#Debut Author

[artificelux]

“Many say the moon is closer to the dead.”

This is COLOR OF A MIRROR, my debut novel with an original, dark ambient soundtrack by composer Josh McCausland to go along with it.

Written, designed, and published by me, it’s the culmination of years of work, and it’s exactly the story I wanted to tell. It’s not loud or bombastic, but rather a cerebral, slow-burn cyberpunk narrative lingering on themes of fame, paranoia, religion, and technology. If you’re a fan of the brooding futures of William Gibson, Blade Runner, or anything with a mood like the movie Drive, I think you’ll find something to love here.

Available exclusively on my website, it comes in limited edition deluxe-hardcover, softcover, and e-book. (And if you’re a vinyl lover, the soundtrack is pressed in 180g Moondust White; also available on my site.)

Welcome to the Dive. Hope to see you around.

-Dan

•

colorofamirror.net

(Book photos by Josh McCausland.)

[books]

Writer Spotlight: Rose Sutherland

Rose Sutherland @rosesutherlandwrites is a Toronto-based writer who grew up a voracious reader with an overactive imagination in Nova Scotia (where she once fell off a roof trying to re-enact Anne of Green Gables!). She's been to theatre school in NYC, apprenticed at a pâtisserie in rural France, and currently moonlights as an usher and bartender—in between writing queer folktales, practicing yoga, dancing, singing, searching out amazing coffee and croissants, and making niche jokes about Victor Hugo on the internet. She's mildly obsessed with the idea of one day owning a large dog, several chickens, and maybe a goat. A Sweet Sting of Salt is her debut novel.

Keep reading for more about character arcs in A Sweet Sting of Salt, Rose's favorite fanfic tropes, and some excellent reading recs 👀

Can you tell us about A Sweet Sting of Salt and how you came to write it?

A Sweet Sting of Salt is a queer (f/f) historical reimagining of the classic folktale of the selkie wife, set in 1830’s Nova Scotia. I call it a “reimagining” because while it draws on the folktale, it’s not a retelling of that tale so much as a story playing out in relation to that mythology. I’d wanted to write something centering a love story between two women for a while, but the initial spark came from a Tumblr post! It suggested the idea of selkies testifying before the UN as victims of human trafficking, which reminded me of all the things I disliked about the original folktale and its inherent darkness that is generally glossed over, starting me down the rabbit hole toward finding my own story.

How did you approach research for A Sweet Sting of Salt, and what is a favorite historical fact you learned?

I joke that I did a lot of research by osmosis: I already had a lot of base knowledge about the location, having grown up in Nova Scotia, and then set the story in a period that I’ve been absorbing information about in a low-key way for ages—1832 is also the year of the student rebellion in Les Mis, so I’ve been gleaning tidbits about this era since I first got into the musical and book back in high school. However, I had to do more specific research into things like British divorce law, period midwifery, and animal husbandry. I also visited some small, hyper-local museums on the South Shore that gave me an invaluable glimpse into daily life. I also did some fun practical research into things like “How long does it take to walk from x to y?” and “How cold IS a plunge into this body of water in March?” (Spoiler: Very.) 

A fact that fascinated me but didn’t make it into the book was that some early European settlers in the area were granted lands by luck of the draw, pulling from a deck of playing cards: Each card was assigned to a specific 50-acre lot, and whatever you pulled, you were stuck with it.

When we meet them, Jean and Muirin are isolated for different reasons. What do you hope readers still searching for their people take away from A Sweet Sting of Salt?

That there’s always hope. It’s valuable and important to keep reaching out to the world around you, to be open, and not cut yourself off—the biggest reason for Jean’s loneliness at the beginning of this story is the way she has come to keep everyone around her at arm’s length, shutting herself away out of fear, and refusing to let anyone truly get to know her because she thinks that’s the best way to protect herself from being hurt again. Reaching out to others can take a real act of courage, especially if you’ve had bad experiences in the past, but “your people” will reach back to you.

Found family elements play a strong role throughout the novel, within supernatural and mundane settings and across species. Was this something you intended from the beginning, or did this grow out of writing the relationship between Jean and Muirin?

I always intended for Jean to have a found family of this type, which is something that a lot of queer people identify with, but those bonds also got stronger and more meaningful as I wrote, especially once Jean and Muirin began growing into their own family unit—their new relationship and the real danger that comes along with it put pressures on Jean’s other relationships that I hadn’t originally considered. Disagreements with Anneke and Laurie over Jean’s choices arise from their deep concern and love for her, and her own love and care for them, reflected in her responses, is a big part of what made them feel like a real family, for me. Jean and Laurie always having each other’s backs while also being the first to call one another out on their bullshit ended up being one of my favourite dynamics in the whole book.

