TW: Sexual assault, mental illness, etc
It's been four months since I wrote a blog post, but in my defense, I've had a lot going on. At the end of May, I proposed to my girlfriend, now fiancee, and we've been planning our wedding. I started a new job as an academic counselor at 5280 High School, the largest recovery high school in the United States, and it's the best job I've ever had. It's also the most eventful.
I'll let you in on a secret about Only Slightly Dead: It's kind of the reason I'm engaged at all. Three years ago, when I conceived of this book, I asked my fiancee (then friend) to come with me to Georgetown, Colorado for a research project for this book. We spent the day exploring, and by sunset we were in Central City Cemetery. Suffice it to say that I gained more than enough knowledge to press on with the story. That trip was the beginning of the fruition of our relationship, and this book carries special meaning because of it.
Here's the blurb, but I'll elaborate just for you:
"After the death of their parents, twins Seth and Katie are shipped off to live in remote mountain town Echo Creek with their long-lost older brother Ben and his creaking historical home surrounded by rocky woodland.
This once-rotting house has been many things, from church to inn to pyshiactric hospital, and between flickering lights, smashed teacups, and clocks that never chime, it soon becomes clear that they are not the only people there. While Katie is determined to get to the bottom of this strange place, the house won’t answer to her. While Seth would rather shrink into himself, a bizarre, one-shoed entity that only he can see threatens him: Seth must find his name, or he will destroy everything Seth loves.
Haunted by their own grief, the twins must also discover what is haunting everything around them.
An exploration of loss, self-discovery, and queer solidarity across time and space, Only Slightly Dead assures you of one thing: you are not alone."
In the wake of his grief, Seth's depression tripled. His friends alienated him, and his ex-boyfriend took advantage of his grief to talk Seth into doing things that he didn't want to do (something Seth is unwilling to admit was sexual assault). From these encounters, Seth learned that he is HIV+ and has been going to Planned Parenthood in secret for months. Now that he and his sister are moving away from Denver, he no longer has any way to make it to his doctor's appointments or refill his meds, and he decides that he's not going to fight for himself.
Our other POV character, his twin sister Katie, copes with her grief with impulsive behavior and repression. She makes waves in the name of not fading away, and she and Seth are at odds. She instantly knows that their older brother Ben's house has something weird about it, and makes a point to make that her business. In the meantime, she meets local witches from the town of Echo Creek, falls for one of them, and at the same time, falls for his girlfriend, too? Yay, polyamory! Between Katie, witch boy Avery, and history and geology buff Hayley, they know how to save the house.
Ben McMahon, their older brother, is the kind of millennial who never stopped listening to the exact same music he's been listening to since high school. He's a recovering alcoholic and handyman for the town of Echo Creek, and he's spent the last seven years of his life rebuilding this rotting mountain mansion from the ground up. He's also a disabled former marine coping with PTSD and a fucked up knee. He and the twins share a mother, and that mother gave Ben up for adoption when she was sixteen. Ben and the twins had no idea that each other existed.
Ben's best friend and Avery's mother, Evelyn, is arguably the most powerful witch in the Rocky Mountains. She would never call herself that, but other people would. She's good at taking care of things, of people and spirits and roads and houses, and before Ben bought his haunted house, she kept it safe. Now her safeguards are being fucked up by none other than Katie.
Here's the thing: While Katie believes in ghosts, Seth doesn't, so naturally, Seth is the only one who can see a filthy one-shoed entity -- Jesse, not that he knows his name. Jesse demands that Seth find out who he is, and the answer reaches across time and space. His disappearance is one of Echo Creek's greatest mysteries. One night he was there, and the next he was gone.
I'm looking forward to sharing all these people with you. I'm looking forward to telling their stories. I'll most likely be sharing some bonus content on my Patreon, so look out for extras that I'll be posting leading up to the release date.
So here it is:
Coming February 26, 2025:
Only Slightly Dead.
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