Nerdology 101: Short Story

Welcome back, nerds! On this weeks segment of Nerdology 101, I’m sharing a little short story I wrote after a trip to Ireland a few years back. It is definitely minature (5400 words), so it should be a quick read that’ll let you get to know a little bit of my style. This piece is paranormal romance. It was better suited than my usual romantic fantasy style since it was never intended to be anything but a way for me to express my love for Dublin after my trip. Still, I thought it might be cool to share it. Also, I never gave it a title. You’re welcome to suggest any ideas you have in the comments.

Story

Stepping off the plane, I relish in the fact that I’m back on Irish ground. It was an eight-hour flight from JFK. I won't deny that I'm exhausted, but that doesn't inhibit my excitement as I rush to grab my luggage off the carousel. I fidget, impatience overcoming me as I wait for it. Luckily, it's only about fifteen minutes before the suitcases full of clothing, hygienic musts, and magical ingredients arrive. After I have it, I step out. There's a line of taxis waiting to load passengers. The yellow sedans are lined bumper to bumper, each with drivers that patiently await travelers. Many of the engines start when the hoard of arrivals I’m surrounded by emerge from the airport. I get into one and my assistant files in the other side, then addresses the driver. "We're heading here."

The driver looks at the written address Shi hands him on a notepad. He must know the place because he starts driving without plugging it into the GPS. As we drive, I stare out the windows at the luscious greenery and beautiful buildings in Dublin. It isn't long before we arrive. When I enter the hotel, there's a bit of apprehension. I wanted to keep most of my money for activities, so I opted to book the cheapest hotel in the area. I hoped that wasn't a mistake.

As the concierge greets me, I look around the lobby, then head over. It doesn't seem too bad at all. I check in and head to my room. It's small, but clean and comfortable. Shi and I will be fine in here. While Shi unpacks, I focus on clearing my mind. I take a long, deep breath. Inhale, one... two... three... Exhale, one... two... three... My intentions become clear to me as the racing thoughts of the day-to-day fade until they're far, far away. My desire is the foremost thought in my stilled mind. Now, I know what materials I need. Wandering around the hotel room, I search for the supplies I need. First, to the bathroom. I collect some fresh water into my silver chalice marked with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs I had inscribed onto the metal. To purify it, I light a match, then toss it inside. I know from experience how effective fire is as a purifier. This isn't the only ingredient I need though. I wander until I spot a cabinet to the left of the hotel’s microwave sitting on the small kitchenette counter. Shi rolls his eyes. "I just put that away, Kita."

I hum. "And now I need it."

He scoffs, but I can hear the smile behind it without even looking his way. I collect rosemary, a protective herb that only allows positive forces into my life. Next, some thyme. It complements the rosemary well since it’s great for spiritual healing and also acts as a secondary safeguard. Of course, I can't forget the cinnamon either.

Finally, I’m done. I add all the selected materials to my chalice and set it on a makeshift altar. I light the candles on the sides of it, then align the two candles and make a triangle from them and the chalice. I choose a rose quartz from my crystal collection and set it meticulously in the center of the triangle.

Having set the altar, I take a few more of those long, deep breaths before chanting a ritualistic blessing over it. "O', I beseech thee, heed my call. Make my will into fate, accept the offering I make on this day."

With that, my altar is set for the day.

After showering, Shi, and I head straight out, ready to explore and get some food. He found this small restaurant about a block away. It was on the same side of the Liffey our hotel was. PHX Bistro was its name. This is our first date. I've known him for years, but this feels different. It's not like I'm just going to hang out with Shi, my childhood friend and present-day assistant. Suddenly, he's a man and I'm a woman. We don't know each other in that sense. Of course, that isn't to say that I don't want to get to know him in this new way. It's exciting. It's just that I wish it were easier. His asking me out seemed so random. It happened on the plane as we crossed the Atlantic. It's as if he just got tired of searching one day and decided to settle for me. He was usually so non-committal, prioritizing attraction and hook-ups. None of the others resembled me in personality or appearance. I can't help but wonder if I'm just the easiest option to pursue now that he's randomly decided he wants to settle down.

I sit down across from him at the candle-lit table, observing the atmosphere of the restaurant. It's not too busy inside, but not too quiet either. The place he chose is nice enough; intimate and romantic. I particularly like the red decor. Red is my favorite color. He smiles.  "Hey, Ki. You look great."

 My heart flutters a bit, but I make sure the only thing he sees is an eye roll. The waitress asks for my drink order before I can reply. After looking over their comprehensive selection, I settle on a wine. After she walks away, I mutter. “Flirt.”

A mischievous smirk graces his face. Has he always been this beautiful? That jawline is so sharp it could pierce vibranium, if it were real.  "That I am, but at least you know that I'll only be flirting with you from here on out."

"I hope so. I'd hate to think that you're just using me as a placeholder until someone more ideal comes along."

His face distorts until nothing but disgust is visible. "I would never. Don't you know you are the ideal."

"I am not."

He laughs so hard it blows out one of the candles as he takes my hand. The soft scent of the vanilla smoke fills the air between us. "You are everything to me, Kita."

I could hear the sincerity in his tone. This was Shi, the man. In that moment, I finally knew that this wasn't a game to him. He wanted me, and damn, did that make me want him.

The waitress returns before I can lose myself in the moment too much. We order food too. Then, a dessert. That was amazing. Everything was amazing. I make a note to habitually recommend it to anyone I know who may visit the area. After that, Shi takes me to the Museum of Literature in Ireland, the place I was most excited to go as we were planning. I was in absolute awe as we made my way there. The architecture is so grand and old. I missed Ireland so much. There's a unique energy here. Everyone is friendly and seems happy. It's a city, but not like back in New York. Here, nature and city life find this balance unlike anything I've ever seen.

When we make it to the museum, my fondness for Dublin further intensifies. I fall in love with it all over again as I wander through the exhibits aimlessly, being sure to carefully observe every amazing piece. From the Gaelic Language Movement and the fight for freedom of speech, to the first copy of the first edition of James Joyce's Ulysses, it is all amazing. Still, there was one piece even more inspiring. Looking up at the ceiling you find pages filled with endless red markings, edited manuscripts from great authors whose names will be remembered for centuries more. I think to myself, "My story isn't bad. It's just unedited."

It's the sentiment I think the piece is meant to give off.

After a while, we return to the hotel and relax some. For all the fun of the day, we were here on witch business and tomorrow wouldn’t be as pleasurable. We rest well in separate, queen beds. Some part of me wonders if some day we will be booking single King rooms instead of Double Queens. It’s a nice thought to dream of while I rest, at least.

The next morning, Shi and I get down to business. Our business involves the Onyx Witch, known for her dark magic and dictatorial rule in her territory. She oppresses quite the number of witches, and our job is to find out what her ultimate goals are and see if we can’t protect those she targets.

We head to Dublin Castle first. To most, this is a gorgeous tourist attraction that commemorates the inspirational history of Ireland. However, those of us with the ancient magic of the Celts coursing through our veins know that there is much more to this palace than meets the eye. As we tour the beauty, we pass a guarded hall, prohibited to most visitors. The guard is one of the Onyx Witch’s own though. He verifies my identity via my magic signature and allows me enterance so I can have an audience with her. He prohibits Shi from entering though. He offers the excuse that lower-ranking magic wielders shouldn’t be allowed on this sacred ground I’m about to enter, but I see it for what it is. The Onyx Witch is up to something, and she wants us separated. I have no choice but to allow her to think she is trapping me though. I give Shi a nod and he settles. “I’ll wait for you here, Kita.”

I nod before heading off down the hall. When I get to the entry way to the Onyx Lair, I open it magically and cross over. I find the Onyx Witch sat upon her throne of ash and bones waiting for me. She wears a black cloth that is barely long enough to be called a dress. At least she bothered to cross her legs. She looks to me, “Kita, what brings you to my domain?”

“I’ve come to demand that you cease your oppression of the Herbal Witches in your territory at once, by order of the Interdisciplinary Council of Witches.”

A scowl forms on her face. “I will do no such thing. Since you’re here though, won’t you do me a favor and die for me?”

She attacks with a force so great it could break the barriers and bring down the palace in the non-magic realm. It would kill many and destroy a vital piece of Irish history. I can’t allow that to happen. I reinforce the barriers with my own magic right away, but I can’t protect myself and hold them at the same time. The energy expenditure leaves me all but defenseless. Shi, being keen enough to sense the magic from across realms, acts from the other side. I may outrank him, but he knows that Onyx is much stronger than even I. Getting a sense for the situation, he takes over holding the barriers to give me half a chance to escape with my life. When I feel the weight lift some, I know it. He’s come through for me. I don’t waste a moment before I launch the best counter spell I can muster with such little time and energy. It doesn’t do much, but it does give me a moment to teleport myself back to Shi.

