For all my paperback, audiobook, and Kindle Unlimited readers, the wait is over! All editions of Behind the Crimson Curtain are available wherever books are sold.
What a month!
After the ebook edition of Behind the Crimson Curtain released on August 1st through the Amazon First Reads program, my family got hit with COVID and I had some major book two drafting revelations. COVID with a baby is no joke. Major revisions right at the end of deadline are also no joke.
Whew. In the last few days I feel like I’ve resurfaced from another dimension. My family is (mostly?) healthy and I’ve got the first half of Book Two in shape. Somehow, the world was still spinning while we were under water!
As of yesterday, Behind the Crimson Curtain is officially out in the world, and people are reading and reviewing it. 🤯
It has been overwhelmingly incredible to get messages from readers, see reviews that reflect what I was truly aiming to do with my story, and just know that Firin and Bregan are out there… warming (and breaking????) other peoples’ hearts.
Behind the Crimson Curtain is a story about an imperfect heroine with secrets and shames she has to bring to light. It’s about a hero who never asked to be a hero, and the burden of responsibility that clouds his truth. It is, at its core, about what it means to trust and to love when we can never truly know everything about one another.
A massive thank you to everyone who has already read or pre-ordered Behind the Crimson Curtain. Thank you for embracing Firin in all of her imperfections. Thank you for your patience with Bregan in all his stubbornness. Thank you for proving that readers drink up morally grey characters and theater stories (even when everyone told me they wouldn’t). Thank you for loving this book even with its tumultuous ending.
If you haven’t yet grabbed your physical copy, please consider ordering through my local bookstore, Maria’s Bookshop.
Thank you, thank you.
xo, E
book two!?
Yes! There will be one! I’ve received a lot of messages asking if Behind the Crimson Curtain will have a sequel. Do not fret! I’m just hit the midpoint in draft 1.5 of book two! It has been a beast to write but the pieces are starting to come together. I can’t wait to reach ‘The End’ so I can go back and do the fun part of revising!
the audiobook
I am so picky about audiobooks. I’m not usually an audio kind of person, I remember details and can see things more clearly when they’re visual. But every once in a while I find an audiobook I can sink into and lose myself in. One of the first I ever fell in love with, back when I was dipping my toes back into fantasy after a years-long hiatus from fiction, was An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir.
Finding out that one of the narrators from that book, Shane East (a.k.a Steve West) was going to voice Bregan in Behind the Crimson Curtain was one of my favorite parts of this publishing journey so far. I could not believe it. Still can’t, to be honest!
I’ve been listening to the book since it released yesterday… FRIENDS. It is FANTASTIC. Shane is the absolute perfect voice for Bregan and Vanessa Johansson brings Firin to life with all her imperfect, tenacious energy.
To have a book that is about acting be performed by these two brilliant actors is a dream come true. Bucket-list level dream. There is so much art and nuance woven into their interpretations.
Please go soak up their genius. It is so, so, so amazing.
You can grab the audiobook here.
book signing event
Local folks! I will be doing an event at Maria’s Bookshop in Durango, Colorado on Saturday, September 7th from 4-6pm. Bring your copy and/or buy one at the store. I hope to see you there.
about the book
𝐀 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐭𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐡 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐚𝐫.
On the coal-choked island of Luisonn, the tyrannical Stav Regime breeds rebellion among the working class. Firin, a face-changing con artist trained by her domineering father, dances between fake lives to escape punishment for her crimes—until armed rebels topple the regime. With freedom finally within her grasp, she discovers one of the heroes is her former lover, Bregan, who introduced her to her second love: the theater.
As the flames of revolt settle, Firin joins Bregan on the stage. She’s determined to create a life with the honorable man she never forgot. But like the past, love and truth are hard to hide—especially when one of Firin’s victims, now president, chooses Bregan as his right-hand man. Haunted by the sacrifices of revolution and devoted to the new government’s success, Bregan quickly rises in its ranks…
In a web of war and false identities, Firin must choose a side. But is the price of freedom her heart?
Waiting for my official copy to arrive from Amazon!