Guys, I am so excited. Today marks the series premiere of The Witch Who Came In From the Cold, an episodic storytelling journey several years in the making. When Max Gladstone and Julian Yap, the founder of Serial Box, first approached me about participating in a serialized story, I was already way on board, but then they started describing the particular project they had in mind: Witches. Espionage. Cold War. Secret magical wars. All my happy-makers. “Of course,” they said, “we still need some help shaping the villains . . .”
Fast forward several hundred email brainstorming sessions and one epic, gourmet food-filled weekend encamped in Julian’s condo with Max, Ian Tregillis, and Cassandra Rose Clarke, plus the far-too-cool Margaret Dunlap to help coach me on the showrunning process. I’m absolutely amazed by how well this season has come together. In some instances, we all seemed to go through a mind-meld where we independently converged on the same plot points. In others, each author concocted something truly magical and witchy totally on their own that none of the rest of us could have possibly devised. Max’s sense of worldbuilding and wit; Ian’s precise, devastating language and atmospheric sorcery; Cassandra’s killer dialogue and careful characterizations. I love every single episode, and can’t wait to see where we head with Season 2.
From the creators of some of today’s most ingenuitive fiction comes this online serial in 13 weekly episodes. Lead Writer Lindsay Smith (Sekret and Skandal) brings her experience writing on foreign affairs in DC to bear at the head of the writers’ room comprised of Ian Tregillis (the Milkweed Triptych), Cassandra Rose Clarke (Our Lady of the Ice), Max Gladstone (Bookburners and the Craft Sequence), and Michael Swanwick (Stations of the Tide).
While the world watches the bitter rivalry between East and West fester along the Iron Curtain, the Consortium of Ice and the Acolytes of Flame continue waging their ancient war of magic. Kept to the shadows, this secret contest crosses the lines of politics and the borders of nations with impunity – the intrigues of spies may know clear sides but the battles of witches spill out over all. Tanya Morozova is a KGB officer and the latest in a long line of Ice witches and sorcerers; Gabe Pritchard is a CIA officer and reluctant Ice recruit. Enemies at one turn, suspicious allies at the next, their relationship is as explosive as the Cold War itself.
The first season is ready to launch, and Serial Box is giving away the pilot free. If you love it, then you can subscribe via the Serial Box app to get the weekly episodes delivered directly to your device of choice (audio, too!). Or you can purchase each episode individually on Amazon and iBooks. And each week, we’ll continue the conversation on the Serial Box blog with behind-the-scenes intel and much more.
From the ashes, friends . . .