Big Sale (Payhip), Baby Sale (Smashwords)

So I did a thing. 

But, firstly, a bigger thing, i.e., the big sale over at my Payhip site. When you purchase a copy of Doppelgänger, you can add another book from the Grotesqueries collection for free. This BOGO sale will be on through the end of March, and it's there to help promote my new release. 

So head on over there if you'd like to support me directly.  

Secondly, a baby sale -- this time I decided to hold a 50% off sale through the month of March over at Smashwords for two books specifically: Hell-Knights and The Flowers of St. Aloysius. 

I only plan to offer future BOGO sales of my books over at Payhip, by the way, because I'd like to draw more reader traffic toward that site. It's my personal store, and I have a lot more freedom when it comes to offering sales and other promos. 

As for Smashwords, I decided to try out their site-specific deals via Draft2Digital since D2D now owns Smashwords, and I can play with their coupon manager feature since I can't participate in their tri-annual site-wide blitz sales (the rules aren't flexible enough for me, I'm afraid). For this month, I'm offering the two novels listed above for my first round of sales. Depending on how well this ends up, I might be doing this on a monthly basis, but by and large, my Payhip store will be where the bigger deals are. 

And I'm going to make it a thing now that each new book released -- all of which will be for the Grotesqueries collection -- will mark a month-long BOGO sale linked to that book and the rest of the other long novellas under that heading. That will be the only time I'll be offering any of my 99 cent books at some kind of discount. The rest of the year will be a mix of 60 - 80% off or maybe a limited BOGO for the rest of my backlist.  

I already have two sales set up for April and May (one per month), and I just need to put one together for June before the next big sale for Grotesqueries, i.e., when The Shadow Groom releases on July 1.  

Now Available: 'Doppelgänger' (New Month, New Book, New Sale!)

Finally saw the back of February, and here we are! Seriously, for a short month, it always feels so, SO long, living out every minute of it. Good riddance. 

We are now staring a new month with a new book plus a book sale via my Payhip store. So behold, ladies and gents, Doppelgänger is now available for purchase online in e-book and print formats. Again, here's the blurb:

An impoverished young teacher loses his job when the informal ragged school where he works shuts down. A much-needed stroke of luck, however, brightens Alec Herridge's prospects when he stumbles across a frame-maker's shop and is offered a job. This puts him squarely in the path of an enigmatic and wealthy family from France—expatriates whom gossips whisper about. Something, they say, has followed mother and son to England, and day servants complain about a heaviness in the air whenever the family is at home. 

It's a dark energy that turns its attention to Alec now that his new job requires him to work closely with Marguerite and Théo LaSalle. It also appears to him as a silent lookalike of Théo, its presence marked by whispers in a child's voice. Urging, pleading, desperately reaching out to Alec for help. 

Folklore defines doppelgängers as heralds of ill fortune, but Alec soon discovers there's much more to Théo's double than a warning. That whatever horrible secrets the LaSalle family believes were left behind in France aren't the kind so easily explained away. That something has, indeed, followed them in exile and now refuses to be ignored or forgotten.

Go here for my Payhip store, which is the most direct way folks can support me. But if you prefer to go elsewhere, this is the Books2Read page for it. Links to the print book might take a day or two to update, so keep checking.  

Now here's an incentive for supporting me directly through Payhip (sneaky, sneaky me, I know)...

I talked about how I never put up the books in my Grotesqueries collection for special sales because they're already dirt cheap (many publishing gurus actually advise against doing this because this price point doesn't entice readers the way $2.99 does, but I have my reasons for sticking to things). Well, I changed my mind at least for my Payhip store.

I'm running a BOGO sale to promote my new book, and it involves the entire Grotesqueries collection. So if you buy a copy of Doppelgänger from my store, you can snag a free copy of ANY book from the same collection. The sale runs through the entire month, and it'll be the only sale for March. And, yes, it's only going to be at my store. 

So, yes -- if you purchase the book, I hope you enjoy it, and do leave a review to help it get some traction. Thanks for the support! Woohoo, new book! 

EDIT: If you tried to check out my store sometime yesterday (Feb. 28), you'd have seen the book already set up and available for purchase. Unfortunately, Payhip doesn't allow for pre-orders, so I might as well get that page live before I go to bed. So, hey -- that's one more incentive to buy direct! 😁

New Links and Other Fun Stuff

Okay, so Bookshop.org finally has my e-books listed in one handy page: over yonder, please, for the main page. Use the filter to get to the format of your choice. 

Again, these pages will take you to the online store fronts of small, indie bookstores, which I hope more and more people will support. 

I've hit my stride with The Shadow Groom and am back to the same mental place where I lost myself when I was working on The Twilight Lover, but rather than turn to Blackadder for my inspiration this time around, we're looking at -- of all things -- KPop Demon Hunters (a Netflix film). At its core, it has a real bonkers premise that's also bolstered by a crap ton of ridiculous moments, and I'm here for it. But it also does a terrific job exploring issues of shame and self-loathing without (from what I can see from scattered clips online, that is) undermining those issues with all the color and frenetic movement of a lot of scenes.

