writing progress

Making Monsters, and Other Pandemic Activities

/ Dorian Graves / Leave a comment

Long time no see, dear readers! At least, that’s how it feels, given that time has lost all meaning this year. Worry not, for I’ve been busy these past few…let me check the calendar…months, with all manners of projects.

First off, I have a guest post over at the Creator’s Roulette, which you can check out here! If you’ve ever wondered how to go about creating monsters, either completely new ones or adaptations of pre-existing myths, this post shows my process for how I make monsters for my stories. It even has examples from my own work, resources for inspiration, and some art by yours truly! I had a lot of fun writing it up, so I hope you’ll give it a read.

A recent illustration of a dragon-man I played in a Changeling the Lost campaign.

Connected to the art in that post; I’ve recently acquired a new art tablet, and have practiced digital illustrations in my free time. Not only will it be easier to add concept art and such to my books, but I hope to eventually provide more illustrations for you all, be it through Patreon or other avenues. My goal is to eventually branch into creating my own comics or games (along with writing more books, of course!), so keep your eyes peeled. I may also stream some more art on Twitch in the future, but that’ll wait until after edits.

Now for the update on “Corpses and Cognac”, second book in the Deadly Drinks series. Don’t worry, you haven’t missed it: I’m still hard at work editing the book. Having realized that my own editing standards are stricter than my previous press, I’m in the middle of extensive edits and rewrites to make sure “Corpses and Cognac” is a sequel that’ll knock everyone’s socks off. This means it likely won’t release this Summer as I’d planned, but come Autumn, we should have a spooky sequel full of leviathan ghosts, haunted carnivals, and motorcycling minotaurs ready for our bookshelves.

Once those edits are done, I’ll be bouncing between the third Deadly Drinks book and a couple of other new projects. One’s a high fantasy, DnD-esque tale I’ve mentioned here before, while the other is a cyberpunk/cosmic horror mashup. All of these are still in the first-draft stage, so it will take some time before they see the light of day, but I’m excited for all three of them. (And now that I’ve got this new tablet, expect to see more concept illustrations like this one below for the cyberpunk story.)

Concept art for one of the cyberpunk characters, a trans witch cyborg.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention one other new feature for this site: a Contact Form! If you ever wanted to send me a message, but don’t want to hassle with comments or social media messaging channels, use the contact form to send me a message, and it’ll show up straightaway in my inbox. It sometimes takes me a couple days to respond if I’m busy (as I’m not only deep in edits, but also have a full time day job), but I’ll get to you as soon as I can. I have a couple other exciting updates planned for the site too, but with everything else going on right now, we’ll see when I get around to those.

Hope you’re all staying safe and sane as you can, dear readers! Every day is another victory against all the obstacles that spite you, so keep your chin up. As for me, it’s back to edits I go!

~Dorian

Rolling Right Along: What to Expect from the Bones and Bourbon Re-Release

/ Dorian Graves / Leave a comment

Hello there, dear readers! I hope you’ve survived this past month alright, and if surviving is all you’ve done, that’s still something to be proud of. It hasn’t been easy for anyone. But even with all the turmoil going on, we’ve still got stories, and that’s what has kept me going!

It’s been a busy month of work for Deadly Drinks. Today, I’d like to tell you about what you can look forward to for the Bones and Bourbon re-release!

COVER ART

For the new Bones and Bourbon, I knew it’d need something special to help make it pop in the sea of indie fantasy fiction. As fate would have it, once I decided to go for an illustrated cover, the wonderful M.Brackett (also known as Quel) tweeted about wanting to work on book covers again. With art that’s fantastical, animated, and a dash of whimsy, I knew it’d be a perfect match.

Not only am I teaming up with Quel for the Deadly Drinks series covers, but there will also be streams where you can watch the cover as it’s being created! Quel tends to post on Twitter when a stream’s about to happen, so keep an eye out! We’re still in the thumbnails stage for Bones and Bourbon, and it already looks amazing.

ENHANCED EDITS

Sure, Bones and Bourbon already released once before, but I wanted the book to be in tip-top shape for its self-published debut. I reached out to Bill Tracy, author of the Dissolution series, for editing and advice on self-publishing. Bill has been a font of useful advice, and has also made an already-good book even better.

Worry not: the plot is not changing with these edits. Most of the edits were to clean up sentence structure, remove extraneous words, and make the book easier to read and comprehend. With that said, the book is slightly longer than originally. A couple details have been clarified with better explanations (like how Retz’s body works and how Nalem relates to it), and there is one tiny extra scene with Jarrod and Farris in San Francisco that I will likely release here for those who already bought the original book. I’ve also removed all references to Jarrod’s deadname from the book, as that information wasn’t integral to the story and was otherwise rude to include.

