HIRAETH IS DONE BABYYYY

Happy December, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all that good, jolly old junk you hear this time of year. I’m not really one for the wintertime holidays, but here we are, so let’s try to make the best of it and get a blog post in before we hit 2024.

Just like last month, I don’t really have much of an overarching topic for this month. I think for the time being we’ll keep things short and update-focused as I get my groove back and smooth out stuff on the back end. I have been working hard while resting my brain, believe it or not. There’s a lot of good stuff coming next year! I’m honestly really excited to tell you guys about it, so let’s get to it.

First of all, I’ve got some convention announcements! I’ve gotten confirmation that my next conventions will be taking place in March 2024, and wildly enough, both will be in Evansville, IN. That’s great for those of you who only see me when I go down there, but my GOD that is going to be a lot of driving for me that month. I live in Northeast Indiana, so it’s roughly 4.5 hours one way for me. I do love going down there, don’t get me wrong, but goodness. I’m going to be best friends with my car by the end of that.

If you’re around those parts, mark your calendars for Evansville Horrorcon and Evillecon in March 2024. You can find specific dates over on my Events tab. I’ll only have a half table at Horrorcon, so only expect to see some of my collection for sale there. I’m thinking I’ll be bringing Ossuary, Convergence, and maybe a couple Duskriven titles given it’s a horror convention, but should we have Infaust out by then (which is my goal), you can expect that title there as well. Evillecon will see my full works (maybe minus something like Apricity), as well as all of my assorted merchandise. I’m hopeful I’ll have some Infaust merch there, too, but no promises.

I’m still waiting to hear back about Ohayocon, which is in January. There’s some convention drama going on that’s put artist announcements on hold for the time being (I hate to say it, but this convention is going the way of Youmacon as well and it’s really, really sad to see). I’ll make a separate announcement if I somehow manage to get into that on social media. Until then, it’s just the two March cons.

Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, I’VE FINISHED HIRAETH!!!!!!!!!! -sound of confetti cannons, vuvuzelas, and champagne corks popping- Legit, this has been nearly five years in the making, and I’m so happy to finally announce that the beast is dead, the draft is done, and the manuscript is now on my editor’s desk and ready to go under the knife at last! We’re going to be turning all of our focus towards beating it into shape once we hit the new year, and given Sun’s squared off several months of her availability for me and my projects in 2024, I’m very, very optimistic that we’ll have this book out in quarter three or four of next year.

I hope that all of you who have been waiting with bated (and vastly expired) breath all this time are still excited for this release. I’m so goddamn ready to put an end to this series once and for all, and for Ruari, Corbet, Breena, and Shea to have their happily ever after. Thank you all so much for your patience, understanding, and well wishes as I’ve worked on this thing. I really can’t begin to describe how much it’s meant to be to have people ask about this title over the years. All of the tumblr asks, all of the emails, all of the in person questions… It’s never been obnoxious or anxiety inducing like some people worried it might come across. I really can’t tell you how much it’s helped me to just know that there are people out there who WANT this book, who actively have WAITED and HOPED it might be released soon. Knowing there were people waiting got me back on target better than my own wherewithal ever could.

If you ever reached out to me to ask about Hiraeth, please know that it’s reaching completion and the light of day because you REACHED OUT. Really. Honestly. It’s thanks to you, and please know that I’ve never taken it for granted.

Thirdly, and in line with release info, is Infaust. This is another project that’s taken way too long to get out, but for a very different reason than Hiraeth. I’ve already spoken ad nauseum about the hangups this work has had during its development, so I won’t go into it again here. Just know that December is Infaust Prep month. This is the month where I fully finalize the interior and ready it for publication. I’ll be going over it with a fine-toothed comb, making my last minute changes to it, and packaging it up once and for all for formatting. I’ll also be sending it to Sun for her to read so she can begin drafting up her cover designs (just as soon as she’s finished with her last Oracle of 11 card illustrations! She’s scheduled to be done before Christmas, so I anticipate her picking up Infaust once she’s done with her holiday celebrations).

As of right now, I can’t give a publication date. While I can tell you all that my ultimate goal is to release before Horrorcon (ideally in February like Ossuary did), I’ve been at this way too long to set a permanent, for-sure date before I’ve got the cover in hand. Too much can change when I’m at the whims of other people with their own deadlines and schedules that take precedence over mine. But given what I know, and given how I know Sun works, you can expect Infaust before April barring something catastrophic happening. I’ll have a lot more to say about its release and all the associated goodies and bundles I’m planning to offer for the pre-order after we’ve rounded the new year. Mark your calendars and keep an eye out for social media posts. It’s going to be a lot of fun, and a much bigger release than I’ve ever done before, so long as I get all my ducks in a row!

Lastly, I’d like to promote my Itch.io again! I’ve only got two smutty horror shorts up (so far), but it’s really been such a fun way to release new works without devoting too much time to a book-length project/something that requires a graphic designer to get out. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I definitely recommend doing so, and even if you aren’t interested in what’s currently up, consider following me over there regardless for notifications on when new stuff comes out.

I’ll be releasing all of my backlog on Itchio starting in January as I migrate my ebooks to other venues. For those of you who have moral issues with Amazon/Kindle (which are 100% justified and correct). This will hopefully provide an actual storefront for you to pick up my work without sacrificing your soul to Bezos—or emailing me directly the way a lot of you have in the past. They’ll be hosted there for the same price as they are on Amazon ($5), and if you’re pledged $5 to my Patreon, you’ll get access to them via the Itch.io integration feature automatically. I’m hoping to cross-publish on Itch.io for all new releases as well, so there may be fun pre-order opportunities over there when Infaust gets its pub date.

So… Consider it! Seriously, please consider it if you’d like to keep up to date with my work in an environment I have more control over. I’d love to get a creative community hub going on that site since it really seems like a great place to connect with readers without the drudgery or commercialism of Amazon or the paylock vibe of Patreon. Check it out if that sounds fun to you, and if you’re already over there reading my work, drop a review on Living Dead Boy or Death-Knell! I’d love to read your thoughts!

That’s it for this month. Hope you guys all have a wonderful holiday season, eat a lot of good food, and read a lot of good smut! Definitely pass my work onto any friends who could use some tasty smut in their lives to keep them warm through the winter, and if you’re reading this early in the month, there’s still time to put in an order for a signed book copy or a merch order via my ko-fi store! Get on it, get the goods, and as always, until next time,

T.D. Cloud