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Schaut mal, hier läuft noch ein Gewinnspiel bis heute Nacht!

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Author Spotlight: Queer Romantasy author C. Quince

C. Quince (he/they) is a MENA/SWANA British author who lives in England, enjoys Sci-Fi and Fantasy, History, and Halloween.

AUTHOR LINKS:

Author Site: cquince.my.canva.site

Book Sample: Consorting with the King

Book Pitch to Book Clubs/Readers:

Consorting with the King is a Bridgerton meets Studio Ghibli style Romance, set in a Solarpunk-inspired utopia.

Your m/m romantasy is out now with JMS Books, a small queer indie publisher. Introduce us to Consorting with the King and tell us what romantasy means to you as a genre.

To me, Romantasy is a blend of Romance and Fantasy, and there is quite a bit of PLOT in the story! For Consorting with the King, Prince Francis gets swept up in international match making plans, but nothing is as straightforward as promised, leading to a comedy of errors/Rom-Com situation.

What inspirations and influences did you draw upon while you were writing this novella?

To get into character and era, I watched a lot of shows like Bridgerton, The Crown, and period favourites like any Jane Austen film.

I was also influenced by shows like Versailles, films like the 00s Marie Antoinette, and Three Thousand Years of Longing.

Introduce us to your MMCs, Prince Francis of Sachs-Stormburg & King Omar, with five fun facts about each of them, and what they would choose from a banquet to eat and drink!

Prince Francis is very sweet, he’s German, strawberry blond haired, pale and burns easily in the sun. He’s a shy bookworm, he often hides behind his more boisterous friends at social engagements, which he does try to during the story. Despite his shy personality he is willing and eager to try new foods, and samples the best Istanbul has to offer (even when another guest tries to steal his food!).

Nobody knows much about the elusive King Omar, who is rarely seen in public, and usually hidden behind a screen, much to all his guest’s dismay. (The kind stranger that Francis meets in the garden, however, Haşim, is very fond of sweet treats!)

How did you create a queernormative society as you were worldbuilding, and play with the consort trope/ tournament of skills trope to create the premise for the story?

I don’t write queernormative societies in my opinion, instead I focus on queer friendly pockets of society. One could call them a mini society perhaps!

For example Francis a gay man whose close circle of friends and family know that and support him, but he cannot be out at court or at home, as the ruling monarch is strict and religious.

King Omar’s court in contrast, is a queer friendly pocket set against a sea of heteronormativity. I’ve based this mainly on real history worldwide where queer people would live life under a safe roof, and have their queer parties behind closed doors, so to speak. Those in the know, know; the Allies. And anyone else is otherwise oblivious to this queer underbelly, or in friendlier places they can simply look the other way.

Much of the story with the tournament of suitors takes place in one palace, a controlled environment, and it was fun to place all the men into the royal harem to subvert the usual tropes.

It is remarked upon by one antagonist that he expected ‘sexy belly dancers’, but a harem was mainly the designated place for the women of the palace, the sultan’s wives and family, not just for concubines. And I did put some belly dancers including a male dancer into the story, just not where the reader might expect to see them!

How did you work in solar power and its potential in this setting, and what gave you the idea to centre renewable energy?

I’m very inspired by Studio Ghibli films and other Sci-Fi media that focus on natural and renewable energy sources, and living in harmony with nature. There’s an author’s note at the end of the book about world building and locations, but one specific thing I did was borrow ancient air conditioning from the city of Yazd in Iran: the tall wind towers that have stood for centuries, they capture wind from high up and funnel it down to cool the streets.

In my story I put these structures in Istanbul, mainly because I would’ve loved a cooling breeze there in the hot summer months! I also added solar powered trams (an invention the European characters haven’t seen yet) because I love the electric trams in Istanbul.

I’m a big believer in renewable energy for our own world, and wanted to write something magical and inspiring in homage to this. Renewable energy is our future.

Tell us about the next book you have coming out – what can your readers expect next? Pitch it to us!

My next book is a Medieval Romantasy set in England, told through the eyes of an immigrant from Constantinople (Istanbul). Think Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, and The Last Kingdom.

There’s lots going on, from mad kings to spice trade, magic and epic witch battles. I can’t wait to share more about it late summer! Thanks for having me on your blog!

Like This? Try These:

Author Spotlight: Queer Romantasy author C. Quince

C. Quince (he/they) is a MENA/SWANA British author who lives in England, enjoys Sci-Fi and Fantasy, History, and Halloween. He’s the author of m/m romantasy, CONSORTING WITH THE KING, out now with JMS Books! Read on for more…

Author Spotlight: Queer West Asian Fantasy author Fetin Sardaneh

Meet Fetin Sardaneh, the Palestinian and Kurdish author of queer West Asian fantasy, and find out more about their debut sapphic novel, THE JINN’S BARGAIN.

