'Nathan Burgoine's Blog, page 11

Queer the Shelves — Nottingham UK, June 29th, 2024

Hey all! I’ve got an upcoming appearance, and rarely, this time it’s not in Ottawa. Or even Canada.

Come Queer the Shelves with Me — And a Tonne of Awesome People!

Global Wordsmiths, the Nottingham Central Library, Butterworth Books, and Bare Books Podcast (and more!) have gathered a bunch of LGBTQ authors, illustrators, and narrators from America, France, Canada, and all over the UK, and we’re converging on the beautiful and freshly built Nottingham Central Library, Nottingham for a full day of amazing panels, talks, and sets—plus lots and lots of laughter.

In their own words: There’s so much for you to enjoy, and we’ve even got the amazing podcasters Bare Books joining us to capture the event and your thoughts. Welcome to our queer world with a deep dive into fictional reality, creativity, and memoir. Queer the Shelves brings our community back together, and this festival is going to be epic!

I’ll tell you more specifics as things are revealed over the next two months, but the biggest thing is that tickets are already running low. I normally start talking about appearances a month or so out from the “go” date, but this time I’m talking early because, well, tickets. Like I said. They’re going fast, which is awesome, but if you’re going to be in the UK near Nottingham and you think you can swing by and say hello or want to meet any of the awesome people listed below (or not-as-awesome me), maybe don’t wait to grab a ticket.

Current confirmed line-up: Julie Cohen, ‘Nathan Burgoine (that’s me!), Melissa Tereza, Clare Ashton, Jody Klaire, Chloe Keto, Simon Smalley, Iona Kane, E.V. Bancroft, Hope Newhouse, Matthew Bright, Jourdyn Kelly, KC Lylark, Margaux Fox, Ami Spencer, Thom Seddon, Jo Fletcher, CJ DeBarra, Maggie McIntye, Valden Bush, Robyn Nyx, and Brey Willows.

The Triad books and stories and “The Way It Has Always Been.”

Now that Triad Magic has been out for about a week—a huge thank you to everyone who picked it up out of the gate, wrote a review, or even started over at the beginning—I wanted to talk about the most singular theme baked into the Triad Books, all the way back to the birth of the idea itself, in the short story “Three” back when it came out as part of the anthology Blood Sacraments.

Which theme? The dangers and damage of always doing things The Way It Has Always Been. Or, as Anders would probably put it, “tradition fucking sucks.”

Tradition Fucking Sucks

Okay, not all tradition, and not every kind of heritage, obviously, but when I set out to write a single piece of Vampire erotica (and, seriously, that was the original goal, not a three-book trilogy and five short stories), the kernel from which the whole idea sprang was a recent re-read of Dracula (because of a story I was attempting to write about the Texan character, Quincey Morris, and the less said about that attempt at a story the better, may the rough draft remain in its coffin forever). In Dracula, the three wives sort of exist only to be temptresses and refer to themselves as sisters a lot and maybe eat babies, but it was the “three” that caught me. Why three?

Well, if you’ve read the Triad books or any of the short stories, the main conceit of the supernatural world the way I built it was that at some point, “the Accords” were created between the major supernatural powers of the world and they decided that until you were part of a group of three, you were more or less a non-entity. It took three wizards working together to create a coven, three demons or were-creatures to form a pack, three vampires to form a coterie, etc. Basically, if you were flying solo—or even paired up—you more-or-less had a target painted on your back.

Oh, and every full moon you needed to renew those bonds with your group, which led to those who were without a group definitely using those three nights of the full moon to enjoy a slice of relative freedom, given they knew those with bonds were busy. This was my nod to “things get wild on a full moon.” The desperate loners only get three nights a month, so they’re going to use them.

“Three,” then, became about a vampire who hadn’t been folded into a coterie, who existed carefully, often hiding, but is out on this first night of the full moon and looking for a snack. He bumps into a lone lust demon he’s met before, Anders, who is in the similar situation of trying to get enough from those three nights to survive the rest of the month (though in his case, it’s about drawing on human souls through seduction, rather than blood) and they don’t like each other. In fact, they’ve got a history of screwing each other over in the chosen-bit-of-prey department for decades, and Luc is annoyed to see Anders has also chosen the same individual for that evening: a young man named Curtis.

