'The Winter Garden and Other Stories' and My Attempt at Allegory

This actually focuses on one specific story in the anthology: "Clouds' Illusions". It was by and large inspired by a short story that I fell in love with because it starts with one thing -- a pretty straightforward account -- and then shifts focus so subtly as you continue to read that the end completely throws you, and you're forced to either go back and reread or sit back and rethink what you've just read. And it's because the entire thing is actually an allegory of a person's life and how quickly time flies.

The story I refer to is Naguib Mahfouz's "Half a Day", which you can read in its entirety here. 

Now my take on an allegory is "Clouds' Illusions", whose title was also inspired by "Both Sides Now" (Joni Mitchell), which is all about innocence, perception, and harsh reality through time. For "Clouds' Illusions" (part of the song lyrics), the allegory takes place in a circus, where a child enters, experiences a lot of things (excitement, joy, loss, discovery, and maturity), and leaves as an adult. The rain is part of the allegory as well, and as tempting as it is to explain how, I'd rather have readers figure it all out.

Of course, growing up, the version I listened to the most was that by Judy Collins.

Here's a funny background bit about that specific story.

I originally submitted it to a gay fiction anthology years ago that was being put together by a small press. The editor in charge of the book accepted the story, and when the publisher reviewed the selections, he (the publisher) emailed me and asked what the story was all about because it didn't make sense. So I had to explain what it all meant to him, and he ended up rejecting the story. 

So I decided to add it to my own growing collection of gay-themed fairy tales that my then-publisher (another small press) first published individually before compiling the stories into one book. After I got my rights back, I republished the anthology as you now see it. 

The Winter Garden and Other Stories is currently on sale for $1.59 through the end of January.

Almost Had a Third Go at It (Also: 'Flow'!)

Firstly, I nearly trunked Compline and started over with a third attempt, but I managed to carry on with what I have and make it work. By and large. There's a problematic chapter I think I'll have to overhaul completely for the plot to work, and so far, it's making sense only by the skin of its teeth. 

That said, I'm now over 30% done, and it's turning into a much bigger challenge to write this book than first expected. Re-imagining a fairy tale is much more difficult than people might think. I'm taking what's essentially a short and simple story that's only a few paragraphs long, breaking it apart and reducing it to its most basic and essential elements (the piper, the rats, the children, and the adults), and weaving my own take on the story and its themes. 

It was less problematic re-imagining "Bluebeard", let me tell you, and I might complain and snarl and conk my head on the keyboard, but I don't like giving up on it. And I'm glad I didn't give in to the temptation to start over. 

Incidentally, the original plot I had for this book involved a gothic boarding school, and now I'm taking that idea and tweaking it to see if I can still use it for a future book. I'm not holding my breath, but it's good to keep it in the back of my mind just in case. 

And speaking of story ideas for future books, I just had a bonkers possibility for another dive back into the Nightshade universe, but it'll still need a lot of mental work before I can consider it a possibility. It's an idea that'll be great as another dark comedy, though, which I'm always game for.

Secondly, I finally watched Flow, which I love to pieces. I didn't expect to cry not once, but twice, at a couple of scenes that were just devastating yet beautifully rendered. The animation, period, is stunning and the story even more so in its simplicity. It's visual poetry that's deceptively straightforward in some ways, particularly in that scene with the secretary bird and the cat on the top of the rock formation. That was the first scene that got me bawling because I interpreted it a certain way, and it made so much sense though I wasn't ready for it. Not going to spoil things for everyone who hasn't seen it yet. 

And I'm glad to see a small, modest film -- the quintessential scrappy underdog -- face down titans like Disney and Pixar and Dreamworks and come out of it with an award. I love seeing art that's so different from what's been put out by Hollywood get recognized and rewarded. There are so many unacknowledged films and books and songs that are superior in quality to many of the more popular fare but suffer from the absence of a marketing budget or the help of word-of-mouth advertising. It's such a welcome change when something like Flow rises on its own merits and reminds people like me that, yeah, good art is still being made. It's just up to us to make sure it never stops.

'Wollstone' and Fantasy Boarding School Romances

Wollstone was my attempt at writing a boarding school romance, which was also greatly inspired by classic Boys' Love manga I read eons ago. I also read a few gay literary fiction from the early half of the 20th century (Christ, I sound like I'm talking about ancient history), and those were more reality-based stories. In all of those litfic novels, the gay characters died (or almost all of them, anyway), which was par for the course then as the tragedy of a queer person's existence was the focal point of the story. For the manga, character death was more about doomed love stories and not queerness.

