Ava Morgyn's Blog, page 2
January 30, 2023
THE WITCHES OF BONE HILL Cover Reveal!
In case you haven't heard, my fabulous cover for THE WITCHES OF BONE HILL has been revealed via Instagram on the drop dead gorgeous account of @gwendalyn_books_ ! Scurry over to like and comment. And please consider following me on IG (@avamorgyn), my publisher (@stmartinspress), and tagging any friends in the post who you think might be into this gothic fall release.
Now, let's talk cover art, the process of putting a face on a book, and how we arrived at this incredible design.
Contrary to popular belief, authors do not typically have control over the design of their book. If we are lucky, our contract might dictate that the publisher has to consult us about the cover art, or at least show it to us before it's finalized. But they don't really need our approval. In my experience, however, most publishers are generous about bringing an author in on the process, showing us sketches early on and asking for our input. The final product ends up being a collaboration between the author, editor, artist, and even agent. Though the artists deserve all the credit for bringing these incredible visions to life.
When we began the process for THE WITCHES OF BONE HILL, I truly did not know what to expect. It was my first adult book and therefore my first adult cover. I had no solid ideas or expectations for it, and wasn't quite sure what my editor and team were thinking. It can be a little nerve-racking to nurture something through every detail for years, only to suddenly have to trust someone else with its public image. But from the moment I got the initial sketches, I knew I was in good hands. Olya Kirilyuk, the artist responsible for this beauty, did an outstanding job. And when the final image hit my inbox, I was delighted by how bold and vibrant it was, by how many details from the story fed into the design, and how dark and magical it looked while still communicating fun.
I think this cover is supremely eye-catching, and I hope that you find it even more irresistible than I do!
In addition to the official cover, there are a few more items of note to list:
Release date is set for October 3, 2023. Preorders are available now! Check out the buy links on my book page or down below to preorder your copy from any of the major online retailers. THE WITCHES OF BONE HILL has a page on Goodreads ! Click to add it to your to-read shelf. We have an amazing new blurb in from Paige Crutcher, author of THE ORPHAN WITCH and THE LOST WITCH: "Wickedly wonderful, THE WITCHES OF BONE HILL is a delicious concoction of darkness, magic, and sisterhood. Ava Morgyn imbues her story with haunting sorcery all her own, making this compulsively readable new dynasty of powerful witches impossible to put down." I made a graphic! Actually, I've made a lot of them already. (It's kind of a problem. Prepare yourselves.) Please share!
THE WITCHES OF BONE HILL: 10*3
Cordelia Bone's meticulously crafted life and career in Dallas are crashing down around her thanks to a philandering husband with criminal debts. When her older, carefree sister, Eustace—a cannabis grower in Boulder—calls to inform her the great aunt they never met has finally died and they must travel to a small town in Connecticut to deal with the estate, she sees an opportunity to unload the house and save herself. But once there, the sisters learn they are getting much more than they bargained for. The Victorian mansion they stand to inherit is bound in a dynasty trust controlled by their late aunt's aging attorney who insists they inhabit the house and retain it but keeps them in the dark about the peculiar rituals of their ancestors. Not to mention a sexy, tattooed groundskeeper with a shrouded past who refuses to leave the carriage house and a crypt full of dead relatives looming at the property line. As both women grapple with their current predicament, they come face to face with a haunting family secret, the truth of what happened to their mother, and the enemy that's been stalking them from the shadows for generations. In a twisting torrent of terror and blood, the sisters must uncover the power within them to heal their fractured relationship, reverse their mysteriously declining health, and claim the lineage they wanted to escape but now must embrace if they are to survive at Bone Hill.
",Ava Morgyn is a powerful new voice in magical realism." –Constance Sayers, Bestselling author of A WITCH IN TIME
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June 26, 2022
This Is Not the Worst Yet
I am taking my wildly popular post written during the pandemic on my grief blog ,(forloveofevelyn.com) and adapting it here to address the current crisis in women's reproductive healthcare. For catharsis. To feel like I am doing something. To put the rage somewhere useful. To drown the fear. To remember my own power. To use my voice. To lend perspective. Some lines will be taken verbatim. Others newly written. But the message and the spirit are the same. Only before, we weren't fighting, we were surviving. This time, we need our stamina for so much more.
This is not intended to cool your ire or numb you into complacency and a false sense of security. Because make no mistake, women are at war. As is every individual with female reproductive organs. And every individual who supports their autonomy. It's intended to remind you where your feet are, so you can be fully present in that place, standing strong, and move with determination, grace, and a relentless ethic to take back what is yours and always has been.
When you take a knock-out punch, the bounce back can be slow, ungainly, and disoriented. They're counting on that right now, on your instability. But the sooner you realize where you are and what happened, the sooner you can recollect yourself. The sooner you recover, the sooner you can fight back. I don't know about you, but when I'm still reeling with hyperarousal, I cannot make wise, intelligent, vital decisions about what to do next. We don't think clearly with the lizard brain. This blog is shimmying me back into the frontal lobe with each word. I hope it does the same for you.
Now, why would I feel qualified to write a post like this? Because I have a little experience with surviving a crisis—I know what you are feeling right now. I live with it every day. That acceleration of your heart rate, that tightening in your gut, that squeeze of your throat, that sob lodged somewhere above your sternum and below your mouth, that flutter of panic behind the navel ... Those have been my companions for over four years since I lost my daughter unexpectedly. The unanswered questions, the sense the sky is falling, the warping of your world in an instant, the doubt, the uncertainty, the loneliness, the cracks in your faith—I know them all intimately.
