#Debut novel

[enbeemagical]

lemme try this again

Hey Tumblr! I'm writing a book. It's 102k words (and counting) of pure queer fantasy and a year's worth of emotions.

It's about a queer kid finding community and support, and then stepping up to defend the people they love. And it's about falling in love and finding yourself, and it's about trust, and connection, and responsibility, and trying to do good in the world. It is also about gay.

Blurb thing:

Destiny has always been alone, self-isolating so that no one will find out about her magic, the same power that she watched a little girl dragged away for nine years ago. Then she meets Vida, a beautiful fae whose kiss sparks something inside her, and Destiny chooses to follow her.

She's not expecting Vida's family to be a werewolf pack. Or that they'll be so welcoming— she was told werewolves are monsters, after all. She's definitely not expecting them to become her own family.

But when Destiny begins to change, it's the wolves who accept him for who he is. And it's the wolves who are the first to see Destiny's magic and swear to protect them, no matter what. And it's up to Destiny to decide what that looks like.

Even if it means changing the world.

(yes the pronoun shifts in the almost-last paragraph were intentional)

And now a quote:

“Don’t you ever want to do something you’re not supposed to? Love the wrong way, be the wrong person, want the wrong things?”

If this sounds like your cup of tea, rb and let me know! I'm not sure when I'll start posting it, there's still a few edits I need to get done, but encouragement will definitely make that happen sooner~

[doubledaybooks]

"Muslim girlhood is quite an experience. I know this, personally. .... Aisha beautifully illustrated how, as Muslim teenaged girl, sometimes being honest and forthcoming seems to be the hardest thing in the world." -Goodreads User on BETWEEN TWO MOONS

[artificelux]

I've said before that I always want Cyber Monday to be cooler than it is, to be neon-soaked and punky...

In short, Cyberpunk Monday.

Well, what's more punk than forgoing the big corpo sites and buying straight from creators and small businesses? Supporting art and artists directly, adding value to the ecosystem of unconventional stories that don't follow the traditional sales model.

So, I'm trying something different this year... I'm going to run a 20% off sale through noon on Dec. 3. It's an automatic discount site-wide on colorofamirror.net (including all versions of the novel, plus the vinyl soundtrack). The only exclusion is the already-better discount of 25% off for the Full Moon Bundle, which doesn't stack with this sale.

This will likely be the only sale I run during the year, so if you've been interested in picking up a copy of the book or you have someone in mind for a holiday gift, this is your chance.

A noir science fiction story, COLOR OF A MIRROR is written, designed, published, and sold by me (and can be found in a couple independent bookstores in the New England area). It has received "Editor's Pick" from BookLife Reviews and a "Get It" verdict from Kirkus Reviews. I don't sell on Amazon/Kindle or B&N, and the e-book is DRM-free so you can read on whatever device you choose, making this a perfect Cyberpunk Monday offering.

--

This weekend, whether you're shopping local bookstores on Small Business Saturday or finally picking up that bespoke item from a favorite creator, let's support those that are making the art we love... not the big businesses trying to turn us into dollar signs.

[wheneclipsefalls]

I DID IT!

For those of you who don't know, I have been devoting much of my time in the past year to writing my debut fantasy novel. I'm happy to say that a few days ago I finished the completed first draft!!! 179,000 words/405 pages later, I finally got to print my book out and see it for the first time🥹😭

There is still a long way to go until this baby is ready to be published, but I couldn't be more grateful and proud to be at this point. I've known that I want to be an author since I was in second grade, but for many years, I was too afraid that I wouldn't be good enough to even try. It was actually posting my fanfiction online that eventually gave me the confidence to chase after my dreams. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who has supported me on here! It may have seemed like just a simple comment or two on silly fanfiction, but it had a greater impact than you could have realized🥹💛

I will try to keep you all updated on the progress concerning my novel, 'Project Music Box', as I go.

And don't worry, I'm still writing fanfiction when I have time

[ouijacine]

🌆 cover design I recently did for @aj_barlowe ‘s debut novel A Series of Rooms 🌆

This was such a fun project to work on (as I very rarely draw scenery especially cityscapes)! And I’ll drop the blurb below 🍂

A SERIES OF ROOMS:

On the night of his twenty-first birthday, a domino effect of unfortunate events leads Liam Cassidy to a chance encounter with a stranger. What he thinks will be nothing more than a moment of shared refuge in a bar bathroom takes a turn when he finds the same young man waiting in his hotel room that night.

