'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.

---

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.   

---

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. 

---

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. 

Double Whammy: 'The Twilight Lover' Now Available and November Backlist Bonanza

New month, new stuff! Also a couple of not-quite-new stuff, hey! So firstly, it's finally out:

In the fairy tale-like and colorful town of Glossop lies a small graveyard guarded by an ancient yew. Residents have long resigned themselves to its existence, with the poorer ones forced to trek through its dreary space just to get to work each day.

For little Rowan Linville, the mysterious graveyard is both a necessary ordeal for his parents and a strange place where something in the shadows whispers after him. Something that might also be behind a number of personal items Rowan's lost in his occasional walks through the graveyard in his mother's company. As he grows older, those whispers follow him, and boys his age intent upon courting him suddenly fall victim to all kinds of misfortunes. Illness, broken bones, sprained limbs, and odd accidents plague hopeful suitors until Rowan is saddled with the reputation of a cursed youth.

Hope stirs at the arrival of the Akker family and their younger son, the dashing Tennyson, who is immediately drawn to Rowan. A couple of chance glimpses of the lonely boy stir Tennyson's artistic muse and lay the foundation for a future courtship that seems to come straight out of a Shakespearean comedy—and tragedy, for that matter.

That is because the entity that has attached itself to Rowan is not at all pleased with this new suitor, and it will do anything to keep him away. Unfortunately for the ghost of an embittered man, it appears it has met its match in a determined and ridiculously smitten rival. 

I had way too much fun writing this book, and with any luck, I'll be able to enjoy another dip in the nutty pool in future books. For a behind-the-scenes look, go here for the book's gallery page. The Twilight Lover is available for 99 cents in e-book format and $9.00 USD in print. Go here for the main book page and the links to bookstores. 

This book also marks the end of my 4-month release calendar. From 2026 onward, I'll be publishing two books a year following a 6-month calendar to ensure I don't burn myself out (especially given the ridiculous pace I've been following for years now). Time to slow down and take care of those gray cells and keep inspiration going. 

---

And secondly, we have a couple of books on the block for this month's Backlist Bonanza:

The Book of Lost Princes

"Outside, on the bough of a tree, sat the living nightingale. She had heard of the emperor's illness, and was therefore come to sing to him of hope and trust. And as she sung, the shadows grew paler and paler."

- Hans Christian Andersen, "The Nightingale"

A marionette, a weeping willow, a house shade, and a lonely, abused boy - there are more to them than what meets the eye.

Written in a style reminiscent of classic European folktales, the four original fairy tale novellas in this collection explore a gay teen's coming-of-age in settings steeped in magic, wonder, romance, and infinite possibilities.

In Benedict, a marionette is given a strange puzzle to solve during the king's quarter dance. A cursed tree finds salvation in the love of a homeless, ragged boy in The Weeping Willow. In Grave's End, a house shade learns what it means to be human. And in Ansel of Pryor House, a boy rescued from his abusive father discovers the darker fate marked for those whom Nature refuses to forgive.

Rose and Spindle

Boy meets boy. Boy hates boy. Each swears never to have anything to do with the other, forever after.

Unfortunately for Prince Hamlin and Prince Edouard, history has a bad habit of repeating itself, and worse, each time the two boys run across each other, things get a touch muddier as well. Destiny and free will go head-to-head, the princes' dilemma echoing the more baffling curse that's been placed on Edouard's young cousin, Princess Roderika. Doomed to prick her finger on a spindle on her fifteenth birthday and fall asleep for a hundred years as a result, Roderika's rapidly dwindling time becomes an inescapable tapestry into which Hamlin and Edouard's own fates are woven.

With the help of a magician princess and a crotchety talking raven, Hamlin and Edouard not only have to outgrow prejudices, but also find the courage and the will to define their destinies, even if it were to take them a hundred years.

Both books are 50% off in e-book format for the month of November. Click the book titles to go to their respective pages for online stores. And if you do purchase copies for yourself, I hope you enjoy them! I'll be posting more about these two in the coming weeks.  

 

 

Shifting Gears (the Usual)

After writing 10K words on Doppelgänger, I had to rename the file, store it for possible later use, and start over. It happens. It sucks when it does, but I've learned not to fight it.

I couldn't make it work in a contemporary setting despite all of the notes I've amassed while working on the previous book. It's likely (most likely) a case of overthinking on my part because no matter what I did, I couldn't make events work in a contemporary setting while keeping things realistic within reason. 

And this is why I admire writers of contemporary fiction: I find that I keep resisting reality when I try, and I know it's not going to sit well with readers if none of my characters or cause-and-effect events are believable. My imagination takes flight, and when I go back and reread whatever sections I've written so far, my "modern day" side would point out places that won't work in the real world. 

Ignore the fact that since I write gothic horror, there'll be several things in the story that'll be highly implausible. However, what's happening is the way all those elements bleed into the rest of the scene / setting / characters. My plan was to make it something like "domestic gothic" or something along those lines, so the horror elements are supposed to be subtle and scattered. 

But I can't make it work because I'm me. 😑

So!

