Chapter One of Theo – a transmasc reimagining of Little Women – is up on Patre♡n! Wherein our heroes clash.
~
“And now if you please, Mr. Tilton—”
“Mr. Tilton is my grandfather,” the fellow said with a lackadaisical smile. “My friends call me Leslie.”
“You’ve decided we’re friends, then,” Theo replied far more coolly than he felt. Even in his schoolhouse days no one had befriended him. Too queer by half for the girls and too trussed-up-as-a-girl for the boys. He tempered his flying hopes with the reminder that there was really only one reason a young man would wish a friendship with his feminine neighbors. If he didn’t want Theo himself, then he had designs on Annabelle. Or perhaps, despite his recent return to town, he’d already heard tell of the eldest Wolcott’s beauty, and hoped a friendship with Theo and Annabelle would lead to an introduction to the fabled Myrtle.
“In that case,” Annabelle chimed in, “since our eldest sister is already Miss Wolcott, you may call me Annabelle, and—” she added, thrusting her mittened hand toward Theo, “you may call her Theodora!”
Theo could’ve strangled her.
~
Joining me on Patre♡n will give you access to “drawer fic” – aka the 500k+ words worth of manuscripts that have been shelved until I figure out how to fix or finish them. You’ll also be invited to join an exclusive Discord server just for patrons!
A new chapter will go up every week. Missing (unwritten) scenes will be indicated by brackets describing what would probably happen if the scene were written. Example: [in this scene Aubrey and Lindsey ride a carousel]
Currently posting… ♡ Theo. (transmasc historical mm romance)
Completed works… ♡ the Aubrey & Lindsey solar fantasy project (mm) ♡ A Willing Canvas – John Halloway x Lord Cyril Graves (mm) ♡ The Train Job – Rowena Althorp x Rebekah (ff) ♡ Hold Fast 2 – Hold Faster (mm) ♡ Vampires Vampires Vampires (mmm) ♡ The Sebastian Nothwell Contemporary Expanded Universe (mmm+)
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.
A transmasc reimagining of Little Women begins on Patre♡n! Wherein we explore the queer themes in the character of Jo March and the biography of Louisa May “Lu” Alcott.
Joining me on Patre♡n will give you access to “drawer fic” – aka the 500k+ words worth of manuscripts that have been shelved until I figure out how to fix or finish them. You’ll also be invited to join an exclusive Discord server just for patrons!
A new chapter will go up every week. Missing (unwritten) scenes will be indicated by brackets describing what would probably happen if the scene were written. Example: [in this scene Aubrey and Lindsey ride a carousel]
Currently posting… ♡ Theo. (transmasc historical mm romance)
Completed works… ♡ the Aubrey & Lindsey solar fantasy project (mm) ♡ A Willing Canvas – John Halloway x Lord Cyril Graves (mm) ♡ The Train Job – Rowena Althorp x Rebekah (ff) ♡ Hold Fast 2 – Hold Faster (mm) ♡ Vampires Vampires Vampires (mmm) ♡ The Sebastian Nothwell Contemporary Expanded Universe (mmm+)
There’s a new episode of Right Here Write Queer waiting for you in your favorite podcast app!
Tess Carletta (she/her) interviews Sebastian Nothwell (he/him) about his gay romance novel Mr Warren’s Profession, including historical research, Victorian engineering, and the strange and stubborn road to indie publishing.
Tess Carletta (she/her) is the author of Kit & Basie, a queer cozy magical-realism romance. You can connect with her at her website: tesscarletta.com
Sebastian Nothwell (he/him) is the author of Mr Warren’s Profession, a queer historical romance currently crowdfunding its audiobook. You can check out the campaign on Kickstarter.
A thought experiment that frankly got out of hand is up on Patre♡n! Daring to answer the question no one asked – what would the casts of Mr Warren’s Profession, Hold Fast, and Fiorenzo get up to in a modern setting?
Joining me on Patre♡n will give you access to “drawer fic” – aka the 500k+ words worth of manuscripts that have been shelved until I figure out how to fix or finish them. You’ll also be invited to join an exclusive Discord server just for patrons!