Jonah Prince is just trying to survive another night, same as he has done since his life derailed at seventeen. When his services are requested as a surprise for someone’s birthday, the last person he expects to see is the man from the bar who showed him kindness.

It doesn’t take long in a room together for Liam to see the cracks in Jonah’s facade. Hungry, guarded, and jumping at shadows, it’s clear he is in desperate need of a break, and Liam is in a unique position to grant him one-even if it’s just for a night.

Drawn together by their mutual need for escape, the two of them fall into an arrangement of weekly meetings inside the cheapest hotel rooms Chicago has to offer. The encounters are not sexual in nature, but an unexpected intimacy blossoms between them over time. For Jonah, it’s one night a week of guaranteed safety. For Liam, it’s the first real friendship he has ever known.

But soon, the circumstances that exist outside their private series of rooms begin closing in around them, reminding them that they can’t live in a bubble forever.

🍂The book will be released winter 2024 and is available to add to your TBR on storygraph 🍂

[jessread-s]

✩ 💜🐸Book Fanart:

📖: Trystan and Evie from “Assistant to the Villain” by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

This post is in collaboration with my sister @binjobo.0, who drew this lovely masterpiece as a birthday gift to me 🤩

Please click this link to show their art account some love.

Cross-posted to: Instagram | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph

[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!

[rileydaemon]

✨My YA thriller debut novel, Whispers in the Forest, is now available✨

Cursed by an Angel, saved by its Shadow.

Genesis was attacked by the wolf of legend who’s supposed to protect lost travelers. Then, because the wolf’s evil Shadow protected her, she was cast out from the town! Now the Forest that surrounds the town is dying. The trees are withering, and so are the farms. Animal attacks are becoming more common. And, as far as her town is concerned, it’s all her fault. There’s only one way to get to the bottom of this mystery:

Genesis will have to leave the home she’s known her whole life and follow the whispers in the forest.

[renstrapp]

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

[sarahbelisa]

It's P-Day People!

Ebooks are available NOW for order (Red) and pre-order (Blue)

The option to buy print copies is coming... just real, real slow. I'll update the masses once I get my proof copies and finalize for publication. Until then, hang tight!

What's all this then?

#queer romance #diversely disabled protagonists #childhood friends to lovers #second chance romance #30+ romance #jewish love interest #ambulatory cane user

Red (25k) is a prequel novella centered on two boys growing up in rural Tennessee. Nash is a quiet, dutiful son with a big heart who knows too much about the cruelty people are capable of. And Teddy is defiant and determined to make a place for himself in the world despite all the ways his body would rather him be tucked away safe and quiet. This story is about how they grow close through childhood into their preteen years and step up to the precipice of something Nash isn't ready to name.

Blue (69k) is their second chance. Reunited after 20 years, they can do it all right this time... if only they can weather the emotional turbulence of the funeral that brought them back together to take the plunge into something old and new all at once.

Find the first chapter of Red, like my bleeding heart in your hand under the cut!

Credit for the dividers goes to @strangergraphics-archive. Check 'em out!

The new kid is red-faced and wheezing by the time they make it up the hill. It ain't even half as big as the one over by Chuck's place, but by the way Teddy is huffing and puffing, you'd think he'd run up and down it a dozen times.

Before he can think better of it, Nash asks, "What's wrong with you?"

He ain't fat, not even close. He probably ain't a smoker neither, considering most six-year-olds aren't, but he's sure breathin' like one. Maybe this is why Ms. Rainer was fixed on having Nash see Teddy home from the bus stop. Somehow, she knew just by looking, that there's somethin' off with this one.

As Teddy heaves for air, his backpack slips free from one shoulder, but he shrugs it back on and keeps dragging his feet through the gravel. His house is visible now, set too close to the road, so it's a muted dusty gray under all the gravel dust. The dust swirls in the wind like a toddler playing at being a ballerina after too much sugar, and the leaves dance along to the rasp of the corn stalks shifting and swaying in time.

Nash hesitates on the porch as Teddy throws open the storm door and pushes into the house without a backward glance. When he doesn't close the door behind him, Nash follows.

Inside, Teddy's ragged breaths are louder, helped along to Nash's ears by the uncovered wood floor. He follows into the kitchen where the yellowy linoleum pops and crackles underfoot in the places where it's bubbled up.

