The Life and Times of Salvatore Haran

30. he/they. Author, Game Dev, Musician, Director. Wrote a book called The Redwater Legend. I made a Slenderman / Fear Mythos series called Pavel Hall. I helped make Trial of Leaves. I released 4 albums as Nyro. I do let's plays & streams under Jawesome Possum. Currently working on a new Hemlock Hunters novel and developing adult & horror video games.

[salvatoreharan]

This past weekend my husband and I went to Crypticon in Seattle and had an absolute blast. Bought lots of stuff from the artist alley and ate overpriced hotel food.

The big reason I wanted to go was to finally meet Voltaire.

I've been listening to his music for, damn, about half my life now? He's picked me up when I've been down, made me laugh when I'm depressed and just been a fountain of inspiration.

One of the creators I looked at and went "You can make it doing your own thing online!"

So he had a panel that I sat in on, but at first I couldn't find it so I went down stairs to do something else. Then I pass him on the stairs and was too starstruck to even do anything.

I waited a minute then went to see where he went and found the panel room. (Which wasn't on the con pamphlet, but was on the website and handwritten in pencil by the room.)

After his panel, I basically took my shot and asked him if he had a minute. We stepped outside and I just gushed about how he inspired me. But also, about how he gave me some good advice 14 years ago.

I don't have the full message chain since (understandably) it looks like Voltaire nuked his Facebook. So I only have this partial screenshot of when it happened. (MLP Facebook plug-in and all.)

Essentially, Voltaire made a post about cleaning his apartment and listening to his music. Teenage me, feeling cocky and not expecting a response, said something along the lines of "How self centered!"

He, to my shock, responded, saying that if you don't love your work, why make it?

We had a talk and at the end it really stuck me that you, as an artist, are making art you want to enjoy and putting it out into the world.

As a teenager, I did not like my work. I'm 30 now, and it took me a long time to like my own stuff. But I'm finally far enough along in my artist journey that I totally get cleaning and jamming to your own music. I composed for a few years and my own stuff still gets stuck in my head and is on my playlists.

So, I finally got to relay to Voltaire, in person, how he gave me a good spanking on Facebook 14 years ago and it really helped me out.

We had a nice talk about art, growing as an artist, being self critical, and loving your work. He even talked about his kid for a bit where it seems like he gave similar advice. He had to go, since I kinda caught him at a weird time. But he shook my hand, put a hand on my shoulder, and it was like being blessed.

And... of course, I forgot to ask for a photo. We were just having a real talk and I got so wrapped up in it.

But, three hours later, I saw he had a table! He said "Hey again!" And I apologized for basically jumping him after the panel since I didn't want to lose my chance. He joked how he'd probably poof into smoke right after the panel since I wanted to see him.

Funny enough, during his panel, he talked about going to a con as a kid and being too shy to talk to his idol Ray Harryhausen. I sat in the audience, biting my lip thinking "Buddy, just wait."

We talked a bit more, but I mainly opened the door for my husband to chat with him. While I spent my teen years angrily jamming to "Almost Human" while pushing carts at my Publix job, my husband found Voltaire in the last year through his Gothic Homemaking videos.

They chatted, we bought a CD and I asked Voltaire for a picture! I thought he'd pose with me while my husband took a pic, but did a selfie!

After this, he asked my husband to join in, and to make sure we got the doll in the shot.

We're all naturally smiling here since he joked about his chest being so open. 😊

So yeah! I finally got to meet one of my idols. Still feels surreal? This guy I've been listening to for well over a decade who inspired me and got me through rough times is... in front of me?

A very special day! Who knows when our paths will cross again, Voltaire...

Probably Crypticon next year 😇

[hemlockhunters]

Editing - Update #2

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I gave an update on my books, so let's get into it.

The Redwater Legend

When I last updated everyone, my first book was about to be copy-edited, and it was! Lauren Humphries-Brooks did an outstanding job editing the novel, and it was a pleasure to work with her. After I reviewed the edit, I put the book aside to focus on other projects, but I recently dusted it off with renewed focus and enthusiasm.

For those who don't know, my day job is a game dev working on dating sims. It was one thing writing my fantasy books when off work from a grocery store, but when your job is creative writing, coming home to do... more creative writing is like trying to draw water from a dried-out pond.

The other week, I finished editing the first third of the book, hoping it would be my final major edit of the novel. There were some lore details I needed to add, along with contributions from my artist, that I wanted to incorporate into the prose. Not to mention, I just wanted to give it one last look before I sealed its fate. Reading it aloud to ensure it sounds pleasing.

In a future update, I want to showcase the art being created for the book, along with the incredible artist I have been collaborating with since March of last year. March 19th is when we signed a contract, which was five days after my last update. Since then, they have been drawing and working every month, helping me create the visual style and art for the Hemlock books.