Along with edits, the book will have a new template! I’m not much of a font nerd, but I gotta’ say…I picked up a template to use for the whole Deadly Drinks series for consistency and whatnot, and it looks pretty damn spiffy.

EXTRA FEATURES

That’s right; we’ve got bonus features for the book!

Mainly, there will be a preview for “Corpses and Cognac,” so you’ll be ready for its release in a few months (more on that below)! In addition, I asked in a twitter poll what other feature you’d like to see, and the clear winner…was CONCEPT ART! So look forward to some original Grave artwork depicting the cast of the book. Note that it’ll be in black and white, because colored pages…are expensive.

RELEASE TIMELINE

Now, the questions on everyone’s mind…when, and how, will this new version of Bones and Bourbon release, and how close behind is Corpses and Cognac?

For Bones and Bourbon, I’m looking to release it in early May. This way, I have time to polish up the formatting and perfect that concept art, while Quel works magic on that new cover. When it releases, the book will be published through IngramSpark in both physical and ebook formats, and should be available wherever you prefer to acquire books. Publishing through Ingram also means the book will be easy for bookstores to order, so you can still support your favorite local bookstore by ordering your physical copies from them (or request that your library carry it, if that’s what you prefer)!

Corpses and Cognac is still a few months out from that. While I’m hoping for a release in June or July, I’ll be honest and admit that it may take longer than that. As it didn’t receive any edits from NineStar, it’s still fairly fresh, and will likely need a lot more work. I’m also being respectful of Quel and Bill’s time, as they have their own projects they also need to work around.

Right now, I’m going through Corpses and Cognac again myself, fixing any obvious plot holes or editing mistakes I missed when I finished the draft last year. Once I’m done, I’ll send it on to Bill, and once he’s done with his Kickstarter for the next Dissolution books, we’ll kick edits into high gear. And then, once we have the edits finalized and formatted so we know the page count, we can get the cover template set up and over to Quel for another beautiful cover.

As Corpses and Cognac will be new, I’m also planning to release ARCs of it through NetGalley! I’ll give more details once it’s ready to release, but if you’re a NetGalley reviewer, keep your eyes peeled.

After all that’s said and done? All this work has me super inspired for book 3 of the Deadly Drinks series, and believe you me…it’s going to be a whirlwind of an adventure.

In the meantime, I’m still updating my Patreon with new content. This includes short stories for Deadly Drinks (including one that explains how they acquire a car for Corpses and Cognac), previews of new novels, and behind the scenes posts on my writing methods—and whatever else you’d like to see!

That’s it for now, dear readers. Watch this space for more updates, and in the meantime, stay as safe and sane as you can in these trying times.

~Dorian

What A Year – It’s Only February?!

/ Dorian Graves / Leave a comment

Hello, dear readers!

My, this year has hit like a hammer! Thank goodness it’s almost over–wait, hold on, my calendar reads February. Is that right? Stars above, preserve me.

I’ve hit this new year and decade running in just about every aspect of my life. My day job has transitioned from an HR/Recruiting role to a more Computer Science oriented role, so I’m cramming as many SQL demos into my eyeballs as I possibly can. And while I don’t talk about my personal life much here, I have made steps to be truer to myself with a new name and preparing for a big life change finally on the horizon.

Of course, we can’t have a Dorian Graves update without discussing writing! Especially since this isn’t a release announcement about Corpses and Cognac. So, what’s going on?

2019 was a hard year for many people, including for my editor and myself, and it hasn’t let up yet. Corpses and Cognac is a big and bold book that still needs a lot of work to be the best damn sequel Bones and Bourbon could ask for, so we’re polishing every aspect until this book shines. At this time, I don’t have a new estimated time of release. But it will be this year, and I thank all of you for your patience.

Now for the good news: I’m now releasing new content every month over on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/doriangraves launched January 1st with two kinds of content. First off, I’m releasing a new short story every month, each piece a couple thousand words long. Right now, they’re centered in the Deadly Drinks universe with stories that are only hinted at in the books, such as the first meeting of Jarrod and Farris, or how the Gallows brothers acquire a car for Corpses and Cognac. The second kind of content is behind the scenes work, showing various aspects of how my books are made. Some will focus on technique, others on the nuts and bolts of aspects like how huldras work or the particulars of magic in the Deadly Drinks series. I’m also open to questions to cover in these posts!