The drawer beside the sink opens with a screech of wood as Teddy pulls out an inhaler, puts it between his lips, and sucks in a long, deep breath. With his eyes closed and his face screwed up, he lowers the inhaler and holds his breath for a long, long time. Then he exhales, wipes his nose with the back of his hand, and faces Nash with his chin tipped up proudly.

"All the things."

"Huh?"

"You asked what's wrong with me," Teddy says in a reedy voice. He pauses to breathe. "There's a lot wrong with me."

"Oh. Are you… sick?"

Dying is what he wants to ask, but he's been whacked in the back of the head enough to know better.

Teddy shrugs, inhaler between his lips again and Nash has to wait until he tosses the inhaler back in the drawer, rams it shut, and exhales.

"Not right now," Teddy says, "but maybe tomorrow. Wanna play Pokémon?" He flips the lid off a sagging women's shoe box on the table and reveals a treasure trove of Pokémon cards.

Nash cranes for a closer look before he can stop himself. "Woah, those are all yours?"

He pulls cards out by the handful. "Yeah, my mom and dad used to buy me a pack every time they had to travel."

Nash stares, mesmerized, as Teddy rifles through the cards like he knows what he's looking at—all the colors and creatures and elements—it's overwhelming.

"They must travel a lot." He can't imagine what that's like. The farthest he's ever been from Deliverance is the Walmart in Buford Hills, the next town over.

"Used to. They're dead now, so…" He keeps messing with the cards. Like it's nothing to him. Like he doesn't care. Like his face isn't scrunched and his shoulders aren't boxed up around his ears.

If he wasn't so visibly uncomfortable, Nash would think he was trying to make a joke. He doesn't know what to say, so, out of pity, he puts his backside on the line and asks, "How do we play?"

He's gonna get an ass whoopin' for being home late, but it's almost worth it for the relieved smile that overtakes Teddy's discomfort as he babbles about types and strengths and weaknesses.

Nash settles himself opposite him at the table and silently bemoans his inability to ignore the kicked puppy types.

"Thank you, Mr. Spinoza, but I'd rather walk."

"Are you sure?"

Teddy's uncle is a middle kind of man. He isn't tall or short. Nor is he skinny or fat. Neither smiley nor angry. He seems content to hold the middle of it all. He's got his car keys in his hand and is poised over a pair of mangy boots, waiting for Nash's change of heart. He ain't even out of his shop uniform yet—streaked with car gunk though it is.

"I can drop you off and have a quick word with your folks explaining why you were out late. It's nearly dark."

"You don't need to," Nash rushes to say. "Honest. I walk quick 'n' it ain't far."

His aren't the kind of parents anybody likes to meet. Maybe Mama'd be alright without Daddy stompin' and ragin' all the time, but she ain't without him so there's nothin' for it 'cept to keep the middle kind of men away from Daddy's all-the-way kind of man.

Mr. Spinoza's expression is mild as he watches Nash, but Nash gets the feeling he's seeing through to the heart of things and Mr. Spinoza knows exactly why Nash don't want anybody reasonable near his daddy.

He doesn't move or breathe until Mr. Spinoza nods. Only the wrinkle between his eyebrows betrays his discomfort with the plan, and Nash means to be long gone before that discomfort can win him over.

"You'd better get a move on then."

"Yes, sir."

"You're going to be in trouble?"

Teddy's wavering question stops Nash's inching retreat toward the door. He's wearing the same bafflement that all the kids with good, kind parents display whenever they're exposed to someone who can't blindly trust their folks.

"Only a little." And maybe in another life that'd be the truth. It's not late, but it's the time of year when the sun turns in early and only rises when it can't get away with staying down any longer. And Daddy don't usually need an excuse to put the fear of God into him, so it's always a special treat when Nash gives him one.

"Why'd you stay then?"

It might be something in the jutting tip of Teddy's chin or the proud shine in his eyes, or perhaps it's instinct honed from years of tiptoeing around his old man that warns Nash away from the truth—or at least the truth Teddy's diggin' for.

"I never seen that many Pokémon cards before."

Teddy's posture relaxes, and that same playful grin from earlier peeps out.

"Have," Mr. Spinoza says.

Baffled, Nash retorts, "Have not."

