer SFF that will blow your mind and leave you craving more.

Although it begins as a simple cooperative between authors, we aim to grow into an unique publishing model capable of supporting queer indie voices everywhere in SFF. We are committed to building a publishing space that is inclusive, positive, and brings fascinating stories to readers.

If you’d like to follow The Kraken Collective on social media, you can find us on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram! The Kraken Collective is an indie co-op rather than a traditional publisher. I love this publishing model and the independence that it gives authors while also providing the support network you can find in traditional publishing.

I’m very excited to be part of this team, and to be working with them for the release of DAYBREAK RISING'S sequel, The Vanishing Wars, PR and marketing help for my fellow collective members, and much more. It's going to be awesome! 

So...Yay!! This is for a lot of reasons, but mainly because I like having things all in one place, and I want my readers to experience DAYBREAK RISING in all its glory. To that extent, I will be making some edits to DAYBREAK RISING prior to its re-release.

2. You by no means have to re-purchase it, but I hope to have maps/other visual goodies [!!!], some updated text, and a bit more clarification/editing done to  to make it how it should have been rather than the rush job it had to be due to the other issues I had leading up to its debut. (Which are easily searchable if you look on my blog, no dirty laundry here.) I hope to have the updated version of DAYBREAK RISING released by late Summer 2017!

2.5 My next novel—the sequel to DAYBREAK RISING—is releasing Spring 2018 from The Kraken Collective as well. I've got a little teaser snippet I'll be sharing in a separate post in a few weeks. :D It will be told from the antagonist's perspective, and it's pretty much all things wonderful and morally gray. If you wanted to know more about Adelin's motives while reading DAYBREAK RISING, strap in, because you'll have a front-row seat in this next chapter to the story. 

3. Another project I'm working on this year is my first foray into traditional romance--A collaboration between myself and the amazing G.L. Tomas, also known as @dos_twinjas. Not only have these awesome ladies been rocking my world with wonderful SFF like THE MARK OF NOBA, they've been slaying in the romance genre with amazing books such as SAME PAGE.

So when they asked if we wanted to collab, this guy would have to be spacing out bigtime to say no. Obviously, I said, "Hell yes!" so we're going to be bringing you a romance later this year/early next year that's near and dear to my heart with a queer Portuguese trans-man MC and a Cape Verdean pansexual love interest. It's got Portuguese pastries! (malassadasssss omgggg)  Tattoos! All kinds of chemistry! Hell. Yes.

4. Next up, is a graphic novel I'm collaborating on alongside my wife, illustrator Elizabeth Yeterian-Oliver, aka Zabethy.  You might know it as DRAGONSONG, but as of today its tentative title is: The Vanishing Wars - Book One: Dragonsong. We're going to be releasing it with The Kraken Collective sometime in early Summer 2018.

It's going to have roughly 100+ pages of full-color beautifully illustrated F/F SFF goodness, with the script a collaboration between myself and Elizabeth. If you want to know more about it, check out this page right here. 

5. Lastly, but certainly not least for all of my fellow NZ'ers, I've been asked to be part of the Diverse Families in SFF Panel at Lexicon 2017  June 2-4, 2017 in Taupo along with AJ Fitzwater, Daphne Lawless, and Emma Lindhagen. :D Awesome!! I'm really looking forward to it. 

If you haven't already, please be sure to cast your vote for DAYBREAK RISING to appear on the final ballot to win, "Best Novel," at the 2017  SFFANZ Sir Julius Vogel awards, which will be announced at Lexicon! 

Thank you so much for reading all of this. I hope you're all as excited as I am!

Best,
Kiran

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