The selkie myth carries an inherent element of transformation. What is a character transformation you most enjoyed writing, and why?

On a character level, the change in Jean’s worldview following a conversation with her childhood sweetheart meant a lot to me—it heals an old wound for her. I love how grounded and self-assured she is afterward, in spite of the daunting task still ahead of her. But my favourite transformation to write was the antagonist’s mask-off moment, where they directly threaten Jean for the first time. It’s so sly and coded so that only she will understand the menace behind it, a real dun-duh-dunnn moment, which was a lot of fun for me—I also enjoy the foreshadowing elements in that exchange.

This is your debut novel. Did anything surprise you about getting it from manuscript to published book?

Oh my gosh, how LONG it took! After I finished the original draft and decided it was worth attempting to publish, I spent over a year revising based on my own thoughts, input from beta readers, critique partners, and my mentor, Maureen Marshall (whom I connected with through the now defunct Author Mentor Match program, and whose book, The Paris Affair—about a young gay engineer attempting to help Gustave Eiffel secure the funding to build a certain celebrated Parisian landmark— is coming out in May). After that came a full year of querying agents and getting rejected. A lot. People loved Salty but weren’t quite sure what to do with her or where the book would fit in “the market,” which was hard to deal with at the time but is hilarious in retrospect: Salty was snapped up less than a month after she finally went out on submission! But that was back in 2022, and the book is only coming out now. Publishing can be painfully slow.

You’ve written fanfic in the past—do you have a favorite fanfic trope?

I’m not sure either of these counts as a trope, but I adore a character that’s “pure of heart, dumb of ass”, and love a truly unhinged Fanon Explanation For Canon Object. As a longtime Les Mis stan, I ship Tholomyes/Getting Punched. If you know, you know.

Do you have any favorite queer retellings of folktales you can recommend?

Right here on Tumblr, I’m a huge fan of @laurasimonsdaughter, who writes delightful riffs on classic folktales, truly inventive urban fantasy spins on old lore, and her own original folktales. 

I’m currently reading Spear, an amazing queer, gender-bent, Arthurian novella by Nicola Griffiths. Anna Burke’s books Thorn and Nottingham are up next on my TBR. Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of brilliant queer historicals that aren’t retellings (I recently loved Suzette Meyr’s The Sleeping Car Porter and Heather O’Neil’s When We Lost Our Heads) and wonderful historical retellings that aren’t queer (I highly recommend Molly Greeley’s beautiful, heartbreaking Marvelous, about the real-life couple that inspired Beauty and the Beast). Queer, historical retellings aimed at adults seem to be considered quite niche, still, and can take some digging to find! So, throwing this out to Tumblr: Do you have recommendations for me?

Do you have a writing routine? Is there a place/state of being/playlist you find most conducive to your writing practice?

My routine is chaotic at best, but I find I do my best work earlier in the day, so I usually scribble in my journal while I have breakfast, and then progress to working on my current project as I drink my second cup of coffee. I’m lucky—my day job is an evening gig, which mostly allows me to write on my preferred schedule… but I’ve also been known to have a bolt of inspiration strike at 10pm and dash home to write until well past midnight on occasion. Nothing quite like the hyperfocus zone!

What’s next for you? Are you working on anything you can tell us about?

No official news yet, but I’m currently working on a story set in 18th-century provincial France based on a true unsolved mystery of the past. It has me delving into a very specific branch of French folklore, and I hope future readers will pick up on common threads with one popular fairytale in particular. I’m really excited about where this one is headed, but keeping the details close to my chest for now!

Thank you Rose for taking the time to answer our questions! If you love queer fantasy and old folktales, grab yourself a copy of A Sweet Sting of Salt, and be sure to share your queer folktale reading recs with Rose on @rosesutherlandwrites!

[whilereadingandwalking]

It takes real effort to keep believing in my future as a writer. Two books fully rejected by half the agents on the market, a character-driven fantasy and a friend breakup YA. I keep writing, because I can’t stop, but it does make it harder to persist in trying to finish those books. But I have to keep pushing. I know my work is good. I just have to find an agent ready to take a chance on me.

[leechjuice]

after months of planning, drafting and executing, it's about time i let the cat out of the bag. right?

i'm self-publishing my debut novel, IN THE END, YOU KILL US BOTH, on October 19th, 2024.

