Leather and Lace Is Available Now
Welcome to Nature's Corrupted, Magen Cubed's newsletter. This is a place to share writing, thoughts, observations, and personal stories at the intersection of art, fiction, and life.
Leather and Lace: Book One of the Southern Gothic Series is now loose in the world. The book arrived on Tuesday, February 16th, and is available on Amazon, Kobo, B&N, and Apple Books. It’s even available for request at libraries if that’s a thing you’d like to do.
So what is Leather and Lace? It’s the story of an unlucky vampire from the wrong side of town, a monster hunter with a golden voice, and a man-eater on the loose in quiet city Devereux. There’s monsters, romance, karaoke, and a Chihuahua in knock-off designer sweaters.
It goes a little something like this.
Excerpt
In the last eight months since leaving the vampire slums of Devil’s Row, Dorian Villeneuve learned many things about the world of humans. He learned even more about the world of monster hunting. Today, he learned that mothmen could fly at speeds upwards of sixty miles-per-hour if given enough of a head start.
He also learned it was exceedingly difficult to aim a handgun at mothmen flying upwards of sixty miles-per-hour. This was especially difficult when hanging out of the window of the rickety red pickup truck currently racing down the empty highway by night’s cover.
"I can't aim!" Dorian loudly complained over the wind. "We're going too fast!"
"Well, we can't exactly slow down," answered Cash Leroy from behind the steering wheel. Dorian’s partner held the wheel tightly, standing on the gas pedal and pushing the old truck's engine to keep pace. "Took us this long to figure out where he was headed."
Dorian peered up through the windshield at the mothman above them. The winged shifter flew against the moon's pale light, high above the tree line of the piney forest edging the highway. At such a height, the mothman was little more than a broad, black shadow on outstretched wings. Furry black hairs covered his whole body in a million points, each catching the moonlight but betraying nothing of the monster's true shape underneath. Two glowing red eyes bobbled like embers in the dark to give away his line of sight.
Glancing down, the mothman met Dorian's gaze. The vampire bared fangs.
Ahead of the mothman and his pursuers laid the city of Devereux and its 300,000 people and monsters. The mothman, like the other shapeshifters he was kin with, would disappear behind the safety of their human hides there. In the woods where he hunted human hitchhikers and backpackers, the mothman had the advantage of speed and strength. Even so, the shifter couldn't keep going forever on tired wings and an empty belly.
All three of them knew the hunt had to end here, one way or another.
Dorian lined up his shot with mothman's head and pulled the trigger twice, hoping to hit something vital. His bullets missed by a mile. He let out a hiss and dropped back into the passenger seat.
"This is useless."
"Alright, we need to try something else. C'mere." Cash reached behind his bucket seat for the sawed-off shotgun he kept in the back of the cab. "Take the wheel for me."
Dorian blanched. "What? Absolutely not!"
"I'm a better shot, Dorian. I just need you to take the wheel."
"But I don't know how to drive!"
"It ain't really driving, you just need to keep us on the road."
Letting out a huff, Dorian clambered over into the driver's seat. Cash slid out, climbing through the window to maneuver himself onto the roof of the truck. The wind cut at his face and threatened to pull him off where he gripped the metal. All six feet and two inches of him held on tight as Dorian grabbed the wheel.
The vampire took a deep breath and tried to calm his shaking hands. Everything felt so huge and cumbersome, utterly foreign to someone who had never driven before. The entire truck felt different in the driver's seat; its throaty engine clattered louder, the chassis vibrating with every bump or crack in the asphalt. He stomped down on the gas pedal. The speedometer galloped ahead with a terrifying roar of the truck's struggling engine.
"This is so stupid!" Dorian shouted through the window.
"You sound surprised!" Cash shouted back.
From the truck's roof, the hunter made his way to the bed and carefully dropped down. Cash looked up at the mothman above and took up his shotgun to aim. Even at this speed, he was an excellent marksman, quickly finding the mothman's core between the beats of the giant furred wings. The mothman met his eye just as Cash fired. He changed direction without warning, gliding toward the road to avoid the deer slug trained on his heart. With a curse, Cash reloaded a fresh shell. Neither he nor Dorian saw the mothman dive down until it was too late.
Soundtrack
Are you in need of some new music? Here, have this. A playlist for lovestruck vampires and the country boys who want to kiss them. Featuring Orville Peck, Stevie Nicks, First Aid Kit, and more.
Launch Party
I’ll be livestreaming on Youtube on Saturday, February 20th, at 12PM EST. There will be a Q&A and I’ll be reading the first few chapters of the book. You can click the link above to set a reminder or copy the link for future reference. I’ll be sharing the link on Twitter and Instagram again on Saturday, so stay tuned if you follow me on either of those accounts.
See you there. Brings your most burning questions about the book, the characters, the world, and what comes next.