June Sales & Bundles

Get in on THREE (3) Pride Month Sales this June! Don’t Miss Out! Find out more about the eBook sale offers and grab a load of LGBTQ+ books.

Author Spotlight: Queer Gothic author Alice G. Brooks

Discover queer Gothic romantic tragedy, THE INK EATER, by Alice G. Brooks. It has a sentient house and ace rep!

Author Spotlight: Black Sapphic Vampire Romance author Liza Wemakor

Meet Liza Wemakor (she/they), author of paranormal vampire romance, LOVING SAFOA, out now with Neon Hemlock. This multi-POV novella spans continents and eras, and Cynthia & Safoa’s romance stands the test of time.

Author Spotlight: Gothic Weird Fiction author Nikoline Kaiser

Meet Gothic Weird fiction author Nikoline Kaiser (she/her) and her novella THE DREAMING OF MAN, out with Neon Hemlock.

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Discover addictive LGBTQ+ reads on #KoboPlus with this showcase.

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Not a KU subscriber?
Have you tried Kobo Plus?

Discover heartwarming LGBTQ+ reads on #KoboPlus with this showcase.

❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜

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#LGBTQIAReads #QueerAuthor

Author Spotlight: Queer West Asian Fantasy author Fetin Sardaneh

Fetin Sardaneh (she/they) is a Palestinian and Kurdish author born in the UK. They write stories rooted in cultural memory, resistance, and queer joy. The Jinn’s Bargain is their debut novel.

AUTHOR LINKS:

Website: fetin.carrd.co
IG: @fetinsardaneh

Read a Sample of The Jinn’s Bargain:
Sample on Wattpad

Pitch for Book Clubs/Readers:
The Jinn’s Bargain is a West Asian epic fantasy, filled with chaotic sultans and tea-loving jinn.

Your novel The Jinn’s Bargain is out now, with a sequel coming soon! Let’s talk about the titular jinn first of all. Can you briefly explain what the jinn are to readers who might not be very familiar with them? 

Jinn are supernatural beings that show up in stories across the wider Muslim world. In the West, they’re often flattened into the ‘genie’, but that version does a disservice to their origins. They’re ancient and powerful, with a society of their own and an agenda that doesn’t revolve around humans. They don’t exist to serve us, and they certainly don’t grant wishes for free; a bargain with a jinn is always a trade… but is it ever worth the price?

The novel was inspired by Turkish, Kurdish, Arab, and Persian folklore, beyond the jinn element common to Islamic belief; what elements of these folk traditions did you use in The Jinn’s Bargain, and was there anything you wanted to use but couldn’t include in this first book? (And will it appear in other books?)

Beyond the jinn, I drew on the kinds of folkloric beings and stories, like the biçura and the gulyabani. I also leaned into protective folk practices and charm logic: the idea that names, offerings, talismans, wards, and small rituals serve an important purpose. There was definitely more I wanted to include, but Book One already had a lot of moving parts, so I saved some things for later. As the series goes on, I can’t wait to bring in more creatures and visit other realms—and I’m especiallyexcited to introduce angels!

Introduce us to your FMC, Esin Sultan – where did she come from as a concept, and how did she develop as a character as you were writing? What about her love interest, Zinar – what did you enjoy most about pairing these two sapphics?

Esin started as a very specific concept in my head: a sultan who’s loud, makes reckless choices, and is incredibly dramatic. But the more time I spent with her, the more her humour became a shield with dents in it. She loves hard, commits fast, panics easily, and would sacrifice herself to keep her loved ones safe.

Zinar was born from the kind of character I can never resist: disciplined, and allergic to spectacle. She’s a Mîrzade who shows up through actions rather than speeches. Pairing them was a joy because the push-and-pull is constant: a classic black cat x golden retriever dynamic (very Wei Wuxian/Lan Zhan-coded!). Simply put, Esin is all impulse and radiance; Zinar is restraint and devotion.

Let’s talk about the setting for the novel – what inspirations, research, and experiences went into creating this world, and what challenges did you face during your worldbuilding process?

For the setting, I drew heavily from pre-modern Anatolia and its neighbours, then built a secondary world on top of that so it could feel familiar without being a copy-paste of real history. A lot of my research was a mix of genuine study and very enjoyable procrastination: I watched an embarrassing number of Turkish historical dramas, then fell into rabbit holes on court etiquette, dynasties, succession, and how hierarchy actually moves through a palace.

