Tordotcom Publishing is thrilled to announce that Ruoxi Chen has acquired Alexandra Rowland’s A Taste of Gold and Iron, a historical fantasy novel pitched as The Goblin Emperor meets Magnificent Century. The two-book deal, for World English rights, was brokered by Britt Siess, formerly at Martin Literary, now at Britt Siess Creative Management.
Kadou, the shy prince of Arasht, finds himself at odds with one of the most powerful ambassadors at court—the body-father of the queen’s new child—in an altercation which results in his humiliation.
To prove his loyalty to the queen, his sister, Kadou takes responsibility for the investigation of a break-in at one of their guilds, with the help of his newly appointed bodyguard, the coldly handsome Evemer, who seems to tolerate him at best. In Arasht, where princes can touch-taste precious metals with their fingers and myth runs side by side with history, counterfeiting is heresy, and the conspiracy they discover could cripple the kingdom’s financial standing and bring about its ruin.
Said author Alexandra Rowland:
A Taste of Gold and Iron was a gloriously self-indulgent experience to write it, and I hope it will be just as gloriously chocolate-cake indulgent for you to read it as well. How do you feel about people looking deeply, meaningfully into each other’s eyes as they make oaths of fealty? Do you like exquisitely beautiful princes? Do you like stoic bodyguards with shoulders like a hero of legend? Are you wondering how many times and in how many different contexts I can make the bodyguard kneel? How would you like to see them wash each other’s hair in a bathhouse while they talk seriously about whether monarchy can be ethical and, if so, how? And then would you like to watch me make them kiss?
That’s! This! Book!
It’s about queer found-families, and caring for the people around you, and the rocky process of building a friendship with an ex-lover while navigating feelings about the new person in your life, and dealing with chronic anxiety, and how uncomfortable and terrifying power can be.
I am so excited to be partnering with Ruoxi Chen and the Tordotcom Publishing team. Ruoxi understands on a really profound level what I am trying to do with this book, and I am absolutely giddy at the prospect of working with her. 2022 can’t come fast enough.
Said editor Ruoxi Chen:
Not since The Goblin Emperor have I encountered a character whose vulnerability and fundamental decency made me want to actively stand between them and every other character out of sheer, immediate protectiveness. Kadou slid into my heart within the first few pages, and I knew I was going to be in serious trouble if anything ever happened to him. Luckily, he has Evemer—cold, handsome, eventually utterly, hopelessly devoted to Kadou—to protect him. I can’t wait for readers to sink into the pleasures of this world and this romance.
Applicable AO3 (Archive Of Our Own) tags:
- exquisitely beautiful prince/hot stoic bodyguard
- chronic anxiety
- oaths of fealty
- washing each other’s hair and talking about ethics
- found family
- what we owe each other
- enemies-to-lovers
- kissing to avert suspicion
- hurt/comfort
- slow burn
- there’s only one bed
Alexandra Rowland is the author of A Conspiracy Of Truths, A Choir Of Lies, and Finding Faeries, as well as a cohost of the Hugo Award-nominated podcast Be the Serpent. Find them at their website or on Twitter as @_alexrowland.
A Taste of Gold and Iron will be available from Tordotcom Publishing in 2022.
