Muse Rising

Welcome to the Sparkle Party! This week marks the one year anniversary of my debut novel, The Dark Wife‘s publication. (If you’re just tuning in, The Dark Wife is a YA, lesbian retelling of the Persephone and Hades myth.) My life has changed drastically in one year, and I owe everything to the little novel that could, and to the incredible people who have supported it. This week is in celebration of that fact~

A year ago today, I published my first novel, The Dark Wife. This past week has been very reflective for me…it’s not everyday that a lifelong dream you’ve worked ceaselessly on your entire life (hence the term LIFELONG dream XD) comes true, and when it does…that’s not something to be taken lightly. So I’ve been celebrating in quiet ways, filled with gratitude.

A year ago, I put out a novel that I really believed in. It was a crazy move on my part. I’ve wanted to be an author since I was six years old, writing stories about unicorns with rainbows manes (SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE). An author’s first novel makes or breaks them, and I’d written a retelling of a myth, and I’d retold it in a pretty drastic way, and I was completely unapologetic about reclaiming something that was traditionally straight and deeply unfeminist as…you know. Lesbian and feminist. AND SELF PUBLISHED? Radical stuff! Crazy stuff! What was I thinking stuff!

But I believed in the novel. I believed in the fact that people wanted a story like this. I believed, wholeheartedly, that young women who love other women deserve stories that celebrate them, which has–and always will be–the driving force behind my stories, why I write for hours every single day, why I do everything that I do.

So, I went out on a limb, and I put out The Dark Wife.

And one year later, I am a self employed, full-time lesbian author of lesbian stories.

I’m a really optimistic and happy person. I’m not going to stand here and point fingers at all of the people who told me, once upon a time, that writing lesbian stuff was going to get me absolutely nowhere, that my stuff would never be seen, try writing something straight. I might, for one teeny, tiny moment take a little bow and grin a saucy little grin, but that’s about it. Because this has never been about the people who thought the world wanted nothing but straight stories.

All of this has been about you.

If you’re reading this, I’m going to assume you’re one (or more) of a couple of things. Because this is who my readers are:

- The queer young woman who just came out to her mom.
- The straight woman who loves reading a good story about love and courage and kick-ass ladies.
- The gay man who collects and loves good love stories.
- The straight man who respects lesbian relationships as he respects all relationships and enjoys a good story.
- The gay boy who enjoys queer stories, no matter the protagonist.
- The trans woman who loves queer stories.
- The trans man who supports queer storytellers.
- The bi mother-of-four who said “fuck yes,” when she saw a story about two ladies in love.
- The bi man who believes that love is beautiful no matter what.
- The poly chick who shared the story with her family.

I have the most diverse, beautiful readership in the cosmos, and every fucking day, I wake up and say a resounding thank you to the universe for all of the queer, lesbian, straight, gay, bi, poly people who have believed in my work. I am supported by a vast array of awesome folks who know and understand the importance of the lesbian novel reaching a vast audience, building empathy and giving queer kids the stories that they’re asking for.

Self publishing a lesbian YA book is not easy. Actually, it’s really effing difficult. This past year, I faced more prejudice and anger and bigotry and ignorance than I’d care to elaborate on, and being a lesbian myself, some days it was so hard, dealing with all of that ignorance directed at me, my story, who I am which was all tangled up in the novel, too, that I almost gave up. You have to have the thickest skin in the world to be a minority and publish a book where the minority is the main character in a world that’s still growing and evolving to be something more than tolerant to minorities. Something like accepting. Embracing.

But, as it turns out, the ignorance was always trumped by the excitement, the bigotry was always steamrolled by the support. My fans are some of the most supporting, enduring and big-hearted people in the entire world, and every time I thought I couldn’t take one more comment about lesbians and how “I’ll-never-read-a-book-because-it-has-teh-gayness-in-it,” I would receive an email that told me how much someone had loved The Dark Wife, that it had made a difference. And I kept going.

The voices are still out there. In a lot of circles, it’s still crazycakes that I’m making a living writing books about young ladies who love other young ladies, who kick butt and take names. Don’t I know that lesbian books don’t sell? Don’t I know that women only want to read about gay guys? Don’t I know that the straight world is really uncomfortable with lesbians? (<--all things that have been said to me multiple times.)

No. I don't know. Because it's not true. I've proven it. Straight women who are open-minded love reading a good love story, no matter who it's about. The open-minded, straight world is not uncomfortable with lesbians. And lesbian books do sell. Because the world is desperate for stories that show the variety of life, that tell different perspectives, that have been needed and wanted and asked for.

