The Morning Realms Dispatch No. 1
Surprise! Guardians of Dawn: ZHARA is here (ish)!
Magic flickers. Love flames. Chaos reigns.
Sailor Moon meets Cinder in this new, richly imagined fantasy series by S. Jae-Jones, the New York Times bestselling author of Wintersong.
In a bright, vibrant world filled with demons and monsters, princes and princesses, sixteen year-old Jin Zhara believes she is the last magician in Zanhei...until she discovers the Guardians of Dawn, a secret society dedicated to liberating magicians from the Warlord's oppressive rule.
🚨 THIS IS NOT A DRILL, I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL 🚨
THERE ARE 100 COPIES OF THE UNCORRECTED BOUND MANUSCRIPT OF GUARDIANS OF DAWN: ZHARA UP FOR GRABS. ENTER HERE FOR A CHANCE TO READ AN EARLY MANUSCRIPT.
🚨 THIS IS NOT A DRILL, I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL 🚨
My publisher is making 100 copies available through Goodreads, but has also given me a handful of copies to give away to my followers on Instagram and to readers of this newsletter. If you follow me there, or are subscribed here, you are automatically eligible to win, no extra effort needed on your part. If you follow me in both places, then you’re doubly entered, and if you’ve been paying attention on Instagram, I’ve been offering clues and hints there as to the content of the book, as well as another opportunity to boost your chances of winning.
But first…
some gratitude 🙇🏻♀️
Some of y’all have been reading this newsletter for a long, long time. I sent the first issue of Lexical Gap out to people in 2016, long before Wintersong was even published, and to be honest, I can’t believe y’all have stuck it out with me this long. (Unless my emails are ending up in your spam inboxes. In which case, that’s okay, my entire brain is spam, so my words fit right in.) I would make light of it, make self-deprecating jokes, or else somehow run away from my discomfort with earnest and sincere emotion, but truly—thank you.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you, thank you. 감사합니다. 너무너무 감사합니다. 🫰🏻
I’ve been thinking long and hard about why I publish. It’s the unspoken and unanswered question around which so many of my essays have been circling and I finally think I’ve answered that question.
I write to share my joy.
To quote myself like the narcissist I am:
For all that I am bad with earnest emotion, the only thing I can earnestly express is joy.
And it’s hard to find joy these days. Oh god is it hard to find joy. Just poke your head into Twitter, read the news, or even check the weather these days, and it’s difficult not to be overcome with despair. We are living in the decline of an empire, like Rome falling to the Goths, only we are being devoured from within instead of without. The barbarians are homegrown.
Yet despite all this, I persist in trying to find joy.
And I want to share it with you.
I’m not trying to cheer you up, or comfort you, or create an escape with my words. I am bad at all those things, and honestly, I’m not interested in that.
I want to play.
And I hope you’ll join me.
사랑해,
JJ
The giveaway will run through MONDAY, JULY 4, after which ten (10) winners will be contacted by me so I can forward your mailing addresses to my publisher. Good luck!
I'm already excited for this new book - but every time I read the comps my brain floods with serotonin. I cannot wait.
So so excited for this!!! And for you!!! I’ve been looking forward to another book from you since I first picked up Wintersong! Yay!!! 💖💖💖 Congrats on getting to the goal line!