The matching set for Catalina’s books has been announced!

The new Arcane Society Special Edition Box will contain SAPPHIRE FLAMES, EMERALD BLAZE and RUBY FEVER.

The art for the reverse dust jacket and endpapers, which has not yet been revealed, is created by Helena Elias, familiar to the Horde because she illustrated the character vellums for This Kingdom and the cover for Beast Business.

Incidentally, I have already seen Helena’s designs (Moderator privilege!) and they are so perfectly Catalina and Alessandro that restraining the squeees is basically heroic.

Fantastical Ink, who also created the artwork for the Nevada trilogy set, returns with the dust jackets, illustrated hardcover cases and sprayed edges.

How can we get it?

Arcane Society will send early-access passcodes to active subscribers on October 2 at 4:00 pm Eastern Time. Subscriber early access will begin later that day at 6:00 pm Eastern Time.

If copies remain after the early access window, the box will go on public sale at 7:00 pm Eastern Time. All three books in this set will be unsigned.

Cost and shipping?

The three-book box will cost $120 USD, plus shipping and applicable taxes.

Copies are currently expected to ship in April 2027. As always with special editions produced this far in advance, details of the art shown in the announcement and the estimated shipping date are subject to change.

A reminder that Arcane Society are an independent company, who make their own business decisions. For all questions regarding this edition, including content, subscriptions, early access, ordering, payment, shipping, taxes or delivery, please contact their customer service team directly at help@arcanesociety.com.

PS from Ilona: The Hidden Legacy Arcane editions are licensed by our publisher, specifically by Avon imprint of Harper Collins. We do not have any say in availability, pricing, etc. We only comment on art, and both Arcane and Avon have been very gracious in allowing us to work directly with Helena on some of the art.

The post Hidden Legacy Special Editions: Catalina’s Trilogy first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

Me: Hey, sorry to bother you.

Grace Draven: No problem. What’s up?

Me: Do you know what chevon is?

Grace: … No. Never heard that before. It sounds French. What is it?

Me: Goat meat.

Grace: Huh.

Me: Apparently, it’s chevon, except if you are in India or Pakistan where it is called mutton for cultural reasons. You are the foodiest person I know, so I figured if you didn’t know it, nobody else would.

Grace: It says here “Chevon is a coined culinary word created in 1922 by a trade association as a blend of the French word chèvre (goat) and the ending of mutton.”

Me: Yep.

Grace: How are you?

Me: grunt.

Grace: You can do it. It will be okay.

I am not quite sure I can do it, actually. We are crash editing Maggie 2 to get it under the deadline, so it doesn’t have to be bumped back. It’s been 12 hour days back to back for a month now. It’s a very long book. I broke out the Fortnum & Mason Christmas tea that Mod R sends me for Christmas. And I put honey in it, which I cannot do because prediabetes.

Parallel to that, we are finishing up the vellum orders. As of right now, we have 267 orders to go. The end is in sight. We had numerous printer-related delays, which will not happen again, because 3,000 orders is too many. From now on, we will do small merch drops of 1,000 sets at a time. When they sell out, they sell out.

Behind on everything otherwise. Hoping to get to some kind of place once the edit is done. Also I almost got the flu. It’s going around and I had a couple of miserable days with some fever, but I think I might have fought it off. Knock on wood, cannot get sick right now.

Thank you for your patience with us.

PS. The plural of beef is beeves.

PPS. ::Channeling Maggie from Maggie 2:: And one more thing: Guys, if your vellum arrived damaged, let us know. We will replace. Please email to the store address: store@ilona-andrews.com. Mod R cannot help you.

PPPS: Experts found, thank you!

The post The Plural Of Beef first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

I read an article at the weekend about how many international readers interpreted everyday British things featured in the Harry Potter universe as part of the wizardly worldbuilding.

Train trolleys, schools houses and prefects, treacle tarts, Christmas crackers – all things that even Muggles get to experience over here in the UK.

Understandably, when something is unfamiliar to us, it’s very easy to file it under ‘it’s a magical world‘ and get on with the adventure.

House Andrews books have always been especially good at weaving real cultural details, traditions, references and bits of history into their fictional worlds. Their worldbuilding twists and plays with real-life elements, and I am sure most of us have found the boundary blurred at some point or another.

This may not be the clearest example, but it’s one that is always fresh, because people ask about it at least a couple of times a week: why isn’t Andrea Kate’s maid of honour? It’s because Kate is having a Russian wedding, and Andrea is a married woman who would not stand as a ‘maid’ in the same way she would in other parts of the world. It’s not a relationship rift, just a different wedding tradition!