This is my dream come true, and I’m not going to stop saying thank you. Thank you for believing in me, and my work. Thank you for supporting me, for wanting lesbian stories, for proving to the world that they were wanted and needed. Thank you for responding so positively and wonderfully and excitedly about a novel I put my heart into. Thank you for continuing to buy my work, for continuing to spread the word, for loaning my novel to your friends and your friends’ friends. Thank you for the countless emails telling me how much you loved it, and tweets and re-tweets. Thank you for the encouragement and the big-heartedness and the resounding yes that you have given this little novel that could.

I will never stop telling stories. This is my passion, my dream, my joy, and it has changed my life–through you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. <3

Footnote~

The Dark Wife is a finalist for the Golden Crown Literary Award in both Debut and Speculative Fiction, and the first two audio chapters were nominated for a Parsec Award. It has been produced, through fan support, as a free audiobook, and continues to be downloaded many, many times daily as as a free PDF. It can be purchased…

- on Amazon.com (for Kindle)
- on BarnesAndNoble.com (for Nook)
- on Smashwords (for eReaders/reading online)
- and in paperback

Thanks to the amazing fans of The Dark Wife, our Kickstarter to create the FREE audio book of the ENTIRE novel was a resounding success. <3 As promised, we are pleased to present the VERY first installment of The Dark Wife in audio form! The installments will come roughly bi-weekly until the novel has been completed, and all parts of the novel will be available to download for FREE. <3

The AMAZING Hugh of The Way of the Buffalo Podcast produced, mixed and did all sorts of other fanciness to it to make it sound as amazing as it does (and hosts it <3!), and the illustrious Veronica Giguere provided the beautiful vocal talent.

The Dark Wife — Before

I’ve created a dedicated page for the audio book production, and will be adding each installment there as the story progresses! <3

Excited about my stories? That makes me pretty stoked (and thanks!). Keep up to date with my upcoming releases, by signing up for my mailing list to stay abreast of all updates. You can also add me on Twitter! <3

Welcome to the Sparkle Party! This week marks the one year anniversary of my debut novel, The Dark Wife‘s publication. (If you’re just tuning in, The Dark Wife is a YA, lesbian retelling of the Persephone and Hades myth.) My life has changed drastically in one year, and I owe everything to the little novel that could, and to the incredible people who have supported it. This week is in celebration of that fact~

The Dark Wife actually has a “sister” novel–not because they’re similar or even the same genres, but because they were published on the same day, and the novel was written by my best friend, author Madeline Claire Franklin. <3 The novel is entitled The Poppet and the Lune, and happens to be one of my favorite books in the universe.

“Now, Sarah,” you say, “of course it’s your favorite–your best friend wrote it!” I’m sorry, kids, but that’s not how it works. I HAPPEN TO BE NOTORIOUSLY PICKY. But The Poppet and the Lune (or TPaL, as it’s affectionately known!) is gorgeous beyond reason. The way it’s told, the fairy tale of it all…it’s a magnificent book. Truly magnificent.

AND, because it is also celebrating a one year birthday, it happens to be available for FREE DOWNLOAD on Amazon!

Do yourself a favor and download and indulge in this book–you will love it. <3

Download The Poppet and the Lune for FREE here!

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Welcome to the Sparkle Party! This week marks the one year anniversary of my debut novel, The Dark Wife‘s publication. (If you’re just tuning in, The Dark Wife is a YA, lesbian retelling of the Persephone and Hades myth.) My life has changed drastically in one year, and I owe everything to the little novel that could, and to the incredible people who have supported it. This week is in celebration of that fact, and I thought we’d get the Sparkle Party started off with–well–SPARKLE!, by placing my next novel’s announcement (and cover reveal) on the very first day!

So, it is with a ton of excitement and MORE GLITTER than this world has ROOM for, that I announce The Bone Girl as my next YA novel. <3 Coming late June, it's a dark speculative fiction/dystopia about a girl made of bones and a band of misfits and freaks, and I'm deeply excited about it, and hope you will be, too~ <3 (It's a novel I've been working on for about five years now, so I'm ecstatic to be so close to releasing it!)

The cover was drawn by the supremely amazing and talented Laura Diemer, who also illustrated The Dark Wife‘s cover. <3

In a world where snow never falls and flowers never grow, the animals have learned to speak, and the people change their skins as easily as they change their clothes. But while Skin Peddlers sell fleshy wares in corner shops, the radical Church of the Skinned preaches against the impurity of selling one’s most precious possession.

Until she falls in love with an outcast girl named Mara, one of the reviled Low. This simple act sets events into motion that could destroy the world…or save it.

