#cascade apocrypha storyworld

[indigoinka]

Fat lesbian vampire story is free!

Secrets at the Door is free on all the retailers until the end of the month.

The secrets aren't at the door. They're already in the house.

Betsy’s reluctance to lead the Merryweather coven puts her entire family in danger, and with an injured vampire showing up on their doorstep and a bloodborn harvest to resurrect, they can’t afford mistakes.

When the coven is targeted on neighbouring Castle land, the only reliable witness is a young girl found hiding in the family mausoleum. But Lotus is not what she seems.

The girl is a secret keeper with a bind on her tongue. And when one of the Merryweathers finds Lotus unconscious in the woods, Betsy helps her unravel her tongue, slowly learning the terrible truth of what her coven has been harbouring for years.

This book features a fat, beekeeping lesbian vampire, a queer well-demon in need of a haircut, vampires who make very bad decisions, and a case of stone-cold revenge. There are romantic elements (f/f & m/nonbinary).

[indigoinka]

Queer Archangel detective shenanigans in Victorian London

OUT TODAY!

Puddles in the Pavement is a gaslamp mystery set in the same world as my main series, based on this question: What if Holmes & Watson were queer and archangels and bastards?

It's available to read on Kobo Plus.

*** What horrors lurk in the puddles in the pavement?

Archangels Uriel and Bel investigate when a distraught lady’s fiancé falls into a puddle and doesn’t come out. But he’s not the only one to be dragged into mysterious depths.

Foul games are afoot in Victorian London, where a well-demon is turned loose from his underground prison with one mission: to collect victims for the torturous games of an idle, immortal duke.

When a single victim from each hunt is returned to their home, word spreads of a deadly wolf, who speaks with the voice of God, striking a new fear into the heart of London.

Why was Lady Emilia’s fiancé taken when he has nothing in common with the other puddle-snatched men? How can Uriel and Bel get him back? And where is that awful singing coming from?

This book features a duke with terrible table manners, a Home Secretary with a questionable appendage, and an exceptionally perky butler.

[indigoinka]

This is from Cadence of Truth, book 6 of Not the Same River, which comes out at the end of next month, though readers on my subscription are getting it right now (3 chapters twice a week).

In this excerpt, Violet’s about to get into it with the Archangel Gabriel (stops before spoilers)…

“I’ve never met any other gods.”

It feels like a blatant lie. It feels like twitching fingers and a compulsion to lower my head. It feels like I’ve met many gods.

“Then you must wait.” Elijah leans forward. “At least you won’t be forced to wear shades.”

Like I needed a reminder that my eyes are fucked. “Is that it?”

“I have said all I intend to.”

Before I can catch my breath, he’s gone, teleported to who knows where.

“Wanker,” I say to nobody.

A deep chuckle rumbles through the door from the dark sitting room I assumed was empty.

***

“What are you doing sitting in the dark?” I ask from the doorway. “I thought Michael had cornered the whole brooding and melancholy market.”

Gabriel downs his drink, the bottle beside him almost empty. “This isn’t an ordinary night.”

“Yeah, I guess not.” He’s not glowing. “Where’s your halo?”

“Be assured I’ll don it when necessary.”

“Please don’t get wankered though. We still need you.”

His head falls back with a thud, and he groans. “I much prefer it when you sharpen your claws on me, Violet. It’s easier to maintain my distance when everyone thinks I’m an insufferable clod. I’m supposed to ride alone, remember?”

[indigoinka]

Just finished proofreading Cadence of Truth, and it made me cry for the millionth time. It’s off to the final proofie tomorrow, then I’ll be formatting. Can’t believe this whole series, which sat in my brain for decades, will be over by the end of February 😭

[indigoinka]

PSA: A Storm of Paper Starlings is complete on Wattpad

Okay, that's it. The whole thing is in the title.

This is book 1 of a 6-book series, the one I explained the origins of in that podcast that went live last week. I totally didn't get emotional 👀

[indigoinka]

The Dryad's Curse

Just finished another chapter of book two of my queer paranormal pirate adventure, and the ship's figurehead is not the only one with a curse 👀

[indigoinka]

BFFs

A Storm of Paper Starlings—well, the whole series, really—is the story of my heart. It’s been lurking in there since I was twelve, and it took forever to come out.