I also remember making an Innkeeper quiz one time and bringing up one of my favourite little jokes from Sweep of the Blade, to great BDH puzzlement:

“Salutations,” Maud said. “Where is the hunting party?”

The Stablemaster didn’t look up. “Gone.”

“Gone where?”

He stopped and gave her a flat look. “Hunting.”

“In which direction?”

“North.”

“I need a mount.”

The Chatty Cathy of the vampire world favored her with another look. “I don’t have any.”

Andrews, Ilona. Sweep of the Blade, The Innkeeper Chronicles 4. NYLA Publishing, 2019. Kindle edition, Chapter 17

Are you ready? I’m not sure you are:

Chatty Cathy was a talking doll first sold in 1959, and her name eventually became shorthand in the US for someone who talks and talks. And incidentally, if I’m sleeping peacefully in my house and I hear “Tell me a story” in the quiet of the night, that’s Chatty Cathy’s house now. I’m outta there.

Now, the Horde is curious!

Please tell us what detail from an Ilona Andrews book made you stop and look it up?

Did you ever assume something was fantasy worldbuilding, until you discovered it was a totally real cultural reference?

The post Chatty Cathy and Treacle Tart first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

We’re coming up on six months since the THIS KINGDOM WILL NOT KILL ME release (woohoo!), so today we’re borrowing a little inspiration from Cute Knight to discover where the Horde’s (sometimes questionable) choices would lead you.

There are four questions. Pick the image that appeals to you most, keep track of your A, B and C answers, then see what the future has in store on the results page.

You awoke up in the Kingdom of Rellas, with no idea how you got there and no apparent way home.

1. Which place do you seek out first?

2. Which ally do you choose?

3. Your ally offers you a gift. What do you pick?

4. Choose a talent to get you through your new life.

Made your choices? Then reveal your fate.

PS: Split result? Congratulations, you’ve unlocked a complicated destiny! Choose whichever result frightens you more.

Happy Friday, Horde! Survive, get paid.

The post Survive, get fated first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

To answer your questions, everyone here is still alive. There are a lot of work and projects which House Andrews are putting all their time and energy into, which we will hear about very soon.

In the meantime, I require your collective entertainment wisdom, please.

What have you watched lately that put you in the mood for autumn and joy?

The average human body may be made of 60% water, but the average Mod R body is made of 60% anxiety – so I usually have a curated routine of TV shows and movies that I know by heart playing in the background, which helps me keep a cozy homeostasis. The first hint of autumn means the Gilmore Girls and Agatha Christie’s Poirot marathons start, and I enjoy sipping my PSLs with dashes of Lorelai and Hercule sass.

This year, the old faithfuls are not hitting the spot. My brain wants more escapism and new things to watch, and that’s where you come in. Tell me of your favourites!

My requirements are simple: cozy is excellent, funny is even better, and lovable characters are a huge bonus. What I don’t want is a show where relentless drama, heartbreak, misery or gore is the point. No staring hollow-eyed into the middle distance contemplating the injustice of existence after each episode. We have that at home.

One of the recent things I thoroughly enjoyed was Season 2 of Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen, which was even better than Season 1, imho.

It is Guy Ritchie, so the usual warnings apply: this is very much not something to put on while the kids are around, and I would give it a miss if profanity or violence bother you. There are criminals, drugs, and people who meet exceptionally sticky ends.

But it’s also very funny, and the characters are ridiculously entertaining, lovable, and stylish while they go around making terrible life decisions. It has a soupçon of P. G. Wodehouse in the 21st century, if you imagine PG writing his stories after playing a lot of GTA: posh fools + criminal chaos + immediate affection for the characters.

Then, like every self-respecting witchy Millennial woman, I have of course booked tickets to see Practical Magic 2 this week.

Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are back as Sally and Gillian Owens, the aunts are back, the Owens family magic is back, and apparently an old family curse is still demanding attention.

I will be there, putting the lime in the coconut after 28 years.

There’s also Widow’s Bay, which my algorithm is convinced I have to watch, based on how desperately it’s shoving it at me.

It’s a horror-comedy set on an isolated New England island where the mayor is desperately trying to convince everyone the town is perfectly normal while the locals insist it is cursed. It certainly sounds perfect on paper, but something about it is holding me back. It’s also won loads of Emmys, so I imagine a lot of people here have seen it. Let me know whether I should pounce!

Please feed my watchlist, BDH!

The post Autumn watchlist first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

A couple of weeks ago, we asked you to tell us your favorite species from the Innkeeper universe for a chance to win a $100 private shopping spree in the Ilona Andrews store (which is otherwise temporarily closed in order to finalize vellum order fulfilment).

