Announcing: Wearing The Lion

Today I have the great pleasure of revealing my second novel to you all. Please give a warm welcome to WEARING THE LION.

WEARING THE LION is a remix of the myths of Hera and Heracles. My Heracles has been raised since he was a baby to revere his Auntie Hera, Goddess of Family. As he grows up into the strongest man in the world, he spreads the word of her glory and raise a family of his own. But an Olympian God strikes, driving him mad and destroying his family. Shattered, Heracles embarks on a series of labors, confronting the greatest minds and monsters in the world, to find which Olympian is responsible. The only god he still trusts is Auntie Hera.

There’s one problem: Hera is the one responsible, and she’ll do anything to hide the truth. She’s always detested Heracles, the illegitimate child of her husband Zeus. As Goddess of Family, Heracles is a living insult to her entire being. She only realized what she’s set in motion once it was too late, now Heracles discovering the truth would destroy them both. She must keep him from solving the mystery. Desperate, she stalls sending him off to face impossible monsters, but each time he winds up adding another creature to a new found family. A family that could wage war against the entire heavens.

Yes, this is a story where Heracles tries to befriend every bloodthirsty monster in the world. You never know how much a hydra has to share until you chat. The harder his life has become, the more Heracles feels like a monster himself. When no one else does, these creatures understand him.

WEARING THE LION will be available in the United States from DAW Books and in the U.K. from Arcadia Books. It drops in June 17, 2025. Not long to wait!

Pre-orders are already live across the internet. And if you'd like a signed copy shipped right to you, I've partnered with the great independent store Oblong Books. They'll it straight to you.

Interviewed at Polygon!

2025 isn’t sure what to do with itself. Here it’s been unseasonably warm, followed by historically cold, followed by dangerous winds, followed by a thunderstorm, followed by snow flurries last night. We’ll get deserts and glaciers running through here soon enough.

In the meantime, my first interview of the year dropped. Tasha Robinson of Polygon invited me over to chat about how I deal with New Years Resolutions, juggling so many projects at once, and the dreaded monster Writer’s Block. Tetris came up more than anyone involved expected.

You can read the entire interview for free right here.

As I write this, I’m also mulling the final revisions on WEARING THE LION. I’ll probably turn them into my publisher this week. That will bring us one step closer to the full release this June.

Then there’s the matter of the third novel I’ll be writing. But that’s a story for another time! For now, I hope you are all having a warm and safe January.