In addition to the Patreon, I’ve been hard at work on “For Those Who Burn,” my standalone fantasy novel. I’ve passed the 20k wordcount mark already, which is pretty exciting (even if it’s scratching the surface for a fantasy novel). I’m currently talking about it for #LGBTWIP this month on Twitter, where I have more frequent updates and commentary on writing progress (and artwork, plus the occasional cat picture).

2020 may be a big and busy year already, but let’s make the most of it. Keep reading and creating, and fill this year with enough stories to make it something wonderful.

What Is and What May Be

/ Dorian Graves / 2 Comments

After all this time, 2018 is almost over.

I don’t need to tell you all how much of a roller coaster this year has been. But as 2018 comes to a close and 2019 looms on the horizon, it’s a good point to pause, reflect on the journey so far, and look ahead at where to go next.

Too typical, you say? Well, my options are either reflect, or face this hoard of leftover holiday confections. Do you know how much baking my family does around the holidays?!

For 2018, I want to focus on the highlights. The biggest highlight of all: Bones and Bourbon, my debut novel, was finally released into the world! And so far, dear readers like you seem to enjoy it! Violent but touching, complicated but exciting, and full of stranger things than Netflix could make a show out of; that’s what I wanted to share, and more. So from the bottom of my heart to yours: thank you so much for helping make Bones and Bourbon such a success so far.

The release of my first book took me on many other adventures as well. From exciting adventures to conventions and other states to the more mundane (but still kinda’ cool?) steps into becoming a small business owner, I’ve faced a lot of firsts this year that I’m excited to continue in the coming years. To all of you I’ve met this year, it was great, and I hope we cross paths again soon!

And in non-author related news: I finally escaped retail, and now have a day job with a local growing business, where I get to help folks find jobs, chase fascinating data trails, and occasionally draw unicorns for professional work projects. I met and befriended so many people. I even joined a LARP group, where I play a slam-poet vampire detective! I even found time to enjoy some great books, comics, and games; I plan to write a top 10 post about those again this year, so expect that soon.

Now, what does 2019 have in store…and what do I hope to find in it?

First off, the publishing news: as I’ve mentioned, my space fantasy novella “Warp Gate Concerto” will be released in May. Hard to believe that I was still writing the first draft this time last year, and now, my polyamorous alien space pirates are almost here! It’s a bizarre mish-mash of pulp adventure, fanfiction tropes, and my penchant for bizarre beings, with a sprinkle of body horror and comedic timing. I hope you all love reading it as much as I did writing it.

Also, “Corpses and Cognac” is almost complete; I finished the first draft almost two years ago to the day, and now the completely-rewritten draft 2 is almost at The End. Of course, it keeps throwing a few surprises my way, but when the Gallows brothers and their madcap adventures are involved, does anything ever go as planned? I don’t want to reveal the focus of “Corpses and Cognac” just yet, but it does delve further into the mysteries of our daring heroes and villains…and there’s a minotaur gang of motorcylces involved, who sometimes hang out at an underground bar built out of a leviathan’s skeleton.

Since “Corpses and Cognac” doesn’t have a set release date yet, and “Warp Gate Concerto” is too small to have a planned print run, I’m not yet certain about what conventions I’ll be visiting this year. I’d love to return to BayCon or SpoCon again if I can meet those deadlines, and I may try to fit in an event in November—between EuCon, OryCon, and the Portland Book Fest all in my home state, I’m sure I can make it out to something this year. (Especially now that I’m out of retail!)

Along with working on the Deadly Drinks series, I’m going to take some time between finishing “Corpses and Cognac” and getting back to work on book 3 to start on a new project or two. I have two goals: one, to finish a stand-alone novel that I can send out to agents, and the other, to use my new RPG Maker program to start making video games, a dream of mine since I was a kid. I don’t know if I’ll be able to work on both at the same time or will end up focusing on one (or a completely different project!), but right now, that’s my creative plan.

Plus, I’m judging again for the Rainbow Awards again this year, and already have 5 books slated for review. I can’t reveal which ones I’m reading until November, but I’m already excited for my selection.

Oh, and Bones and Bourbon has already been entered in for the awards, as will “Warp Gate Concerto” and “Corpses and Cognac” once they’re released. Fingers crossed that they do well!

I have a couple other goals this year, and we’ll see how they turn out as the year progresses. I want to work on more artwork this year; drawing more, learning how to paint digitally, and learning pixel art for RPG Maker. I also want to get more into nonfiction subjects, both to learn and to find new ideas for my stories; my plan is to find some podcasts I can listen to while working on art, so if you have any recommendations, please send them my way! (Or I can just keep listening to The Dollop, can’t go wrong there…)

There are also a few mundane goals, such as finding a house to rent instead of an apartment, and maybe finally fixing my bike so I can practice for Operation: Motorcycle Reborn. As in, I’ve got a ‘59 Harley to get out of California, repair, learn to ride, and become strong enough to kickstart. That’s…more of a long term goal, but I can at least start part of it now.

