Tordotcom Publishing is delighted to announce Running Close to the Wind, a queer pirate fantasy adventure pitched as Our Flag Means Death meets Six of Crows.

Missing OFMD? Want to get your hands on thee funniest book I have read this year, perfect for wherever you do your summer lounging?

Preorder Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland! Check out a sneak peek here and then preorder here or at your local bookstore!

This is my key takeaway from the sneak peek of the first chapter of Alexandra Rowland’s upcoming queer pirate book Running Close to the Wind 😂 Cannot WAIT to read the rest of it!!

Life is wild sometimes. I made a small decision almost a year ago, based on a recommendation of one of the most positive individuals to ever grace my life so far, and I firmly believe that it has changed the course of my life. The decision was to sign up for a class about fantasy writing and publishing that my university was offering, which is the exact genre I so desperately want to have a career in (I want to be a writer you see). That fall I took the 8 week class and it happened to be taught by none other than the absolutely wonderful, utterly amazing fantasy author Alex Rowland (aka @ariaste). If you asked myself or any of my peers, we will happily tell you that this class was one of the comfiest, kindest, most encouraging academic experiences we have ever had and that it has changed our lives. Anyone who has taken at least one creative writing class in their life will tell you of the horrors that ruthlessly plague them and all sorts of traumatic incidents endured. This class was a soothing balm to a disheartened soul with trampled ambitions. You might be wondering where I'm going with this? Well, when you take a class with an author, they tend to gush rather happily about their work. It did not take long for me to know in my heart of hearts that I NEEDED to get my hands on Alex's latest book, A Taste of Gold and Iron (aka ATOGAI). And when I finally got the perfect chance to read it a little over a month ago, when I tell you, it was chapter five when I became undeniably aware that this book had snatched my heart and I would gladly let it have it for the rest of my life. If I hadn't already bought all of Alex's books on a strong hunch that I would absolutely, completely and utterly fall in love with ATOGAI, I would have definitely right after I finished that chapter. This is inarguably one of the best books I have ever read, checking all my boxes (including ones I didn't even know I had). I don't think it's possible to praise it enough because it deserves it all. The wait I endured before I could read it was so worth it and I will be forever grateful for the sheer chance that it and it's author entered into my life. It shattered my high expectations and I will never be the same and couldn't be happier about it. Now, I still have to read the other books that Alex has written (and I will savor them like a piece of the finest of desserts and I haven't the slightest doubt, despite that I tend to be more on the quiet side, I will be absolutely mouthing off about them to anyone who will listen), but I want to specifically highlight their upcoming book, Running Close to the Wind (aka RCW). Because I was in their class and a part of their Discord, I have been treated to several chapters of the book and I can very firmly tell you that you need this in your life. It's terribly funny, utterly vibrant, very queer, full of gremlin chaos and pirate shenanigans, all good and wonderful things, right? I knew I needed it in my life half way through Alex reading chapter two to us. It comes out in June of this year and I so highly recommend you give it a look see. You can read an excerpt in the link below!

And if you too decide that you need this book in your life, go preorder it and then come join a Discord full of awesome queer pocket people that are also terribly excited for this book to be in our hands! I will also be posting fanart of ATOGAI and RCW if you also want to keep an eye on this little habitat of mine. :) Either way, best wishes and happy reading!

i have a new favourite type of characters and it's horny gay pirates with a sense of humour that is either terrible or terrific

Avra defending his orphan gruel from a possum

In my first year of university, I was going through a very tumultuous time. There was all the many new things that come from leaving home, some good, some bad. There were the difficulties of a demanding if rewarding job, and I first became acquainted with the not-so-fondly-remembered and not yet fully un-internalized “student lifestyle.” Terrible food, awful sleep schedule, and this omnipresent sense of impending doom that was, at least in my case in Fall 2019, surprisingly prescient. Throughout all of this, I was not prepared to be struck by the warmth and depth and resonant Truth that cut through the noise and spoke to me with a certain book I picked up, by happenstance, because of its pretty cover. That book was A Conspiracy of Truths by @ariaste. You may have heard of them. https://www.alexandrarowland.net/a-conspiracy-of-truths