Now, spoiler-territory here on a short story over a decade old at this point, but Curtis turns out to be a wizard—one not born to the usual bloodlines of wizard types—and he’s well aware the other two aren’t human, and he’s there to make them an offer: he absolutely doesn’t want to get adopted into one of the wizard Families (capitalized because they’re kind of like an awful, magical mafia, as far as Curtis is concerned, and the Families killed his parents to underline their demand for Curtis to join them or else), and so he did the thing Curtis has been doing since he figured out he was magic: research.

The Letter of the Law

In “Three,” Curtis puts forth a theory. The Accords are all about the number three, saying groups of three and how three is the minimum but—and here’s the crux of his plan—nowhere does it specifically say those three have to be of the same kind. It’s sort of inferred, and given the history of the vampires and the wizards (they fought) and the history of the wizards and the demons (wizards often bound and controlled demons) and basically every supernatural community out there being total dicks to the other communities, three different individuals forming a group of three just hasn’t really come up.

Subverting the letter of the law to grab some freedom has always felt very queer to me. Technicalities, wiggle-room, “it doesn’t actually say I can’t wear my pajamas in the dress code, Principal…” all that sort of stuff is totally my jam. So Curtis the wizard, Anders the demon, and Luc the vampire attempt to form a bond of their own, and it works.

In fact, it works better than groupings of the same kind. Turns out there’s strength in their differences—look, I did say I was doing this queerly, right?—and their abilities grow in strange ways the longer they’re bound to each other. That ended up being explored in four other short stories before I wrote the first book, Triad Blood, and exploring the danger and damage done when we assume “the way it’s always been done” is inherently of value. The status quo thrives on that assumption.

As a queer fella, I loathe that assumption, and I don’t think it’s true. (I also throw a few punches at another trope of fantasy that I can’t stand, the “powerful bloodline” thing, where power is all about family, but maybe that’s a post for another day since this is already a big blog.)

I’m Sorry, How Many Stories?

Yeah, so, like I said, the Triad characters started in a short story, and things sort of snowballed from there. Fair warning, the original Triad short stories are all from gay erotica collections, so they’re a lot more NSFW than the novels, which are more firmly grounded in the contemporary fantasy genre. That said, if you wanted everything in order, here’s how it would go:

“Three,” a short story told from Luc’s point of view, where he and Anders pick the same prey on the night of the full moon, Curtis, but Curtis proves strangely resistant to their charms, which leads them to the unthinkable: working together. What’s a threesome among longtime enemies, anyway? You can find “Three” as a single release, or as part of the anthology Blood Sacraments.“Intercession,” a short story told from Anders’s point of view, where an angel pops in to inform Anders he has a shot at spiritual redemption now that he’s borrowing a bit of Curtis’s soul—but he’ll have to not act demonic. Given other demons are attacking the trio, that’s not as easy as it sounds. You can find “Intercession” as part of the anthology Wings. “Possession,” a short story told from Curtis’s point of view, where the realities of sharing his home (and occasionally beds) with a vampire and a demon is making Curtis face up to the reality of what he’s signed up for, and also puts him in opposition to the Families who more or less run Ottawa from behind the shadows. Also he meets a fellow “Orphan” (a wizard not born to those Families) who was adopted into one of the bloodlines, and starts to wonder if he’s made a mistake. (Not-a-spoiler: He hasn’t.) You can find “Possession” as part of the anthology Erotica Exotica. A bittersweet fact about this story is that the late Richard Labonté, who edited Erotica Exoctica, wrote me the most wonderful acceptance letter for this story, and told me I should seriously consider giving Curtis a novel. In many ways, he’s why the Triad books exist at all, alongside me having ideas that stopped “fitting” in short story length.“Necessary Evils,” a short story told from Anders’s point of view, where Anders realizes he’s found another nascent demon—a young man about to come into his own powers, who happens to be a fellow student friend of Curtis—and knows all too well the damage that young man might do if he doesn’t learn the rules, fast. You can find “Necessary Evils” as part of the anthology Raising Hell.Triad Blood came next. By this point, Curtis, Luc, and Anders have settled somewhat into their triad, and have some confidence in their ability to sustain it, but then they get invited to a vampire meeting, and since attendance is required to be made in groups of at least three from any given coterie, they all have to go, even though Curtis and Anders aren’t vampires. It soon becomes clear the head vampire of the city wants them to make any mistake possible so he can stamp them out, and from that point on, they’re fighting to hold onto their freedom—and trying to figure out exactly why this man hates them so much. “Bound,” happened between the first two Triad Books, and isn’t actually about Luc, Curtis, or Anders, but instead from the point of view of Matthew Stirling, a side character in Triad Blood who Curtis meets in passing. Matthew is a young wizard in one of those awful wizard Families I mentioned earlier, and he’s got a problem: he’s inherited the family gift for prophecy from his father, and now his great-grandfather wishes to use him like the family oracle, as their family always has to whoever inherits the gift, and he needs to figure out a way to stay out from under the man’s thumb. Strangely, his gift is suggesting that solution somehow exists with a particular werewolf. You can find “Bound” as part of the anthology Not Just Another Pretty Face.Triad Soul follows. Having settled their position firmly in the supernatural Ottawa power structure, Luc, Curtis, and Anders intended to keep their heads down, but a string of murders threatens the peace, and there’s a strangeness to the deaths that can’t be denied. The three find themselves doing the last thing they ever intended to do: getting involved, trying to stop the murders, and using their unique power and position to stop all-out-war from breaking out among the powers of Ottawa. And finally, Triad Magic concludes the novel trilogy. Old enemies and new combine to put the three men off-balance as a murderer targets those capable of seeing the future: which shouldn’t be possible, since the victims should have seen the violence coming their way. Curtis, Anders, and Luc have to draw on all their resources—and connections—to try and outwit someone who can outmanoeuvre the literal prescient. (Also, you finally find out what Anders does for a living, which was a recurring question I received throughout the books.)

