Any updates on the asexual romance novel you've been posting about?
If you mean Say Yes (fluffy asexual YA romance) then it's stalled. I don't think fluff is my forte and I realised I know nothing about contemporary teenage life.
If you mean The Wedding Ring (asexual fantasy horror novel with a core sapphic situationship that isn't technically a romance because Diana is aro but god are they openly and possessively in love with each other) than it's going great when I have time to work on it. I love this novel. It's me at my most indulgent for what I adore in books. I think it's the best thing I've written, not that I'm biased or anything.
I'm just under 30,000 words on The Wedding Ring. I'm sharing Chapter 8 with my writing group today :) I'm thinking 2026 will be the year I finish it, assuming my life doesn't get insanely busy again. I think the last bit I shared was from Chapter 7.
Here's a new bit you guys won't have read (SPOILERS):
Protagonist = Diana
Bride = Lucille
Groom = Tristan
“Fairies,” Diana said. “Do they normally live in fancy houses?”
The Wolverton kitchen seen through the wedding ring was a much darker place, like someone had turned out all of the lights. Diana’s heart hammered as she squinted, picking out the shadowy roots of trees crawled across the glossy floors that seemed so immaculate usually. It was as if the room had been built on a forest. Red flowers bloomed along the walls in bioluminescent growths of colour, radiating a faint bloody glow. They cracked the plaster, revealing something dark and sap-like inside the walls.
She moved closer, but her fingers brushed against nothing but air.
“No,” Tristan said. “They live in their world. But, at least in the stories, there are thresholds between our world and theirs. Fairy rings. Fairy barrows. Why?”
Diana rotated. The pictures on the wall were still there, but they were not the exact same pictures that Diana knew. There were women, and there was meat and cake and fruit, but there was no giddy joy or indulgence. They were crying. Screaming. Even as they consumed. Spots of mould clung to their faces. Rot. Decay. Diana could smell it in the air, something sweet and overripe.
“Diana—” Tristan’s voice sounded like it was very far away.
Diana turned again to see more of the room through the band.
A tall thin humanoid slither of shadow stood in the doorway of the kitchen. It had blazing silvery eyes and no other discernible features. Faceless. Its long fingers were tipped with claws. As Diana stared, it stepped closer, blackness splitting into a neat row of sharp teeth and—
Diana yelped and dropped the ring. It hit the ground with a clatter and she was simply in Wolverton again, as she’d always known it.
Lucille’s head tilted in the doorway. A small smile played on her lips.
A beat of silence passed. Heavy. Diana’s mouth felt utterly dry, even as her palms felt a little clammy.
Tristan glanced at her, before he swiftly reached down and scooped up the ring, sliding it back on his finger like he’d never seen anything through it at all. His expression was smooth again, back to its normal faintly mocking amused handsomeness.
“Your girl is well-trained,” Tristan said. “She’s barely been here twenty-four hours and she’s already offering to do the dishes for me.”
“In exchange for fairytales?” Lucille asked.
Tristan shrugged with impeccable carelessness. “We were just talking about what we’re reading.”
“I’m reading a food memoir,” Diana offered. “It’s okay. The fairytales sound more interesting.”
Lucille’s stare burned into her.
Tristan looked like he wanted to kick her. He dried his hands on a tea towel and made his way to Lucille’s side. “Everything okay?” He kissed her temple.
“You tell me,” Lucille said.
“Lucille is a romance reader,” Tristan said, sticking doggedly to his topic. “I think the last one was about a sport’s team? Was that right, love? What was it called again?”
If they were teenagers, Diana would have immediately explained what she just saw. They would have talked about it. She wouldn’t even have thought to keep it to herself. The discovery – whatever it was – would have been an excitement, an intrigue, another game to play.
“Everything’s fine,” Diana said. “He took his ring off to do the dishes. I wanted to see it.”
“I think she wanted to try it on,” Tristan said. “A lesser man would feel threatened. Thankfully, you have me.”
Lucille didn’t smile.
Diana didn’t blink. “What do you reckon, Luce?” she asked. She held up her hand and waggled her fingers, to hide her tremor. “Would it suit me as well as it suits him?”
Lucille drew in a sharp breath at that and, on instinct, Diana pressed the advantage.
Making quizzes is fun, so I made another, and this one is for my Greek mythology urban fantasy series, Night Of The Blue Moon. Take it if you want to find out which character from my trilogy you’re most like! (And who your godly benefactor would be lol)
Find out which character from the Blue Moon trilogy you’re most like!
The sixty-seventh free, unedited chapter of my upcoming book, “The Heist at Cordia Aquarium” is now available on its website (or click here to read from the beginning).
It's dark. Cramped and humid and hot. Thea tightens her arms around her knees; each breath comes rough. Haggard. Harsh against her throat, dry and raw as it is.
It's my fault. I could have said something; I could have stayed out of this and let them find someone better. Then Ivan could become a wrestler; Waylon could help whoever it was that needs him. But no, I'm selfish. I took everything from them.
Her thoughts bounce around inside her head, repeating — never-ending. Those that she escapes just add to the weight of the air around her. Floating at the edge of her perception, like specters waiting for another turn to haunt her.
She presses her head into her knees and she wretches. A dry, tearless sound — just as it's been for a while now. How long am I going to sit here, useless?
The Faerie Godmother's Apprentice Wore Green - Kindle edition by Kyle, Nicky. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones
Amazon is raising their prices for print-on-demand books, which means that on June 20th the price of my little novella will go up. Which means you should buy it now, while it's still cheap!
Not convinced yet? Here are some excerpts from its reviews:
So charmed by this faerie tale, not too long, not too short, just right. Hits all the tropes; dragon, princess, fairy godmother. Then turns them upside down. And inside out. Slick turns of event abound, and there isn't a prissy moment anywhere.
A wonderful, dragon-positive, high-fantasy friendship story between a lesbian and an aro-ace woman! There's a lot going on here within the short scope of The Faerie Godmother's Apprentice Wore Green's novella length—I admire the narrative's metaphors about how pain is sometimes too great to be contained and will have out to wreak destruction, and about how outsiders who do not share our marginalizations will, no doubt, get our stories wrong as they pass out of our control and into legend.
What can be said except that this story is charming and deftly written? The prose is laced with humor and tropes or plot points found themselves cleverly twisted. There was a smile on my face before the first page ended and it stayed until there wasn't any more to read (Which, I suppose, was the only negative point: I would have happily followed the characters further!)
I don’t think The Faerie Godmother’s Apprentice Wore Green is being marketed as young adult, but it would make for a good crossover. It’s certainly the sort of story I could have read and loved when I was younger. A princess who doesn’t fall in love with anyone? Dragons? I would have been thrilled! I was still thrilled to read this as an adult, but I also wish I’d had it when I was a younger girl, a familiar feeling for queer stories.
To Steal A Thief's Heart: A Romantic Short Story - Kindle edition by L. M. Kane. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading To Steal A Thief's Heart: A Romantic Short Story.
