Category Archives: Novels

Severance: Friday Update

08 Friday May 2026

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Novelettes/Novellas, Novels, Short Stories, Writing

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News:

One of my Crystal Lake Shallow Waters flash fiction winners was read on the House of Shadow and Ink’s YouTube channel by narrator Bree Allison. It doesn’t take long and should give you the shivers. Cli-fi horror story “Growing Things” can be found here.

Due to changes in Draft2Digital’s new maintenance fees that apply only to low earners, thus punishing the unsuccessful who can’t afford the fees because we don’t make the royalties to afford them, I’ve had to delist all my books from both my names. That means that all of my self-published titles can only be found at Amazon going forward. This is not ideal; I’m not happy about fewer options, and it’s probably going to hurt other book sellers like Smashwords and Bookshop. Seems like it leaves Amazon in a much better position to screw everyone over—like always, but more. I’ll work on removing the universal links for wider distribution from this site.

Works in Progress:

I finished the repairs of the Dracula reimagining, and I’m much happier with it on the other side than I was with the previous repairs. I once again thank past Amanda for doing her last edits with tracked changes. I flew through the novel.

I’ve been slowly working on the edits for May Cooler Heads Prevail. They’ve been requiring some thinking at each step, but I think the slower speed may be worth it in the end.

I’ve been ruminating over some essays I want to tackle afterward. I’m really looking forward to trying to put words and structure to thoughts I’ve had for a while.

Books I’m Reading:

Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Singalong playlist
Beyond the Black
Delain

Things I’m Watching:

Saw: The Final Chapter
Kate
Gunpowder Milkshake
The Gray Man
Saw X
Hoarding: Buried Alive series (finished)
NCIS series
Tracker series
Prodigal Son series

Poem of the Week:

she said never
to return but
my chest burns
i tell her
i have nothing
left to sing
she preempts me
to remind me
that I am empty
more hollow than
the dog cage
and the rubber room
the tattered stage
the milky womb
she leads me
to the porcelain tub
and seeds me
in tile never scrubbed
until I am shadow
and insinuation
another sarcophagal body
asleep in limbo

A little freedom: Saturday Update

25 Saturday Apr 2026

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News:

My article in honor of In the Dollhouse We All Wait, “Pay to Play: Five Horror Films Where the Rich are the Absolute Worst,” was posted to Horror DNA. I love writing little pieces like this. I should do it more often.

Works in Progress:

I was working furiously on the proofreading edits for Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8) and really wanted to get it done yesterday, so I focused on getting that done before tackling the update. I finished about 1 a.m. today and sent it on. It was a pretty easy edit, very few changes, but I’m obligated to do a full read-through for each editing round, just in case.

So I finished the final edit on the final book in the Meridian series, which means I’ve completed one serial, two trilogies, and two series under my Aurelia T. Evans name. There’s another trilogy on the horizon for next year, too. Not sure what I’m going to do after that. But if you like shapeshifters, gothic urban fantasy, demonic circuses, angels/demons, supernatural horror, and spicy content, do check out my other name’s books. And the Meridian series is entirely composed of standalones. You can read everything or a few, and in any order. I only ask that you save Never & Forever for last, because it feels very much like a capstone.

I have no obligations now for a while, so I’ll probably tackle the (hopefully) final fix to the Dracula reimagining, then apply myself to the edits on May Cooler Heads Prevail to release in May. This is what I’ve been working toward this year, this freedom to rest, to learn how to slow down, because I’ve been running the race for over two decades now, and I don’t think I can do things the same way anymore, especially if it doesn’t really support me financially.

Books I’m Reading:

Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Singalong playlist
Lily Kershaw
Silent Hill soundtracks

Things I’m Watching:

Ghostbusters
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
The Woman in Cabin 10
Jigsaw
Saw II
Saw III
The Conjuring: Last Rites
Home Town series
Hoarding: Buried Alive series
NCIS series
Tracker series
Power Rangers: Reignition series
Prodigal Son series

Poem of the Week: (throwback to April 2022, also featured in Dead Ends)

let the earth cover
my prone body
like a weighted blanket
god so comfortable
have you tried this
best sleep i’ve ever had
cannot recommend enough
five stars
i could sleep forever

Where’s the love: Friday Update

17 Friday Apr 2026

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After a lot more time at the car place than I would have liked and eventually having to get a loaner car, and after way more money than I wanted to spend, my car has working a/c again and safety elements have been fixed. That’s still been my stress landscape for this last week, but hopefully I’m over that hill and I can start replenishing my coffers.

