Okay Pro Tip: Leverage Is A Really Great Show For When You're Dealing With Stress About The World, Capitalism,

i think 'I trust you with my life but not your own' as a trope is one of the ones that can always fuck me up no matter what

okay update I’ve been Instagram stalking and I think I can put pieces together. This is such a long deep dive so bear with me.

January: "I have two that I've written the first draft of and will go into revision soon. I have one that I'm writing now and I'm about halfway through. I have another that I'm planning." (source)

I will label these four books, in order, Mystery Book, Big Book, Paper Model Book, and Little Graceling Book. We'll follow them over the course of the year, and you'll see where the names come from.

The one that she was writing at the time, we're going to call Paper Model Book, because she said this about it: "My WIP includes a character who’s building a paper model of a castle and does other paper art too. Butterflies and moths are also an important part of the book." (source)

This draft was started many months earlier, pre-brain surgery, and went on pause for obvious reasons. From earlier notes, it appears the main character may have an M name. (source) I believe the draft was started all the way back in September 2023, and just took a while due to the aforementioned brain surgery, as well as copyediting for There Is a Door in this Darkness. (source)

She continued working on Paper Model Book for several months. She finished and submitted the manuscript around late April/early May. Several of the notebooks for this book have fox stickers on them, and she also had fox socks and fox art on her desk, which could mean there are foxes in it, but could also mean that she was just in a fox mood.

May: "With this draft done, I now have three entire books in revision, plus There Is a Door in This Darkness releasing on June 11." (source)

In May, she was on a bit of a vacation, but mentioned at one point that she was "listening to a lot of math podcasts and books to help me with a character I’m brainstorming." (source) Guessing this was for Little Graceling Book, the book she started writing in September; it's the only one she would have been planning/brainstorming for.

In June, she began revising a 430-page book. She described this revision as "so complicated" and the novel as "pretty complex". (source) The first draft of that book was written, in part, summer 2023. (source) This should be the one we have called Big Book. She continued revising Big Book for several months, while also doing release stuff for There Is A Door in this Darkness.

Peeks from that revision:

(source 1, source 2)

In September, she started plotting a new book, which we will call Little Graceling Book. Two posts about it have been tagged #gracelingrealm, implying that it's the next Graceling book.

Words I have caught in her notes for this book include: “fox” “castle” “heartless world” “the reader has guessed what A is up to and so has O; move on to other mysteries” (who’s A?? could it be adventure the fox??). Stickers include at least two foxes and a very Graceling-feeling castle.

On November 10, she mentioned writing “a bunch of pages, in a book about a world where things can change for the better (as they can in our world).” <3 (source)

A few days ago (December 21), she posted that she will be setting aside the partial first draft of Little Graceling Book to return to Big Book, her next book to come out. This book has gone through two drafts, and she’s about to get editorial letters back that will allow her to start on the third draft. There appears to be a grandfather clock and a horse sticker on the cover of its notebook, but we don't know anything else about it as far as I can tell. (source) "For this revision, I've realized that I need to understand what's happening inside a kaleidoscope." (January 18) 👀

She also shared that two other books (Mystery Book and Paper Model Book, as far as I can tell) are in progress and hanging out on a shelf. They appear to be printouts with sticky notes in them, which indicates that they're further along in the revision process.

So. That's what I have. Hopefully this is of interest to someone besides me that will justify the several hours I spent back-scrolling Kristin Cashore's Instagram lol

hi excuse me kristin cashore is working on FOUR books rn ??

what do we think they are 👀

listen I do understand that by and large Leverage is a very lighthearted show and also that they are limited in the havoc they can wreak on the lives of clear real-world analogues without being accused of endorsing violence or something. so i'm not saying that this is necessarily a good move from a showrunner's perspective but I DO think that i would rescind every criticism i've ever had of leverage's political outlook if they have an episode in L:R where they introduce an antagonist like 'this is mr. Ethan Tusk whose wealth came from exploitative gem mines and now he makes exploding cars and sets nazi frat boys loose on the federal government for bragging rights of how cozy he is with the dictator in charge' and then the resolution is 'parker pushes him off a building.' or i'm not picky on the specifics they can even have it be a more ambiguous thing where she plants a bug in his car so they can spy on him but then two days later the autopilot drives him off a cliff and nobody's ever really sure whether parker sabotaged it somehow or it was just his own shitty tech. i just think that if you're going to keep teasing the idea that parker is Unpredictable and Violent and needs to be kept under close watch she should get to kill at least ONE evil-guy stand in at some point. she's earned it. free her.

You guys went all in on becoming better people and you brought me along for the ride.

thinking about this

Woman: Who are you? Eliot: Well, ma'am, we'd be the cavalry.

Leverage 1x8 - The Bank Shot Job

Flores: Who are you? Parker: I’m supposed to tell you, "We'd be the cavalry."

Leverage 3x16 - The San Lorenzo Job

Ethel: We need real help. Where's the cavalry? Sophie: At the right moment, they'll be here. Probably. Possibly. I trust.

Leverage: Redemption 3x7 - The Shakedown in Clone-Town Job

worlds slowest fanfic author tries really really hard

Beth Riesgraf as Parker in Leverage and Leverage: Redemption

Leverage: Redemption 3x7- "The Shakedown in Clone-Town Job"

Eliot Spencer is: Looks like a cinnamon roll, is actually a cinnamon roll AND Looks like a cinnamon roll, could actually kill you AND Looks like they could kill you, could actually kill you AND Looks like they could kill you, is actually a cinnamon roll

Eliot Spencer is the cinnamon roll avatar, master of all cinnamon rolls. Pass it on.