Category: Blog

The yellow parts will be gold foil on the special edition hardcover.
January Update
I have final cover for both digital and print, and a blurb, and an edited manuscript – now it’s time to put it all together and actually publish this!
The tentative release date is January 29 (Chinese New Year – the Year of the Snake), and I’ll let you know as soon as it’s up on a separate email, so you can pre-order if you like.
Here’s the full hardcover design, as it looks with the guides for the printer:

There are some minor typesetting errors here, but this is what the final hardcover dust jacket will look like. I love Ashton’s idea of putting the tagline: ‘So she saved the world. Now what?’ in big letters on the back. As I noted above, on the special edition hardcover, the yellow parts will be gold foiled. It will also have sprayed page edges, and again Ashton has outdone herself:

As well as a digital and paperback version, there will be two hardcover versions: I will have one without the foils and sprayed edges, published on Ingram, that will be available in all bookstores (and my online store when I add it. I’m planning to refresh my website so it has a full online store). The other hardcover will be foils and sprayed edges, and I’ll have that printed specially, and it will only be available for purchase from me at a con or from my website. It will be really expensive to print with all those additional features. Either way, it’ll be up for sale in digital and print probably at the end of the month.
I’ve created a new series for this title, it’s book one of ‘House of the North’. I’m already full of ideas to expand this storyline to include what other members of the family are up to, pulling the threads all together with the main John/Emma arc. Now that I have complete editorial control, I can do that!
Here’s the back cover blurb:
So she saved the world. Now what?
Only one warrior is capable of defeating Princess Simone in single combat: her father, the God of Martial Arts, who has been training her since she was a child.
The great war between the Heavens and Hell is over, and the Asian Celestial realm is free. Simone led the Resistance against the demons that led to their defeat, but at a great personal cost – she’s contaminated by demon essence, no longer an Immortal and exiled from the Heavenly realm. She’s revered by grateful Celestial residents, but all she wants is a normal life on the Earthly plane, where she can study to be a marine biologist, and spend time with her loving family and supportive boyfriend.
Fate has other plans for her, and she will be unwillingly drawn into a global conflict between the gods of the Asian Heavens and the demons of European Hell.
‘Serpent Princess’ is a fresh new entry point into the fan favourite ‘Dark Heavens’ universe. Join the Asian Gods of the Celestial House of the North for this lovingly crafted homage to Hong Kong’s iconic martial arts dramas, and the captivating world of Wuxia fantasy.
I am fully expecting MANY people to ask me if this is ‘standalone’. At this stage: yes it is. It will be a new ‘entry point’ to the Dark Heavens universe, kind of a (heh) ‘Dark Heavens, Next Generation’. (I nearly inserted a Picard facepalm here.)
So feel free to recommend it to your friends if they want a taster of the ‘Dark Heavens’ series: they can read it without reading any of the other books (but I don’t mind if they do, of course).
Here’s what the full paperback will look like:

Ashton’s done a fabulous job.
Anyway, keep an eye out for my social media posts with a release date if you’d like to pre-order.

I was privileged to help Isobelle Carmody to talk about her new novel, ‘Comes the Night’. She had a post-talk signing and there were some die-hard fans there!

 
December Update
Well that’s the year done – I started out with the fabulous opportunity of helping HavenXR build their ‘The Keeper’ interactive project, and now I’m helping fellow authors to see their books in print with my self-publishing service at essentialselfpub.com.au.
‘Serpent Princess’
I’m about 80% of the way through revising Katie’s edits of ‘Serpent Princess’. So far she hasn’t found any of the story hard to follow, so it does work as a new entry point (I still need to find a better way of saying that, all suggestions welcome) to the Dark Heavens universe.
Here’s some of her comments:
On Genbu being a recurring character in Final Fantasy:

The first time Simone teleports (sometimes I feel this way as well):

When Simone says ‘I don’t want you at my prospectus presentation’ and Emma says ‘sure I’ll stay away’:

(Obviously I am making the conscious choice to model supportive relationships throughout my works, and Katie’s picked up on it!)
This happens again when John tells Simone where to find the really good alcohol as she’s having an emotional time of things:

Here’s something, that nine full-length novels, three novellas, and a hybrid graphic novel later, that someone has never asked before:

An obvious reference (and an in-joke between me and Katie):

And finally, yes there is an info dump. Yes, it is the summarised content of nine books. I think it is needed. It’s still there. I hope new readers will bear with me through it. I promise that the visuals are very pretty:

Options for ‘Serpent Princess’
I’m still debating whether I should create an additional paperback of ‘Serpent Princess’ that’s a ‘director’s cut’ that has all the Emma stuff that I’ve removed – back in. I still have yet to decide. Of course, I can always include it in the new John/Emma book that I’m writing (spoiler alert: they visit Rooster Village!). I’ll decide later.
All the best for the end of the year, and I hope we all have a wonderful 2025!
 

First draft of the cover on the left, final version on the right. Click on the image to see Ashton’s Instagram reveal.
 