As far as finishing the book, it will be done this year. My goal is to finish this current "read aloud vibe" edit and then give it over to a Proofreader who will hopefully catch those final grammar mistakes. After that, we'll just have to see where we sit with art. Our original goal was to fill the book with illustrations, but that isn't very realistic given our time and budget.

When will it be released? No clue. I am more than happy to self-publish again, but I also want to see if any publishing houses can take my artist and me. I would like to be self-sufficient, relying on creating a good community of readers and doing the work myself. But we shall see! But, I really freaking hope it's this year. I have so many books I want to write.

The Trial of the Chimera (working title)

During the last year, I did a little bit of work on Chimera. I added a prologue showing off Ruth as a child and what led her to become a Hunter. While this story takes place before Redwater, I believe Redwater is a strong start to Ruth's journey. That's why I want to workshop Chimera more, to create a solid beginning since I know people will see it takes place first and start there, regardless of what I do. So, I might as well make it a good start, too.

The biggest hurdle of this story is the number of other interesting characters it introduces, who won't return for quite some time. You meet all of Ruth's fellow Hunter friends and her professors. All exciting characters with their own quirks, problems, and arcs to go on. Going from Chimera to two stories focusing solely on Ruth might make you, as a reader, feel a bit cheated that I gave you these toys for a few minutes only to lock them in a box.

Regardless, I think that this story is good, but it can be so much better. It is currently sitting at 34k words and needs a few more drafts before I am happy with it.

The Automata of Oscilstead

The first 10 chapters of Oscilstead have been edited for this current draft, though I believe this book will take some time to finish. It's longer than Chimera and Redwater combined, so hopefully doing those two stories first will make me a better author so I can finish Oscilstead with the skills I learned.

Call for Help

I was hoping that someone knew how I could find someone who is really good with geography and how landmasses form, to help me figure out how my world should look. I have a map done, but I can tell it's wrong since I'm not very good at that. I'd love to hire someone with experience to consult on the books so that we can make this world believable!

Wrap Up

2026 will be a big year for us. I know Redwater won't become a bestseller or anything, but I hope we can start building the foundation of a community.

Stick around, we've got more coming!

[salvatoreharan]

Got An Office!

Here's a cool life update: I recently acquired some office space!

It's a small personal office in a building with several other offices, where people run a variety of businesses, including salons and consulting services.

It's more than enough space for me, though! It's about $450 a month, excluding the deposit and internet, which I had to set up separately, costing around $75 per month.

I was allowed to paint one (1) wall to give the space some color, but I'll definitely fill the walls with posters and figures to make the office fun. The other day, I set up a desk and chair in there, and although it's not yet complete, it is almost usable, just waiting for the internet guy to arrive.

So why do I need an office? I have been self employed since April 2024, working as an indie game developer. It has been an amazing experience getting to do art for a living. But working from home isn't as fun for me. Home is where my husband, cats, and entertainment are. It's hard to separate work from not work when I work in my bedroom.

The best solution was this office! It's a decent bus ride from my apartment, which will give me time to read books or play Umamusume. I have my own space to work on art.

In addition, I will have time to work on more projects! Including a horror thing, so hopefully that comes to fruition.

Well, that's my fun life update <3

[pavelhall]

New Trial of Leaves Emperor Death

[salvatoreharan]

My friends did a cool thing!

[salvatoreharan]

Wheel of Time show deciding to ditch Rand's polycule and instead have Elayne and Aviendha hook up is such an incredible decision.

[evilwvergil]

"You took everything! You took every-EVERYTHING from me!"

Experience the beauty hidden within terror in this new Japanese psychological horror game. In Ebisugaoka, Hinako's once-familiar home transforms into a haunting nightmare as a sudden fog envelops the area. As the town falls silent and the fog thickens, Hinako must navigate the twisted paths of Ebisugaoka,solving complex puzzles and confronting grotesque monsters to survive. -S I L E N T H I L L f

[salvatoreharan]

long hair on girls or short hair?

I really have no preference, anonymous ask from May 8th, 2014, 10:25 PM I never bothered to answer.

[salvatoreharan]

I'm back

for real this time

[hemlockhunters]

Back on the Horse - Update #1

Hello! I will begin providing periodic updates regarding the writing and editing progress.

The Redwater Legend

The book will undergo a Copy Edit in four days. It focuses on line-by-line and sentence-level fixes, including sentence structure, grammar, consistency and continuity, and overall style and clarity. This is estimated to take a little over a month and hone in on making the book even better. After this, it's the proofread, and then it's done.

The Trial of the Chimera (working title)

This novella is set before Redwater, detailing Ruth's final exam at Langdale Wharf and how she became a Hunter. There are references to this throughout The Redwater Legend and The Automata of Oscilstead. I plan to release this after Oscilstead.