And the songs don't help (I mean that in a good way, of course). 

Ironically, I no longer have a Netflix subscription, but I might just re-up for a month if only to watch this movie as well as a couple more that's in their catalogue. I only know about this film through Youtube's algorithms because I've been watching reaction videos to Oscar nominated films, and YT decided to dump a bunch of reaction videos to different clips and songs from KPDH. 

I clicked on one. Then another. Then another. 

Now I can safely say I will be referencing this movie a lot in the future gallery page for The Shadow Groom. Why? Because I'm eating up all the absurdity and the color and the fun vibes of KPDH and using them for inspiration to keep my energy levels up as I power through the chapters. I'm currently hitting the 10K-word mark, and it's been such a fun ride so far. 

And if fans of the film and its soundtrack were to ask, I'm putting the two most subversive songs performed by the the antagonists at the top of my favorites. I mean, come on -- these are great villain songs, one couched in pure bubblegum pop packed with double entendres, the other pretty much being all out on sucking up people's souls. 

I mean...

Damn, "Soda Pop" is so catchy though "Your Idol" is No. 1 with its creepy visuals and its haunting melody (or haunting EVERYTHING about it -- just *chef's kiss*). At any rate, I'm posting these two here so I can go back to them down the line when the time comes.

As an addendum, I'm going to be offering a sale in March, and by that I mean it's in tandem with the release of Doppelgänger, so do watch this space. 

D2D and Bookshop.Org (Yay, Expansion!) -- Also a Writing Update

The most recent news in indie publishing involves Draft2Digital partnering with Bookshop.org for distribution of indie e-books via independent bookstores. 

😄

That means readers can now buy books by self-published writers (who use Draft2Digital) from small, independent bookstores -- not only in print formats, but in digital as well. My print books, for instance, are already listed on Bookshop.org, and I made sure to use that link for my main print store on my navigation menu here and at my Payhip store. 

And now I happily submitted all 49 books on my backlist to Bookshop .org for their digital storefront. And this means readers don't have to go to the bigger and more corporate stores like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Walmart, etc., for their books in either format.

If I were to limit my reach, I'd delist my books from the big stores and stick to this one, Smashwords, and my Payhip store. Libraries are also a no-brainer. This is something to think about down the line if I want to do some major spring cleaning, especially if my sales channels tend to number less than five despite the ever-widening distribution Draft2Digital is determined to go for (and kudos to them for being aggressive about it).

In writing news, I've already detached myself from Doppelgänger and have begun putting together the character and place list for The Shadow Groom. I already have the first chapter mapped out in my head (and my notebook), and I'll be diving into that tomorrow. Normally I'd be worried about pacing myself, but with my new work schedule, I can breathe more easily, and it'll be no problem catching up on the brief lag with my occasional extra days off. 

The book will be like The Twilight Lover in tone and setting in that it'll be a romantic comedy set in a fairy tale-ish place. I'm also leaning pretty heavily on trope reversals so that the more traditional family unit is bizarre and wild while the more eclectic family unit is more prim and conservative. So we're going to be back to having fun with family dynamics and how they influence our lovebirds. 

So yeah -- first step done, tomorrow will be devoted to the first chapter and Errol's family.  

 

'Doppelgänger' Gallery Page Now Up

Just a quick post here, ladies and gents -- the gallery page for Doppelgänger is now live. However, there are no links to the bookstores yet because the book might be uploaded for preview and pre-order purposes, but the final version is still being worked on. 

So head on down to this page for some tidbits on the book.  

'Doppelgänger' Blurb

Oooh, man, I'm so excited about this book. Now granted it started out completely different, but that version of the book hit a brick wall, and I just had to set it aside and start from square one. And let me tell you all, it was the right decision to make.

And as I continue to work on edits now (revisions are done), I guess it's time to share the book blurb:

An impoverished young teacher loses his job when the informal ragged school where he works shuts down. A much-needed stroke of luck, however, brightens Alec Herridge’s prospects when he stumbles across a frame-maker’s shop and is offered a job. This puts him squarely in the path of an enigmatic and wealthy family from France—expatriates whom gossips whisper about. Something, they say, has followed mother and son to England, and day servants complain about a heaviness in the air whenever the family is at home. 

It’s a dark energy that turns its attention to Alec now that his new job requires him to work closely with Marguerite and Théo LaSalle. It also appears to him as a silent lookalike of Théo, its presence marked by whispers in a child’s voice. Urging, pleading, desperately reaching out to Alec for help.

Folklore defines doppelgängers as heralds of ill fortune, but Alec soon discovers there’s much more to Théo’s double than a warning. That whatever horrible secrets the LaSalle family believes were left behind in France aren’t the kind so easily explained away. That something has, indeed, followed them in exile and now refuses to be ignored or forgotten.

