Trudi Canavan's Blog

For the first time in ages since the postie brought me a parcel (which was in quite a state with lots of rips held together with tape) of books. I was enchanted to find this bundle of green awaiting me inside.

This is a new French edition, of the whole Black Magician Trilogy. So green and lush and whispy. And though you can’t see it in the photo, it’s satisfyingly chonky. Reminds me of bundled series of fantasy books I read in my 20s, happy to know the next one was right there waiting when I finished the last.

I’ve been on Bluesky for a couple of months and so far I don’t feel the need to run screaming. Every week or so I remember it’s there and check the feed. I’m very out of practise with social media and I’m hoping not to develop a compulsive habit. But it’s nice to have somewhere other than my website to make announcements, should there be anything worth saying. So if you’re there you can follow me to see my occasional contribution.

It’s a little over six months since I posted about social media, and a few things were left up in the air so I’m just going to write a quick update.

I deleted my Twitter/X account. The only use I had for it was answering reader questions, and I was getting so few there it wasn’t worth having the account. Recent queries were vanishing into a gap between the very most recent and ones from years ago, and I wondered if algorithms were restricting what got through as well.

Deleting my main Instagram account didn’t delete the secondary one that I couldn’t get access to any more. Fortunately, the secondary one was for non-writery things, so it doesn’t matter. I considered creating a new non-writery one so I could follow the users I missed, but then I remembered all the ads and decided I didn’t miss them that much.

Deleting my Instagram account deleted my Threads account. Sigh.

I’m still considering whether to try a different social media. I don’t miss the ones I was on, but I do miss having a conversational connection to readers. When done right, the format is also an easy way to spread the information you wish to get out there to the people who want it. But if it isn’t useful and fun I can’t see the point in it.

There’s nothing more sure than change, and perhaps nothing embodies that more than the internet. Social media in particular has never had much permanence and stability. A few changes have happened recently that I wanted to write about. It’s a bit of a ramble, but I’m a writer so can’t help wanting to add context and ‘make it into a story’.

I first started interacting online back in the 90s when newsgroups were the thing, limited at first to the rare few who were tech-savvy enough to have access to the internet (or in my case, knew people who were). It was fun and exciting. Then along came websites, and my Australian publisher started running a forum on theirs and a great little community of writers and readers formed.

Then LiveJournal arrived and kind of superseded the forum by having a global reach. I joined in 2005 and my friends thought I was nuts for keeping it ‘friends-only’, but the growing number of fans wanting to get in contact led me to keep public and private communication routes separate. This blog began in 2008, and replaced an earlier website I’d created to facilitate that.

These early formats taught me some valuable lessons: nothing is ever truly private on the internet, forums subjects will cycle around again and again no matter whether there’s a FAQ page or not, and if there’s a way to scam or spam people, someone will do it.

I left LiveJournal in 2011. In 2009 I’d given Twitter a try and liked it, and I could take it with me on my iTouch (remember those?). As the years passed self-promotion grew rampant and outrage was never-ending. 2014 I deleted the app from my phone and restricted myself to only checking Twitter for reader queries every week or so on my desktop computer. I still do. For now.

My UK publisher had created a Facebook Fan Page for me but wanted to run it themselves. This was fine with me at the time because I had enough on my hands with this site and Twitter. However, it meant that I couldn’t reply to reader comments or post announcements for other regions or languages on Facebook. I did eventually gain the ability to comment, but it was between book releases and before I had a change to post there I found Facebook had somehow booted me out again. You have to go through all sorts of hoops to have a fan page now and, well, it’s too much trouble and I have… had Instagram.

Ah, Instagram. In 2015 it seemed mainly about posting artfully filtered photos, but writers, artists and crafters were using it so I decided to give it a try. It was lovely. My calm place, where I only followed users who posted quiet, soothing images. Until Facebook acquired the app and, no matter how much I tried to train the algorithm it kept disrupting my feed with noisy, flashy ads. But without Twitter or Facebook, and blogs not being cool any more, it was the only place where I was interacting with readers. I stayed, but I decided to avoid confusing them with art and craft posts and created a second account for that.

