It is Book Release Day! Spell Games is now available! And you can even read the first chapter here. (Now, while Spell Games does tell a self-contained standalone story, it follows immediately after the events of Dead Reign -- like, half a second after -- so there might be some slight edge in reading that one first; but it doesn't matter much.) Publishers Weekly says "Pratt's imagination shows no signs of flagging, and plenty of fresh twists and turns propel the series vigorously toward the next book." And other people say nice things, too. It's the most ambitious book in the series, and, I think, the most emotionally wrenching.

It's also book release day for Catherynne M. Valente's newest book Palimpsest (sex, tattoos, literary fantasy, a secret city -- what's not to like?) Cat and I share a publisher, and shared the same editor before the dread scythe of layoffs hit publishing last autumn. (Actually, the scythe continues to fall -- but this is a happy day!)

Also, as of today, the audiobook versions of all four Marla novels -- Blood Engines, Poison Sleep, Dead Reign, and Spell Games -- are available for download at Audible.com, read by the wonderful and talented Jessica Almasy.

Now, check out those spines:

And these pretty maids all in a row:

That's beautiful. And they look awfully nice on my shelf. Cries out for a box set, doesn't it?