I was originally planning to have it out in April or May when I still had the six-month calendar to work with. But with my day job schedule changing (and it starts this week), I find I'll have just the perfect amount of wiggle room to continue with the more challenging 4-month release dates.

This book's release will now be on March 1 -- not a lot of time left, but that's because of the problems I had that required me to start over. Plus I did take nearly a full month's break as well during the holidays to rest the brain cells. So it's going to be a tight final stretch, but I can do it. My energy levels and motivation are very high this month, and it's going to work out. 

And, you know, this turned out to be a book that ended up being very close to my heart. I've also said this about some of the books on my backlist before, but while I'm proud of everything I've written and published, this is one of the select few that really, truly felt good working on because everything in it means something to me.

Anyway, there's the blurb, and I'll be posting more updates on the book as we get closer to the release date.  

Grabbing the Bull by the Horns

Idioms aside, that's just me making a liar out of myself. I spent the past couple of weeks thinking -- and overthinking -- my future releases given changes taking place at the day job and other situations in the real world. And you know what? Fuck the noise. I'm doing this. Now that it's possible, yeah -- I'm doing this.

But firstly, I made a formal commitment (to myself, anyway) to move forward with the overhaul to Eidolon, which is now called Liminal Child. I'll be tackling that last, but it's officially part of my queue now. 

And I have a cover (why, yes, my name partly disappears again, but I love the image, and I'm keeping it), in which I recycle the hand print that was on the alternate cover for Valérian:

I'm going to hold on to the first five or six chapters with a lot of tweaks worked in. The PoV will shift from Emerick to his two fathers, and the setting will be some amorphous place that's similar to what I originally used in the Curiosities series. I'm going to try to keep things fairly close to the first incarnation of the book with more of a dark fairy tale aesthetic -- which was, to be fair, what the entire Curiosities series was all about. 

I'll figure out the details when I get there, but I do know how to approach the changes overall.

And secondly, bringing us back to the post title, let me repeat myself: fuck the noise. I'm doing it. And that's in reference to the calendar again now that I'm going to be getting some extra time for writing (official confirmation's been done). In brief, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to go back to the old 4-month calendar. I managed to do that for a few years with a heavy load at the day job, even shifting releases earlier here and there because things went either smoothly or badly enough for me to finish earlier or later than planned. But things are going to change starting February, and I refuse to be at loose ends on the writing front as it's one sure-fire way of driving me crazy.

So this is for 2026 (click the image for a closer look):

And this is for 2027 (ditto):

I do like to keep mentally busy on my extra days off, and that's not counting just kicking back and reading whatever book I've checked out from the library. I want to write, and I love every minute of it despite the excruciating nature of creation. I also work best with a set schedule to guide my pace, and the coming year or two will see an easing of the pressure as well in spite of the reversal to the 4-month plan.

Over the years, I was more like a steady workhorse with my writing. This year feels a little different even though we barely started the second half of the first month of 2026. I feel oddly lighter despite what I'm seeing around me (real world-wise, that is), and I want to take that energy and motivation and run with them. 

I'd like to be not so much a steady workhorse this time around, but an aggressive and steady workhorse. An odd combo, but there it is. That's my aim. I want it, and I'm going for it. Part of it has to do with my Payhip store and my second attempt at selling direct to readers. I wasn't too sure in my first attempt and was easily discouraged by it (plus I was on social media, too, which didn't help my efforts), but with all the changes I've discussed pertaining to Draft2Digital's policies, I don't want to be passive about stuff. It was good while it lasted, but if things change, I have to pivot accordingly if I want to keep doing what I'm doing and benefit from it, no matter how little.

So, yeah -- I'm going for it. God help me, I am. 😈

P.S. I'll updating my Book News page later this week to reflect this change. 

Still Playing In the Sandbox

You can tell I'm getting pretty hyped about my upcoming WiPs because I'm playing with cover art and coming up with alternates. 

So this is the same image from yesterday, only kept in its unedited format and also shifted to the right. I want to emphasize the halo behind the head since it's part of the mental trap the MC will be getting sucked into. Also you can at least see my name in this case, so that helps.

And this is the alternate cover:

This works effectively in establishing the mood and atmosphere of the book, and every element suggests something important about Valérian. It's not as subtle as the first image, which is meant to work like a ruse, but either cover art will work. I'll be making my final decision down the line, of course, as it'll be a while before I get going on this.

I'm down to the final five chapters of Doppelgänger revisions, which I'll complete next weekend. Then it'll be another round of lighter edits. THEN it'll be The Shadow Groom, which will be another nice change of pace since it's going to be another comedy-horror based on the Grimm Brothers fairy tale. If I play my cards right, it'll be in the same vein as The Twilight Lover. 

As for my Payhip store, I do intend to offer sales each quarter, and that includes BOGO (Buy One, Get One [either free or half off]) sales that'll last two months. I'm still sorting through how best to stir interest in my books in between releases, especially since my backlist is not only extensive, but old. And getting even older by the month. 