A new chapter will go up every week. Missing (unwritten) scenes will be indicated by brackets describing what would probably happen if the scene were written. Example: [in this scene Aubrey and Lindsey ride a carousel]
Currently posting… ♡ The Sebastian Nothwell Contemporary Expanded Universe
Completed works… ♡ the Aubrey & Lindsey solar fantasy project (mm) ♡ A Willing Canvas – John Halloway x Lord Cyril Graves (mm) ♡ The Train Job – Rowena Althorp x Rebekah (ff) ♡ Hold Fast 2 – Hold Faster (mm) ♡ Vampires Vampires Vampires (mmm)
Now that funding, production, and distribution for Oak King Holly King is all wrapped up…
It’s time for another audiobook.
Mr Warren’s Profession is a queer historical cross-class romance featuring hurt/comfort and a happily-ever-after. I’m so excited to be teaming up with Gary Furlong once again to bring it to life.
The Mr Warren’s Profession audiobook Kickstarter will kick off on September 1st. If you want to be notified when it does, you can check out the pre-launch page here!
A new episode of Right Here, Write Queer just dropped! Catch it in your favorite podcast app.
“Big guys that stab things also deserve to be soft and squishy.” Noah Hawthorne (he/they) interviews Sebastian Nothwell (he/him) about his queer romantasy Oak King Holly King, including historical research, fae folklore new and old, and the surprising discoveries that occur when creating an audiobook.
Noah Hawthorne (he/they), also writing as Aelina Isaacs, is the author of the Adventures in Levena series (beginning with Phantom and Rook) and the stand alone novel The Rebel Foxes. You can connect with him at their website: neshamapublishing.com
Sebastian Nothwell (he/him) is the author of Oak King Holly King, now available in audiobook format narrated by Gary Furlong.
Chapter Seventeen of Vampires Vampires Vampires, a M/M/M Victorian vampire romance, is up on Patre♡n – the thrilling conclusion!
Joining me on Patre♡n will give you access to “drawer fic” – aka the 500k+ words worth of manuscripts that have been shelved until I figure out how to fix or finish them. You’ll also be invited to join an exclusive Discord server just for patrons!
A new chaper will go up every week. Missing (unwritten) scenes will be indicated by brackets describing what would probably happen if the scene were written. Example: [in this scene Aubrey and Lindsey ride a carousel]
Currently posting… ♡ Vampires Vampires Vampires (mmm)
Completed works… ♡ the Aubrey & Lindsey solar fantasy project (mm) ♡ A Willing Canvas – John Halloway x Lord Cyril Graves (mm) ♡ The Train Job – Rowena Althorp x Rebekah (ff) ♡ Hold Fast 2 – Hold Faster (mm)
A new episode of Right Here, Write Queer just dropped! Catch it in your favorite podcast app.
Sebastian Nothwell interviews E. H. Lupton about under-explored eras of historical fiction through a queer lens and the community of indie publishing.
E. H. Lupton (she/they) is the author of the 1960s-set queer fantasy romance trilogy Dionysus in Wisconsin, Old Time Religion, and Troth. You can connect with them at their website: ehlupton.com
Chapter Fourteen of Vampires Vampires Vampires, a M/M/M Victorian vampire romance, is up on Patre♡n! Wherein the baronet, the bo’sun, and the vampire meet in the monastery ruin.
~
Malory glanced between them, looking as though he’d forgotten how to breathe and didn’t particularly mind it.
Octavio slipped a hand behind the nape of his neck and kissed the breath back into him.
~
Joining me on Patre♡n will give you access to “drawer fic” – aka the 500k+ words worth of manuscripts that have been shelved until I figure out how to fix or finish them. You’ll also be invited to join an exclusive Discord server just for patrons!
A new chaper will go up every week. Missing (unwritten) scenes will be indicated by brackets describing what would probably happen if the scene were written. Example: [in this scene Aubrey and Lindsey ride a carousel]
Currently posting… ♡ Vampires Vampires Vampires (mmm)
Completed works… ♡ the Aubrey & Lindsey solar fantasy project (mm) ♡ A Willing Canvas – John Halloway x Lord Cyril Graves (mm) ♡ The Train Job – Rowena Althorp x Rebekah (ff) ♡ Hold Fast 2 – Hold Faster (mm)
Sebastian Nothwell 