Spear will be out in exactly one week. (One! Week! 7! Days! Holy shit.) I've been making all sorts of things like Zoom backgrounds for the tour—mostly virtual, but some in-person (and I won't get to use them because, well, most of the virtual stuff will be on Crowdcast)—and nifty quote graphics, etc. for the competition. Now I'm also furiously writing essays and doing interviews.

I also made two very short videos, a combination of one of Rovina Cai's gorgeous black and white interior illustrations, which she turned into a colour GIF, and a snippet of added narration. (For the story of that narration, see the first of this two-part post on Speaking Spear.)

I posted the first last week. Here's the second.

Video description: Looped GIF of a black and white illustration with an overlying colour wash of blue showing someone in a grave, eyes covered and knife laid on their breast. The knife blade is red. The grave is surrounded by whirling leaves and cut forget-me-nots. 

Narration: They took turns digging. She had chosen a spot where the trees told her they had no thick roots, and the badgers knew to be rich with worms, and well-loosened. And her mother was a small woman. It did not take long. Peretur climbed into the grave, laid her hands on the dirt walls, the floor—Come. Eat, grow, let all lives be one—then looked up to Lance. "Pass the ferns." When she was satisfied with the green carpet, she said, "Now give her to me." She laid Elen on the ferns and covered her in fur, then laid Talorcan's knife in its sheath on her breast. Next to that went the spray of climbing rose. "This should have been your cup. I'm sorry. But we must keep it safe."

Meanwhile, don't forget there's still 6 days to pre-order the hardcover, submit your receipt, and receive one of the very cool enamel pins created by Forensics and Flowers.

Image description: A grey jacket lapel with a round enamel pin in the shape of a red shield with raised rim and embossed rivets. On the shield are entwined forget-me-nots, with blue-and-yellow flowers and deep green leaves. Lying over all is a broad-bladed boar spear.