Excited about this? Keep up to date with The Bone Girl‘s release, by signing up for my mailing list to stay abreast of all updates. You can also add me on Twitter! <3

It has been almost one year since The Dark Wife, my debut novel, was released. It has changed my life forever, this past year, and next week is in celebration, not only of The Dark Wife‘s one year birthday, but of The Dark Wife itself, gratitude, my upcoming novel (including the cover reveal!), and the release of the audio book version of The Dark Wife (which YOU helped to create!). In short: there will be a lot of SPARKLE on this here blog. Perhaps more sparkle than the INTERNET HAS ROOM FOR. ;D

I hope I’ll see you here for The Dark Wife‘s Sparkle Party next week! <3

~*~

To keep up to date with my upcoming projects, please sign up for my mailing list! <3 You can also add me on Twitter! <3

When my wife and I first began dating, we bonded over many things, but none were so strong as our mutual love of Shakespeare. We each had our favorite plays, sonnets, characters, and we each had gotten so much out of his plays, and would talk for hours about the metaphors and magic of the comedies and tragedies. When we were finally able to live together after a long (and heartbreaking!) long distance relationship, we began to go to see Shakespeare plays together as often as we could.

Years ago, we were walking home after a play put on by Shakespeare in Delaware Park (our absolute favorite production company~ <3), and we were laughing about something or other, and Jenn said "you know, you should write a TRULY LESBIAN 'Twelfth Night.'" We both love "Twelfth Night" together, but the gears in my head began to turn, and I replied: "but my favorite is 'A Midsummer Night's Dream...'"

When Jenn and I were married (in fairy wings, at a fairy wedding), much of the wedding ceremony was lines from "A Midsummer Night's Dream." So much of my life has been, in some way, shape or form, marked by that play...it holds incredibly deep meaning for me, and is my favorite of the Bard's work. The seed had been planted. I wanted to retell "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

Years went by, and a very dear friend of mine, who is an incredible artist, Stephanie Blackwell approached me a few months ago. She wanted to collaborate, and I’m deeply in love with her work, and absolutely adore her. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, and I eagerly said yes~ <3

“The Rose Cottage” by Stephanie Blackwell. YOU CAN SEE WHY I ADORE HER ART.

You see, many years ago, when The Dark Wife was in its original version–then called Hymns for Her (I KNOW YOU ARE GLAD I CHANGED THE TITLE), Stephanie did an exquisite piece of art for me, to encourage me to finish the story. <3 (It helped. <3 I did finish it, as you can probably tell. ;D)

Persephone and Hades~ <3

Well, one of Stephanie’s obsessions in life is Titania. As we began to talk about collaborating, everything began to fall into place. <3 We talked over some ideas for a lesbianized version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" over a few months, and it is now official~ <3

The Dream Queen, written by me–Sarah Diemer–and illustrated by Stephanie Blackwell, is a lesbian retelling of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in comic format. It will be released as a free web comic beginning–fittingly enough!– on Midsummer, June 20th, 2012, and will be updated twice (or more!) weekly, until the story is ended. It’s a set story, so there will be a limited number of pages. Once done, we will also be offering it in book format, which should be released sometime this coming late autumn/winter.

I am so excited about this project, and can’t WAIT to share it with you. <3 Stephanie is an exquisite artist, and I am so grateful and excited to be able to work with her to bring this story to life. <3

What's it about? Well, all I can tell you is that tou are going to see Titania, Oberon and Puck as you have never seen them before. <3

Excited about this? We are too! To keep up to date with the project, please sign up for my mailing list to stay abreast of all updates. You can also add me or the ever awesome and fabulous Stephanie Blackwell on Twitter! <3

Today marks the release day of the second edition in our Sappho’s Fables: Lesbian Fairy Tales series! Braided is a lesbian version of Rapunzel, written under my pen name of Elora Bishop. Again, if you’ve enjoyed my other work, I think you’ll very much like Braided. Any spreading of the word is love and very appreciated! ♥

Zelda is cursed to spend her days on a platform in an ancient, holy tree, growing her hair long enough to touch the ground. But it wasn’t her curse to bear: Gray, the witch’s daughter, was meant for that lonely fate. Gray visits Zelda each day, mourning their switched fates, and falling deeper in love with the cursed girl, until one night, at the Not-There Fair, an extraordinary creature outlines a magical plan that could set both of them free. Will Gray’s love for Zelda be strong enough to survive the strange dream world of Chimera, or will Zelda remain a prisoner of the curse forever?

