news

You might have heard...

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:08:53 +0100

We have some new things up our sleeves these days! First of all, those who liked Unlikely Places might want to sidle on over to the front page--where we've got a special sneak preview of something that may or may not be in the works right this moment. Even then you've probably heard Script Frenzy is coming up! Lia's ready to get down to business on Of Art and Wishes, her film about a girl in the 'concrete jungle where dreams come true'--and her own dreams.
So when is this all happening for YOU? Well, Stranger Things is going to be a while coming...but in the meantime, you can anticipate Of Art and Wishes in two months at the latest, and the Six Ways To Sunday process coming to a finish. Of course, that won't be out until Halloween, but your benevolent friends here at the Duchess may just be meaning to release a few bites for you!
If you're flipping through your Vancouver Courier this week, you may just spot us! We'll make sure you can all get a hold of the full story, don't worry.

Official Unlikely Places Squee

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:24:47 +0100

Unlikely Places was recently published, pre-sale having opened December 11th, and official release dated December 15th. But that's the professional details for you.

The moment I returned from Christmas Break I noticed a package at my door, and in that package was several copies of Unlikely Places for me! Upon the first read-through of Unlikely Places, my immediate course of action was to jot down my thoughts--many of which were 'oh god how did this happen I don't remember this I LOVE THIS'--on my edition. Many of these, those even more eloquently written, can be found on our Facebook page. This, dear royals, is what happens when you leave a book to sit for a few months. Apparently, you forget about the plot entirely.
I apparently lost my ability to even multiple times in the process, tossed sanity out the window, insulted the French, and had some pretty elaborate schemes going on--that god-forsaken Otherworld United pen (I'm going to have to make myself a few of those)--many of which were at Satrina's expense. In the end, while I'm not sure it deserved the honor of being placed with the one and only John Green, I'm really quite entertained.
Much of the squee in regards to Unlikely Places--THE COVER! It's so shiny! SO SHINY I COULD DIE. Yeah, still not over the whole 'my book is a real book I am almost a real author this is really cool'
Now that that's over, I promise to invade Chapters tomorrow in search of, for one, The Fault In Our Stars, and for two, my own novels (I do owe the Mini-Spartans real squees now)--and if my own novels aren't there? Well, I'll have to do something about that.
Final note--a warm welcome to Dodger the Friendly Intern! *smatterings of applause* Dodger will be aiding us in beta-reading and otherwise. Some novels will be re-directed to him, however, Dodger can be contacted at curtislyon@theduchessbooks.ca if you'd like to go right to him. His page can be found at curtislyon.tumblr.com.
Any and all Unlikely Places photos can be found on our Facebook page, /theduchessbooks! (Minus the exclamation point.)

Are you ready...

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 06:24:30 +0100

For glitter and glitz parties and new experiences with ditzy Maeve? For shenanigans, random references, and clever jokes with Zoe and Lucas? For a wild chase to save the day with Satrina, Zelda, and Deirdre?
We certainly hope so.
Unlikely Places--Passion. Deceit. Fairy Princesses. is coming out this month of December and we are psyched to share it with you all! As it comes to its end in the process of editing and onwards, we've noted that Maeve is possibly someone who needs to exist in our lives and that the entire novel depends on logic inconsistencies and obscure references. But that's cool with us!
Keep calm, you guys. It's going to be totally awesome.
Reminder, as usual process with new releases, we will be giving out a discount of some number on our Facebook fan page (/theduchessbooks), so stay tuned!
A teaser quote or two coming right up.

"Let’s do the time warp again!" The singer up on stage belted out – if you could call her a singer. Her voice, Satrina decided, sounded like a dwarf hung by its neck from a nail on the wall. Rather than commenting on this and inciting more fairytale creature comments, Satrina kept on following the strange actions of the rest of the crowd.

"So," Satrina asked. "Is this a save Maeve from her own idiocy mission or laugh at Maeve's idiocy mission?"

"If that was a reference to something," Satrina glared stonily at Zoe. "I will tear you to pieces, hang you from the light bulb, and then maybe kill you if I feel merciful."

Satrina shook her head, amused, but Maeve was whisked off by another girl before she could really say anything.

“I’m never sure whether she’s adorable or terrifying. Or plotting to kill us all in our sleep.”

“It would explain why she’s always so happy.” Satrina quipped. “She knows we’re all going to be out of her way soon enough.”

“I vote for a preemptive strike.” Zoe replied. “Got any grenades? It might take a lot of fire power to hurt a girl that explosive. Plus, fire, pretty.”

Remember to like our Facebook page for news on when and where to buy the novel itself! Lastly--stay fabulous!

New dates for quality and procrastination purposes

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 23:17:57 +0100

Six Ways to Sunday - October 31st
Unlikely Places - December 15

We're dismayed, truly, to announce that the publishing dates of our two latest novels (late indeed) have been postponed. Currently we are in the works of something else too fabulous to tell.

Hang in there,
Lia

Commence Operation DCC.

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 17:48:57 +0100

Hey there, royals. It's good to see you!
What does DCC stand for, you ask? Well, it stands for the Duchess Creative Community. But that doesn't HELP, you whine again.
Well, first of all, this is a whining-free zone. No whining, alright? Second of all, the Duchess Creative Community means that (if only we had drums, could someone give us a drumroll please?) we are adding on a film-and-other-creative-forms-of-expression component to The Duchess Books! But we're starting with film.
We have recently acquired ourselves a cameraman AND as actors, we managed to scrape up some very talented actors (read:Nicole got us all the actors [read:shut up, Nicole, this is my post not yours{read: you did it too! |read:there were CIRCUMSTANCES!|}]) Once our upcoming series of short films is produced, you can play Let's-Find-Lia-And-Nicki-In-The-Background. No, we won't be playing major parts. Those will be hand-selected by Nicole.
Our first short will be, of course, a trailer for A Very Mini-Spartan Story. After that, though, we will be progressing onto more short and sweet stories to fit into about ten minutes--starting with Unwritten, about an amnesiac.
These will be posted on TheDuchessFilm on youtube, and once we have finished this series we'll be onto a movie: Confessions Of A Teenage Nobody, my own Screnzy script post-editing. We hope to publish this as a DVD and a YouTube Rental (A dollar or two to watch)
Also, I named my anthology! Six Ways To Sunday: here I come, time-travel!
Lastly, and I swear it is lastly, it would be good fun if all you headed over and hit the 'Like' button on our Facebook page! We currently have a 5$ off coupon posted for everyone who 'likes' the page.

