Now that Snarled Threads is concluded, here’s what’s next for Thalia’s Musings.
- A new look! Like the new cover art? Yes, Thalia’s Musings has a logo now. 😀 The cover for A Snag in the Tapestry will be based on the same design.
- Cover for A Snag in the Tapestry, you say? Yes! I can’t promise a release date today (watch my blog for that), but A Snag in the Tapestry will be released as an ebook on Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com during the 2012 holiday season.
- Wait, what blog? Yeah, I have a blog. I know, I’ve done absolutely nothing with it since I staked my claim on the address “AmethystMarie.com” this summer. That’s going to change now. You know how you have to click through all the “Amethyst’s Musings” posts between Volume 1, the bonus chapters, and Volume 2? Annoying, right? Well, no more. This is the last such post I will make on this website. From here out, only Thalia’s Musings story content goes here. If you want to read updates about book releases, Volume 3 progress, and any of my other projects, please subscribe to my blog. And, of course, there’s Facebook and Twitter.
- Volume 3??? There will most definitely be a Volume 3, and a Volume 4. I have the rest of the series roughly outlined, and it looks like it’ll take two more novels to finish it. Possibly more; certainly not less. Volume 3 will likely be released fall 2013. There may or may not be more stand-alone bonus chapters between volumes.
I couldn’t be more thrilled with the response to this volume. I love the thoughtful, engaging, and enthusiastic feedback I’ve been getting from you guys. And since this volume got into some sensitive subject matter, I really appreciate the fact that the comments have remained sensitive and respectful. I’m sure you’ve all noticed that the first time you post a comment, it’s submitted for moderation. So far I haven’t had to edit or delete a single word. My readers are awesome!
Until Volume 3,
Amethyst
Thalia's Musings 
P.S. Since many of the characters have been through a lot changes over the course of this volume, I’ve updated the Characters page accordingly.
Oh gosh! I’m really excited for Volume 3! I just wanted to come out of the woodwork to say that |D I’ve been following it since about the end of A Snag In The Tapestry and it’s getting surprisingly a heavier than I anticipated. You’ve handled all the sensitive subject matter in a really good and realistic manner!
Thanks! Glad to hear from you 🙂
Can’t wait! I’m so glad they’ll be so many more volumes. I was surprised that there was going to be a Volume 3 to be honest, but Volume 4? Fantastic!
Now that Volume 2 is over, I’ll take this chance to mention how awesome it was, how much I anticipated the new chapters every Monday and how thrilling every turn of event was. You did an amazing job and thank you for it.
But I’ve just got to ask, what sensitive subjects do you mean? Gore and death (which weren’t really that much anyway) are pretty much mainstream, so no need to worry.
[This comment is full of Volume 2 SPOILERS. I’m assuming no one would be reading this post if they haven’t finished Volume 2, but you never know.]
For one thing, this volume very prominently featured two same-sex pairings. Unfortunately, that in itself can be considered controversial, at least in the US. (A tv show about a gay couple having a baby with a surrogate was nearly banned in Salt Lake City, the capital of conservative Utah.) Plus, one of my same-sex pairings ended with Happily Ever After, and the other ended with one party getting killed. Neither story line was intended as a political statement, but there are plenty of people on the internet who would take it that way and wouldn’t be happy about it either way.
And then there’s the domestic abuse and the discussion of sexual assault and what constitutes consent. Some people would argue that what Zeus did to Artemis didn’t count as assault since he never actually touched her, and that most of his shapeshifting escapades didn’t count as rape since they weren’t forcible rape. Thankfully, either I don’t have any readers who think that way, or at least any of them who do didn’t feel the need to say so in the comments.
For the record, I would never delete a comment for speaking critically of my skill as a writer. My writing certainly isn’t above criticism, and no one’s writing is going to appeal to everyone who reads it. But if I had gotten any comments that spoke disparagingly of LGBTQ people or abuse victims in principle, or that got into the kind of “Why don’t you write about perfect people in a perfect society to whom nothing inappropriate ever happens?” comments like the stuff described here, I would’ve deleted them. Specifically, I so would’ve deleted any comments suggesting that Hera deserved what she got in the epilogue. People can feel however they want about a fictional character, but I’d be concerned about real-life abuse victims reading such a comment and applying it to themselves.
Fortunately, it appears I have really cool readers. I’m not naive enough to think that everyone who’s read this series is 100% okay with everything in it (has anyone ever felt that way about any book?), but you’re all cool enough not to voice every little disagreement and turn my website into the YouTube comment section. And I’m especially impressed with the way my readers were able to appreciate my story as a story and save discussions of real-world sociopolitical issues for more appropriate venues.
Actually, I think you gave such a nuanced portrayal of most socially sensitive subjects contained in your books that no one can be offended by it (although some might disagree with your opinions). At first, I thought you were going to slut-shame Aphrodite, but you handled even that part very well, by showing her side of things while remaining sympathetic to everyone else. I love how efficently protective Thalia is of Apollo and her almost begrudging comment about how, yes, one of his lovers (who just happens to be male) almost got to deserve his devotion. Athéna and Artémis make a wonderful couple, not because they are lesbian, but because they are awesome, and I think the storyline about the latter’s recovery makes it clear that this isn’t just about a gay couple. This is about two fleshed-out characters who happen to be together.
On the other side of things, I don’t think anyone might take offense in Adonis’s fate. It was so justified on a storytelling point-of-view, given how he had behaved. I mean that it was not portrayed as a punishment ( I guess ), but as the only logical consequence. It just came naturally out of everything that had happened earlier. From the instant he came in, I couldn’t picture him leaving the story alive any more than the nymph who insulted Artémis in the bonus chapter. I could even muster a little bit of sympathy for him from his (nonetheless very wrong and oh my god poor Apollo how could he) night scene with Aphrodite onwards.
Sympathy for everyone is really one of the best things about this book. I think you really captured the emotional and aerian feeling that these legends have about them because you dared to touch upon those subjects and you seem to accept for your characters how everything, good and bad, seems not only possible before it happens but important afterwards, but whatever happens to them, life goes on anyway.
PLP, I really appreciate your review. That’s exactly what I was going for. 8)
Yay, more volumes to come!
Do you think you’ll eventually move all your books over to your blog, too?
And once you get the two volumes out as e-books, are you going to take them down here or leave them up?
And Seirena, in addition to the gore and death there was rape, abuse, abuse of power, and LGBT themes (the latter considered “heavy” depending on the reader).
Everything that’s here will stay here forever. Volumes 1 and 2 in their complete form, Volumes 3 and 4 when I actually write them, and any bonus chapters. Thalia’s Musings is first and foremost a webseries.
My vision for my own blog is something along the lines of John Scalzi’s Whatever. He promotes his writings and his work with various industry associations, plus pretty much posts about whatever the heck he feels like, including taping bacon to his cat.
Obviously your story attracts classy people!
asdfjkl. I can’t believe this is the end of Volume 2. And I re-read the whole series for like, 10 times. I can’t get enoooooooooughhhhhh. Volume 3 is gonna worth the wait, that I sure. :3
I so totally hate/love you for the goddamn UST between Apollo and Thalia. XD I was wondering whether all of the Muses inspired you to write this awesome web-novel (i.e Thalia for the comedy parts, Erato for the romance, Clio for the awesome accuracy of the pantheon past happenings yadda yadda.)~ :3
And I hate it that I was so engrossed with this story that I drew a fanart! (Didn’t have Da Vinci nor MichaelAngelo’s hands so they ended up anime-style anyway. DX)
Is there a link to this fanart?
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