The book has been out more than a month, the blog and book tours at an end. It’s probably past time for me to deal with a question that keeps resurfacing–and understandably so!

It’s confusing for people when I say I’m working on a sequel to Last Song Before Night. It’s a standalone novel, and from the beginning was intended as such. It’s for this reason that the ending was so difficult to write; I needed to wrap up every detail, every character’s fate. As far as I knew at the time, I would never be revisiting this world or these characters again.

I started looking for a literary agent when I finished the book in 2011, a process that would end up taking years. Meanwhile I wanted to get on with my next book. A trip to southern Spain, specifically to Seville and Cordoba, fired my imagination, and ideas began to flow. It was around this time, as I scribbled the plot elements of what would be the second book, that I realized I could bring these ideas to the world and (surviving) characters of Last Song Before Night. A chance to further explore the art and magic in Eivar and beyond, and to deepen the characters, offered tremendous story possibilities. Much has surprised me along the way so far, and I look forward to sharing it with readers.

So yes, there is to be a sequel. Last Song Before Night is a standalone novel. Both these things are true.