Updates + Why Not to Acknowledge Language Anxiety

March was super-exciting for Queen & Commander.

• Ebooks went live worldwide on the major platforms
• 70 print editions (American English) arrived at my house
• All the Queen’s English pieces came together for that print book (now in proofing stage)
• I started a giveaway on Goodreads. (through April 20^th)

Box of books. Woohoo!

Also exciting, The Bookbag reviewed the UK ebook edition. Reviewer Jill Murphy says things like, “Queen and Commander was such a fun read. I liked the world-building a great deal.” And other things like, “You might also enjoy Saturn Returns by Sean Williams or Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross.” And then they interviewed me.

I worried briefly about interviewing on an English site. After all, I’d undoubtedly say something horribly gauche and American. (For instance, I see that I made a reference to “high school” when I should have said “Year 9”… or is that “Fourth Form”? Oh dear.)

As George Bernard Shaw described it, “England and America are two nations separated by a common language.”

And then I realized: That’s actually a huge theme in Queen & Commander. I was living an aspect of my book while doing an interview about it. How meta!

See Q&C has this linguistic divide between people who only speak English and those who also speak Welsh. The division is felt particularly keenly by unlucky Luciano, who speaks two languages… but those are English and Italian. So when the other teens discuss Welsh poetry or use their language’s swear words (usually based on The Mabinogion), Luciano is both left out and worried he’s doing something wrong.

But he, like I, must persevere. Because he’ll never make friends if he avoids the culture he wants to live in. And I’d never get that interview published if I didn’t let myself get interviewed.

So, hey! Enter the giveaway. It’s free, and I’ve gotta send those books to somebody.