RAPTORAEM is an ongoing dark fantasy saga set in the Drowned Star — a fractured island-city suspended between revolution and ruin. Once a colonial possession of the radiant empire of Solarium, it now stands independent beneath the rule of Erik Mordiger: the revolutionary who won freedom... only to learn that victory is often more dangerous than defeat.
The city is divided between five rival Straits and a vast subterranean underworld known as the Pit. Smugglers, industrialists, witches, diplomats, gangsters, prophets, and revolutionaries compete to shape its future while old ghosts refuse to stay buried.
Expect:
𓂏 Political intrigue
𓂏 Found-family dynamics
𓂏 Gothic industrial fantasy
𓂏 Revolutionary aftermath
𓂏 Ancient magic and modern ambition
𓂏 Crime syndicates and statecraft
𓂏 Unreliable histories and forbidden archives
𓂏 Monstrous cities and monstrous people
𓂏 A planned nine-book saga
Follow for artwork, lore entries, maps, excerpts, found documents, worldbuilding, music, announcements, and other contraband recovered from the Drowned Star.
Public applications for the Raptoraem ARC team are officially open.
An ARC—or Advance Reader Copy—is a free pre-release edition of a book sent to selected readers before publication. ARC readers get early access to the story, the chance to enter Raptoraem before the wider public, and an opportunity to support its launch through honest reviews, recommendations, and word of mouth.
For an independent author, that early support is invaluable. ARC readers help a new book build visibility, credibility, and momentum before it enters the wild.
For readers, it means becoming part of the book’s earliest circle—and helping the right stories find their audience.Please note that submitting an application does not guarantee acceptance.
Places are limited, and every application will be reviewed before the final ARC team is selected.Members of the Contraband Network receive first priority.
If you would like priority consideration:
1. Join the Contraband Network.
2. Use the same email address when completing your ARC application.
3. In the space provided on the application, leave me a note confirming that you are a Contraband Network member so I can match your submissions.
A works cited list, because nine books need lots of calcium.
It's not required reading. It's just what's in the walls.
On Revolution & Its Aftermath
Arendt, Hannah. On Revolution. Viking Press, 1963.
Brinton, Crane. The Anatomy of Revolution. Rev. ed., Vintage Books, 1965.
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Dix, Robert H. "Why Revolutions Succeed and Fail." Polity, vol. 16, no. 3, 1984, pp. 423–446. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3234558.
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Hopper, Rex D. "The Revolutionary Process: A Frame of Reference for the Study of Revolutionary Movements." Social Forces, vol. 28, no. 3, 1950, pp. 270–279. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2572010.
Kramnick, Isaac. "Reflections on Revolution: Definition and Explanation in Recent Scholarship." History and Theory, vol. 11, no. 1, 1972, pp. 26–63. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2504623.
Skocpol, Theda. States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China. Cambridge UP, 1979.
Stone, Lawrence. "Theories of Revolution." World Politics, vol. 18, no. 2, 1966, pp. 159–176. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2009694.
Yoder, D. "Current Definitions of Revolution." American Journal of Sociology, vol. 32, no. 3, 1926, pp. 433–441. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2765544.
On Colonialism & Its Psychology
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Verso, 1983.
Bentahar, Ziad. "Frantz Fanon: Travelling Psychoanalysis and Colonial Algeria." Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature, vol. 42, no. 3, Sept. 2009, pp. 1–12.
Fanon, Frantz. A Dying Colonialism. Maspero, 1959. Translated by Haakon Chevalier, Grove Press, 1965.
Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Masks. 1952. Translated by Charles L. Markmann, Grove Press, 1967.
Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. Maspero, 1961. Translated by Constance Farrington, Grove Press, 1963.
Fanon, Frantz. Toward the African Revolution: Political Essays. Edited by François Maspero, translated by Haakon Chevalier, Grove Press, 1967.
Fanon-Mendès-France, Mireille, and Donato Fhunsu. "The Contribution of Frantz Fanon to the Process of the Liberation of the People." The Black Scholar, vol. 42, no. 3–4, 2012, pp. 8–12.
Forsythe, Dennis. "Frantz Fanon—The Marx of the Third World." Phylon, vol. 34, no. 2, 1973, pp. 160–170.
Gordimer, Nadine. Burger's Daughter. Jonathan Cape, 1979.
Gramsci, Antonio. Selections from the Prison Notebooks. Edited by Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith, International Publishers, 1971.
Mbembe, Achille. "Necropolitics." Public Culture, vol. 15, no. 1, 2003.
