Sebastian Nothwell's Blog - Posts Tagged "mr-warren-s-profession"
Update on Works-in-Progress
Thank-you to all my readers, and especially those who’ve given feedback! I’m particularly excited by reviewers who express desire for sequels or eager anticipation for new works. Reading these makes me even more excited to write than before.
With that in mind, here’s a preview of what I’m working on now, and what you can expect from me in the future. I divulge this because I don’t want to spring a nasty surprise on readers who may be more sensitive to certain themes, subjects, and material.
There are two short stories coming up, both involving characters established in Mr Warren's Profession. Minor spoilers for that novel below!
One, as of yet untitled, involves Rowena Althorp in a shocking tryst on a train with an entirely new character. It’s roughly half-plot, half-smut. (Speaking of which—if anyone has insight into the London underground circa 1892 and is willing to pre-read for maximum train accuracy, please drop me a line!)
The other is about John Halloway and Lord Cyril Graves. Its working title is A Willing Canvas, and it’s one-hundred-percent BDSM smut. For those of you who’d rather not read BDSM smut, this might not be the story for you.
Short stories aside, I’m also working on three novels.
The whaling romance (working title: Take Me Like a Sailor) is the story of a whaling harpooner who inherits a baronetcy and falls in love with his estate agent. In bringing this story to fruition, what started as a lighthearted concept turned out a little more serious than I’d originally intended. Themes include survival of childhood sexual abuse, sexual harassment and assault in the workplace, and learning that trusted loved ones may be unworthy of the faith placed in them. Reading it back, it sounds an awful lot like the themes present in Mr Warren’s Profession. The overall tone of Take Me Like a Sailor feels much bleaker, and these topics are delved into more deeply. However, as with all romances, I can promise that it ends Happily Ever After for the two heroes. It’ll just be a longer and more difficult journey than Aubrey and Lindsey had.
The Gothic lesbian romance (no working title) is, as the description implies, a Gothic romance. An American heiress is captivated by the eerily beautiful sister of a visiting English baronet, and makes an ill-advised marriage in an effort to bring herself closer to the woman who’s stolen her heart. Inspired by stories such as Rebecca and Crimson Peak, expect an ancient house set on lonely windswept moors, desperate pining, and grim portents. Maybe even a ghost or two. Again, I promise a Happily Ever After for the heroines, who will richly deserve it after all the story puts them through. You can also expect some mutilation not unlike what’s depicted in Mr Warren’s Profession—and perhaps a little more intense than that.
The murder-mystery romance (working title: The Dose Makes the Poison) is the tale of a surgeon and a journalist, each hiding behind a false identity in an effort to escape their sordid pasts, who meet through tragic circumstances and fall in love despite them. As you may have guessed, it contains murders and surgery. It also depicts still more mutilation (those with sensitivity to things happening to eyes may want to skip a chapter or two), mentions of child abuse and how it shapes its survivors, and mentions of a loved one’s suicide and how that affects those left behind. There is a Happily Ever After awaiting our heroes, but they’ll go through a lot to get it.
I hope some of you are as excited to read these stories as I am to write them. For those of you who feel some trepidation at the details laid out above, please feel free to message me here on Goodreads (or email me directly at nothwellsebastian@gmail.com) if you’d like more information on what exactly will happen in these stories, and whether or not it’s something you’d prefer to avoid entirely. Like I said above, I don’t want to spring any nasty surprises on anyone. It sucks to be in the middle of a great story, only to get pulled out of it by an unexpected upset.
If you’d like to see more updates on these stories, I encourage you to check out my blog. I’m posting snippets of the whaling romance (almost done with the second draft!), inspirational material and research for the Gothic lesbian romance and the murder-mystery romance, and giveaways. You can also connect with me on Facebook, and of course, here on Goodreads. Thanks for reading!
Gothic Lesbians draft 1 complete!
Next up, Throw His Heart Over, an equestrian sequel to Mr Warren's Profession.
Throw His Heart Over - first draft complete!
Now, on to The Dose Makes the Poison, the small town murder mystery where a surgeon and a journalist team up to seek justice and find love. Fans of secret identities and enemies-to-friends-to-lovers stories will certainly enjoy!
Throw His Heart Over, draft 2 complete!
Throw His Heart Over is an equestrian upstairs-downstairs sequel to Mr Warren's Profession. God willing and the creek don't rise, it'll come out February 14th, 2019.
With the second draft off to the beta readers, it's time to dive back into The Dose Makes the Poison, a small town Gilded Age murder mystery with secret identities and enemies-to-friends-to-lovers.
Throw His Heart Over available for pre-order!
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Reserve your copy today and have it ready-to-read when it debuts on February 14th, 2019!
