Open to get your first teaser for Book IV 💥
Raven Belasco I’m so excited to finally have this book, the third of the Blood & Ancient Scrolls series, in its final form. Blood Eternal has been on a real journey.
I first wrote it when I was under contract for three books to my previous publisher. You know, the horrible one. I had to write this book knowing that I would get no support in marketing it, and that even my editor did not understand or appreciate my writing. I felt very alone as I was writing it, and threw myself into the story for the escapism of it just as much as any reader.
Blood Eternal was the most challenging thing I’d written to date, especially the central story at the literal and figurative heart of the book: the origin story of the am’r.
I won’t say I didn’t feel the challenge, but I held myself open to it, and the story just poured out of me and now when I look back on it, it’s hard to imagine there was ever a time that story was not written, there are truths in it that are universal truths, and it feels almost like a real history that I uncovered, not created.
So there was joy in writing it, as well as stress and loneliness. But as soon as it was done, the editor at the former company tried to force me to just accept all her edits without having input (and she had given me very flawed edits in the past, including changing words to ones that meant the exact opposite (in Blood Ex Libris, she changed “voluptuous” to “slender”!!!) and in this book she had chopped my sentences down with no aesthetic sense at all – to the point that some no longer made any sense. She threatened that she was going to just throw out my revision after her edits, and I had to take it to the boss of the company to save my book from that.
My book was published, and no one in the world took notice except the few fans I’d already built up on the strength of the writing. (And thank you [you know who you are!] for sticking around through that and the years since!)
Then I was done with meeting the obligations of the contract, and could finally begin the legal process of having my rights reverted to me, which leads directly to where we are now!
You will remember that Blood Eternal was first Blood Ad Infinitum, and was part of the two books who had their titles changed last year, in an effort to reduce confusion—some people assumed the books were not written in English, because they didn’t recognize the Latin in the titles—and increase readership.
I wrote all about the painful process during the renaming of Blood Demands, and Blood Eternal was only slightly less intense and stressful a process, but now, finally, the listings online seem to be starting to be corrected, and just at the same time, the paperbacks have made their way to me so I can do signed copies for people!
Finally, finally, this book is in a finished place, and ready to start getting the reads it deserves.
Post-Op News
You may notice this is a longer email than that last one: I can type again! Once the cast came off (a week and half after surgery), I am now able to get the right angle to actually type with my left hand again (and thumbs are not used much in typing) so at least that terrible roadblock to productivity is gone.
To be honest, I was in a pretty bad place when I got out last week’s newsletter. I went into surgery completely ignorant, and had actually thought I’d be functional again within a few days of the procedure. But when I wrote that newsletter I was only able to sit at the computer for a couple hours, and then I wobbled unsteadily back to bed.
But the first few days after the surgery were a true ordeal, as they hadn’t given me strong enough pain medication, and my immediate post-op pain was not managed well at all. Also, I was really woozy and unsteady (not just because of the pain medication), and barely able to care for myself, never mind care for Archie. I had to get in an emergency dog-walker, and I leaned far too heavily on the people I live with. Lesson learned: if I ever get surgery again, I will book a home healthcare nurse for the three days immediately post-op (and a dog walker in advance!) so that I can get actual adequate care from a professional. File it under “lessons learned the hard way”—which I have far too many of in my life, sigh.
I am good now, however. The healing is going slowly of course, but the pain is manageable, and I start official PT today. (I’ve been doing prescribed exercises 6 times a day already. They hurt, but I do them.) And I have been able to cook dinners, can now walk the dog by myself (it took over a week to get there!), and type out newsletters for you!
I am stuck in business tax prep this week (Wheee!) but I am hopeful that after the taxes are done and dusted for the year, I can finally get into finishing that novella .. which I have officially decided will simply be titled That Lesbian Vampire Pirate Story—not just because I can’t think of anything else, but because now everybody is demanding it 😂
Although a friend of mine pointed out the other night that the perfect portmanteau of “vampirates” is just waiting to be used, so I am now claiming that term and will be using it henceforth. You heard it here first, baby!
That novella already has cover art done, so expect a cover release in March, at the very least!
Strong female characters and a teaser for Book IV… 💥
International Women’s Day was on Saturday March 8th . If you did not see the cool image I posted to socials, here it is:
Kick-ass female characters from Blood Ex Libris, Blood Demands, & Blood Triad
This is the first time this image of Araceli (who is a reader favorite, and also the reason I get bitched out by almost everyone who reads Blood Demands…)
The backstory here is that the original cover had Noosh in her blood-soaked glory dead center, and then relevant faces were going to surround her: Bagamil, Araceli, Lope, and our Baddies Orélie, and Julio Popper. Each face was drawn amazingly by Kwasi…but the cover was just too damn busy, and once they were taken out, it was magically perfect. So I’ve had all those faces waiting for the right moment for other little things, and it was time to feature Araceli.
As you know, my books feature strong female characters. I’ve been an angry lil’ feminist since nursery school. There was one day that my father came in to help out (all parents were encouraged to do so several times a year, but not a lot of fathers did, back in the day) and it was a day where we were playing this dumbass game where the boys marched around as soldiers, and the girls stayed together and made a big pot of soup for the hungry soldiers. (I think it was imaginary soup, but whatever.) My dad was tasked to lead the soldiers—and I wanted to be a soldier! I was told I could not be, and I had to make soup because I was a girl.
The feminist fire that started in my belly that day has never died down.
I might be smiling here, but trust I was about to get on a Hot Wheel and drive with feminist road rage 😉
I have had a complaint (from author Chaz Brenchley) that I have not had enough female villains in my books. (Although who can forget Bat Bitch?) I took it to heart, and you can expect the Big Bad in Book IV to be both female and our scariest villain so far! This is the official first teaser for the book!
Also, That Lesbian Vampire Pirate Story is going to introduce you to a bunch of characters you’ll be hanging out with (or desperately fighting) in “Book IV Vampirates Galore” (now my new working title 😂) In fact, all the short stories that have come out and are about to come out are introducing characters from the upcoming novel. That’s the one silver lining from this novel taking much longer than expected to be written, is that I can build up the side characters in advance, so that readers can be delighted to bump into characters they have already met when they finally read the novel.
OK, my wrist is getting sore (thumb surgery impacts a much larger area than just the thumb), so I’m gonna call it quits for today. But stay tuned for more exciting news as the Blood & Ancient Scrolls series finally starts rolling again, now that the retitling project is finally complete! 🏆
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To everyone who made it this far, you’re fucking amazing! Until next time, be good or be good at it! 😘
💭 I’d love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: drop me a note 📨
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