Blood-curdling and Blasphemous
What Manner of Man is undead!
Hello darlings,
I hope January has treated you as kindly as January ever does. Things may have seemed quiet around here since the final chapter of What Manner of Man, but I have been engaged in a veritable whirlwind of activity behind the scenes. This email is an update on some of what I’ve been working on, plus free samples!
Some admin
I am aware that many — if not the majority — of What Manner of Man’s readers live in blissful ignorance of the fact that an archive of the novel is hosted on Substack. (I may as well admit that many of the chapters you will find there contain considerably fewer typos than the version currently sitting in your inbox. 🤦♂️) You don’t need to create a Substack account or anything; the archive is readable and intuitive to navigate on both desktop and mobile.¹
I mention the fact because I have just organized all the chapters of What Manner of Man in one location for ease of reading, which will stay right up at the top of this newsletter’s page for as long as they both shall live.
All who wish to read this work of blasphemous and obscene literature in its entirety, hie thee over to this button:
¹ The page will prompt you twice to enter your email to subscribe — which, if you recieved this, you’ve already done — so just click “No thanks” and “Keep reading” respectively. As far as I can tell, you need only dismiss these once to read on unmolested indefinitely.
Epilogues
…and more!
Which brings me to this email’s major piece of news — ✨ epilogues! ✨ Not just one epilogue, but five!
I kept finding myself imagining different possible futures for Victor and Alistair. Maybe they both become monsters, maybe Lord Vane has to rediscover how to live as a mortal man, or maybe something entirely stranger happens. And so I thought to myself, why not just write all of them?
These chose-your-own epilogues will be, for the present, exclusive to Patreon, though I may consider making them available in some other form at a later date if there’s sufficient interest.
Down below the line break is an exclusive early peek at the first epilogue, “Venturing Forth”, which is not yet released even to patrons.
I’m also currently sharing with patrons a wealth of scenes from secret, forbidden, shadow versions of What Manner of Man (earlier drafts of the novel) plus commentary on the process by which they were written.
Towards the end of the email — below the slice of epilogue — I’ve also included an extended preview of one of the aforementioned posts, headed “Behind the Scenes: The Devouring Season”.
More + better
At this very moment I am hard at work re-editing What Manner of Man; polishing it til it’s diamond-like and glittering. I know exactly what this book needs and where it needs it. If all goes according to plan, I estimate the final edition of the book will include about 10 000 words of new material! (Nearly an additional novella’s-worth of scenes, lmao.)
Most of these new scenes will be expanding upon Father Ardelian’s stay at Whithern Hall and digging into the dynamic between him and Lord Vane. (I have some delicious ideas about how Victor’s occult fascinations might affect Lord Vane’s devious plans. 😈)
I have one more important thing to say, but first: please enjoy the following!
Epilogue: Venturing Forth
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here’s a taste of what I’ve been cooking; a vision of a future Victor and Alistair could have together on Swallow’s Rest. At last, Victor has settled into a quiet life with his love — but Alistair is up to something:
When Victor woke that morning Alistair was nowhere to be seen. He discovered this because of the chill which had set in without Alistair at his back, though the blankets were tucked firmly around him. The little cottage they were renting in St Silvan’s Head could be described as draughty, if one were being generous. It was perhaps not the most comfortable place to recuperate — on one particularly cold morning, Victor had woken to ice in the sink — but it was quiet and calm, and there was little more both of them needed than that. The mad things they would do together under cover of darkness — yes, he was glad for this much.
It was unusual for Alistair to wake early, he still kept later hours than Victor these days. Therefore it was hard for Victor to not feel an undercurrent of worry as he went about his morning routine. His friends in St Silvan’s Head had never been coy about their disappointment that Alistair had survived. They had only tolerated their former tormentor by way of his association with Victor, who was regarded as having saved them by taking charge of the beast. This left Victor in an uncertain position, though he was sympathetic to their feelings. Occasionally, like this morning, his fears would flare up.
Victor left the house earlier than he was accustomed to. He was going into town, he told himself, to buy a loaf of bread. The most direct route was along the shoreline, though it was rough going for the first hundred yards or so over the rocks where the water pooled. Brisk and bracing, he told himself. He would be a natural at island life soon.
He hardly needed to make the effort. It was only a few minutes’ walk before Victor spotted him. Robust and tan, Alistair was as vigorous now as ever he had been. He had the bones and sinews of a man, even if there remained a pale unnatural fire beneath the healthy tan of his skin. Fast fading, daily he became more simply human.
Alistair took long strides up the beach towards his lover. “I’d hoped to return before you woke.”
(To be continued… →)
What are Alistair’s plans for their future? 👀 If you become a patron now, you can read the rest the moment it’s released!
Behind the Scenes: The Devouring Season
I may as well tell you — What Manner of Man had probably the most tortured development process of anything I’ve ever written. You simply have no idea just how different some of these previous drafts of the novel really were. The Catholic Church was harvesting a powerful, ambiguously supernatural substance from the stones beneath Whithern Hall, Father Ardelian's main hobby was needlework and a pivotal scene had him tailoring Lord Vane's clothes because Lord Vane couldn't see himself in the mirror, the villagers were all [REDACTED]. Minor stuff like that.