So! There you go. That’s every Triad thing. If you’re at the end of this journey with me, thank you. I mean it. I know the delays with the timing of the final novel were frustrating (believe me, I was just as frustrated, but alas tendons only heal so fast), and I really appreciate every single one of you. And it’s possible I’ll revisit this world again, sure, but I don’t have immediate plans for that. That said, if you’ve somehow not heard me cheering about Christian Baines yet, and you’re looking for somewhere to go after a Triad journey, may I suggest Baines’s Arcadia Trust series? His take on a supernatural Sydney is fantastic, and Baines does awesome things with many of the paranormal tropes. Start with The Beast Without, and then keep going…

Tabletop Tuesday — War, Star Trek Style…

Hey all! Even though today is the day that Triad Magic is widely released—that means you should be able to find it available at any of your favourite e-tailers and retailers as of today—it’s also Tuesday, so as much as I should probably do my author thing and be all authory, I wanted to gush about my Star Trek games, so I’m gonna.

Also, Modiphius released a new book last month, and I really, really like it.

Season Finales, Tactical Guides, and Other Awesome Star Trek Things Yes, I make episode title scorecards. Yes, I’m that nerdy.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve got two concurrent Star Trek Adventures games running at the same time. This was one of the happiest of results due to asking on my social media sites if anyone would be interested in playing some Star Trek via Zoom a little over a year ago, and it turning out to be a lot of people being interested, and so two groups instead of one. Just this last week, my first group ended their first season—that’s the crew of the USS Bellerophon, the Intrepid-class starship assigned to Narendra Station. I’ve been putting them through the Shackleton Expanse Campaign Guide from Modiphius, though what’s really amusing is we haven’t actually played the actual first episode of the campaign yet—that’ll be the opener for Season Two.

What can I say? I like to build things up. Backstory is a favourite, and I wanted them to catch a few whispers and rumours before dropping them into the thick of things. Also, the timeline meant if I did it this way, the crumbling of relations with the Klingons will be throughout their second season (taking place in 2372), and ending with things going really bad between the Federation and the Klingons (2373) before the Dominion War kicks in.

So, y’know, no pressure to deal with the major alien problem coming from the unexplored region of space.

My second group—in the same timeline—are one episode away from their own season finale, and that group, on the Nebula-class USS Curzon (a ship crewed nearly entirely by Trill)—played their way through the boxed set trilogy of adventures with the neural parasites. I swapped out quite a bit from those pre-published adventures to make it line up better with the where-and-when of the story (Cardassians instead of Romulans, for one) but it was a blast to play, and while the Curzon group is more episodic than the Bellerophon group (by virtue of not being in a pre-printed campaign), they’ve got more than a few threads starting to weave together now, too. Even better, I’ve got the Curzon in Alpha Quadrant Federation Space, and the Bellerophon in Beta Quadrant Federation Space (on the other side of Klingon and Romulan territory by most maps) and that means when things go south with the Klingons (and then the Dominion), I’ll have two different maps to play with.