The Onyx Witches rage increases though, causing the barriers to fracture even further. It’s too much for Shi to hold. It’ll kill him. I grab hold of them with my magic again. It takes everything I have to push her back, but I manage, albeit temporarily. That seal I cast won’t hold her for long and I’ve drained myself too much. Without a doubt, I’ll have a case of magic deficiency, which will likely kill me in no time.

Shi and I retreat back to the hotel, and he wards it the best he can. He tends to me enough to extend my time about twenty-four hours, giving us one day to come up with a solution.

I rise from my hotel bed as pain pumps through my body with an intensity I have never experienced before. Oh, how I long to get my hands on that grimoire. It may be the only way. As I walk out the door again, Shi follows, trembling at my side. “But Kita,” he must have realized by now what I’m thinking, “the grimoire of the Jade Witch is said to hold unspeakable power. It’s too dangerous!”

“It’s too dangerous not to!” I hadn’t meant to snap at him, but we both know what would happen to me if I don’t get it. “That grimoire is my only chance at survival, and without me, what’s to keep the Onyx Witch from killing the rest of the Herb Witches. I only have a day left before the disease takes me.”

He sighs. “Yes, twenty-four hours sounds about right. It was a large spell to cast singlehandedly, most witches would have already died of magic deficiency. I’m amazed that you even have the energy to search for the grimoire.”

I walk alongside him, feeling my body already weakening. “That’s true. I may not, but it’s the only way, Shi.”

He seems absorbed in his thoughts as he fails to respond. My attention falls to the details of our surroundings to distract myself as we walk, heading for the teleportation point at the top of Arthur’s Seat. The endless daisies remind me so much of my younger years, training with my covenant in these very fields. Who would have guessed that I’d grow to be the strongest of us, especially given how horrible I was at practical magic? The memories are bright ones, albeit slightly embarrassing. The sound of our laughter can still be heard with each whistle of the winds. This is my home. Without the grimoire, I will fall, and it will burn. I must try.

“There may be another way, Kita.” Shi starts, interrupting my peace. “The Diamond Witch, what if we went to her. She creates antidotes for Magic Deficiency Disease.”

I think a moment. Shi isn’t entirely wrong, but there’s no guarantee that the Diamond Witch is actually capable of making a sufficient antidote for MDD this severe. Healing is more of a side gig for her than a specialty, whereas I know for a fact that the Jade Witches grimoire has a solution because my predecessor told me about it. “No, Shi. If we do that, we risk being told no. We could just lose time by taking that detour. The grimoire is our best bet.”

He nods, accepting my decision as we approach the teleportation point. Immediately, he summons the space-time portal. It looks quite like a blackhole and can be intimidating for inexperienced witches, so I’m not surprised when he winces at the sight of it. We hop through the portal to the abandoned Jade temple. ‘

This temple is in Cairo, Egypt, where the Jade Witch once lived. She fell many centuries ago, but her work still echoes throughout the world. It is probable that she was the most skilled witch to ever live. Her temple reflects that too, even after all this time that it’s been abandoned, it remains spotless. Her menial cleaning spells must have been powerful enough to survive without her constantly feeding them. It’s amazing. Who knows what else her grimoire may hold. If we manage to find it, it may even tell me how to defeat the Onyx Witch myself. If I recall, Onyx was around back then too. She was one of Jades enemies, as she is mine now. I’m sure whatever magic of Jades still exists here will bless me and help me find the answers I need. After all, if I can stop Onyx, Jade may finally be able to rest in peace.

Shi and I search the temple, top to bottom. Yet, in all the tomes and information, the Grimoire of Jade is nowhere to be seen. We don’t give up though. Instead, we search and search, over and over, until eventually, Shi spots something promising.

“Kita, look!” His exclamatory tone reflects the hope he must be feeling. My eyes dart his way, and I see it, a distorted wall. It’s a magic one. Only the most skilled of witches would have noticed it. I’m proud that he had grown enough to see it. I approach the wall, observing it for a few moments.

“You’ll have to do it, Shi. I can’t. I might kill myself faster if I expend much more magic.”

He removes the magic, and we enter into a library filled to the brim with grimoires. Every last one of them were hers. Finding the one we needed in the twelve hours we have remaining would be challenging, to say the least.

We both start scanning the grimoires. Shi moves through them faster than I because he can use magic to help him, whereas I can’t right now. As the hours pass, we both grow nervous that we won’t find what we need on time. All the while, I grow weaker and weaker until I’m not even able to help.

With only one hour left on the clock and myself barely conscious, Shi calls out. “Kita! Kita! I found it.”

He starts to prepare the spell right away. I fight my weakening body to stay conscious just in case he has to as me anything. He does, a few times, and with just thirty minutes left, he’s ready. Shi heals me using its spell and once again, I can fight the Onyx Witch.

Shi

She stands before me and I’ve never been so happy to see her. Her long, kinky curls flow like a waterfall.

“Kita…” I sound so scared, like I’m the one who was dying. “You’re alive.”

The emotional rollercoaster that is her presence; it tears me to shreds. Yet, that quick-witted mind is somehow oblivious; or perhaps its insidious, using her feigned ignorance to make me delirious. It's like Dionysus intoxicated me with the wine called her soul. Every touch is an unwelcome rush of unbridled lust. I can't live without her; she's a must.

“Yeah, Shi.” She takes my hand. “I’m alive, you did great. Thank you.”

To describe her is to steal the air from my own lungs, a heart attack and a stroke rolled into one.  Every emotion is a more difficult one. So complex that I can't even deny that she's one. She's poetry and literature. She's every beautiful thought that I've ever sought. I'd try to resist her, but it would be for naught. Heavens, how does she make me so distraught?

Kita

            Out of nowhere, Shi kisses me. I have no idea what was going through his mind, but I’m glad it was. He saved my life, but more than that, the way he looks at me is just so intense. How could I not fall for him?

            My lips intertwine with his as I kiss him back. It means everything to me. I don’t know how it escaped my notice for so long that he and I belonged together, but right now, it’s abundantly clear as he takes me into his arms and holds me against his chest.

            We stay like that for quite some time before he finally lets go. “So, now what?” He asks me that as if I have any idea.

            I think a while, then look up at him. “We keep reading. Now that the pressure is off, we read through these grimoires until we find something that will help us stop Onyx. No idea is too out of the box. Theorize about how every single one of these spells could be used against her until we find something that works.”

            For three days and three nights, we did exactly that. It took some work, but in time, we found something. It was a risky spell that could just as easily backfire and kill us, but it was our best chance. Jade called it Sever. The spell is exactly as the name implies. Through the power of twelve witches, a full coven, the spell would sever the tie between the target and their magic. However, Jade noted that if the twelve weren’t strong enough, that the spell could decide to sever them from their own magic instead. That’s the thing about spells, there is always some risk. This one was especially unique though. Not many spells required this much risk. Where the hell would we find twelve witches willing to risk losing their magic? Or ten at least, considering that Shi and I would cast with them.

            “We should make a list of twenty witches we think might. Ten that are ideal and another ten that are possible alternates to the ideal.”

            Shi nods, but I continue before he says anything. “Furthermore, if at least five of the ideal ten don’t consent, we can’t risk it. The plan will be dead in the water, and we’ll have to find another way. We can’t risk our power if we are likely to fail because then we can’t fight her either. So, we need to choose wisely.”

            Shi agrees. “Okay, well… Want to start with the New York convent? We know them best.”

            I shake my head. “And every last one of them is lower ranked than you. That would be pointless. They won't have the amount of power we need. We should start with the Dublin Herb Witches. They are her targets, so they are the most likely to want to take this risk.”

            Shi and I get to work, throwing out everything we know about the witches in the Dublin Herbal Sect. We narrow it down to four possibilities. First, the Head Witch of the Hedge Witches. She’s especially talented and had a history of taking huge risks anyway. The only issue is that this might be asking too much. She’s the only reason her people aren’t already obliterated. She’s their best defense. Asking her to do this would be asking her to risk abandoning them and I’m not sure it’s ethically okay to even put her in this position.

            The second option wasn’t ethically bad, but it was less ideal. This witch was young and while her talent is immense, her lack of experience could be dangerous in these circumstances. Given that Shi was casting too, I worried that having two inexperienced people casting with us on talent alone wouldn’t go over well at all. Besides, it would do little to convince other experienced witches to go along with us.

            The third was better. Experienced. but even younger than the second. He had been casting since a young age, thus experience was there, as was talent, but at only thirteen, we would be asking a child to carry the burden and risks adults should be taking and that doesn’t set right with me at all. It’s even more unethical than asking the Head Witch. In my mind, I knew it’s not a road I could ever bring myself to take.

            Finally, the fourth. He was about our age, less experienced, but not inexperienced. He presented no ethical dilemma either.

            Shi sighs. “I say the Head Witch as first choice and the fourth guy as back up. She is more ideal magically and frankly, that’s what we ought to be making choices based on.”

            As much as I hate to admit it, he’s right. “Okay. Put it down.”

            We repeat this process several more times with witches from Japan, Nigeria, Venezuela, Italy, and Bahrain before completing our lists of ideals and alternatives. Geographically, it was all very scattered, so we split up. Shi would work from Egypt out to the east, and I would work from here out to the west. Then, we’d meet back in Dublin to gather the last witch.