The Random Number generator hath spoken: congratulations, Hanne F.!

Droplet the Vaskebjørn has brought you luck and now you’ll be able to shop the merch – including the revived Innkeeper designs, if you so wish. I will email you from the modr@ilona-andrews.com address, so please keep an eye on your inbox and spam folder.

If we don’t hear back from Hanne by Wednesday, September 9, a new winner will be drawn and announced then.

But who *are* the BDH favorites?

Because I know you will ask: yes, I did tally your answers. Well, roughly. Contrary to popular belief about my Transylvanian cryptid nature, I do sometimes sleep.

The Horde was once again extremely chill about things, so we had to paginate comments before the blog crashed. Two clear winners stood out, with only a small gap between them:

Lees and philosophical space chickens, come take an intergalactic bow!

A reminder that the species question was research for Wanderer Chronicles: Out Of Orbit, the farming/cozy sim being developed by Dizzy Hill Studios in the Innkeeper universe.

“You crash land on a planet and end up running an inn. Due to plot reasons, it won’t be a full inn experience. This inn has less powers than Gertrude Hunt, but it will allow you to make specific rooms to attract guests. You will grow crops, harvest timber, mine ore, salvage space wrecks for parts, etc.”

:: Steve, you can stop refreshing Steam. Yes, I do have eyes in the back of my head! I don’t need to look to know what you’re doing. ::

The game is still a long way away. The current estimate is at least two years before early access/beta testing. This is one of the projects we’ll keep updating you on, but it’s not yet a “clear your weekend” situation.

The Ilona Andrews app, on the other hand, is live and you can play with it now. Have fun getting Horde achievements, everyone!

The post Favorite Species Giveaway Winner first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

Tomorrow, Friday September 4 at 11:00 am ET, the public access will be open for the Midnight Whispers Special Edition of THIS KINGDOM WILL NOT KILL ME.

There will be a banner on the Midnight Whispers website with the title as soon as it goes live. It you don’t see it, it should be here It will be under Books > Pre-orders > Midnight Whispers.

Here is a time zone converter, in case you need one.

The Midnight Whispers representative confirmed there are still signed editions left, however both signed and unsigned are limited and they can sell out, so there are no guarantees.

The Exclusive Edition will cost $39 plus shipping and is currently estimated to ship in March or April 2027. It is a hardcover with a dustjacket, both featuring iridescent gold foiling, sprayed edges and end papers.

We have more details about the edition in this post, but please direct all your questions regarding the special edition, shipping, options, availability or additional products to the Midnight Whispers customer service or social media.

PS: We understand there were unfortunately technical issues with the Early Access password app. These have been solved, thank you everyone for your patience – and they would not affect the Public Access release anyway.

The post Midnight Whispers TKWNKM Edition Reminder first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

Ada and Bear are really having their (well-deserved) moment!

THE INHERITANCE has been selected by Audible for its September Monthly Deal. From now through September 30, Audible Premium Plus members in the US can get The Inheritance at the special Monthly Deal price.

A couple of important clarifications from the last time we announced a similar deal: the offer is US only and available to Audible Premium Plus members. Premium Plus is Audible’s paid membership tier, which includes one monthly credit as well as access to member-only sales and discounts such as this one.

And while I have you and we’re talking about clarifications, another one is due after the app updates and announcement this week. A few of the comments and emails have taken us on a rather … unexpected journey.

The Ilona Andrews app is an additional platform, not a replacement for all the other platforms.

From Ilona:

“Horde, show me where we said that the website is closing. Show me where that post is. You can’t, because it doesn’t exist.
You got a new cool thing in addition to all of the existing cool things. Enjoy the new cool thing. The website, newsletter, and social are not going away. There is no emergency. We don’t have time for this. We have to edit.“

If you are on Android and your version isn’t ready yet, if you don’t want another app, or if apps simply aren’t your thing, you are not losing access to Ilona Andrews content.

The free fiction already exists on the website, clearly marked, updated, organised and tagged by series.

Series reading order and character lists, quizzes, BDH Bingo, and the other things you are playing with on the app will continue to exist on the website too. The app simply provides the opportunity for more interactive features.

I’m also very touched that your Mod R farewell toasts are locked and loaded. I won’t tempt fate by bragging about my job security, but Ilona hasn’t mentioned anything, so I think we can hold off on those speeches just yet. [Nice try, you aren’t escaping, Mod R. We would self destruct – Ilona]

It wouldn’t be Horde if we weren’t running around in the teensiest bit of chalant panic. But this time around, it’s only new toys.

The post The Inheritance deal and new cool things first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.