Reader Question Day #62 – all about GHOST IN THE ASHES

Cora writes:

hi i love the ghosts books and am wondering when ghost in the ashes will come out? also, can you give a hint on what the book will be about?

Probably August or September, with September being more likely. I’ll start writing it as soon as I’m done with SOUL OF SWORDS.

As to what it’s about, I’ll give you two answers – one that doesn’t spoil the previous GHOSTS books, and one that does. Read on at your peril! 🙂

NON-SPOILER ANSWER:

In GHOST IN THE ASHES, Caina meets an escaped, pregnant slave girl desperately fleeing from bounty hunters. Since pregnant slave girls are a gold coin a dozen outside of the Empire, this catches Caina’s attention…and she quickly realizes that something very dangerous is underway.

SPOILER ANSWER (only read this if you’ve read the rest of THE GHOSTS books):

The Empire’s war against New Kyre hasn’t been going well…but it has won some sharp victories against Istarinmul. The Istarish have decided they’ve had enough, and have sent an ambassador to Malarae to negotiate peace with the Emperor.

The ambassador is the emir Tanzir Shahan, the younger brother of Rezir Shahan…who, you might recall, Caina killed in GHOST IN THE STORM. Of course, Istarinmul’s neighbor to the south, Anshan, wants Istarinmul and the Empire to continue fighting, and Caina’s job is to make sure the Anshani don’t assassinate Tanzir and blame it on the Empire.

And in the middle of this tense situation, Caina finds the pregnant slave girl pursued by bounty hunters.

Angela asks:

Hello! I was wonder what Halfdan’s background was and how he became a Ghost. It would be cool if you wrote a short story on it,or have you?

I haven’t written a short story about Halfdan. But that’s a good idea – I usually give away a free short story every time I release a new THE GHOSTS novel (this is why you should sign up for my newsletter – you’ll get free stuff), so that might be the topic of the free short story with GHOST IN THE ASHES.

Of course, knowing Halfdan, he would completely lie about his origins in order to advance some mission for the Ghosts. Given how he and Caina enjoy playing mind games with each other, it’s likely he would do the sort of thing the Joker did in THE DARK KNIGHT, and tell a different origin story every time Caina asks, and let Caina pick apart the flaws as a mental exercise.

-JM