            It takes about a week for us to gather them all. We were able to maintain communication throughout it though. Granted, it was all very businesslike and left me missing just being able to talk to him for enjoyment. Besides, we still haven’t had the chance to define our new relationship dynamic and that bothered me more than I’d ever admit out loud. Ultimately, we managed six of our ideal, which I didn’t think was too bad. I decided to focus on that success during the long flight back to Ireland rather than my anxiety about Shi and me.

            Upon our arrival, we all gathered at the Herb Witches hideout in Wicklow, a beach town to the south of Dublin. There, we presented her and our alternative with our idea. “Well, it is bold. You’re right to believe it’s our best shot.” She sighs. “Your point about possibly abandoning my people is well taken, but if this plan has a higher chance of success with me taking part, I must. Besides, I primed my people for my downfall long ago. They know what to do if I fall.”

            With that, we had our full team. We took some time to get to know each other’s abilities better knowing that it would help with breaking down and assigning the many components of the spell we will need to prepare. First, Shi and I explained that we are caster-types from New York and would do best focused on the part of the spell that required us to break down casting dynamics and plans.

            Naturally, the Head Witch of the Hedge Witches was the best choice for herb and plant gathering since it’s her specialty. So, we let her focus on that task. Especially given that I haven’t even heard of most of the plants and herbs listed in Jades grimoire.

            Then, there was the summoning-type witch from Japan. He would be responsible for figuring out the safest way to summon the Onyx Witch into the center of the casting circle to cast the spell. With him, we paired a barrier-type witch from Italy. She’s the daughter of the witch who cast the wards around the Vatican, so I have no doubt that she can figure out how to keep Onyx from attacking us while we cast.

            A spirit-type witch from Nigeria focused on figuring out how to contain the magic energy in this realm alongside a second barrier-type from Venezuela who would help her pin it so it the massive amount of magic energy didn’t leave our immediate surroundings and her people. They would work closely with the previous team as well.

            Finally, the witch from Bahrain who specialized in dark magic would act as a consultant to let the rest of us know how things may differ when dealing with Onyx who also uses dark magic, except much less responsibly. With her, was her assistant, which she never worked without. They reminded me of Shi and I a lot, but with much less annoying romantic and sexual tension interfering.

            Nearly a month passed before preparations were fully completed. All the while, we bore witness to the suffering of the Irish Herbal Witches. It broke each and every one of our hearts to see how our delay had harmed them, costing so many their lives, but we knew we couldn’t be hasty with a spell like this one. We would have but one shot at this, and if we failed, many more would die as a result.

            With the date of casting set, we had a few days while we waited for the new moon. Many assume more powerful spells all require a full moon, but no real witch thinks that way. It all depended on what the purpose of the spell was and for this one in particular, a new moon was perfect since what we wanted was a new beginning for the Herb Witches of Ireland.

            We took the time to rest and prepare ourselves mentally for what was to come. While we did, I thought it best to talk to Shi. If this went bad, I didn’t want to leave any unfinished business. Besides, he deserves to know how I feel one way or another.

            Together, we go on a brief walk for the privacy. Although, I used fresh air as a thinly veiled excuse to create said privacy, I’m sure he, and everyone in our vicinity, knew better. Once we were alone, I spoke. “Shi, there’s something we should discuss.”

            “No. Don’t, please. If you say it now, it’ll feel like a goodbye. I don’t want it to be a goodbye, Kita.”

            “But Shi…”

            He stops me. “But nothing, Kita. You may be my teacher, but I simply can’t listen to you here, gorgeous.” He turns and kisses my forehead. “If things go bad, die knowing I knew what you wanted to say and that I will find you in the next life so we can say it there.”

            Unable to argue, I relent. “Fine. As long as you know.”

            “I do.” He paused, “And you know too, right?”

            I can’t help but smile. “Yeah, Shi, I know.”

            Soon after, we return to the hideout. We ate with the group in the closest thing to a feast the Hedge Witches could offer in this hideout, then partied until midnight before passing out and resting well before the next night came ushering in our potential doom with it.

            The next night, around ten at night, we began the casting. Each of us trying our best to do our part. First, the summoning, followed by the various barriers. Each of which were successful. This was our shot. The herb witch lit the fire and began burning the herbs she gathered. Meanwhile, the dark witch and her assistant began to cast their half of the spell. Shi and I would do the second half when they were done.

            About fifteen minutes passed before that time came. Shi and I stepped up and started casting. We knew it was working when Onyx, yelling irately, began to thrash against the barriers the others were helping to hold in place. She was getting scared.

            Our half of the casting took about another fifteen minutes and then it was done. The Onyx Witch, powerless, fell to the ground. Several of us tested to make sure it wasn’t a ploy before lowering the barriers and calling the Council to take her into custody.

            They arrived within minutes and carried her off with little congratulations. Jerks. Nevertheless, those of us who helps cast gather is a group hug. The Head Witch cried as she realized her people were free again. Once more, they could enjoy the lush Irish greenery and live as their ancestors did. It was for that reason; I knew her tears were of joy and relief.

            After everyone passed around hugs and celebratory words, we went and gathered the herbal witches and escorted them and the Head Witch back to Dublin Castle where they joyously reclaimed their territory. We all stayed the remainder of the night, exhausted from the casting, but the next day, everyone went their separate ways. We would remain close friends, but it was time for us all to return to our own peoples.

            As for Shi and me, we decided not to return to New York. Instead, we petitioned the Council to let us reopen Jades temple in Egypt citing the need for her knowledge and magic if anything like this happened again. They agreed, though not without slapping us with a list of bounds and expectations. It wasn’t like we wanted anything like what Onyx did. Our temple was for the good of all witches, so it didn't bother us much to have to play by their rules.

            One month after opening it, I named Shi’s training completed and certified him to teach others. With that, he enlisted others to train in our temple’s ways. We were doing so well that by the end of the second month, we had nearly one-hundred member witches.

            Then, one night, he and I had dinner to celebrate. To commemorate our first date, we teleported to Dublin and went back to PHX. There, he finally told me he loved me, but he made it worth the wait by doing it on one knee while offering me a ring. Of course, I said yes. We could hardly wait to get married, but there was so much tradition to focus on that it took our temple nearly a year to prepare.

            Impatiently, we waited, and soon enough we were married. Our closest allies, the Herb Witches of Ireland, were perhaps as happy as we were during the wedding. Not that Shi and I could look away from each other long enough to celebrate with them.

End.

There it is! If you enjoyed this piece, I highly recommend checking out some of my books. I have so much more space when writing novels to play with story elements I just don’t in a short story. To get you started, check out The Fate of Angels and Demons! For the special edition hardcover, visit my STORE. For the paperback and ebook, you can find it at just about any major retailer. I’ve accumulated some of the links to those HERE to make it easy. I hope to see you back for next weeks segment of Nerdology 101. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: The Fate of Angels and Demons

Hey there, Booksluts. Thanks for dropping by! For those who are new here, this is Nerdology 101, my blog. Here, I discuss all the nerdy happenings. My name is Maria Levato. I’m an indie author, anime-lover, self-certified kinklord, mythology obsessor, and more. This week, I wanted to talk a bit about my upcoming release, The Fate of Angels and Demons.

This post is spoiler free!

The Fate of Angels and Demons is a 94,000 word (388 page) romantasy featuring [the spicier] elements of a dark romance. The book comes out on April 1st, 2026.

Here’s the official blurb:

Lilly, a priestess sent to prevent a prophecy that foretold the death of her brother (angel), the heir to Oceanica's throne, from unfolding falls in love with the demon king that is said to be her brother’s killer—and goes even more insane than he is.
Michael, the demon king of Tendu, has long resented the royal family of Oceanica due to the part they played in his father’s downfall—little does he know, his obsession with this priestess might lead to his own.

The book will be available in 3 formats. Paperback and ebook, available at most major retail stores through the Ingram catalog, and a special edition hardcover that will only be available via direct purchase. Retail stores and libraries may purchase it via the direct wholesale ordering form at a discount if they are ordering 20+ copies, and it will be available for individual purchases on this website at launch.

The special edition will include the following:

1. Sprayed edges,

2. 2 pieces of character art, 1 NSFW and 1 SFW,

3. A ribbon page marker,

4. Head and Tail bands,

5. Bonus content.

For readers who just can’t wait to get their hands on a copy, though, I am currently accepting applications for e-ARCs. E-ARCs, for those who may not be aware, are advanced reader copies, a number of distributed copies of a book sent to readers prior to release in the hopes that they might review the book and help build buzz. My ARCs are distributed through BookFunnel as a PDF. The minimum requirements are that the reader must be at least 18 years old (in the U.S., if outside of the U.S., whatever the age of majority is in your country), I must also be able to confirm that you’re human (no bots), and finally, the reader must agree not to re-sell, share, or distribute their ARC. To apply for an ARC, fill out THIS form.