And that means I have a position of advantage because all of this is more or less familiar to me. This unrecognizable landscape where tomorrow is a question mark? Yeah. Welcome to my world. Let me give you a tour and some friendly traveler's advice. But first, let me make one very crucial point:
This is not the worst.
I want to type that again, so it really sinks in for you. This Supreme Court ruling ... this is not the worst. It may be the worst you know, but it's not the worst that's been. It's not the worst that could be. The worst is what we are fighting. There is ground beneath our feet still. Let's use it for leverage.
So, how do you survive a totally unexpected, life-altering, fear-inducing, heart-crushing crisis? And how do you take heart, gear up, and push back? Here are some very important things you're going to need:
Integrate. Adaption is survival. As soon as you reasonably can, let the weight of what is happening sink in. Stop looking back. Resign. Accept. Even when we succeed in restoring what was always ours—the freedom to choose—this decision will leave the world changed. We are not going back. There is no rewind button. We are moving forward, wherever the hell that leads. Integrate this truth, this experience. Evolve to meet the challenges as they come. You are flexible. You can bend. You can change and change again. It may not feel good, it rarely does. But like I told you before, this is not the worst. You can survive it. You will survive it. You will learn, and you will change, and so will the world. Wake up. The future is now. Where is your place in it?
Comfort. Comfort is that thing that makes the little kid in you sigh with relief. It's soft blankets and hot tea and buttered toast. It's yoga in the mornings, or listening to your favorite band, or downing a pint of ice cream. It's tight hugs and long walks and talking to your favorite people. It's women gathered in circles, holding each other, refusing to let go. Put on your favorite cardigan. Stay in your pajama pants. Decide never to wear a bra again. Paint your toenails. Drink hot chocolate before bed. Throw darts at a portrait of Clarence Thomas. Find those things that soothe your soul and wrap the scared little boy or little girl you're carrying inside up in them.
Self-care. We're getting practical. This is no time to throw out what you know works. Even in the midst of a crisis that threatens to strip your sovereignty away, you must care for you. Why? Because nobody else is going to do it, especially not now. Get rest. Eat well. Smile often. Scream at the television. Sit when you need to sit and move when you need to move. Take your meds. Take your vitamins. Hydrate. Breathe deep. Deeper. Good. Think a happy thought once in a while. Don't use it to push out the hard feelings or deny what is actually happening, but give it room to exist in your mind. Wash your goddamned hair. The care and keeping of you is important work. We need you. Don't shirk it.
Gratitude. This one is going to feel hard, but I want you to hear me out. Right now, gratitude is still possible. Put your focus on what works. Send a donation to that scrappy abortion fund that refuses to quit. Volunteer for the politician who is campaigning to protect you in the midst of a shake up the likes of which this country has never seen. Thank goddess for the warriors out there who have been holding the line, bracing for impact, the states that will become lighthouses to us as we navigate this darkness, the resources our mothers and grandmothers didn't have like online abortion medication, Plan B, and a literal buffet of contraception options. Every day you're still bleeding, be grateful. That's a day you can fight for a woman who isn't, who just got the worst news of her life at the worst time she can imagine. If that crappy job is sustaining you right now, use it to sustain others. If you have an eye-sore for a spare room in a refuge state, clean it out and offer it up to women who are traveling for their care. We all have something to offer. And we all have something being offered to us. Find whatever you can and feel thankful. We will never take our good fortune for granted again.
Support. We need each other. No one can win this fight on their own. If you're in a red state, this may be challenging, but it's still very possible thanks to technology. Band together. Organize. Find an online support group or a chat room you can use. Go to a rally; share your contact info. Stay connected. Take advantage of apps like Marco Polo or Skype. Let social media do what it does best. Start a Facebook group. Find a therapist. Start a community support network. Volunteer at your nearest clinic. Register people to vote. Take a class in government, law, midwifery, herbology—anything that can give you information to help the cause. Start a coffee klatch with an agenda. Teach others what you know. Hug random women in the street. Okay, maybe not that last one. But send them a silent "I got you", even if they're one of those who wouldn't return it. The changes you are encountering are not without emotional fallout. Talk about what you are feeling with people who get it. Let yourself be validated. Find common ground. Be sad, angry, overwhelmed, distraught, concerned, afraid, upset. You aren't the only one. I promise.
Perspective. This isn't Gilead. Not yet. Not if a hundred and sixty seven million of us have anything to say about it. Gain that perspective they've tried to rob you of. We live in the digital age. Technology is a runaway train fueled by microdoses of LSD and people with giant brains who are easily bored. And it is ours to take full advantage of. This is something uteruses prior to 1973 didn't have. Subvert. Subvert. Subvert. I don't know about you, but when I say I am not going back, I mean it in the most literal sense. We have resources at our disposal now that were never part of the conversation before. Are they coming for those? Maybe. I don't really give a good goddamn. They can't take them all, and before they try I will do everything in my power to avail myself of them. So should you. Educate yourself. You are not without recourse. And if any of us are, we circle the wagons around her. As long as we have each other, they have nothing. Regardless of what they want you to believe.
Prioritize. Everyone has to make choices. It's how we execute our power. What are yours? How do they need to adapt to what's happening right now? Maybe you need to work more hours so you can donate monthly. Maybe you need to save your money and volunteer in the campaign office of your local pro-choice politician. Maybe you need to offer Down with the Patriarchy t-shirts for sale in your online shop and pledge the funds. Maybe you need to make people laugh. Maybe you need to spread vital information. Maybe you need to take a motherfucking nap. At the end of the day, your resources are limited. Be smart in how you dispense them. You might be better off concentrating on one or two small roles you can maintain over a long period of time than throwing yourself at every opportunity you see like a spaghetti noodle at the wall. You're the only one who can decide what your priorities are, but you're going to have to get clear about them fast.
