***Book news and cover reveal!***

Roughly a million years ago I promised book news and then didn’t deliver. But now I can finally tell you what’s been brewing all these many moonturns :)

The big news!

I’m so thrilled to let you know that my latest book, THE TRAITOR MOTH, is coming out with Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers in the Spring of next year. S&S US has so far acquired two books from me aimed at readers aged 8-12 (and anyone and everyone who enjoys middle grade fantasy). Both will be set in the same world – one of moths, mutants, and fiercely loyal clans.

More about The Traitor Moth:

A brave young moth sets off on an epic quest to save his clan and the kingdom from peril in this first book in the sweeping Moon Realm fantasy middle grade series—perfect for fans of Wilderlore and Erin Hunter’s Warriors series.

Catclaw dreams that one day he will have the gift of prophecy, just like his Dreamkin ancestors.

But many moons ago, the Dreamkins were exiled from the other noble moth clans for a crime too awful to even speak of, and their gift of prophecy was lost. No Dreamkin has seen the future in generations. So when Catclaw receives a vision telling him that all the moth clans are in terrible danger, he's branded a liar and exiled.

Catclaw knows it's the right thing to protect his fellow moths, even if his own clan doesn’t believe him, so he sets out alone on the long and treacherous journey back to Queen Adeia’s Kingdom, to warn them.

But there is more to the moth clans’ history than Catclaw ever knew, and the closer he gets to the kingdom, the more the danger grows.

* * * COVER REVEAL * * *

And without further ado, here is the (magnificent) cover illustrated by Cathleen McAllister, a remarkable talent and master at depicting gorgeous small world scenes.

Book cover for The Traitor Moth by Katharine Orton, illustrated by Cathleen McAllister. Shows a small brown moth standing in a humanistic way on two legs on a Rowan branch, holding a nettle tip. He is facing a big full moon and two other moths – a pale one and one with a skull shape on its back – are flying nearby. A wasp-like creature with big blue eyes lurks in the branches above, and many others are flying across the moon in a swarm.

Currently there are no plans for release outside the US, but that may change (fingers crossed!), and I’ll be keeping an eye on ways that people in the UK and elsewhere can get a copy. It might be as simple as ordering from a US book supplier, and it looks like Amazon will ship to the UK, but I’ll keep you updated.

This is an absolute dream come true for me. I am over the moon (pun intended, I’m so sorry) to be working on these books with the outstanding and supportive team at S&S in the US. From the first tentative email to my agent, titled “I hope you like moths… !” to the rounds of editorial graft with the inimitable Krista Vitola and Jessica Egan, this process has been a joy, and I can’t wait to bring Catclaw’s adventures to readers.

This first book, THE TRAITOR MOTH, is available to pre order now for 7th April 2026. Check the following links!

Barnes & Noble

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

More from me soon :)

Kat

June mini-blog – the power of names

What’s in a name? asked Juliet. That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet.

True, and beautiful, as is so much of Shakespeare, but what if the thing you’re naming isn’t real, being something you’ve just invented for a work of fiction? It has no smell to begin with, then, and can’t be experienced by any other features (except for those you describe on the page). In that case, the name needs to do a lot of heavy lifting. And finding a good, solid name for your imaginary thing can be absolutely golden.

In the book I just read – Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh – there was such a thing as ‘shadowspace’, which essentially described a hidden dimension with its own separate, fundamental laws. Shadowspace provided a means of rapid space travel from one distant point to another. Or at least that’s how I understood it. In fact it was the name that made me feel like I understood the concept a lot better than I probably did. (Pure brilliance, by the way – and I kinda wish I’d thought of it first).

As soon as you give something a good name it stops mattering as much how the thing actually works – you think you know what it is, even when the details are a bit hazy. I relate it to a lightbulb: I know what a lightbulb does in the vaguest sense, know that if I flip a switch it lights up the room, but I probably couldn’t give you a full and detailed explanation of how one works. I might mumble something about electricity and filaments, but that’s about as good as you’re going to get from me.

Naming stuff for fiction is fun. My first name for the mindless skeletal minions summoned by the Soldier in Glassheart, largely made of old sticks, stones and debris, were Upsticks, but an editor thought this sounded a bit comical. I rethought, and they became Rattlesticks. I liked it. Rattlesticks evoked rattlesnakes, to me, both the sound they make and the danger of them – as well as the old rhyme about ‘sticks and stones’. Names can be used for misdirection, too. In Mountainfell, magic is real and known as luma. However, to begin with we wanted to show that the villagers in the book hated magic, and thought it was evil and scary – something to be avoided. Luma just sounded too nice. So my editor suggested giving them a different name for it. That’s how I came up with hex magic, and the idea that someone could be ‘hex addled’.