Fast-forward to the late 1990s and early 2000s when I reacquainted myself with anime and came across this amazing series:

Now granted I've only seen the first arc of Revolutionary Girl Utena's three-arc series, but that was enough to get me thoroughly hooked on fantasy-based boarding school stories or boarding school stories with heavy fantasy elements. I felt then (and still do) that boarding school romances work well with folklore influences, hence my decision to lean heavily on folklore when I came up with Wollstone.

It's supposed to read like a fairy tale -- a gothic fairy tale set in boarding school that straddles reality and the otherworldly. And me being me, I wanted to work a lot of gothic elements into the story as well. Having grown up in a conservative Catholic environment, my books tend to be heavily influenced by Catholicism, too, even though I'm an atheist (agnostic at most), so there's also lots of that in this book but presented along more fantastical lines.

I'd love to go back and write another gothic boarding school romance, and I was originally planning on doing that with Compline, but that WiP got the better of me, and it's now something else entirely. 

As part of my 2025 Backlist Bonanza, Wollstone is currently 50% off at different online vendors throughout January.

Happy New Year! Also... Yay, Backlist Bonanza!

But first:

image by pngtree

As promised, I'm now doing a year-long backlist sale of my books from three collections: Curiosities, Arcana Europa, and Miscellaneous Books. Two e-books each month will be on sale for 50% off, and that's on all sales channels. If you buy from Kobo, Smashwords, B&N, Amazon, etc., it doesn't matter. The books will be on sale for the entire month.

And we're starting off with two books from my backlist of republished gay YA and New Adult stuff:

Wollstone 

The moment Emil Gogean sets foot inside Wollstone Academy's fairy tale-like campus, he realizes his freshman year in high school is bound to be a very strange one. The school itself, a uniquely romanticized boarding school for boys, boasts remarkable elements that appear to be deliberate -- as though a hidden power has chosen woodland details, a chapel ruin, and school masters who seem to hearken back to a long-gone age, with a clear purpose in mind.

When strange things begin to happen to Emil, an unnerving warning from his late grandmother returns to haunt him. A warning about Emil attracting the attention of the king of the dead.

Strange faces in wood patterns and mullioned windows. The apparition of a boy among the trees. The unfathomable feeling of sadness permeating the idyllic environment. Emil gradually learns that Wollstone is more than just a school, that the answers to a three-hundred-year-old mystery surrounding a tragic romance lie in the ruined stones of a small chapel and in Nature itself. And that Emil, whose appearance in school has set certain wheels in motion, will have to place himself at the mercy of three mysterious students if he wishes to learn the truth about Wollstone, the boy lost in the woods, and himself.

and The Winter Garden and Other Stories

Strange music from a legendary haunted glade can only be heard by a special boy. A grieving young man turns to the dark arts to bring his deceased lover back. A soiled and tired knight protects the innocent from the threat of a dragon. Young love blooms in a desolate garden.

Familiar and original fairy tales, myths, and legends explore the complexities in a gay teen's coming-of-age through allegory and metaphor. Rain-drenched circuses, old wives' tales involving candles in windows, water-irises deep in a wood, lonely fairy kings, and magical Christmas parties. These stories not only present valuable lessons, but also provide an escape into worlds in which a gay teen can see himself as the center of adventure, romance, horror, tragedy, and triumph.

Contains the following stories: "Clouds' Illusions", "Erl-King", "Out of the Depths", "The Bridge", "The Dollhouse", "The Haunted Glade", "The Knight", "The Water-Irises", and "The Winter Garden".

Both books are regularly priced at $2.99, but all this month they're at $1.49. Just click the links to go to their respective book pages, and from there you can find out where you can get a copy. And as I've mentioned before, I'll be taking advantage of these sales to post about the books throughout the month (but not every day, mind you -- it's more like an occasional posting).  

So yeah! If you're curious about the books, now's a good time to get a copy. And if you do, thanks so much for your support!

Season's Greetings!

However (or whether) you celebrate the day or the season, may it be a good, safe one for you and yours. 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the French sure came up with the prettiest carols.