Expectations. Manage them. This is the long game. We're playing for keeps. If you don't prepare yourself now for the battle that is coming next week, next month, next year, you cannot win this war. Our opponents have had their eye on this prize for a very long time, and they have been chipping away from a hundred angles knowing that if they just stayed patient, they'd eventually create a hole wide enough for all of us to fall in. We're not going to seal the breach overnight. And you cannot do it on your own. Nobody's the hero here. The sooner you wrap your mind around that, the better you will feel. Sometimes you'll have the spare time, energy, money to fight the good fight. Other times, you'll be too busy, tired, taxed to stand beside your sisters. You'll be super productive one day, and sad and scared and paralyzed the next. Manage your expectations. Of yourself. Of your comrades. Of the world. Everyone in this is trying their best. It might get worse before it gets better. Know that now so it's not a shock later. Focus on incremental progress.
Discomfort. You are going to be inconvenienced, and you are going to be uncomfortable. Make your peace with that. You will give up hours or dollars or friends. Maybe you'll move out of state. Maybe you're stuck where you are and will have to sock money, pills, whatever you can away in that "just in case" fund. Learn to sit in what doesn't feel good. It will grow something strong and hard in you. Feel that thorn in your side? It's prickly and it's unfair and it's very, very real. It has an important lesson to teach you about vigilance. About truth. About justice and the difference between comfort and safety. Right now, you are not safe. And you are also not in immediate danger. Feel the realness of that ambiguity. Know that your awareness is growing. Use it to fuel change.
Action. There is a time to distract, and there is a time to act. This is not the former. This is the latter. Put everything else that isn't of immediate importance to the side and ask yourself, what can I do? How can you help? What is the difference you are making? Are you part of the problem, or part of the solution? Be part of the solution. Be the change, as it were. Get into gear, even if that gear is driving to Mexico to buy abortion pills for women who can get them no other way. Think beyond donations and rallies and the ballot box. Do you run a business that can set aside a travel fund for female employees needing to seek reproductive care? Can you pledge a portion of your proceeds or sales to a local women's clinic? Can you offer services you specialize in—law, art, copywriting, marketing, event planning? Maybe you can play a bigger role. Maybe not. But everyone has a role to play. Step wisely. This is history. What side of it are you on?
For abortion resources, please consider:
abortionfinder.org
aidaccess.org
womenonweb.org
Please visit the list of organizations below for more opportunities and ideas for how you can make a difference in the fight to restore and defend the reproductive rights of women and people with female reproductive organs:
Planned Parenthood
Emily's List
Women's March
Lilith Fund
SisterSong
New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
Indigenous Women Rising
Missouri Abortion Fund
Abortion On Our Own Terms
NARAL Pro-Choice America
Center for Reproductive Rights
Avow Texas
National Abortion Federation
There are many, many more besides. Please vet any organization to which you want to donate thoroughly before doing so, and visit their express website to do it.
This Is Not the Worst Either
I am taking my wildly popular post written during the pandemic on my grief blog ,(forloveofevelyn.com) and adapting it here to address the current crisis in women's reproductive healthcare. For catharsis. To feel like I am doing something. To put the rage somewhere useful. To drown the fear. To remember my own power. To use my voice. To lend perspective. Some lines will be taken verbatim. Others newly written. But the message and the spirit is the same. Only before, we weren't fighting, we were surviving. This time, we need our stamina for so much more.
This is not intended to cool your ire or numb you into complacency and a false sense of security. Because make no mistake, women are at war. As is every individual with female reproductive organs. And every individual who supports their autonomy. It's intended to remind you where your feet are, so you can be fully present in that place, standing strong, and move with determination, grace, and a relentless ethic to take back what is yours and always has been.
When you take a knock-out punch, the bounce back can be slow, ungainly, and disoriented. They're counting on that right now, on your instability. But the sooner you realize where you are and what happened, the sooner you can recollect yourself. The sooner you recover, the sooner you can fight back. I don't know about you, but when I'm still reeling with hyperarousal, I cannot make wise, intelligent, vital decisions about what to do next. We don't think clearly with the lizard brain. This blog is shimmying me back into the frontal lobe with each word. I hope it does the same for you.
Now, why would I feel qualified to write a post like this? Because I have a little experience with surviving a crisis—I know what you are feeling right now. I live with it every day. That acceleration of your heart rate, that tightening in your gut, that squeeze of your throat, that sob lodged somewhere above your sternum and below your mouth, that flutter of panic behind the navel ... Those have been my companions for over four years since I lost my daughter unexpectedly. The unanswered questions, the sense the sky is falling, the warping of your world in an instant, the doubt, the uncertainty, the loneliness, the cracks in your faith—I know them all intimately.
And that means I have a position of advantage because all of this is more or less familiar to me. This unrecognizable landscape where tomorrow is a question mark? Yeah. Welcome to my world. Let me give you a tour and some friendly traveler's advice. But first, let me make one very crucial point:
This is not the worst.
I want to type that again, so it really sinks in for you. This Supreme Court ruling ... this is not the worst. It may be the worst you know, but it's not the worst that's been. It's not the worst that could be. The worst is what we are fighting. There is ground beneath our feet still. Let's use it for leverage.
So, how do you survive a totally unexpected, life-altering, fear-inducing, heart-crushing crisis? And how do you take heart, gear up, and push back? Here are some very important things you're going to need to make it:
Integrate. Adaption is survival. As soon as you reasonably can, let the weight of what is happening sink in. Stop looking back. Resign. Accept. Even when we succeed in restoring what was always ours—the freedom to choose—this decision will leave the world changed. We are not going back. There is no rewind button. We are moving forward, wherever the hell that leads. Integrate this truth, this experience. Evolve to meet the challenges as they come. You are flexible. You can bend. You can change and change again. It may not feel good, it rarely does. But like I told you before, this is not the worst. You can survive it. You will survive it. You will learn, and you will change, and so will the world. Wake up. The future is now. Where is your place in it?
