“Promises such as this can’t be made with words alone.”
— Septimus | Kat Vancil, “Seven Swans a-Swimming”
Well hello there, Story Quester. It’s Wednesday, which means I’ve got something new to share with you!
Work in Progress
Boys Love Collections
Last week I mentioned I was working on a project while I waited to hear back if my story earned a spot in the anthology. Well it isn’t named yet, but it is what I’ll be debuting at the festival in my hometown in September.
Over the last few years, I’ve written quite a few short stories for various online writing community events, contests, and daily creative warm-ups. So I’ve decided to collect them together into a few story collections and offer them in print and ebook in the Fall.
I’m also modifying a few of them for a special collection of Fantasy and Dark Fantasy stories using the 12 Days of Christmas song as prompts. A bit different and fun right?
And if I have time I might even do some black and white interior illustrations.
I’ll have more details in the coming weeks, but here’s my word count so far for 2 of the collections.
Project Word Count
Word Count 21,125
My Weekly Book Recommendations
1) Bleeding Mars
by Asher J. Quazar
When a young man on the run from a criminal bounty flees to the neon-soaked streets of Chryse City, he becomes entangled with an immortal who keeps more secrets than friends.
Dezi doesn’t own the clothes on his back or the blood in his veins. He’s a college dropout working a dead-end job on the most backwater planet humanity has ever colonized. However, when he’s framed for a facility malfunction, Dezi’s forced to flee to the capital of Mars—a city teeming with gangs and space-age aristocracy.
In Chryse City he manages to land a job at a luxury casino where a VIP selects him as his regular host. Umbra is one of the few wealthy enough to extend their lives through a blood-based medical process, and he might be Dezi’s ticket to paying off his bounty. But the immortal is as eccentric as he is generous. Umbra claims to be an authentic vampire. And his appetites have Dezi questioning whether he might just be telling the truth.
Features: a trans and a genderqueer main character
Genres & Tropes: SciFi, Action, Capitalist Dystopian, vampires, Neo-noir
READ IT
2) Til Death Do Us Bard
A heart-warming tale of marriage, magic, and monster-slaying
by Rose Black
Marriage isn’t always sunshine and unicorns…sometimes it’s monsters and necromancy.
It’s been almost a year since Logan ‘The Bear’ Theaker hung up his axe and settled down with his sunshiny bard husband, Pie. But when Pie disappears, Logan is forced back into a world he thought he’d left behind.
Logan quickly discovers that Pie has been blackmailed into stealing a powerful artifact capable of creating an undead army. With the help of an old adversary and a ghost from his past, Logan sets out to rescue his husband.
But the further the quest takes him, the more secrets Logan uncovers. He’ll need all his strength to rescue his husband—but can he save their marriage?
Features: bisexual male main characters
Genres & Tropes: Achillean Romance, Adventure (Fluffy D&D campaign), grumpy/sunshine, Cottage Core, happily ever after, grumpy hero, found family, disability rep
READ IT
3) One and Done
by Frederick Smith
One night of passion and possibly one more chance at love…
Determined, motivated, goal-driven, and eternally single, Dr. Taylor James is an accomplished university administrator in San Francisco determined to get his campus successfully through an upcoming accreditation process. The process could set him up for his ultimate career goal–to be one of the only Black and openly queer university presidents in the US. Taylor gives himself just one day a week to have fun and let loose with friends–a one-and-done Sunday Funday brunch in the Castro District.
Dustin McMillan is a consultant and project manager who reluctantly returns to the Bay Area, his hometown, for an assignment. The first in his family to finish college, earn a healthy six-figure income, and have choice and agency in his life’s direction, Dustin is fearful that returning home could mean falling back into roles that he’d thought he’d resolved by moving miles away…and equally fearful of falling back into bed with one sexy and toxic ex-boyfriend who still lingers in his memories.
One chance encounter. One night of passion. Will Taylor and Dustin leave it at one and done?
Features: gay male main characters
Genres & Tropes: Contemporary Fiction, Black/African American Romance, toxic ex, chance meeting
READ IT
Well, I better get back to working on these short story collections, Story Quester. Until next time, this is your friendly neighborhood storytelling Kat signing off.
