I’m so excited to finally share with you just how Gary Furlong has brought our Victorian lads to life.
Kickstarter backers have already received their download links. It will take a while for the audiobook to upload to all the major retailers (Audible, libro.fm, Chirp, etc.) as well as library apps like Libby and Hoopla.
To celebrate this new audiobook release, use the coupon code “Nothwell” at check-out for 20% off your entire purchase. (A wonderful opportunity if you wanted to grab the Oak King Holly King audiobook or any of my ebooks while you’re over there.)
However or wherever you acquire your audiobooks, thank you for listening.
This week’s episode of Right Here Write Queer is a preview of the Oak King Holly King audiobook, narrated by Gary Furlong.
Since we’re four chapters deep into the podcast version, I made a playlist of them on YouTube so you can listen in order easily.
Oak King Holly King is a gay romantasy wherein a fearsome fae warrior destined for ritual sacrifice seeks a Victorian clerk fated to save him – available now wherever fine books are found, possibly including your local library!
Audiobook narrator turned author Natalie Naudus (she/her) joins Carolina Cruz (they/them) and Sebastian Nothwell (he/him) to discuss her debut novel Gay the Pray Away, a young adult tale of escaping the confines of a cult to find a sapphic happily-ever-after that deftly weaves raised stakes with even higher hopes.
Natalie Naudus (she/her) is an Audie and Earphones award-winning audiobook narrator of over 500 titles, as well as the author (and narrator!) of the young adult novel Gay the Pray Away and the co-creator of spicy sapphic short stories on her Patreon. You can connect with her at her website: natalienaudus.com
Carolina Cruz (they/them) is the author of the vampire horror romance Blood in the Water and the queer fantasy series The Creed of Gethin (beginning with The Unwanted Prophet). You can connect with them on instagram @ninawolverina
There’s a new episode of Right Here Write Queer waiting for you in your favorite podcast app!
Please enjoy this special sneak peek into the audiobook of Oak King Holly King – a gay Victorian fae romance by Sebastian Nothwell, read by Gary Furlong.
Shrike, the Butcher of Blackthorn, is a legendary warrior of the fae realms. When he wins a tournament in the Court of the Silver Wheel, its queen names him her Oak King – a figurehead destined to die in a ritual duel to invoke the change of seasons. Shrike is determined to survive. Even if it means he must put his heart as well as his life into a mere mortal’s hands.
Wren Lofthouse, a London clerk, has long ago resigned himself to a life of tedium and given up his fanciful dreams. When a medieval-looking brute arrives at his office to murmur of destiny, he’s inclined to think his old enemies are playing an elaborate prank. Still, he can’t help feeling intrigued by the bizarre-yet-handsome stranger and his fantastical ramblings, whose presence stirs up emotions Wren has tried to lock away in the withered husk of his heart.
As Shrike whisks Wren away to a world of Wild Hunts and arcane rites, Wren is freed from the repression of Victorian society. But both the fae and mortal realms prove treacherous to their growing bond. Wren and Shrike must fight side-by-side to see who will claim victory – Oak King or Holly King.
Oak King Holly King is a romantasy wherein a fearsome fae warrior destined for ritual sacrifice seeks a Victorian clerk fated to save him.
The Oak King Holly King audiobook is on wicked sale, thanks to Chirp!
The sale runs from November 28th (today!) to December 26th (aka Boxing Day – a date of some significance to Mr. Grigsby, as readers of Tales from Blackthorn Briar know well).
If you or a friend have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to snag the Oak King Holly King audiobook, this is your chance – grab it today!
We’ve already crushed our first stretch goal. Can we meet our second and fund the sequel audiobook Throw His Heart Over?
Your support – either by backing the campaign directly or by sharing it with friends or through social media – could be the final push we need to make it happen.
Rewards include… • ebook deals – grab the complete Sebastian Nothwell back catalogue for just $10! • signed and annotated paperbacks of Mr Warren’s Profession, Throw His Heart Over, and Oak King Holly King – more details on annotated books here! • the Oak King Holly King audiobook at a steal – narrated by the one and only Gary Furlong! • and, of course, the Mr Warren’s Profession audiobook itself!
Mr Warren’s Profession is a gay Victorian cross-class romance featuring hurt/comfort and a happily-ever-after – and the audiobook could be yours if you check out the Kickstarter today!
The campaign ends September 30th. As of this writing we’re already 70% to our goal. Your support – either by backing the campaign directly or by sharing it with friends or through social media – could be the final push we need to make it happen.