And thanks to the latest book from Modiphius in the Star Trek Adventures line, The Klingon-Federation War Tactical Campaign, there’s a whole system to play out wars in the background between episodes of roleplaying sessions, and it’s great. The book is set in the Discovery-era war, but the system for handling keeping track of an ongoing war—which I’m going to upgrade to calling a “resource allocation mini-game” all of its own—gives players a sense of “this is happening on a galactic scale” is really, really well done. I should also note it pairs perfectly with Captain’s Log, if you wanted to play through a war solo. I discovered this when, in order to get a feel for it ahead of my players, I sat down and played it solo myself and had a blast. Adjusting it to new time periods is not at all a lot of work, so when the time comes for these wars to land in my gaming groups, I’ll be using it, for sure.

Neeeeerdy.

The short version of how this system-slash-mini-game works involves break up a war in to “turns” (say, a month at a time per turn) and generating “points of interest” to which you then determine what’s so interesting (tactical problems of the war, routine needs for Starfleet’s attention, exploration missions, or—my favourite—something unknown to investigate) and then the players (or yourself, if solo) look at the current list of available assets: your list of ships, characters, and (one-shot) resources.

These assets are how the core of the game really works well. Each of those points of interest mentioned earlier have problems requiring a particular “Power” to succeed: Medical, Military, Personal, Science, or Social. Each ship or character asset has scores in all of those five “Powers” at various ranks (this is Starfleet, though, so among the ships, there’s a definite weight towards Science, for example), and Resources (which are one-shot use items) might have two or more of the Powers, depending on what they are. You look at a point of interest—say, an outbreak of a plague, which is noted as a Medical problem—and then assign up to two assets to each point of interest—with an eye for their strengths and what the problems represent, of course. For that plague, you’ll want to send a medical ship, a doctor, and/or some medical-themed resources. But you’ll want to send the ship with the best Military score to deal with a Military problem, and a Science ship to deal with a rogue asteroid, but you don’t always have exactly the right assets for what’s revealed, so you have to do the best you can with what you’ve got.

Oh, and those unknown locations? Well, you don’t know what’s needed until after you send asset(s) to go check it out.

Even though after that it’s just rolling dice and hoping for the right number of successes, it’s clever and interesting. Learning curve wise, it’s almost nothing: you’re still using mechanics right out of Star Trek Adventures (one asset gets to roll 2d20, if there’s a second asset, it assists with 1d20, with some potential for re-rolls or other adjustments). There are still complications, specific fallout for not dealing with all the problems on any given turn, and while you gain more assets as time goes by, those assets can also be damaged, delayed, or outright destroyed, depending on how badly things go. I mean, it’s war, right?

And that mini-game-within-the-game is only part of what’s in the book, as it also includes campaign adventures for that timeline, new Lifepath options, some great stuff on the trauma and (emotional, mental, and physical) scarring that comes from war, and of course the usual range of ships and characters to flesh out your campaign. It’s a solid expansion book.

What are you playing these days? Are you face-to-facing things, or Zooming, or some mix of the two?

Now Available Wide: Triad Magic

Today being April 9th means that today is finally the day Triad Magic releases widely from the Bold Strokes Books! That means your retailer or e-tailer of choice has access to the closeout of this trilogy, which sees the trio of Luc the vampire, Anders the demon, and Curtis the wizard facing down the various shifting powers-that-be in supernatural Ottawa.

The law of three is everything: three vampires for a coterie, three demons for a pack, and three wizards for a coven. Those alone or in pairs are vulnerable to the rest. Luc, Anders, and Curtis—vampire, demon, and wizard—sidestepped tradition by binding themselves together.

Someone is killing those with the gift of prescience and prophecy, a feat that shouldn’t be possible given the victims should all sense the danger at hand. The three try to catch the killer, but how do you outwit someone killing those who see the future?

As more psychics turn up dead, new demons move into Ottawa, the magical Families close ranks, and a rebellion is sparked. Luc, Anders, and Curtis must stop a plan set into motion decades ago by one of the strongest and most dangerous supernatural powers ever to exist in Ottawa.

They already used the power of blood, soul, and magic to kill him once.