IN THE END is an adult literary horror and queer coming-of-age about the first three months following a nineteen-year-old arsonist's release from an out-of-state mental health facility and the dark, spiralling path she takes after falling in with a suspected cannibal.

this book is an ode to the indigestible ways we process trauma, grief and our own desires. it is my heart project, through and through, and i can't wait to share leo & elowen with all of you.

pre-orders now available 🪳🏚️🩸🔪

[authorrmbrown]

👋

Hi! I'm Rebecca, a 27-year-old fantasy writer from Scotland living the absolute dream because my debut novel came out on 27th June!!

Published by Ringwood Publishing, Song of the Stag is a love letter to Scotland's historic and folkloric past. From ancient kings and black-hearted patriots to bonnie princes and Jacobite songs, this book celebrates a complex, beautiful, and all too often tragic, land.

It also acts as an allegory for Scottish Independence, a subject I've been passionate about since 2014. The story is about the power of autonomy, be that of a person or a nation. Our main character, Cait, is a sheltered girl with an idyllic, conservative, rural upbringing, and her journey to personal freedom mirrors that of her nation.

I'm so excited to be able to share Cait's story with others! The novel can be purchased from Ringwood Publishing, Amazon (incl. Kindle format), or the Waterstones website. (For quickest delivery, order from Ringwood directly).

It's also on GoodReads, so please add to your want to read list, and leave a review if you read it!

[renstrapp]

Thank u Publishers Weekly!! I'm officially "confident" and a "cartoonist" as well. How Could You comes out in just two weeks!!

[laylakingwrites]

Hey! I am an author who has just finished writing their first book and I want to know if it’s something people will read, so let me give you guys the low down on here!

♡ High fantasy romance!!!

♡ Follows the perspective of the morally gray male rather than the female.

♡ Gambling raccoon??? (Like come on! Hell yeah!)

♡ LGBTQ and all inclusive!!!!!!

♡ Villain gets the girl?

♡ You don’t know who’s lying until the very end!

Basic Synopsis:

Morally gray guy is tasked by a nobleman he doesn’t like to bring runaway girl back home. However, after meeting this girl he starts to realize that her father has sinister plans for her and she is not who she says she is either. Our morally gray guy also isn’t sure he can turn her in anymore.

Our working title is The Prince of Lies!

[alexyquest]

i tried that ya book trend, how’d i do?

[tmkutawrites]

A COMMON BOND by T. M. KUTA

Construction Project Manager Carneline has a lot of her plate at the family business. The last thing she needs is romance. But Josie, the skilled superintendent, is complicating things one iced coffee at a time.

✅️ Contemporary Lesbian Romance (Author Debut!) ✅️ Small Town Romance (in the queerest small town ever) ✅️ Salvadoran MC/POV character ✅️ Butch/Femme ✅️ Colleagues To Lovers ✅️ One Night Stand ✅️ Cringe-y Yet Loveable Sidekick ✅️ 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/🍋🍋🍋🍋 (spicy!)

Well y'all after many fits and starts and life chaos later, my debut lesbian romance novella A COMMON BOND is finally here! We battled 3 family deaths, covered two separate maternity leaves at work, and rewrote this puppy twice, but it is HERE!

A Common Bond is my love letter to my day job in historic reconstruction and all of it's quirks, cliques, and capricious capers. Also... y'know, being a giant raging queer in construction. ;) It is an honor to publish a Clover Hill Romance book, and I hope you fall in love with Josie, Carneline, and Clover Hill the way I did while writing them!

Edit 10/30: Read the entire first chapter for free HERE!

PRE-ORDER NOW!

Dropping November 7, 2023!

Note: While A Common Bond is Book 13 in the Clover Hill Romance, all of the novellas stand alone. They share the same setting, a.k.a Clover Hill - Population: Queer, but are otherwise able to be read alone! If you like my novella, please consider buying one (or all) of the other 12 :)

[savethegrishaverse]

"The novel’s meditation on the nature of small-town life is both a love letter and a lament." - Vellichor Vibes

It's here! Calahan's debut book is now available! If you haven't checked it out yet, I strongly urge you to do so!

Check out unnamed press for more info!

And read this wonderful review by Vellichor Vibes:

[artificelux]

Still one of my favorite images of the surface of the moon. The contrast, the austerity… it speaks so strongly to my minimalist self.