Now, needless to say I devoured aCoT, and subsequently its excellent sequel A Choir of Lies. I was sorrowfully disappointed to find out after finishing the absolute rollercoaster of Choir that there was in fact, no further reading yet to do. And so, profoundly affected as I was by this (for now) duology, which I will doubtless craft a dedicated and appropriately lengthy treatise at some point in the future, I set the books in a prime place upon my shelf and turned to face the rest of the year buoyed in my hopes for the brightness of Spring and the long lusty laughter of Summer. Alas, they were all of them deceived for another global epidemic was to begin. One (or two) life-altering years in a pandemic later… I returned to university, fully prepared to enjoy the hell out of an actual honest-to-gods academic institution that didn’t begin and end with a computer screen. It hit like a truck. Same awful student lifestyle, more bad habits piling up, and a rapidly growing sense of my own undiagnosed issue rearing its ugly head. I made one decision that saved me, probably. I kept buying and reading phenomenal books. I kept looking for stories to motivate, enervate, and inspire. Somewhere deep in my subconscious, I remembered that fateful message spoken by a Chant on a page three years past. To loosely paraphrase, “Stories [are] people, and the way people are.” I chose to focus on resilience, made it my motto, and sure I still had lots of work to do, but it helped. It gave me the push I needed to keep going.

That last long Winter that seemed so dark that the sun was never going to come back? I went a-wandering, and lo, a new instalment from @ariaste ‘s Mithalgeard universe! Not a Chant sequel as such, but I couldn’t get my hands on it fast enough. It was an oasis. A respite from the grind and dreary routines. It was also gay as… well as gay as a rainbow covered in gold, let’s say. And I cannot recommend A Taste of Gold and Iron fiercely enough, because although in many ways I managed to end my degree on a high note, that book drew me out of the darkness of the coldest part of the year. It gave me the sense to smell the flowers, to bask in the green and golden glow of a soon-to-be-attained victory, long overdue.

Alex had by this point also published several shorter works, (and a whole library’s worth of content on AO3, naturally) which I leapt to read whenever they crossed my radar. It helped that I joined their discord community which was leaps and bounds more reliable in terms of getting updates and also just having the chance to share in mutual fandom gushing. If you’re even remotely interested in learning more about what I’ve talked about here, you should join in! https://discord.gg/XHJ9Uy5gef Everybody there is absolutely lovely. So why do I bring all this up? To summarize a preamble that is, to put it mildly, not short, Alex’s writing sings to my soul. I love it more deeply than my non-existent children, and their body of work continues to evolve and grow and deliver on the themes and core messages that hooked me with that first book.

But wait, there’s more! Life carries on, and with it comes new stories! Specifically, Running Close to the Wind! It’s Our Flag Means Death meets Mithalgeard, which if I haven’t convinced you to go and read those other instalments, well just trust me when I say that is a potent and persuasive pairing! It’s also going to be dropping at an important time for me, what with convocation, another big move in my life, and a whole whack of uncertainty. Much like Avra, Teveri, and Julian though, I’ll just have to brave the rocky waters and hold on to those nearest to me, and that’s what I’d like to focus on at the end of this post. A Conspiracy of Truth taught me that stories are people, A Choir of Lies showed how stories can change people, and A Taste of Gold and Iron drove home that stories we tell ourselves are the hardest to rewrite, but also the most rewarding when we take ownership of them. I anticipate that with Running Close to the Wind, Alex will likely show us (with ample amounts of pomp and queer circumstances) how the story of ourselves can only ever be written by interweaving the tales of those closest to us. Perhaps, we’ll even discover how to navigate the often stormy seas of uncertainty that seem omnipresent these days, whenever we deign to pull our noses out from whichever books we’re currently nestled within. I know that’s certainly something I’ll be looking out for, come this June, and now hopefully you will be too! (This last link does go to the webpage for Running Close to the Wind, Tumblr’s just being weird I guess.)

fighting for my life against the art block to finish this piece: Kadou Mahisti from A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland! this man is too beautiful for words lol

also wanted to use this opportunity to spread the Good Word that Alexandra Rowland is releasing a NEW novel set in the same world on June 11th: Running Close to the Wind!!! I’m literally so excited, I love their writing and this one’s got gay pirates so what’s not to love?

