https://skylarkrogers.com/poetry/

The Deluge

On rising fascism.

It All Came Out Alright In The End

On the caveats to hope.

The read-aloud was too hot for Twitch and YouTube, so the recording isn't up anywhere currently.

Ko-Fi is where to go to see series art and leave a tip. I haven't made a cover for this week's Discord-exclusive episode, but if I do, it will probably be based on this utterly gorgeous photoshoot. (I wish artists tagged their photoshoots so it'd be easier to filter for just the photoshoot... but most of the pics in this tag are from it, anyway.)
( Content Notes )

 

( Illa sat with one of his vampire romances (of course he'd packed some) )

 

Originally, this book was the prequel to a series of 7 books, the rough drafts of which I will happily bury and disallow from reaching the light of day, except in small pieces. And importantly, in that series, when Thairn shows up, he and Illa are not together in any way except the unwanted arranged marriage, and Illa is not at all comfortable with his presence.

Well, I started on this prequel, and they had such a good rapport, I could clearly see that the only way to get it to fit the series was to have a sad ending.

But then I went through so much anti-queer shit and saw too many stories about queer relationships come out with either entirely awful endings or "happy" endings that weren't at all happy. So I said fuck it, and let the characters do as they would.

Anyway, the original series is no longer the fate of this series. The new version of Thairn has changed the game. Mickey fucking Morley has changed the game. And I like the new series better.

But here, nonetheless, I'll give you what I originally had sketched out for the ending:

 

( Mickey opened the hotel suite door... )

 

Links to the read-aloud:
On YouTube
On Twitch

Ko-Fi is where to go to see series art (including this week's thumbnail) and leave a tip.
( Content Notes: )

 

( Mickey perched on the bed in the would-be prison room where they'd stashed Eric. )

 

Links to the read-aloud:
On YouTube
On Twitch

Ko-Fi is where to go to see series art (including this week's thumbnail) and leave a tip.

( Content Notes )

 

( The ward on the door changed color--someone had keyed it. )

Links to the read-aloud:
On YouTube
On Twitch

Ko-Fi is where to go to see series art (including this week's thumbnail) and leave a tip.

( Content Notes )

•  

 

( Illa's guard closed the prison room door behind them. )

Figure now's as good a time as any for a status update on the serial overall.

There's about three episodes left of the central arc, then another 3 or so episodes of epilogue, which will be recovery and relationship development and adorable cuteness with a sprinkling of plot.

Then I'll release book 1 (the book I've been reading to y'all) as a full-length ebook.There are some lovely between-books short stories, though, some of which I can stream on Twitch, most of which have to stick to Discord/Dreamwidth.

I guess the second big thing to mention is that there is currently no cover for the book as a whole. Ko-Fi has a goal bar running for commissioning a cover. Otherwise I'll have to make do with something homemade or cheaply licensed--I don't currently have the funds to commission cover art on my own.

See you all next week!

Links to the read-aloud:
On YouTube
On Twitch

Ko-Fi is where to go to see series art (including this week's thumbnail) and leave a tip.

( Content Notes )

 

( It's not a person. )

 

Links to the read-aloud:
On YouTube
On Twitch

Ko-Fi is where to go to see series art (including this week's thumbnail) and leave a tip.

( Content Notes )

 

( Godfather. )