Strange News from Another Star
WMOM award news, details regarding the man that I've been building for you in my lab, etc.
What Manner of Man is complete! Read it for free ✨ here ✨ or buy the better, more exciting revamped edition via Amazon or (DRM-free) on Itch.io.
Hello Darlings,
The foul and malefic forces of darkness have blighted you with another newsletter from me! Be advised that the following e-mail contains: AWARD NEWS (+ vampire testimonials), previews of some new Patreon-exclusive art, a wonderful fan-made Lord Vane, and a quick update on the development of A Companion in Vice + some discussion of the man that I've been building for you in my lab.
AWARD UPDATE
You may remember my mentioning in a previous newsletter that What Manner of Man was eligible for the Indie Ink Awards. I want to thank each and every one of you who voted, because What Manner of Man has made it into the finals of almost every category it was up for:
I'm choosing to believe that What Manner of Man was nominated for the “Made Me Hungry/Thirsty” category by my many vampire readers who desperately want to make a meal of Father Ardelian.
(I often collect particularly good tags, comments, etc.1 and I have these in a folder labelled "VAMPIRE TESTIMONIALS.")
I don’t know precisely when the winners will be announced, but not for some time. The Indie Ink Awards have hundreds of books in the running every year, so it really means a lot that so many of you voted for WMOM in so many categories. Every stage of this process has been such a genuine surprise, I’m amazed to see this work reaching so many people. Thank you!
NEW ART
On Patreon, right now, we’re sharing lots of development art as we continue to build a couple of suitably problematic men for my mad scientist romance novel, A Companion in Vice. Be part of the experiment →
It’s not all test tubes and tesla coils, though — this week’s post was about the secret alternate What Manner of Man cover art + some insight into the artistic process.
✧ FAN POST SPOTLIGHT ✧
This delightful piece of J. C. Leyendecker-inspired art from Tumblr user ganymedian raises a few interesting questions. What Manner of Man does actually exist as a published book within the story of What Manner of Man, so I suppose that it is theoretically possible for Lord Vane to get ahold of a copy! 🤔
COME UP TO THE LAB
The following is part of a Patreon post containing a quick update on the development of A Companion in Vice, some discussion of the man that I've been building for you in my lab, and, after the cut, a few words about how I've been doing and connected thoughts on creating art in an increasingly dark time.
I have elected to devote this update to the Assistant (we're still, at this point, mostly working with placeholder names — I can, at the very least, tell you that his name won't be Igor) and postpone more detailed discussion of the object of his affection — the Doctor — until a later post.
Speaking of which! On Tumblr, this week, Beastly finally shared one result of their own recent lab experiments:
We are already receiving some very encouraging tags and other expressions of enthusiasm for this spruced-up version of a piece of concept art, which you may recognize as one that was first posted here.2
So I honestly never fully understood the way that some people talk about their characters — you know the kind of thing: "this horrid gremlin of a man," "my awful little freak (affectionate)," etc. — until, as I began working on this story, suddenly I found myself pacing up and down, deep in brainstorming, muttering "ohhh he's such a wretched little creep, he's TERRIBLE," under my breath.3 I'm in an intense love-hate relationship with this character, and I have a strong suspicion that he'll affect readers in much the same way.4
What can I say about the Assistant? He's a self-made man (if you know what I mean) — more than willing to go to extreme lengths to achieve his goals. By the time the story begins, he's already broken the law and performed dangerous self-surgery in pursuit of the life he wants.
He's prone to obsession. He's single-mindedly committed to artificial standards of success within systems that will only make him worse over time. In sum: he's a weird little creep. Some might describe him as a bit of a human chew toy, and I, for one, am look forward to taking a bite out of him.
As for the novel more broadly: I have a very strong idea of the overall shape and direction of the plot, at this point, but it's still a little difficult to tell which details are spoilers. I can, however, make certain promises to you: (as you may have inferred from the concept art) our boy the Assistant will in fact be the subject of various dubiously ethical experiments (don't worry, he loves it), psycho-sexual manipulation, and deeply problematic cat-and-mouse games. This is unambiguously Villain4Villain romance. You can expect the type of thing which I understand the kids are calling "toxic yaoi." I'm particularly excited about the scene on which the novel will open.
(My final promise to you is that, in spite of all of the above, it will also be romantic.)
I decided to make this post free, so to read about how I've been doing (and some connected thoughts on creating art in an increasingly dark time) you only have to become a non-paying member on Patreon →
As of the writing of this newsletter, I finally have the entire plot of A Companion in Vice outlined to the very end, which is huge progress. The characters even have names! (Which I will reveal in due time.) As always, Patrons will be the first to hear details. On an unrelated note, I’m planning to send another newsletter soon for the purpose of sharing some resources to help people navigate this confusing time, so look forward to that in a day or so. Thank you for being here. 💜
Yours in love and terror,
St John Starling
Things like this come in handy for proving that people have actually read and enjoyed a novel when it only has 35 reviews on Goodreads.
(This art represents one of a few different early prototypes — precise details of the character design are yet to be 100% settled upon.)
If you have any familiarity with Peter Lorre movies, you'll instantly be able to recognize the type of character I'm creating.
If you haven't seen any Peter Lorre movies, but you'd like to know what I'm talking about, I recommend: Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Mad Love (1935)
Father Ardelian also went over well with the demon king crowd according to my contacts in that sphere, many similar comments about wanting to kidnap him and psychologically break him.