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THIEFTESS: Acknowledgments

September 17, 2026
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| Thieftess

Get Thieftess In Print Now! ✨🖤✨🖤✨🖤✨🖤✨🖤✨🖤✨🖤✨ ~~~Acknowledgments~~~ I started writing Thieftess on June 23, 2015. I wrote about 17,000 words and then put it in the trunk. I started working on it again when I got the rights back to the Woodcutter Sisters series in October 2023. How do you write acknowledgments for a book that was 11 years…

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Mountain Girl

September 3, 2026
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| Thieftess

Get Thieftess In Print Now! Quick Things: Dearest Squad, We have arrived! This essay goes along with the last chapter of Thieftess, now live on Patreon. This chapter was supposed to be an Epilogue. But THESE KIDS TODAY (none of whom are probably reading this book anyway) apparently DON’T READ EPILOGUES. So here we are. I was in Greensboro…

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Inventing the World

August 27, 2026
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Get Thieftess In Print Now! Quick Things: And now, for your deep dive. Happy Thursday! 💜 Dearest Squad, In late October 2023, I got the rights back to the Woodcutter Sisters series. In December, I met with my team to talk publishing strategy. We discussed everything from schedules to our promotional approach. We chose book sizes and cover concepts,…

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Howl’s Moving Easter Eggs

August 20, 2026
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| Thieftess

Dearest Squad, Only a few more chapters of Thieftess Thursdays (and the concurrent writing essays) to go! When I am finished posting all of the Thieftess chapters on Patreon, I will post some more writing essays, as well as a novella or two that y’all may not have access to if you haven’t bought the anthology. (If there are…

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THIEFTESS Chapter 54: Madame Reynard

August 6, 2026
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| Thieftess

Dearest Squad, “Nabi” was one of the first Korean words I learned while watching Nevertheless in 2022. (It’s not my favorite drama…but it had some good stuff in it. They all do!) Nabi means “butterfly.” Butterflies are fabulous. Colorful. Beautiful. Ephemeral. They are symbols of freedom, transformation, and rebirth. They also represent chaos. The stone that starts the avalanche….

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THIEFTESS Chapter 53: Return to Arilland

July 30, 2026
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| Thieftess

Dearest Squad, It was right around this chapter that I realized that I really needed to remember what time of year it was. Most of Thieftess is set in inns, on coastlines, in the Permafrost, or on the sea itself. But when Thursday’s crew returns to a familiar land, what exactly does that land look like? I mean, Arilland…

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THIEFTESS Chapter 52: Jason of Malia

July 23, 2026
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| Thieftess

Got an email address and 5 minutes?Nominate THIEFTESS for the YA Dragon Award! Ch. 52 of THIEFTESS now live on Patreon!Get Thieftess In Print Now! “We are Black Roses. We know how to cry.”—Alethea on Stationhead, circa 2024 Dearest Squad, Right around the time I started writing this chapter, my favorite Korean indie rock band The Rose announced an…

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THIEFTESS Chapter 51: Siren’s Dilemma

July 16, 2026
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Got an email address and 5 minutes?Nominate THIEFTESS for the YA Dragon Award!* Ch. 51 of THIEFTESS now live on Patreon!* Get Thieftess In Print Now! Who did you love before?Who did they love before you?—Better Than Ezra, “In the Blood” Dearest Squad, I promise to write this essay in the vaguest way possible so as not to spoil…

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Nominate THIEFTESS for the YA/MG Dragon Award!

July 11, 2026
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| awards, Thieftess

Nominate THIEFTESS for the MG/YA Dragon Award! All you need is an email address and the title & author of the book (Best YA/MG – Thieftess, Alethea Kontis) – make sure you check the box at the top and enter the very long number at the bottom. That’s it! No fancy sign in required. Then, when it’s tine for…

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