Memmi, Albert. The Colonizer and the Colonized. 1957. Translated by Howard Greenfeld, Beacon Press, 1965.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature. James Currey, 1986.
Rushdie, Salman. Midnight's Children. Jonathan Cape, 1981.
On Class, the Gutter, & the Underworld
Brooks, Clem. "Class Politics and Political Change in the United States." Sociological Forum, vol. 12, no. 1, 1997, pp. 1–35. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2580718.
Clark, Terry Nichols. "The Breakdown of Class Politics." Social Science Quarterly, vol. 84, no. 2, 2003, pp. 299–315. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27700340.
Douglas-Fairhurst, Robert. Becoming Dickens: The Invention of a Novelist. Belknap Press, 2011.
Evans, Geoffrey, and James Tilley. "How Parties Shape Class Politics: Explaining the Decline of the Class Basis of Party Support." British Journal of Political Science, vol. 42, no. 1, 2012, pp. 137–161. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123411000202.
Evans, Geoffrey, and James Tilley. "The Depoliticization of Inequality and Redistribution: Explaining the Decline of Class Voting." The Journal of Politics, vol. 74, no. 4, 2012, pp. 963–976. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022381612000618.
Fitts, Robert K. "The Rhetoric of Reform: The Five Points Missions and the Cult of Domesticity." Historical Archaeology, vol. 35, 2001, pp. 115–132. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03374397.
Jarness, Vegard, Magne Paalgard Flemmen, and Lennart Rosenlund. "From Class Politics to Classed Politics." Sociology, vol. 53, no. 5, 2019, pp. 879–899. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038519838740.
Lichtenstein, Nelson. "Class Politics and the State during World War Two." International Labor and Working-Class History, no. 58, 2000, pp. 261–274. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27672683.
Mayhew, Henry. London Labour and the London Poor. 1851.
Milne, Claudia. "On the Grounds of the Fresh Water Pond: The Free-Black Community at Five Points, 1810–1834." International Journal of Historical Archaeology, vol. 6, no. 1, 2002, pp. 127–142. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016084621564.
Oestreicher, Richard. "How Should Historians Think about 'The Gangs of New York'?" History Workshop Journal, no. 56, 2003, pp. 210–215. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4289867.
Petras, James. "Class Politics, State Power and Legitimacy." Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 24, no. 34, 1989, pp. 1955–1958. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4395265.
Reckner, Paul. "Remembering Gotham: Urban Legends, Public History, and Representations of Poverty, Crime, and Race in New York City." International Journal of Historical Archaeology, vol. 6, no. 2, 2002, pp. 95–112. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016032604726.
Reynolds, George W. M. The Mysteries of London. 1844–1848.
Samuel, Raphael, editor. East End Underworld: Chapters in the Life of Arthur Harding. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981.
Walkowitz, Daniel J. "'The Gangs of New York': The Mean Streets in History." History Workshop Journal, no. 56, 2003, pp. 204–209. https://doi.org/10.1093/hwj/56.1.204.
Wiley, Norbert. "America's Unique Class Politics." American Sociological Review, vol. 32, no. 4, 1967, pp. 529–541. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2091022.
Wilentz, Sean. "On Class and Politics in Jacksonian America." Reviews in American History, vol. 10, no. 4, 1982, pp. 45–63. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2701818.
Yamin, Rebecca. "Lurid Tales and Homely Stories of New York's Notorious Five Points." Historical Archaeology, vol. 32, no. 1, 1998, pp. 74–85. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/25616594.
On the Built Environment & the Vertical City
Girard, Greg, and Ian Lambot. City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City. Watermark, 1993.
Girard, Greg, and Ian Lambot. City of Darkness Revisited. Watermark, 2014.
Harvey, David. Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution. Verso, 2012.
Ho, Suenn. An Architectural Study on the Kowloon Walled City: Preliminary Findings. Columbia University, 1992.
Johnson, Steven Berlin. The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic. Riverhead Books, 2006.
Lefebvre, Henri. The Production of Space. Translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith, Blackwell, 1991.
Scott, James C. Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. Yale UP, 1998.
Soja, Edward W. Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places. Blackwell, 1996.
Soja, Edward W. "The Socio-Spatial Dialectic." Annals of the Association of American Geographers, vol. 70, no. 2, 1980, pp. 207–225. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2562950.
Wong, Kwan-yiu, et al. A Geographic Study of the Kowloon Walled City. Chinese University of Hong Kong, Department of Geography, 1992.
On Extraction, Addiction, & the Drug Economy
Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Translated by Alan Sheridan, Pantheon Books, 1977.
