#chronicles of osreth

[suis-je-bovvered]

I finally managed to draw Maia in a way I'm happy with I'm so pleased

[fallloverfic]

The Orb of Cairado by Katherine Addison, a novella in the world of The Chronicles of Osreth, released 31 January 2025!

Summary:

Set in the world of Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award nominee The Goblin Emperor, The Orb of Cairado offers an unlikely hero in historian Ulcetha Zhorvena.

Five years ago, Ulcetha was studying at the University of Cairado, working his way toward becoming a scholar first-class in the Department of History. Then a prize artifact disappeared and Ulcetha, deftly framed, was kicked out. Now he works for a crooked importer, using his knowledge of elven history to write provenances for the fake artifacts Salathgarad sells.

When the airship Wisdom of Choharo explodes, killing the emperor and three of his four sons, it takes with it Ulcetha’s best friend, Mara Lilana. But Mara leaves behind a puzzle—the one thing Ulcetha can’t resist. And the puzzle leads Ulcetha back to the Department of History…and maybe the chance to clear his name.

----

This is a standalone novella. It is available as an ebook on iOS, Kobo, Kindle, and Nook, and as a hardcover!

The conclusion of The Cemeteries of Amalo trilogy, The Tomb of Dragons, releases 11 March 2025!

[vaguelyaperson]

the goblin emperor should have the tag pwp

(politics without plot)

[eremiticjude]

Who's got two thumbs, a podcast about books, and knows where Csethiro Ceredin learned to duel? THIS GUY. Episode will be up as soon as i can bully the editor into doing it, and you TOO will know this INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT detail. Also we talk about Tomb of Dragons, the upcoming conclusion to the Cemeteries of Amalo series, her penchant for maps, and whats next for the world of Osreth.

subscribe below and we'll have it up as soon as possible i promise.

[judgeitbyitscover]

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

Cover art by Anna Balbusso and Elena Balbusso

Tor, April 2014

The youngest, half-goblin son of the Emperor has lived his entire life in exile, distant from the Imperial Court and the deadly intrigue that suffuses it. But when his father and three half brothers in line for the throne are killed in an "accident," he has no choice but to take his place as the only surviving rightful heir.

Entirely unschooled in the art of court politics, he has no friends, no advisors, and the sure knowledge that whoever assassinated his father and brothers could make an attempt on his life at any moment.

Surrounded by sycophants eager to curry favor with the naïve new emperor, and overwhelmed by the burdens of his new life, he can trust nobody. Amid the swirl of plots to depose him, offers of arranged marriages, and the specter of the unknown conspirators who lurk in the shadows, he must quickly adjust to life as the Goblin Emperor. All the while, he is alone, and trying to find even a single friend . . . and hoping for the possibility of romance, yet also vigilant against the unseen enemies that threaten him, lest he lose his throne–or his life.

[senselessconjuration]

Update now that I’ve started The Doctrine of Labyrinths

The Goblin Emperor

Witness for the Dead

[freckles-and-books]

I’m glad that I trusted I would like this book and bought the fancy editions of it and its companions, because I’m quite obsessed so far.

[palabarian]

Someone be his friend for the love of the gods

[nzbookwyrm]

11 March 2025

[with-my-murder-flute]

I'm still kind of puzzled at the people who think Thara was confused about whether Iäna was into him.

I think he knows. That the answer is yes. That's why he freaked out so hard.

And like, he's Thara, so he was definitely open to the possibility that he was wrong and Iäna didn't like him. Outing and embarrassing himself to no purpose would be bad.

But the scarier answer (and the one he wants) is yes. In which case his first reaction is: "I would be trapped into having to insist that he had made a terrible mistake and having to leave."

He's not some big dummy who doesn't know what gay sex is. He's had previous relationships. There's a reason the possibility occurred to him!

I think this is him being scarred. And scared. He absolutely knows that his society, religion, vocation, and hierarchical superiors all deplore marnae. And on top of that, he has very personal trauma that says initiating intimacy with a man is a great way to kill him.

To have a forbidden relationship, you need to give society the appearance of plausible deniability. Oh, we're not gay, haha; there's some other totally believable reason for what we're doing. Just bros! Gal pals! Hahaha.

Thara specifically says: “And was that denial the truth? Had he recognized my alarm? Or was he denying preemptively so that he didn’t have to admit the truth, either?”

The truth is that he's been gone on Iäna since their very first meeting. And he suspects that the truth is, Iäna's into him too.

It's a possibility he isn't closed off from, but rather, one he is choosing to turn around and walk backwards into. It's a practiced form of self-deception, an incremental movement towards something so frightening and painful that he instinctively flinches back from it.

What he did, by not asking, was keep the opportunity open. Because he was having fucking panic attacks over the very idea of it, and manifestly not able to seize it right there, right then. And then kept coming back to Iäna while their denials got steadily less plausible.

In other words, it's exposure therapy. He's deliberately and methodically exposing himself to the thing that scares the shit out of him. It's the same thing as choosing to make his pilgrimage to the top of the Sanctuary's roof when the stairs are scary, he doesn't like heights, he already finds its gardens restful, and he goes there all the frigging time to see Ulzhavar. It's not comfortable! It's not necessary! But he's very very good at forcing himself into situations other people would run from.

Maybe I'm just too much into queer trauma and self-deception and navel-gazing and this is basically equivalent to being a big dummy in other people's books. But what I see in his relationship with Iäna is Thara playing a chess game against himself. And Iäna is the prize.

[fallloverfic]

The Orb of Cairado by Sarah Monette/Katherine Addison is up for pre-order on iOS, Kobo US, Kindle, and Nook!

The Orb of Cairado is a standalone novella set in The Chronicles of Osreth, set to release January 31st, 2025! It's available for pre-order as an ebook on iOS, Kobo US, Kindle, and Nook. It doesn't seem to be available on other Kobo storefronts yet. It is also available as a physical book pre-order.

The conclusion of The Cemeteries of Amalo trilogy, The Tomb of Dragons, is set to release on March 11, 2025! An excerpt is available as well!

[vaguelyaperson]

tfw the book you picked up cause it had tons of court intrigue and politics now has you crying in the club cause even in a corrupt oppressive system, goodness is met with goodness

[thereadingmoon]

To the person who made that disco elysium x witness for the dead fanart, i understand your vision more now because why did celahar encounter a murderous chair

[recurring-polynya]

Sorry to spam you with my musical statistics, but I like to have a record of these year over year, sooooo:

Was honestly really surprised about Silver & Gold, because I really had no sense of listening to it all that much. It is the first song on my a little in love playlist, which goes to prove my theory that "most played song" may be more related to "most played playlist", at least in my personal Spotify usage. To be honest, all of that ::waves hands: is just a representative sample of my "ductwork pt 2" playlist.

Spotify decided I also needed to be bullied this year:

it was my what, now?

okay, that's...better?

no, that's worse. that is definitely worse.

[grassangel]

99¢ Sale, including Katherine Addison/Sarah Monette titles on Rebellion

If you want a DRM free copy (epub and mobi) of The Witness for the Dead, The Grief of Stones or A Theory of Haunting, Rebellion are having a Halloween sale on some of their spookier titles.

$0.99 USD each for the above titles, plus more of their catalog including titles by Isabel Cañas & Premee Mohamed.

ETA: sale is now over, but the link goes to their sale section, so whenever Rebellion have a sale on (which is irregularly) it should display the titles available

[wizardnaturalist]

is celehar washing his hands after dealing with corpses is he just running around with death goop all over his fingers