The biggest challenge was Kurdish history. So much is erased, contested, or filtered through biased sources, so it took extra work to read critically. I cross-checked what I could, and leaned on Kurdish scholars and historians where possible.

Queer joy, resistance, and cultural memory are key elements of your work; can you tell us a little bit about why these elements are so important and central in your writing, and in particular, what do you want readers to encounter when they turn the pages?

A big part of why I wrote The Jinn’s Bargain is simple: I wanted to read a book like it, but I couldn’t find it. Magical fantasies aren’t as mainstream in Turkey, and queer themes are often censored. Kurdish representation is also scarce, and when it does appear it’s too often framed through a negative lens. When readers turn the pages, I want them to step into a world where people like us exist fully: complicated, powerful, messy, funny, loved, and worth writing legends about.

Can you share the premise for Book 2, and give us an idea of when it might be out?

The Stormcaller’s Lament takes everything you thought was devastating in The Jinn’s Bargain and proves it was only the warm-up. The grief hits harder, and the stakes escalate fast!

Esin, Selim, and Zinar are still dealing with the political fallout from Book One, while a much darker threat begins to reveal itself. Readers will also step deeper into the jinn realm and get to explore its strange bureaucracy. I don’t have a locked release date yet, but I’m aiming for late summer to early autumn.

June Sales & Bundles

Right beloveds, the newsletter went out for June at the start of the month with all the sales and links, and now I’m dropping them here. Better late than never!

I’ll do these in order of the END of the sale dates – all are running now.

There are 3 of them:

Pride Book Fair Sale 2026

First off, this Pride bundle is only available until 08 June 2026 so get on it.

Welcome to the second annual Pride Book Fair! This year, we have four bundles where you can get a mix of LGBTQIA+ books from various authors across multiple genres. You can get queer books, zines, and other publications for just $40 per bundle!

Get the bundles here:

Bundle 1 – https://itch.io/b/3675/pride-book-fair-bundle-1-pride-hard

Bundle 2 – https://itch.io/b/3676/pride-book-fair-bundle-2-pride-hard-with-a-vengeance

Bundle 3 – https://itch.io/b/3677/pride-book-fair-bundle-3-live-free-or-pride-hard

Bundle 4 – https://itch.io/b/3678/pride-book-fair-bundle-4-a-good-day-to-pride-hard – my book is included in this one, but here’s the complete list with links to the books on Itch.

Triple Strike: Threads of Fate by G.M. Gray

The Dragon’s Keeper by Moira Carn (Wicked Witch Writes)

THE LIZARD’S DANCE by manyface

A Sharper, More Lasting Pain by Alex Harvey-Rivas

The Fractured Balance by N.A. Soleil

Errant Wings by Ronove

Yelen & Yelena by CMRosens

Crystal Gunslinger – The Obsidian Outlaws by O.Z. Laws

Only Dark Edges by Katie L. Carroll

Firewind’s Accord by David J. Stuart

Between You, Me, and the Moonlit Sea (Moonlit Sea Duet #1) by Platinum Soul Press

Manipulator’s War (Ruarnon Trilogy 1) by Elise Carlson

Winds of Destruction (The Palace of Winds #1) by Author K Lykkebo

Commit to the Kick by Tris Lawrence (Twinned vol. 1) by Duck Prints Press

The Night Fair by Pax Asteriae

The Dark Side of Super by Matthew Siadak

Lock the Last Door by Vincent Lore

Dark Heart of Ilmoure by Cara N. Delaney

The Wine-Dark Sea by Kris Madigan

Lust and Found by Sylvie Helstaff 📚 Monster Romance Author

Child of the Sun (Child of Prophecy 3) by Audrey Simmons

Fattening Fantasies – A Furry Weight Gain Anthology by FatFuckingFox

Moth Woods by Amara Lynn

Sweet & Wild by Alex Larkspur

Touch of Unicorn Magic by Kit Muse

Fimbulvinter’s Fires: a queer apocalyptic sci-fi horrormance by A.M. Weald

The Fall of the Rose Princess by DarkChibiShadow

Adamere in Swan by A. P. Howell

A Life in Too Many Margins by S. E. Thomson

Afterlight by Tana Welsummer

The Space Ace of Mangleby Flat by Larre Bildeston

Physical Magic by William C. Tracy

The Flowers of Time by A. L. Lester

Darker Worlds – A Collection Of Depravity (Darker Worlds Omnibus 1) by Argento Nox

Zine Collection by Vin Kiva

A Love Less Travelled By by E H Timms

In Pursuit of M. Lachance by JW Troemner

Merman’s Delight by SkylerNightshade

LGBTQ+ SFFH Sale 2026

Here for Pride Month, we have 23 LGTBQ+ titles in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres! This one runs until 14 June 2026. You’ll spot some writers in this one I’ve interviewed in the past – Odessa Silver, Katherine Shaw, LB Shimaira, and Stuart Tudor!