Available for purchase from:
Amazon (Kindle)
Barnes and Noble (Nook) (Coming soon!)
Smashwords (All other eReaders/Online Reading)

I grew up on myth and fairy tales, lugged my gigantic books of Greek mythology and my tattered copies of the color Fairy Tale books out into the woods, where I could read them in the sheltering arms of the great, old oaks. I was a very fanciful child, and lived more in my head and my imagination than the real world (as most authors could tell you), and studied fairy tales not just for their stories, but for their deeper, archetypal meanings. Fairy tales and mythology have been a part of my life for always, and I have built my life of them. My marriage with my wife, how we found and fell in love with each other is a fairy tale. All of my the books I have written have something to do with fairy tales. We were married in fairy wings, and every aspect of our daily lives has something to do with fairy tales, whether we’re cutting up old, unloved fairy tale books to transform them into wearable art that someone new can love, or retelling the most famous fairy tales from a lesbian perspective, fairy tales fill and enrich our lives. <3 In short: I love them.

I am covered in tattoos. Every single one means something deep and important. I think of tattoos as spells and invocations--each tattoo I possess is a deep, colorful part of myself that has come to life on my skin. I have this superstition that every tattoo that comes out on a person was always meant to be, was--indeed--already under their skin, and the tattoo artist simply drew it out. Tattoos are a sacred artform to me, and I love them a great deal.

As any true Virgo rising (hah!), each section of my body has its own tattoo type. So, my legs and feet are all ocean tattoos (mermaid tail!), my chest/shoulders/everything above that is celestial, my torso is earth, my left arm is spirituality/the Goddess/Magic, and my right arm is Story and all things associated thereof. The word “Storyteller” is tattooed to my right wrist, the section of my body that I, arguably, see the most, as a constant reminder that this is who I am, always and forever. I wanted the rest of the arm to be filled with Story, in all of its magical forms.

Story, to me, is a spirituality in and of itself. I must write. I can’t NOT write. Writing is my entire life, and is a very spiritual act, so I wanted to marry that, somehow, to the concept of Story. I love stained glass windows, and–obviously–fairy tales have built my life. So I decided…what could be better than a stained glass window of fairy tales as a half-arm tattoo sleeve?

And so, it began.

(photo by the incredible Laura Vasilion of me, on my wedding day <3)

I love far too many fairy tales to even count, and I wanted reminders of all of them–choosing the symbols and images to put into the stained glass window made for difficult decisions. In the end, I followed my heart (always a useful thing to do~), and decided on:

The Wolf from “Little Red Riding Hood:” She (of course she’s a she ;D) is on the top of the window, not as an admonishment that following-strangers-into-the-woods-ends-badly, but that the Woods is dark and deep, and adventures are to be had, and you must trust your heart and your instincts, and that the strangers we meet might be the ones we end up loving the most.

The apple from the Garden of Eden: As a Pagan, I believe the Bible to be filled with stories. In the story of Eve, she chooses the apple–and wisdom–of her own free will, one of the most beautiful and heroic actions that can ever be taken in a story.

Beauty from “Beauty and the Beast:” Based on one of Mucha’s paintings, Beauty has been altered to hold a book. Below her rests the mirror and ring from the fairy tale. The mirror says a simple word: “home.” The word “home” is from the musical…the entire fairy tale of “Beauty and the Beast” is “our” fairy tale, my and my wife’s. It’s our most precious, and most meaningful, and the word “home” is taken from the musical. This whole section of the tattoo has to do with love, that love=home, that home is love. <3 <3 <3

Maple leaf, oak leaf and acorn: The seed of a fairy tale is the forest…stories begin under trees. The woods is a metaphor for so very many things, and the woods holds fairy tales. I wanted symbols of not only my own childhood forest where I began the fairy tale journeys in my beloved books, but reminders of every forest in existence, because in that is the knowledge that all things are connected.

The Woods: As above, when you enter the forest, you commit yourself to Story. I grew up in the woods, it was my home, and I believe you find yourself in the forest. The unicorn (YOU ARE NOT SURPRISED) in the center is the end of every fairy tale ever. It is the “Happily ever after.” <3

The Star Girl: One of my favorite writers in the world is Isabel Wyatt. My sense of whimsy, wonder and magic is directly linked to how her books shaped and changed me as a child. One of my favorite stories is one that she retold, about two star children, sisters, who must save each other from a wicked witch. It touched me, and has never let go. The story is about trust and courage and faith–even in the darkest hour–and I needed that on me, permanently, forever. <3

So I got the star girl, again based on another Mucha painting~

The pomegranate from the myth of Persephone: What we choose changes us. And we always have the power of choice. <3 This one, I think, is the most self explanatory. For a longer explanation, look to The Dark Wife~

A Wild Swan from “The Wild Swans:” Within us is the wild, always reachable, that seed of ourselves that longs for freedom, and will always search for it. Hopefully, someday, finding it. <3

All of the images show a very, very long journey of the tattoo. I’ve had it worked on for years, and it’s still not done (TATTOOS ARE EXPENSIVE), but will someday. <3 I'm blessed in the fact that my tattoo artist is also a dear friend, Cat of Strange Brew Tattoos. The center forest, with the unicorn, will finally be filled in, in May, another piece of the puzzle complete. <3

All stories take time to grow and be told, all stories change us. The invocation of fairy tales upon my arm has, of course, changed my life as fairy tales tend to do.

