February 08, 2025

'Guardian Angel' and Coming Home

Guardian Angel was my first ever effort at self-publishing a complete novel (and then some) following a few years spent working with small queer presses since 2008. It's also my longest novel to date as my omnibuses don't count since they were originally released in portions as multi-part books. Above all, this book was my first taste of freedom in the sense that I no longer had to consider requirements and limitations (all set by these small presses for good reason, of course), and I allowed myself to just damn the world and go nuts.

Clearly the length of the book at 150K words says as much. Crazy I'm now going the complete opposite with my current publishing efforts and am now limiting myself to long novellas. I've already discussed the reasons why I opted to take this format on for the rest of my writing and publishing life, so I'm not going to bore you guys with another post about them. I love the new length and am now super comfortable tackling it.

"The Governess" by A.M. Sartor
Anyway, my main love in literature is gothic horror, specifically ghost fiction. The more traditional haunted house fiction, the better, though not necessarily in setting. I'll take ghost stories in modern day houses or even public spaces as long as they're effectively chilling and atmospheric. For my first effort at a full-on self-published novel, I dove right into a traditional Victorian ghost story but with my own twist: an AU 19th century Europe where some magic is part of daily life, and same-sex relationships are commonplace and accepted. 

All that means writing Guardian Angel felt like coming home. 

Guardian Angel takes place in England, and I mined my library for inspiration in terms of getting me in the right head space for this story. So I read (and reread) my copies of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw, Susan Hill's The Woman in Black, and M.R. James's ghost stories. The only copy I had of the third book mentioned here wasn't a complete collection of James's work, by the way. It was just an anthology of select works, which ultimately got me hungry for his entire backlist. I was able to buy volumes one and two from a used book dealer online for the Penguin edition of his complete ghost stories. 

'The Woman in Black' by Susan Hill
In addition, I went back and lost myself (not that I'm complaining) again in my favorite haunted house movies, which I've also lauded time and again here: The Changeling, The Others, and El Orfanato. 

When I planned out Guardian Angel, I also tossed myself into the rabbit hole of taboo subjects or themes that were par for the course in classic gothic fiction from previous centuries. Rape, murder, and in future books like The House of Ash, incest -- though incest isn't in this one. Suffice it to say, jumping right into self-publishing freed me enough to want to try my hand at exploring subjects I otherwise would've avoided per my publisher's requirements.

Guardian Angel is one of my Backlist Bonanza books for February, and it's 50% off at $2.49. You can get a copy from one of the online stores on the book page.

February 03, 2025

Gallery Page for 'The Perfect Rochester' Now Up

As the post title says, y'all. I finally got it together and did the gallery page for The Perfect Rochester, and since I'm still not quite 100% myself yet, I hope like hell the stuff makes sense. I was also able to get the print book set up, so that should go live soon enough. We now have less than one month before the book's grand entrance.

Progress on Compline has improved a lot ever since I decided to work extra chapters into the book. It helped me revise that problematic chapter I whined incessantly about, and now things are where they should be. Only minor tweaks are needed for the rest of the initial chapters I wrote, and I'll cross that bridge when I get there. Suffice it to say, they're nowhere near as troublesome as the one I just reworked.

I'm going to be hitting the 30K-word mark this coming weekend, and things will pick up speed once that line's crossed. Wow. It's almost mind-blowing that I'm so close to the homestretch. And to think I almost shelved this book three times. A big old emphatic "Phew!" to that.

As a bit of an aside, I'd like to address the year-long book sales I'm having for my backlist. I'm doing that to help folks get copies of my books at more affordable prices. Granted, my set prices for my e-books and print books are by design, and they're meant to be the most affordable for books written by an obscure author who specializes in a relatively small niche (gothic horror and ghost fiction + a hint of gay romance).

However, given current economic uncertainties, I'm not about to strong arm anyone into shelling out money for my books. 

So the other option I encourage readers to take advantage of is Hoopla. All you need is a library card if you live in the US, and you can borrow my books through that program. It's free to readers, and writers still get a small royalty per book checked out. It's a win-win for everyone, and all but The Book of Lost Princes are listed. The cover art for most of the older books aren't the more current ones, but the contents are the same.

So if you're interested in checking out my stuff but would like to save some money, go here for my author page.

February 01, 2025

February Backlist Bonanza: 'Guardian Angel' and 'Dollhouse'

I was way off my center all of January (bad cold and a crazier than usual workload at the day job), so I barely managed a couple (three?) posts on the books I had on offer for my monthly Backlist Bonanza sale. I hope to do better this month though it looks like the day job's set to be just as nutty as last month. A shocking development, yeah, but also good in the sense of steady work in the face of a shitshow of a GOP administration (and I use "administration" in its loosest sense). 

So for February, two new books are 50% off:

GUARDIAN ANGEL

When nineteen-year-old Dominic Coville's parents die in an accident, leaving him not only alone but on the brink of poverty, he desperately searches for work and is thrilled when the post of secretary is awarded to him despite his obvious inexperience and ignorance. Mr. Wynyard Knight of Mandrake Abbey, however, gladly welcomes Dominic and earns the young man's immediate sympathy for his fragile health as well as gratitude for the promising new life now awaiting Dominic. 

Inside rock and timber, hungry shadows seek... 

But unusual things soon happen and appear to focus solely on him, and Dominic begins to wonder about the true history of Mr. Knight, the strange young man haunting the third floor, and Mandrake Abbey. With the persistent and increasingly violent attempts at communication by an angry ghost shadowing his hours, Dominic struggles to unravel the mysteries of his new home. And even with the help of a handsome young gentleman who's an aspiring supernaturalist as well as his clairvoyant sister, danger closes in far too quickly. 