I'll certainly talk about it here as the ideas come. And they do. I can't shut my brain off.

And We Have a New One!

And this is absolutely doable at this point. It's a long story, but I'll be enjoying more time here and there for my writing, which is really, REALLY doing a massive number on my brain and how it's working around calendar updates and stuff. Anyway, here we have a new book added:

I know, my name at the top tends to disappear depending on the image I use for the cover art. But the title is what matters more, and since I self-publish, I can do whatever I want. 

This story was inspired by several images I saved from Pinterest -- my go-to space for image inspiration. Specifically, this one, which I've been holding on to for God knows how long:

Oh, and not to mention this one as well: 

 

This is NOT, by the way, the Cupid and Psyche retelling I've been playing with in my head. It isn't a ghost story, either, but more gothic horror with a heavy dose of atmosphere. To an extent, I'd say it's closer in literary influence to Rebecca than mythology. 

 

Of course, I'm still working on my revisions for Doppelganger, so I might be slightly influenced by the whole double-walker element (though in the case of the new book, there aren't any hauntings save for psychological ones).  

 

So, yeah -- I'm really excited about this. It's been a while since I last got inspired with a new book idea, so this is amazing. At any rate, it'll be added to my queue, and it'll likely be coming after A House of Profane Gods. I'm still figuring out where to plant the overhauled Eidolon book, but that's kind of low on my priority list right now. 

Just Flapping Ye Olde Gums

It's a pretty disturbing idiom, isn't it: "flapping gums"? It's like -- YIKES, I can't unsee it! But it means to talk idly, so I'll hang on to that. Damn idiom. Can't get it out of my head now.

Anyway, like the gross post title says, this is just me blabbity-blabbing away in lieu of, you know, solid updates.

So firstly -- revisions for Doppelgänger are going disturbingly well. I should be done with the first round by the end of this month. Even a weekend before, come to think of it, but a lot of the work happened during the holiday weekend, when I was forced -- yes, FORCED -- to stay home for a four-day weekend. I wanted to go to work, people, but post-Christmas work is always light, and I had to redirect my energy. At least I got that done, and I'm happy with the results so far.

And that segues into another publishing calendar update.

I'll now have the chance to work an extra day here and there on my WiP (whatever it might be), which means another adjustment on my calendar. If things continue to go down this road indefinitely, I might be back to a more frequent release schedule -- like every 4 months instead of the target 6. The sweet spot would be every 5 months for the more frequent releases, to be honest, so I'll need to re-calibrate my brain into following that slightly tweaked rhythm.

I mean, there's a big difference between 4 and 6 but not so between 4 and 5. It's common sense, so why the hell am I overthinking stuff again? 

Secondly -- I've updated this site with the appropriate links to my Payhip store but didn't take out the old ones for Books2Read. My Book List page, in particular, have individual book links to their Books2Read pages, but the general link is now for Payhip. My site's navigation bar has been updated as well, and I'll leave it like that for now. 

Essentially my Books2Read store is still up and running, and I won't be pulling my books from any of the listings there; however, I'll no longer be using that for my primary store site whenever I advertise a new release. I understand that many folks prefer to buy books from their favorite online stores, and I'm not going to force their hands, but the focus will shift elsewhere. 

Thirdly -- I tried, but I gave up on the Dresden Files novel series. I read Storm Front and enjoyed it enough to want to read the rest of the books that are available at the library, but the next book I picked up was disappointing. I guess I'm not the audience for the series even though the premise sounds fun. But having the hero spend the entire book getting his ass handed to him while lusting after every woman he sees frustrated the ever-loving hell out of me. 

I did check out a couple of ghost story novels which I look forward to reading (The Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill and This House is Haunted by John Boyne). We'll see how those pan out. The great thing about the public library (one of the great things, I mean) is that there are thematic lists put together by library staff from different public libraries, and I get to check out the more obscure titles to enjoy. I bookmarked the page of recommended titles in the same vein as those two I mentioned.

There's the rub, I think. Super popular books like the Dresden Files (and I've read a good number over the years) end up disappointing me while books overlooked by the most vocal readers stick the landing. So it takes me longer to find the books I end up enjoying, hence my refusal to use Goodreads for that. Well, I deleted my account there ages ago, and I can't say I miss it.

And I guess that's it for now. I'm still tweaking my Payhip store, appearance-wise, so there may be small changes happening whenever you visit. At the moment it's simple and functional, and that's all I need for the time being.     

New Store Now Up (with 60% Coupon)

I finally have my Payhip store set up! 

It's going to be my main store front from this point on, and it takes both Paypal and credit cards via Stripe. There are no sign ups to purchase directly from me, and the benefit here is, of course, special sales available only through this store.

click the logo to go to my store

I've noted in my previous blog post that Draft2Digital is changing not only payment thresholds, but also royalty rates from their Smashwords store front. Plus their print book partner is raising their prices as well, but I'm not raising mine as a result since Print on Demand is way more expensive to begin with for customers compared to bulk printing, which I don't have.

