Publication date: December 3rd, 2024
Synopsis:
Recluse Sophie Vanguard's winter cabin retreat turns ominous when blue flowers mysteriously appear. They're everywhere. On her front porch, in kitchen cabinets, and even on her pillow. It isn't long before chilling whispers echo in the halls, and her journal repeats seven unsettling entries.
Enter the bloodied and beautifully eccentric Ly Thi Ren. Though Ren seems familiar, Sophie refuses to believe the girl's insistence that they are trapped inside a book.
In a land of fiction, truth and lies blur together, clear decisions are marred by doubt, and shared family trauma lurks just below the surface.
Can Ren and Sophie make it out alive? Or will they end up nothing more than words inked in blood and memory?
With elements of gothic horror, splatterpunk, romance, and fantasy, Inked in Blood and Memory is a self-aware LGBTQ+ horror that wraps its clutches around the reader and doesn't let go.
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Excerpt
Did that just happen? Did I just take on a dozen crazed and bloodthirsty teddy bears with a golf club? I never had the knack for golf, but maybe I should look into some batting cages. Look at that, Dad. I'm not entirely uncoordinated. And I have to admit: the soft thuds of their tiny, evil bodies had been extremely satisfying. Therapeutic even.
I'm a mixture of pride, shock, fear, and adrenaline by the time I can finally rest. I lay my head back on the rough wall and work on bringing my breathing back to normal. One corner of Ren's mouth curves up in amusement, and annoyance flashes through me and pushes out every other emotion.
She's laughing at me. I know I'm out of shape and a muddy mess on top of that, but does she have to rub it in?
"What?" I ask, an edge to my voice as I toss my long brown hair out of my face and adjust my glasses. And now, Ren's shaking her head and chuckling. Actually chuckling.
The nerve of this girl.
I just saved her life. She called out for me, and I came to her rescue. And she's laughing at me?
I'm wavering between walking away and demanding Ren tells me what's so funny when she plucks a piece of stuffing from my hair, flicks it away, and says, "They should name a hurricane after you."
That... was not what I was expecting to come out of her mouth. A snippy remark paired with a "tiny" seemed a more appropriate response for her. What she'd actually shown was... respect? Awe? Pride? No one has ever looked at me the way she is now. Like I've impressed her.
I've impressed myself, if I'm being completely honest. I've never been the one to come to someone's rescue. Not since third grade, anyway. And there was nothing incredible about saying a couple sentences to some bullies.
I've always been the damsel in distress, so to actually succeed at something like this? This is huge for me. I'm not the girl withering away in Everling, waiting for a hero. I'm not completely helpless. What a revelation.
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