Fairy tales ask us: do you have courage? Do you believe in magic? Don’t stay on the path, be kind to strangers, believe in yourself. A heroine or hero exists in every single one of us, and anything is possible if we find the strength to step off the beaten path, beneath the trees, and search for something better.

And that’s something that’s been written on my skin. <3

Today marks the release day of the first edition in our Sappho’s Fables: Lesbian Fairy Tales series! Crumbs is a lesbian version of Hansel and Gretel, written under my pen name of Elora Bishop. If you’ve enjoyed my other work, I think you’ll very much like Crumbs. Any spreading of the word is love and very appreciated! ♥

Crumbs (Hansel and Gretel)

Greta’s never ventured beyond the refuge of the Heap. Outside, the Ragers lurk, ever hungry and hunting. But Greta and her brother, half-starved and now alone, must risk death for the dream of safety they hope to find within the metal forest. Once there, nothing is as it seems: in the confines of a crumbling old candy factory, the woman who rescues them with sweet words and sweeter treats harbors a dangerous secret.

Available for purchase from:
Amazon (Kindle)
Barnes and Noble (Nook)
Smashwords (All other eReaders/Online Reading)

So, I write gay girl stories. It’s what I do, it’s what I LIVE for (that, and my wife. And chocolate.), and many of my stories are serious, and some of them are funny. But most of them are serious.

But I don’t like to take myself too seriously, and my lovely wife and I were joking around one day, and we began talking about a hypothetical Sparkle Princess Were-Unicorn many moons ago. And the idea stuck. It’s absolutely ridiculous, and awesome, and not a joke (but it’s funny!), so I reveal to you, tonight, m’dears, THE BOOK THAT IS COMING SOON. A short story collection of SPARKLY proportions (translation: a YA anthology about magical queer girls containing unicorns, fairies, vampires, werewolves, witches, shapeshifters, ghosts and OTHER THINGS):

Sparkle Princess Were-Unicorn (And Other Glittery, Queer, Off-the-wall, Rainbow-Coated Stories)

Every time there’s a rainbow in the sky, Sabrina has the awkward misfortune of suddenly becoming a unicorn. Were-unicorns are supposed to protect the magical Sparkle Princess, but Sabrina didn’t sign up for this–she is determined to find a cure for were-unicorn-ism. That is, until she falls head over heels in love with the Sparkle Princess, who–after all–really does need protecting from her arch-enemy: the evil, yet marvelous, Violentta. Is Sabrina up to the task of a rainbowy showdown, or will Violentta get exactly what she wants: the crown of the Sparkle Princess?

“Sparkle Princess Were-Unicorn” is one of nine glittery, queer, off-the-wall, rainbow-coated stories about magical, queer young ladies. They contain a good dose of absolutely-no-seriousness and a great big bag of sparkle.

I was ecstatic when my short story, “The Witch Sea,” won Kissed by Venus’s Fresh Voices short story competition. So much so, that I decided when I released it as a downloadable eBook, I would make it free. The original short story was roughly eleven thousand words, but the short story competition’s cut off for entry was four thousand words. “The Witch Sea” was the story I wanted to submit, so I ended up taking much of a side story and many, many scenes out of the original tale in order to enter it. I now release the full, extended version as a free downloadable eBook to you~ It is now available on Smashwords, and should soon be available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble–I’ll update with links when it’s live! <3

Download “The Witch Sea” for FREE on Smashwords!

The witch Meriel has spent her entire life in the lighthouse on tiny Bound Island. Upon the distant shore prowls an ancient sea god kept captive by a generations-old spell, a spell that Meriel alone must protect.

This award-winning short story (“The Witch Sea” won first place in the “Kissed by Venus” Fresh Voices short story competition) is a dark fantasy tale of love, loss and the price of freedom.

(“The Witch Sea” will be included in the same collection of short stories as “Far–” the collection, Love Devours: Tales of Monstrous Adoration is coming soon!)