Adult dark fantasy writer. !!!!!. Hype. Kitschy grunge. They/them. Cetacean needed. Reads more books than you (probably) || ICE UPON A PIER out now || THE FEALTY OF MONSTERS (March 2024)
My name is Jo, publishing as Ladz, and my pronouns are they/them. I write genre fiction, whether it's dark fantasy, horror, fantasy, or some mélange of all three. They're all intended for adult audiences, and I recommend checking out the content warnings for each before diving in.
While I do try to share updates on my writing, this tumblr is mostly a space for me to find inspiration and quotes I relate to, get excited about the media I love, and boost work from my friends.
Ice Upon a Pier (April 11, 2023)
A novella that's a retelling of the life and crimes of Richard Kuklinski. A lesbian contract killer indulges in an interview about the ways she's used ice magic to freeze time and get away with literal murder.
The Fealty of Monsters Volume 1 (March 12, 2024)
Art by @t-hornapple. A gothic horror political fantasy retelling of the Russian Revolution with queers and vampires. Sasza Czarnolaski serves a human court, but no one knows he's a vampire. Sasza quickly learns that he will do anything to preserve peace in the Empire–including giving in to the monstrosity he spent so many years concealing from even himself.
The Cradle of Eternal Night (October 22, 2024)
Art by @pompoison. A standalone sapphic horror romantasy in which a bard and a witch fall in love on a quest to bring the light back to their dark world. Sapphic, magical, and tense, perfect for fans of Dark Souls and grumpy x sunshine romance.
Upcoming
Our Crimson Cage (August 11, 2026)
My F/F/F retelling of Carmilla. In 19th Century Poland, a woman is set to watch her house on her own, her maid is trying to rob her, and the vampire she thought was an adolescent hallucination is very real and freed from her basement prison.
The Institute of Manners (The Fealty of Monsters Volume 2 (20??)
Art by TBD. The revolution is paused for now as our main cast goes to graduate school. Lessons include avoiding assassination attempts, uncovering the secrets of a despot, and staying on top of the rumors of a horror-worshipping cult and anti-imperial activities alike.
I also have a whole bevy of short stories on my itch account, which is the best place to get my work if you want to leave a tip.
My author newsletter update twice a month - on the 1st and sometime between the 13th and 18th. The first is all updates, the second usually talks about insight from writing, sales, new work, and both include a picture of my cat.
Feel free to ask me anything regarding my books, my short fiction, my self-publishing journey and anything else you'd care to know about!
This will be the cover of my new artbook. The “Midas Touch” is originated from Greek Mythology about the King Midas who can turn everything he touches into gold. In this art piece, I want to mimic the ecstatic feelings we all had when seeing the golden orb in Nightreign 😆
For thousands of years humanity has selectively bred chickens to have larger breasts and to have to lay eggs constantly. We did it to get more meat and per chicken, but from the perspective of the domesticated chickens they’re sorta living in a very specific fetish scenario
you have permission to pick that 2 year old "abandoned" project back up. it's not mad at you for setting it aside. and maybe time and distance have helped ease or erase the things that made you put it down in the first place.
“It’s digestible” is pertinent!! Okay, for those of you who haven’t researched Crisco for writing fic about gay sex in the mid-late 60s:
The first-edition of The Joy of Gay Sex, published in 1977, declared, “Vegetable shortening may be the best lubricant, since it is not only greasy but also digestible”[4] Such a statement perhaps gives new meaning to the companies boastful declarations that “Its digestible” and “Crisco has been making life in the kitchen more delicious for years.” Similarly, in the 1978 sex manual The Advocate Guide to Gay Health, Crisco even earned an entry in the book’s index. Discussions of the shortening’s use as an anal lubricant indicate its popularity, with statements such as: “The lubricant, typically the cultic Crisco, must be copious.”[5] In fact, Crisco was so synonomus with gay sex that discos and bars around the world took on the name, such as Crisco Disco in New York City, which was one of the premiere clubs during the 1970s and early 1980s. Other clubs or bathhouses, such as Club Z in Seattle, even featured murals with Crisco. Thus, Crisco was conversely also one of many things that led to the formation of gay identities during the 20th century.
from this essay: http://www.columbia.edu/~sf2220/TT2007/web-content/Pages/drew2.html
Love this post for so many reasons but most especially because this is from all the way back in 2012 and and yet not a single blog in this thread is deactivated
Love the gay history, but i just wanna correct that the “it’s digestible” in the gay stuff was a reference to crisco’s tagline it had been using since 1911, the actual meaning of its digestible is because it’s main competition came from “enhanced” lards which were rendered pig fat mixed with non food thickeners that literally did not digest and caused people to basically just shit out pig cream, since crisco was veggie based the body digested it along with the food
This post is the opposite of net zero information. Not only did I learn several new facts about gay history but also we rounded our way back to the original question of the tag line and the mini obelisks.