Fave Five: Books for Fans of Our Flag Means Death

In Deeper Waters by F.T. Lukens (YA) The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall (YA) The Wicked Bargain by Gabe Cole Novoa (YA, audiobook narrated by Vico Ortiz) A Pirate’s Life for Tea by Rebecca Thorne Peter Darling by Austin Chant Bonus: Coming in June and July 2024, respectively, check out Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland and Peregrine Seas by R.C. Ballad

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hype a f about Running Close to the Wind by @ariaste

A Taste of Gold and Iron was so so so beautiful and such a well done romance and A Conspiracy of Truths has excellent humor and the world they're all in (including the new book!!!) is endlessly fascinating and so lovingly thought out and have i mentioned that there's literally so many queer characters and ugh i'm so ready for another Alexandra Rowland book

anyway there's a preview here

Avra Helvaçi, former field agent of the Arasti Ministry of Intelligence, has accidentally stolen the single most expensive secret in the world―and the only place to flee with a secret that big is the open sea. To find a buyer with deep enough pockets, Avra must ask for help from his on-again, off-again ex, the pirate Captain Teveri az-Haffar. They are far from happy to see him, but together, they hatch a plan: take the information to the isolated pirate republic of the Isles of Lost Souls, fence it, profit. The only things in their way? A calculating new Arasti ambassador to the Isles of Lost Souls who's got his eyes on Avra's every move; Brother Julian, a beautiful, mysterious new member of the crew with secrets of his own and a frankly inconvenient vow of celibacy; the fact that they're sailing straight into sea serpent breeding season and almost certain doom. But if they can find a way to survive and sell the secret on the black market, they’ll all be as wealthy as kings―and, more importantly, they'll be legends.

My thanks to the author for providing an ARC copy.

Alexandra Rowland's Running Close to the Wind is a cozy low-stakes pirate adventure set in the same world of the excellent A Taste of Gold and Iron, loosely connected to it by a plot point. The two books couldn’t be more different, as Running Close to the Wind is funny. Hysterically, being-in-stitches, laughing-on-the-floor funny. It’s so funny that it’s too funny sometimes, but it’s a joy to read a book that doesn’t take itself so seriously while simultaneously delivering some very profound reflections in the more serious segments.

The trio of main characters is a delight, their banter on point as the dynamic between Avra and Teveri expands with the arrival of the mysterious Julian and his wiles. The characters are unapologetically horny, but the book is surprisingly chaste in that regard, while also being incredibly tender in parts. I especially enjoyed the few conversations about having and defending one’s boundaries. The rest of the cast, from the colorful crew to the pirates on the island, were all painted in deft strokes, resulting in vivid characters with so much to say. It really was reminiscent of Our Flag Means Death, as it was pitched, and it was an absolute romp.

The world gets expanded in a really clever subversion of what we know from A Taste of Gold and Iron, showing what the outside world thinks exactly of the choice to keep for themselves the only way to sail safely during a certain time of the year. There’s sea serpents and giant turtles and ghosts that need a complex reference guide to be handled, and it’s all so delightful. This choice to have loosely interconnected stories where the world is explored more and more is an intriguing one, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Running Close to the Wind is a fun adventure with hidden depths.

✨ 4 stars

[You can find more of my reviews about queer speculative fiction on my blog MISTY WORLD]

Just wanted to let you know Tadek and the Princess was an utter delight to read and not at all what I'd been thinking based on the title alone. I was all like, oh, Tadek gets some quality time with Zeliha's baby! It'll be so cute! But no! A different princess & an absolute wellspring of tears! Anyway, thank you for writing & for running the gauntlet of publishing! I'm very much looking forward to Running Close to the Wind!!

Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! :) Please tell your friends and spread the word about the novella, because there are a lot of ATOGAI fans who have not yet heard that it is out!

Speaking of which, if you haven't read the sneak peek for RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND, it is here: https://gizmodo.com/running-close-to-the-wind-excerpt-queer-pirate-fantasy-1851029451?rev=1700671232630

And if you'd like to meet some other fans of my books who are also excited for RCW and who also loved Tadek, I have an official discord server! Come join us! :) https://discord.gg/SrdCXj8xKD

Happy Belated Valentine's day, tumblr! Have some chaotic valentines, inspired by the wonderfully chaotic queer pirates in Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland, which comes out this June! Check out a sneak peek here.