Now they have to stop his future from coming to pass.

Cover Artist: Inkspiral Design

TRIAD MAGIC, BY ‘NATHAN BURGOINE

I’ve said this before, but I’m so pleased to finally be able to get this book out there. The delays—looking at you, tendon-destroying husky named Max—weren’t avoidable, but from what people are saying thus far, it seems to be hitting the spot.

One thing that made me super-happy was a review from NetGalley, which said: “I requested and received this book not knowing it was the third in a trilogy. But I had absolutely no problems reading this book as a standalone. There were plenty of callbacks to the previous two books in the series, and quick explanations of what happened, so I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything, but I will be going back to read the first two books just to see how our throuple got their start.” They went on to give it five stars, and I cannot tell you how happy I was to hear the book stood alone well enough, as this was the one I was most worried about in that regard, given where I’d built the plot to go. So. Very chuffed.

And for those who did read all that came before? Well, my fellow author and friend Stephen Graham King (who I consider the King of both Effortless World-building and Found Family in Space) said: “My favourite paranormal throuple is finally back, winding up the series in glorious fashion. And let me tell you, I don’t mind waiting for a book as satisfying as this one. Funny, thrilling, and heartfelt, Triad Magic is a delight, and will more than satisfy lovers of the first two books in the series.”

And now to sit back and exhale. Thank y’all for taking this ride with me. It’s exciting to be able to say “I wrote a Trilogy.”

Appearance — ALSO “From the Ashes: Celebrating Banned Books” April 12th, 6:30-9:30p, Ottawa.

Next week! For my local Ottawa peeps, tickets are still available for the April 12 “From the Ashes: Celebrating Banned Books” fundraiser for ALSO Adult & Family Literacy. If you don’t know them, they work toward adult and family literacy, and are—naturally—staunchly opposed to the way books are being stamped out via censorship and bigoted, hateful book-banning efforts.

As such, some amazing authors (and also myself) are going to read from some wonderful books (which, not coincidentally, contain topics often targeted by said bans), alongside food and drink, and the fundraising silent auction.

I’ll be reading from Michael Thomas Ford’s Suicide Notes, which has the temerity to not only include a queer kid as the main character, but stares unflinchingly at his mental health.

Link for tickets and information: https://www.also-ottawa.org/. “From the Ashes” takes placed at Heartwood House, 404 McArthur Ave, Ottawa, ON, K1K 1G8.

Tabletop Tuesday — A Snek? A Snek! Oh, God, it’s a Snek!

Hey all! It’s occurred to me for some time now that Tabletop Tuesday was a thing I kind of dropped the ball on, but I had a few balls in the air. Life was (and is) doing that “interesting times” thing; writing the new book; editing, proofing, and getting Triad Magic ready for release (which happened yesterday at the publisher webstore, and will be widely available everywhere else next week); oh, and did I mention I need a heart monitor but no one can seemingly get me one?

I’m sure that’s fine, right? Right.

I’m actually doing okay, it’s not the end of the world that there’s a delay in finding out what might (or might not) be going on in my chest cavity with the blood-muscle-pumpy-thing, but in the meanwhile, how about we talk snakes?

Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It… His sunglasses!

Okay, so I’ve talked about Brandon Crilly before, I’m sure, but here’s a quick re-cap/précis: he’s an awesome author, gamer, teacher, and all-around human being who I’ve been lucky to know these past mumble-mumble years, ever since I first bumped into him via Can-Con, my local SF Convention. He’s one of the players in both my Mutants and Masterminds game and one of my Star Trek Adventures games, and since this is Tabletop Tuesday, the main thing I want to talk about today is B.O.A., a Pocket Quest rules-light TTRPG he released yesterday that’s…

Well, it’s about snakes solving problems for humans on the down-low like the elite team of crack problem-solving creatures that they are. I mean, Brandon has a pet snake. I assume he knows his stuff.

Seriously, though, this game is freaking adorable. By the time I’d finished reading the rules, I could already picture a perfect voice-acting cast for a group of snakes doing a job for the humans who (unknowingly) had just hired a group of snakes to solve their problem.