Trocki, Carl A. Opium, Empire and the Global Political Economy: A Study of the Asian Opium Trade, 1750–1950. Routledge, 1999.
On the Sacred, the Chaotic, & the Occult
Carroll, Peter J. Liber Null & Psychonaut: The Practice of Chaos Magic. 1987. Weiser Books, revised and expanded ed., 2022.
Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. Translated by Willard R. Trask, Harcourt, Brace, 1959.
Evans, Dave. The History of British Magic After Crowley: Kenneth Grant, Amado Crowley, Chaos Magic, Satanism, Lovecraft, the Left-Hand Path, Blasphemy and Magical Morality. Hidden Publishing, 2007.
Hine, Phil. Condensed Chaos: An Introduction to Chaos Magic. New Falcon Publications, 1995.
On the Body, Pain, & Violence
hooks, bell. All About Love: New Visions. William Morrow, 2000.
Scarry, Elaine. The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World. Oxford UP, 1985.
On Dystopia, Hope, & Genre Theory
Aurora, S. "From Structure to Machine: Deleuze and Guattari's Philosophy of Linguistics." Deleuze Studies, vol. 11, no. 3, 2017, pp. 405–428. https://doi.org/10.3366/dls.2017.0274.
Baccolini, Raffaella. "The Persistence of Hope in Dystopian Science Fiction." PMLA, vol. 119, no. 3, 2004, pp. 518–521. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/25486067.
Gonnermann, Annika. "The Concept of Post-Pessimism in 21st-Century Dystopian Fiction." The Comparatist, vol. 43, 2019, pp. 26–40. https://doi.org/10.1353/com.2019.0002.
Herman, Peter C. "More, Huxley, Eggers, and the Utopian/Dystopian Tradition." Renaissance and Reformation, vol. 41, no. 3, 2018, pp. 165–193.
Michael-Matsas, Savvas. "A Utopia of Immanence: Revolution in Deleuze and Guattari." Deleuze Studies, vol. 10, no. 3, 2016, pp. 289–300. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/45331737.
Mihăilescu, C. A. "Mind the Gap: Dystopia as Fiction." Style, vol. 25, no. 2, 1991, pp. 211–222.
Moylan, Tom. "The Necessity of Hope in Dystopian Times: A Critical Reflection." Utopian Studies, vol. 31, no. 1, 2020, pp. 164–193. https://doi.org/10.5325/utopianstudies.31.1.0164.
Schönher, Mathias. "The Triple Transformation: The Emergence of Philosophy in Deleuze and Guattari." Journal of Speculative Philosophy, vol. 33, no. 4, 2019, pp. 610–627. https://doi.org/10.5325/jspecphil.33.4.0610.
Stivale, Charles J. "Gilles Deleuze & Félix Guattari: Schizoanalysis & Literary Discourse." SubStance, vol. 9, no. 4, 1980, pp. 46–57. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3684040.
Period Detail & Material Culture
Altick, Richard D. Victorian Studies in Scarlet. Norton, 1970.
Beeton, Isabella. Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management. 1861.
Gloag, John. Victorian Comfort: A Social History of Design from 1830–1900. Allen & Unwin, 1961.
Literary & Dramatic Sources
Dumas, Alexandre. The Count of Monte Cristo. 1844–1846.
Gibbon, Lewis Grassic. Spartacus. Victor Gollancz, 1933.
Shakespeare, William. Henry V.
Shakespeare, William. Titus Andronicus.
Waters, Sarah. Tipping the Velvet. Virago Press, 1998.
Visual Media
Black Lagoon. Directed by Sunao Katabuchi, Madhouse, 2006.
Black Sails. Created by Jonathan E. Steinberg and Robert Levine, Starz, 2014–17.
Children of Men. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, Universal Pictures, 2006.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, Trigger, 2022.
Deadwood. Created by David Milch, HBO, 2004–06.
Domino. Directed by Tony Scott, New Line Cinema, 2005.
Empire. Created by Lee Daniels and Danny Strong, Fox, 2015–20.
Gangs of New York. Directed by Martin Scorsese, Miramax, 2002.
House of Cards. Created by Beau Willimon, Netflix, 2013–18.
In the Mood for Love. Directed by Wong Kar-wai, Block 2 Pictures, 2000.
Jormungand. Directed by Keitaro Motonaga, White Fox, 2012.
Mad Max: Fury Road. Directed by George Miller, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2015.
Metropolis. Directed by Fritz Lang, Universum Film (UFA), 1927.
Neon Genesis Evangelion. Directed by Hideaki Anno, Gainax, 1995–96.
