Once upon a time, I published a novel called Firefly Rain. It was my first original novel – I’d published four previously as tie-ins to a couple of White Wolf games – and I was and am very proud of it. It came out as the lead title for the short-lived Discoveries line from Wizards of the Coast, and garnered some good reviews, most notably a starred review in Publishers’ Weekly and a Booksense pick. It even sold reasonably well, but Wizards shut down Discoveries before we could do a paperback edition. Gallery Books was kind enough to pick up the rights for a paperback edition, and that was that.
Until now.
As of today, I have the rights to Firefly Rain back. With luck, that means I’ll be doing something with those rights and putting out a new edition. I don’t have a timetable, but for the first time in a long time, it feels like things are moving in a good direction.
Like I said, I’m proud of the book. It’s a personal story about the promises one makes to family and the price of not keeping those promises. If you’re looking for blood and guts, you’re not going to find them here, but if you want a slow-burn ghost story, you might enjoy it. The book was inspired by a trip to my ex-wife’s family farm and a moonlight walk, where the line of shadow at the property line was sharp enough to cut with. From there I got the image of a farm bereft of fireflies when all the land around was lit up, and that turned into the novel.
So wish me luck. I’ll keep you posted.