What remains of those drafts, well... there are good reasons they'll never see the light of day, but there were a few bits and pieces that I was fond of.
In the process of doing this major re-edit, I’ve been going back over my earlier outlines and drafts of What Manner of Man and excerpting material as I go. The following represent all the most fun passages pertaining to plot points which had to be removed.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In this version of the story, Sylvia and Danny were actively investigating Whithern Hall, and Father Ardelian ran into them when he fled the underground chamber after Lord Vane had his way with him. They plotted together to have Father Ardelian help them break into the manor, so that Sylvia could access the magical chambers underneath.
For ease of reading, you should know that Sylvia’s name was originally Agatha (this was changed because this book had too many A names.) Instead of passing out mid-ritual and coming to in his bedroom, Father Ardelian fled from the stone circle out through a pair of doors onto the beach by the pier. Here’s a bit of that scene:
I stared with unseeing eyes at Agatha and Danny, half blind from the sudden shock of daylight. The door swung shut behind me with a click. Frightening and disorienting, I on my trembling legs came back to myself, as if out of a dream. Perhaps that’s all it had been; already it was turning to fragments in the way that dreams do.
I had only been down on the docks once before, and that was at night. The snow had receded a little since then, and I could see the tip of something green poking through — an early spring? The wind was high and the waves came crashing toward us, pounding the beach. Alistair’s little boat swung wildly in its bay, tethered to his pier.
“Father Ardelian,” said Agatha, reaching for me, “Where did you come from?”
“Just exploring beneath the Hall,” I replied, attempting to look as calm and collected as I didn’t feel.
“Thank god, when you didn’t show up this morning we thought you were dead!” said Danny.
[...]
“Since you’ve been kind enough to show us around the docks,” said Agatha, hesitation in her voice, “Do you think you might be able to show us what you were looking at in the catacombs?”
My heart beat out of time. “I — I’m sorry,” I stumbled, hearing idiotic fear in my own voice.
“Did something happen when you were down there?” Danny asked.
“I’m a little claustrophobic,” I replied.
Agatha nodded. “In that case, would it be possible for you to leave the door ajar for us? Later, maybe, after Alistair has gone to bed? I won’t tell anyone.”
I shook my head. “Have you been down there before?” I asked.
“We haven’t had access to it within my lifetime,” Agatha said, “I only know that one of the ancient circles is in a cavern beneath the manor.”
I could smell it, then, a whiff of sulfur. “You don’t want to go in there.”
“I know our beliefs are very different, Father, but I think you must understand we consider that space sacred.”
“I know, but…” I trailed off, the words falling away as I reached for them. What had happened in there? I could hardly remember it now, and what little I did I could hardly say to someone like Agatha.
“Something did happen,” Agatha said. Danny wandered off to inspect Alistair’s boat, giving us space.
“It was nothing.”
“It was not, I can see that on your face. You don’t have to tell me the specifics, but if something is wrong in there…”
“I don’t remember, really. There was — I think the only words I have to describe it is a black mass. The Devil’s sacrament. That can’t be right, can it? I don't — I don’t remember.”
“Was Lord Vane there?”
“No,” I said. Was it the truth?
She peered curiously at me for a moment, then seemed to come to a decision. “I wouldn’t worry in that case. The stones have, ah, special properties. They’re supposed to sometimes evoke visions, most likely whatever you saw wasn’t real. In fact that’s why I want to see it myself. If I can acquire a little of the stone, I think it might be able to help us with finding our missing people.”
“I see,” I said.
“I know the rituals needed to be granted the stone, don’t you worry. Nothing like that would happen to me.”
“I suppose — if you know how it’s supposed to work, if you could see it for yourself —”
“Father Ardelian, I must be honest with you. Something is coming. I don’t know what, I only have the vaguest sense of it, but there is a storm rolling in. We must all do what we can to protect ourselves before we’re swept away.”
“This Friday,” I said, “I’ll leave the gate unlatched. That evening, when I’m having drinks with Alistair, you can come in, but be silent and be quick!”
(Keep reading on Patreon →)
Final note (please read!)
I… need to be honest for a minute.
You may have noticed I’m mentioning Patreon a lot. You may even have guessed I’m doing this from motives other than sheer love of repeating myself. Since the completion of What Manner of Man’s serial run, I’ve lost around $40 USD a month in Patreon support. It’s no more than I expected, really, but it’s still been a blow.
If you enjoy my work and you’d like to see the final version of the novel (as well as other future projects!) come to life, please consider supporting me on Patreon. You can get access to heaps of bonus material and help me to keep writing at the same time.
I have even more upcoming projects that I can’t wait to share with you, but I think this is newsletter is full enough for now. Big things are on the horizon! As always, thank you so much for reading.
Your humble servant,
St John Starling
Can confirm the patreon bonus content is well worth it if you can swing it! I'm very excited for the epilogues