Comfort. Comfort is that thing that makes the little kid in you sigh with relief. It's soft blankets and hot tea and buttered toast. It's yoga in the mornings, or listening to your favorite band, or downing a pint of ice cream. It's tight hugs and long walks and talking to your favorite people. It's women gathered in circles, holding each other, refusing to let go. Put on your favorite cardigan. Stay in your pajama pants. Decide never to wear a bra again. Paint your toenails. Drink hot chocolate before bed. Throw darts at a portrait of Clarence Thomas. Find those things that soothe your soul and wrap the scared little boy or little girl you're carrying inside up in them.
Self-care. We're getting practical. This is no time to throw out what you know works. Even in the midst of a crisis that threatens to strip your sovereignty away, you must care for you. Why? Because nobody else is going to do it, especially not now. Get rest. Eat well. Smile often. Scream at the television. Sit when you need to sit and move when you need to move. Take your meds. Take your vitamins. Hydrate. Breathe deep. Deeper. Good. Think a happy thought once in a while. Don't use it to push out the hard feelings or deny what is actually happening, but give it room to exist in your mind. Wash your goddamned hair. The care and keeping of you is important work. We need you. Don't shirk it.
Gratitude. This one is going to feel hard, but I want you to hear me out. Right now, gratitude is still possible. Put your focus on what works. Send a donation to that scrappy abortion fund that refuses to quit. Volunteer for the politician who is campaigning to protect you in the midst of a shake up the likes of which this country has never seen. Thank goddess for the warriors out there who have been holding the line, bracing for impact, the states that will become lighthouses to us as we navigate this darkness, the resources our mothers and grandmothers didn't have like online abortion medication, Plan B, and a literal buffet of contraception options. Every day you're still bleeding, be grateful. That's a day you can fight for a woman who isn't, who just got the worst news of her life at the worst time she can imagine. If that crappy job is sustaining you right now, use it to sustain others. If you have an eye-sore for a spare room in a refuge state, clean it out and offer it up to women who are traveling for their care. We all have something to offer. And we all have something being offered to us. Find whatever you can and feel thankful. We will never take our good fortune for granted again.
Support. We need each other. No one can win this fight on their own. If you're in a red state, this may be challenging, but it's still very possible thanks to technology. Band together. Organize. Find an online support group or a chat room you can use. Go to a rally; share your contact info. Stay connected. Take advantage of apps like Marco Polo or Skype. Let social media do what it does best. Start a Facebook group. Find a therapist. Start a community support network. Volunteer at your nearest clinic. Register people to vote. Take a class in government, law, midwifery, herbology—anything that can give you information to help the cause. Start a coffee klatch with an agenda. Teach others what you know. Hug random women in the street. Okay, maybe not that last one. But send them a silent "I got you", even if they're one of those who wouldn't return it. The changes you are encountering are not without emotional fallout. Talk about what you are feeling with people who get it. Let yourself be validated. Find common ground. Be sad, angry, overwhelmed, distraught, concerned, afraid, upset. You aren't the only one. I promise.
Perspective. This isn't Gilead. Not yet. Not if a hundred and sixty seven million of us have anything to say about it. Gain that perspective they've tried to rob you of. We live in the digital age. Technology is a runaway train fueled by microdoses of LSD and people with giant brains who are easily bored. And it is ours to take full advantage of. This is something uteruses prior to 1973 didn't have. Subvert. Subvert. Subvert. I don't know about you, but when I say I am not going back, I mean it in the most literal sense. We have resources at our disposal now that were never part of the conversation before. Are they coming for those? Maybe. I don't really give a good goddamn. They can't take them all, and before they try I will do everything in my power to avail myself of them. So should you. Educate yourself. You are not without recourse. And if any of us are, we circle the wagons around her. As long as we have each other, they have nothing. Regardless of what they want you to believe.
Prioritize. Everyone has to make choices. It's how we execute our power. What are yours? How do they need to adapt to what's happening right now? Maybe you need to work more hours so you can donate monthly. Maybe you need to save your money and volunteer in the campaign office of your local pro-choice politician. Maybe you need to offer Down with the Patriarchy t-shirts for sale in your online shop and pledge the funds. Maybe you need to make people laugh. Maybe you need to spread vital information. Maybe you need to take a motherfucking nap. At the end of the day, your resources are limited. Be smart in how you dispense them. You might be better off concentrating on one or two small roles you can maintain over a long period of time than throwing yourself at every opportunity you see like a spaghetti noodle at the wall. You're the only one who can decide what your priorities are, but you're going to have to get clear about them fast.
Expectations. Manage them. This is the long game. We're playing for keeps. If you don't prepare yourself now for the battle that is coming next week, next month, next year, you cannot win this war. Our opponents have had their eye on this prize for a very long time, and they have been chipping away from a hundred angles knowing that if they just stayed patient, they'd eventually create a hole wide enough for all of us to fall in. We're not going to seal the breach overnight. And you cannot do it on your own. Nobody's the hero here. The sooner you wrap your mind around that, the better you will feel. Sometimes you'll have the spare time, energy, money to fight the good fight. Other times, you'll be too busy, tired, taxed to stand beside your sisters. You'll be super productive one day, and sad and scared and paralyzed the next. Manage your expectations. Of yourself. Of your comrades. Of the world. Everyone in this is trying their best. It might get worse before it gets better. Know that now so it's not a shock later. Focus on incremental progress.