The Rock, who is definitely the Trunk of the group (the burly snake who can squeeze stuff, hard). Charlize Theron, stealthily working her way up toward that sniffy, obnoxious cat between the B.O.A. agents and their target and revealing her Fang abilities just in time to send said cat down for a quick nap (no real harm done, just a snooze, mind you). Jason Statham, using his Monarch snake gifts to dazzle and distract the sudden attention of the pet dog, and… Y’know, I feel like William Jackson Harper would be parfect as the Rattler, trying to co-ordinate the agents and getting mad at them for not following the original plan and…

Okay, apparently I’m already invested. The point being, the very charming set-up—snakes solving problems for humans but doing so without ever revealing they’re, y’know, snakes—is so completely off-the-wall but also so-awesome that it’s hysterical, and the fact that they ask for payment in the forms of things that make their Den HQ better—and by HQ, we mean stuff for their vivarium, okay?—is just hysterical.

Also, can I just say the included example adventure framework is helping a man recover a gift for his husband’s birthday that his neighbour accidentally picked up with her own mail? I mean, how adorable is that? The snake team needs to figure out how to get into a fifth-floor apartment, locate the gift (a ring) and get it out of there, all without attracting the attention of any humans—and dodging the neighbour’s dog in the process.

Mechanics-wise, this one is exactly what it says on the tin: rules-light. Any time the players try something where there’s a chance to fumble or fail—called “a move”—the Gamemaster sets a target number (5 is easy, 11 is borderline impossible) and the players generally roll 2d6, though each achetype of snake has stuff they’re better at (translated into a +1 on the rolls) and a special move all of their own—like how Charlize Theron snake up there can do a quick nighty-night bite. Failing costs the group Spy Points, which they share, and if they run out points before they succeed in the job, the mission fails.

Are there also gadgets? What kind of spy snek game do you think this is that there wouldn’t be? You should feel shame. Is it ridiculous? Again, of course it is. But it’s cute, and it’s snakes, and there are also multiple “Snek Fact!” bubbles throughout the little print-and-play manual and…

Listen. If I didn’t have you at snake spy agency, I don’t know what else to say.

Now Available from Bold Strokes Books: Triad Magic (No Foolin’)

Hey all! I had a moment where I reconsidered posting today because it’s April Fools’ Day, and I’m not a fan—though I did write a whole novella based on April Fools’ Day a couple of years ago, Village Fool—but today being April first means that today is also the day Triad Magic releases from the Bold Strokes Books webstore!

The law of three is everything: three vampires for a coterie, three demons for a pack, and three wizards for a coven. Those alone or in pairs are vulnerable to the rest. Luc, Anders, and Curtis—vampire, demon, and wizard—sidestepped tradition by binding themselves together.

Someone is killing those with the gift of prescience and prophecy, a feat that shouldn’t be possible given the victims should all sense the danger at hand. The three try to catch the killer, but how do you outwit someone killing those who see the future?

As more psychics turn up dead, new demons move into Ottawa, the magical Families close ranks, and a rebellion is sparked. Luc, Anders, and Curtis must stop a plan set into motion decades ago by one of the strongest and most dangerous supernatural powers ever to exist in Ottawa.

They already used the power of blood, soul, and magic to kill him once.

Now they have to stop his future from coming to pass.

Cover Artist: Inkspiral Design

TRIAD MAGIC, by ‘Nathan Burgoine

I cannot tell you how much joy I feel in releasing the last of this trilogy, especially given the delays brought courtesy of Max, the tendon-destroying Husky, who is the chief reason it took this many years to get the last of the Triad boys out there into the world.

I hope you enjoy!

I’ve also got some news about appearances and upcoming events, but it’s April Fools’ Day, so I’m gonna hold off until tomorrow.

Mercedes General, by Jerry L. Wheeler

Hi!

I need to talk about a book today. It’s a collection of short fiction my long-time editor Jerry L. Wheeler wrote and… y’all.

Before anything else, here’s the link to go pre-order from Rebel Satori Press if you at all enjoy queer short fiction—especially linked queer short fiction—and insistent “we existed” history.

Look at that gorgeous cover by Inkspiral Design.

Okay. Welcome back.

There’s this thing that happens to me when I review poetry that I mention whenever I force myself to review poetry, where I find myself flailing because (a) I’m not a poet, and (b) reviews of poetry make me think of that line attributed to Robert Frost, where he told a person who asked him what one of his poems meant, ‘You want me to say it worse?’

It always feels like my review is me saying it worse.