Now, time for the fun part!

What is the spice level in The Fate of Angels and Demons?

This book is on fire. It features 7-ish sex scenes, all of which include some form of kink. The love interests develop a switch dynamic (For the vanilla folk: Sometimes he’s dominant; sometimes she is. It’s about a 50/50 split). My favorite spicy scene is the one that got made into the NSFW piece of character art for the special edition. It’s based on a scene in chapter 5. Needless to say, this book is INTENDED FOR AN ADULT AUDIENCE. Even among adults, its content may be triggering to some readers. I do strongly advise that readers review the trigger list thoroughly prior to starting the books (provided on the ARC sign up form, in the front of the book, and in numerous other locations).

What inspired me to write The Fate of Angels and Demons?

Well, to start, Lilly’s character has been around in my writing for a while. If you’re new to my writing, I write The Islands of Rune universe so it can be read as a series or as standalones. The books are connected, but you don’t have to read them all in order to understand the latest release. In part, I do this because my craft tends to improve drastically from one book to the next (as with anything, even if you’re good, there’s always still room for improvement). I always want new readers to be able to start off reading my best work. So, I actually encourage people to always start with what’s newest.

As for this book specifically, Lilly was always intended to get her own book. I knew it from the moment I introduced her. Her character development, some of the things she’s been through, thinks, and feels, are all deeply personal to me in one way or another. In my writing, I tend to use the enthralling fantasy plots and intense romances to make palpable the more serious topics I address (as do most authors, at least the ones I read). Underneath the fun of the story is a lot of important commentary regarding what life after trauma actually looks like and why its okay if you never go back to “normal” (gag, I hate that stupid word), along with other topics surrounding racism, bigotry, forced labor, poverty, and more. This book came out of me when it did for a reason. With the state of the world being what it is, art and literature are more important than ever. It’s no secret that reading helps people develop a stronger sense of empathy and increases literacy, so I write to make sure people can accomplish those goals in a fun and accessible way. Lilly is the perfect character to help me accomplish that because she has such a unique perspective that allows for both a brutal rage and a kind heart.

Also, though, I love priestess characters.

What sorts of things are you doing to help boost yourself coming up to the release?

So, so many things. Of course, there’s the social media aspect. I hired a PA to help me with content creation. Her name is Jazmine (@jazzys_books & @apenandapromise on IG). She’s been great. Having her helping me out has done wonders in terms of freeing me up so I can A) focus on writing other books, B) focus on contacting bookstores (both previously partnered and new to me), libraries, planning events, and contacting book bloggers/influencers to seek partnerships, and C) managing and distributing ARCs, running ads, and connecting with readers directly. With all of that going on, I’m sure you can see how sparing myself that 3ish hours/week on making posts is actually so helpful (plus I literally suck at coming up with stuff to post. I’m still at that stage in being an author where I freeze up any time I’m asked what my book is about or am expected to speak out loud.) (If you happen to be a more popular author reading my blog, please let me know if and when that will go away? LMAO.)

Anyway, as things happen, you can hear all about them on any of my socials. Here’s my Instagram, my Bluesky, my Threads, and on the home page of this website, you’ll also find a form to sign up for my email list (I won’t spam, I promise).

That’s all for this week! I hope you’ll drop in again next week for another segment of Nerdology 101. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: The “Smut” Convo

This blog post is not recommended for anyone under the age of 18. If you’re a minor, please check with a parent or guardian before proceeding.

We’reeee backkkk! Welcome to Nerdology 101. I’m your host, Maria Levato. This week we’re going to talk about the word smut. I’m not going to waste any time getting into it because this is already going to be a rant. So, let’s get into some Nerdology!

If you read this blog, my books, or my social media content, it’s probably no suprise to you that I love smutty books. I love reading them, writing for them, and today I love advocating for them because by now we’ve all seen the shift start to happen.

I’m going to say this loud and fucking clear: There’s nothing wrong with sex. Sex is normal. It’s healthy. It’s enjoyable. Therefore, there is nothing unclean, shameful, embarrassing, or wrong about reading smut. It’s a book. The fact that sex happens in a book doesn’t reflect whatsoever on its literary value or relavance. In fact, it adds value in the sense that it highlights ideas that push forward social movements such as sex positivity, feminism, and LGBTQIA+ rights—all of which I stand by firmly.

The word smut, in this context, is one the bookish community used to refer to these books when BookTok, Bookstagram, and other bookish social media tags started becoming more popular. It was used primarily as an inside joke that brought joy to the community. Anyone who has actually read these books is unlikely to see them as simply being pornography. Recently, however, we’ve started to see a rise in people who are using the word smut to diminish the books, the people who read them, and the people who write them. As such, the language has started to change. I’ve seen more and more people beginning to avoid the word smut altogether. In leiu of it, they’re leaning towards softer, less direct options like spice—which has been used for a while, but not in the way that it’s happening now where it’s being used to avoid stigmatization. With that being the case, many have begun to debate which words should and should not be used. In this post, I’m going to give my thoughts on why we shouldn’t let go of the word smut or otherwise soften our language.

1. What message are we sending?

   When we communicate, word choice matters. That’s why an author will some times spend hours searching for that perfect word. When I stop and ask myself what message we are sending with our word choices regarding sexual content in books, here’s what comes to my mind (I cannot speak for everyone. I’m giving my perspective and that’s all.):

   “I read smutty books.” - I confidently read sexual material with the critical engagement necessary to understand that books containing it often offer great stories, diverse voices, powerful social commentary, and that the act of reading it is a form of empowerment that affirms for me that my pleasure, autonomy, and needs matter both in and outside of the bed.

   “I read spicy books.” - This does NOT automatically imply that the person speaking doesn’t feel the same way as the one who says they read smut. It does however require more thought. In the bookish community, I’ve never seen anyone use a smut scale because of the implications behind the word, but spice scales are frequently used. The translations of these scales often vary widely. For one reader, Fourth Wing may be the spiciest book they’ve ever read. For another reader, it could be a one or a two on a scale of one to five. I think that matters because it means using the word spice allows a massive amount of interpretation that can lead to some misunderstandings. So, by using the word, you’re allowing the other person to judge your meaning based on their scale. Because of this broadness, the message you’re sending with your word choice is less clear. I can’t tell based on the sentence alone if this person is quietly capitulating to purity culture or if they are loudly and intentionally rebelling against it in their own way. Thus, I have to assume someone who loudly and intentionally perpetuates purity culture would be pleased by this because it leaves room for them to twist things in a way that may or may not align with the intention of the person saying it. I can see people using this type of soft language to make it seem like “Oh, so this is something you know you should be ashamed of” even though that argument is easily dismantled by anyone with a critical thinking skills. The danger of it, though, is that not everyone has critical thinking skills. Moreover, the crazies would rather not think critically if what’s being said inflates their false sense of superiority and makes them look justified in their oppression.

2. Infantilization

   We’re fucking adults. It is insane to me that a bunch of adults cannot speak about sexual content in a direct way. The softening of the language is reminiscent of arguing on a playground about who has cooties. This probably has a lot to do with censorship on social media platforms as well, but it has a real impact. This soft language and avoidance reaffirms stereotypes (particularly when it comes to women). It allows people to imply shame, lack of assertiveness, indecisiveness, innocence and corruption in accordance with whatever arbitrary standard they so choose, and other harmful ideas that make it sound like we’re unable to think and act of our own free will. Men talk about sex amoungst themselves. The fact that its considered problematic for women to do the same in regards to books often written with women in mind is a symptom of misogyny and the infantilization that comes with it.

3. Content

   Changing the language we use to discuss content could result in a change the content itself. I love these smutty books and a lot of you do too. So, let’s talk about how erasure of the word smut could lead to erasure of the content. Censorship is a tricky thing. It usually doesn’t start by saying “this type of language is banned”. Outright attacks on words like that are more likely to meet resistance. Convincing people to self-censor is a much easier thing to do, especially on social media platforms because it rewards self-censorship with reach, which leads to engagement, and to sales that a lot of bookish accounts might be depending on for their income. While I acknowledge how difficult it might be for people to cope with this loss of income, I’d argue that the benefit outweighs the cost. If we will self-censor on social media, we’ll eventually self-censor in other ways when that push for it expands. Bookstores and readers may eventually start to move away from carrying smut, which will push publishers away from publishing it, then agents away from representing it, and in the end push writers away from writing it. Even self-published authors have to consider the market and what will sell, it could even result in less smut being available from us too. The issue is bigger than one word. If we allow that word to be erased, we invite them to push for more.

   The impact of it could substantially setback conversations around sex positivity and feminism as I’ve addressed, but it could also setback conversations around LGBTQIA+ rights. I know recently there’s been a lot of conversation around straight women writing MM, but that’s the point—There’s conversation. Representation leads to conversation. Conversation leads to increased understanding of the communities perspective. Increased understanding leads to better representation. I read a fair amount of LGBTQIA+ books written by LGBTQIA+ authors, but I never would have found most of them if I hadn’t been reading smutty MM written by straight women that were already popularized. While I do agree that books by LGBTQIA+ authors should be the priority in LGBTQIA+ genres AND that staight people who write LGBTQIA+ stories need to do better, I think the point stands that without popular smut, I would know less LGBTQIA+ authors and that these conversations about what good representation and allyship look like wouldn’t be happening.

