Ornamental Women is Now Available!

After a long, long road to get to this point, I can now say that Ornamental Women, my first novel, is available now at Amazon as a trade paperback and ebook!

Set in my long-running Krevborna setting, my novel is definitely in the dark fantasy/Gothic fantasy style, but with a few surprises. In lieu of writing the tradition back cover copy, this is how I describe the novel:

Death and Art
A grave robber and her automaton companion search for an absent corpse and a missing book of poems…

Heaven and Hell
A devil-worshipping bard plots the murder of an angel...

Love and Blood
A monster hunter and his witchy lover seek to thwart the rise of a pagan death goddess… 

 

Now, as a first-time novelist, you might have some reservations about giving me, a relative unknown, your time and money. Well, why not try before you buy? At this link you can read the first three chapters of the novel in full. 

If you're a reader looking for books informed by an author's idiosyncratic interests and obsessions, I think you'll find Ornamental Women to be chock full of my particularities rather than doing the paint by numbers trope checklist thing. While I won't say that my novel is a an entirely new kind of storytelling or anything like that, I don't know of any dark fantasy novels that have: 

• A plot inspired by the history of Pre-Raphaelite art
• A first date in an absinthe bar 
• Bards powered by the Gothic fantasy equivalent of black metal
• A grave robbing heroine who suffers from depression 
• A nunsploitation-inspired chapter set in a brothel 
• An automation discovering the joys of a little free library
• Freaks with mensur fighting scars, a different freak with a monstrous six-fingered hand, and yet another set of freaks with a fetish for redheads.

In short, my ideal reader is a sicko who loves dark fantasy, the Gothic, and Victoriana.

Also, it's important to me that you know this: no AI technology was used in the creation of this book. I wrote it using ideas from my human brain and typed it up with my human hands. You deserve better than AI slop. 

I sincerely hope some of you pick up my novel and give it a read. I'm totally biased, but I think it's actually a really fun read with action, horror, magic, mystery, and a dash of romance. 

We Three Kings Lay Mangled and Torn

This is my last blogpost of the year, so I figured I may as well go out with what passes for "holiday cheer" around here.

I've written a Christmas story every year for the past three years. This year's story is set on PLANET MOTHERFUCKER, so be forewarned: this story may just ruin your Christmas. If Santa's pooper, elves with big titties, or murderous reindeer ain't your bag--keeping walkin'.

For those built of stronger, stupider stuff: 

Look upon my works, ye Merry, and despair!

I present: WE THREE KINGS LAY MANGLED AND TORN

I Wrote a Novel

I got back into writing short fiction in a concerted way in 2024, so for 2025 I gave myself the goal of writing a novel--something I'd never tried before. And I did it; I have now written a novel! And, as you can see from the word count, it's not even a short novel.

I'll have more to say about the process and how I crossed the finish line in a post or two to come at a later date. I've set my book aside for a bit, to give it (and myself) a rest. Then the revision process will begin.

Printed out, double-sided, the draft is thick

What's my novel about? Let me take a crack at summing it up:

A melancholy grave robber and her cheerful automaton friend get involved in the mystery of a missing corpse and an equally missing book of poetry. As they investigate, they cross paths with a black metal bard out to kill an angel and a famous monster hunter who is in love with a beautiful, but deeply evil, witch. 

It's got Slavic monsters, nunsploitation, a first date at an absinthe bar, a fetishistic death cult obsessed with red-haired women...and a whole lot more.

I'll definitely let everyone know when it's available to read.

The Bitter Perfume of a Solstice Night

I'll probably never be able to top Melania's grim Slavic hell Christmas-scapes, but I did finish a Christmas tale set in Krevborna, which you can read here. Things you can expect from this story: weary travelers, a horrible monster, disturbing allusions to Christmas tradition, satanic magic, and a red-haired barbarian warrioress who totally rails three mercenaries.

As they say in darkest Krevborna,"Merry Khristmas to all, and to all a good night."