Tomorrow (today for some lucky ducks) Competence hits the world!
Gentle Reader, I do hope you enjoy getting Primrose’s perspective on life aboard the Spotted Custard.
I believe you ought, she is quite a hoot, and as near to an Alexia style character as I have written (since Alexia).
- USA Hardcover Edition
- USA Digital Edition
- USA Audiobook
- Want a signed edition of the hardcover?
- Use the SIGNED button on my website to contact Borderlands Books. They will ship international.
- UK/EU Digital Edition
- Amazon.co.uk or your preferred international vendor, like Kobo, or buy the .epub directly from me.
- Or buy the directly from me.
- UK/EU Paperback Edition
- UK & EU? Trouble finding the print edition?
- You can ask your local independent bookstore to “order it from Ingram.”
- ISBN and listing information is on my Presskit page.
- UK Audiobook
- The audiobook rights are owned by Hachette Audio (Amazon UK here) and will be distributed through them. If you can’t find it where you want it, please email them.
The UK edition contains words and a formatting slightly different than the USA (more parentheses, for example) because it is done to my whim rather than publisher house’s specifications.
Both editions are anglicized with the exception of the word ladybug/ladybird because USA readers just find it too confusing to see ladybird in print. See a discussion of this issue here.
Competence Launch Event!
I’ll be doing a fun Q&A + Signing at
Tattered Cover Denver
7 PM Tuesday July 17
1628 16th Street, Denver, CO 80202
Local to the Denver Area?
If you can’t make Tuesday you can come by RWA Nationals on Saturday for the the Readers for Life Literacy Signing…
2018 Literacy Autographing at RWA Nationals
When: Saturday, July 21, 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. MT
Where: Sheraton Downtown Denver Hotel
- This event is open to the public and is free of charge.
- You do not need to register to attend this event as a fan.
- Since this is a fundraiser event, attendees are not be allowed to bring books from home. Please plan to purchase books on site. RWA accepts cash and major credit cards.
- RWA will be selling How to Marry a Werewolf and Competence (supplies are limited, first come first serve)
- More Information
So Denver, no excuses not to see me! I’ll be in blues and green to match my cover.
This will be my first ever visit to RWA nationals.
I have been to only one romance convention in the past, RT in LA years ago in 2011 for the release of Timeless. It wasn’t… er… stellar.
I am hoping RWA will be different.
Since I can now count a number of romance authors as my friends (thanks to my killer local chapter the SFA-RWA (join them, you know you want to). I imagine I will have a much better time.

Jacqueline Yau @jyauzer Fantastic showing by @sfarwawriters! @gailcarriger @Beth_Barany @kristinmiller02 @AuthorVA @CarolinaMontag
Want more tips on visiting Denver?
Meanwhile…
From Kate Strasdin ( @kateStrasdin on Twitter)
“The braided tassel affixed to this late 1870s visiting dress is a weighty embellishment. I want to know if it swung like a cat’s tail whilst walking?”

What I thought?
This tassel tail is clearly a rare moment of werewolf influence on Victorian fashion. Also Tasherit would go nuts if Prim wore something like this! NUTS.
- Did you miss the announcement of this release? Such things stuff go to my Chirrup members, because I love them bestest. Sign up here.
- Not into newsletters? Get only new releases by following Gail on Amazon or BookBub!
- Coop de Book for July is Competence, of course. (Discussion here.)
OUT NOW!
Amazon (hardcover) (audio) | B&N (hardcover) | Book Depository (hardcover)
SIGNED edition, use the SIGNED button
NOT USA?
Amazon.uk (paperback)| Book Depository (paperback) | Kobo
Direct from Gail for Kindle .mobi | non-Amazon digital readers .epub
Competence by Gail Carriger is the third in the Custard Protocol series featuring Primrose, Rue, and all their crazy friends..
Accidentally abandoned!
All alone in Singapore, proper Miss Primrose Tunstell must steal helium to save her airship, the Spotted Custard, in a scheme involving a lovesick werecat and a fake fish tail.
From Booklist…
“Recommend this amusing romp to steampunk and LGBT+ readers looking for suspenseful and romantic fantasy.”
From Publisher’s Weekly…
“Carriger excels at wry humor and clever phrasing, and her ensemble cast is thoroughly charming and satisfyingly diverse. There’s a genuine sense of whimsy and fun running throughout this story, making it a treat for fans of the series.”
GAIL’S DAILY DOSE
Your Infusion of Cute . . .