Violet and Leia’s friendship is so precious to me.

The rest of this chapter went live on Wattpad today (it’s up to chapter 33 now) and Leia is visiting Violet for the first time since she moved in with her new family in the Oxfordshire countryside, where nothing is what it seems.

~~~

Leia's feet are aching, and my stomach is rumbling, so we head back to the house.

"This place is... just like you," she says. "I bet you never get bored here."

She's right. I never do. "How is it like me?"

"Hm." She walks backwards in front of me. "Let me count the ways. It buzzes with life, yet it's quiet and still. It's limitless, you know, so much to discover."

"You nearly died after a half-hour walk," I huff out.

"Yeah, but I'm a talker, not a walker. It's perfect for you." She stumbles a bit when she steps on an unseen twig. "The house is full of secrets and wonky corners."

"I have wonky corners?"

She hums and taps her lips. "Undecided corners."

"What does that even mean?"

"It means your spiky edges are wearing off."

"Whatever will I use to keep the weirdos away now?"

She laughs. "Are we pretending weirdos aren't your favourite?"

"It's true," I admit. "I'm partial to weirdos."

She wobbles when her heel hits a divot. "Just as well, since you told me you have a houseful."

"They're great, Leia. Really."

"Good," she says, facing the house before she falls over anything else. "Because greatness is what you deserve." She hugs my arm and leans her head on my shoulder. "This place is beautiful, Vi."

"Oh, good," I say. "We're still counting the ways."

Leia looks up at me and rolls her eyes, and I can't stop smiling. Then a laugh bursts out of me because Leia fancies Daniel.

"Yeah, we are. There's also a..." She sniffs the air a few times before finishing, "a faint odour of goat and manure."

~~~

I love them so much.

[indigoinka]

Panic at the Dockside!

Armando’s having a very shit time, bless his little unclaimed nephilim heart.

~~~

The thing clinging to his ankle was definitely human. Human and hungry. Its head had the appearance of a skull wrapped in paper and glue. Its ribcage swung back and forth as if it were made of softened rope, the bones battered smooth like sea glass.

~~~

You can read the rest of this chapter of Victorian Vampire Daddy on Wattpad.

[indigoinka]

An excerpt from A Storm of Paper Starlings. The rest of this chapter will go live tomorrow on Wattpad.

Violet’s learning more about her new family every day, and it seems everyone is hiding something.

~~~

Adam sounds frail when he calls me into his study. The room ticks as usual, all the clocks aligned but one, which ticks loudly on the offbeat. It didn't do that last time I was here. There's no tobacco smell either, just the incense drifting in the sun-hazy shaft of light from the only open curtain.

"Doesn't that annoy you?"

He glances up in confusion. "What?"

"The off clock."

"Oh, that." He waves his hand dismissively. "I hardly notice anymore."

He waves me into the seat opposite him, looking serious and determined. He pushes a DVD across the desk.

"What is it?"

"You need to promise me you won't watch it until I'm gone," he says.

"Where are you going?" As soon as the words are out, I realise what he means.

"Until I'm dead. You must promise me, Violet."

[indigoinka]

Kenna being a clueless muffin

I probably won’t post about this story too much because it’s a Ream exclusive, but I love these characters already. Earth Render is MMMMF (not reverse harem, just a weird little polycule with various dynamics) and it’s set in the same universe as the rest of my paranormal fantasy stories.

This is a tiny excerpt from Taryn (vampire) and Kenna (his clueless and faithful vaewolf).

~~~

“It was after my mum died. I asked if there was anyone you loved, and you told me you loved me like a brother.”

“That was twenty years ago, Kenna. You think my feelings haven’t changed since then?”

My stomach flips as he moves closer. I just wish I could figure out what the hell he’s trying to tell me.

His hand lands on my shoulder, which feels… friendly? Then, he slides his palm over my skin, his gaze dropping to my chest, which is prickling with heat. His hand meets my neck, thumb rubbing over my Adam's apple, which feels a whole lot more intense, and my dick is getting on board with whatever this is before my brain is ready.