Mr. Spinoza shakes his head. "No, 'I have never seen that many Pokémon cards before.'"

Nash glances at Teddy, then looks back to Mr. Spinoza and slowly, with his best enunciation, says, "Neither have I."

Teddy cackles, head thrown back, and nearly falls from his seat at the table. Mr. Spinoza smiles, and it lightens him up, but not enough to make Nash feel better about being the butt of some joke he doesn't understand.

He inches back. "I should go."

"Thank you for keeping Teddy company. You're welcome back anytime—but call home and get permission first."

"Yes, sir." But he knows there ain't no way Daddy'll ever give him permission to come back. He shoots a longing glance at the cards still strewn across the table. It's a shame he won't get to play again. It was fun while it lasted.

Nash sets his tray in front of him and eases onto the bench. Once he's sitting, he breathes out slowly through the ache in his ribs as his body acclimates to the new position. Then he nearly drops his pizza when a lunch box slams onto the table across from him and a small body throws itself onto the bench.

"I made you a deck." Teddy doesn't explain what that means and upends his lunch box on the table. Out falls a plastic wrapped sandwich, a baggie of baby carrots, a box of apple juice, and two stacks of Pokémon cards. Teddy sets the deck that's bound by a blue rubber band besides Nash's tray, then removes the pink scrunchie from the other and puts it around his wrist.

He glances at Nash's pizza, held aloft and uneaten. "Hurry up and eat that or we won't have time to play."

Unsure what else to do, Nash takes a bite. He swallows. "Aren't you gonna eat?"

Teddy makes a face but dutifully unwraps his sandwich and takes a bite before setting it aside and turning his attention back to shuffling his cards.

Nash makes a face at the sandwich as it oozes purple on the discarded plastic wrap. "Is that just jelly?" It explains why he doesn't seem interested in eating it. Then again, it's weird that he brought a lunch at all. Everybody knows Fridays are pizza days and nobody wants cold lunch instead of pizza.

"I'm allergic to peanut butter and we're all out of turkey." With his tongue between his lips, he attempts a real shuffle, like how adults do, and drops his cards all over the table.

Nash rescues one from the edge and slides it back to him. "Why not have pizza then?"

"Allergic."

"To pizza?"

"Cheese and tomatoes." He eyes Nash's slice wistfully before he smears his cards around to get them good and mixed up. "It smells good, though."

"Oh." Nash recalls their walk yesterday and how he went straight to his inhaler once they got inside. How during their walk was the only time he'd been quiet. "What else are you allergic to?"

Teddy's annoyance is clear in the sharp rapping of his cards against the table and the pucker of his lips. "Do you want to talk about all the stuff that's wrong with me, or do you want to play? We don't have time for both."

"Play." He crams a massive bite into his mouth and chews as he opens his chocolate milk.

Teddy mimics him with a similarly large bite of his jelly sandwich and says through his full mouth, "You like the electric types, right?" He swallows thickly. "I gave you all the ones I could find, but there's not a lot, so I gave you the flying and psychic types too. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine." He shoves the last of his pizza in his mouth and wipes his hands vigorously on his jeans before he picks up the deck of cards Teddy prepared for him. "Did you get all fighting ones again?"

"I added some ground ones." He looks up and grins. "Ground is super effective against electric."

"So? Aren't flying and psychic super effective against fighting?"

Teddy lights up. "You remembered."

"How to kick your butt? 'Course I did."

"Well, this time you won't. I've got a plan."

They don't finish the match before the bell rings, but Nash had Teddy on the ropes no matter what Teddy says about late game comebacks.

That afternoon, Teddy pulls a red handkerchief up over his mouth and nose before they get off the bus and keeps both arms over his face until the cloud of dust kicked up by the departing bus blows away. His voice is muffled behind the fabric, but he chatters all the way to his house and doesn't stop until Nash hesitates at the end of his driveway.

"Aren't you coming?" He peers at him through fogged lenses. "I want a rematch so I can show you how I was going to win."

Nash shakes his head. "I gotta get home."

"Oh." Teddy doesn't bother hiding his disappointment. "Well, what about tomorrow? That's your house, right?" He points at the roof in the distance, peeking just over the hill that obscures most of their property. "I can come over and—"

"No! I mean, I'll come here. If I can, I mean. I have to ask."