With all of that being said, I will continue to use the word smut because I think the benefits of it are worth protecting. That’s my two cents on this discourse and I hope it helps readers and writers alike think more about the language we’re using and decide for themselves what language they want to use.

Let me know in the comments what your thoughts are! See you back next week for the next segment of Nerdology 101. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: Thoth

Hey, hey! You, you! It’s time for some Nerdology! No way, no way. You can’t be too excited!

[Clears throat] … Please excuse my outburst. I had to do it at least once and thought this would be a good week because [Insert drum roll] it’s my 10th post! Over the past 10 weeks of hosting and writing this blog, it has become the most visited page on my website. So, thank you all so much for sticking with me. It’s actually a huge help and is definitely boosting my visibility, so I appreciate it.

If you've been here for a while, you already know me. But if this is your first time visit, I’m Maria—the crazy, quirky kinklord of an indie author who runs this blog. I'm happy to have you all here and for that reason, this weeks post will be a bit special. I’ll be doing a bit of a deep dive on my favorite deity: Thoth. Most of you have probably heard the name before, but for those who haven’t, Thoth is the Egyptian God of wisdom, writing, science, the moon—pretty much everything a nerd could ask for, right? I thought so too. Let’s get into some Nerdology!

Thoth (originally called Djehuty in Egyptian) was an awesome god. I listed a few of the areas where he’s noted above, but there’s more. How Thoth came into existence is a bit debated. According to some sources, he was born from Ra’s lips asexually. Others say that the god literally created himself. What is clear, in any source, is that Thoth was revered and that Egyptian mythology placed him as a central figure. A lot of gods depended on him in some way or another. He had a hand in judging souls as they moved to the afterlife. He advised Seshat, Osiris, Horus, and other gods. Perhaps most importantly, though, is the fact that this god knew everything. Period. Every scrap of knowledge there was to know, he knew it. Now, I like to learn, but that’s a lot of stuff to know.

One of my favorite things about Thoth is that he’s so intersectional. Thoth is equally associated with science and math as he is with art and philosophy, literature—even mediation. He did it all. It’s nice to think of it that way. In the modern age, it always kind of feels like there’s this huge divide between the humanities/liberal arts/art and STEM where it’s constantly a choice between one or the other. Either we invest in STEM or we invest in the arts? If we prioritize science, non-STEM subjects become “useless degrees”? It’s all very black and white, one or the other. We seem to have forgotten the word “and”. Thoth, to me, serves as this sort of ancient reminder to place equal importance on all of it because they’re all important aspects of intelligence. It would probably seem crazy to such a god to place more weight on one form of knowledge than another.

Thoth was so important to the Egyptian pantheon that he was one of its first gods. We can trace him back to the 25th century BCE. Roughly, that places our earliest accounts of Thoth’s worship within a few centuries of the Akkadian rule of Mesopotamia, making this god pretty freakin’ old. Of course, that’s not to say Thoth doesn’t still have his following today. Many self-identifying witches seek his guidance. Here, you can see one such practitioner talk about their experiences with the deity, and here, we see that later pantheons recognized that their own god, Hermes, was an iteration of Thoth in their own culture. The Romans also had their own iteration of him in Mercury too, hence the planets astrological associations with communication, curiosity, and versitility. It’s the “messenger” of the astrological world.

As a writer and a lover of knowledge myself, I’ve always taken a great interest in Thoth. He’s one of the few deities I can identify with. Of all the tales various religions tell, not many of them register with what I’d see as god-like. Thoth makes a lot of sense to me as a god, though. Knowing things that mortals, and even other deities, are unaware of. Being a sort of vessel for knowledge, literature, and art sounds like something a god would do to me.

I’ve been known to embrace witchy concepts, although its worth noting that I wouldn’t call myself a witch (I just have a deep respect for them and think they could be closer to “right” about spirituality than most humans). For me, I view religion of any kind through an academic and/or culturally curious lens. But, I do hold certain ritualistic things that I do not necessarily because I believe a deity is on the other end of them, but because the practice is something that helps me psychologically. So, yes, you could say that on several occassions, I have connected with the idea of Thoth during those practices—if not the deity himself, then with the ideas the archetype embodies that I identify with on a deep enough level to consider it spiritual. These moments fuel the curiosity that comes to life when I write… or travel… or watch something that brings up a question… or just about anything because I tend to get curious often. I consider that, in and of itself, a form of honor to Thoth and deities like him, who, whether they exist or don’t, inspire humanity to pursue the creativity and knowledge they stand for. As intangible and unprovable as the concept of a god is, there’s no denying that the impact mythology has had on us as a species it. Ultimately, unlike many gods, I see the idea of Thoth and his iterations as one that has a net positive impact on the world and that’s not something I would say about many deities, modern or ancient. That’s why he’s my favorite deity and one I consider myself connected to.

That’s about it for this weeks Nerdology 101 post. I’ll see you back next week for the next segment of Nerdology 101! If you want to know what the topic will be, I post weekly topic reveals on Saturdays across my socials! (Meta: @malevato6 , Bluesky: @marialevato.com ). Until then, have a nerdy week!

Source List:

https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/religion-and-philosophy/thoth-deity

https://egyptianmuseum.org/deities-thoth

https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/the-akkadian-period-ca-2350-2150-b-c

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/700048

Nerdology 101: Diversity in the Nerdom

Hello and welcome back to Nerdology 101, the blog where, at least for this week, I say things that should be obvious because the Nazi’s among us don’t seem to get the point that they are the only ones that aren’t welcome here. This week we’re talking about diversity in the nerdy world. So, let’s dive right in.

The nerdy community wouldn’t exist without diversity. Let me say it louder for the people in the back: THE NERDY COMMUNITY WOULDN’T EXIST WITHOUT DIVERSITY.

Being a nerd is a concept that began its evolution some time between 1930 and 1980, according to Merriam-Webster. While the etymology of the word isn’t extremely clear, we do know that it has taken on a few different meanings since its creation. It’s been used to call people socially inept, intelligent, socially inept with intelligence, and more. Today, we mostly use it to describe those who are enthusiastic and knowledgable about a niche topic such as gaming, books, anime, etc. This is important to remember because the concept of nerd we know today didn’t even start to form until the 90’s. Millenials fueled and witnessed the shift ourselves when we woke up at 5AM every day to watch Inuyasha on Adult Swim and popularized series Divergent, Hunger Games, Dune, and Lord of the Rings. Thus, nerd culture is still relatively new to society.

Part of the reason nerd culture took off with such ferocity is because it reached the disinfranchised. Do you know how rare it was to see a Black person in a TV fantasy series in 2006? How about a Black person who wasn’t depicted in a racist way or who only showed up once for five seconds only to never be seen again? Bleach did it, though. Most popular is the character Yoruichi, who we all know and love, they also had quite a few others who were well written with brown skin. The same goes for Naruto—though there were flaws in the way they did it—characters like Karui and Darui are met a need American media was completely ignoring at the time. This type of representation attracted diverse communities that drove the success of anime. In these statistics released by Crunchyroll in 2024, we see that the amount of Black anime fans has been rising drastically with each generation with only 9% of Boomer anime fans being Black, 13% of Gen X, 19% of Millenials, 23% of anime watchers in Gen Z. That’s almost a quarter of anime fans in Gen Z that are Black. If you include other ethnic minority groups, 48% of anime fans in Gen Z are not White. Beyond ethnicity, over 1/3 of the total anime watching community across generations is women with the highest two generations (Millenials and Gen Z) both being over 40% and 32% of across generations identifying as LGBTQIA+ in some way. These are massive portions of anime’s fanbase. Without that diversity, the style would take massive hits likely resulting in worse animation, storytelling, etc. More than that, though, it’s insane to call yourself a nerd if you hate such a large portion of the community you’re identifying with.

Aside from anime, we also have substantial diversity in the bookish community, gaming community, and every other aspect of nerdom. Just recently, a Mixed race author who I look up to, Amber V. Nicole, topped the USA Today and NYT Bestseller lists with her new release, The Wrath of the Fallen in the Gods and Monsters series. Julian Winters made the Marie Claire “25 Best Romance Books of 2025” list with his book I Think They Love You. Tracy Deonn, Analeigh Sbrana, Harley Laroux, and the list goes on—diverse authors are thriving with the support of diverse readers. We would lose a ton of great writing without the diversity that is getting attacked by so many.