It’s been a while since a collection of short fiction has made me feel that way—Her Body and Other Parties: Stories, I believe—but here I am. It’s no secret I’ve worked with Jerry L. Wheeler for years (he’s almost always my editor), nor that I’ve always enjoyed his short stories or anthologies he edits or his previous collection (his themes are always fascinating and fresh, and I cannot understate how much I admire his facility with the short form) but—and I hope he’ll forgive me for using but there—Mercedes General absolutely stopped me.

Connected short fiction is one hell of a tightrope to walk, and doing it with a singular POV character can sometimes make things feel all the more episodic, rather than connected, exactly, but when it’s done this freaking well? Well, I said this collection stopped me, and I need to maybe explain that. I had to keep pausing to breathe, between the stories, as each did tell their own complete tale, while also sprinkling a layer of prose sand, upon which the pressure and weight of the next story would firm the layers that came before into a kind of emotional, literary sandstone. I needed the pauses. I felt guilty over it, even, because I knew I was denying myself the whole journey, but I needed to make it last, if that makes sense, and with short fiction, you can do that easier.

Mercedes General gives you a life. One life, that of writer-to-be Kent Mortenson, from his childhood to old(er) age, and these glimpses, stories starting in his youth of ’66 and crossing the new millennium into ’06, cover so many visceral moments of a queer man’s life I don’t have the words to explain—I’d only say it worse. But where Mercedes General truly makes magic is in how it doesn’t just give you a life, it gives you so many deaths—and other lives—and strings them together with such a deeply felt reality this could be a memoir grounded in the deepest of lived history. There’s an insistent “We are here, we’ve always been here, and even when we’re gone, we refuse to allow you to erase us,” to this collection and I am here for it.

When I finally did cross the finish line of these stories, I started again, this time allowing myself to re-read them from start to finish in a single setting. When my paperback arrives, I know I’ll do it again.

Candy Hearts Releases!

Today is the day! I mentioned a while back that I’d joined an anthology raising money for The Candy Hearts Anthology will be available for a limited time, and all proceeds from its limited release will benefit the Transgender Law Center and the National Center for Transgender Equality., and today is the day it goes live! Candy Hearts (Volume 1: Secret Admirer) includes my newest Village novella, a 15k sweet treat called “Valentine’s Dave” that introduces a new group of pals, a pun-loving fella named Dave, and a series of Secret Admirer notecards delivered to a crush. I’ll tuck the blurb below, but the important thing here is it’s not just me.

So what is it?

Candy Hearts

What’s sweeter than a low angst queer romance at Valentine’s Day? How about sixteen of them brought together in one anthology to help support a good cause? Each novella in the Candy Hearts Anthology is overflowing with queer romance and all the good feels. And this time around, every story has a secret—a secret admirer.

The Candy Hearts Anthology will be available for a limited time, and all proceeds from its limited release will benefit the Transgender Law Center and the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Find it at all major retailers or buy direct from the authors at CandyHeartsAnthology.com.

Includes stories from: Becca Seymour, Beck Grey, Bix Barrow, Chantal Mer, D.K. Sutton, Finn Dixon, Lee Blair, Linden Bell, ‘Nathan Burgoine, Nic Starr, Rain Carrington, Riley Long, Stella Rainbow, Susan Scott Shelley, Toby Wise, and Victoria Gillilan.

Cover design by: Wicked by Designs.

Valentine’s Dave (A Village Novella)

To say Dave’s last three Valentine’s Days haven’t worked out would be understating—the coffee incident, the secretly married guy, the barfer—but this year, he’s convinced a hunky silver-fox veterinarian will break his disastrous streak. 

With the aid of Asher, Dave’s best friend and roommate, as well as the Village’s “Secret Admirer” charity Valentine’s Day messages, the two aim to craft a perfect romantic result one red notecard at a time.

Everything seems to be coming up Cupid, at least until Dave’s silver-fox crush sees Asher helping Dave draft the messages and decides Asher is the secret admirer behind the notecards. Is Valentine’s Day offering up a fourth disaster for Dave’s streak, or is this a chance at setting up two hearts who should be together after all?

Content Warnings: Mentions of cancer and chemotherapy (in the past)“VALENTINE’S DAVE,” BY ‘NATHAN BURGOINE, INCLUDED IN CANDY HEARTS (VOLUME 1: SECRET ADMIRER)

Anthology Announcement: Candy Hearts!

