Greetings, people of diverse genders and lack thereof! I'm back (sort of) with a new and improved website! While most of my blog posts seem to have gotten lost in the shuffle (may they rest in peace), I'm coming at you from my working "vacation" (in quotes because I'm on Neptune visiting family and they're a rambunctious bunch)! I don't usually blog these days unless I have something to say, and boy howdy do I have something to say!
I'm launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund a 2025 release!:
By the time you read this, I will be behind the scenes, working tirelessly with my web designer to get my online presence clean enough to hopefully pass Kickstarter's scrutiny, get myself an author profile on Goodreads, and prep to reach out to various people all across the United States to hopefully get the word out that I'm doing The Thing and I need help throwing money at it. Some of you may look at my campaign goals (especially the stretch goal) and think, "Marry! What are you doing? You're grossly overspending!" And to that I say, you're probably right, but it's often only after we've started down the wrong path that the correct one becomes obvious. If I get, say, $2k or $3k above my stretchiest of stretch goals, I'll take that as a sign from the universe that this project needs to be a series and not a standalone, then write book two. Either way, I'll be shopping around for better price tags for future projects asap.
The lowest rung of my Kickstarter goal is going to be $6.4k, and the stretch goal is $12.2k–I know, I know, but mistakes were made. This is the path I'm on, and I'm seeing it through! For a breakdown of the costs, you'll be able to peruse them for yourselves at (assuming Kickstarter approves my project in time) 7 AM CDT/8 AM EDT when the campaign launches. I planned a week-long pre-launch, but then servers got all wonky and we couldn't get my website back up and running after The Hack in time.
Introducing The Mourner's Aura:
The Mourner's Aura is an adult LGBTQIA+ dark fantasy novel about a nonbinary blood magic user fighting an evil empire while processing multiple forms of trauma and raising a baby. The main character, Gabe, uses they/them pronouns all the time, and other pronouns situationally which is reflected in pronoun shifts throughout the chapters. There's also three intra-chapter interstitials starring the daughter of the emperor at points in the story that were too important to leave out, but Gabe wouldn't know about or hear about in much if any detail.
Other major players include Grant, the disgraced heir to the throne and leader of the Immortalists–a group of anti-imperialism pro-democracy rebels hellbent on overthrowing the empire.
Lacey, a prostitute with a would-be lethal combination of cancer and anorexia that's staved off by routine use of a magical artifact.
Fernánto, a young man who was castrated prior to puberty to become a (failed) opera singer–he's a chill dude who smokes a lot of opium.
Debbie, a little girl and full-time wheelchair user who relates to Gabe's trauma and manages to keep a positive attitude when she's not recalling her trauma too strongly.
Finally, there's Mimi, Gabe's daughter. Mimi is born with a lethal combination of disorders and internal disfigurements, as well as disabilities. Gabe keeps her alive with a similar artifact to Lacey's. While Mimi will never be "cured" by magic or medicine, magic keeps her alive so she can enjoy life like any other baby/toddler.
"What's been going on with you?":
My beloved spouse, Jerry Powder, ran off with the milkman back in October, and while I can't fault them for following their heart, the heartbreak has been intense. I decided to write The Mourner's Aura to run away from my pain for awhile. I've since been processing the pain, but I continued to work on the book.
"When can we read it?":