A book cover reveal, some love for other authors, some music, some books, and always the many blessings on your head for reading these posts…
Ta-da. You’re the first to see it faraway friends: the cover of The Witch of Benbar’s Cross. It came to me in a flash one night a few months ago and I had to go with it.
I was initially thinking of desert-witchy type vibes—moons and evocative night landscapes, pretty fonts and fey little symbols. But I suspect that would’ve given the wrong impression about what The Witch of Benbar’s Cross is about.
Because while there are evocative desert landscapes and full moons, it is not pretty or sexy or whimsical.
The Witch of Benbar’s Cross is a paranormal mystery, a ghost story maybe, with a wee touch of horror, about women and magic, grief and rage, belonging and the worlds seen and unseen. It’s a heroine’s journey into sacrifice and bravery, connection, community and love. There are spells and blood magic and psychics and rituals, there’s death and birth. Shit goes up in flames, treasures are lost and retrieved from dark places.
The story follows Morgan Cadogen as she goes in search of her missing twin, Juliet, who disappeared in the fictional near-deserted settlement of Benbar’s Cross researching a theory about shamanism by the discredited mid-century anthropologist, Dr George Schwab.
But when she gets to the village she’s told Jules was never there, and it’s only intuition and a few threadbare leads that brings her eventually to the horrifying truth about Juliet’s whereabouts—and what she will have to sacrifice to get her sister back.
‘Publishing one’s own work is very nervous work,’ said Virginia Woolf, and she was not wrong. I’ve spent a not insignificant amount of time wringing my proverbial hands worrying that what I’ve got is not good enough, that there’s a reason no agent or publisher would pick it up, that I probably shouldn’t bother, that there are so many, many books in the world, why inflict one more on it.
But if publishing is a gambler’s sport and writing is an obsession, then self-publishing is a very particular kind of compulsion that can’t be pushed aside and told to wait until someone says ‘yes’.
So here it is, coming in hot. The Witch of Benbar’s Cross. My latest obsession and compulsion, neatly packaged in flaming Pussy Riot pink.
As I mentioned in my last post, the launch will be at The Book Lounge on Tuesday 24 March. Pre-orders open on 1 February, but I’ll send a reminder on the day and make a splash on what qualifies as ‘social’ media these days.
As usual, those who pre-order will receive the book before anyone else does along with a behind-the-scenes letter (always only to be read after the book is finished to avoid spoilers).
For those who read The Fulcrum, there are a few Easter eggs and I would LOVE to know if you find them. Well, one is less Easter egg and more origin story, and if you get it, you get it, and if you don’t that’s also okay.
In the meantime, I went to Shameez Patel Papathanasiou’s launch of Next Level Love on Tuesday. It was wonderful to see the turnout. The romance girlies (their term not mine, just in case you’re not in the circle of love and think I’m being patronising) are a force to be reckoned with. I went with a friend who has a romcom waiting to be written and her response to it was, ‘God I didn’t know they could be so demanding!’ Hahaha, you guys.
Also, I must give a huge shout out to Jen Thorpe who has been collating all the SA Substackers in her post the A Living List of South African Writers and does a sort of weekly round-up of posts, like this one. I’ve had a few new followers on my Substack from that, so that’s been cool.
Anyway.
That’s my news for now. I’m trying to be more proactive with the marketing of this book instead of doing what I usually do, which is to run onto the stage with my weird little project, wave to the audience and then run off again, so you’ll probably see a few more posts or updates about it scattered in between the normal stuff.
I see everyone’s doing a ‘what I’m reading/thinking/eating/smoking/farting’ list now. So here’s mine…
I will never get over this song. If Elspeth from The Witch of Benbar’s Cross had a signature tune it would be this. Even the lyrics make sense for her.
Tell me you’re going through the mid-life transition without telling me you’re going through the mid-life transition.
Interestingly, I did some work for an American astrologer when I was in my early 20s. She asked me my birth details and sent me Leaving My Father’s House. Pfft. What did she know.
OH! And JUMP! Starts in March. New novelists! Assemble!
Message me or leave a comment to book.
Keep peachy,
Tanya
TANYA MEESON 