'Guardian Angel' and Coming Home

Guardian Angel was my first ever effort at self-publishing a complete novel (and then some) following a few years spent working with small queer presses since 2008. It's also my longest novel to date as my omnibuses don't count since they were originally released in portions as multi-part books. Above all, this book was my first taste of freedom in the sense that I no longer had to consider requirements and limitations (all set by these small presses for good reason, of course), and I allowed myself to just damn the world and go nuts.

Clearly the length of the book at 150K words says as much. Crazy I'm now going the complete opposite with my current publishing efforts and am now limiting myself to long novellas. I've already discussed the reasons why I opted to take this format on for the rest of my writing and publishing life, so I'm not going to bore you guys with another post about them. I love the new length and am now super comfortable tackling it.

"The Governess" by A.M. Sartor

Anyway, my main love in literature is gothic horror, specifically ghost fiction. The more traditional haunted house fiction, the better, though not necessarily in setting. I'll take ghost stories in modern day houses or even public spaces as long as they're effectively chilling and atmospheric. For my first effort at a full-on self-published novel, I dove right into a traditional Victorian ghost story but with my own twist: an AU 19th century Europe where some magic is part of daily life, and same-sex relationships are commonplace and accepted. 

All that means writing Guardian Angel felt like coming home. 

Guardian Angel takes place in England, and I mined my library for inspiration in terms of getting me in the right head space for this story. So I read (and reread) my copies of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw, Susan Hill's The Woman in Black, and M.R. James's ghost stories. The only copy I had of the third book mentioned here wasn't a complete collection of James's work, by the way. It was just an anthology of select works, which ultimately got me hungry for his entire backlist. I was able to buy volumes one and two from a used book dealer online for the Penguin edition of his complete ghost stories. 

'The Woman in Black' by Susan Hill

In addition, I went back and lost myself (not that I'm complaining) again in my favorite haunted house movies, which I've also lauded time and again here: The Changeling, The Others, and El Orfanato. 

When I planned out Guardian Angel, I also tossed myself into the rabbit hole of taboo subjects or themes that were par for the course in classic gothic fiction from previous centuries. Rape, murder, and in future books like The House of Ash, incest -- though incest isn't in this one. Suffice it to say, jumping right into self-publishing freed me enough to want to try my hand at exploring subjects I otherwise would've avoided per my publisher's requirements.

Guardian Angel is one of my Backlist Bonanza books for February, and it's 50% off at $2.49. You can get a copy from one of the online stores on the book page.