#solemn graces

[sorrowsofblackwood]

Here I am, blowing the dust off this blog to show these off. I have the opportunity to attend my first comic convention as an author (as well as ever), so I had some promotional materials printed up for the occasion. My first official business cards, as well as some postcard-sized flyers I'll be handing out. I'm excited! As I reused the cover art from Solemn Graces #1 for these, the art is by @respawnedart.

[sorrowsofblackwood]

SOLEMN GRACES #1 NOW AVAILABLE ON SMASHWORDS

In what must seem like an awfully familiar announcement, today marks the official publication of Solemn Graces #1: Once Upon A Midnight Dreary on Smashwords, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple iBooks, and several more! (Seriously, there’s a lot.) It’s $2.73 on every listing, which works out to a royalty of 2 dollars for me. Isn’t that great?

(Cover notes: The art was provided by the talented @respawnedart, and you should go check out the rest of their work! The ISBN is legit and was provided by Smashwords, but I don’t know if the barcode is functional. It’s mostly there for visual purposes on this version of the cover.)

For those who don’t know, Solemn Graces is a supernatural drama series with heavy elements of gothic horror and occult detective-style mystery centering around the goth witch Grace Morgan, the ghostly gravedigger Gallo Belgrave, and their lives in the creepy little town of Grimstead, solving mysteries and uncovering all the secrets the town has to offer.

The series is largely character-driven, with each story consisting of about 3-5 chapters. Hearkening back to the serialised novels of Victorian times, the chapters of each story are posted serially on Patreon, giving patrons and fans early access and the chance to critique it and get special benefits. Sometime after the serial run is complete, then it’s sent off to Smashwords et. al. where readers like you can buy and read the full version, along with some extra tidbits you’ll only find in that edition!

Currently, we’re right in the middle of the serial run for Solemn Graces #2: Buried With Indecent Haste over on Patreon. So if you finish Solemn Graces #1 and you’d like more content and story updates, go over there and become a patron!

Buy Solemn Graces #1 on Smashwords today!

SMASHWORDS | PATREON | DISCORD | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

[sorrowsofblackwood]

Preview of Solemn Graces #1!

Being that the upcoming Smashwords Edition of Solemn Graces #1 is something like a director’s cut or definitive version, it includes some extra content and expanded scenes that weren’t present in the older Leanpub Edition. So, in order to drum up some interest in that, I’d like to give you all a little preview of one such addition!

This comes during the pub scene of Chapter One and shows Grace Morgan, our witchy protagonist, in a little bit of an intimate light. It reveals some things about her I had wanted to put in but hadn’t found the right place for the first time around. If you like it, make sure you reblog it, tell your friends about it, and stay tuned for the rest of the Smashwords Edition, coming to you on March 1st! Only four days away!

SMASHWORDS | PATREON | DISCORD | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

As she waited for her food, Grace turned her gaze on the pub, her eyes searching for the washroom. Upon finding it, she picked up her cane and headed inside so she could clean off the blood on her clothes. Unsurprisingly, the room itself wasn’t such a pleasant place for Grace, what with its damp and clammy atmosphere and the obscure spells scrawled like graffiti all over the stalls. It did, however, have a sink and that was what she needed the most.

Turning the water on, she stripped off the lace-edged top she had been wearing and held it under the water for several moments. Were there others in the washroom then, they would’ve been able to clearly see the set of tattoos Grace had gotten years before, back in her less graceful days. Feathered wings like those of a fallen angel sauntered vaguely down her back, while the depiction of a spiderweb sprawled across her upper left arm and shoulder. Then there was that black rose, one of her most treasured symbols, curled around her belly button with thorns along its stem.

But there was no one else in that washroom, and so Grace was free to clean her clothes in peace without questions about her tattoos or her scars or anything else about her. That allowed her enough silence to thank the Great Matron that the blood on her clothes was still fresh, and that her clothes were all black in the first place. Because of that, what she couldn’t get washed out wasn’t likely to be seen unless you were looking for it.

Once she was done washing it, she stood for a moment to watch the Old Shuck’s scarlet blood run down the drain. Killing as she had done that night was something that came easily for her, and something she almost never regretted. Even her actions that night were done to rescue that boy. But even still, what did it say about her that the first thing she had done in this strange new town was kill something that lived there?

[sorrowsofblackwood]

Cover art news!

This is a late post and I know there’s been a lull in updates to Solemn Graces #2, but I had to temporarily put it on hiatus for personal reasons. Luckily, however, during that time, my cover artist @respawnedart has been working to finish official cover art for the Smashwords Edition of Solemn Graces #1 - and today, it was finished!

There’s now actual proper cover art, which means I can put the Smashwords plan into action and publish like I had intended to. It’s always been the goal to publish final editions on Smashwords and distribute it across the ebooksphere, rather than just Leanpub. So, after a touch of editing here and there, the final version of Solemn Graces #1 will be available on many different platforms!

It will more than likely be a little different from the Leanpub Edition, like distributing different cuts of a movie - consider this a Director’s Cut of sorts. Naturally, all patrons of my Patreon will still be getting a coupon code for it.

I'm hoping to have it ready and published by March 1st, so we're just gonna count that as the current release date. Anyway, in the absence of Solemn Graces #2 content (which will be resuming soon!), at least there's this to look forward to, right?

PATREON | DISCORD | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

[sorrowsofblackwood]

Solemn Graces #2 is upon us!

That’s right, today’s the day you can get your hands on the very first chapter of Solemn Graces #2: Buried With Indecent Haste - only on Patreon. This is the first of four chapters, to be released every Tuesday this month. Due to some pricing changes with Leanpub, I’m only able to offer this on Patreon for the time being, so get your pledges in!

This one picks up the morning after Solemn Graces #1. Fresh from her fight against Count Belgrave and Baron Rathbone, the witch Grace Morgan wakes up at St Crucian’s Hospital with a broken leg, a dazed mind, and an unpleasantly unhygienic doctor. But when several newborn babies go missing from the nursery during the night, Grace takes it upon herself to investigate. What secrets could be lurking amongst the night nurses of Grimstead?

Meanwhile, at Common Grounds Cemetery, gravedigger Gallo Belgrave is tasked with managing the dual funerals of his fallen fathers, even as he deals with the traumatic flashbacks given to him by the return trip to his childhood home - Castle Gaunt. Can he prevent himself from engaging in his theatrical antics long enough to pull off a serious funeral, and avoid the ire of his uncle Cornelius Rathbone? Or will he be the one to truly put the fun back in this funeral?

It all starts with the first chapter, which is up for reading now to all patrons of my Patreon! Comments and criticism are welcomed, and stay tuned for the next chapter - coming next week, January 17th! And if you want a copy of Solemn Graces #1, look no further than right here.

Extra news: I have a cover artist lined up! Soon, I’ll be able to put out new editions with official covers that have official Solemn Graces art on them! So that’s pretty fancy.

PATREON | DISCORD | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

[firecr0tch]

i didn't think i would ever genuinely write a werewolf into my solemn graces stories, but i took one rewatch of this episode of buffy (where oz is accidentally a dick, like jesus he fucking sucks actually) and decided, i need to have a werewolf finally. it's time. so now clotilde is a werewolf please read my werewolf story

[firecr0tch]

nevermind, I hate writing again, I have to write a Very Special Talk between gallo and one of the teens just to get past this chapter and on with the story and I might die actually. this boy has so much angst

[firecr0tch]

accidentally fell asleep after around 14 hours of writing time and totally threw off my progress and mental involvement in the story LOL but we'll get it back. and that almost 7000 word count ain't going away. thank u to pasta most of all for being there in my tummy