Sam Saylett's Blog, page 2
November 10, 2023
I Need Aromantic and Asexual Representation
I need aromantic and asexual representation because I thought I was a sociopath in high school because I had never felt romantic love.
I need aromantic and asexual representation because I couldn’t understand why, after learning someone was romantically or sexually interested in me, I had no desire to interact with them.
I need aromantic and asexual representation because I sit quiet when coworkers are discussing spouses and children because I have nothing to add and don’t want to discuss that I n...
November 7, 2023
Beyond the Paladin Door: Transmutown Novella #1 - The First Chapter
Read for free the first chapter from Beyond the Paladin Door, the first in the Transmutown Novellas series.
CHAPTER ONE
Merry
Merry Moon hadn’t been in her mother’s kitchen for nine years. This time would be her last. After a quick cup of coffee, she’d leave and never return. She’d expected to find some upgrade or sign of love, but the kitchen window was still cracked, the wood-paneled walls still outdated, and the century-old wooden floors still slightly warped. Nothing there had changed in the l...
Transmutown Novella #1 - The First Chapter
Read for free the first chapter from Beyond the Paladin Door, the first in the Transmutown Novellas series.
CHAPTER ONE
Merry
Merry Moon hadn’t been in her mother’s kitchen for nine years. This time would be her last. After a quick cup of coffee, she’d leave and never return. She’d expected to find some upgrade or sign of love, but the kitchen window was still cracked, the wood-paneled walls still outdated, and the century-old wooden floors still slightly warped. Nothing there had changed in the l...
November 6, 2023
Against the Broken Oath: Transmutown Novella #2 - The First Two Chapters
Read the first two chapters for the second Transmutown Novella!
Note: These chapters are part of an unpublished novella and may contain some errors that will be corrected before publication.
Cover image by Michelle Spollen via Unsplash
THREE MONTHS AGO
Bird
The stray, orange tabby, Colonel Mustard, bunted his head against Bird’s leg while Bird observed a thief robing an old woman. Bird bent, scratching under Colonel Mustard’s chin, and the thief fled, the old woman’s bag tucked under his arm. The th...
Against the Broken Oath Transmutown Novella #2 - The First Two Chapters
Read the first two chapters for the second Transmutown Novella!
Note: These chapters are part of an unpublished novella and may contain some errors that will be corrected before publication.
Cover image by Michelle Spollen via Unsplash
THREE MONTHS AGO
Bird
The stray, orange tabby, Colonel Mustard, bunted his head against Bird’s leg while Bird observed a thief robing an old woman. Bird bent, scratching under Colonel Mustard’s chin, and the thief fled, the old woman’s bag tucked under his arm. The th...
Transmutown Novella #2 - The First Two Chapters
Read the first two chapters for the second Transmutown Novella!
Note: These chapters are part of an unpublished novella and may contain some errors that will be corrected before publication.
Cover image by Michelle Spollen via Unsplash
TRANSMUTOWN NOVELLAS - MERCURY #2
THREE MONTHS AGO
Bird
The stray, orange tabby, Colonel Mustard, bunted his head against Bird’s leg while Bird observed a thief robing an old woman. Bird bent, scratching under Colonel Mustard’s chin, and the thief fled, the old woman’s...
November 5, 2023
Book Review: Under the Banner of Heaven
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by John Krakaeur, published in 2003
...
September 22, 2023
Updates: Covers, Edits, and Nanowrimo
Covers
Be on the lookout in the next few weeks for an updated cover for Beyond the Paladin Door! I’m working with a cover creator from Reedsy to design a new look for my first novella and hopefully build a foundation for future covers. See below for the covers I provided to the creator for inspiration. I like the use of minimal colors, elements of the natural world, and character silhouettes over seeing faces. I’m excited to share the new face of the flagship for the Transmutown Novellas!
...August 23, 2023
It’s back-breaking work (to read a book)
I mean literally, back-breaking. Not my back, thankfully, but the book’s.
If you or your friends (or both!) are avid readers or enjoy the aesthetics of a beautiful novel collection, you may have been appalled the first time you saw a video explaining how to “prepare” a book for reading. Not too long ago, my friends’ group chat was overrun, horrified by heinous videos of people grabbing books by the front and the back and mercilessly breaking the spines. Never mind that most of these videos were ...
August 20, 2023
Wasting time stressing about wasting time
I just spent most of Saturday afternoon vacillating between creating a new e-book cover and telling myself I don’t need to make a new e-book cover—I need a professional one. The latter won out. I want to do things right, so that means I need to hire someone who knows what they’re doing, not someone who got a Canva subscription a month ago. This decision was a long time coming, and way too much worrying on my part.
When I first published Beyond the Paladin Door in June, I didn’t bother with any m...