Writing tip:

If you’re trying to name something in your writing, think about how the sound of the word makes you feel. Certain words just sound right for the thing they describe – check out this article for more if you’re interested. And something I’ve noticed many writers do (me included) is to reference current or old words, things that already exist, or cultural reference points like sayings or rhymes (as with the rattlesticks). Here’s something else to think about: will different groups have different names for the same thing, and if so, how will their name reflect how they feel about it? Have fun!

Writing news:

I’ve had some brilliant news this month, but (as with so much to do with publishing), I’m not allowed to share it yet. What it means for me however is that I’ll soon be back to work on a project. In the meantime I’m still trying to write my adult sci fi. I’ve had a few false starts with that one now, but I’m really happy so far with how this latest attempt is working out. More news on the news for you soon, I hope!

Recent reads:

My reading has been super slow lately, but I’m going to try to finish The Premonition by Banana Yoshimoto soon – an absolutely beautiful book but one that deserves a lot of thought and attention, I think, so I’ve been waiting until I can give it that. I’m also listening to the audiobook of Project: Hail Mary by Andy Weir, which has just gone off in a surprising new direction that I definitely wasn’t expecting!

Enough for now! I’m off to go see Inside Out 2 in the cinema with my kid soon. As ever please feel free to leave me a comment, or ask me anything. Until next month x

By the way if you like this blog you can subscribe on substack, meaning it goes straight to your inbox.

May mini-blog – writing news, prompts, and ways of saying "I miss you"

Have you ever found yourself writing something down that you’d never say out loud to someone? Last night my kid wrote “I miss you” to his dad on a messaging app. (His dad has been away for a few days with work, and gets back soon). My kid doesn’t like to talk about things he sees as trivial, let alone the big stuff, and is more likely to communicate verbally that he misses us by saying, “You’re a poop head.” But for some reason, writing allowed him to say this in a more direct (albeit less colourful) way.

Every time we discover a new medium to express ourselves with, it’s like adding a shiny new facet to our selves – and each one brings something different, has strengths, challenges, and potential. Writing’s definitely the medium I feel most comfortable in. That’s why I became a writer in the first place – to express the thoughts and feelings that I didn’t feel able to say out loud. For others it could be art, drama, science, music, sport, maths (my kid’s also counting the hours until his dad gets back, literally – last count was 86), and so on. You name it – it can be an outlet.

It was lovely to see that my kid could say something in writing that he was very unlikely to ever choose to say directly. Though there are many ways to say the same thing (including “You’re a poop head.”). This is the joy of exploring ways of expressing yourself. And when you find something that works the way you want it to, it’s magic.

Writing News

The other reason I’ve been thinking about communication is because I’m currently waiting for news on a manuscript. It’s out on submission, which is a publishing term for ‘sent out to editors in the hope that someone will love it enough to turn it into a book’. Always a nerve-wracking time, but I have plenty to distract myself with, including writing something new. I really love this book and its characters, so I really hope it gets picked up by someone. Please keep your fingers crossed for it, and me!

Recent Reads

I’ve been reading Normal Schmormal by Ashley Blaker and Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh, both as audiobooks. The first a non-fictional, funny and irreverent look at parenting kids with SEN that I really enjoyed (favourite chapter: I is for Ignore the Idiots). And the second a really ambitious, ‘big-ideas’ book both story- and character-wise, with a truly astronomical character arc! I loved the play with time.

Writing Prompt (for any age)

If you could send a message to someone, anyone, living or dead, who would you write to and what would you say that you might not out loud? Perhaps you’d like to confess a secret to someone from your past, explain to a celebrity how you felt about something that happened to you, or even tell the magpie that lives on the neighbour’s roof how much you like watching it flit about. You don’t have to show anyone else if you don’t want to – it could even be the start of a bigger piece of creative writing.

That’s all from me for now, until next month. I hope you enjoyed the newsletter, and please get in touch if there’s anything you’d like to share – or that you’d like me to talk about in the next one.

Lowering the Tome is back... and it's mini again

Hi all. Clearly I’ve let my newsletter on Substack fall by the wayside, so I’m relaunching it but with a bit of a new vibe. Here’s the plan. I’ll be taking the short, snappy ‘mini-blog’ format that used to work well (and that, crucially, kept me motivated), and use it to share things under headings such as Writing News, Recent Reads, Writing/Thinking Prompts (these will be suitable for all ages), Peeks Inside Publishing and In Other News. I’ll also be sharing it in full here on the website too. Essentially it’s the return of the mini-blog – yay!

