Navigation: What Manner of Man
What Manner of Man is a blasphemous romance novel about a priest and a vampire.
Father Ardelian has been summoned to a distant, secluded island to perform an exorcism. What will happen when he begins to suspect his host — the mysterious, nocturnal lord of the manor — of wanting him for another reason entirely? Will the piously celibate priest be able to resist his host’s diabolically seductive charms?
What Manner of Man is now complete and can be read one of two ways:
Purchase the complete, extended novel from Itch.io or Amazon.
This version of the novel is the fullest and most complete expression of What Manner of Man: comprehensively edited, expanded, rewritten and overall revamped into the best version of this story of which I am capable. (Not to mention the numerous scenes that have been added for the particular benefit of my fellow perverts.)
Read the free version.
What Manner of Man was originally released a chapter a week in this newsletter. This version of What Manner of Man is about 15 000 words shorter and less edited than the complete novel linked above, but it is the way most readers originally experienced the story. An index of chapters can be found below. 👇
Index of Chapters
Preface - (Start here.)
Chapter 1 - A secret, a handsome sailor, and a compromising dream.
Chapter 2 - An improper proposal and a queer kind of Valentine.
Chapter 3 - What is a priest if not a man who likes to spend a lot of time on his knees?
Chapter 3.5 - A vampire is never late, nor is he early; he arrives precisely when he means to.
Chapter 4 - Out of the gay frying pan, into the gay fire.
Chapter 5 - Eat and be eaten.
Chapter 6 - A sea-change — into something rich and strange.
Chapter 7 - The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
Chapter 8 - Guys literally only want one thing (to take you to various archaeological sites.)
Chapter 9 - Doth not the appetite alter?
Chapter 10 - We interrupt your regularly scheduled Gothic novel for an interlude of mixed gay-lesbian swashbuckling.
Chapter 11 - Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life.
Chapter 12 - All the world's a Substack novel, and all the men and women merely subscribers.
Chapter 13 - That forest — dense, alive with green, divine —
Chapter 14 - L'amour peut faire qu'un homme devienne bête.
Chapter 15 - Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord.
Chapter 16 - Going on a Catholic punishment walk for my mental detriment.
Chapter 17 - How often haunting the highest hilltop, / I scan the ocean, a sail to see.
Chapter 18 - Lovers and madmen have such seething brains
Chapter 19 - Rain-swept clifftop dramatics can be fun, but what about the morning after?
Chapter 20 - For God’s sake won’t somebody show this guy a calendar.
Chapter 21 - The first and last time Father Ardelian ever went into a hole.
Chapter 22 - A warning to the curious.
Chapter 23 - Starting to notice some things around here (sky is blue, water is wet, etc.)
Chapter 24 - Victor Ardelian has a super normal and regular day.
Chapter 25 - The galleries seem straight / But curve furtively, forming secret circles / At the terminus of years;
Chapter 26 - This week’s chapter is an unexpected op-ed.
Chapter 27 - Moreover, the walls of my castle are broken; the shadows are many —
Chapter 28 - I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit in his hand.
Chapter 29 - Get a room, you two!
Chapter 30 - 'The man hath penance done, / And penance more will do.'
Chapter 31 - Nor morning stars shun thy uprising face.
Chapter 32 - Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere; / This bed thy center is, these walls, thy sphere.
Chapter 33 - All Lovers war, and Cupid hath his tent / Atticus, all lovers are to warfare sent.
Chapter 34 - And he drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth.
Chapter 35 - The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.
Postscript - Ite missa est.
Free Bonus Content
Vignette for Chapter Four | The bell tower.
Vignette for Chapter Six | Caught in a storm.
Behind the Scenes: October 2023 | Notes on cassocks, a sketch, and the difficulties of writing an exorcism.
Behind the Scenes: December 2023 | Christmas ghosts and changes made to the end of WMOM.
Father Ardelian’s Birthday Party | Father Ardelian’s birthday!
(More bonus content available on Patreon!)