In information released by Women in Games, 53% of gamers are men and 46% are women with the remaining 1% being non-binary or putting “I prefer not to say”. 38% of gamers are an ethnicity other than white. Thus, this extends to gaming as well. Every corner of the wider nerdom is filled with diversity. So, why is it that the bigoted ideas that harm so many within the community still thrive? The only answer I can come to is silence. So many are afraid to speak up when something is wrong for fear that no one will stand with them and that they’ll only isolate themselves further. In a video posted by Tony Weaver Jr. following the death of a Black cosplayer named Ash, he calls for us not just to be more inclusive towards Black people in the nerdom, but also for us to be more exclusive towards those who making the sort of bigoted comments that led to Ash’s death to begin with. This sort of hatred has no place in our community and I agree with what Tony is saying here. We need to drive the hatred out by making it harder for it to exist in the first place. Our community will be better for it, just as it has been better for the increased diversity throughout the generations.

That’s all I have for you this week. Drop in next Friday at 3PM ET for our next segment of Nerdology 101. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: Interview w/ Eliwood S. Gheist from The Hook and Quill Press

Hey, hey! What’s up, nerds? I’m Maria Levato, self-proclaimed nerdologist and indie author, back once again to bring you another segment of Nerdology 101. Today, we have a very special segment featuring Eliwood S. Gheist (she/they) from The Hook and Quill Press, making this our very first interview. Before we dive in, I want to take a moment to thank her for joining me. It’s so exciting for me to have my first interview and I hope you all enjoy it.

Now, let gooo!

Maria: “What is your role at Hook and Quill?”

Eliwood: “I am the CEO, and primarily that means signing paperwork and running the social media accounts. We started this company as a co-op, and every member has put in an incredible amount of time and work to get us here.”

Maria: “Tell me about the formation of Hook and Quill? Your website mentions that it was born of a writing support group, what did the evolution from that to being an indie press look like?”

Eliwood: “Many of us met on Bluesky, particularly through the WIPSnips promptgame. Being all writers of similar mindsets, we tried making a Discord where we could support each other through the trials of all phases of writing; brainstorming, drafting, editing, querying. Our focus has always been on uplifting each other and encouragement, and I think that naturally helped us all start to feel more confident in ourselves and the future. We commiserated about the difficulties of getting published, and talked through the merits of tradpub versus selfpub. One of the main struggles of self publishing is having to handle every aspect alone; proofreading, book design, marketing. The joke became “what if we started our own publishing company?” And gradually, it just stopped being a joke, and became a hypothetical: “What would it actually take for us to be able to do that?””

Maria: “When producing books, what does the process look like internally? Does Hook and Quill function more like trad or self-publishing, or is the approach new altogether?”

Eliwood: “We are in the process of producing our first book, and while we have planned out the process as much as we could, there’s still more to learn with every step. The first step is to assign roles to members who volunteer for them; things like proofreading and formatting the manuscript. We develop a social media promotion campaign, and schedule goalposts for release. After proofreading and edits, we make sure we have cover art and formatting ready. We arrange an interview with the author in our newsletter, as well as potentially on our sister podcast, From Tree to Book Writing Group. And then we think about distribution! We try to go wide, and make sure we are available on as many platforms as possible. We are reliant on the selfpub model at this point, as we don’t really have any funding or ability to order large volumes of books (or any place to store them or any way to distribute), so we’re doing everything using as much as we can by ourselves, and rely on things like Print-on-Demand and word of mouth to get where we want to be.”

Maria: “How many member authors do you have and what have they written?”

Eliwood: “There are six authors, and our happy helper Kelsey Ann. Of the writers, there’s Lizzie Blackwood, Samantha Breaux, myself, T.D. Gonzalez, Emily Klotz, and Kara Moon. There’s more details about what each author is writing and has written on our website (https://hookandquillpress.com/writers/). If you enjoy fantasy, science fiction, horror, romance, queer love, or any kind of story that focuses on character and humor and heart, we’ve definitely got some great books coming out for you!”

Maria: “Are there any new works from members coming out soon?”

Eliwood: “We are releasing our first book Bludeye Beach on January 1st, 2026, and preorders have just opened up! Join Edie Grayson as she navigates family drama and romance, all while trying to figure out the eerie mystery at the heart of idyllic coastal town of Bludeye Beach.

“We’ve got a few other titles in line to be released throughout the year; keep an eye on Emily Klotz, Lizzie Blackwood, and Samantha Breaux! In addition, we’re going to be releasing quarterly Zines to feature shorter pieces from our writers, if you’re interested in a smaller sampling. These will be available for individual sale, and made available to any of our supporters on Patreon and Ko-Fi.”

Maria: “Are books written by members available widely? Where can readers find them?”

Eliwood: “We are planning a wide release, and would like to make our books available to as many people as we possibly can. The best place for more details will be our website and the HookandQuillPress Bluesky account. We also highly encourage people to request a copy through their local library when they are available. Part of our company mission is to support the writing community, and writers would not be where we are without libraries!”

Maria: “Is Hook and Quill currently accepting submissions? If not, do they have plans to accept new members in the future?”

Eliwood: “At this time, we are not accepting outside submissions or new members, primarily because there’s a lot that we’re still figuring out. But who knows what the future holds!”

Maria: “How can readers keep up with the happenings of the press?”

Eliwood: “We have a monthly newsletter that gets posted to our website, Patreon, and Ko-Fi; hookandquillpress.com, and HookandQuillPress everywhere else. If you track us down on one of our socials, I hope you’ll stop to say hi!”

Maria: “What are some of Hook and Quill’s goals for 2026?”

Eliwood: “We want to share the work from our writers with the world, but we also want to uphold our company goals; uplift the writing community and support indie artists.”

Maria: “Is there anything else about Hook and Quill or its members readers or writers may want to know?”

Eliwood: “We are so grateful to be doing this work, and we thank you all for the support we’ve been shown. Check out Bludeye Beach, releasing January 1st, 2026! Preorder your copy now!”

That concludes our interview with Hook and Quill. To support the press, be sure to buy their books, leave reviews, and engage with their content. For more content like this, engage with mine. I’ll see you back next week for the next segment of Nerdology 101. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Relevant Links:

https://www.instagram.com/hookandquillpress/

bsky.app/profile/hookandquillpress.com

hookandquillpress.com

https://www.patreon.com/cw/hookandquillpress?utm_source=search&vanity=hookandquillpress

Nerdology 101: Self vs. Trad Publishing

Hi! Welcome back to Nerdology 101. I’m Maria Levato, your nerdy sensei who writes about kink play—and a bunch of other random stuff no one asked about.

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of discourse around the merits of self vs. trad publishing, so I’m using this week’s post to address that. Let me give you a hint: Both options are perfectly valid.

There are few industries where we judge the legitimacy of a business by who makes the initial investment. I have never heard someone say “Oh, this store is worse than a different store because the owner paid for it themselves instead of getting investors.” Why haven’t I heard that before? Because it would be insane and most people wouldn’t say it. So, why do we do it when it comes to books? Let’s dive into some Nerdology and find out!

Before the Printing Press

Long ago, there was a world without the printing press. A medieval time where books were—Checks notes, then gasps—made by hand!? Oh, the horror. As you may have guessed, they took a lot of time and money to make. The majority of them were made and collected by religious entities and universities. “Getting published”, as we know it today, didn’t really exist. What did exist, though, is the concept of patronage. Wealthy people, like nobles and royals, would find artists and writers they liked and bankroll them. Eventually, after creating some work, some of the artists and writers would start to get commissions from other wealthy people who wanted a work made by that artist or writer. Publishing houses are the post-printing press version of this, so you can call writers who became published this way early trad authors. On the other hand, you could call writers with the wealth to pay to have their writing produced themselves, early self-published authors.

Good Ol’ Gutenberg and the Printing Revolution

In 1454, we see Gutenberg’s printing press get put to commercial use for the first time where he prints a slew of stuff off for the church. Then, suddenly books (or at least those the church approves of) are more widely available. It’s magic. A ton of people were interested in this because it was a quick and easy way to replicate their ideas and distribute them to a wide audience. It was a Printing Revolution, literally, that’s what it was called. It was part of the Renaissance. You can learn a lot about it by viewing this page from Printing R-Evolution that explores it in depth. For our purposes, though, I’m just illustrating how this became the publishing industry. You see, whoever had a printing press could print and distribute anything. So, having one became a powerful way to distribute materials that would make people more likely to agree with your preferred idealogy. That’s a lot of power. It platformed people like Galileo, who was a radical thinker for his time. It also gave us texts that sparked social movements like the rise of Prostestantism, such as bibles written in languages that aren’t Latin, which were considered heresy at the time. Eventually, people realized that printing and distributing books could be lucrative. Enter: The Publishing Industry, entities who printed and distributed books on behalf of the writer.

Literary Agents

Three to four centuries and a lot of books later, literary agents come onto the scene between 1870 and 1930, depending on location. Their job was simple. Connect writers with publishing houses. This is really the start of traditional publishing as we know it today. From there, traditional publishing became more of a standardized process. Query agents (via snail mail, at the time), get an agent, have that agent submit the work to publishers, get published.