In a couple days, the earth will start its next trek around the sun. Feel free to take your own time to reflect and prepare, dear readers—and if you feel like sharing in the comments so we may celebrate and/or commiserate with you, feel free.

See you next year, dear readers~

~Dorian

Liebster Award Nomination!

/ Dorian Graves / 5 Comments

This week in Exciting Author Things, I was nominated for the Liebster Award by Alice Gristle, a fellow author and artist whose witty observations and dedication to her work are as admirable as they are entertaining. As stated here, the Liebster Award is a way to spread the word about the small-scale blogs that we enjoy to those who might not hear about them otherwise. Thank you again for the nomination, Alice!

Liebster Award Image

On that note, I’m glad that readers are enjoying this blog so far. It’s nice having a place where I can ramble about writing theories, creators and works I enjoy, pop culture, and whatever else happens to catch my eye each week. The fact that it’s giving others something to think about is icing on the cake, so thank you all for reading so far (and if this is your first time here, thanks for checking it out)!

Now for the fun part: I get to answer Alice’s three questions, then ask my own nominees three questions of my own. Without further ado…

The Casual: What’s going on at the moment? What are you working on, writing-wise?

Right now, my main focus is on editing; “Bones and Bourbon” is about to release (currently slated for April 23rd) and needs its final rounds of editing, and I’m simultaneously working on my unnamed space novella for NineStar’s “Lost” collection, which is due April 30th. Once those are done, I’ll get back to work on writing the first draft of the third “Deadly Drinks” book, and then start the second draft of book two. Plus brainstorming for all the other projects I have on the backburner, such as the space setting that the novella is technically a prequel to, plus the tentatively titled “Chimera,” “Nightmare Twin,” and “Fracture” projects. My mind’s a busy place to be.

As for what’s otherwise going on, my birthday is this Friday (when good food shall be devoured and much Magic the Gathering will be played), and I get to catch up with family a week afterwards as I bring my brother home from college for Spring Break. I have a Changeling: the Lost campaign I’m preparing to run, and I’m hoping my day job stabilizes and stops being on metaphorical fire for a bit.

The Conan: What is best in life? But we’ll make this harder – you’re not allowed to say “writing”, which would be a cheap cop-out, nor are you allowed to mention the lamentation of women!

Perhaps this stems from being a mountain hermit in my youth, but I’ve realized there’s nothing quite like getting out and experiencing the world. Have you ever stopped to think about how impressive it all is? There are so many lives and intricate ecosystems going on around us all the time, from the animals running around in the woods to the civilians passing through the city. There are so many stories and experiences waiting to be born from the girl who climbed a tree outside the downtown restaurant you were eating at, the time you went on a hike and a coyote pup followed you home, from weird facts about how your favorite fruit evolved or the odd customer you had during the holidays.

Our world inspires so many stories because it is truly stranger than any fiction could ever be. And in the end, isn’t that what’s wonderful about it?

The Conniving Communist: What is most unjust in life? Again, Alice denies cop-outs! “Not having enough time to write” is not acceptable.

Time to get serious for a moment. The way I see things, most of the problems in this world are connected with a lack of empathy and respect. The rich slashing the budgets of necessary programs for the underprivileged in order to save a buck, the gunmen who want to hurt others as much as they can on their way out, the newest fad diet ingredients leading to the destruction of habitats and backbreaking labor in order to farm them…none of these things would happen if the perpetrators could bring themselves to care about the pain they cause others. The fact that such greed and selfishness can run rampant in our world is…disheartening, to say the least.

As for the questions I will ask, they are:

The Deep Thought: What story has made you think the most? Doesn’t have to be your favorite or least favorite, but a story that stuck with you and dwelled in your thoughts long after it was over.

The Empty Space: What is something from your youth that you don’t encounter nowadays? Do you miss it?

The Starman: What’s a hobby you once had that you’ve since left behind, and would you ever consider picking it up again?

And while I’m not the sort to tag people in things, I do have a number of blogs I enjoy enough to nominate, and if they choose to accept, most excellent! I nominate the blogs of the following awesome individuals:

M.D. Neu

Holly Evans

Audrey Driscoll

Ellen Meny

Jess Moore

Thank you five (and all the other blogs I follow, of course!) for making my days brighter with your witty words.

Speaking of words, time to bury myself in editing again. Until next time, dear readers~

~Dorian