News:

I did an interview with Don Anelli for In the Dollhouse We All Wait at his blog Don’s Horror Reads. He also wrote a solid review for Dollhouse.

Ian Gielen also reviewed Dollhouse for Memento Mori Ink Magazine.

By and large, the review response seems to be that it’s definitely extreme and harsh to get through, but it’s more than gruesome gore and torture; there’s a psychological horror element and attention to characterization that keeps readers going. Which is what I was going for, so I’m thrilled.

“Changing Room,” a story set in my nineties era and mall life, was included in Squirm Books’ queer anthology Skin Deep, which came out on the 13th.

Works in Progress:

I spent Monday and Wednesday cleaning out my closet and setting up my new shelving unit for books. I’ve never assembled furniture before, and I’m surprised and proud of how well it went. I have more cleaning to do, but my walk-in closet is now a walk-in again, and I get to look at my pretty books and know exactly what I have. I also found my sixth grade(!) copy of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which I need for an essay I want to write and I wasn’t able to find before (which is part of the reason why I wanted to get my books out of the closet; other reason is that the shelving in there was made for storage, not books).

I watched the latest season of Hoarders to ready myself for the process. It’s not only motivating, but it prepared me for throwing out a bin of clothes from the attic that appeared (and smelled) to have been peed on by a rodent or two. I saved one shirt that didn’t have any pee stains, and it seems to be okay after washing, but the rest really needed to go. Not one likes waste, but I’m not comfortable donating things that have been peed on, even after a wash.

I’m genetically predisposed to some hoarding behavior, fighting that all the time. Sometimes, however, it gets out of my control, and it’s hard to find time to fix it that I wouldn’t rather devote to writing. I managed to keep the mess mostly out of sight this time, but it made getting things from my closet difficult. Without a writing project, I have no other excuse but to tidy.

Yesterday I received the final line edits for Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8), so I’ll be working on that for the next week and finish out the closet cleaning afterward. Then I’ll apply myself to May Cooler Heads Prevail edits.

Books I’m Reading:

I’m Sorry If I Scared You by Mae Murray (finished)
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Singalong playlist
Lily Kershaw

Things I’m Watching: (I am a multi-faceted weirdo)

Frankenstein (2025)
Spiral
Hostel: Part III
Cinderella (Brandy)
Cinderella (Disney 1950)
Longlegs
Sinners
Under Paris
Power Rangers: Reignition series
Goosebumps (1995) series
Ghosts (US) series
Elsbeth series
True Haunting series
Prodigal Son series

Poem of the Week: (throwback to April 2022)

The placid white clouds
have all turned gray.
The streets of pearl
have shattered away.
What happened to
these Elysian fields
to fade to brown
from the final seals?
Feathers floating
down from above.
Send in the crows
instead of the dove.

She’s heeeeere: Friday Update

10 Friday Apr 2026

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News:

She’s here! In the Dollhouse We All Wait is officially out far and wide, in ebook and paperback. An evergreen reminder that this is splatterpunk/extreme horror and not for everyone, but if you’re already deep in the horror thicket and you enjoy the philosophical nuance of the Saw and Hostel movies, this is probably your speed. It has all the trigger warnings (except animal cruelty, unless taxidermy counts), so read responsibly. I’m still very excited.

You can read an excerpt here at Linzé Brandon’s A to Z Blog Challenge, where I is for IN THE DOLLHOUSE…

I also have an in-depth interview at Crystal Lake’s YouTube channel, if you want to hear me talk about where DOLLHOUSE comes from and what it means to me.

The paperback of A Nightmare for All Seasons has been approved. Both the glossy and matte looked really good, but I liked the matte better. Both the ebook and paperback are now live.

“Mirror Writing,” a narrative poem, is a finalist in this month’s Shallow Waters flash fiction contest at Crystal Lake’s Patreon, near the end of the 20 posted stories. ($5/month tiers and up to read and vote, lots of fun)

Works in Progress:

I thought about doing a bit of creative non-fiction this week, but car troubles have dominated my landscape. These things do mean that I got some solid reading done. No writing progress on anything, which is actually kind of a relief, in a way. Still resting until I get the proofreading edits for Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8).