“I’ve always loved you, Kenna. And there is so much platonic love in there that I don’t know how to separate it from the things I want to do to you.” 👀

~~~

If you don't know, Ream is like a cross between Patreon (subscriber tiers) and Wattpad (social ereader) with added community functionality built in. The platform is very queer friendly and they don't censor spicy authors.

[indigoinka]

When your uncle is the Archangel Michael

Working on edits for my next release, Puddles in the Pavement (coming end of September). There are more archangels in this book than any of my others, and I love them with all my heart.

Uriel's son, Warwick, is left behind to raise the alarm when Uriel and Bel disappear after being dragged into a puddle in the heart of Victorian London.

~~~

It had been perhaps two years since he’d seen Michael in the flesh, and he worried for the man’s sanity. Tonight, he wore a thick beard, an embroidered slate-blue coat with gold buttons, a white neckerchief above a brown waistcoat, and a tricorne. A parrot, which Warwick hoped was a prop for its own sake, fell off Michael’s shoulder and bounced rigidly on the floorboards.

Two echoes within five minutes of each other was an angel emergency. Who attended an emergency dressed like this?

Warwick shot his uncle a disdainful look. “What the hell are you wearing?”

“I was in rehearsals,” Michael said defensively.

“For what?” He cringed. “Have you and Raphael been playing dress-up again? Ew, it’s not the one where the naval officer has to rescue the feisty cabin boy from the lusty pirate, is it? Because my head is already melting in revolt at the notion.”

“And yet it’s your own head brewing such wildly inaccurate scenarios,” Michael claimed. “I’ve never bedded a cabin boy in my life.”

“Is that because Raphael beats you to it every time?”

“Shut up and tell me why I’m here, Squirrel.”

“I told you not to call me that,” Warwick protested.

“It’s a term of endearment,” Michael alleged.

“You keep saying that like it’s true.”

“But you look like a squirrel when you try to keep your glasses on your ridiculously small nose.”

Warwick threw his hands up. “Ugh. You’re revolting.”

“I wouldn’t have to bother with endearments if you didn’t insist on being called Warwick,” Michael muttered.

“And I wouldn’t have felt compelled to change it if my father hadn’t given me such a stupid fucking name,” Warwick countered with a huff. “Nor would I have called you if I’d been able to call Gabriel instead. He knows how to get things done.”

“And yet, here I am because you called me. What’s going on?”

“Bel and my father were pulled into a puddle… I assume by a well-demon.”

Michael frowned. “This is that puddle nonsense? Don’t tell me it’s true.”

“Where have you been, Michael? It’s been all over the news for weeks.”

“News, you say?” Michael injected as much disdain for the word as he could muster.

Warwick laughed. His uncle had featured in the newspaper so many times for everything from dismal theatre performances to his excessive use of the legal system.

“You’re just sore because the editor doesn’t like you,” Warwick said.

“He called me a boorish ham,” Michael cried.

“He took that back in the very next sentence,” Warwick reminded him.

“Only to say he’d expected better acting from a joint of meat.”

Warwick laughed. “You were awful as Hades.”

“He wished me a smooth journey to the underworld.” Michael pouted. “I make a much better pirate. Just you wait and see. I shall be a triumph.”

“I look forward to it,” Warwick said. “Send me tickets for… the fourth week of the run.”

Michael narrowed his eyes. “You’re only saying that because the last three shows were cancelled in their third week.”

“I am your loving nephew, Michael. I would never do such a thing.”

[indigoinka]

Victorian Vampire Daddy

This will start up on Wattpad tomorrow, and it will get spicy. It's MM, set in Victorian London, where a clumsy nephilim without his powers needs a vampire protector for himself and his ward. It’s only gonna be weekly on Fridays. I have another book on there already (same storyworld), which updates on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays, and a new contemporary MMM romance that’s gonna be updating on Tuesdays & Thursdays, so I’m already pushing it.

Here’s an excerpt:

Armando Rose eyed the dirty child huddled on the floor between the wall and a perfectly serviceable chair in the corner of the solicitor’s office. Its matted hair was the golden colour of wheat fields ready for harvest, and appeared to have been appropriately threshed rather than shaped with scissors. The child was swamped by a baggy brown shirt and trousers that looked like they might fall down if the child moved, and which were rolled up into a thick sausage around its bony ankles.

“There must be a mistake,” Armando said.