Then recently I lost the ability to sign in to that account. No matter what I did, I couldn’t regain access or went through the hoops of proving my identity only to be signed into the author account instead. This suggested the two accounts were still connected somehow, so eventually I resorted to deleting my author account to see if it would delete the other one.

Now that it’s gone, I’ve decided not to open a new Instagram author account. I don’t trust it not to shut me out again. Which makes me think of Facebook and how it booted me out of being able to post on the fan page. And that Twitter is not even called Twitter any more and everyone hates it. And that Pinterest was great until it changed. And how the other social media that I tried never came to anything.

I’m so over social media. I’d just keep this website, but lately email has also grown unreliable and most of the time I can’t reply because the recipient address is on gmail or hotmail, or was written under a full moon under the influence of cheese.

So I’ve reluctantly rebooted my Threads account. Which was disturbingly easy – I didn’t have to set up anything again so clearly Meta hadn’t really deleted it at my request. Anyway, it’s probably the best way to get in contact with me now.

Until, of course, it changes. As it inevitably will.

It’s been a while since I posted here, but there hasn’t been a lot of bookish news to report. However, there is now…

The Black Magician Trilogy has been reprinted as special editions both in English and German, and they set my little author heart aflutter. Have a look at these:

Illumicrate produces book subscription boxes and special editions. They collaborated with Orbit Books UK to release these hardbacks.

I love the cover illustration, by http://@park_sunga, that form one long image when placed side to side.

I love the embossing design, by @no0nedesigns.

I love the character illustrations on the endpapers, by @dianadworak.

I love how the page edges are coloured.

And how there is a quote from the book on the spines.

I love everything about these special editions. As a former illustrator, it’s always extra exciting to see how other artists interpret my work, and these talented people have made the books extraordinary.

But wait! There’s more! As if the Illumicrate books weren’t enough to delight me, Die Gilde Der Schwarzen Magier has also been released as special editions.

While the Illumicrate cover design is white and black, the Bücherbüchse version of the trilogy is all black but for the embossing…

…which I adore.

…and which covers front, back and spine.

I also adore the coloured and printed paper edges.

When I began writing, and honestly for most of my time as a published author, I never thought I’d see my books be clothed in such splendour. Thank you to Illumicrate, Bücherbüchse and all the artists and designers who made them such items of beauty. I will treasure them always.

Earlier this year I was very flattered to be invited to contribute a story to an upcoming anthology, proposed by the awesome creative force that is Grimdark Magazine. Well, the Kickstarter went live a mere week ago and it has already passed its pledge aim and heading into achieving some pretty awesome stretch goals, like adding more amazing authors, illustrations throughout, creating audio versions and extra stories.

So head on over to support this fabulous anthology, or support and acquire some tempting extra goodies.

Go here to enter the competition. May the best commenter win!

Today is the first of the english language release days for Maker’s Curse. The different regions like to release books on different days of the week, so it is easier to say “release week” than “release day”. But if you want to buy the ebook, it should be available today in all territories. So I can now use this wonderful image provided by Orbit…

Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Next Wednesday in Australia (Tuesday in the US) I’ll be participating in a live interview along with the very talented Devin Madson. (Author of We Ride the Storm – a book that I am currently reading and half wishing that everyone and everything else would go away so I can FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT! It’s very good. Very, very good. I will be buying her first series as soon as I finish it, breaking my current Only Read From The To-Read Pile rule while laughing maniacally.)

Register at the link below to join us, ask questions and enjoy the unintentional live video hilarity (probably involving my cat dropping in or the sound of chainsaws as my neighbour cuts down yet another tree).

For US readers: 8pm Tuesday May 12th

For Australian readers: 10am Wednesday May the 13th

(That’s 1am Wednesday May the 13th, if you’re a VERY keen UK reader.)

Click here to register.

Today the Polish edition of Maker’s Curse has hit the bookstores. That makes, I think, the Polish edition the first one to come out. My lovely Polish publisher timed the release so that it would be available when I was at Pyrkon, but unfortunately Covid19 forced the cancellation of my appearance there.

So enjoy being the First in the World to get my new book, Polish readers! I hope you like this final book in the Millennium’s Rule Trilogy. I wish I was there, celebrating the release with you! But mostly I hope you are all safe and well.