Laura Lam Guest Post

Thrilled to be part of the blog tour for one of my most anticipated releases for several years, Laura Lam's Masquerade! I've been desperate to find out the ending to Micah Grey's story since first reading Pantomime and Shadowplay, both of which I adored.

Over to Laura!

Recovery

In the smaller Northern villages, there are many types of supposed panaceas and poultices for illness. Many studies have been carried out to ascertain their efficacy. Most of them are little more than quackery, but some, especially ones which used Vestige liquids found in the area, proved to be shockingly effective. Yet due to the volatile nature of Alder-age liquids, they are not advised for consumption.

— ‘Folk Remedies in Northern Ellada’, Professor Shawn Arbutus, Royal Snakewood University

Every chapter in the Micah Grey series has a short found document at the start, ranging from a variety of sources: history books, diaries, songs, poetry, and more. It’s basically a sneaky way to add in more worldbuilding and detail about Ellada & the Archipelago.

There’s more of a focus on lesser known aspects of folk culture in some excerpts in Masquerade. By now, readers have learned a lot of the larger aspects of the world, but these are lesser known ones. In this world, Vestige technology has been left behind by the mysterious Alder, who vanished centuries ago. The things they left behind have shaped the world in various ways, but no one truly understands it: to the people who live in Ellada, it’s basically magic. That means there’s a lot of experimentation and trying to find out what different Vestige can do. It can have disastrous results.

If you buy Pantomime or Masquerade & send your receipt to Laura, you can claim a free 10k short story, “The Mechanical Minotaur,” set in the same world. If you buy all three, you can claim 60k of free fiction as well. More details here.

Masquerade is the third and final novel in Laura Lam's Micah Grey trilogy, following Pantomime and Shadowplay.

The gifted hide their talents, but dare they step into the light?

Micah's Chimaera powers are growing, until his dark visions overwhelm him. Drystan is forced to take him to Dr Pozzi, to save his life. But can they really trust the doctor, especially when a close friend is revealed to be his spy?

Meanwhile, violent unrest is sweeping the country, as anti-royalist factions fight to be heard. Then three chimaera are attacked, after revealing their existence with the monarchy's blessing - and the struggle becomes personal. A small sect decimated the chimaera in ancient times and nearly destroyed the world. Now they've re-emerged to spread terror once more.  Micah will discover a royal secret, which draws him into the heart of the conflict. And he and his friends must risk everything to finally bring peace to their land.

Laura Lam was raised near San Francisco, California, by two former Haight-Ashbury hippies. Both of them encouraged her to finger-paint to her heart's desire, colour outside the lines, and consider the library a second home. This led to an overabundance of daydreams. She relocated to Scotland to be with her husband, whom she met on the internet when he insulted her taste in books. She almost blocked him but is glad she didn't. At times she misses the sunshine.