News from Squire's Isle

Earlier today, some author went on a rampage because apparently people were asking when her books were available in a certain country, what order they should be read in, etc. Now I can understand being a little irritated with a barrage of questions that should be answered by a website. But just direct them to your website and move on. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you by raging at them on your Facebook. With Twitter, Facebook, etc, authors are more accessible than ever. That can be a double-edged sword, but it’s also a way to interact with your fans while possibly gaining new ones. I just don’t understand the vitriol directed at people who are just trying to pay you money and enjoy your work in the order it was intended to be read.

So in that vein, I will go ahead and leave this here. If anyone has further questions, ask me. It should be covered by my website or the Supposed Crimes site, but if it isn’t, I won’t grumble and grouse about someone seeking information on how to support my career.

First and foremost, you should check out

Squire’s Isle Guidepost

This covers every Squire’s Isle story I have ever written. 90% of these stories are completely free, and this page lists them in chronological order. If you read enough to have a favorite character, then you can follow that person’s story by reading the list under their name. A few of the links go to my store, and a few of the stories spoil events that happen in the novels, but for the most part it’s just a series of short stories set in a small town with a suspiciously high ratio of lesbian residents. 😉

Secondly, there’s the Underdogs series. This one can get a little complicated, so I understand having a bit of confusion of where the starting point is. I had someone ask me about the reading order just last night, in fact, unrelated to the whole author rant. So, in order:

* Underdogs Volume 1, starting with “Strays”, is where you go first. These stories are free, they all take place before the first novel, and they won’t spoil anything for you.

* Underdogs, the novel. This can be your starting point if you don’t want to start with the shorts. It’s sort of like seeing a movie based on a television show without seeing any episodes beforehand. It’s a standalone story, but if you read the short stories you get a broader idea of who Ari and Dale are before their Big Adventure starts.

* Underdogs Volume 2 picks up where the novel left off and continues the story of Ari and Dale in the months between the first and second novels. Spoils the first novel, obviously, with hints and foreshadowing about things coming up in the second installment.

* Beware of Wolf, the second novel in the series

* Dogs of War, the third novel.

This can be shuffled around, of course. If you want to read all the novels and then go back to read the short stories as flashbacks, that’s fine. If you want to read all the short stories before shelling out for the novels, I understand! That’s what they’re there for! There’s a post-Dogs of War story coming out in a short story anthology later this month, and I’ll be linking to that all over the place.

As for my other novels, they’re almost all standalone unless they take place in a specific series. If you read them chronologically you might spot a few Easter Eggs here and there in terms of character cameos, but reading the “wrong” one first shouldn’t affect your enjoyment of any particular book (I will say “The Following Sea” might be good to read before “Chasing Dragons,” even though it’s not part of the Claire Lance series).

Will reading in order increase your enjoyment of a story? Sometimes yes, sometimes no, sometimes it all depends on the reader. But if you think it will be a better experience, I’ll do my best to help you get everything lined up.