Books I’m Reading:

Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin (found it, finished)
The Shining by Stephen King (finished)
Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman (finished, almost in one sitting while waiting at the car place)
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Singalong playlist
Lily Kershaw

Things I’m Watching:

From Dusk Till Dawn
Anaconda (2025)
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
Celebrity Jeopardy series
Hoarders series (finished)
True Haunting series
Matlock (new) series
Tracker series
Prodigal Son series
Wayward series
Home Town series

Poem of the Week: (throwback to April 2022)

an afterlife dilemma
empyrean light blinding
to a blissful ignorant eye
or gehennan revelation
sour gnostic bite from
yggdrasilian roots

Scrubbing dirt: Friday Update

03 Friday Apr 2026

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Yep, I’m well into burnout. My brain isn’t functioning properly, and I’m making mistakes I don’t usually make, breaking my usual processes by accident. It’s time to take care of myself as well as I can, step back as much as I can.

However, I got my contributor’s copies of In the Dollhouse We All Wait, and she’s beautiful! (Cover art by David Kozlovsky) I also got my proof for the paperback of A Nightmare for All Seasons. It’s glossy, and I want to check it in matte, plus I noticed alignment issues, but I’m insanely happy with this poetry collection, even if poetry is a niche area.

News:

The paperback of A Nightmare for All Seasons needs to wait for the changes and approval, but the ebook is finally available now here.

To celebrate the release of In the Dollhouse We All Wait next week, Crystal Lake is putting the ebook of Question Not My Salt on sale for 99c.

As with Dollhouse, take care of the content warnings, but if you enjoy gross and gruesome, you’ll have a blast with Question.

Works in Progress:

Since finishing the Never & Forever initial edits, I’ve been doing writing adjacent work, like finalizing A Nightmare for All Seasons on Amazon and Draft2Digital, creating promotional materials for it, doing an interview for In the Dollhouse We All Wait (of course I just have to be doing all these long-titled projects all at once). I’ll continue doing not much on the writing side until the proofreading edits come through for Never & Forever. Once that’s done, I’ll work on May Cooler Heads Prevail, but with no deadlines. I want to put it out in May or June, so there’s no hurry. I think I want to tweak the Dracula reimagining one more time, too.

When I want to write again, I won’t be able to stop. In the meantime, I’ve got plenty of edits to work on and books to read.

Books I’m Reading:

Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
The Shining by Stephen King
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Singalong playlist
Billie Eilish
Megan Joy
Eurielle

Things I’m Watching:

Ghostbusters: Answer the Call
Man on Fire
Celebrity Jeopardy series
Matlock (new) series
Queer Eye series (finished)
Tracker series
Prodigal Son series
Home Town series

Poem of the Week:

carve away the splinters
but save the marrow
fashion a key from bone
the skeleton key
of suffering
of screaming pain
it’s the only way
you can ever
get out

White noise: Friday Update

27 Friday Mar 2026

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I’ve had some pretty alarming symptoms of incipient burnout, including crashing out at least once, between personal and global concerns. As though in sympathy, one of my tires burst just a few months after fixing another wheel issue. Instead of medical fees, my bank account is suffering from tire and wheel replacements.

Writing work is like pulling teeth. No sleep is enough. I haven’t worked out in over a month, if you don’t count playing pickleball. I do know that I have to take a rest and soon, or else something in my brain or body is going to break instead.

News:

In the Dollhouse We All Wait has been doing pretty well in Amazon ratings and in preliminary reviews, considering the subject matter.

Works in Progress:

Just finished the first round of edits from my publisher for Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8). Last week, we had family in town, which is wonderful but exhausting, and it made finishing the work really difficult. I promised it by this week, though, and delivered. I have the proofreading round left to go. Then I’ll be done with the book and the series. I’m ready to be done, but I’m not ready for the Meridian-verse to be over, which means I can’t win.

Probably from now until I get the proofreading back, I’ll mostly read and get A Nightmare for All Seasons out there once I have the cover/paperback wrap. Maybe run through the Dracula reimagining one more time to tweak a few things that crossed my mind. Only when Meridian is over will I head into May Cooler Heads Prevail.