New file opened, new version started, and I'm back to square one with one chapter written. I'm sitting on it for the rest of the work week and checking it here and there to see if I'll still feel satisfied with the results, which I am, btw. So we're back to a historical fantasy with some subtle hints of magical elements worked into the story. I mean -- I love the idea of hexed lamps or hexed this and that (see: the Curiosities collection). You can say that I'm still mourning the loss of Eidolon and wishing I could do more for the series, but it is what it is, and I should keep moving forward. 

The story's the same as the original draft, but there are (of course) subtle tweaks because of the sharp change in setting. As with my other historical fantasy books, this one will be a mix of historical fiction and folklore, but (with any luck) it'll be closer to a straightforward historical.  

'Henning' (Omnibus) and a Love Letter

Henning was originally released as a two-volume series but is in an omnibus in its final edition. This book was one of my most sentimental projects, I'll have to say. One of my former co-workers had died from cancer -- this happened way after I left the company -- and he was, hands down, my favorite co-worker at that place. 

When I learned about his death, it took me a while to wrap my head around it considering the time gap between that and the last day we worked together. He was one of those people who left a lasting impression in me that I still cherish to this day. Herbert was one of the kindest and humblest people I've ever known, and he was a ridiculously talented artist to boot. 

A lot of his mannerisms found their way in the book, scattered among the characters. And as I write Doppelgänger, I'm finding myself leaning once again on the memory of my time working with him, this time inspired by the really tight bond I didn't realize I needed then. He was like the quiet and quirky but super cool uncle you always want to hang out with at a family reunion. He had so many great stories to tell, and I practically hung on to every word.

Tangents aside...

Another reason for the sentimental label I just gave this book is the fact that this was also a kind of a love letter to Berkeley, CA, where I worked for a good part of my years (frame shop just off Telegraph Avenue near UC Berkeley and then the art store just off Gilman Street and San Pablo Avenue). That said, I wrote the book sometime between those two jobs, which didn't really affect my memories of the fun times.

The most vivid and fondest memory I'll ever have about Berkeley involves the yearly holiday fair on Telegraph Avenue. There were also weekend booths popping up outside the holidays back then (not sure if they still do today), and I've bought a few things from local artists through the years. I've always loved strolling down the street, checking out booths and their one-of-a-kind merchandise, eating food from local restaurants, and just enjoying the hell out of myself. 

There are scenes in this book that take place in events like what I've described. Even writing those scenes were almost magical. 

Henning is currently 50% off in e-book format through the end of October. For a copy, go here to the book page and the list of online bookstores.  

'Arabesque' and the Cynic

This book was my first immersion in a satirical take on a fairy tale (or fairy tales in general). I was still in college and stumbled across a book required for an English class I wasn't taking and thought the blurb and some of the text I sampled looked pretty damned good, so I bought it.

And I was right. 

The book was Briar Rose by Robert Coover, an American writer who wrote a good number of fairy tale retellings with a postmodern angle. This book was a really short one, but its approach to reimagining the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale caught me completely off-guard once I started reading it.

It was, by far, the most cynical take on a beloved fairy tale I've ever read, and I'm glad I took that chance in the university bookstore. I loved the book. I loved its weirdness, its satire (not the gentler Horatian satire, either, but more along the lines of my preferred kind: Juvenalian like Jonathan Swift's kind of satire), and especially its non-linear storytelling.

Since the focus was on the sleeping princess, the book was a long immersion in the princess's dreams. And they were alternately dark, hypnotic, horrifying, and sensual. I've seen readers react to the book and criticize it as misogynistic, but to me it read more like an anti-fairy tale. No HEA except in dreams.

And the writing style, being postmodern, was distant and aloof -- cold, almost. I LOVED IT. The POV was one most readers nowadays loathe, which was the third person omniscient, so the perspective is wide-ranging and all-encompassing in order for the slightly bitter tone to make a full impact.

It was the main inspiration for my own attempt at writing a cynical take on Snow White while also weaving a number of other fairy tales and myths into the plot to create my own version of entrapment and manipulation. The difference between Arabesque and Briar Rose is that the princes do find their HEA in the end. 

I remember working with an editor back in the day after JMS Books accepted the manuscript, and I apparently confused him with the mix of fairy tale samples -- especially in the woodland scene. We went back and forth over those, and I ended up trimming a few things that I thought were too much while he suggested removing them entirely. 

But I didn't write them into the scene for no reason, though, and needed to show how disillusionment was beginning to grip Alarick after years of being taught happy endings for virtuous characters in those childhood tales. Also I wanted to maintain that dream-like feel that escalates inside the cottage. 

As the blurb notes, this book was all about homophobia, misogyny, and conversion therapy, which I explored via Roald's ordeal and even Ulrike's descent into madness via metaphors and analogies. Even symbolism, i.e., the strange flowers being hawked at the open air market.

I really enjoyed writing this book, and I'd love to write something like this again down the line (now that I'm much older and even more cynical). I guess this would make my only attempt at writing something postmodern-ish, and now I'm jonesing to get another book by Robert Coover (like Pricksongs and Descants). 

Arabesque is currently 50% off in e-book format through the end of October. For a copy, the book page is over yonder.