‘Rheia’ release day

“Rheia by Aussie author Cassandra Page is a stunning, breath taking and tissue-inducing fantasy/steampunk/young adult novel which was unputdownable! Absolutely brilliant in my opinion. Filled with tension, the characters were extremely well crafted. The plot was exceptionally well done, flowing smoothly and well written. I thoroughly enjoyed Rheia and highly recommend it.” – Brenda, five star Goodreads review

Rheia is the sixth full-length novel I’ve released into the world, and you’d think that I’d get used to that release day squirmy feeling that is both nerves and excitement (nervicitement — thanks, Pinkie Pie). I’m not, though, partly because Rheia is new ground for me as a writer: fantasy rather than the urban fantasy stories I’ve told so far.

We aren’t meant to have favourite children but, maybe because it’s so different, Rhiea is the book I’m the most proud of to date. (Don’t tell the others.) It has bronze-age tech, scheming demons and a sweet romance. It badgered me for years — years — before I finally wrote it, and now it gets to make its way in the world.

I’ll be over here, waving goodbye with a smile and a tear.

The obligatory thank you speech

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — writing a book is a curiously collaborative process for something that is, on the face of it, a solo endeavour. And there are a lot of people without whom Rheia (whose working title was Greek Fantasy, because I shouldn’t be allowed to name things) wouldn’t be what it is today.

Firstly, thank you to my beta readers: Stacey Nash, for helping me fill the plot holes and for fact-checking my Ancient Greek culture references (although, as always, any mistakes are my own); Peter Wass, for making sure the bad guys were sufficiently evil for his tastes; and Craig Lawrie, for coming up with the new book title and doing the sanity check at the end. I raise my coffee cup to you all.

As always, a mega-huge thanks to Lauren Clarke. She has edited most of my books and keeps me on the straight and narrow with regard not just to plot and the accursed POV intrusion (seriously, I hate those comment bubbles!) but to ellipses, hyphens, dialogue tags, and the other tiny building blocks of writing that, if done correctly, become almost invisible to the reader. You are worth your weight in gold, lady. And to Kim of KILA Designs, thanks yet again for another beautiful cover. I don’t know how you do it, my clever friend!

Thank you to my family and friends for putting up with my frequent absences, for letting me rant over Messenger, and for cheering most enthusiastically: Mum, Dad, Kristy, Craig, Karen, Ali, Cassandra, and the BC09 girls. And thanks to Tim and Jacinta, whose roleplaying game all those years ago provided the kernel of inspiration for Rheia and Alexandros’s story. (It’s your fault that there are so many stairs!)

And finally, as always, all my love and gratitude go to my son, Nathaniel. You are growing into a bright, articulate and hilarious young man. I’m more proud of you than of anything else I’ve ever achieved.

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The obligatory buy links

Ebook

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Australia | Barnes & Noble
iBooks | Kobo | Smashwords

Paperback

Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon AU

Note: As this post is going live in the morning Australian time, some of the links won’t switch from preorder to buy for up to twelve hours. Don’t let that stop you! 😉

The obligatory blurb and cover photo

“Beauty and the Beast” meets Ancient Greece, with a steampunk twist

Every year, Rheia’s father brought home four prisoners of war, sacrifices to keep the demon Typhein bound. Rheia never gave them much thought … until her father’s enemy made her one of them. Now she has two weeks to find a way to escape death at the hands of the Beast and either save her people or condemn them to destruction.

The last thing Rheia expected was to fall in love with the Beast oath-bound to kill her.

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