Hi. I wrote a book. It's chock-full of revenge and sapphic fun. You need more of that in your life. Let's make this happen, shall we?

~

Last November, I participated in NaNoWriMo.

That's something I've done every year for several now: prepare a deep cup of chai and/or other tea, hunch over my laptop, and start pounding away at the keys. From November 1st to November 30th, I write like a demon. It doesn't always yield fantastic results, but it always yields... results, at least. Either way, it keeps me off the streets.

This past Autumn, I think I hit on something good. Something not only of quality, but that will resonate with a lot of my people (by "my people", I mean many things: biracial people, WLW, nerds, geeks, feminists, and avid readers of supernatural fiction).  It turned out a lot better than I expected, and I think it's ready to be consumed. 

To be blunt, both with you and with myself, I've been sitting on this far longer than I should have. Several things gave me the swift kick in the glutes that I needed. My birthday reminding me that I'm another year older. The Orlando shooting reminding me that there are no guarantees you get another day to pursue your dream — especially when you're not a white straight cismale. Add onto those the wealth of other projects I want to start, and it seems the time has come to get this one out there for other people to enjoy and stop hoarding it to myself.

About "Bleeding For Eurydice"

Without giving too much away, this book is a dramedy/romance/supernatural story. More inspired by Dresden Files and Buffy than anything else as far as the supernatural aspects go, but I tend to weave a little of everything I've ever consumed into my work. I tried to represent a few different cultures and mindsets all throughout, keeping the focus on entertainment value even while sociopolitical issues are being dissected under the surface. I'd say it's a friendship-and-romance story foremost, a supernatural tale of revenge second, and then a piece of feminist literature. But it doesn't really work without all of those elements together, and you can't take one out without upsetting the balance.

General rating is a soft R, maybe a PG-13 from the late 70s. There's a lot of swearing and period talk, frank discussions about sex and nudity, a tiny bit of violence, blood. Plus some body horror moments that might leave some feeling a little squeamish. Not much in the way of "bedroom gymnastics", but that does come up. Basically, it's nowhere near Fifty Shades, but please don't read this as a bedtime story to small children!

Yes, it does have something to do with the Greek tale of Eurydice (yoo-RID-eh-SEE). No, I'm not going to tell you exactly how — but you can read and find out! (Apologies if that comes across as mean)

How much book are you getting for your money? In length, it clocks in at over 117,000 119,000 words. For those of you who aren't writers and would have no reason to memorise word counts, that means it's longer than Frankenstein, the third Harry Potter book or The Hobbit, just a hair longer than Twilight. So if you were worried about getting a thinnish YA novel that will only take you an hour or two to consume, worry no longer! Also, definitely nowhere near as lengthy as Moby Dick or Fellowship Of The Ring if you balk at long-term commitments. I didn't pad it with filler, nor did I trim out things where trimming was not needed.

Where You Come In

This Indiegogo is your chance to buy this book before it's widely available to the public on Amazon.com (EDIT: This will include an eBook option at that time, for those of you wondering). Take note that it will be marginally less expensive on there, but also won't be signed, and won't have any of the other perks available to you through this campaign. So if you're patient and don't care about autographs and such things, then rest assured, you will have another way to get the book! 

Once the Indiegogo campaign ends, I will continue to offer the basic perk of an autographed copy at an increased price, and the other perks will go away. So if you want drawings, or a copy autographed by the illustrator or any of the other goodies, you'd better stop stalling!

Now I realise that I'm more or less an untested and unknown author, and you may feel there's no incentive to fund this campaign now. No arguing with that. However, if the premise and/or aspects of this type of story appeal to you, I thought this would be an ideal way to provide more than just the book itself, and to get it to you a little earlier.

What I'm offering:

• The opportunity to snag a trade-sized paperback of "Bleeding For Eurydice" before anyone else — and autographed.
  
• Related rewards, such as getting your name in the book, t-shirts, or bonus drawings by Laura Knatt, the cover artist.
  
• UNrelated rewards, such as me slipping in a random Pokémon card into your book. Just because.
  

To be clear: the near-final draft of the manuscript and cover art are complete. All that's left at the time of this campaign launch is a final editing overview and the ordering of a few proof copies to make sure it looks exactly the way I want it to look (plus adding the list of Indiegogo backers to the book, which I won't have until the campaign ends). I can't know the future so I don't want to lock down a date, especially since if I get a better response than expected, it could take me a while to sign all those copies. But rest assured that I project fulfilling every single order within the next few months. In time for Christmas!