I wrote the first draft for Chimera, which is 30,680 words long —half the length of Redwater. I debated for a long time whether to include it in Redwater. But I left it out due to the amount of lore that gets introduced and meeting all the Hunters who wouldn't show up for the rest of the story if it were attached to Redwater.

This is on the shelf for now while I work on...

The Automata of Oscilstead

It is the second book in the Hemlock Hunters series, and I am currently working on the third draft. It is 118,025 words long, and I am 30% done with editing. I plan to keep plugging away at this and finish it by the end of the Redwater copy edit.

[salvatoreharan]

I made a blog for my gothic monster hunting fantasy series!

[salvatoreharan]

I picked up this book Yami-Hara a week ago based on this cover alone and it was an incredible read. 4 short stories all rooted in social horror that culminate at the end and ties it all together.

It was a really creepy and fun read that kept me guessing.

[salvatoreharan]

Just finished reading Cyberpunk 2077 No_Coincidence and it was super fun!

A really solid Cyberpunk story that had good characters and a very interesting story with tons of twists and turns.

The pacing and structure was odd but in a good way? Jumping POVs sometimes every few paragraphs gave it a TV show vibe.

Honestly really enjoyed this book and hope they make more Cyberpunk books. It would be fun to get the classic 2020 or 2013 stories adapted into novels.

If you like Cyberpunk, give it a read! You just need to know some lingo since they don't explain gonk, choom.

[salvatoreharan]

Book haul today!

Finished the second Foundation book so its time to start reading the third book: Second Foundation

Yes, that is real, book 3 is called Second.

I also finished the first The First Law book so now onto the second The First Law book 🤓

And finally I saw The Last Voyage of the Demeter today and was annoyed with myself I never read Dracula despite releasing a book that is self described as Gothic. So I got Dracula!

[taleoftheundeadmage]

Hello everyone!

Been... forever since I updated this blog with 2 followers.

I started this as a Pavel Hall / Fear Mythos story that I wanted to tell through blog entries.

After my falling out with the Fear Mythos, I decided to abandon it but the story stuck with me. Over the years I retooled it in the back of my brain and eventually, it became this!

I Am The Mausoleum

A novella about a man who wakes up and thinks he may be dead. I think it's a really good story and a pretty quick read.

Check it out and I hope you like it :) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TQW9WGK

P.S. Why am I digging up old Pavel Hall stuff? Huh.

[salvatoreharan]

[salvatoreharan]

I never gave Cyberpunk a solid chance when I first played it, but now I am really having a dope time with it! It has some weird bugs, but it's mainly funny t-posing or people sit-walking. But it's hard to get good cyber optics, right?

I'm only 5 hours in, but seeing as I don't have a ton of time to game each week with having 2 jobs, it is a ton of fun. Maybe I'll run into some awful issues later, but CDPR has done a good job fixing the game since its rushed launch.

Anyway, I'll let y'all know how my douchey ex-corpo is doing after I do some more missions!

[salvatoreharan]

I just finished reading the first two Foundation books by Isaac Asimov's.

I started reading these since I was curious about the Apple series and figured I should read the books first, like a good little nerd.

These books consist of stories that each have to do with a crisis that Foundation needs to overcome. The first story in Foundation sets the... foundation for the rest of the books.

There is a great galactic empire that is slowly failing. One man named Hari Seldon, using a psychology called psychohistory, can predict based on societal trends that the empire will fall into 30,000 years of war and barbarism. But he can curtail that and only have it fall into 1,000 years, if he can establish The Foundation.

During these 1,000 years the Foundation will be met with crisis they have to overcome. With each crisis, Seldon shows up in a special vault and tells them how they did a good job overcoming the said crisis and what it means.

Each story follows this pattern. We jump in time, there is a crisis where a different member of Foundation has to solve a problem. And every time they win.

And for the most part these are super interesting crises with fun characters solving the problems. But there is always an assurance that these characters will prevail since Seldon predicted it.

Then we get to the 2nd book. Only 2 stories with the second one being much longer than the first.

The first story has quite a bad ending. The problem solves itself as the main characters are traveling back home after failing horribly. It shows that Seldon and Foundation will win no matter what.

Which is a fantastic setup for the second story in which halfway through the Seldon crisis is revealed... and it's wrong, and Foundation Falls.

This second story, The Mule, is an astounding read and definitely the most interesting since it has characters struggling without Seldon's safety net. (Having a speaking female main character helps) with a really good villain and a great twist.

I'm reading another book before I read the next Foundation book, but I am honestly very excited.

I highly recommend these first 2 Foundation books as they really hold up. Aside from women barely mattering and when one is finally a man character, people attribute her confidence for a manly quality. Written in the 1950s, so, what can ya do?

[salvatoreharan]

Restarted my Cyberpunk 2077 playthrough as a corpo