The letter from Malory and Brown Solicitors had been vague. Harriett Oates had left him a bequest. He’d been saddened to hear of her death; she was a frolicking lamb of a woman, all sweet and cheerful until she was wronged. Then, she grew shark’s teeth.

The exhausted man behind the desk adjusted his spectacles. Mr Brown wore a brown suit with a brown tie. On the back of the door, hung a brown coat and a brown hat. He had that Irish look about him, where the hair goes white while the eyebrows refuse to give in to age and remain resolutely black. “No mistake.”

“But—”

“How many men do you suppose there are in London called Armando Rose?”

“Not many,” he conceded.

“And in Stepney?”

“Just the one, I should think.” Armando eyed the child again. It was slowly banging its head against the wall, just for something to do. Armando lowered his voice. “What is it?”

“It’s a child, Mr Rose.”

“No. I mean is it a boy?” He could probably manage a boy. It looked like it might be a boy. Or a very large mouse.

“She is a girl. Her name is Cecilia.”

[indigoinka]

Hi! I’m finally getting around to that intro post I promised months ago, and honestly, you could be here for some time.

I’m squatting on a whole bunch of social media accounts, but this is the only place I feel safe anymore, though I do have a little reader group on the Meta-hole (🤢). I wish I could get my AuDHD head around Discord, but it feels like the old Yahoo boards mated with a speeding train, and I'm just too tired for that. 

Wherever you look, I’ll be indigoinka or Inka York there.

This is me:

About me, then:

I love tea. Would I even be British if I didn’t?

I love cake. British.

And cider. British.

Yeah, and pie.

Food. I like food.

Please rec queer TV shows to me because I don’t watch as much as I should, and sometimes I just need to refill my crusty old well.

I love supporting indie authors, and rarely read trad stuff these days unless the blurb and sample are god tier.

Feel free to ask questions and tag me in writing games, or whatever shenanigans you get up to around here.

What do I write?

I write queer books, mostly urban fantasy, and usually set in the same storyworld. I also write contemporary gay romance, sometimes with an alien twist. And I’m wide with my books, so you can find them at all the major online retailers and in library catalogues.

I write what I like to read, which sometimes includes problematic tropes, but mostly includes wholesome shit like twin stories, sibling banter, ride or die friendships, a hearty mix of fluff and angst, found families, annoying ghosts, salty supernaturals, cinnamon rolls with knives, and sentient vehicles. Oh, and goats. I love me a judgemental goat.

My favourite tropes

Well, it started as a love triangle/square/dodecahedron, but now everybody's fucking (I don't know what this trope is actually called)

Forced proximity/only one bed (or coffin, in my case)

Friends to lovers (AKA idiots who took too long to notice how perfect they are)

Grumpy/Sunshine

Secret twins

Rivals to lovers

Hurt/comfort

My storyworlds

Cascade Apocrypha (queer paranormal/urban fantasy in many subgenres from pirate adventures to cosy mysteries to paranormal romance)

Feverish (contemporary gay romance)

Dracate System (AKA Gay Space Bridgerton)

My books

My first series, Not the Same River, is urban fantasy, upper YA/crossover, set in the Cascade Apocrypha storyworld. It features angels, demons, vamps, vaewolves, goats, succubus nuns, and villains to cry over. Book five is out this month, and the final book is out in February. This is the story of my heart, and the one that spurred a thousand spin-offs that I'll never have time to write.

The first book in that series, A Storm of Paper Starlings, is complete on Wattpad and Inkitt. I was gonna put it on AO3, but it feels weird because I tore all my Potter fics down when JKR started flashing her arse at the entire world, and everything I had on there felt dirty. Anyway, I digress. I might go back. Talk me into it.

I also have two other books updating on Wattpad:

🩷 Victorian Vampire Daddy (MM historical romantic suspense/Cascade Apocrypha)

🩷 My Ex & His Boyfriend (MMM/Feverish storyworld)

My other current series, Tales from the Noctuary (Cascade Apocrypha), has two books out at the retailers:

🩷 Secrets at the Door (historical mystery/suspense with lesbian romance): fat, beekeeping lesbian vampire, queer well-demon with a bad haircut, nonbinary treasure who sometimes makes bad decisions, everybody be gay.