This image features on the custom endsheets of the COLOR OF A MIRROR limited edition hardcover, providing a really cool shift from the black of the cover to the white of the pages.

Only 100 hardcover copies printed. Find it here:

colorofamirror.net

•

Image credit: NASA & Project Apollo Archive

Custom Edits/Formatting: Me/ArtificeLux

[fated-mates]

We're so excited to be talking about some of the bright new voices in romance this week -- every book we talk about in this episode is a debut romance from 2024. We're introducing you to eighteen new authors, all of whom you'll be able to meet years from now and say, "I've been reading you from the beginning!"

From chefs to film directors, baseball players to librarians, spies to playwrights, there's a little something here for everyone. You're going to love it.

[late-nite-scholar]

Post from the Real World. My debut sci-fi novel is available now!

It's a character focused, anthology style story of Second Contact gone real bad. There's lots of different aliens, people being people, gene mods, robots, big-ass ships, and lots of other stuff. It's both exciting and terrifying to have it heading out to the world!

It's available everywhere (no exclusives here!) and you can go here to get your hands on it. ⤵️

[leechjuice]

a pot-smoking arsonist. a scar-faced, cannibalistic texan. a half-blind motel cat. a road trip to hell & back in a shitty old pickup. predator and prey, hand in unloveable hand.

GRIEF. SEX. REVENGE. 🩸

IN THE END, YOU KILL US BOTH, my literary horror debut, is NOW AVAILABLE FOR E-BOOK PR-EORDER 🫀🥩

[elizmanderson]

voting is open for the Queer Indie Awards, and The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher is nominated for several categories!

best overall fantasy

best overall urban fantasy

best cover

best lead character (Edna)

best supporting character (Kiernan)

best villain (Redway)

best romantic relationship (Benjamin/Kiernan)

best friendship (Benjamin, Edna, & Clem)

best debut

like I'm really sitting here like 🥹 like!! that is! so many categories omg?? 🥹

anyway if you've read Remarkable Retirement and liked it, I'd love if you voted for it in the Queer Indie Awards! voting is via the Google form on the QIA website and open through this Friday, January 26.

click here to go directly to the form

click here to go to the QIA website

[joshualunacreations]

Happy Lunar New Year! In our house, we’re jokingly calling it the Luna New Year. I’m proud and excited to announce that my partner, Alexis, is about to publish her debut novel! LOVE IN THE OCCULT TRAUMATIC is a paranormal romance set for digital release on March 1st. I provided the cover art for the characters, and Alexis and I worked on the cover design together. Here’s what the story is about:

𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐑𝐁 𝐻𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑠. 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑒𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑚𝑎 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒.

Heidi Bauer would give anything to not be able to read people’s memories. Yet every time she sees blood, she loses consciousness and gets a glimpse into the private inner worlds of the wound’s owner, tracing through the events that caused the injury—with frightening precision.

She can’t tell anyone this, of course. It’s bad enough that she has severe PTSD and hemophobia, but unexplained magical powers as well? She’d rather spiral into jobless poverty than admit the truth and risk getting locked up in some kind of mental institution.

That is, until she meets the handsome and caring Dr. Bùi Đức Khiêm. Despite Heidi’s intentions of telling no one her secret, she finds herself opening up to the psychiatrist better than her own therapist—in more ways than one.

And yet, while Dr. Khiêm may not have any powers, he’s hiding secrets of his own. So when a mysterious figure starts to stalk Heidi in pursuit of her hidden gift, it isn’t just her safety that’s threatened, but Khiêm’s too. Together, Heidi and Khiêm learn that not all wounds are visible—and healing them may cost one of their lives.

𝐎𝐂𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐓 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐔𝐌𝐀: 𝐴 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑖𝑛𝑗𝑢𝑟𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝑝ℎ𝑦𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. — Just a warning, it’s steamy! So if you’re interested, know someone who would be, or even if neither apply, we would really appreciate it if you could spread the word about the book and help find readers. It’s been a joy to witness Alexis’ journey through the years, from a CPA working for one of the big four accounting firms to pursuing her talent and passion as a novelist. Although I sometimes feel a little guilty for inspiring her with my comic book career—the path of following your dreams is definitely not easy. But Alexis’ fire gave me the gift of helping reignite my own fire, especially when there have been many people throughout my journey who’ve tried to snuff it out. So in this year of the dragon, let’s remember to protect those dreams and the inner fires that fuel them. 🐉

Alexis set up a FB and Tumblr page, so feel free to check them out, say hi, and give her a follow!