HUGE shoutout to @starful02 for the wondeful fanart of Avra, Tev, and Julian, as well as for a few of the puns. And shoutout to Danielle, Hobbit, and Sawfish for their help with puns and ideas for the cards, and everyone else who was hyping me up in the Chants and the Wide World Discord. (You can join us here if you're curious about the book!)

me the fist 100 pages of running close to the wind: avra is so fucking annoying i might need to DNF

me page 100-200: oh no hon… oh

me page 200+: if someone so much as touches this man i will shoot everyone in this room and then myself

like kudos to the author they made me 180 on this character and i am HURT

You know how they say not to judge a book by its cover? Well, this book is as pretty on the inside as it is on the outside! I absolutely adore it to pieces! It has taken its rightful place on my bookshelf alongside my first copy and other related books! And for fellow crow brained individuals who love pretty shiny things like myself, you should definitely keep an eye on June for the upcoming hilarious pirate novel "Running Close to the Wind" by the same fabulous author Alexandra Rowland! As they say, pirates always have a few pretty shiny things. 😉 Read an excerpt of it below!

Running Close to the Wind Review

Running Close to the Wind comes out June 11th in the US, and June 13th in the UK, so make sure to preorder it or mark the date, because it's a gem of a book.

Pirates but make it gay and absolutely unhinged. Then take that, and make it horny and polyamorous. Congratulations, you now have Running Close to the Wind.

Avra, lucky poet and partially retired spy for Arast, accidentally stole the one trade secret most of Arast’s fortune is based on. He also accidentally reunited with Captain Tevari, a pirate with a ruthless reputation and his on-again off-again ex of the past fifteen years, who may or may not want him dead, or at the very least as far away from them as possible. To keep himself from being thrown overboard, Avra reveals to Teveri and their crew the secret he’s stolen, and together they devise a plan to sell it and make as much money off it as possible. Enters Julian, an extremely attractive monk bound by an unfortunate vow of celibacy, scholar extraordinaire and last essential piece to help them achieve their plan. Avra now has three problems on his hands: finding a way to sell the secret without being found out and killed by Arast, make up with Teveri, and convince Julian to abandon his vow of celibacy.

Forget everything you’ve just imagined about this book, forget the comparisons to Our Flag Means Death and Six of Crows, however accurate they may be, because whatever your expectations are about this book, it will blow them away. I went in with high expectations, both because of the promise of a heist like in Six of Crows, one of my favourite books ever, and because I loved A Taste of Iron and Gold, the first and only Alexandra Rowland book I’d read. Despite this, nothing had prepared me for the wild, unhinged ride that Running Close to the Wind proved to be.

Alexandra Rowland introduces us to fiery, vivid characters, whose personalities both clash and compliment one another’s. Avra could be an obnoxious and annoying character, what with his exuberant personality and endless supply of dirty jokes, but instead I found him most endearing, and it was incredibly easy to empathise with him and long for his happy ending. Similarly, Teveri’s personality could have driven me away. Instead, and partly thanks to Avra’s adoration of them, they were so easily lovable and relatable. And Julian’s wit and daunting complimented this pair so well, bringing nuance while playing into their games. This made for delicious relationships, and dynamics that had me cackling and squealing, and made me yearn for more development of their relationship, yearn to know what would happen and how it would end. From a writer’s point of view, I am admirative of Alexandra Rowland’s well-proven ability to play with a variety of characters and personalities, and render them all equally vivid and compelling, and to make readers fall for all kinds of relationships, from the calm one in A Taste of Gold and Iron to the fiery one in Running Close to the Wind.

Another thing I loved and admired was the balance between plot and character arc. This story is cleary character-led and the point of it is not so much what happens to the secret, although it is an important part of the story, as what growth the characters undergo. And grow they do. These arcs were mastered from start to end, and Alexandra Rowland found just how much of character arc and how much plot they could give us so that the story would neither feel plot-heavy nor character-heavy. This is no easy feat, but Alexandra Rowland mastered it seamlessly, and it merits some applause.

Overall, Running Close to the Wind is like no other book I’ve ever had to pleasure to read. It is wild and hilarious, and I don’t remember the last time a book made me laugh so much, but I’ll definitely remember that time. This story reads well and quickly, the worldbuilding blending it perfectly with the rest, even for those who haven’t read or don’t remember much about the worldbuilding of A Taste of Gold and Iron, set in the same world. Running Close to the Wind is a masterpiece of a story, lighthearted and yet treating serious topics without weighing down the atmosphere of the book. It is endlessly fun, surprisingly crude and dirty in its jokes, and vivid from beginning to end. Those who have loved Freya Marske’s books will most likely love this book as well, as will Alexandra Rowland’s fans and anyone interested in queer pirates. If you dislike sex-related jokes or crude language, refrain from reading this book, as it is riddled with such jokes and language—and it is what makes part of its charm.

Thank you Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for provinding me with an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are mine and unbiased.