So if you'd like to support me and cut out the middle man, buying my books directly from my Payhip store will significantly help. 

And for the rest of January through the end of February, I have coupons set up for my Curiosities, Arcana Europa, Masks, and Miscellaneous collections. All books in those collections are 60% off with specific coupon codes. You can buy as many books as you'd like, of course. I ain't stopping you. 😊

As another perk of buying direct, this store will be the only one where I'll be offering future discounts, which involves the rest of my collections save for Grotesqueries since those books are already steeply discounted at a flat 99 cents. In fact, all of my 99 cent books from all collections won't be on sale for that reason.

FOR KINDLE USERS: Please note I'm only selling DRM-free Epub files. You can still purchase my books, download them (you own them, after all), and send them via email to your Kindle email account. When Amazon receives the files, it'll convert them to their proprietary format so you can read them from your Kindle device or app on your phone. Easy peasy. 

I no longer offer Mobi files since Amazon's discontinuing that format (unless they've already done so), and Epub is the best format to use for any device. 

For print books, I added a link to Bookshop Org on the navigation section of the store. That'll take you to a general page for me where you can look for stores where you can purchase print books. Whenever you can, please do support smaller indie stores though my books are also available through Barnes and Noble, etc., if you prefer. 

I'll be adding my store links to this site this weekend, but for now, feel free to peruse the store. And as always, thank you so much for your support!

Looking Into 2026 and Beyond

I've been self-publishing since 2016 (and with a small press from 2008 - 2016), and while I've been pretty satisfied with where I am currently with Draft2Digital, I am considering going back to selling direct via Payhip, which I tried to do a few years ago. While it's true that I'm more likely to enjoy success selling direct if I were a more popular writer with a massive and loyal fanbase (I'm not), I still would like to offer that as an option to readers.

The main reason for this move is my royalties, which are very, very small. Draft2Digital also takes a percentage of my net sales, which leaves me with pennies at the end of the day, especially with my preferred prices for my long novellas being only 99 cents. They also recently added a threshold to their payments, which will delay what little I already earn by a month or two months or whenever my sales cross their new threshold. 

Recently their royalty rates via Smashwords shrank, and it affects authors across the board. Then their print platform also raised prices on printing each unit, further shrinking another income source (for what it's worth) for me. I rarely sell print books, really, and the argument for just ditching it as something that isn't worth the trouble is compelling, but I still would like to keep that option available.  

Draft2Digital is a business first and foremost, and I don't begrudge them this. They have the right to make these changes even if those don't benefit writers on the lowest end of the sales spectrum like me. 

So if I'm only going to be making a couple of dollars here and there, it's best if I were to keep as much of the sales as possible. One great thing about selling direct is that customers don't need to sign up for an account in order to access the books. I can also offer sales exclusively through that platform, and there's no need for sign ups or anything. 

It's going to take a while for me to get my store up and running, and when it's done, I'll post about it here. Maybe I'll end up pulling my books from all bookstores while keeping them available to check out from library services and simply selling them directly through Payhip. I've toyed with the idea again and again, and arguments can be made either way, but I suppose I'll cross that bridge when I get there. 

'Doppelganger' Now Done!

And I frankly would celebrate if I weren't laid low by the flu. I've been sick since Christmas Day, and my temperature went all over the place -- hell, I still had a low-grade fever before bedtime last night. I don't have any now, but I'm also in that post-flu phase where I still feel sluggish and not too keen on food. I was forced to call out yesterday, too, hence the book's completion.

I only hope the final chapter reads sensibly since I worked on while in the grip of a fever. Bleah. I'll have time enough to double-check it on New Year's Day.

And to further emphasize my post-flu malaise, I'm keeping this post super short. 

Happy Winter Solstice!

 

art by Cynthia Reece from Pinterest

And so we've reached the point linking my two favorite seasons (Autumn and Winter), which means the night will be growing shorter and shorter from this point onward. Bah, humbug!  

Doppelganger has turned into a quieter and subtler ghost story, which echoes the season -- however, don't be fooled by this. The backstory's kind of heavy and tragic. The projected completion of the first draft still stands, and then I'll be back to arguing with myself over moving release dates yet again. The most problematic thing about my brain when it's in full creative mode is that it keeps spinning idea after idea until I've got so many unwritten books lined up that the calendar's looking like a decade's worth of publishing. 

All right, so I'm not quite there yet, but you know what I mean. 

Anyway, I do believe I have a new title for the-book-formerly-called-Eidolon. I'm leaning more and more on Liminal Child for it, but I'm still on the fence as to whether or not to change character names since it's going to be an overhaul with the plot turning down a completely different direction. It's also going to be scheduled after A House of Profane Gods, which means not for another couple of years -- depending on whether or not I mess around again with my calendar. 