Get it here: https://itch.io/b/3721/lgbtq-sci-fi-fantasy-and-horror-bundle

Includes: 

Travelers – V. S. Holmes

Of Serpents and Sorrow – Katherine Shaw

Tide Breaker’s Curse – Ivy H. Marikova

Puppetry – Nina Waters

The Sylvester – Lost in Space – Magnolia Fay

Kiss of Death – Bryony Rosehurst

Where Dreams are Lost: The Second Nightmare – Stuart Tudor

Synthetic Sea – Franklyn S Newton

Secondhand Origin Stories – Lee Brontide

The Devil in the Woods – S. Jean

Troubled Bodies –  Jake Vanguard

A Crimson Covenant – Amiee Donnellan

Odder Still – D. N. Bryn

A Memory of Blood and Magic – K. N. Brindle

Dark Heart of Ilmoure – Cara N. Delaney

The Thirteenth Hour – Trudie Skies

Of Spells and Love – Odessa Silver

The Citizen of Eastport – VB Ruth

Swim With Me, Darling – Sylvie Helstaff

My Lord – L. B. Shimaira

Last Vegas – Sass Everett

The Day We Ate Grandad – C.M. Rosens

Best Friends Bury Bodies – Pride Month eBook Sale

My latest release is a “big messy story of middle aged punk grief, murder, alcoholism, old love, sexual chaos, TERRIBLE decisions, and the stubborn insistence that broken people still deserve to be loved.” It’s now on sale for £1.99 (eBook).

Read a sample in your browser

Midsomer Murders meets The Forty Year Kiss. A contemporary mystery with midlife polyamorous bisexual second chance romance.

Sarah believes she’s happy with her life despite never really dealing with her partner’s sudden death six years ago; her job is fine, her friends are supportive, her girlfriend Sammie is amazing. But when her estranged soulmate, Bas, reaches out after a 12 year absence, Sarah’s carefully cultivated rut is thrown into chaos. 

Her best friends are all for tracking down the prodigal member of their close-knit group, who drifted away from them when he got famous, spiralled into addiction, then disappeared. But finding a long-lost 1990s rock star is the least of their worries, when it catapults them into the middle of a murder investigation in the sleepy Surrey village where he’s been recovering. 

With skeletons falling out of every closet, and lives upended everywhere they turn, what will they do when another body shows up, and both Sarah and Bas are implicated?

A queer, polyamorous whychoose romantic mystery.

Author Spotlight: Queer Gothic author Alice G. Brooks

Alice G. Brooks (they/she), formerly published under Alice Brooks, is a sapphic indie author writing LGBTQIA+ fiction, heavily focused on deep-seated trauma and pain. When they’re not writing, they enjoy hiking, videogames, rewatching the same shows over and over again, and reading queer books.

AUTHOR LINKS:

Links to All Books: relinks.me/AliceBrooks
“The Ink Eater” Preorder: mybook.to/theinkeater
Website: alicegbrooks.com

IG, Threads, and Tiktok: @alicebrookswrites

Book Pitch for Readers/Book Clubs:

“The Ink Eater” is a gothic romantic tragedy in which the world of an immortal young man who eats stories to survive is turned upside down when one of his stories escapes and unearths the most painful parts of his past, ultimately leading to question whether everything he has ever lived for is worth the pain; or whether choosing himself had ever been an option.

Your book The Ink Eater is a queer Gothic romantic tragedy, featuring an immortal who creates and eats his stories, and a shapeshifting ink creation who escapes containment, perfect for fans of Sunyi Dean’s The Book Eaters and readers of Gothic fiction craving asexual representation. Tell us about your influences for this book, and where the ideas came from?

This book was partially inspired by “Don’t let the forest in” by C.G. Drews, partially by a beta read of an unpublished book by Wren Blackburne, and most importantly by my own need to share my own spin of the “sentient house” trope, while displaying a nice, slightly hidden critique of generative AI and adding a form of asexual representation that I don’t see nearly enough. Writing this story has squeezed my heart and unveiled parts of my soul that even I didn’t know existed.

What rep will readers find in The Ink Eater, and can you tell us more about why is that rep important to you?

