Friends! It has now been over a year since I was able to announce my forthcoming Bisclavret retelling, The Wolf and His King, and in that original announcement post, I told you that it would be coming out around now. But now we are here, at the end of March 2025, and you haven’t so much as seen the cover of it, let alone ARCs, let alone the finished book. Those keeping a close eye on retailer pages etc will notice that the publication date has quietly slipped to late November. A betrayal! A grievous betrayal!

I hope to make up for some of that today by sharing with you the beautiful cover, with art by Tom Roberts, and then some news about the book, including why the publication date has been delayed until November.

So, without further ado:

Look at it! This cover!

I was substantially more involved in the cover design process for The Wolf and His King compared to The Butterfly Assassin — and I have to admit, I fear I was very annoying. I had opinions about everything. “Can we make the colours brighter? Here’s some twelfth-century stained glass and some manuscripts with the colours eyedropped from them, can we go for a more vivid blue to really get that medieval vibe?” “Loving the archway at the top but it’s looking a bit Gothic and I think we would still be looking at Romanesque architecture at this point, here’s some images of church/cathedral roofs for reference.” “Here are a bunch of pictures of stars from manuscripts, can we go for these shapes more? Also here’s another reference point for the blues”

All my comments were filtered through my publisher, so I didn’t get to speak to Tom Roberts directly, but I would like to apologise heartily for the fact that I am incredibly nitpicky over details and every single thing to do with this book — from its punctuation to its metaphors to its cover — got the same treatment. I have no idea if they directly sent him my annotations and notes but if they did… sorry! But also you’re welcome for the colour references! Either way, I’m grateful for the way that he responded to my feedback and polished up this lovely art into such a jewel.

I don’t know about you, but I think the nitpicking paid off. It’s so colourful and detailed… that could be a stained glass window, right? Imagine the light streaming through it when the sun hits it just right. Impeccable :)

So that’s the cover. And here’s the blurb, in case you need a refresher:

Step into the resplendent courts and forests of The Wolf and His King, the adult fantasy debut from medievalist and YA author Finn Longman.

Bisclavret is cursed: to live his life in exile; to take a wolf’s shape involuntarily; to lie to everybody he meets. And yet he has always dreamed of knighthood, of brotherhood and belonging. When the old king dies unexpectedly, Bisclavret travels to the royal court to seek his rightful inheritance and swear fealty to the new king. It’s here that he discovers the mysterious young warrior now wearing the crown is willing to offer him far more than just his father’s lands, and suddenly the life that seemed like an impossible fantasy is catapulted within his grasp. But can someone who is hardly a man ever truly be a knight?

The king is lonely: recently returned to court from an exile of his own to inherit a crown he never wanted. And yet he’s fascinated by his newest knight, a man who carries secrets along with his sword, and fascination quickly turns to longing. When Bisclavret is seemingly killed by a wolf, the weight of the king’s grief almost destroys him. He swears to have his vengeance, but at the height of the hunt he encounters an animal that seems too intelligent to be the violent beast he seeks. One might even say it has the mind of a man…

Coming 27 November 2025

Which brings me onto the next thing: yes, publication has been delayed until late November. I’m sorry about that; I have also been impatient for this book to be out in the world, though I do think it’s benefited from the extra time (I’ve just wrapped up final proof corrections and managed to find several errors/anachronisms that I’d missed despite my best efforts before now — so apologies to the ARC readers for those, and let’s be glad that they won’t be in the final book).

There are a few factors at work in this change of schedule, but the most significant and exciting one is that… we sold North American rights! The Wolf and His King will also be released in the US by Erewhon on 20th January 2026. The delay in the UK date was initially in the hope of managing simultaneously publication, but we (by which I mean I) didn’t want UK pub to slip into 2026, so they’ve ended up separate-but-close.

I’ve never been published in the US before, so this is really exciting! Admittedly, the timing’s not great; when we got the deal through in October I did think I might be able to consider doing some events over there and, well, no, absolutely not, given the state of everything right now. I’m delighted, however, that it’ll be easier for my US friends to get hold of my books. (Not quite sure what the status of things is for Canada; I’ll keep you posted as soon as I know more.) Erewhon will also be publishing The Animals We Became in 2027 (UK pub: late 2026). Well, assuming that my Very Trans Book is still legal to publish in the US in 2027. 😐 It’s definitely a strange time to be making the jump across the Pond at last, but I’m glad to be doing it nonetheless. And frankly, I’m happy to be able to provide a little treat amidst the horrors in the form of my queer medieval werewolf narrative.

ARCs in the UK will be going out imminently; I don’t know anything about that side of things in the US; in general, you’re always best off sending ARC requests/enquiries directly to my publishers (Gollancz/Erewhon) rather than to me. It will be on NetGalley soon, I think, which is rather terrifying. See note above regarding the anachronisms — if you find them, please do me the courtesy of assuming it’s one of the ones I subsequently found and fixed, especially if it’s in chapter eleven. If it’s not, I simply do not want to know about it 😅

I am simultaneously desperate for this book to be out in the world and extremely nervous about it, not least because it feels like my reputation as a medievalist is at stake as well as my abilities as an author. It’s also very weird to be thinking about this book (some angst, more yearning, broadly a lighter and happier book than most I write) while working on The Animals We Became, which is… well, it’s Not That. If you’re familiar with the Fourth Branch, you’ll probably be able to guess the kinds of content warnings that book might need. So I’m here going “hello would you like some werewolves and gay yearning” and also really hoping nobody assumes that all of my adult books are going to be soft and romantic because the next one sure ain’t.

But we’re not meant to be talking about The Animals We Became today, are we? We’re celebrating TWAHK, my most delightfully onomatopoeic book title abbreviation. So I will wrap up with a brief introduction to the vibes and content. I know people call these a ‘trope graphic’, but frankly, almost nothing on here is a trope by any stretch of the imagination, so I will need to think of a better name. Or just give you the graphic and stop rambling? Yeah, that seems sensible, actually:

Please appreciate the manicules, thank you, I was very pleased with those.

I was going to do a FAQ type thing here, but realised I didn’t know what you might want me to answer, so I’m gesturing exuberantly to the comment section instead and inviting you to ask whatever you’d like about this book, which I shall endeavour to answer. Go forth! Don’t be shy! The comments await! (Usual moderation policies apply, though I almost never need to wield the moderation hammer.)

And in the meantime, the book’s page is here, and I’m working on getting all the pre-order links up-to-date and ready. If you’d like to pre-order, I also highly recommend asking your local bookshop if they’ll get it in for you — it supports your bookshop, but it also makes them more likely to stock the book in general, since they’ll know they have readers waiting :)