Sixteen Low-Angst Valentine’s Day Stories—And Doing Some Good for Trans People!

Hi all! I’m here with an announcement about a new anthology I’m taking part in, Candy Hearts (Volume 1: Secret Admirer), alongside fifteen other awesome authors, all in aid of the Transgender Law Center and the National Center for Transgender Equality. I wrote a Village novella for the anthology, about 15k words long, called “Valentine’s Dave.”

Here’s the blurb:

To say Dave’s last three Valentine’s Days haven’t worked out would be understating—the coffee incident, the secretly married guy, the barfer—but this year, he’s convinced a hunky silver-fox veterinarian will break his disastrous streak. 

With the aid of Asher, Dave’s best friend and roommate, as well as the Village’s “Secret Admirer” charity Valentine’s Day messages, the two aim to craft a perfect romantic result one red notecard at a time.

Everything seems to be coming up Cupid, at least until Dave’s silver-fox crush sees Asher helping Dave draft the messages and decides Asher is the secret admirer behind the notecards. Is Valentine’s Day offering up a fourth disaster for Dave’s streak, or is this a chance at setting up two hearts who should be together after all?

Content Warnings: Mentions of cancer and chemotherapy (in the past)

“Valentine’s Dave,” by ‘Nathan Burgoine, included in Candy Hearts (Volume 1: Secret Admirer)

Candy Hearts

What’s sweeter than a low angst queer romance at Valentine’s Day? How about sixteen of them brought together in one anthology to help support a good cause? Each novella in the Candy Hearts Anthology is overflowing with queer romance and all the good feels. And this time around, every story has a secret—a secret admirer.

The Candy Hearts Anthology will be available for a limited time, and all proceeds from its limited release will benefit the Transgender Law Center and the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Release date: February 1, 2024

Pre-order now on major retailers at CandyHeartsAnthology.com.

With stories from: Becca Seymour, Beck Grey, Bix Barrow, Chantal Mer, D.K. Sutton, Finn Dixon, Lee Blair, Linden Bell, ‘Nathan Burgoine, Nic Starr, Rain Carrington, Riley Long, Stella Rainbow, Susan Scott Shelley, Toby Wise, and Victoria Gillilan.

Cover design by: Wicked by Designs.

Questions? Questions!

Will the anthology (or your story) be on Kindle Unlimited? Since we’re raising money for charity, the answer to that has to be no: the organizer set up the option to order directly from Shopify if someone is willing to purchase the anthology that way, and that method maximizes the donation value of the purchase. Similarly, to give readers as many options as possible to support the charities, the anthology is available as a wide-release, on many platforms. To take part in Kindle Unlimited, you can’t sell on any other platform but Amazon.

What is this anthology? A group of 16 authors who write low angst, queer romance came together to raise money for charities supporting the rights of the queer community. All stories in the anthology are set at Valentine’s Day. Each story even has a “secret admirer” element in some way or another. There’s a mix of tropes and sub-genres. Visit the stories page on the Candy Hearts website to learn more about each of the stories.

How does the charity part work? All proceeds from book sales will be split between the Transgender Law Center and the National Center for Transgender Equality.

How long will it be available? Candy Hearts will be available February 1 through March 31, 2024. At that time, the book will be pulled down from all retailers and the individual stories will return to each author to do with whatever they’d like. Don’t miss your chance to get all of these great stories!

Wait, does that mean this is my one and only chance to read your story? Well, I wrote “Valentine’s Dave” as a proof of concept to potentially start a new series of Village holiday stories—only this time, not Christmas (or April Fools’ Day), so… while I really, really hope you’ll support the charity, I do have plans, but at the earliest, “Valentine’s Dave” wouldn’t be back again until next year.

Is there a paperback? Candy Hearts is available in ebook only.

Can I get it from a library? It won’t be available in libraries since the book is only on sale for a short period of time.

Will there be another volume? That’s the plan! We hope to bring this anthology back each year with a focus on low angst, queer romances. Each year, we’ll keep the Valentine’s Day setting, but the “secret admirer” element in this first volume will change to a different twist each time.

Do you have ARCs? I have access to a limited number of .epub ARCs—Advance Reader Copies—so if you’re willing to dive in to sixteen low-angst queer romances and offer up an honest review, please let me know—this is for charity, and queer people rallying around our trans brethren right now is incredibly important, and I’d like to make this as big a success as I can.