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!
Carolina Cruz (they/them) interviews Sebastian Nothwell (he/him) about his gothic sapphic romance The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall, including lesbian flirtation through sapphic literature, drawing inspiration from Carmilla and The Goblin Market, the perils of writing about writers, 19th century spirit photography, and a surprise guest appearance by Man Door Hand Hook Car Door.
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!
Noah Hawthorne interviews A.K. Mulford and K. Elle Morrison about cowriting, grief, inspiring representation, small town autumn, and their new cozy paranormal sapphic romance Pumpkin Spice & Poltergeist.
A.K. Mulford (they/she) is the author of the Five Crowns of Okrith novels and the Golden Court series, amongst others. You can connect with them at akmulford.com
K. Elle Morrison (she/her) is the author of the Princes of Sin: The Seven Deadly Sins series, the Black Banners books, and others. You can connect with her at kellemorrison.com
Noah Hawthorne (he/they), also writing as Aelina Isaacs, is the author of queer fantasy such as Phantom and Rook. You can connect with him at neshamapublishing.com
Five years ago I hit publish on my gothic lesbian Victorian romance, The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall.
Perfect for readers who enjoy…
sapphic yearning
mutual pining
hurt/comfort
goth x sunshine pairings
practical approaches to supernatural problems
angst angst angst and then happily-ever-after because i’m not a monster
Victorian ghost photography
Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market
New England history and folklore such as the New Bedford whaling industry, the Mercy Brown vampire panic, the Lizzie Borden murder trial, and the Newport Mansions.
You can find The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall wherever fine books are found – but if you get it thru Smashwords it’s 50% off (along with all my other books)!
Happy Lesbian Visibility Week! Please enjoy The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall, pictured here with the books that helped me write it.
The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall is a sapphic love letter to the Gothic romance tradition. It was challenging but also a lot of fun to write, and a wonderful opportunity to indulge my love of spooky horror.
Most of the research was similar to what I’d read for my other Victorian romances. However, my Gothic lesbian romance involved a lot more corsets and chatelaines!
Books shown here include…
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier – The 1940 film is my mother’s favorite movie, so having seen it more than a dozen times in my life, picking up the novel felt only natural to me. The book is darker and more obscure, with the brooding husband’s motivations more uncertain to the narrator, and the deceased Rebecca herself more wicked, at least by his account. The sapphic undertones of the film become even more overt in the book; to say nothing of the sapphic experiences of the author’s own life.
• Crimson Peak: The Art of Darkness – This artbook of the film is not just a visual feast but also a fascinating peek into the behind-the-scenes of a cinematic masterpiece, filled to the brim with beautiful antiques and brilliant historical touches.
• To Marry an English Lord by Gail MacColl and Carol Wallace – I don’t actually recommend this one. While it gives a good overview of late 19th century American heiresses marrying bankrupt English nobility, it takes a disturbingly frivolous tone when discussing spousal abuse.
• How to be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman
• Food and Cooking in Victorian England by Andrea Broomfield
• Daily Life in Victorian England by Sally Mitchell
• Inside the Victorian Home by Judith Flanders
• The Victorian City by Judith Flanders
• Consuming Passions by Judith Flanders
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The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall is a Gothic romance rife with horror and heartache, wherein an American heiress makes an ill-advised marriage to bring herself closer the woman who’s stolen her heart.
A new short story is up on Patre♡n! Wherein we glimpse the romantic adventures of Miss Rowena Althorp.
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Before Rebekah could ask her name, or kiss her again—both impulses nearly overpowering her better sense—the lady stood, smoothed her skirts over the ruin of her pocket, and departed the train car as silent and sedate as a nun strolling the halls of her abbey.
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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 scene 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 Train Job – Rowena Althorp x Rebekah (ff)
Completed works… ♡ the Aubrey & Lindsey solar fantasy project (mm) ♡ A Willing Canvas – John Halloway x Lord Cyril Graves (mm)
In the spirit of spooky season, please enjoy this Sunday Snippet from my sapphic Gothic romance, The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall!
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Trouble was, Kit mused as she wandered the winding corridors of Heatherhurst Hall, the circumstances most conducive to ghosts were least conducive to photography. Ghosts required midnight storms with howling winds and guttering candles. Photographs required brightest daylight, or, lacking cooperation from the weather, ignited magnesium. But even with chemical assistance, unless she had enough luck to time the snap of the shutter precisely with the flash of the lightning, any photograph she attempted to take in a storm would turn out as black as thunderclouds.
Still, perhaps a ghost or two might be brave enough to come out into the sunshine.
~
The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall is a Gothic romance rife with horror and heartache, wherein an American heiress makes an ill-advised marriage to bring herself closer the woman who’s stolen her heart.
In the spirit of spooky season, please enjoy this Sunday Snippet from my sapphic Gothic romance, The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall!
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Love had made Alexandra stupid. Love had frayed her steely nerves to the point of snapping, had forced her to question her own behavior, had made her look within herself and realize she had grown as much a monster as any malevolent spirit lurking within the crumbling edifice of Heatherhurst Hall. Her own selfishness had made her unworthy of Kit.
And it only made her love Kit all the more.
~
The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall is a Gothic romance rife with horror and heartache, wherein an American heiress makes an ill-advised marriage to bring herself closer the woman who’s stolen her heart.
In the spirit of spooky season, please enjoy this Sunday Snippet from my sapphic Gothic romance, The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall!
~
Kit ran her fingers over her keys again as a physical reminder of her defense against the metaphysical. She might not have a key to the attic, but she at least had a key to her own bedroom.
Then she remembered Alexandra had the very same ring of keys.
Her breath caught in her throat as a vision flashed before her mind—a vision of herself, asleep, alone in her marriage bed, a full moon hanging in the sky outside the high-arched window, throwing off just enough illumination to reveal the turning of the doorknob, the slow inward creak of the door, and a shadow sliding across the floor with supernatural ease, rising up beside the bed in the form of the raven-haired Alexandra, looming over Kit, helpless and utterly ignorant of the danger—until Alexandra swooped down upon her, and—
Kit snapped out of the waking nightmare, her heart pounding with new fear—or perhaps some other, more unspeakable emotion.
~
The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall is a Gothic romance rife with horror and heartache, wherein an American heiress makes an ill-advised marriage to bring herself closer the woman who’s stolen her heart.
Sebastian Nothwell 