The Internet

With the internet came a revitalization of self-publishing. In 2005, Blurb, an online self-publishing platform was founded. In 2009, Amazon started Amazon Publishing. In 2013, IngramSpark came onto the scene. As with anything, some people got mad about it. They started bashing people who took that path because it went against their expectations of what becoming an author should look like. That’s where it started to get stigmatized.

Social Media

With the rise of Booktok/Bookstagram/Booktube/etc. came change. Self-published authors started to gain stronger platforms and their path became less stigmatized. This led us to the debate I’m seeing today about whether self or trad publishing is better. As I said at the start of this blog post, it doesn’t matter. The difference lies in who bears the initial investment, not the quality of the production itself. I’ve read plenty of trad books that I love and plenty that I dislike. The same applies to self-published books. Trad published books sometimes have editing issues, so do self-published books sometimes. Both formats have different pros and cons. Ultimately, the choice on which format is better depends on the writer and the piece they’re publishing. No matter what a writer chooses, they choose it because it is the best route for them and their work. Some writers choose one path at first and a different path later. Some are solidly on one side of the line or the other. So long as everyone respects everyone else’s decisions, there’s nothing wrong with any of it. It’s okay for people to achieve similar goals by different means. To say a trad-published author is a sell out or a self-published author wasn’t good enough to make it is ridiculous. No matter who bears the initial investment, the quality of the writing is what matters at the end of the day. Read books you like, no matter how they were published, and don’t read books you don’t like, no matter how they were published.

Let me know in the comments what your thoughts are! Did you learn something new about the history of publishing?

With that, I bid you all a good weekend. I’ll see you back next Friday at 3P.M. ET for the next segment of Nerdology 101. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Source List (This is a blog, not an academic paper. I’m just dropping the links so people can learn more, not making full citations).

https://guides.library.ubc.ca/historyofthebook/beforeprint

https://independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=1510

https://scarc.library.oregonstate.edu/omeka/exhibits/show/mcdonald/incunabula/gutenberg/

https://www.printingrevolution.eu/7

https://www.transatlantic-cultures.org/es/catalog/agents-litteraires

Nerdology 101: Record of Ragnarok

***Light Spoiler Alert***

Hey, hey! Welcome back to Nerdology 101—the blog where we’re currently freakin TF out because it’s almost time for the new season of Record of Ragnarok! My name is Maria Levato and I’m your nerdy professor here to whip you into shape and keep you up-to-date on all the nerdy happenings. Now, be a good boy/girl, sit down, and enjoy the ride.

ROR quickly made my list of favs back in 2021 when it made it’s anime release (haven’t read the manga at all). Being outside of my normal tastes, I was hesitant to start it back then because I’m normally a romance lover, even other none romance anime that I watch usually feature some romantic elements. ROR, though, is quite different from that. It’s bloody and brutal to the core, but the characters are hot AF and I read dark romance anyway, so why not?

Now, in S3 we’re getting a bad ass line-up. In an article by Fandom Wire, it was revealed that we should expect to see Hades v. Qin Shi Huang, Beelzebub v. Nikola Tesla, and Apollo v. King Leonidas. Out of these, I’m personally looking forward to Hades the most (I’m team gods all the way). ROR has a way of making its most beautiful characters the most ruthless too and I think that means we’re in for a wild fight here. I mean, it’s Hades. It’d be hard to make his character anything less than the absolute wonder that he’s always been. I actually had to look up his opponent, though. I’m not well-versed in Chinese history, but he’s the first emperor of China and founded the Qin dynasty. He also coined the term Emperor in China. You can learn more about him here, if you’re interested, but he built the Great Wall and established the Terracotta Warriors—making him a substantial figure in Chinese history and a human figure who can actually match the legend that is Hades in terms of influence over the respective culture.

The other fights won’t be anything to sneeze at either, though. I think Beelzebub v. Nikola Tesla is an interesting match up. If it weren’t for my personal bias toward Hades, this would be the most interesting match up this season. I feel like this is the most unpredictable of the fights. I can’t even begin to imagine how it goes down. It’ll be great to see what direction they take it in.

As for the last match, Apollo is an interesting choice on the gods front. In Greek mythology, he has a ton of domains, though he’s best known for music and healing, but the one I think the creators might be thinking of is one that’s not so commonly discussed. Apollo is also a god of plagues and disease, as you can see here. I’m almost imagining him showing up in the arena looking all sweet and innocent then using some sort of dark plague magic. It'd be cool to see him depicted that way since other depictions of him usually don’t highlight that aspect of him. I hope they do this.

What are your thoughts and expectations for the season? Do you imagine Apollo’s fight the way I did? Is there one you’re most excited for? Let me know in the comments and I’ll see you back next Friday at 3PM ET for the next segment of Nerdology 101.

Nerdology 101: Working with a Character Designer as an Indie Author

Hello, and welcome back to Nerdology 101, the blog where I explore all things nerdy and you read it because you’re a good little nerd just like me. That’s right. Good nerd, you keep reading this blog like the little cutie you are. LOL. #PraiseKink - Nerdy Edition. I’m your weekly blogger, Maria Levato, a proud fellow nerd and indie author. Let’s get started!

This week, we’ll be talking about character design! I chose this topic because I’ve been seeing a lot of discourse around it—particularly from other indie authors who keep getting ghosted by people they hire. It’s no good, so I figured I’d do a deep dive and talk about my experieces with it. Hopefully, this helps someone weed out the AI slop and false artists to find that ever-elusive perfect match. At the end, I’ll also name a few character artists I know to be legit.

What are your experiences working with character artists?

I’ve worked with two of them. The first was in 2023. I hired this one off of Fivver. He did great work, designing art for my whole original cast in The Islands of Rune universe. The price was affordable at $75/piece for 6 characters, full body, single pose, no backgrounds. I loved the pieces and it was a great time. Unfortunately, though, we eventually went our separate ways. It’s worth noting, though, that AI wasn’t as much of an issue on the platform a few years ago as it is now. I cannot speak to what searching would be like on there today. If you have worked with someone on Fivver or a similar platform recently, please share that experience in the comments to elaborate on this. However, for the time being, I will say that my experience hiring someone off of the platform was positive and that, if nothing has changed that makes it more complicated, I would recommend using it.

The second time I worked with a character artist is right now. A few weeks ago, I put a call out on Threads asking artists to drop their work in the comments. As you can imagine, a mass of them flocked to the post and I was left with the task of sorting through it all. It was a wild ride, but a good idea. It boosted my engagement and profile signifcantly while also offering an opportunity to people that allowed them to display their work. There were a ton of great submissions, but ultimately, I found my artist. As of now, I’ve commission two pieces from them (one NSFW and one SFW). These two are slightly more expensive than the original two, but this time I also wanted full, exclusive rights to the work and for the pieces to reflect scenes from the book they’re associated with—meaning there we’re backgrounds and more than one character in the images which makes it more complex. Given that, the additional cost makes plenty of sense and is still great for what I’m getting. I paid 50% of the price upfront via PayPal—this is where it goes wrong for a lot of authors—but I wasn’t ghosted! Ever since, I’ve recieved a few updates per week from the designer—which is a huge help in making sure they aren’t using AI—and communication has been consistent. This is mostly the experience we’re going to be talking about for the rest of this post because there’s a lot to learn. We’ll discuss: How I made sure I wouldn’t get ghosted, how I checked for AI on the original post, and a few other key topics that may help someone hiring a character designer for the first time—especially if, like me, they’re still learning how to spot the less obvious AI.

1. Does follower count matter?

   Sometimes, but it’s not an end all be all way of making a judgement about whether you’re dealing with a bot or not. While this can indicate that the profile is bot-run, I’d call it a yellow flag because there are a lot of other things that this could mean. For example, since Meta and TikTok favor white, western, eurocentric content, sometimes someone who doesn’t speak perfect English or has a style that doesn’t fit into that narrow box can struggle to gain a following. Also, there’s new people. Maybe the artist just opened their commissions for the first time or just started pursuing it as an income stream. There’s also the possibility that they’ve been doing this for a while, but haven’t found quite the right combination of hashtags that work for them. Social media is hard. Trust me, I will struggle with it because I’m video shy (I start stuttering and get anxious every time I try to record one). For someone who doesn’t post reels, growing a following is a slow process. So, make sure that you aren’t knocking a perfectly valid artist because of something that isn’t necessarily indicitive of their humanity or talent.

2. Okay, then how do I find the bots?

That’s a layered process. First, give instruction. Tell people to drop their work in the comments. Those who DM you anyway are either bots or people who don’t listen well. You don’t want either because even if they are real, an artist needs to be able to follow the specifications provided in the commission. It’s the same reason those of us who are pusuing trad publishing have to follow the guidelines provided by lit agents/agencies when querying. So, this step will weed out some of the bots, but also some of the people who exhibit signs that they might not be suited for your commission. Next, watch language. One thing I continuously saw that registered as a red flag for me is this one phrase that came up in multiple submissions: “I look forward to your positive reply.” It’s not all that often that I hear a human say something like that, so to see it in multiple subs put me off. Most of people understand that’s manipulative and shifts unfair pressure onto the commissioner to hire. It’s especially weird for an artist to say because it makes the assumption that they’re getting a commission over every other interested party and most true artists respect the work of other artists. Thus, I see that as either a bot or a narcissist, so again, it’ll weed out more bots and people with undesirable traits that might make them hard to work with. Once you narrow it down, DM 3-5 artists. TALK TO THEM. Ask questions. Discuss rates. Talk about the commission. Anything. It won’t take too long for you to notice if the conversation feels manufactured, as if you’re speaking to a bot. This functions as a vibe check and a bot check.