Ready, set, go! New month, new projects.

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 02:34:57 +0100

School's out and June's almost given way to July! And this means it's almost time to get cracking on some new projects, now that we're all done and published with A Very Mini-Spartan Story.
First of all, you may have heard about my next novel, Unlikely Places. Get ready for fairy princesses and battles galore! I'm just about ready to get down to business (to defeat THE HUNS--shut up, Lia) and writing. I will be writing it as my Camp NaNoWriMo novel, so it will take a month to edit the rushed word-padding out and so it is due to be published September 2011--aiming for the 15th!
Second of all, Lia (hell yeah!) is beginning her anthology. The current title is six somethings before breakfast, though we can't imagine for the life of us what those six somethings will be. I promise it will be fabulous. She's also working on a novella-length My Little Pony fanfic called Sugar and Spice, for those of you who enjoy the show! Disclaimer: It will involve OCs, so beware.
Third of all, I swear I am going to go on a rampage to find every silly little hidden caption Lia snuck into the website. I'll probably keep a few if they are humorous enough, don't worry. (like you could delete them!)

Fabulosity in its true form: Four of the final copies of A Very Mini-Spartan Story!

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 02:35:08 +0100

I'm not sure if there's anything else I can say. Except for AWESOME.

One step closer to the finish line!

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 02:11:01 +0100

We just ordered the proof copies, woo-hoo, so they should be getting here by next week and we'll be ready to approve them and send A Very Mini-Spartan Story out to the wolves! The wolves are you, guys.

A Very Mini-Spartan INTERVIEW

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 23:00:17 +0100

Nicole Thompson: Hello, all, and welcome to a Very Mini-Spartan Interview. Lia Sadako and I, co-authors of the soon-to-be published Very Mini-Spartan Story, are here interviewing, well, each other. How are you today, Lia?
Lia Sadako: I'm good, thank you, and very excited to be sharing some details about the upcoming release with, let's be frank, your fans. And you?
NT: I'm sure you have a rapt fanbase as well, Lia. Cutie Catastrophe was a fantastic release, among your other My Little Pony works. I'm doing very well, thank you for asking, so now let's get down to it! What did you think of your pen name being used for the main character?
LS: At first, I was a little skeptical, but since I do go by Lia Sadako in the Mini-Spartan dimension, I figured it would turn out a good narrative for the story. About the Mini-Spartandimension, actually, how well do you think that is being represented in the script? If a fellow Mini-Spartan were to pick it up, would they find any large holes in how we outlined that world?
NT: I think that what was really useful in our preparations was that Mini-Sparta had already been mapped out several times and is treated really as another world by the members. Knowing so much about the settings, I believe, was great in that we could actually approximate what the chat would be like as a whole new world. Expanding into that question a little more, how do you expect a few of the represented members would react to their characterisations?
LS: Well, that's a tough one. As most of the scenarios were re-interpreted from the histories of the chat itself, I don't think we really ran into any controversy until we really started creating whole new things and changing up those scenarios, especially when it had to involve fighting (and death--eek! We tried to pick made-up Spartans or those least likely to actually care.) The most controversy, I admit, will be around our antagonist(s). The one, you know, true 'bad guy' was actually created from a previous scenario and he will probably not be minded), but we did have to elaborate and the Spartan we did pick to be the real antagonist for plot purposes most likely will not appreciate his or her portrayal. The member, a founding member, actually, was really chosen because of one of my own first conversations with them that stood out in my memory. It really pained us to have to portray [Name omitted] that way, because (s)he is very dear to us, but they were the most effective in the plot and felt the most natural. Sorry, [Name omitted]!
So, Nicole, what was it like to switch so dramatically from your original genre?
NT: Well, it was sort of a strange experience, but I think I grew from it. Also, there's really a limit to how many mutilated corpses you can write before going crazy. What really got me was the script format--in my opinion, it really did make the book what it is now, but damn, all the spacing and formalities! Writing in the present tense, too, a must-do for scriptwriting, was definitely trippy and hard to get into at first. What do you think was the most difficult part of preparing for and writing A Very Mini-Spartan Story?
LS: Again, taking existing people and directing them into a plot was an awful challenge. Also, though, drawing and pictures were a large part of the plotting process, which was a little weird because I can't draw at all. You were really the more artistic half of us!
NT: Aw, shucks! I think that's all for today, guys. Thanks for reading!
LS: And watch out for A Very Mini-Spartan Story, out on shelves by June 30th. T-t-t-that's all, folks.

Current projects!

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 23:00:23 +0100

Published: Remember My Name
Remember My Name is part crime fiction, part teen fiction, part thriller, and part mindfuck. You like? It's available on Amazon and CreateSpace.

So-damn-close: A Very Mini-Spartan Story
A Very Mini-Spartan Story is the tale of some adventurous teen writers in an online chat that's beginning to overstep its bounds. Wild adventures, wisecracking, and inspirational speeches will ensue.

In planning: Unlikely Places (working title)
Passion. Deceit. Fairy princesses.