Peaky Blinders. Created by Steven Knight, BBC, 2013–22.
Penny Dreadful. Created by John Logan, Showtime, 2014–16.
Pirates of the Caribbean. Directed by Gore Verbinski, Walt Disney Pictures, 2003–07.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Directed by Akiyuki Shinbo, Shaft, 2011.
Rome. Created by Bruno Heller, John Milius, and William J. MacDonald, HBO, 2005–07.
Shadow and Bone. Created by Eric Heisserer, Netflix, 2021–23.
Silo. Created by Graham Yost, Apple TV+, 2023–26.
Snowpiercer. Directed by Bong Joon-ho, CJ Entertainment, 2013.
Sons of Liberty. Directed by Kari Skogland, History Channel, 2015.
The Crow. Directed by Alex Proyas, Miramax Films, 1994.
The Great. Created by Tony McNamara, Hulu, 2020–23.
The Sopranos. Created by David Chase, HBO, 1999–2007.
The Wire. Created by David Simon, HBO, 2002–08.
V for Vendetta. Directed by James McTeigue, Warner Bros., 2005.
I explained the concept of "blorbo from my shows" to my 71 year old immigrant grandfather because I referenced it in passing and I thought nothing of it, until today when he said "I think I'll watch peaky blinders tonight and see my blorbo from my shows" referring, of course, to Cillian Murphy playing Tommy Shelby
English isn't his first language so he's not super in touch with modern slang, so I've been accidentally teaching him to talk like a tumblr user. His favorite thing to say lately is "me when I'm a little hater" when he's like talking shit about the neighbor's son
I explained the “x before gta6” meme to my immigrant father and he, in turn, explained to me how back in his day in Romania, they had the same type of joke, except instead of it being gta6, it was about the imminent death of a singer named Gică Petrescu, who everyone was continuously shocked by because he refused to die. Every time a momentous event happened people would say, in essence: “This happened and Gică Petrescu hasn’t even died yet?!?”
So. He understood the gta6 meme immediately because they apparently had the same thing in Romania when he was young, except way, way more morbid
🕸️How to Acquire a Questionable Guardian in One Easy Step🕸️
Most children get a bedtime story.
Starling Blaskova - soon to be Stryx - got a city boss, a cursed object, and several deeply concerning life choices.
Watch the moment a murderous little menace collides with the man known as the Black Maw in this animated scene from Raptoraem, beautifully brought to life by the incredibly talented @ichimakesart
🕸 Raptoraem: Book I is available for preorder now.
🕸️ Explore the city, lore, characters, and hidden corners of the web at the website.
🕸 Join the Contraband Network newsletter for early lorebook pages, exclusive art, soundbites, animations, field captures, and other things that are probably not approved by local authorities.
🕷️ First peek into the Raptoraem OST has crawled out of the walls.
This little menace is called “The Spiders Have Unionized" — and it is exactly what it sounds like: a suspiciously jaunty descent into labor unrest, bad decisions, and citywide arachnid morale.
If you’ve ever wanted the soundtrack to:
🕸️ a steampunk, diesel fueled gothic fantasy city on the verge of riot
🕸️ a back alley nightmare run by sleep deprivation and spite
🕸️ “this seems unsafe” / “excellent, let’s go in anyway” energy
🕸️ spiders with collective bargaining rights
…congratulations.
Your prayers have been answered. 🖤
🎵 Track: The Spiders Have Unionized
🎼 Music, sound design, mixing & arrangement: JJ LaCrewe
🎨 Art: BromleynBones
Welcome to Raptoraem.
🕷️ Tell me in the comments: if the spiders unionized in your city, what would their first demand be?
The Drowned Watch is Raptoraem’s Advance Reader Copy team: a small group of readers who’ll receive Raptoraem: Book I before release in exchange for helping me send it into the world sharp, polished, and with some momentum behind it.
If selected, you’ll receive a free early digital copy of the novel ahead of launch.
In return, I’m asking for three things:
• Read the book before release if you can
• Flag typos, formatting glitches, or anything obviously broken
• Leave an honest review when the book goes live on Amazon, Goodreads, StoryGraph, or wherever you review books
In other words: you get early access, first crack at the story before the public, and a chance to help shape the final release by catching stray errors before the gates open.
I get the enormous favor of early reader support: honest feedback, a cleaner final book, and those crucial first reviews that help a new release look slightly less like it was tossed screaming into the abyss alone.
If that sounds like your kind of arrangement, apply below and enlist in the Drowned Watch.
THE CONTRABAND NETWORK
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