November Update
New cover
Ashton’s first draft of the cover is on the left, and the final version is on the right.
Click on the image to see Ashton’s lovely reveal video on Instagram. I saw her working to have her designs reach a wider audience, and asked her if she’d be interested in doing ‘Serpent Princess’ for me and she nailed it.
Things to notice – the ‘glowing orbs in the sword’ thing really didn’t work so we took them out. I asked her to make the swords more narrow and deadly-looking, and she really nailed that! She chose the fonts because the S’s look like snakes (genius). The snake has moved up in the second version so its head is clear of my name, and the background colour is lighter so that we can see the ‘coral reef’ backdrop more clearly. (There’s a marine turtle on the back cover because of course there is).
She’s done a full hardcover version with a sprayed edge design as well, and the yellow parts will be foiled in a special edition. Did I mention that I’m delighted? I’m delighted.
Editing
The novel itself is with my editor, who is providing terrific feedback – as she hasn’t read the rest of the series. So far she doesn’t appear to have any issues with following along, which is a relief.
We are running smack into some cultural issues, such as the below comment:

This is more an issue with capitalisation of his name than anything. She’s nearly done, and when she is, I can give Ashton the final page count and the blurb (I think the tagline will be ‘She saved the world. Now what?’) and I can have a good idea about a release date. I will keep you updated!

I always love seeing the Xianxia costumes, check out my Instagram for more fabulous cosplayers at Brisbane and Sydney Comic-Cons!
October Update
Thank you Brisbane and Sydney for a couple of terrific comic-Cons. I really enjoyed myself and had the opportunity to hang out with some mega-fans from my Patreon who are always delightful (special shoutout to Monique and Sonya – thank you!)
I have more photos of the cosplay on my Instagram at @kylie_chan_author so check it out.
I am confirmed for ALL comic-cons except Canberra next year, so be aware that I am locked in and it will happen. Now to get to work finishing Serpent Princess!
Website Migration
I have moved my website from its hosting in Scotland (it’s complicated, ask me about it if you meet me in person) to new hosting in the Asia region. It’s all consolidated now and much easier to administer – and the self-publishing business is on the same host as well.
The domain registration (which identified where to go when you looked it up) was registered with GoDaddy a long time ago, and I finally made the move to my new service and I no longer have anything on GoDaddy. They are the WORST.
When I logged in to get the code to change the registration, GoDaddy immediately said: ‘You don’t have your hosting with us! Let us design and build a website for you with AI! Here you go!’ And produced… this…

I immediately freaked out thinking that GoDaddy had grabbed the hosting and was going to redirect everybody who went looking for my site to a site about (of course) fashion. Fortunately I managed to salvage the situation, and the site (and email) are now consolidated onto a new, faster hosting company – without a single thing being lost. I’ve even created a duplicate of my site at kyliechan.com.au!
You probably won’t notice much of a difference, to be honest. Which is the ideal outcome.

‘Serpent Princess’ Cover
I will share roughs of the cover with my Patrons on Patreon (I already showed some general thematic ideas to Patrons who attended the cons!) but here’s an interesting detail I had to share with the cover designer:
There’s a discussion where Simone’s given her dual, dark blue blades and when it comes to naming them, she thinks of some famous heroic men. Someone (I think Leo?) pulls her up for reflex sexism, and suggests she names them after women. She says she’ll go away and think about it, and later in the storyline I do mention that the swords are named Bo and Bei.
They’re Zhu Bei Niang and Zhu Bo Niang, the two Heavenly Generals from Xuan Wu’s Thirty-Six (which I made thirty-five)! And I found some lovely stylised Chinese fonts – that are normally used for seals – to put on Simone’s blade:

‘Zhu Bo Niang Jiang Ling’ (literally Zhu Bo, Lady General) and
‘Zhu Bei Niang Jiang Ling’ (Zhu Bei, Lady General)
They will look fabulous etched into Simone’s swords.
Keep an eye on updates and when I have the final version of the cover I will definitely share it. The designer will be happy to do a design that has foils and sprayed edges for a limited edition hardcover, so I’ll finally be able to do the book right!

I’m on for both shows! Brisbane this weekend (14-15) and Sydney next weekend (21-22).
Oz Comic-Con Brisbane and Sydney
 

I’ll be at table number GA07 in Artist’s Alley for Brisbane, next to QUEENIE! You can get your copies of Small Shen signed by both of us if you like. Here’s the floorplan for Brisbane:

The show guide is at: https://ozcomiccon.com/brisbane and the show is from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm. I’ll be doing a panel on ‘Slashing Stereotypes’ on Saturday at 2.15 pm, and another panel on ‘Self-Publishing’ on Sunday at 11am, both at the Comics Lounge on the far left of the floor. Queenie will also be doing a manga drawing workshop at the same location at 2.30 on Sunday, so go along and learn to draw with her!
I don’t have the floor plan or schedule for Sydney yet, but watch my socials and I’ll post them as soon as I know.
One of my Patreon patrons will be spending the day with me on Sunday at my table, so it should be a great day.
I will have copies of everything so far, and I’ll be happy to talk to you about the new Dark Heavens novel, ‘Serpent Princess’. It’s currently being edited (by a fellow attendee at the show, she’s only read a small amount) and I have given a brief to a cover designer with high hopes that she’ll produce something wonderful for us.
I’m also in the process of consolidating my website and possibly moving it to new hosting. I’ve created a duplicate website at www.kyliechan.com.au (with an .au at the end) that should be faster for Australian readers. I will run both sites concurrently until the main site is up for renewal, and then I’ll consolidate them under kyliechan.com.
I’ll also have pocky and pretz at my table for visitors, some drop by and grab some Japanese snacks!