A Thousand Steps into Night Paperback & Playlist

Happy paperback day to A THOUSAND STEPS INTO NIGHT! I am so proud of this spooky/goofy/beautiful little folktale; this road trip through a magical Ghibli-esque world; this critique of American patriarchy in the guise of a rollicking adventure involving spirits, demons, and gods; this zero-romance fantasy about friendship and allies and embracing the parts of yourself that everyone told you were unworthy of love. 👹🌙 To celebrate, I'm finally releasing the playlist I used while writing the book! It's got a wide variety of eerie/lovely/fantastical soundscapes, and most often I'd just hit shuffle and let the music take me away to the world of 1000 Steps! Listen now on Spotify.

Here's the official book description:

A Bank Street Children’s Best Books of the Year
Longlisted for the National Book Award

From bestselling and award-winning author Traci Chee comes a fantasy perfect for fans of Studio Ghibli. When a girl who’s never longed for adventure is hit with a curse that begins to transform her into a demon, she embarks on a quest to reverse the curse and return to her normal life, but along the way is forced to confront her true power within.

In the realm of Awara, where gods, monsters, and humans exist side by side, Miuko is an ordinary girl resigned to a safe, if uneventful, existence as an innkeeper’s daughter.

But when Miuko is cursed and begins to transform into a demon with a deadly touch, she embarks on a quest to reverse the curse and return to her normal life. Aided by a thieving magpie spirit and continuously thwarted by a demon prince, Miuko must outfox tricksters, escape demon hunters, and negotiate with feral gods if she wants to make it home again.

With her transformation comes power and freedom she never even dreamed of, and she’ll have to decide if saving her soul is worth trying to cram herself back into an ordinary life that no longer fits her… and perhaps never did.
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Find it on Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indigo, or at your favorite local retailer!