Here's the publication order of the
six books of the Spymaster Fictive Universe. It's a
perfectly fine order to read them in, IMO.
I mean, that's the order in
which I learned about the characters.
So. Publication order is:
The chronological order of events is:
Forbidden Rose (1794)
Spymaster’s Lady (1802)
Rogue Spy (1802)
My Lord and Spymaster (1811)
Black Hawk (It covers several time periods between 1794 and 1818)
Beauty Like the Night (1819)
And that's also a good order to read them in. So you win either way.
And there are some minor works in the Spymaster's Fictive Universe:
Gideon and the Den of Thieves (novella) (1793)
Not currently available.
Intrigue and Mistletoe in the anthology Mischief and Mistletoe (1815 and a bit)
My True Love Hath My Heart in the anthology The Last Chance Christmas Christmas Ball.
Her Ladyship's Companion (30-year-old Regency) (1818)
Just a question: I recently discovered your books and I am reading my way through them. Contrary to your above listed order, Amazon lists Forbidden Rose as Book 2 and My Lord and Spymaster as Book 3 of the series. I thought that was the publication (and recommended reading) order. As I now have finished both of them, it doesn't change anything for me, I'm just curious. Actually, this reading order seemed logical to me, because I learned about a street urchin belonging to Lazarus first through Adrian's reflections in Forbidden Rose, and so Jess's memories fitted right in with what I already knew of him.
ReplyDeleteI'm an advocate of either order of reading.
DeleteIn theory, each book stands on its own, (though Black Hawk should probably proceed Rogue Spy.) But I've never really had a clear consensus on which folks preferred.
Since there are cross references (at least in the 3 books I have already finished), I guess each order will give the reader revelations and new insights as they proceed to learn background info for previously read books in the new ones. Besides, some references may slip the reader if they don't know the significance (I discovered on rereading a part of Spymaster's Lady the meaning of what the Service was up to with Lazarus while Annique was held at Meeks Street).
DeleteYes. And TSL was written before MLAS so it's an Easter egg to a book that comes later. I had so much fun doing there.
DeleteAnother question. Is the novella Gideon and the Den of Thieves available anywhere? I could find the two other additional stories but not this one. And since I'm already bothering you with another comment, I'd like to also ask if there is any hope that you (or your publisher) will consider adding The Spymaster's Lady audiobook to the Audible Romance Package program. For some weird reason, I can only access those books that are in the program (Audible doesn't sell them to my region).
ReplyDeleteI asked Audible why it wasn't listed and they said titles get added when titles get added yada yada yada which is not very helpful, is it.
DeleteThey said one can write
content-requests@audible.com
and ask for The Spymaster's Lady (or any other title) to be put in the program ...
Sorry not to be of more help. My audio rights to TSL belong to Berkley who sold them to Tantor who (I think) now belongs to Audible which belongs to Amazon. You can see I don't have much input into this system.
Thanks, I'll do that (content request). In any case, it's a relief that it isn't an unsolvable copyright issue. Audible /Amazon is weird in some ways about regional availability. And the audiobooks are delightful - Kirsten Potter does such an amazing job of narrating your books. Also, it should be useful to have the first book of the series available for a wider audience through the Romance package program.
DeleteAt this time Gideon and the Den of Thieves isn't available. But I do have it and I will put it up.
ReplyDeleteI just haven't quite got my act together. Sometimes my act takes a while to get itself together, but I will eventually get there.
I'll let everybody on my Notify list know when Gideon goes live again.
Spymasters serie is finish ??? Beauty like night release today in France.
ReplyDeleteI don't plan to much else with the Spymaster's series.
ReplyDeleteI'm taking a novella I wrote for the series -- Gideon and the Den of Thieves -- and expanding it to novel length.
It's been a while getting this done because of some health problems, but I am slowly getting it one.
I am so glad Beauty Like the Night has come out in France. this makes me so happy. I'll go try to find the cover.
https://www.jailupourelle.com/belle-comme-la-nuit.html
ReplyDeletehttps://www.jailupourelle.com/auteur/bourne-joanna.html
Okay, this series was a real favorite, sincerely, I was impatient at the exit of each book. I hope your other books will be released in France.
Oooh, I need to go back and read all your books in chronological order!
ReplyDeleteI wish I felt strongly about reading order.
DeleteBut even now, years later, I see arguments for Chronological Order and Publishing Order.