One month until The Marionette

Writing life: 91

Sep 07, 2025

Around this time in the publishing cycle of one of my novels, it’s almost inevitable that my posts will be a little more focused on, in this case, The Marionette, my tenth novel, due out very soon. We’re only a month out from The Marionette’s publication day, October 7. Yes, we are truly now in the homestretch. So do forgive what might seem like shameless self-indulgence in upcoming posts. I’m just trying to give The Marionette its best shot at success. Regardless, I figured I at least owed you an update on where matters stand with The Marionette, so here’s a quick rundown.

Strong pre-publishing ranking for The Marionette

Currently, there are 602 fiction books by Canadian writers slated for publication in the coming months, and registered with Bookmanager. As I’ve noted before in earlier posts, Bookmanager ranks all of these “future releases,” I believe based on preorders. With one month to go until launch, The Marionette currently ranks as the fifth most anticipated Canadian fiction release. It’s possible that it could sneak up a couple more places as two of the books ahead of The Marionette will be published in September and will therefore fall off this “future releases” rankings list. But, the new novels of Louise Penny and Chris Hadfield will almost certainly remain ahead of The Marionette and that’s just fine with me. I’m thrilled to be in their lofty company.

I’m grateful to all of you who have already preordered The Marionette. That’s why it’s up there near the top of the rankings. And there’s still a month yet to go during which preorders are really helpful and important to the life of the novel. As I’ve mentioned before, the preorders are all counted in the first week of sales, so if we’re strong on that front, it really helps the book get out of the gate quickly, and—fingers crossed—onto the bestsellers lists. Many thanks!

Audiobook is finished (and yes, you can now pre-order)

We have completed production on the official audiobook edition of The Marionette. As noted in an earlier post, it can be tiring narrating the audiobook and it certainly taxes your voice. With many consecutive days booked for three-hour recording sessions, I was consuming several mugs of hot water and honey. But we’re finished now, and as always, I enjoyed the experience. I’m grateful for my director, Zak Annette, and my producer, Jaclyn Gruenberger, for their good humour and guidance as we made our way through the recording sessions.

As with the print and e-book editions, audiobook preorders are very important in helping the book start strong. You can pre-order by clicking here or on the image below. Many thanks!

The Marionette is one of 50 fall Canadian fiction titles highlighted by CBC Books

I was very happy to see that CBC Books recently included The Marionette on its list of 50 Canadian fiction books they’re looking forward to reading this fall. Lucky me! CBC Books has always been very good to me, and I’m grateful. Check out the full list here or click on the image below.

Marketing and promotion

About a week ago, my agent, Carolyn Forde and I had lunch together before meeting with my publishing team at McClelland & Stewart/Penguin Random House to talk marketing and promotions for The Marionette.

**My agent, Carolyn Forde, and I having lunch before our meeting with my publishing ream.**

It was clear from our meeting that the team has decided to lean in on the fact that this is my tenth novel—a milestone of sorts. We talked about my upcoming tour—see my appearance schedule and tour dates below—and we discussed the Toronto launch event—see next section.

As for marketing and promotions, we’ll be doing some ads and giveaways on Goodreads, as we usually do. And you’ll probably see some Facebook advertising, too. There was even some talk about giving away a complete set of my novels through some of my publisher’s social channels. So the plan is coming together.

Toronto Launch Event—You’re invited!

As tradition dictates, we’re holding a Toronto launch event for The Marionette in the same space where every one of my other novels have been welcomed into the world (except for the Covid-curtailed launch of Operation Angus in 2021 that was done virtually). Yes, we’ll be back at Noonan’s pub (formerly the Dora Keogh) at 141 Danforth Ave, on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. This is an open event to anyone who can make it. You’re all welcome. My twin brother Tim will reprise his role as emcee and I think we’ll probably hear from my editor, Joe Lee before I step up to say a few words. The launch is one of the few occasions when I can publicly thank my publishing team for all they do to put my books in the hands of a growing number of readers. It’s always a fun night, and you’re invited. Here’s the official invitation. You’ll likely see this popping up on Facebook and X in the coming weeks

**The official invitation for the Toronto book launch. Hope you can come.**

Appearance schedule, including my western swing

It’s going to be a busy fall in the wake of The Marionette’s launch including a ten-day swing through western Canada, anchored by appearances a Calgary’s Wordfest and Vancouver’s Writers Fest, two of the best festivals in the country.

Here’s a look at my tour schedule, which you can also find here on the Appearances page of my website.

**Official Tour schedule for** **The Marionette** **this fall.**

Here’s hoping a few of you loyal Substack subscribers will pop up at some of these events. Love to meet you if we don't already know one another.

Wrapping up…

Thanks for giving this a read. As noted, we’re only a month away from the launch of The Marionette, so I’m afraid the next few Substack posts will almost unavoidably be about my new novel. Later in the fall, we’ll return to our regular, broader programming. In the meantime, here’s hoping you’ll enjoy the new novel, and subscribe to this Substack—it’s free and easy—so you don’t miss future posts. See you in two weeks, when we’ll be nail-bitingly close to the October 7th launch of The Marionette.