In other -- more mundane -- news, I've been abusing my library card left, right, and center the past few months. I used to be so timid when it came to that, checking out one book at a time and also feeling guilty for borrowing two books. No more! I've been borrowing 2-3 books at a time and renewing the due date for my queue since I average a book a week (or a book and a half sometimes), and to keep my momentum going, I've been putting multiple books on hold as well.

It's been a terrific way of removing myself from my entrenched world of gay romances in my e-reader app and rediscovering a wider world out there. It's good for the creative juices, you know, because I'm starting to feel like my go-to stuff is calcifying. There are popular authors and unknown ones whose books in my favorite genre are keeping my brain fed and inspiring me in ways I've never considered before. There are also those classic books that were on my reading bucket list, and I'm trying to get to them while I still can. 

The War of the Worlds is one. I'm not a sci-fi fan, but I love me some Victorian sci-fi (or, ideally, Victorian steampunk!). I haven't gotten around to exploring that genre as I've been fully immersing myself in ghost fiction anthologies, historical mysteries, and urban fantasy like the Dresden Files. 

With all this library borrowing, I'm also turning to print books for that purpose and retraining my attention when it comes to reading. Digital books are great, yes, but it's easier for me to focus on the printed page when I read, and I think my ability to block my environment in order to sustain a lengthy focus on text needs further exercise. Or beefing up, however you look at it. At any rate, it's another good variation for me, and it helps me find balance after X number of years reading nothing but digital books. 

Of course, in the meantime, I'm adding to my digital library whenever a site-wide sale comes on at Smashwords, and the list is slowly growing. I won't be short of choices when I decide to change tack and take up the next e-book for reading. 

But, man, I love how books are just everywhere. May 2026 be just as bountiful -- or more so. 

So We're Down the Home Stretch

In terms of the month, the year, and my WiP. How ya like dem apples? Granted this year's been a mess in more ways than one, but as far as my protective bubble of writing, everything's going swimmingly. Therein lies the real benefit of doing this -- not for a living, no, but more like a labor of love at this point. It's very healing, writing books on subjects and themes I love to read and explore, and I'm always proud to share them with the rest of the world.

Anyway, as the year draws to a close and I'm clean out of promos to post, howzabout basic updates? Yeah, I can do that.

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DOPPELGÄNGER -- I'm down to the last 19K words, which is always a point in my writing progress that catches me off-guard and then cranks up the background anxiety. It's a marker reminding me that I only have less than 20K words left for the first draft, and I've got to make sure the climax is placed where it can give the resolution enough space to unfold. So I have to be doubly mindful of how each chapter leading up to it needs to move, but the penultimate moment for Alec is going to be in one of the next 2-3 chapters. 

I'm basically looking at the last weekend of the month or the first weekend of the next month / next year when the first draft will be completed, and then it's circling back to revisions and edits. 

Incidentally, a previous blog post discussing this book noted a couple of Elton John songs that have been my musical inspiration for this book. But that's now all changed because I needed to start over and do a complete overhaul, and the inspiration is now very, very different. What started out as a contemporary story is back to being a historical fantasy.

Also another big revelation -- or make it a painful reminder -- is that I suck at writing first person POVs in a modern setting. Did that once with Primavera, and I tried again with the first attempt at Doppelgänger, but no more. If I'm going to write in the first person again, it'll be historical fantasy because I have a pretty dated style of narrative. Now we're back to a third person POV, which is my comfort zone.   

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THE SHADOW GROOM -- The next book on the calendar is already enjoying quite a bit of visual inspiration collection, if you will. I've put together a folder and am saving every image I'd like to play with as prompts. 

It's meant to be another historical fantasy and a comedy like The Twilight Lover, and it's also just as obvious as a romance with hefty doses of folktale elements. The main plot's already laid out: it's a retelling of another fairy tale, which is "The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was". Damn, that title's a mouthful, but I've only known it as "The Boy Who Didn't Know How to Shudder" as a kid. That was the title given to the fairy tale in the book I once had, anyway, so that's what I remember. I do love the story, though, and it's one of my favorites. 

Oh, and speaking of myth and folklore retellings, I do have a new one in mind involving the Cupid and Psyche myth. I looooove that story to bits, and I think it's a great one to take apart and retell using the genre that's closest to my heart. I've yet to come up with a title, but that story's a solid contender, and I'll be posting more about it here as more ideas on it come up.

I do want it to come out like Compline, which I'm ridiculously happy with. Yes, it's pretty damn dark, but the original fairy tale is very, very subtle and requires the reader to pay close attention to the story elements that hearken back to the Pied Piper story. I'd love to do just that with the Cupid and Psyche retelling as well. Or re-imagining, I suppose, which would be more appropriate given what I hope to achieve. 

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EIDOLON -- Or the book formerly called Eidolon, anyway. It's going through some initial tweaking, idea-wise, and I do have a good angle for the ghost story now. The title hasn't come up yet, but it'll happen once I'm ready to tackle it. But it's another solid contender for my publishing calendar, which means there'll be some adjustments yet again. 

