Books – Page 3 – Jessie Mihalik

Capture the Sun Event Poll & Snippet

May 2, 2023 / Capture the Sun, Snippet, Writing

Hey all, happy May! We’re just a month and a half away from the release of Capture the Sun, which is exciting and terrifying. My publisher is talking to BookPeople about possibly doing an in-person signing and Q&A in Austin the weekend after the release (June 25), and I need to know how many people might come.

My initial guess of one person is probably low, but I really have no idea, so I’m running a short poll. You’ll notice this poll doesn’t have a “no” option—that’s on purpose. I know most of you won’t be able to make it, so please only answer if you really think you might be able to come.

And for those of you who are just curious, you should be able to see the results without voting. :)

Edit: Poll closed, thank you!

I have no idea if this poll will work in the email that goes out with blog posts, so you’ll probably need to visit the site directly in order to vote. If, for whatever reason, it still doesn’t work, you can drop me a comment!

And, as payment, here’s a tiny snippet. Seven weeks to go!! 🎉

Nilo fixed us a quick breakfast, which we both ate without comment, then we worked in comfortable silence for a couple of hours until the sun sank behind the trees. I stood and stretched with a groan. Digital research was a necessary evil, but I’d much rather scout targets in person. If Kee were here, I’d happily hand off the digital work to her while I went and poked my nose exactly where the empress didn’t want it.

Homesickness tugged on my heart. It wasn’t a feeling I got often, but when I did, it was always for my time on Starlight’s Shadow. Tavi, Kee, and Eli were family, and while I was usually happy just knowing that they were somewhere out there, doing well, occasionally I missed them with a fierceness that stole my breath.

“If I go outside, am I going to get eaten by a demon?” I asked.

“No, but take your comm. It’s easy to get turned around in the woods.”

I laughed. “Oh, I’m not going into the trees, thank you very much. I can get plenty of fresh air on the porch.”

“The forest is magical at night.”

I shook my head. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“Give me a few minutes, and I’ll go with you.”

“No, that’s okay,” I said a little too quickly. The last thing I needed was to spend time in the dark in a magical forest with Nilo Shoren. All of my good intentions to avoid temptation would disappear faster than our clothes.

Capture the Sun Cover, featuring a man and woman in silhouette against a fiery orange sun with a futuristic city in the background.

Eclipse the Moon is On Sale!

March 28, 2023 / Eclipse the Moon

ECLIPSE THE MOON $1.99 eBook sale. "Mihalik again does a fantastic job balancing space opera action and slow-burning romance." -Publishers Weekly

This week only, the Eclipse the Moon ebook is on sale for $1.99 in the US and Canada (other international prices may vary). The sale ends April 2, so grab it while it’s a bargain!

Get your copy!
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books | Google Play | Kobo

Kee is my favorite chaotic rainbow hacker, and Varro is her perfect foil. 💕 Plus, now is an excellent time to catch up with the story, since the third book, Capture the Sun, comes out in June!

Now I’m off to pronounce all of the made-up words I used in Capture the Sun for the audiobook narrator. Eeeee!

Capture the Sun Chapter Two!

March 21, 2023 / Capture the Sun, Writing

Nilo groaned and heaved himself onto his elbow so he could peer down at me.
"You're dangerous."

"I warned you," I said with a laugh. "It's not my fault that you didn't listen."

Preorder Now!
Out June 20, 2023

www.jessiemihalik.com

We’re less than three months away from the release of Capture the Sun, which means it’s time to celebrate! If you head over to the book page, you’ll find a shiny new chapter waiting for you!

Every time I revisit parts of the book, I’m reminded of just how much I love Lexi and Nilo together. She’s prickly, he’s charming, and I adore them both as they stab their way to happiness. This book also wraps up the trilogy arc, so if you’ve been patiently waiting for some much deserved comeuppance for certain characters, your time is nigh (no spoilers!). :)

If you haven’t preordered yet, now is a great time. It’s like a gift to future you! And if you order from BookPeople, you’ll get a signed/personalized book, plus a bookmark and stickers, while supplies last!

If preorders aren’t your jam, please consider requesting it from your local library. Many libraries allow patrons to make purchase requests, and often they’ll put you first in line for if/when they buy the book, so wins all around! Plus using your local library shows there is demand, which can help them keep funding, and we certainly need all the libraries we can get right now.

Libraries are the best! I’m reading Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai from my local library right now, and it’s absolutely lovely. I stayed up reading way, way too late last night, and I left the characters in a precarious situation, so I’m desperate to get back to it tonight.

On that note, I’m off to make some words, since despite my best efforts, this book refuses to write itself. It would be so much easier if it would just jump from my brain, fully formed, like a literary Athena. Wouldn’t that be great? Ooh, maybe I could write that story.

Authorial truth: Nothing ever looks shinier than a new project while deep in the middle of a current project. :)

Signed Preorders for Capture the Sun!

March 10, 2023 / Capture the Sun, Writing

If you’ve been waiting to order Capture the Sun until the signed preorder campaign went up, then I have good news! Today, BookPeople added the signed preorder page to their site! Not only can you order a signed and personalized copy of Capture the Sun, but you can also add any of my backlist books (in the same order), and I’ll sign/personalize them all!

Plus, the first fifty-ish orders of CTS will come with a bookmark and stickers!

When you’re ordering, be sure to put your personalization request in the comments of the order (during checkout). And to make things easy, here are direct links to my backlist books, so you can add them to your cart:

Happy Friday, y’all! 💕

Capture the Sun Page Proofs

January 11, 2023 / Capture the Sun, Writing

My inbox held a fun little surprise this morning: the first pass pages for Capture the Sun! This is when my little story starts to really look like a book, because it’s the formatted version that will go to print. For example, here is the title page:

Capture the Sun's title page, with the title text in an outline of a burning sun. — Click to embiggen

Isn’t it pretty?? 😍 It isn’t final final, so it could still change, etc, etc, but it usually doesn’t.

The text also is pretty much done at this point, and I’m limited in the number of changes I can make. But this is my last chance to catch any remaining typos or errors, so I’ll be reading the book straight through one more time. Good thing I adore Lexi and Nilo. :)

It’s funny how brains work (or my brain, at least). Because I read every book I write as a book about four times—before sending in the rough draft, after edits, after copyedits, and during page proofs—and that doesn’t even count all the time I spend writing and editing, and I still forget characters and plot. If I went back and read Polaris right now, it would probably be like reading a whole new book.

It’s the same with books other people have written. I’ve literally read the same book twice (not on purpose!) and only had the occasional thought of, huh, this seems kind of familiar, I wonder what other book I’ve read like this? I look in Goodreads, and lo and behold, it was this exact book.

But I guess it means everything is always shiny and new, so it’s not all downsides. 😂

If you want to hear me talk more about writing and my process, I did an interview with Cosmic Circus and they put it up as a podcast, but you can also just listen in the browser. I did this interview back in October, I think, and I’m pretty sure I was in editing hell, so fair warning: I ramble. But hopefully it’s an enjoyable ramble. :)