Discomfort. You are going to be inconvenienced, and you are going to be uncomfortable. Make your peace with that. You will give up hours or dollars or friends. Maybe you'll move out of state. Maybe you're stuck where you are and will have to sock money, pills, whatever you can away in that "just in case" fund. Learn to sit in what doesn't feel good. It will grow something strong and hard in you. Feel that thorn in your side? It's prickly and it's unfair and it's very, very real. It has an important lesson to teach you about vigilance. About truth. About justice and the difference between comfort and safety. Right now, you are not safe. And you are also not in immediate danger. Feel the realness of that ambiguity. Know that your awareness is growing. Use it to fuel change.
Action. There is a time to distract, and there is a time to act. This is not the former. This is the latter. Put everything else that isn't of immediate importance to the side and ask yourself, what can I do? How can you help? What is the difference you are making? Are you part of the problem, or part of the solution? Be part of the solution. Be the change, as it were. Get into gear, even if that gear is driving to Mexico to buy abortion pills for women who can get them no other way. Think beyond donations and rallies and the ballot box. Do you run a business that can set aside a travel fund for female employees needing to seek reproductive care? Can you pledge a portion of your proceeds or sales to a local women's clinic? Can you offer services you specialize in—law, art, copywriting, marketing, event planning? Maybe you can play a bigger role. Maybe not. But everyone has a role to play. Step wisely. This is history. What side of it are you on?
For abortion resources, please consider:
Please visit the list of organizations below for more opportunities and ideas for how you can make a difference in the fight to restore and defend the reproductive rights of women and people with female reproductive organs:
,,New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
Center for Reproductive Rights
There are many, many more besides. Please vet any organization to which you want to donate thoroughly before doing so, and visit their express website to do it.
November 11, 2020
Bookstagram OBSESSED
As an author, it's a given that I love books. But I also love book culture, book aesthetic, and especially book people. I've been a little late to the party when it comes to Instagram, but the thing that really persuaded me to put my social media focus on it over my other accounts is bookstagram. And I am now, officially, obsessed.
For those who don't know (really? REALLY?? Is there anyone who needs to read this part? Book savvy folks can skip ahead), bookstagram is basically books on Instagram. Most people work really hard to formulate an aesthetic for their bookstagram posts and keep it cohesive. And if you think this is easy, think again. A lot of focus and work and love goes into these images, and I adore seeing them in my feed. I love posting them too!
Books are really amazing works of art that are available to the everyman or everywoman. When you stop to consider how much time and money and effort goes into that hardcover or paperback you're holding...it's humbling to say the least. Before bookstagram, I continually got rid of the books I read. Even when I loved the stories and covers. That was because I rarely read anything more than once. And I couldn't justify holding on to all those copies for no real reason. But thanks to bookstagram, I now have a valid reason to become the crotchety, old, book-hoarding crone I've always longed to be.
Today I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite bookstagram accounts that maybe don't get as much love as I think they deserve. They might be newer or smaller than some of the larger, more well-known accounts, but their followings do NOT reflect their style. They are committed to beautiful posts and feed with every shot, and they have curated incredible aesthetics that deserve to be in the spotlight. So, without further ado...
1. @dcmarinoauthor
This beautiful account has long been a fave of mine. She's actually a self-published author, but her bookstagram shots are amaze-balls. She has a very LOTR vibe that I adore, and she also features some of her incredible decorating skills in her shots and stories. I honestly do not know how her following is not massive yet.
2. @dlgillis20
This account literally has some of the best witchy/dark academia vibes EVER. I would love to know where she gets all her goodies that she includes in these shots with the books because I swear she has the coolest assortment of objet d'art. Darkly themed accounts are usually my favorites, but I feel like they don't get as much attention as lightly themed accounts.
3. @thebookishcrypt
A little like the account above, this account has a very dark look. But with more of a gothic and less of a dark academia feel. Again, I see countless all-white or cream-and-tan accounts that get loads of likes and follows, but the darker accounts are somehow overlooked. But I love this aesthetic. Following this account is like celebrating Halloween all year long.
4. @bookishy
This account is ticking all the boxes. Covers. Title pages. Flat lays. Angles. Color coordinated. I like the moody, natural lighting and homey/cottage core aesthetic. Think burlap, wildflowers, and fall leaves. But also, expect to see the occasional crown and magic wand. Really, a beautiful account that just needs to be discovered.
5. @mollythegemini
This account is truly SO. MUCH. FUN. Why does she not have a bajillion (actual number) followers already? Beats me. Dark but colorful with a dash of witch aesthetic, she does really good spine shots and groupings. And I like that her pictures are close and full. Expect the occasional adorable selfie in here too.
6. @avamorgyn (MINE!)
Okay, maybe it's tacky to include myself here (is not!), but I truly love posting to Instagram more than any other platform. So, it's the actual best place to follow me. I have upped my bookstagram game a lot over time, and today I even managed to post my first video carousel featuring a tour of my new, vintage bookcases. Most of my posts include fun animations and items from my personal collection of crystals, witchcraft supplies, and antique and vintage pieces. And also...my dogs. They're super cute and worth the follow, I promise.
7. BONUS SHOT!
'cause...dogs.
THE SALT IN OUR BLOOD: 3-2-21
Ten years ago, Cat's mother, Mary, left her at her grandmother's house with nothing but a deck of tarot cards. After her grandmother dies, Cat is forced to move in with Mary in New Orleans. When she discovers a picture of Mary holding a baby that's not her, she unravels a dark family history and questions her beliefs about Mary's mental health issues. But as Cat explores the reasons for her mother's breakdown, she fears she is experiencing her own. Ever since she arrived, she's been haunted by strangely familiar visitors who know more than they should. Unsure if she can rebuild her relationship with her mother, Cat is realizing she must confront her past, her future, and herself in the fight to try.
