My Big News (a.k.a. What I've been up to the last few months)

Hi Friends!

So I know I've been pretty quiet in the blogosphere for quite some time, but I'm breaking my blog silence so I can share some big news.  In fact, it's news that I've been sitting on for MONTHS now.  And I am not a patient person.  Nor am I any good at keeping a secret. (Hence one of the reasons I've been so silent on this here blog.)  But the official announcement finally came out in Publisher's Weekly, which means I can FINALLY share it with you guys.

So here's what PW had to say:

Despain Goes Greek for Egmont
Greg Ferguson at Egmont U.S. bought North American rights to a trilogy called Into the Dark by Bree Despain. Ted Malawer at Upstart Crow Literary represented Despain (author of the Dark Divine series). This paranormal series is a reimagining of the Persephone myth, delivered in dueling narratives. In the myth, Persephone (daughter of Demeter, goddess of the harvest) is kidnapped by Hades; here, one thread follows a character named Daphne (based on Persephone), while the other narrative follows Haden (standing in for Hades). The first book in the series is scheduled for 2014.

And here are some things I have to say about it all:

1. I am thrilled that I can finally tell you about my new trilogy!

2. The PW description is kind of different than how I would have put it.  Here's the way I like to describe the book (in my head, at least): "It's kind of like PERCY JACKSON meets AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER meets BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER meets Bree Despain-style romance."  Does that make any sense outside of my head?  *Let's pretend it does.*  (Note: This is NOT the official synopsis for this book.)

4.  Fun fact: I actually started writing this story about seven years ago, after finishing an early draft of THE DARK DIVINE.  After TDD sold to my publisher, I had to put this book aside so I could work on THE LOST SAINT and THE SAVAGE GRACE.  I am so excited to get to work on this story once again--and bring to it all the things I've learned over the last few years.  I don't know that I could have done this story justice if I HADN'T put it aside for so long.

5. While I know there are other Persephone books out there, one of the reasons I've been dying to write a modern reimaging of this myth is because I wanted to explore a Hades-esque character's point of view.  Kind of a "his side of the story" take on it all.  But as PW said, I also get to follow Daphne's POV, too.  These are two very different characters who look at the world in very different ways.  It's kind of an exploration of destiny vs. choice, love vs. duty, and what it really means to have honor.

6. *snicker* *snicker* I just said "duty." *snicker*

7. This book has been a CHALLENGE.  I've never done a dueling POV narrative before, and writing from a guy's POV (especially a guy who knows nothing about girls or, you know, what it means to be human) is kinda HARD.  But I am hoping you guys will love Haden and Daphne as much as I do!

8.  Book one doesn't come out until early 2014.  Why so long?  Because I'm not done writing the first book yet!  (I know I've said previously that my next book was slated for Fall 2013, but things have changed.  But I really hope you all will think it's worth the wait!)

9. I can't tell you how happy I am that I will be working with my fabulous editor, Greg Ferguson, for three more books!  Six books together is kind of a big deal in this ever-changing publishing world.  And many thanks to my agent, Ted Malawer, for brokering the deal.

10.  Because I went to nine with this list and it felt weird not to go on to ten.

Hope you're all having a great week!  I, for one, am enjoying the fact that my kids are finally back in school after a month off-track.  As a reward for staying sane, I sneaked in a screening of SKYFALL in the middle of the day on Monday.  Has anyone else seen it?  What did you think?