Chateau of Shadows #8 - Festival of Books
Spooky Season is sadly behind us. With the year winding down, I’ve also held the last of my in-person sales events for 2024. October was a busier month than usual; not only did I attend my usual Yorktown Market Day with Blue Fortune, I also participated in the Newport News Public Library’s Festival of Books.
The Festival of Books is a pretty significant event in my writing career. When I attended the library’s 2022 event, I met Narielle Living of Blue Fortune Enterprises. It feels slightly arrogant to say, but Narielle immediately fell in love with my little transbian monster girl book. She offered me a publishing contract, which turned out to be the push I needed to really kick my writing into gear. I went from struggling to finish the second Amelia Temple book to writing two novels and three novellas in just two years.
This year’s festival wasn’t quite so dramatic, but it was a good sales event. I didn’t set any personal records, but I did maintain the high rate of in-person sales I set at the Yorktown Market in September. Despite primarily seeing myself as a poorly socialized shut-in, I seem to be pretty good at picking out my audience and talking up my book.
(According to Square, your third favorite transsexual horror author has the signal honor of being her own top employee this month)
It’s not really about something as crass as sales, of course (although I’m not going to turn up my nose at the extra money). It’s about telling people stories, about reaching new people and sharing what I wrote with them. It’s about the excitement I see in a queer reader’s eyes when they realize someone like them is telling our stories, even if they're fantastic. It’s about connecting with other cool queer writers and hearing about the stories they tell, and sharing those with my own audience.
I’d do this for free, if I could.
I don’t know how many in-person events I’ll be at next year. My day job’s going to keep my quite a bit busier in 2025, and I don’t know my full schedule yet. Still, I’m going to hit every event I can. Online sales are great, but I love sharing my work directly with a new reader. Here’s to 2025!
Upcoming Work!
The Amelia Temple Series continues! Book Three will be coming from Blue Fortune Enterprises in March 2025. I hope you’re as excited for Amelia’s next adventure as I am!
I’m starting a new gothic horror serial! Shadows Over Ravenkirk begins October 2025. Victoria Williams has been drawn to the small Maine town of Ravenkirk by a surprise inheritance … from a woman she’s never met. Follow her as she untangles the mysteries of Ravenkirk and its powerful, preternatural families.
Available Now!
Beneath Strange Lights, Book One of The Amelia Temple Series, is available to order now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and wherever books are sold!
Against Fearful Lies, Book Two of The Amelia Temple Series, is also available! Find it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and wherever books are sold!
My short story "It's Really For The Best" is included in The Book of Queer Saints Volume II from Medusa Publishing Haus. This anthology is all killer, no filler. BoQS2 and a new edition of Volume I are both available now in print and ebook!
My short story “Lady Equinox and the Eternal Moment” appears in Issue 12 of HyphenPunk Magazine! You can buy it on Amazon, Kofi, and many other places, or you can read it for free online!