"Literary without being too verbose, the sheer language of the story qualifies it as a fantastic read." –Foreword Reviews on ,RESURRECTION GIRLS, starred
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August 20, 2020
THE SALT IN OUR BLOOD Cover Reveal
IT's HERE! Today is the cover reveal for THE SALT IN OUR BLOOD on Instagram at the profile of @mamabear_reads, and you can hop on over to see it in all its glory, like and comment, and enter the giveaway.
To celebrate the reveal we are giving away a prize pack for RESURRECTION GIRLS--out now! The winner will receive:
- Hardcover copy of Resurrection Girls
- Signed bookplate from the author
- Mini tarot art print inspired by the book
- A crystal skull
To enter:
• Follow me on IG (@avamorgyn), @albertwhitman, and @mamabear_reads
• Like the reveal post on @mamabear_reads profile and tag 2 friends
• Share this giveaway to your stories and tag @mamabear_reads
-Bookstagram accounts only
-Must live in U.S.
-Ends Sunday August 24
I hope you will join us sometime in the day to see the beautiful new cover, drop us a like and a comment, and let me know what you think. I can't wait to share Cat and Mary's story with you, and talk all things tarot, New Orleans, and mental health.
P.S. You may also notice that the website has undergone a little update to celebrate this bold, new cover and the release of this brand new story.
THE SALT IN OUR BLOOD: 3-2-21
Ten years ago, Cat's mother, Mary, left her at her grandmother's house with nothing but a deck of tarot cards. After her grandmother dies, Cat is forced to move in with Mary in New Orleans. When she discovers a picture of Mary holding a baby that's not her, she unravels a dark family history and questions her beliefs about Mary's mental health issues. But as Cat explores the reasons for her mother's breakdown, she fears she is experiencing her own. Ever since she arrived, she's been haunted by strangely familiar visitors who know more than they should. Unsure if she can rebuild her relationship with her mother, Cat is realizing she must confront her past, her future, and herself in the fight to try.
",Literary without being too verbose, the sheer language of the story qualifies it as a fantastic read." –Foreword Reviews on RESURRECTION GIRLS, starred
Amazon Barnes & Noble Books-A-Million IndieBound Goodreads
Subscribe to my newsletter for all Resurrection Girls and The Salt In Our Blood updates, events, and free stuff. Subscribe to (very cool, not at all annoying) newsletter here: VERY COOL NOT AT ALL ANNOYING NEWSLETTER LINK.
August 13, 2020
THE SALT IN OUR BLOOD Cover Reveal Coming Soon!
Aaaaahhh! I'm so excited to announce the cover reveal for THE SALT IN OUR BLOOD next week on Thursday, August 20th, on Instagram at the profile of @mamabear_reads !!!
I hope you will join us sometime in the day to see the beautiful new cover, drop us a like and a comment, and let me know what you think. Plus, you can sign up for a killer giveaway including a FREE hardcover copy of RESURRECTION GIRLS, a signed bookplate, a collectible tarot art print, and a crystal skull!
I can't wait to share Cat and Mary's story with you, and talk all things tarot, New Orleans, and mental health.
THE SALT IN OUR BLOOD: 3-2-21
Ten years ago, Cat’s mother, Mary, left her at her grandmother’s house with nothing but a deck of tarot cards. When Cat’s grandmother dies, she’s forced to move to New Orleans with her mother where she unravels a dark family history. But since arriving, she’s haunted by strangely familiar visitors who know more than they should. Unsure if she can rebuild her relationship with her mother, she must confront her past, her future, and herself in the fight to try.
",Literary without being too verbose, the sheer language of the story qualifies it as a fantastic read." –Foreword Reviews on RESURRECTION GIRLS, starred
Amazon Barnes & Noble Books-A-Million IndieBound Goodreads
Subscribe to my newsletter for all Resurrection Girls and The Salt In Our Blood updates, events, and free stuff. Subscribe to (very cool, not at all annoying) newsletter here: VERY COOL NOT AT ALL ANNOYING NEWSLETTER LINK.
July 31, 2020
Covid, Chaos, and Creativity
I feel I owe the world an apology.
In March, the pandemic dropped over us all like a crop duster full of freeze-dried dog shit ground to a fine powder. In a matter of days, I watched as the world began breaking down under the strain of this unanticipated disaster. My PTSD symptoms spiked, setting me so on edge I had to give up my morning cup of coffee (and it's a very small cup). As my family and I frantically tried to prepare ourselves for the worst, while still hoping for the best, our personal lives,—as if linked to some cosmic detonator—started unraveling at the seams.
,I could go into the ugly details, but I'm not sure either of us is ready for that. Suffice to say, five months of chaotic misery gripped us by all our tender parts. We did our best to stay afloat, to respond reasonably in real time to what was happening, to care for each other and ourselves. But we did not come out the same. Not by a long shot. And I feel, standing squarely in a patch of calm that may or may not last, embattled and a bit fragile still. A little shaky on my feet. A little worse for the wear.
,There's a scene in one of my favorite childhood movies, The 'Burbs, where Tom Hanks' character emerges from an explosion. His head is wrapped by paramedics, and his eye covered, and one finger is put into a splint, his shirt in burned tatters. "I've been blown up," he cries after losing his temper, throwing himself onto a stretcher. "Take me to the hospital! Take me to the hospital. I'm sick."
,Yeah. I feel a little like that.