Rewards include… • ebook deals – grab the complete Sebastian Nothwell back catalogue for just $10! • signed and annotated paperbacks of Mr Warren’s Profession AND Oak King Holly King– more details on annotated books here! • the Oak King Holly King audiobook at a steal – narrated by the one and only Gary Furlong! • and, of course, the Mr Warren’s Profession audiobook itself – which won’t exist without this Kickstarter!
Mr Warren’s Profession is a gay Victorian cross-class romance featuring hurt/comfort and a happily-ever-after – and the audiobook could be yours if you check out the Kickstarter today!
We’re already over halfway to our goal. Your support – either by backing the campaign directly or by sharing it with friends or through social media – could be the final push we need to make it happen.
Rewards include… • ebook deals – grab the complete Sebastian Nothwell back catalogue for just $10! • signed and annotated paperbacks – more details on annotated books here! • the Oak King Holly King audiobook at a steal – narrated by the one and only Gary Furlong! • and, of course, the Mr Warren’s Profession audiobook itself – which won’t exist without this Kickstarter!
Mr Warren’s Profession is a gay Victorian cross-class romance featuring hurt/comfort and a happily-ever-after – and the audiobook could be yours if you check out the Kickstarter today!
Every Kickstarter has a goal. An amount of funding is achieved, and the project is created. Simple, elegant, beautiful. It worked for the Oak King Holly King audiobook, and I’m very hopeful it will do the same for Mr Warren’s Profession.
A stretch goal is an extra bonus goal that kicks in after the original funding goal is reached. When a stretch goal is reached, it allows us to create even more things than the original Kickstarter!
For the Mr Warren’s Profession audiobook Kickstarter, we have two stretch goals. Both are centered around the sequel novella Throw His Heart Over, an equestrian continuation of Aubrey and Lindsey’s romance.
If the campaign reaches $6k, we’ll have the funds to reformat Throw His Heart over (complete with cover redesign) to print through IngramSpark, which will unlock signed and annotated copies as backer rewards.
If the campaign reaches $7.5k, we’ll have enough to record the Throw His Heart Over audiobook in tandem with the Mr Warren’s Profession audiobook, and unlock the sequel audiobook as a backer reward.
But why?
Throw His Heart Over – redesign
At present, Throw His Heart Over is printed through Amazon with a cover designed by yours truly.
This means it is not available to libraries or brick-and-mortar bookshops. They stock from a different printer, IngramSpark. This is the printer I use for almost all my other books to maximize accessibility and quality.
Amazon creates paperbacks by crunching the ebook into print format, with mixed results. IngramSpark, on the other hand, not only offers wider availability of the resulting book but also requires a file especially formatted for print. This results in a more thoughtfully-presented and more consistently high-quality paperback. Honestly it will be a relief to know that Throw His Heart Over will now match Mr Warren’s Profession inside and out.
In short, reformatting will result in library availability, indie bookshop availability, and an increased print quality.
The cover painting for Throw His Heart Over will remain the same. What will change is the style of the title and other text on the outside of the book.
This may not sound like a very big change. However, please consider the following examples.
Left: The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall, cover typography by me. Right: The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall, cover typography by an actual graphic designer.Left: Hold Fast, cover typography by me. Right: Hold Fast, cover typography by an actual graphic designer.
Left: Throw His Heart Over, cover typography by me. Right: Throw His Heart Over, cover typography by an actual graphic designer???
Kelley York of Sleepy Fox Studio is the graphic designer behind all my other book covers. Her skills allow the cover artist’s paintings to shine to full effect—including the wonderful work Jan Falk of Thistlearts Studio did for the Mr Warren’s Profession cover painting.
With the redesign, Throw His Heart Over will look just as gorgeous as all other books, including Mr Warren’s Profession. Plus with the redesign Books one and two of Aubrey & Lindsey will (finally!) match each other and look nice on a shelf side-by-side. All the more important when ensuring that the signed and annotated editions are looking their best, suitable for collectors and pride-of-place in personal libraries.
So there’s our first stretch goal—the Throw His Heart Over paperback redesign, which will unlock signed and annotated paperbacks as additional backer rewards.
Our second stretch goal is…
Throw His Heart Over – audiobook
Simply put, this will allow Gary to record Mr Warren’s Profession and its sequel Throw His Heart Over back-to-back in one fell swoop. Very convenient for him, and very fortunate for us, because it gives us two audiobooks for one Kickstarter.
None of this will be possible without the power of stretch goals.
Sebastian Nothwell 