Amy Kuivalainen's Blog - Posts Tagged "firebird"

One more sleep til my Book Birthday!

Okay now that I got that out of my system I can tell you a little bit about the next instalment of The Firebird Fairytales. 

Second books are strange beasts. You know you’re in the middle of something but don’t quite know what and foreshadowing for the next book can be vital. In saying that I tried to have it as a separate sort of story where things happen. Some stuff gets resolved and other stuff becomes worse. There is new cities, new faces, new secrets and all sorts of monsters and good stuff.

When I was writing this beast of a book I had so many plans and ideas for how it was going to turn out…by the end of the second rewrite none of these things eventuated or were even left in which is pretty typical.  Trust me they weren’t needed. I was pretty close to setting it on fire more than once. I’m pretty sure it would have died in a blaze if it wasn’t for my partners in crime Fox and Anna hiding the vodka and matches and sharp objects.

Also this book and all of its subsequent drafts were written to Amanda PalmerAmanda Fucking Palmer’s albums. Who Killed Amanda Palmer was the soundtrack to my life at the time of the first draft, a spooky coincidence that I fed into my art and dealing with the shit going down at the time. Thank you Fox for giving me the gloriously inspirational Amanda. She’s an incredible artist who will speak wild things into your dark and dreaming heart…you can find her work here where you can download her albums for as little as a dollar. Better yet, go support her Patreon.

If Ashes had a theme song it would be this song, ‘Runs in the Family.’ 



This book, and series, deals a lot with family and with what’s inside our blood and dealing and fighting the inherited monsters and problems. It’s a theme that’s pretty prevalent in my own life. Anya’s ability to pick up strays (and in turn be adopted) is inspired by own. I never had much family around growing up so I was adopted my a whole manner of people. The concept of  “Family” has very little to do with blood at all and its reinforced in the rag tag tribe of misfits that gather about Anya and Yvan.

To keep track of the ever growing cast I have put a character list in the back of the book and kept it as spoiler free as possible. I’ve had some pretty mixed reactions from my ARC readers about this one, but don’t worry there is definitely a third book where all shall be revealed. I hope you enjoy it, I hope you listen to it with Amanda Fucking Palmer on full volume.