Hello, and welcome back to the feast! I have some news for you, as well as some new books and fun collaborative projects that I’ve been blessed to work on.

New Books

I have a new book out in eBook and paperback format, as well as a preorder up for my upcoming taboo itchio exclusive eBook. Here’s a little bit more about both of them!

Blood Orange is a t4t dark urban fairytale that I hope shows my love of reading Holly Black’s books when I was growing up!

It’s about Graham, a college art student who has a strange connection to the old neighborhood he grew up in. He meets a strange person who gives him an odd task: carry around four orange seeds in his mouth for three days, and then plant them in the yard of the woman whose family destroyed his childhood to get revenge.

What follows is a fever dream of butterflies, blood, fruit, and forgotten memories.

You can find out more, or purchase the eBook here, as well as paperbacks here.

I also opened preorders for my next book, Made in Blood on Father’s Day, as an itchio exclusive taboo post-apocalyptic book. It follows Julian and his son Carter, along with another member of their group as they take shelter from a storm in an old military base. Inside, they lose track of time and get lost in the labyrinthine tunnels under the base. There’s something strange and otherworldly trapped in this base, something that might hold the key to what ended the world fifteen years prior.

I’m having a lot of fun with the post-apocalyptic world and writing the strange, codependent dynamic between Julian and Carter, and I hope you will like this one! You can read more about it and preorder it on itchio here!

Cozy Library Press Second Anthology

I am honored and so excited to be a part of Cozy Library Press’s second anthology as a curator, artist, and writer! We have an incredible lineup of almost twice as many creators as we had last year for DEAD COWPOKES. Me and H.S. Wolfe are curating again, with the wonderful Nelka Mazur editing.

TALES OF THE TONGUE is a queer Gods and Myths anthology, coming out this winter. The Kickstarter, which was funded in a week, and has all of its stretch goals met, is still running for 11 more days as of this newsletter. If you want access to some really fun extras, be sure to check it out here!

Hot Wet Queer Summer Jam

I’m very excited to be taking part in this itchio jam, hosted by Monster Manor! It runs until August 31st, and more information about the jam can be found here. Feel free to join if you are interested in a fun project with a deadline, it’s not too late to get started!

I’m working on 2 projects for the jam. I’m not sure which one I’ll finish for it, but I figured it would be nice to have a couple of options!

My first one is ROADSIDE HYMNS, which I’ve talked about in a previous newsletter. I’m determined to get that one finished sometime before the end of the year. It has a lot of heavy themes and topics that I want to make sure I’m spending a lot of time thinking about, so it might not be the one I finish, but what’s hotter, wetter, and queerer than waking up in a bathtub with a rib missing after being fingerblasted in the stigmata wound by the (evil and trans) second coming of Jesus Christ?

My other project, which is a folk horror seaside gothic project, will also have vaguely religious themes and a taboo main pairing. It’s combining two projects that I’ve previously toyed with, Heat Stroke, and It Came from the Island. It’s about small towns, the horror of capitalism, and how the sea always takes back what it gives. I’m still figuring out the details and how I want to combine elements from both, but I’m very excited to work on it!

Writing Sprints in Monster Manor

if you’re interested in joining the jam, I am also running sprints until the end of August every Wednesday and Friday night at 7pm MDT to help us knock some words out! Feel free to stop by and join, I usually try to go for about 2 hours. There are several other sprint events going on in MM as well, so swing by to check out the schedule!

2 Year Pubversary Itchio sale

My 2-year publishing anniversary for an unpublished short passed this March, but it’s coming up on 2 years for my debut book FIRST CREATION’s publishing date in July!

To celebrate, and to thank you all for being here, I’m running an itchio sale for most of my work. There’s a bundle of 6 books for $8, and each item in the bundle will individually be 50% off. You can find it here, although it’s not live yet! You can check back on the 26th of July for the bundle, I’m just giving everyone a heads up so you know it’s coming! Here’s where you can find it!

Thank you so much for being a subscriber, and a reader! I couldn’t do it without your support, and it truly brings me so much joy to be an author. I hope to see you next time, and until then, have a wonderful day!

— mars <3