3. And what about the people who are actually people, but are using AI?

Spotting AI is becoming increasingly difficult as the technology continues to invade creative industries, but there are still things you can do to spot it. Lines are a big one. Humans have distinguishable lines around their drawings. Think of a coloring book. Each object in the photo has a clear outline even after its colored in. If we removed that, the picture wouldn’t look quite right to us. AI usually doesn’t have these lines. That’s one way you can spot it. Of course, there’s ways slop generators get around that too. It’s easy to do, especially if they do AI-assisted art. This is where AI checkers come in. There’s more than a few sites that offer this service free. My advice: Use more than one. Some are good at catching certain things, others excel at catching other things. It’s always good to have more than one source. Another helpful tip is that AI is no good at mimicing extremely unique styles. What it generates typically fits into a more generic version of what its prompted to create. If an artist has a style you don’t see all the time, they probably didn’t use AI to make it.

4. That’s good to know, but now, how do I protect myself from people who are just out to scam me?

As with everything, written agreements are the best way to protect yourself. I used Jotform to create mine. Set it so the form is private and only those you send invites via email can access it. Add signature fields and a recaptcha—and if you’re really suspicious, add a second check in the way of a “Select all that apply” question to be extra sure the bots don't get in. Define your terms clearly. Define what the total payment is, what the deposit is, when it will be paid, and when other payments will be made based on your discussion with the artist. Make sure you state clearly that the artist must work within the specifications, not use AI in any capacity, not be affiliated with anything that would have affected your decision to hire them, etc. Make sure it’s clear that violation of terms will void the contract, that they’ll owe you a refund, that any legal recourse available will be pursued, etc. You should also address rights to the work in there. There’s levels to them. For most authors, you either want commercial use or full, exclusive use. Commercial is fine for most authors and will allow you to sell, but it leaves the artist the right to reuse designs made for your characters as long as they aren’t selling them. This isn’t an issue most of the time, one rarely interferes with the other, but in my case, I particularly wanted the designs to be synomous with my book. That comes with an upcharge and most artists don’t default to it. I was lucky to be in the position to pay it when I hired this time. Don’t stress too much if you aren’t, just be sure you know what your liscence includes.

Name your obligations as well. Write it all out. Then, even if you get ghosted, the payment platform will be inclined to reimburst you—or your bank will via a dispute if the platform refuses. Most payment platforms will do it without this, but on the off chance you run into an issue, this is good to have because it acts as evidence that you are owed the refund. The character artist I ended up hiring had no issue signing the agreement and I doubt many legitimate ones would, so long as the agreement is fair and reflects both sides because then, it protects them too. This is a perfect final line of defense. By this point, you’ve weeded out bots, jerks, and most problematic people. The artist you’ve chosen is a vibe match and you get along. You can see yourself working with them and you’re confident in them. This agreement is just there because sometimes even the best of us can make an error in judgement and something slips past us. It never hurts to have something in place just in case. The right artist won’t be insulted by this. If they are, most of the time that’s a them problem. Unless they provide some type of legitimate complaint or are suggesting a reasonable ammendment, don’t fall for the “Oh, you should just trust me.” Real artists are well aware of the struggles indies face when it comes to this and are glad to see that more of us are learning to protect ourselves.

5. I finally have my character artist. Now what?

Congratulations! You made it to the part of the process that’s actually enjoyable. Now, you get started. If you haven’t already sent it to help the artist quote you accurately (some will want you to, others have standard rates), send the artist a document addressing the specifications for your project(s). Go into full detail about what your characters look like, what size you need the images to be, if you want them in scene and if so, what that scene looks like, reference photos, etc. For reference on how much information you should include, my document was 6 pages long for 2 characters, 2 scenes, and there were still holes I had to find reference photos for after the fact because I hadn’t thought of it (positioning for the NSFW scene. Lol. We spent a whole morning exchanging hentai pics to get it right). After that, if you defined a communication frequency with your artist agreement, which I did, you should hear from them with about that frequency unless they have questions. They should send you progress updates so you can see the work as it progresses, reassuring you that its not AI, but also giving you the opportunity to give additional feedback and let them know your thoughts along the way. Feel free to ask questions. Unless you draw too, it’s normal to have things you don’t know or need to ask in order to make sure the art is coming out as you want it to. Enjoy the process, it’s rewarding and is a huge part of bringing your imagination to life. Hopefully, if all goes well, you can return to this artist for future projects and continue to work together.

6. Artists I Feel Comfortable Recommending?

This is the one I’m working with now. As you can tell, I’m enjoying working with them and have zero complaints.

https://www.instagram.com/sincerrio/

This artists was one of my top choices. While I didn’t end up hiring her, she does amazing work and has worked with plenty of other authors, including some very prolific ones.

https://www.instagram.com/whet.paint/

This artist was also one of my top choices. Again, he wasn’t my final, but his work is still awesome and works he’s done for other authors are included in his portfolio.

https://www.instagram.com/officialichigo7/

So far as I know, all of these artists are accepting commissions at this time.

I hope you enjoyed this weeks Nerdology 101 segment. Make sure you let me know in the comments. Share your experiences, ask more questions, recommend topics for future posts, etc. I’ll see you back next Friday at 3PM ET for the next one. As always, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: Don’t Just Say the Weird Thing, Ask the Weird Questions.

Hiya! Welcome to my new blog, Nerdology 101, where we explore all things nerdy. I’m Maria. My professional bio can be found on the homepage, but here, I’ll give you the fun version.

I’m a playful, goofy person who’s weird neither starts nor ends at her public persona. I embrace all the quirks so please be prepared to bring your weirdest to my comment section. My nerdy qualifications involve a plethora of books, anime, and historical/mythological/scientific/philosophical rabbit holes and it’s a list longer than any textbook you’ve ever seen. Here’s a few basics, though. Favorite authors: Amber V. Nicole, Harley Laroux, Xiran Jay Zhao, H.D. Carlton, etc. Favorite animes: Fairy Tail (guild mark tattooed on thigh), Inuyasha, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, Record of Ragnarok, Bleach, Naruto, and My Happy Marriage. Philosophy, history, and mythology are all kind of one big hobby for me. I’m fascinated with culture and the way humans think/function, so I research all three. I’ve focused on cultures from around the world at different points, but Japanese, Egyptian, and Greek, and Norse are the ones I’m best versed in.

Now that you know a bit about me, let’s get into some NERDOLOGYYYYY! (please read that in hype voice with alarms sounding in the background).

This week's topic is: Ask the weird thing. With the trend on social media telling us to “say the weird thing,” I want to encourage people to ask the weird questions. Weird questions tend to lead to weird information and any good nerd knows that knowing weird stuff is our area of expertise. My most recent weird question involved a scene I was writing where, for reasons most likely attributed to creative sadomasochism and a need to track power scaling, I decided I needed to know the answer to a hypothetical math/science question with little to no basis in reality. So, you know what I did? I asked. Amazingly enough, I got an answer from a scientist willing to indulge hallucinations affiliated with my profession and I now know how many joules a random tsunami crashing out of the sky would generate. The information is otherwise useless to me outside of the context of what my brain tells me I need to know in order to write the scene, but what’s more nerdy than otherwise useless information?

As another example, I'll bring up someone I admire—someone who built her entire career off of asking the weird thing—Dr. Esmé Louise James (@esme.louisee on IG). She’s a sex historian who wrote a book titled Kinky History. As you may have guessed, sex history isn’t a major offered at most colleges (or any, to my knowledge). But she always asked the weird thing and ended up crafting a field perfectly suited to her niche interest. This led her to a career she’s passionate about and a slew of interesting information that few have taken the time to learn. Thanks to that career, she's been able to cultivate similar interests in sex history in other people and find a following of people who love her work almost as much as she does. To me, Dr. James is a nerdy shero deserving of every bit of success she’s built.

Asking the weird thing is the key to nerdiness. The way we become absorbed in our interests—allowing them to consume our soul—makes us who we are as people. For that reason, I encourage everyone to be open-minded and to ask the questions that seem strange, or even socially unacceptable. So, who are your nerdy sheroes/heroes? Do you have any weird questions you want to ask, or have asked and want to share? Let me know in the comments and make sure you come back next Friday at 3P.M. for the next segment of Nerdology 101. Have a nerdy week!

This post was made with the permission of Dr. James’s manager, Ben Grand, at Stage Addiction. If you’re interested in Dr. James or her work, please see her website.