September 2025: Time Is Racing Toward Us!
One month out from The Sovereign and Fate’s Bane! One week out from the big race!
(if you sang the rest of that line, you are my people)
Hello again, everyone! First, I would like to say thank you all for your flexibility and for helping me establish my legitimacy to the Lords of ESP by dropping the little thumbs up and replying, as well as donating and subscribing! It was also just nice to hear from so many of you. The door remains open; if you're having any problems or have some feedback, just hit reply.
Somehow, it is already September, and I have already used Earth, Wind, and Fire in a September newsletter title once before so I will spare you!
We are ONE MONTH OUT from The Sovereign and Fate's Bane hitting the shelves! (Two months for Fate's Bane in the UK!) You can read chapter 2 of The Sovereign here!
(My use of exclamation marks is not judicious at this time.)
The Unbroken is $2.99 for the month of September (US/CAN), so is you have any friends who haven’t started the book yet, tell ‘em now is the perfect time!
It is also time for my fell run! Finally! I mentioned back in May that I would start training for it in earnest after my first sword tournament, and I'm pretty damn proud of the consistency. Which is what it takes to do pretty much anything big and worthwhile. Through a month of travel in the US across three different states and four different residences. Through toxic air and mile high altitude. (Running a 13-miler in Denver was no joke. Neither was running 12 in the Hollywood smog and heat—I thought I was going to bail two miles in, but somehow, I made it to 12.)
This instagram post sums up the weekend to come (and the trail running life) pretty well.
Did I mention the fell run it’s now officially a camping trip? Some “wild” outdoor living with a half-marathon through the mountains in the middle of it. But I have been promised a real shower because I am going to need it. I am a Sweaty Runner.
(Remind me to tell you about my last wilderness adventure. I built a shelter, started a fire in the rain (poorly), and ate a pigeon (among other things).)
How it started vs. How it’s going — 17 WEEKS!
I'm a better person when I set myself challenges like this. They're not always physical, but they always require me to stretch myself in some way. NaNoWriMo was like that for me, back when I first started writing. Developing the habit of writing, the habit of writing even when I knew it could be better, ignoring the inner critic that demanded every brick be perfect or we would lay down nothing at all.
The thing I love about these challenges is that they are how you become who you want to be. Each challenge you set yourself is a question: am I someone who can do this? And each day of training, each day you show up is the answer. What you do next is the answer. And after that, and after that. We are what we do and that's it.
rain or shine. hell or high water.
Even though the race hasn't even happened yet, I've won. I know I can run the distance. I don't know if I can run the hills. But I do know that I showed up. I found treadmills and went up hill for six miles. I tackled London's baby hills. I squatted and squatted and lunged and squatted and walked up the stairs in the tube stations just to suffer. I ran with friends and I ran alone. I ran in the rain and I ran in the sun. I put in the time. I did the thing.
Now it's time to celebrate.
And that's basically how I feel about launching The Sovereign and Fate's Bane. It's always about running, and it's never about running.
It's been a long and wonderful journey to get these books out into the world, and I can't wait to celebrate with you. Congratulations to those of you who have gotten early copies from giveaways. You're welcome/I'm sorry.
We've gotten some lovely reviews for both books:
"Clark's intense conclusion to the Magic of the Lost trilogy, after The Faithless, is filled with high-stakes physical and political actions, personal sacrifice, and intertwined relationships. Themes of colonization, revolution, and forgotten magic are woven through with Clark's hard-hitting, emotion-laden prose." - Library Journal, starred review on The Sovereign
"Clark’s skill for Viking saga-craft and her clear affection for her sapphic warrior heroines combine into an unforgettable doomed love story. Fans of Clark’s longer works will not be disappointed." - Publisher's Weekly on Fate's Bane
This Fate’s Bane review from Locus Magazine is also live.
It's been wonderful to see the reception of the books so far, and, much like the race, there's not much more that I can do at this stage—I've made the books the best books that I could. Now I'm going to show up and celebrate with as many of you as I can!
At this moment, I have confirmed that there will be events in:
TORONTO!!! - Oct 21
York - Oct 29
Edinburgh - Nov 4
Glasgow - Nov 5
Leeds - Nov 6
London
But we are still waiting on timings and ticket links, so I can’t make those official until they’re official, you know?
In the meantime—final copies of The Sovereign have come!
The box arrived right before my workout, so you get the bonus flex for the ‘gram, too. Brand new map from Tim Paul is A+, too.
What I am Reading
Mostly, my head has been full of bees so I have not been reading much at all except on audiobook, so I recently read The Extinction of Experience which has been on my mind constantly since I finished it, making me reconsider so much of this technologically enhanced life I take for granted—and some of the loneliness that comes with it.
I also listened to a fun little solo RPG actual play of the game Ironsworn from Me, Myself, and Die (I listened to the podcast version while running, but it's originally a YouTube actual play session, with minis and all). I talked a bit about my own Ironsworn play-through last week. Now I am listening to John Gwynne’s Malice. After loving his Bloodsworn Saga so much, it was only a matter of time.
I do have in my possession, however, a copy of Tasha Suri's latest, The Isle in the Silver Sea, which you can pre-order. It will pair nicely with Alix E. Harrow's The Everlasting, which cemented itself as one of my new favorite books when I read it early a year ago. It will also pair nicely with The Second Death of Locke, which I will have in my possession soon.
On the Blog
In between newsletters, I’ve been antsy and wanting to write a lot and share a lot. Probably something to do with the antsy-ness of waiting for pub date and all the secrets I have to keep in my head and not spill and probably a tiny tiny bit of procrastination from Warmongers. Anyway. You can learn about my little experiment with solo RPGs. There are also TWO process shots from Warmongers (and I’m willing to make more if you’re into that sort of thing). The first one is about using setting to discover plot. The second one is scandalous.
And by popular demand, the beginning of a short series on working out and building muscle. A very short series.
With that, I will leave you all. The next missive will be the final deleted scene from The Unbroken before the pre-order gift is sent out!
And by the way—several of you have already reached out to tell me about your athletic excitements, whether you’re doing swords, or lifting, or racing, or hiking. I just want to say, I love this! For you, for me, for all of us. You tell me what you’re doing and I’ll always cheer you on. (And you can cheer each other on, too.)
Until next time,
Stay sharp, my friends.
C. L.
p.s. The Fate’s Bane giveaway on Goodreads opens today!