My pace of writing at this point now depends on not so much my energy levels (which have recovered and are being strictly maintained because I don't want to work myself to death, thank you very much), but by my desire to immerse myself in my therapeutic bubble. Even if I only write on the weekends (3 - 4 hours per day), it's a strategy that's worked nicely so far. 

I don't know how 2026 will unfold, but I'm still hard at work on my books, so at least I've got something to offer folks who want to escape the world for a short time. And if things end up working better than expected, I very well might just give in and tweak my releases again, giving up the 6-month calendar in favor of shorter gaps. 

Because I'm obviously good at making a liar out of myself, know what I mean? 

'The Glass Minstrel' and Strange Visions

By chance, I saved the hardest book for last. The Glass Minstrel was one of three realistic historical novels I wrote (the others being Icarus in Flight and Banshee), and I honestly was so drained after finishing this that I decided historical fantasy was more aligned with my preferences. 

The book actually started out as a short story, and (ironically) the story was a fairy tale (read: historical fantasy). It revolved around a glass minstrel that comes to life when Christmas rolls around, and while other ornaments and toys celebrate the season, he's burdened by the grief his creator (a toymaker who lost his son) infused in him.  

And to go even further back, a very specific song (and a very specific rendition of it -- see: embedded video) somehow called to mind a scene which involves an old man bent over his worktable, weeping over a glass ornament that he'd designed to represent his dead son. Pretty strange, isn't it, that something so specific would inspire another extremely specific thing in my head? But that was how it all started.

Fast forward several years later when I decided to expand that fairy tale, strip it of its fantasy elements, and reshape it into a more realistic plot -- while at the same time hinting at those lost fairy tale elements with the use of Christmas and toys as significant symbols (even metaphors, if you will) that weave in and out of the day-to-day lives of three main characters. 

While I spent a lot of time looking up information on 19th century Bavaria (the setting of the story), there were still obviously a number of things I had to use my imagination on. I think that also kind of added an extra layer to the fairy tale touches. 

It was a difficult novel to write, yes -- not only logistically, but emotionally. I'll admit I cried here and there while working on this, especially the final chapters. This is a book that I hold dearly, dearly, dearly in my heart largely because I had to dig deep and scrape so much of myself out and lay it all on paper, and it hurt like a MF in more ways than one. 

The Glass Minstrel is the final book that's up for a 50% discount in e-book format. Go here for more information and a list of stores where you can purchase a copy.  

December Backlist Bonanza: 'The Glass Minstrel' (How Apropo!)

We have a solo act for the final month of the year, folks. This December, the following book is 50% off in e-book format from online stores: 

THE GLASS MINSTREL 

It is the Christmas season in mid-19th century Bavaria. Two fathers, Abelard Bauer and Andreas Schifffer, are brought together through the tragic deaths of their sons. Bauer, a brilliant toymaker, fashions glass Christmas ornaments, and his latest creation is a minstrel with a secret molded into its features.

When Schiffer sees Bauer's minstrel ornament in the toy shop, he realizes that Bauer is struggling to keep his son's memory alive through his craft. At first he tries to fault him for this, but then recognizes that he, too, is seeking solace and healing by reading his son's diary, a journal that reveals, in both painful as well as beautiful detail, the true nature of Heinrich's relationship with Stefan.

Fifteen-year-old Jakob Diederich is the son of a poor widow. The boy is burdened with his own secret, and he develops an obsession with a traveling Englishman who stays at the inn where Jakob works. The lives of Bauer, Schiffer, and Diederich intersect during the holiday as Schiffer tries to focus on his family in the present, Bauer struggles to reconcile his past, and Jakob copes with an uncertain future.

Echoing the sensibilities of melancholy 19th Century folktales, lyrical prose and rich period detail quietly weave a moving tale of redemption, hope, and haunting, but timeless, themes.

The book choice is coincidental given the season. I ran my backlist through a random number generator and ended up with the sequence of books as I posted it since January. Anyway, my only Christmas novel is the final title on the block, the solo act due to the face that Eidolon was pulled from the list, and it left a space. 

Anyway, there it is, and I'll be posting stuff about it later this month. 

 

Maybe Not Dead, After All

No, that post title doesn't refer to me. Yikes. It's in reference to my much-lamented book, Eidolon, which I delisted and pulled completely from all stores. 

I've been thinking about it on and off lately -- though the "on" bit is a lot less than the "off" bit, I'll admit -- and I do think something can be done with it. The story itself falters once Emerick grows up, and the POV shifts to his entirely, so I'd like to go back, take the earlier chapters (however many I can salvage, anyway), and work with those for a new story.

Or at least a new angle to Emerick's curse. 

One thing I'd like to do is to continue the POV from his parents', which I've always felt was a stronger position from which to tell the story, but this is one example of not listening to one's instinct and the less than stellar results of that move. Not that I'm excusing my choices, mind you, but since I was trying to force the book into the Curiosities mold, I was obligated to change the POV to the character most affected by the cursed wish. 

