The Epistle
Blurbs, betaing, the musical that saved me this summer, and everything I've been loving lately.
Welcome back the the epistle, all ye faithful. Slip off your shoes, duck under the vaulting gothic arches, and step onto sacred ground. Today I’m revealing the blurbs for A DOWRY OF BLOOD, diving deep into the importance of beta reading, and waxing poetic about my favorite German-language musical.
News
The pre-order for A DOWRY OF BLOOD is live on Amazon! Pre-orders really help a book’s visibility, so if you were waiting to grab your copy, now is the time. It will be popping up on other retailers in the coming weeks as well. We’re only nine weeks away from release day, so get excited!
If you prefer not to support Amazon, you can always preorder your e-book or paperback through my publisher, Nyx!
DOWRY has been getting some amazing early reviews, including these two gorgeous blurbs I’m very pleased to share with you.
“Dark, lush, and heartrendingly romantic, A Dowry of Blood is a treatise on the power of love and found family. A blood-soaked romance that will appeal to fans of the decadent queerness of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, or Poppy Z. Brite's goth classic, Lost Souls.” - Lyndall Clipstone, author of LAKESEDGE
“By turns beautiful, brutal, pious, and profane, A DOWRY OF BLOOD is a dizzying nightmare of a romance that will leave you aching, angry, and ultimately hopeful.” -Hannah Whitten, author of FOR THE WOLF
What I’ve Been Loving Lately
Beta Reading
2020 has completely fried my attention span when it comes to reading (me? finishing a book over 300 pages? In this economy?) but one thing has dragged me by the scruff of the neck out of a reading slump. Beta reading! If you aren’t a writer, you may not know that beta reading refers to swapping manuscripts with trusted partners, usually other writers, who can read with an eye for what’s working and what’s not. I’ve been fortunate enough to get my grubby little racoon hands on some manuscripts from my agency siblings, and they are honestly blowing me away.
It’s reminding me how important it is to be in contact with other writers in community, and to have people in your corner who you can depend on to encourage you and give you honest, actionable feedback. My critique partners are the bedrock of my sanity in this wild industry, and I’m so grateful for them. Not to mention spoiled to get to read their phenomenal books early. If you’re interesting in publishing books, my number one piece of advice (okay number three, after read widely and write regularly) is to find yourself a handful of people you genuinely enjoy and trust to swap writing with.
Number One Fan by MUNA
I usually recommend you guys really yearny songs, but if you need a shot of pure serotonin today, I suggest this one. It’s all about hyping yourself up and being your own number one fan, and it's on all my get-up-and-go playlists. Any song with an applause track in the background is a winner in my book.
Elisabeth das Musical
I discovered this German-language musical about the rise and fall of Austrian Empress Elisabeth in the doldrums of quarantine summer and during the worst depressive spell of my life. The only thing that really made me happy or gave me something to look forward to was nightly watch parties of foreign language musicals with friends. But Elisabeth stood head and shoulders above them all.
The musical is sumptuous and perfectly scored. It blends history with fantasy by exploring Elisabeth’s lifelong love affair with Death, personified here as beautiful man relentlessly pursuing her through the fall of empires. The musical was a huge inspiration for DOWRY and the cast recording was the backdrop to much of the writing. In one watch (check out the 2005 proshoot on Youtube!) it knocked The Phantom of the Opera out of the top spot for my favorite musical, and I’ve rewatched it three times since then.
Elisabeth has become a comfort watch for me, despite the show’s darker themes about death, suicide, political violence, and hereditary mental illness. That’s because, in addition to being the summer of Elisabeth, this was also the summer I was finally treated for a lifelong mood disorder, probably inherited from a close family member. Like Elisabeth, I had always rode the waves of euphoric highs and crushing lows. My own mood swings felt operatic, and it was thrilling to watch the titular heroine sprint from despair to grandiosity as the tried desperately to claw out agency in a court determined to repress her. She’s an incredibly complex protagonist, and I never get tired of watching her walk the knife’s edge of sanity, dancing with Death and defying him until the end.
We talk a lot about representational media in publishing, and while I don’t think “good” or “valuable” media begins or ends with representation, sometimes seeing your life reflected in a larger-than-life story is powerful enough to get you through dark times. While I think a multiplicity of stories representing issues like mental illness are the answer instead of perfect stories, this is one story I’ve claimed for myself and woven into my self-understanding. I very much hope that you have stories like that to keep you grounded during difficult times, and I would love to hear which ones they are!
That’s all I’ve got for you this month, devotees of The Epistle, but you’ll be seeing me soon enough with new announcements and tasty tidbits. Be safe and be well until we two meet again.
-Saint