But seriously, though, post-Meridian, I need to have no deadlines for a while. Just everything in its own time, if at all.

Books I’m Reading:

Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
The Shining by Stephen King
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

GEMS
Sea Stars
Cajsa Silk
Meridian playlist
Let’s Hear It for the Girls playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Pig
Abigail
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come
Celebrity Jeopardy series
Matlock (new) series
Queer Eye series
Watson series
Tracker series
Prodigal Son series
Home Town series

Poem of the Week:

The soil has opinions on the fertilizer,
the buds an argument over optimal sunlight,
while the wasps and bees do battle for
pollination rights and the aphids object to marigolds.
Rats wait in the wings for dead of night,
while hornworms munch through screaming fruit.

Walking a knife’s edge: Friday Update

20 Friday Mar 2026

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News:

Just a reminder that In the Dollhouse We All Wait, my rough splatterpunk novel about how the rich really are different, is available for preorder (Kindle edition). Reminding y’all again about the trigger warnings. Be very careful if you’re not comfortable with extreme horror.

As part of the campaign, I did an article on the writing of it, “5 Things About Writing In the Dollhouse We All Wait (Sparkle Edition) (Jk, No Sparkles).” I’m not 100% positive it’s widely available, but it’s up at the Crystal Lake Patreon.

Works in Progress:

I’m about halfway through the Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8) edits from my publisher. If I manage 20 pages per day, I’m happy and will make the deadline, which is a relief after so many missed deadlines on my part. Proofreading will probably require the same pace, although I’ll have more of my days off to use for it.

I’m honestly looking forward to finally being done so I can rest for a while. I can tell I need it, because everything is like pulling teeth again. For my own health, regardless of whether I care about the future, I need to figure out my diet and my workout schedules in context with my grocery shopping job (although if oil prices continue rising without batch pay being adjusted…). It’s been a year working through Instacart, and I still haven’t really found a balance with how it messes with my dinner timing and throws off the rest of the night as a result. Working days might work better in the long run, but the $/hr goes down slightly that way, and it wasn’t great to begin with.

Seasonal poetry collection A Nightmare for All Seasons will be available real soon.

Books I’m Reading:

Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
The Shining by Stephen King
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Meridian playlist
Let’s Hear It for the Girls playlist

Things I’m Watching:

The Importance of Being Earnest (National Theatre)
The Ugly Stepsister
Misery
Queer Eye series
Ghosts (US) series
Watson series
Tracker series
Prodigal Son series
Home Town series

Poem of the Week: (throwback to March 2022)

don’t talk eternal
i don’t care about
the dust clouds
after the sunburst
or what remains
after the earth
splits in two
don’t talk eternal
just give me time
for a sip or two
that we can share

Creek rising: Friday Update

13 Friday Mar 2026

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News:

In the Dollhouse We All Wait is available for preorder, for release on April 10. Remember, be careful with the trigger warnings. It has everything except cruelty to animals (unless you count taxidermy). Primary warnings are sexual sadism and medical experimentation.

I just finished up the final touches to A Nightmare for All Seasons, so I’ve contacted my cover artist, Don Noble, about the ebook cover and the paperback wrap. So if you’ve been longing for a seasonal horror poetry collection, it’s coming your way soon.

Works in Progress:

After sending Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8), I’ve been taking a bit of a break, which is a misnomer, because I’m always working somehow. I got some videos shot for Dollhouse promo, which I don’t like doing, but I guess a challenge is good for me now and then. I went through Nightmare a few rounds through, figuring out some formatting issues. I’m going to do a write-up or two for additional Dollhouse promo. I also had to do my taxes on Wednesday. So I ended up busy anyway, and I need to work on that.

I’ve received edits for Never & Forever back from my publisher already, so I’ll be starting on that after the write-ups. No rest for the wicked, but I’ll continue to do my best.

