#lr lam

Hello, I come bearing the new covers of Micah Grey! Art by Vera Dramovski, who did the US covers for Emily Wilde.

Pantomime & Shadowplay were first released in 2013 and 2014. After the first publisher imprint closed, I managed to re-sell the first two and complete the trilogy in 2017.

Last year, thanks to the commercial success of Dragonfall, I was able to get the rights back and re-sell to my current US and UK publisher. This time, I decided to edit the books for content and to bring them up in line to my current writing style. I initially thought they would be minor edits. They...were not. Same spirit and overall journey, but polished to hopefully shine as bright as Penglass. When it was first released, it was the first YA book with an intersex protagonist in any genre. It's now been aged up to new adult (Micah is 18 instead of 16, but I haven't made it significantly spicier or anything). I'm excited to re-release it and be able to openly talk about its themes. My first publisher considered it a twist and I was asked not to mention he was intersex the first time around. But Dragonfall, which is in a queernorm world and has a nonbinary protagonist, has had some transphobic nonsense, and I'm pretty anxious about re-releasing it in a time where things are in many ways more polarized than when I first released it 12 years ago.

Anyway, book 1 is out in September and if you would like to read it (or preorder!), I hope you enjoy reading about a queer magic circus. At least this time you won't have to wait 3 years after the cliff-hanger at the end of book 2--you'll only have a 2 month gap.

“Set in a vividly imagined world…Pantomime is a fable-like story as beautifully unique as its main character.” —Malinda Lo, New York Times-bestselling author of Last Night at the Telegraph Club

In a land of lost wonders, the past is stirring once more . . .

Micah runs away from a debutante’s life at home and joins the circus, harboring two secrets—one: he was born between male and female, and two: he may have powers last seen in mysterious beings from an almost-forgotten age. Micah discovers the joy of flight as an aerialist, courting his trapeze partner, Aenea, and confiding in the mysterious white clown, Drystan. He finally feels free. But the circus has a dark side, and Micah’s past isn’t done with him.

Meanwhile, the strange 'ghost' of a woman with damselfly wings whispers to Micah that only he can help magic return to the realm, and he fears she may be right . . .

Micah has much to learn, and he must do it quickly—before his past and future collide, with catastrophic consequences.

✨ BOOK REVIEW ✨

Masquerade by LR Lam

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

QOTD: Have you read any good books with circus or theatre settings?

[instagram]

Review below

from lr_lam's instagram

Character, book, and author names under the cut

I think flashbacks feel a little more front-loaded to the start of the book that prior editions, so you get more of a complete since of Micah’s backstory earlier on?

In the earlier versions of the story, Micah is groped by a childhood friend while still presenting as female and that friend’s horrified reaction at discovering Micah is intersex is one of the catalysts for Micah to run away from home; in this version Micah is more aware of the possibility of that happening but it doesn’t actually.

Micah is 17/18 in the first book instead of 16, which I think makes sense given the romance that will developed with Drystan (who is a few years older), though I’d say the book is still fit for a YA audience even with the protagonist having been aged up a bit.

Micah seems a little more able to articulate his gender identity (masculine but not a man) than I remember from his understanding of self in the earlier version of Pantomime

In the first version of Pantomime, Bil killed Frit and blackmailed Drystan into keeping this quiet at first, for the second version this was changed so Drystan helps her run away and this change is kept for the new edition. I think that’s a good edit because it’s a rather unsympathetic thing for a character who goes on to be a serious love interest to do.

Aenea doesn’t die?! OMG, this is such an interesting change with so many implications?!?! It seems like the terms of her magical healing mean her character still won’t feature in the future installments but it’s emotionally a large change (Micah won’t be carrying around grief for her in the same way in the sequels) and also in terms of magic/world-building (Micah’s exploration of powerful magic coming earlier in the series)

I also noticed mentions of the anti-monarchy group the Foresters that I think were added in as foreshadowing—curious to see how that group develops in the sequel because I remember their anti-aristocracy beliefs seeming fair enough in a world with sharp class divides but they were also anti-chimera if I recall correctly?

Intrigued to see how the sequels will play out and what changes I might notice!

Some light spoilers

I used to read so much as a kid, but with the business of adulthood, and the brain-numbing scroll of the algorithm in my pocket, I've found it difficult to pick up and stick with a book.

The world has become a terrifying place. We live in a world that is post-truth and incredibly cruel. And into this world I will birth a baby.

Despite the fear and fascism around us I'm the happiest I've ever been (privilege? Most definitely). The pregnancy hormones have banished all my usual chronic anxieties, and the tiny kicks in my belly fill my heart with the most intense feeling of unrequited love, I could (and phyically am) bursting.

I don't want to be scrolling that hellscape in the palm of my hand when baby arrives. I envision breastfeeding this bub while calm, and ideally reading a book to pass the time. Something to escape into and to fill my soul with awe as only a book can.

Tonight I finished the Dragonscales Duology, and boy did I love it. I haven't been obsessed with a book for a long time, and that light yet painfully heavy feeling when you finish a good book...

My heart aches!

I've always been a dragon-girl so I did judge this book (Emberclaw was the book I first grabbed at my local) by its cover. The writing style so easy and engaging. I refuse to buy another book to gather dust on my bookshelf, so downloaded a sample on my kindle. And was hooked.

l am so in love with Arcady, the genderfluid main character. The book is written from different narrative perspectives that tangle so expertly and build such layered characters. There's a chapter in book 2 that is from Arcady's POV, but the whole time I was imagining what the scene would look like from Everen's perspective. Arcady is so cool, and broken but strong, and somehow so awkward (picking locks? Hiding behind a pillar? at such a time?? Cmon now!). I woke in the night musing over how Lam had so expertly built up to such a simple scene, and how I was falling so obsessed with the characters and this world. Tied to the characters in my dreams, as life imitated art.

Sex vs gender have been on my mind a lot with baby coming, and my husband and I have rubbed up against all the unnecessary and troubling gendered stuff that comes with being pregnant. (Yes, we do know the sex of the baby, no, we will not be having a 'gender' reveal. That 'reveal' can solely be done by my child if & when they are ready.)

I didn't realise this book was a queer romance when I first picked it up, and perhaps if I had known I might've felt like it wasn't for me - a mainly-straight, cis, pregnant 35 yo mum-to-be.

It has been an empowering journey and exactly what I needed.

I'm so thankful to have found these books, and to have my love of reading rekindled. As the twelfth archivist of Vere Celene said, these two volumes need to live side-by-side on my bookshelf - pride of place. And when I'm hopefully feeding my babe in the near future, that beautiful golden thread of mother-infant bond pulsing between us, I'll reach for these books again and reread of the entwined fate of Arcady Dalca and Everen Emberclaw.