I still expect to write monthly posts – fortnightly at most. I may still write the odd piece where I witter on about something esoteric, but these are likely to be in the minority. Thanks for sticking with it, Tomers – I hope that all sounds good to you. If there’s anything you’d really like me to talk about or that you’d especially like to see here, please do let me know, as I’m open to suggestions. And if you know anyone who you think would enjoy what I’ve set out above, do please point them in my direction.

More to come very soon!

Katharine x

What I learned about humanity from playing Snake

You can read my latest Substack all about the trappings (and teachings) of the humble game Snake here – this time though I’ve included my ‘other news’ below in case that’s the part you’re interested in. Please consider subscribing to my Substack though if you’d like. Happy reading – until next time!

In other news:

I haven’t heard anything back yet about the manuscript for the children’s book that I sent off recently, so I’ve been distracting myself by trying to write a sci-fi for adults. I’ve started this book a few times now and keep getting stuck on it, but after some rethinking of the backstory/plot I think I’m ready to try again. Or will be, when I get the opportunity (life’s a bit chaotic right now – my son is having school struggles and extended family members are having health crises, and it’s a bit all-consuming).

Totally separate from that, I've just started an Etsy shop! I’ve wanted to do it for ages to give me something else to focus on: another creative outlet that doesn’t feel too pressured. It’s called 7 Magpies Boutique and I’m selling lots of handmade, nature-inspired glass jewellery that I’ve made in my kiln – you can find it here. I’ve already sold out of a few bits and need to make some more. Later this month I’ll also be taking part in the Sponsored Write for Macmillan Cancer Support – you can find out more about that and also donate if you want to here.

My blog is moving to Substack

Hi all,

You might have noticed that I haven’t written my blog in a long time – it’s been both a supremely busy and rocky year and by springtime even the monthly posting just became impossible to keep up with. So now I’ve decided to start afresh (even though things are still both busy and rocky) with a brand new Substack. It’s called Lowering the Tome and I’m happy to say my first post is now up – you can read it here, and please do subscribe if you like what you see! It’s all free right now so there’s nothing to lose.

Hope to see some of you readers, writers, teachers and general book enthusiasts there.

Onwards!

Katharine x

The World Book Week 2023 mini-blog

Hello and welcome to the February mini-blog.

I’ve just come from a school visit in which the children of Southville Primary invented their very own magical creature with me: a maths-loving, pea-eating lizard called Gary Scrumpfry. I had a brilliant time exploring the writing process with them, and talking about what inspired many of the creatures in Mountainfell, too. In other news:

Book Pen Pals

This month I sent off some letters to my brilliant Book Pen Pals. For those who don’t know, Book Pen Pals is a really lovely scheme that connects schools with authors and illustrators, who then correspond throughout the year via postcards and letters. I absolutely love talking to my book pen pals, answering their questions, giving them writing tips and recommending books they might like. If you’re a school, author or an illustrator, why not check them out, or give them a follow on Twitter. (If you’d like to get a one-off postcard direct from me, I can do that too – do just get in touch.)

World Book Week – easy costume ideas!

As an author, it’s flattering to see children who feel inspired enough by reading your books to dress as your characters. I’ve already seen an excellent Leif costume and had requests for dressing-up ideas, so this year I thought I’d put some very easy costume suggestions for Mountainfell characters online:

Erskin – she wears simple trousers and a jumper, and because her pet cat, Scrat, likes to climb up and sit on her shoulders, the more holes (because of cat claws) the better. For an added extra, if you can find a piece of fluffy material that might make a good cat’s tail, why not have it dangling out of one side of a bag or satchel, so it looks like you’ve got Scrat with you, too…

Leif – again, simple trousers and a jumper or top will do, but remember that Leif has pockets full of odds and ends, and really, really loves plants… so perhaps you could have a friendly vine over one shoulder, or dangling out of the side of a bag, to keep him company.

If you do decide to dress up as Erskin or Leif, or as characters from any other of my books, I always love to see the pictures!

What I’m reading

At the moment I’m really privileged to be reading an early copy of Winter’s Keep by Tamsin Mori – book 3 in the Weather Weaver adventures and out on the 2nd March. With cloud sidekicks and sea witches, it’s a feat of fun and imagination. Keep your eyes peeled for it in March! Illustrated by David Dean (cover) and Hannah Blackman-Kurz (interior), published by Uclan Publishing.

The book, Winter's Keep by Tamsin Mori on a fluffy grey background

I hope the rest of this month is a breeze, leaving you feeling as chilled out as Stevie clearly is today. Until next time!

A tabby cat fast asleep on a blanket with her arms outstretched