Books I’m Reading:

Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
The Shining by Stephen King
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Agnes Obel
Let’s Hear It for the Girls playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Queer Eye series
Ghosts (US) series
Watson series
Tracker series
CSI: Miami series
CSI series (finished)
Home Town series

Poem of the Week:

I cut into it
It cuts into me
Where I cut I split
Where it cuts it sighs
Our blood mingles
Into liquid embrace it shivers
Fight becomes a dance
An exquisite joining
Of opposing forces
Becoming one
In bloodshed
In my head

The beast is dead: Saturday Update

07 Saturday Mar 2026

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News:

“Take It to the River” won second place for the River theme at Shallow Waters last month. This month, “Sloppy” is showing up for the Bed theme. It should post about March 10 at the Crystal Lake Patreon ($5/month tier and up to read and vote, lots of fun every month).

Works in Progress:

I didn’t forget to post yesterday. I was just busy because I’d gone over my extended deadline to submit my edited manuscript of Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8) to my publisher. I’d initially promised it about mid-February, then the end of February, then yesterday. I only was able to get it in less than an hour ago. That damn thing was a beast at 140K words, and through my double edit, I ended up cutting about 30K from it, the excess almost entirely from my tendency to overwrite.

It’s frustrating on the editing side, because I remember how frustrated I was near the end of writing that it was taking so long. All you can think about while cutting whole chunks out is how much time it feels like you wasted. But I overwrite because I don’t know what I’ll need and sometimes I forget what I’ve already written because it’s been over a week since I wrote it. By and large, the shape of the novel is in the finished first draft. I rarely add. I just need to carve.

It’s done and submitted. I wrote a synopsis and everything. I’ll need to do my publisher’s edit, then the proofreading edits, but the worst is over. Now I need to rest but also start on the promotional materials for In the Dollhouse We All Wait, for which I am (you guessed it) behind. As soon as I get some of the promo done, I think I’ll get A Nightmare for All Seasons finished up and published. It’s mostly finished in its formatting file. I just need one more run-through and to check the blank pages and get the cover finalized. I won’t do a tremendous push for it all at once. I might do something for each season this year to promote it. But poetry collections are basically pet projects. They don’t get much attention, despite my absolute love for them.

So the rest of today is for rest. Tomorrow I start on promo. I’ll probably use my day off on Wednesday to prep for self-publishing the poetry collection.

Books I’m Reading:

Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
The Shining by Stephen King
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Billie Eilish
Timber Timbre
Eurielle
Agnes Obel
Dracula Untold soundtrack
Let’s Hear It for the Girls playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Muppet Treasure Island
Army of the Dead
Broadchurch series
Queer Eye series
Ghosts (US) series
Watson series
Tracker series
CSI: Miami series
Home Town series

Poem of the Week:

smash the erratic cricket
because you can’t catch it
and from its depths arises
the tiniest cthulhian monstrosity
slender tentacular heads blindly
searching for a water way out
from its dying host
pod people in miniature
may they never adapt to us

Time to do all the things: Friday Update

27 Friday Feb 2026

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While trying to hit deadlines, little chores fall by the wayside, but today I need to get a few of them done, regardless. Work schedule changes aren’t quite going the way I want them to, but I’m going to continue playing around with it, because I really like getting home closer to dinnertime than, you know, ten or eleven at night. Delivering in sunlight is slightly less stressful than delivering after dark.

News:

Nothing this week.

Works in Progress:

I don’t think I’m going to make it through both editing rounds on Never & Forever (Meridian 8) before the end of the month, but I’m still going to try to get it done as soon as possible. I’ve cut almost 25K words from the manuscript, which means the second round will go a lot faster.

It’s frustrating, though, because I’m cutting a lot here at the end, and I remember how much I didn’t like how long the story was and how much I wanted to reach the end. But I made so much extra work for myself. I couldn’t know that then, but it would be nice if I could figure out how to write less to begin with. Most of it is just figuring out how to bridge from one part to another.

Once this is done, I need to get A Nightmare for All Seasons ready to publish, then I need to work on written and video promo for In the Dollhouse We All Wait, which will be available for preorder soon.

Books I’m Reading:

Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
The Shining by Stephen King
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Delain
Tina Guo
Billie Eilish
Elise Testone
Donna Missal
Let’s Hear It for the Girls playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween
Ghosts (US) series
Goosebumps (original) series
Watson series
Will Trent series
Tracker series
CSI: Miami series
Home Town series

Poem of the Week: (throwback to February 2023)

heads bowed low
knees scraped and
bruised blue during
this darkest rein
of heinous crimes
and torturous ends
spread rose petals
at a monarch’s feet
at darkest night
for divine right