🩷 Puddles in the Pavement (historical mystery and outright shenanigans): queer archangel brother detectives, a perky butler, an escort of indeterminate gender with the worst singing voice in the known world, a vampire duke with terrible table manners, and a Home Secretary with an unasked for appendage (let's hope that doesn't get around).

I have two more books written for this series so far, which will likely debut in my subscription.

Getting to that...

My subscription

13 Club: After Dark is hosted at Ream Stories, the only subscription platform designed specifically for authors and readers, and it is amazing.

You just click on the book cover you want, and the app will drop you into the social e-reader right where you left off, so you can comment right there inside the story. It’s like Patreon + Wattpad + a community board + extra sauce.

Honestly, I could gush about it all week.

This is also me:

So, what’s there?

Well, first, you can follow me there (which is free, obvs) and get access to:

The Weakest Link (Not the Same River #0): features the series MC’s twin sister and the coven she grew up in.

The Cursed Bones of Sergeant Boom!: a contemporary paranormal mystery involving a ghost who gatecrashed a funeral and got followed home by a necromantified corgi (as one does).

Pride’s Treasure: a series of mini adventures with characters from all the stories above, where all the chaos is your fault, because the MC of this story is YOU!

In the paid tiers, there’s 8 weeks early access to the two stories updating on Wattpad, the whole Not the Same River series so far (book 5 is updating now, before it hits the retailers at the end of October 2023). There’s also a 13 Club exclusive story called Earth Render, which is MMMMF (but not reverse harem), again set in the Cascade Apocrypha storyworld. That one features a witch with no beginning, a raven shifter with the best taste in pets, a vampire with memory issues, a vaewolf who can’t control his wolfism, and a nephilim with a huge secret. I promise not to give the Archangel Gabriel a horse penis in this story 👀

There are also physical welcome packs for some of the tiers, and all members are rewarded with After Darkling points, which they can save up each month for sweet treats, like a personalised drabble, or a one-shot featuring their favourite character, or some mystery merch. I love my After Darklings and my little club so much.

My main WIPs at the moment are:

Earth Render serial (mentioned above)

The Dryad's Curse: Pirates of Siorai trilogy (paranormal pirate adventure with romance/Cascade Apocrypha)

Gay Space Bridgerton (space fantasy romance with interplanetary political intrigue and hapless humans/Dracate System)

Almost done... maybe

That was a whole lot of intro (mate, do I love the word shenanigans), but I’m a busy goblin, and though my days are only marginally more comfortable than my painful nights, I still feel grateful that I get to do this every day.

I’d love to chat with you here, on Wattpad,  in my FB group (same name as my sub) or over at 13 Club: After Dark. My subscription is what keeps me and my writing going, so if you’re here because you already love my stories, and you have the means, I’d love to see you over there. Your support would mean the world to me, whether it’s a follow or more. I love in-story comments more than life.

I’d love more friends on here, though. So if you’re into queer media and love reading, feel free to follow and I'll follow back.

That’s it from me. I’m finally shutting the fuck up.

Come chat with me whenever you want.

Stay safe!

❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜

[indigoinka]

To that pretty boy in The Works

Back when I was finding face claims for this story, when it had a less tropey name, I was kind of stuck on a face for my Jack Wish character. He’s an absolute arsehole, but I knew I wanted him to be a pretty arsehole.

Anyway, I was in town, in a discount book shop, when this guy came in wearing a silky top hat, which he'd tucked under his arm. It was a couple of days before the Dickens’ Festival (yes, I live in one of those places), so I figured it had something to do with that. I wasn’t bold enough to sneak a photo, but he had this lovely long platinum hair with deliberately dark roots, and I changed the whole of Jack’s legend for that guy.

So, whoever you are… Thanks.

This is a snippet from tomorrow’s chapter on Wattpad:

He’d expected his men to laugh when he told them the boy’s story, but every last man had frozen in silent unease. The hairs on the back of Jack’s neck had stood on end, goosebumps had swept along his skin, and, finally, he had felt like the secrets to his brother’s sinister demise were within reach.

Two dead men later, and his brother’s men—now his—had squealed like a barrel of pigs. They’d all told the same story, all except one.

~~~

You can read Victorian Vampire Daddy (AKA Two Souls & a Pocket Watch) on Wattpad.