New release: The Last Wolf by Maria Vale

THE LAST WOLF, book 1 in The Legend of All Wolves series by debut author Maria Vale, is out now!

For three days out of thirty, when the moon is full and her law is iron, the Great North Pack must be wild. 

If she returns to her Pack, the stranger will die. 

But if she stays…

Silver Nilsdottir is at the bottom of her Pack’s social order, with little chance for a decent mate and a better life. Until the day a stranger stumbles into their territory, wounded and beaten, and Silver decides to risk everything on Tiberius Leveraux. But Tiberius isn’t all he seems, and in the fragile balance of the Pack and wild, he may tip the destiny of all wolves…

Find out how Maria will celebrate her very first release day!

How will I celebrate The Last Wolf's book birthday?

This year I took my older son off to college. As anyone who has done it can tell you, it’s an emotionally wrenching experience. I love my son and I did everything I could do for him, but at some point, I had to pack him up and hope that he’s got the tools he needs to make his  way in the world.

That done, I waited. And tried not to look at my phone to see if there’s any news.

That’s essentially what I feel about my first book. I love the characters: Silver, the weak wolf at the bottom of the Pack, Tiberius the torn outsider, John and Evie the Alpha couple. Leonora, the teacher of Human Behaviors. The Great North Pack as a whole. Their Adirondack homeland. I love them all and want them to have a life. But now I and my amazing publisher Sourcebooks Casablanca has done what we can, so I will spend this book birthday hoping that The Last Wolf has all the tools it needs to make its way in the world.

That done, I’ll wait. And try not to look at my phone to see if there’s any news.

               

To avoid nerves—From what? What do I think will happen?—  I’ll bake wolf-shaped sugar cookies with the wolf-shaped cookie cutter that has been waiting in the back of the kitchen cabinet since I bought it last summer for just this occasion. I will also be making lasagna, not because it has anything to do with wolves or the Adirondacks or books but because it makes my family happy and since I’ve been scrabbling to finish Volume 3, they’ve been eating way more take-out these past couple of weeks than anyone should.

Finally, we will binge watch Lord of the Rings until I fall into a lasagna-induced coma at around 9:30. (I wake up at 5:30, so I have Excuses!)

I will also be wearing a t-shirt that I designed to keep me working on The Forever Wolves, as Volume 3 is tentatively titled. It focuses on Varya Timursdottir, who is the sole survivor of a Pack hunted to extinction. This has left her with what might politely be called ‘issues.’ Including an abiding dislike of humans.

In a nod to her—and any Old Tongue-speaking introverts—the t-shirt says “Westend ga onweg” or “Human go away.”  I promised myself I could wear it once I had actually finished writing. And now I will.

If the cookies come out well, I’ll post pictures on social media. If they don’t, I’ll just eat them, burned bits and all.

I’m always around to chat with readers and in the meantime…

Read wild, 

Maria

Maria Vale is a journalist who has worked for Publishers Weekly, Glamour magazine, Redbook, the Philadelphia Inquirer. She is a logophile and a bibliovore and a worrier about the world. Trained as a medievalist, she tries to shoehorn the language of Beowulf into things that don't really need it. She currently lives in New York with her husband, two sons and a long line of dead plants. No one will let her have a pet.

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