Then it's only a matter of time before carefully constructed façades fall away, and the sickly, decaying underbelly of Mandrake Abbey's centuries-old collection of stone and timber will reveal itself. 

Set in an alternate England sometime before the mid-19th century, Guardian Angel weaves a tangled and dark tapestry of old magic, romance, and madness, a celebration of classic gothic fiction and its macabre sensibilities.

DOLLHOUSE

A bright future stretches out before Arthur Summerfield when he and his sister, Jane, are whisked off to the continent by Jane's fiancé. Catching the attention of a wealthy traveler ushers the pair into an exciting world filled with new friendships, young love, and a darkly magical land of misty mountains and mysterious guardian wolves.

While Arthur settles down into his new life in the town of St. Jude, Jane and Matus move into a centuries-old converted tower house fifty miles away. One that welcomes its new residents after decades of emptiness.

And centuries of loneliness.

The new residents stir the silent walkers of the house, their fates nothing more than cryptic entries in the journals of a long-dead mistress. As the house awakens, Arthur also draws the attention of Bohemia's guardian wolves, summoned to the town by their ancestor's calls.

Past and present come together in a chilling montage of centuries-old tragedies, an orphan's brush with the occult, and a young man who suddenly finds himself the focus of supernatural forces. Alone, armed with nothing but his wits, Arthur must venture into the deepening shadows of a haunted tower house to save the lives of those he loves most.

Guardian Angel is the first book under the Arcana Europa heading, and it's a collection of standalone novels that only share a universe, not an arc. Dollhouse is part of the Curiosities collection, which is also a collection of standalone novels sharing the same universe. Both e-books are half off through the end of February.

January 26, 2025

Romantic Gothic Boarding Schools

My cup of tea right there. RIGHT THERE. And tell you what -- in the course of searching for images I can use for this post, I stumbled across a couple of great ones that are inspiring me with more ideas for the next book on the calendar, and...

IT'S A BOARDING SCHOOL STORY. Wahoo!

Essentially the initial story idea I had for Compline, which would have taken place in a dark boarding school in Germany in the 19th century, has now trotted over to The Twilight Lover, whose notes are still pretty sparse enough for me to rework stuff. I was thinking at first of setting it in the present, but now things are in the air though it's still an option. I'll talk more about it when the time comes.

On that same note, I'd love to write a contemporary novella that's gothic horror without having to lean heavily on old houses and brooding settings, and maybe I'll be able to do that with the next book. The images I ran across very much have an Old World aesthetic, so I'll have to play around with ideas some more to see how I can make these elements come together. It'll be a ghost story, that's for sure. 

Anyway...

The primary setting for Wollstone is in a fantasy boarding school that's physically (and psychically?) isolated. The question of time and place is very murky on purpose as Emil's destined to come to terms with a past that's now haunting him in a trapped environment. As noted before, it was hugely inspired by Revolutionary Girl Utena as well as classic 1970s Boys Love manga like Kaze to Ki No Uta and Toma no Shinzou. 

I love the idea of boarding schools that are fantastical or are heavily influenced by fantasy and magic. The best, of course, would be boarding schools that are fantastical in the gothic horror sense. Wollstone Academy, in terms of the school's physical structure and the layout of the grounds (except for the strange wood that's part of the school environment), was based on my old school, which was a private Catholic girls' school. I just upped the romanticism by a bajillion percent and worked in some imagery from romanticized Chivalry. 

Wollstone is currently on sale for 50% through the end of January. 

January 25, 2025

Fun Times!

I've been sick, hence my radio silence over here. I've only had enough energy to check out the nightly chatter thread at Joe My God, and that's it. The last two weeks were rough, and while I'm much better now, I'm still putting up with residual coughing. I was supposed to post more about the two books currently on sale this month, but NOPE! That ship's gone, and all my energy levels and enthusiasm for it went with it.

But never say never. I'll rustle up a couple more posts about the books before the month's end since we'll be shifting gears with new books to put on sale for February.

My bout with a bad cold for two weeks also threw me off my game with my WiP, and again, I very nearly ditched the book and started over with a completely new one (The Twilight Lover). As I'm still not completely out of the woods yet, today's writing was sluggish but much less so than before. I'm also going back and inserting new chapters to fix the issues that've been messing with my head for a while now. It's working so far, but there'll be major tweaks I'll need to do with those chapters I've already written. As I type this post, we're at close to 50% of the book, which is terrific. 

Speaking of which, I'm once again reminded to get going on the gallery page for The Perfect Rochester, a book that keeps tempting me with an earlier release date. So far, as wonderful as it sounds, I refuse -- REFUSE, YOU HEAR ME? -- to cave in. Not today, Satan!

It's still on for March 1 even though I've been done with it for close to a quarter of a year now, and I hope to keep that gap up (even increase it slightly) for future books. And that's part of the reason why I'm not giving up on Compline and starting over either with this book or with another. There's no excuse in my case, anyway, since it's not even writer's block that's bogging down my progress. It's that mysterious wrench that's been jamming the spokes, and I have to keep analyzing what I've written down to see what's not working.

In other news, I've decided to buy Flow and own it outright as I love the movie so much it's worth paying for and watching several times over. I'm actually not a big film collector. I used to own a few VHS tapes and then a few DVDs, but over the years I didn't bother to replace my entertainment center when things broke down and ended up donating what I had.

Nowadays, with streaming services everywhere, I buy streaming movies, but I'm extremely picky about them. When before I used to have half a bookcase of tapes and DVDs, now I can count on one hand the movies I own on streaming. And Flow just made it because LOVE. 

Anyway, that's it for now. I figured I owe visitors to this site (those who aren't bots, that is) a quick update following nearly two weeks of silence. I hope to get back here tomorrow and talk some more about this month's Backlist Bonanza titles and might condense both books into one post. We'll see.