Happy June, Folks!
First off, know you did not miss my May newsletter. I did not write one.
I’m happy to say that the second draft of Death and Rest is officially done! It’s still a long way from where I want it to be and I’ve left some ‘presents’ for future me to deal with as I go through it during my third draft, but I *think* I know what direction I can pull it to be where I want it to be. Soon(ish) I can stop pushing and pulling it around and it can move into a place where it will be strictly editing and formatting and NOT finding continuity and replacing and adding scenes for the vision I want it to be. I don’t know how many drafts DNR is going to take, but I know I want the process to be nearly done at this time next year so I can give it the TLC I somehow missed for Time Swords and Blood on my first try.
But that’s what growing as a writer -or person- is. Learning from your mistakes so you can improve the next time you try, right?
So far, with DNR, I’m trying to take breaks between writing days and drafts to help me catch the absolute obscurity that shows up as I’m trying to convey a good story. This method is working so far, though I am not yet in crunch time so we will see how this goes when I approach my final deadline next year.
Breaks include writing other projects, reading, and other hobbies.
If you want to know about my other projects, comment on this blog! I can get into them more in a future post.
What I’m reading this month? Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. I’m a slow reader and have only read 200 pages since my last blog. It’s an 800-page book and the biggest novel in my collection thus far. What a trophy it will be when I’m finished with it though!
In other Hannah news, I have three signed copies of Time, Swords, and Blood currently available at Cedar Canoe Books in Huntsville! If you have friends in the area and they’re looking for a new fantasy read, tell them to drop by and buy a copy!
I’m currently working on getting another bookstore to have a small collection in stock, but I’m waiting on a delivery of more copies so I can actually give them something to consign.
So, the title mentions a contest!
It’s a Newsletter contest, but I will be hosting a handful of other contest/giveaways this year that I will briefly touch on here as well.
Until September, when my preorders for DNR go up, I’ll be running a contest for my newsletter subscribers! How do you enter? You need to do two things:
1. Get ONE friend to subscribe to the newsletter. When they do send contact@hannahmanders.com an email saying which email was your friend! (I know, emails are annoying, but how else will I know it was your friend who subscribed?)
2. Be subscribed to my newsletter! (Which, if you’re reading this, you likely already are so you only have to do one thing, huzzah!)
Want a bonus entry?
For every one of your friends who subscribe to my newsletter you get an entry!
Want even more entries?
Review one of the products in my store (If you bought an ebook copy from kobo or spamazon, you can review the book in the print copy section, but this review will only count if you get a friend subscribed first.)
Winner will get two free tickets to my launch party for Death and Rest in 2026 and ONE Time, Swords, and Blood t-shirt.
Yes, I said t-shirt.
I’ve made a bookish goods friend in the owner of Fiction and Fibre ( https://fictionandfibre.ca/ ) and she and I have talked about collaborating in the future for some goodies for my readers.
Back to the contest –
*Please keep in mind your launch party tickets are ONLY for entry to the event. Travel is NOT included, nor is it covering additional tickets if you want to bring more friends with you or additional items that will be available for purchase at the launch party.
*Time, Swords, and Blood t-shirts will be available on my website in September for purchase to those who want one.
Winner will be announced in the September Newsletter!
(p.s. your friends who subscribe can enter too, so long as they follow the contest rules!)
I’m going to take this time to talk about/remind you about other upcoming contests and giveaways as well:
-Remember to join my discord and attend the Time, Swords and Blood reread in October for a chance to win a free copy of Death and Rest from the pool of entries (more information on this on my discord and/or my event page)
( https://discord.gg/T8q4dbZ9Km )
-I will be running an ongoing Instagram contest starting September for a free copy of DNR
-Soon I will be running a tiktok contest to reach 1000 followers. One lucky follower will win a free copy of Time, Swords and Blood and a free copy of Death and Rest upon release -When I open preorders for Death and Rest in September, EVERY preorder will be receiving an extra treat! However, the FIRST person to preorder will receive an extra special treat with their copy of DNR.
See? Lots of chances for goodies in your future!
Also, before I forget, I know it’s late in the month, but I wanted to wish everyone reading a Happy Pride Month!
If you have not read Time, Swords, and Blood yet, there are some minor spoilers below and if you wish to skip the rest of this blog. Don’t worry, you will not miss out.
I touched on this subject on a Instagram post I earlier this month, but I wanted to do a deeper dive on this blog, or at least talk about it again.
What kind of representation can you expect when reading Time, Swords, and Blood?
First off, for those of you who don’t know, I am a queer author, and many of my friends are in the queer community. It was only natural for me to want to include LGBTQ+ representation in my book.
In Time, Swords, and Blood I don’t outright state the sexuality or gender identity of my characters, but I did try to establish them as clearly as possible for readers. No one says they’re gay/straight/bi, etc., nor do they introduce themselves with their pronouns. I *think* the closest I got was when Lachlan said “she usually prefers women” when referring to his fellow council member Nerice during a drunken mini gossip session with Delilah. (Gimme a break if I missed something, it’s been a few months since I read her LOL)
Many of my characters are pansexual or bi (like Delilah, Cathal, or Nerice). Queer appear throughout the book because I wanted them to exist in the world of Alhan as naturally as the air we breathe. There’s already demons and evil billionaires that exist in my book; I did not want hate for people who simply love each other to be there too.
I put small relationships like the innkeeper and his spouse, or the smithy and hers to help indicate the world views, but I also put big relationships like mentioning Nerice and Gwen were together once or (as some people missed) Vice and his old boyfriend. A fan favourite couple, which I did not see coming but I’m super happy about, was not Delilah and Lachlan, but Theone and their partner Durin. Every time I think about them being a fan favourite brings me great joy, especially since the relationship is between a non-binary person and a cisgendered man.
In addition to these sexual identities, I did my best with writing in the gender identities of two characters I cherish. These two non-binary characters, Theone and Asa, were some of my favourite people to write and when I received positive feedback from non-binary readers about them, I was thrilled that I created characters that helped people feel seen and represented in media.
I obviously will be continuing with this trend in my upcoming novel Death and Rest. As a sneak peak into the characters readers will get to know, there is a non-binary pirate boatswain (those are the people who oversee various operations of the crew and cargo handling), a gay gunslinging thief (yes, cowboy), a gender-fluid High Priest (with a secret), and MANY other pansexual and bi characters I hope readers will fall in love with as I have.
Anyway, if my stance wasn’t clear, I hope it is now: love is love🌈❤️
I’m so excited to reveal more about Death and Rest as the preorder day and release day come closer. Both will arrive before I know it and I’ll probably be scrambling when it does, but I would not trade my writing for anything else in the world.
That’s all for now
Chat again in July! (Probably)
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