"Okay," Teddy says slowly. "Why don't you want anybody at your house?" He gestures at the dusty house behind him. "It's not like we're rich or anything. You don't have to be embarrassed."

What's embarrassing is that he clocked their lack of money without ever stepping through their front door, but that ain't it. "I'm not embarrassed," Nash snaps. "I just don't want to deal with how annoying my sister will be with you around. That's all."

Teddy's expression clears. "You have a sister?"

"Yeah, an annoying one. She'll be in kindergarten next year, so we'll have to deal with her at school then."

"Cool, maybe she can play with us, and we can do three-way battles! I've never done one of those before."

Nash shakes his head. "She's not smart enough. She'll just get in the way and mess up your cards. I'll just come over here, okay? If Mama says it's alright, I mean."

Teddy has a look like he wants to argue some more, so Nash waves and starts backing up the way he came.

"See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, okay. See you."

Relieved he got out of that, Nash turns on his heel and hurries home.

Midway down the hill, he looks back, but Teddy is gone.

[caitsbooks]

✨COVER REVEAL✨

I’m so excited to be revealing the cover of my debut romantic fantasy novel, MEDIEVALLY BLONDE, which will be coming out summer 2025!!!

I still can't believe this is real.⁠ I'm so grateful to my agent, Josh Adams, to the amazing people at Harper Voyager US and UK, to @elithien for making this STUNNING cover and really bringing Clía and Ronan to life, and to all of you guys for making this possible.⁠ Its because of you that my dream is coming true, and I will be forever grateful💖

MEDIEVALLY BLONDE is available for preorder now!!

About MEDIEVALLY BLONDE:

A princess desperate to win back the prince who broke her heart follows him to his kingdom’s prestigious military academy—and in doing so, falls in love, saves the realm, and continues to look fabulous, in this romantic debut fantasy loosely inspired by Legally Blonde.

Domhnall and Clía are an ideal match—or so everyone says. They are prince and princess of neighboring kingdoms. An alliance the gods will smile on. Until Domhnall ruins everything by refusing to propose.

Heartbroken but determined, Clía makes the perfect plan: Follow Domhnall to Caisleán Cósta, the military academy he’s attending. Show she can protect her kingdom. Secure the betrothal. Sure, the castle has a brutal reputation. But how hard can dueling really be?

Warrior Ronan promised himself he’d never lose his focus. He fought and sacrificed for his place at Caisleán Cósta, and he has no time for blonde princesses who waltz into arenas like they’re attending a ball. Even if she and her otter-like pet are… well, cute.

He doesn’t want to be intrigued by Clía. But her hunger to prove herself is something he understands. He tells himself there’s no harm training her. Even if his heart does race around her. Even if Domhnall is his best friend.

But as they say, love is a battlefield—and unfortunately for them all, a very real war is looming on the horizon. It’s a fight that will threaten all their kingdoms… and test all their hearts.

Other fun facts: It takes place in a queernormative world, there’s disability rep, there’s forbidden love, and it’s loosely inspired by Irish folklore!

Preorder now!

[cat-writes-sometimes]

No one prepares you for the moment you finish your first manuscript and you start to worry if the cover art you made/commissioned is better than the actual story.

[doubledaybooks]

"this book is so stunning yet sad and heavy yet hopeful. such breathtaking writing, every word feels so deliberate and intentional (I can’t believe this is a debut???). a brutally honest portrayal of the surveillance of muslim/arab/brown communities in a post-9/11 world" -Goodreads User on BETWEEN TWO MOONS

[bunny-mayhem-official]

"This scent of blood would easily make any mortal run away and retch as the smell of blood is too familiar, something too intimate and when intimacy goes too far, it takes a disturbing turn, but for them; it was of the most exquisite of scents, allowing them to see the world in the sharpest of colour, allowing them to breathe once again, savouring the night and the violence whilst doing so. Dante did not let the smell of the club evaporate into nothingness, he did not wash away the blood. His only desire was to let the smell seep deeper into the floor allowing the rusty fragrance to remain until they would do this all once more, all to just keep on surviving."

-When The Ice Melts Away, Bonnie Brady

[corvidarcana]

A quick guide to my seafaring fantasy debut, BLOOD OF THE GODS, book one of The Divine Archive duology 🩸⛈️

[blcampbell]

If you enjoy fantasy with dragons, magic, w/w romance and more, check it out! And ignore the typo above, it's daring not dating. ;-;