Bringing to life a cozy fantasy adventure novel!

Experience magical realism with gargoyles-turned-dragons, a wide, inclusive cast, scrumptious baked treats, and, as always, saucy dialogue.

Welcome to The Gus Chronicles.

Do you think there’s enough fiction in the world that showcases queer people or shows examples of positive masculinity? Because I don’t. The Gus Chronicles is meant to ask provocative questions of why society at large feels threatened by those that are “other” or “different”.

Hello!

It’s been a wild ride ever since Gus came into my life on that fateful evening in spring 2023. Most of the first book came to me between the hours of 10 p.m. and midnight, an inconvenient time, to say the least. I thought I would be writing a silly little one-off adventure about men supporting each other and adding a vague allegory to transgender rights as the chewy, chocolatey center.

Oh, no. I was a sweet, innocent child back then. Now I know better. Everyone has A LOT more to say on the subject of the origins of oppression, equal rights, protecting the marginalized, and also enjoying some wonderful sweet treats along the way.

Book 2 goes deeper, further, and wider than book 1. We meet TONS of new supporting characters. Vampires. Werewolves. Pixies. Magicians. Carpenters. Actors. Yarn wholesalers. There are love interests for both Brant AND Nico. Nico’s dad shows up! Military! Science delegation! The public thinks Gus could be an alien!

We experience pressures outside the house as everyone wants a piece of the action. We experience pressures inside the house because beyond trying to raise a toddler, that toddler is also displaying magical abilities not seen in 400 years AND is throwing tantrums!

But worry not, intrepid reader. We have plenty of twists and surprises and coziness along the way. Illusions will get shattered in so many directions. Nothing is what it appears.

I have set up this fundraiser to fund the publication of my next novel, What to Suspect When You’re Suspecting. This is the follow-up to my first novel, Guarding Gus. You all were absolutely CLUTCH in bringing Guarding Gus to life last summer by blowing my fundraising goals out of the water and I am just tippity-tappety dancing to be going through this journey. Again. Ahem. No, truly! I am. I am already scheming on book 3, as well.

What We Need:

The base fundraiser is to put down deposits for the cover artist and developmental editor to get started on their work right away. If we hit our first stretch goal, that will go towards deposits on the sensitivity readers. The second stretch goal is to pay the balance on the cover art.

When:

This fundraiser will run from March 1st to March 31st. It is geared towards friends and family, but sharing of the fundraiser is encouraged to your networks. I am doing a second fundraiser to pay for the rest of the expenses that is geared towards the wider fan base. The book is projected to cost $7000-8000 overall.

Gofundme support is making me add this statement:

"No raffles, sweepstakes, giveaways, or promotions are offered in exchange for any donations made to my GoFundMe."

Publishing timeline:

The ebook is expected to be out by late July 2024. The print book is expected to be out by late September 2024. Exclusive content will come out 2-3 weeks before the official publication date.

Content warnings include:

Themes/Tropes:

Positive masculinity, chosen family, trans experiences, baby with superpowers, dumb dads, marginalized rights, stewardship, brotherhood, LGBTQIA community, very minor slow-burn romances

A note on cultural appreciation:

Due to the very nature of being a white, female writer (even though I am in the LGTBQIA family) biases can still emerge. To this end, I hired two sensitivity readers to address the Latino trans representation in my book. There are deep concepts here regarding rights, gender, and ownership. Because of this, some aspects of the book are meant to make you uncomfortable and to question what you know about both marginalized rights and the rights of a being not already established in society. Additionally, there are questions of animal rights.

Final thoughts:

Even if you can’t donate, this is your gentle-yet-incessant reminder that shares, likes, boosts, and comments are all super appreciated, no matter what social media platform we connect on! All updates or notices about the fundraiser are set to to public for your sharing pleasure. You hold more power than you know by helping me crush it with the engagement. You can help conquer the algorithm!