Shouldn't have done that. Well, you know what they say about hindsight.

Anyway, I'd like to salvage those chapters from the fateful night of the mother's misguided wish through to the moment the family immigrate to a different country and take it from there. Of course, there'll be a hell of a lot of rewriting -- not revising, no, but an overhaul without completely sacrificing the story from Valentin and Hanke's perspective. It's going to be tricky, but I can do it. At least the groundwork is there, and I just need to spend time picking through what's usable and what isn't until the foundation is completely set.

I think it's the only way to give the story the vindication it deserves now that I've accepted my mistake and am willing to make things right. The story will be part of the Grotesqueries collection, naturally, and as for what the new title will be (definitely won't be Eidolon) or even the story's tone, it's all going to come out down the line. The calendar might shift again, I don't know. 

For now the six-month schedule looks good, but I'm also progressing pretty rapidly with Doppelgänger, and I might be tempted -- because I'm weak that way-- to tweak my publishing calendar again. If that does happen, it's more likely going to be a five-month schedule and not a four-month one like before because I'm not superhuman. 

Anyway, watch this space. 

'Rose and Spindle' and Loving Thy Enemies

I do apologize for the radio silence from my end. Work's gotten surprisingly hectic, and I haven't been mentally fit to update my blog until now. There were also a few self-care things I've been delaying that demanded attention, so I paid them attention. All's well now, though, and I can move on.

Anyway, yes -- Rose and Spindle, woo!

image from Pinterest

This book, along with Gold in the Clouds, was my attempt at writing a fairy tale retelling from the point of view of a side character. For instance, for Gold in the Clouds, which was a retelling of "Jack and the Beanstalk," Blythe is a good friend of Jack, and the book delves into the magic beanstalk and how its existence forces the boy to choose a path while Jack goes off on his own adventure in the clouds (with disastrous results in a lot of ways). 

And for Rose and Spindle, we're looking at the "Sleeping Beauty" story with the points of view of two side characters, both princes, one of whom is a cousin of the titular fairy tale princess. The book is also a romantic comedy as well as a satire poking fun of all the perfect attributes given to Sleeping Beauty herself, and I really enjoyed turning Rosamund's "gifts" and "blessings" on their head (much to her cousins' chagrin). 

The enemies-to-lover trope was really the main point of the book: the journey taken by Hamlin and Edouard from childhood mutual loathing to a thawing of the enmity every time they saw each other through the years -- but with still a lot of saltiness seasoning the meal, so to speak, until there wasn't any salt left. 

The love story coming out of this coming-of-age experience is the reward, the final choices made when the curse finally comes to silence the princess's castle and everyone in it -- all of those aren't the focus of the book even though they all lurk in the background like ever-evolving threats. An inevitability that will test the princes' love for each other. 

And to mirror what we usually get from Disney princess films through the years, we have sidekicks -- animal and human -- who are there to help our boys find their hearts and understand their bond. 

Rose and Spindle is one of two books currently marked down by 50% through the end of November in e-book format. You can go here for the book page and a list of stores, and happy reading! 

'The Book of Lost Princes' and Oscar Wilde

I once owned a collection of Oscar Wilde's short stories, which were primarily his original fairy tales. It was one of those books I loved to pieces (still do, really) despite collapsing in a puddle of tears after every story. 

this wasn't the volume I owned, but you get the idea

"The Happy Prince", "The Selfish Giant", "The Nightingale and the Rose", and "The Birthday of the Infanta" were the ones that tore me up again and again, yet I couldn't help (still can't, really) going back to them repeatedly because of how different they were from the older folktales we're all so familiar with. They're complex, they dive much deeper, and they deal with more adult themes in several ways -- "The Nightingale and the Rose" and "The Birthday of the Infanta" are examples of the last item. The other two stories are more child-friendly, if you will.

I was inspired primarily by that collection of stories, wondering if I could write my own fairy tales in a longer form. I wanted to do something that one-ups The Winter Garden and Other Stories, which is a collection of short stories that are also original fairy tales. 

The stories in this book were originally published individually when I was still working with a small press, and then three of them were bound into an anthology. Ansel of Pryor House was published way after that, and when I got my rights back, I decided to re-release everything in one volume. 

I heavily leaned on symbolism and metaphor in these stories, which all deal with self-acceptance, confidence, and courage. Similar themes as those tackled in my other fairy tale anthology, but I gave myself way more room to explore them here as these stories are all novelettes and short novellas. My original plan was to write a series of fairy tale anthologies containing longer forms but never got around to doing that. 

Only one story -- Benedict -- received the musical treatment, if you will. I listened to Carl Orff's "Gassenhauer" repeatedly when I wrote this story. 

It does have a fairy tale-esque quality to it. 

The Book of Lost Princes is currently 50% off in digital format through the end of November. Go here for a list of stores for a copy.