Firstly, there’s a gay pairing between the two main characters. More importantly, the protagonist of this novel, Baird Cardall, is asexual. With asexual representation, it’s common to see it displayed as being unable to fall in love, hating touch, or being portrayed as childish or cold.

Baird is none of those things. He’s asexual and homoromantic, he falls in love, he adores physical touch (once he trusts), and he’s anything but cold. I think that media needs more of that sort of representation. It’s partially based on my own experience and displays a part of the ace-spec that many people don’t even know exists. I also rarely see the split attraction model being represented anywhere, so I wanted to include this as well, seeing as I’ve made my own experience with that.

Was it a conscious choice to write a romantic tragedy, or did the plot bend that way during the writing process?

A conscious choice. I’d gone in with the intention to write based on the story structure of Freytag’s Pyramid, which builds from exposition to the climax and the falling action; but it doesn’t end there. It ends with a catastrophe. I try to be very upfront about the fact that, yes, this book is tragic. It is not a romance, even though it contains one. It is not a happy story. I always knew exactly how Baird’s story was going to have to unravel, and I would argue that there’s a lot of potential for discussion and interpretation about the ending.

Tell us about your main characters, Baird and Hemming. How did you go about developing them, and where did the seeds of inspiration for these characters come from?

Baird existed first. I knew I wanted someone who eats stories and who survives off them, as long as they carry meaning and heart.

Hemming, originally, was intended to be a sort of paranormal investigator or something like that. I scrapped the idea when I came up with a story that escaped from the ink.

I’m a pantser, which means my stories are largely not outlined before writing them, so I discover a lot about my characters as I go. They developed on their own; I like to say that I merely write protocol for what they get up to.

Baird just naturally grew to be someone who loves nature, who talks to the animals and the plants, and who has a giant heart for everything around him but himself. He’s terrified of leaving the sentient manor he’s bound to, and hasn’t done so in the past 241 years. Why? You’ll have to read it to find out.

Hemming, on the other hand, is a bit of a snarky diva, but he cares deeply. He came to life through the story; he isn’t the story itself, but a being made of magic and ink who has been with Baird for a long time but didn’t develop a conscience until he took the name Baird created for a shapeshifter in his story and left the paper to be Baird’s friend. That’s his sole mission: make Baird happy. But that doesn’t mean he’s one-dimensional or lackluster, in fact, I think he’s one of my most complex characters. He’s the one who opens Baird’s eyes to the trauma he went through without truly realizing it, and without him, the whole story would’ve never happened.

What drew you to make the manor the main antagonist, and how did its role and character develop as you went through the drafting process?

I just really like sentient houses. At first, I didn’t have the manor in mind as an antagonist. It was just sort of a plot device, a secondary background character that made Baird’s existence more interesting and explained his curse. But then, as I was writing, its voice became clearer to me. And it does, in fact, have a voice. It talks to Baird; he refers to the voice as “his insides” throughout the stories, a voice that is “physical but also not”. It can control him to an extent, he’s the only one who can hear it, and he has a sort of codependent bond to the manor.

As I went through my latest editing rounds, the manor’s voice became darker and more manipulative, demanding in its wants and needs, and adding lore to Baird’s background. I’m very excited to see what people will think of Cardall Manor.

Was the sentient manor based on/inspired by any real/fictional buildings, and if so, what were they? If not, how did you go about designing it in your head as the setting for the book?

It wasn’t. The only room I had in mind was the story room, where Baird consumes his tales. I’d been picturing a gothic manor, but it can really be whatever you want it to be. The manor was built “so long ago” that nobody remembers when exactly it was created. But it changes and evolves with time, providing warmth in winter and coolness in summer. It has no plumbing but can draw a warm bath if one asks nicely enough.

The rooms of the manor were added as I was writing. The piano room and Lilith’s old bedroom were added later on, the foyer has been there since almost the start, and I had no precise image in head for the manor. Then, I had a friend draw it, and now that’s what it looks like in my head. There’s some art for it on my Instagram page, if anybody would like to see that.

What is your favourite piece of reader feedback or reviews for this series so far?

I’ve not yet had any reviews at this point, but my wonderful editor Sebbie [they/she/he] of Silver Press Edits has brought up so many interesting pieces of feedback and given me comparisons to different mythologies and tales that my story draws similarities to. It made me see the story in a whole new light.

𝘼 𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙏𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝘼𝙘𝙩𝙨 + 𝙏𝙚𝙘𝙝 𝙋𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙨 are in the "English isn't even my 1st language!" bundle.
20 books for $17 on Itch-io.
Running until 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝟮𝟯.
Grab it while you can!
✨ https://go.blainedarden.com/itch-english

#SFF #QueerAuthor