Just before the proverbial rug was pulled out from under everyone, and then used to smack us personally upside the head, I was on a roll. I had it down. Drafting, editing, social media, blogging, bookstagramming... I had a pattern established. I was kicking ass and taking names. I was on fire. Until I wasn't. Until my nervous system bottomed out and the world started going down in flames around me and everything began to feel utterly, irrevocably pointless. And really, the best I could do was keep breathing, keep writing, keep trying to hold us together in gale force winds.
Creativity, for me as it turns out, does not thrive in chaos. I need a careful balance of structure and spontaneity. The difference between spontaneity and chaos is that in the first, I'm calling the shots, and in the second, I'm being shot at. So I let everything drop, and I held fast to my sanity and the trickle of creative writing I could maintain. I am only just now finding my flow again, getting my groove back. I feel like Dorothy in the hurricane being spit out over Oz. I finally figured out how to work my ruby slippers.
But it's just in time for the third anniversary of my daughter's death. And then, once I've managed put the pieces of myself back together, I will blink, and the holidays will be upon us. And my second novel,
So, my apologies for falling off the planet. Now that I'm back, I hope I get stay for a while.
THE SALT IN OUR BLOOD - Coming March 2, 2021!
,Ten years ago, Cat’s volatile mother, Mary, left her at her grandmother’s house with nothing but a deck of tarot cards. When Cat’s grandmother dies, she’s forced to move to New Orleans with her mother. There, she unravels a dark family history that challenges her belief that Mary’s mental health issues are the root of their problems. But as Cat explores the reasons for her mother’s breakdown, she fears she is experiencing her own. Ever since she arrived in New Orleans, she’s been haunted by strangely familiar visitors who know more than they should. Unsure if she can rebuild her relationship with her mother, she must confront her past, her future, and herself in the fight to try.
",Literary without being too verbose, the sheer language of the story qualifies it as a fantastic read." –Foreword Reviews on
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June 16, 2020
RESURRECTION GIRLS Reader's Guide
Please enjoy this small offering of a reader's guide to go along with the fancy new Resurrection Girls paperback cover.
*Fair Warning: I did my best to give as little away as possible in the compiling of this reader's guide, but please do not read ahead if you have not already finished Resurrection Girls and do not want any details spoiled for you.
Resurrection Girls Reader’s Guide:
,Olivia Foster hasn’t felt alive since her little brother drowned in the backyard pool three years ago. Then Kara Hallas moves in across the street with her mother and grandmother, and Olivia is immediately drawn to these three generations of women. Kara is particularly intoxicating, so much so that Olivia not only comes to accept Kara's morbid habit of writing to men on death row, she helps her do it. They sign their letters as the Resurrection Girls. But as Kara’s friendship pulls Olivia out of the dark fog she’s been living in, Olivia realizes that a different kind of darkness taints the otherwise lively Hallas women―an impulse that is strange, magical, and possibly deadly.
1. Olivia and Prescott were once childhood friends. How did the loss of Olivia’s brother impact her relationship with Prescott? What else contributed to the breakdown of their early friendship?
2. Weather plays a symbolic role throughout the novel. What is the significance of the drought they are experiencing? What is the significance of the fire? The rain that eventually falls?
3. Grief and loss impact everyone differently. As a family, how do Olivia and her parents cope with her brother’s death individually? How do they grieve collectively?
4. As a character and a friend, Kara’s flaws are obvious. She can be insistent, forward, and demanding. She often pushes Olivia into things she otherwise wouldn’t do. But what are Kara’s strengths as a friend? And why is she actually good for Olivia?
5. The Hallas women have a mysterious history. In chapter 23, Kara alludes to a curse her family carries. What do you think is the true nature of this otherworldly family of women? How would you define their “curse”?
6. While Olivia despises her mother’s addiction to prescription medication, she doesn’t recognize her own substance abuse as it’s happening. Why do you think she’s unable to see where she is following in her mother’s footsteps? What are the excuses she makes to justify her behavior?
7. Despite her misgivings, Olivia is persuaded by Kara to join her in writing to convicts—many of whom are violent offenders. What benefit does being a “Resurrection Girl” provide Olivia? How do she and Kara approach this hobby differently?
8. In chapter 21, Olivia has a powerful reaction to what she finds in her father’s storage unit. What about revealing her father’s secret is so hard on Olivia? Do you think Olivia does more harm or good by breaking into the storage unit?
9. Death can be considered its own character in this novel. What are the many ways in which death makes an appearance? What impact does it have on the other characters? How does that change over the course of the novel?
10. Early in the novel, Olivia watches as Kara steals an aquamarine ring from her mother’s room. What is the symbolism of the aquamarine ring? How does it connect the girls?
About the author:
Ava Morgyn is a native Texan who grew up falling in love with all the wrong characters in all the wrong stories. She is a lover of crystals, tarot, and powerful women with bad reputations. She studied English Writing & Rhetoric at St. Edward’s University in Austin and currently resides with her family in Houston, where she lives surrounded by antiques and dog hair and writes a blog on child loss, ForLoveofEvelyn.com. When she isn’t at her laptop spinning darkly hypnotic tales, she can be found reading, hunting for delicious vegan recipes, or wandering a forest.
She is the author of
Q & A:
Can you tell us when you started RESURRECTION GIRLS and how it came about?
I carried the idea for RESURRECTION GIRLS for years. Originally, I imagined it as an adult novel told from the perspective of the mother in the family, but I prefer writing YA. Eventually, I started toying with the idea of shifting the focus of the main character to the daughter. That’s when things began to spark. Olivia was born and the rest really grew out of her.
How did you come up with the title?
The title for Resurrection Girls came to me in the writing. For the longest time it was simply labeled “novel” in my documents. It was the first time I hadn’t titled something before I began writing it. But I started writing Resurrection Girls without really knowing what I was writing yet, and I couldn’t give it a title until I had a handle on what the material actually was.
