#vodkapunk

[ladzwriting]

THE FEALTY OF MONSTERS - March 12, 2024

AKA the work formerly known as AquaShame. Illustrated by @t-hornapple, this is the Slavic vampire political fantasy gothic horror of my dreams and your nightmares

Volume 1 comes out on 🫀 MARCH 12, 2024 🦟

Final cover reveal on JANUARY 22, 2024

Preorder:

Itch (signed copies pre-order, US & International): https://ladzwriting.itch.io/the-fealty-of-monsters-vol-1 (you can also download the Prologue as a preview)

eBook: https://books2read.com/TheFealtyofMonstersVol1

Add to GR: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/201742983-the-fealty-of-monsters

Add to The Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/3c23d390-61eb-43fa-bb5c-5ea764bacdab

If you like:

🫀 Baru Cormorant 🦟 Villain protagonists 🫀 Age gap yaoi 🦟 Leige/advisor yuri 🫀 Monstrous vampires 🦟 Eat the rich (literally) 🫀 Gormenghast 🦟 Political fantasy 🫀 Killing hundreds to save thousands 🦟 Not romance, not erotica, but high heat horror

As far as the art goes, if you're a fan of these pieces by Häxan, you're in for some delights:

🌚 Yharnam 🌚 Excalibur 🌚 in ecclesia (in church) 🌚 moonbeams*

*Featured in white noise: https://t-hornapple.itch.io/white-noise

Also please read THE LORD OF ASTIIGOS: https://t-hornapple.itch.io/the-lord-of-astiigos-complete-part-1

THE FEALTY OF MONSTERS is more intense than most things I have available now, except THE LADY OF THE LAIR

ARC requests will open in January with the final cover reveal

I'm so excited to share this with you all

🫀 https://thefealtyofmonsters.carrd.co/ 🦟

[ladzwriting]

Presenting: the final cover to my forthcoming light novel, The Fealty of Monsters, created by the incredible @t-hornapple

The book comes out on March 12th, preorder info here

The art and design are both by @t-hornapple. My heart does funny things whenever I look at it.

The intricacy and ornamental nature of this design work is among what attracted me to Häxan's work in the first place. I wanted a cover that communicates that this is a gothic fantasy nightmare, complete with bugs, blood, swords, and a crown (specifically, Poland's crown jewels).

Here are some of my favorite details:

In case anyone asks, yes, that is what you think it is coming out of the orchids.

If you're interested in reading the book before it comes out, there is an ARC request form up now and Nicole at Thoughts Stained with Ink is giving away an eARC.

[ladzwriting]

Expert on queer gothic and queer vampires @ghostpoetics, author of A FLAME IN THE NIGHT, has the following to say about The Fealty of Monsters:

“With the dark gothic fantasy sensibilities of Berserk, Castlevania, and Bloodborne, Ladz’s first volume of THE FEALTY OF MONSTERS is thrilling, gory, and queer as hell. A must-read.”

It's Valentine's Day and I need to shout out their forthcoming F/F/F vampire romance, UNHOLY WITH EYES LIKE WOLVES, coming out April 16, 2024, which I called "indulgent, depraved, and sanguine"

It's Carmilla. It's Elizabeth Bathory. It's so much fun.

The Fealty of Monsters comes out on March 12, 2024

[ladzwriting]

Instead of a trope map, here's a comp map

If you're looking for dark fantasy, spicy books, gothic horror, political fantasy, and some background on what rotted my brain to the slush that made THE FEALTY OF MONSTERS, here's a collection for you

THE FEALTY OF MONSTERS is a queer gothic horror political fantasy with vampires, body horror, magic, and the bloody politics that drove the Russian Revolution

Clockwise from the top: 👑 Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs by Douglas Smith 🦟 Kalyna the Soothsayer by Elijah Kinch Spector 👑 Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake 🦟 The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid 👑 Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey 🦟 Vampire Hunter D by Hideyuki Kikuchi (illus. by Yoshitaka Amano) 👑 The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

Preorder here

[ladzwriting]

Little Death is among my favorite pieces of queer horror media. Between the gorgeous art, beautiful horror man, delectable little hen, and so much sexy worldbuilding, it's something I return to again and again. If you're on Subscribestar, new pages resume today!

I'm still so honored creator @pompoison read & enjoyed mine. He says:

“Contempt for vampires, specifically the monstrous hybrids called bestiapirs, chills the air for one year after the massacre of 1917. Sasza is one such vampire working in stealth among the Odonic Empire’s diplomats, alongside his father Władysław “Władek” Czarnolaski, the Imperial Magician. Their wavering political certainty begins to be tested when a retaliatory war against the Vampire States rears its noble head, and Sasza’s friendship with the Crown undergoes metamorphosis into an alliance befitting beasts. An ominous, unsettling novel that knows how to scare.”

THE FEALTY OF MONSTERS is "ominous, unsettling" and out on March 12, 2024

[ladzwriting]

I was going to record an unboxing and everything, but uh, I kind of lost my mind, shrieked like Vicar Amelia

Look at how absolutely gorgeous the first printing of THE FEALTY OF MONSTERS looks

@t-hornapple is a wizard because that is NOT foil or anything; the book just looks like that

signed paperbacks are available for preorder now

general paperbacks will be up for preorder in a few weeks

book comes out March 12, 2024

[ladzwriting]

One of the most skilled writers I've had the pleasure of reading and working with, @jonphaedrus provides the best summary of my forthcoming gothic horror political fantasy:

“you are the proletariat in petrograd for the october revolution. you go to kill the czar but—oh wait! the vampire."

The way he enjoyed how fun and gross this book makes me feel like I did good with this story

The Fealty of Monsters comes out on March 12, 2024

Preorder eBook Preorder a signed paperback Add to Goodreads

[ladzwriting]

Genesee's messaging while reading FEALTY is a buoy to my creativity, especially as I wallow in pass pages. She says:

“THE FEALTY OF MONSTERS is just as sexy as it is terribly thrilling. Within a fantasy world full of political intrigue and strife, Ladz creates beautiful characters who fit inside it seamlessly. Characters who are neither good nor evil, but always keep the reader guessing, painting a fascinating air of mystery throughout the whole book. If you want horror, vampires, and alluring beasts, you need this book!"

Coming from the writer of a kinky, stressful, dark romance between a nurse twink and a photographer serial killer, this is the highest compliment

The Fealty of Monsters comes out on March 12, 2024