New Cover Reveal! Mr Warren's Profession
For the full story on how and why this happened, check out the official blog HERE!
Sunday Snippet, 8.28.22
~
Lindsey led the way to a grand hall with a high, vaulted ceiling. Originally built for indoor perambulation, thick curtains now covered its wall of impossibly tall windows. Every remaining inch of wall from floor to ceiling displayed framed portraits of blond, blue-eyed, aquiline-featured people. Several could’ve passed for Lindsey’s doubles, costumes aside. These, then, were Lindsey’s ancestors, stretching back through the centuries to William the Conqueror. Possibly beyond.
The entire Althorp clan stared Aubrey down. Aubrey, alone, with no gallery of compact, bow-lipped, large-eyed individuals behind him. Not a single living soul who bore any resemblance. No memory of a face like his looking into his own.
Despite his best efforts, he felt a bit small.
~
Sunday Snippet, 9.11.22
~
By slow increments, Aubrey repositioned himself half on his side, half on Lindsey. A contented hum issued from Lindsey’s lips. Then his eyes opened. His sleepy smile remained for an instant before his brow knitted in concern.
“You all right?”
Aubrey hurried to rearrange his own discomfited expression the moment Lindsey opened his eyes, but it seemed he hadn’t been quick enough. He plastered an easy grin over his anxieties and affected an airy tone. “Of course.”
Lindsey didn’t appear convinced. His mouth opened. Aubrey, dreading further questions, put a stop to it with a kiss.
Thus distracted, Lindsey gave up his inquiries. He pulled away to nuzzle at Aubrey’s jaw and on down his throat. Aubrey allowed himself to relax a fraction under the quiet, undemanding affection.
The downy duvet drew up over his shoulders. Another kiss, this time to his collarbone, then Lindsey’s forehead came to rest upon it and seemed content to stay there. Aubrey let his own hand rise to comb through Lindsey’s well-tousled curls, untangling and twining them through his fingers.
He could get used to this, he thought drowsily.
He wouldn’t, of course. Only a fool would dare to.
But he could.
~
Sunday Snippet, 1.22.23
~
Aubrey felt a slight pressure on his thigh. He glanced down to find Lindsey’s hand upon it.
He buried his initial reaction of wild, inappropriate glee deep down where Lindsey would never see it. Yet while he could hide his joy from the outside world, he couldn’t escape it within the confines of his own mind. His imagination presented a whirlwind of vignettes—Lindsey’s fingers brushing the arm of his jacket as they walked to the theatre; once inside, Aubrey taking advantage of the darkness to rest his hand in Lindsey’s lap; he and Lindsey sharing a cab home after the show, Lindsey undoing the buttons of his waistcoat, Lindsey’s mouth on his throat, Lindsey straddling him, Lindsey—
At present, Lindsey’s hand remained on his thigh. Aubrey reined in his fantasies, lest Lindsey encounter more than he’d expected there.
Or perhaps precisely what he’d expected.
Aubrey swallowed hard. Regardless of his tempting offer, Lindsey remained Aubrey’s superior. If Lindsey tired of his companionship, Aubrey would be tossed back in the gutter. The alternate possibility, that Aubrey’s own interest would wane, and Lindsey would demand continued affection as a condition of his employment, didn’t sound any more appealing. And if by some miracle a third path appeared, as the stupider parts of Aubrey’s brain hoped, wherein he and Lindsey remained inseparable in mutual bliss until the end of their days, Aubrey couldn’t conceive of a world in which he became anything more than Lindsey’s pet clerk, a filthy little secret. No. He’d moved on from that role long ago. He had no intention of returning to it now.
Then again, considering all he’d accepted from Lindsey, it looked as if he’d returned to it already.
Realising this uncomfortable truth left Aubrey with only one respectable option. He took a deep breath, gathering courage along with air, and spoke.
“Mr Althorp, I am not entirely comfortable with the position of your hand.”
~
Sunday Snippet, 2.19.23
~
“Then to business: our dear Lindsey, and his best interests.”
Aubrey resisted the urge to plant his forehead in his palms. “If I may be so bold as to interrupt, I believe I’ve already held this conversation with Sir Lindsey’s friends.”
“Have you?” said Miss Althorp coolly. “And what sort of conversation was it?”
“The sort where I’m told to bring no harm to Sir Lindsey, lest greater harm fall on my head.”
Miss Althorp caught a fluttering laugh in her delicate fingers. In response to Aubrey’s bewildered expression, she replied, “That wasn’t the conversation I had in mind. I intended to congratulate you on the happiness you’ve brought Lindsey, and to express my hope that you’ll continue to make him just as happy in the future.”
Aubrey thought it was rather the same talk dressed up in different clothes, but kept that thought to himself.
~
