There’s a new episode of Right Here Write Queer waiting for you in your favorite podcast app!
Sarah Zane (she/her) chats with me about writing sapphic for love and spite alike, her queer take on The Great Gatsby, and the joys of (fictional) revenge.
Sarah Zane is an author of happy endings for traumatized queers. As a bisexual, it should be shocking to no one that she has more than one genre she loves and writes. She writes across genres but guarantees that a Sarah Zane book will always be queer and always have a happy ending eventually. She has a particular fondness for writing sapphic pairings since they tend to be underrepresented in books. Learn more at her website: thelibraryofsarahzane.com
Jess Galaxie (they/them) chats with me about fantastical inspiration and the joy of collaborating with human artists.
Jess is the author of the cozy fantasy duology The Graveyard Trees (beginning with Feathers of Dawn) and the forthcoming sapphic ren faire romance How to Juggle Ballads and Blades. You can connect with them on instagram @galaxiebot
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
My books are 75% off today through March 8th, including…
• Fiorenzo, cross-class romantasy featuring swordplay and hurt/comfort. • Oak King Holly King, historical romantasy with a fae/mortal pairing. • Mr Warren’s Profession, cross-class historical romance featuring neurodivergent heroes and hurt/comfort. • The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall, gothic historical romance. • Hold Fast, historical romance featuring whaling and hurt/comfort.
Now is your best chance to find my entire ebook collection for a steal at Smashwords as part of their End of Year Sale through the end of 2024!
Including… ♡ Oak King Holly King, a Victorian fae romantasy between a fae warrior and a mortal clerk. ♡ Fiorenzo, a fantasy-of-manners romance featuring swordplay, hurt/comfort, and a happily-ever-after. ♡ Mr Warren’s Profession, a Victorian cross-class romance featuring hurt/comfort and a happily-ever-after. ♡ Hold Fast, a Victorian romance between a whaling harpooner who inherits a baronetcy and the estate agent tasked with turning him from sailor to gentleman. ♡ The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall, a Victorian 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.
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
~
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 