There is a scene in the novel where Kara and Olivia are deciding on a pseudonym for themselves, a way to sign their letters to the inmates they are writing together. When I finished writing that scene, I knew that the name they came up with—Resurrection Girls—would be the name of the novel. When I look back at the work now, that title is eerily on point at a variety of levels. Yes, it’s the pen name they choose for themselves, but it’s also who they are to each other, to Olivia’s family, even to Prescott, and in both a literal and deeper way, it’s who they both embody in their character arcs. I hope it’s also who they are to the readers.
What was the most difficult scene in your book to write?
I don’t want to give too much away, but there is a scene towards the end where Olivia is coming to terms with her brother’s loss in a new way. That scene was particularly emotional for me, both before and after losing my daughter. It is really about the acceptance of the loss. And when a child dies, acceptance is truly the hardest part.
Kara Hallas is a character who stands out very vividly in your novel. How did you come up with such a wild, yet vibrant character?
Kara was influenced by several different characters for me, including Cordelia from the novel Cat’s Eye, one of my favorite Margaret Atwood titles. I knew that the Hallas women would embody the sacred feminine archetypes of Maiden, Mother, and Crone when I started writing the novel. It’s common to imagine the Maiden as young, virginal, pure, ultra-feminine, and soft. But I thought about what the Maiden represents, which is ultimately new life. And I kept returning to this idea of a girl who is so vibrantly alive that it’s almost violent. Kara is a wilder, more feral version of the Maiden—a girl who so easily follows her own impulses, so completely embodies all the aspects of herself without apology, that her presence is both extremely magnetic and unnerving at once.
For those who are unfamiliar with Olivia, how would you introduce her?
This is how I would describe Olivia—start with an every-girl, then put her through one of the most devastating traumas you can imagine, and lock her in a house with nothing but her pain for company.
At the beginning of the novel, Olivia’s most defining feature is how disconnected she is—from the outside world, from her family, and even from herself. She is spectacularly sad, and yet very unaware of it. I think that is something that resonates with a lot of people—young or old—that feeling of having to stuff a world full of hurt so far down that you lose sight of it. But that doesn’t mean it goes away. We just stop realizing how it is affecting us.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) approximately 350 children drown under the age of five each year. What was your experience like writing about this grim and harrowing topic?
I chose to write about drowning because I knew that it was an unfortunately common way to lose a small child. After writing the novel, I spoke with a director at the Live Like Jake Foundation for a blog post (which you can access
Writing about child loss was challenging. When I originally wrote the novel, I hadn't experienced it. I had to go back into my own grief over losing my parents and translate that experience into what I thought a deeper, more traumatic loss—like child loss—would be like. It forced me to feel my grief again after many years of packing it away.
But losing my daughter, Evelyn, after writing this novel taught me that I could never fully capture the horror of this experience for others. Still, I think it's important that we talk about the ugly feelings and difficult experiences that come along with trauma, death, loss, and grief. Grief is a universal experience after all. When we talk about the hard things, we not only increase our ability for empathy and compassion, but we chip away at the isolation created by these traumas.
When I edited RESURRECTION GIRLS, I did so as a grieving parent. I was no longer just writing about the experience but living it. I edited this novel with a heart full of compassion for the Fosters and an empathy for my characters I had never felt before. I wish every single day that losing Evelyn was just a story, just a book on a shelf and not my real life. I think it's important when we read fiction to remember that our stories are often based in real experiences, and to let that work inform our compassion for others.
Which character was your favorite to write?
Sybil was probably one of my favorite characters to write. She’s not a main character, but I really enjoy characters who embody witchy vibes. And I also love writing characters who break stereotypes or subvert expectations, who aren’t interested in conforming. Sybil is very much a standard wise woman archetype, but she’s also surprising. She’s unsettling, not always safe. I love that she smokes cigars and speaks her mind and generally does and says things according to her own impulses.
What is your writing routine?
I absolutely need quiet and space. It’s best if I’m alone, if my family is gone or all in bed. I can write in public places—as long as they aren’t too noisy—because I’m not invested in the people around me, so it’s less distracting.
And I need energy. If I’m too tired, if I didn’t sleep or ran around doing a bunch of chores first, then I won’t be able to write, or at least not much. Writing is really draining for me, even if it is sedentary. I have to protect my energy and my time in order to do it.
Can you tell us about your editing process?
I edit as I write, meaning that as I write the first draft, I go back over and back over the pages I’ve written before. Then, once the full first draft is complete, I usually go through it one to three more times, depending on how much rewriting I think it needs. And then I send it to my agent, who will go through another few rounds of editing with me. And then, when it gets picked up, there’s multiple rounds of editing with your actual editor. Editing is not just looking for grammar or spelling errors. It’s thinking about whether the novel is going where you want it to go—what still needs fleshing out, what is the tone and where does that need refining, what is the cadence of each sentence, each paragraph? It’s a lot of moving parts to work with.
RESURRECTION GIRLS - Out Now!
Olivia stopped living the day her brother died. Three years ago, Robby toddled into the backyard pool and drowned. Olivia can no longer remember what it feels like to really be alive, until the Hallas women move in across the street. Kara, who is Olivia's age, has morbid fascinations—but Olivia's family has secrets of their own. The deeper Kara draws Olivia into the impulsive and seductive web of her world, the more Olivia finds herself confronting the unraveling of her family's connection to the land of the living.
"RESURRECTION GIRLS is a heartbreak of a book, where love and loss write letters to the strange things that lurk in the darkness." –Rin Chupeco, author of THE BONE WITCH trilogy & THE NEVER TILTING WORLD
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