Savory Bread Pudding
Your Tisane of Smart . . .
From Arsenic to Electricity: A Brief look at Victorian Hair Removal
Book News:

Percy & Footnote Fanart by Desiree Schwartz
Quote of the Day:
“Don’t get stabbed. It makes everything awkward.”
~ from YA book, The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson
Questions about Gail’s Parasolverse? Wiki that sheez!
Could you give us more information on the savory breakfast pudding? Like where the picture came from? A recipe? It sounds like something I’d like both to make and eat and I would love know more about it.
Thank you. I am waiting breathlessly for Competence.
Oh that’s just me I’m afraid. My picture. Lemme see if I can kick up the recipe I think I wrote it somewhere…
Savory Bread Pudding
Bread (frankly the whiter the better, stale is fine, I use the crusts from tea sandwiches)
Custard: 4 eggs + 2 cups whole milk or half & half whisked together (add more milk/eggs if needed this is the basic quiche ratio: 1 large egg to 1/2 cup of dairy)
Your preferred vegetables such as peas, onion, zucchini. Do NOT use wet veg (like tomato)
1 cup or more strong cheese (sharp cheddar, smoked gouda, etc…) mixed is fine
Seasoning for the welsh rarebit style (add to custard mix):
1/4 cup whole mustard
additional squirts of yellow mustard or mustard powder, to taste
1/4 tsp white pepper (optional, do NOT substitute black pepper)
1/4 tsp paprika
1 tbsp worstishire sauce
zest of 2 lemons
1/4 cup port-style or dark brown beer (optional)
1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped fine (or more to taste, if dried, double quantity and crush)
DIRECTIONS
Fry up the veg al dente in a little salted butter, put aside.
Tear/cut up the bread into bite sized chunks. Add cooked veg. Add salt if desired (but cheese is pretty salty).
Add any fresh or dried herbs here, (or to the wet ingredients, doesn’t matter).
If you want to add any acids then drizzle onto the bread and mix in. (For example, I’ve done a brie and reduced balsamic with grapes that was rather nice, but you want anything like vinegar or lemon juice so it soaks into the bread before adding the custard otherwise it will curdle the milk.)
Ad 1/2 the cheese. You can do this in small chunks (brie, blue, goat etc…) like the veg, or grated. But the other half will need to be grated. So if you are doing something with blue or brie cheese, ALSO have some mild cheddar or parm for the top.
Put dry ingredients into baking pan or pie dish or what ever works (not spring form).
Make a custard of the wet ingredients by mixing them all together.
Pour the custard gently over the top of the bread mix until it gets almost to the top of the pan. It will puff up as it cooks.
Sprinkle with rest of the grated cheese and a little paprika for color.
Let sit for 1/2 hour at room temperature, or up to overnight in the fridge.
Treat it like a quiche, so cook at preheated 350 oven for 35-45 min. It will puff up, crisp at edges, and be slightly wobbly in the middle. Toothpick comes out clean.
Adapt to your whim
I use this recipe all the time to get rid of old bread and the ends of veg and cheeses in my mum’s fridge. It’s a greta end of the week what do I have left kind of casserole.
Any flavors that work well elsewhere can work well here. I’ve done brie, balsamic, & grapes, blue cheese, orange zest, & raisins, and also ones inspired by chicken Caesar or Waldorf salads.
Should be on our Kindles in a 4 hours time.
Exciting!
Hurrah! I left a review on Amazon (UK) – I have the kindle book; very fun!
Pishtaco sounds like pistachio nuts collided with fish and tortillas to a DIS-astrous effect! Or possible amusing….
A wee question (I haven’t got Facebook, so I can only ask here) – will Prim ever give up stays?
Oh, and “ladle pirate” – I think of Jack Sparrow with a ladle on his sash rather than the pistol! (I must have watched too much “Pirates of the Caribbean” – my sense of humour is now cross-wired!)
Are we certain that Rodrigo is an Italian name? It sounds suspiciously Spanish to me – like Rodrigo Borgia, founder of that family of nastiness!
I now truly want a pirate hat!
As a EU reader (French in fact) my experience of ordering Competence in paperback has not been easy, as compared to your other books. To this day (19 July) as it is still not available on Book Depository who could not confirm the date when they will have it in stock, I have chosen to cancel the pre-order. And as it is also unfortunately unavailable through Amazon.fr, I have ordered it through Amazon.uk, but as the order is placed from France, postage and shipping fees plus a small banking fee (payment being made in euros) have applied. And the delivery is due on the 24 or 25 July.
One week to wait………..
Got Competence. Read Competence. Loved Competence. I’m thinking that Prim may be my new favorite character…