Author: Will Forrest

Will writes fiction and non-fiction and is definitely not a robot

Now playing on the Historical Romance Sampler podcast…

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We’re back with another author profile except this one’s about…me!

Catch my interview and reading on Katherine Grant’s podcast The Historical Romance Sampler, where we talk about the power of fiction and why Jessica is the best Sweet Valley High twin. As well I read from my gay Regency romance An Inconvenient Earl.

(Please enjoy this sarcastic promo image, because apparently putting the word ‘Gay’ on your book cover isn’t enough of an indicator for some people who think queer identities should come with a trigger warning.)

Find my episode here (or search for Historical Romance Sampler on your favorite podcast service): https://katherinegrantromance.com/historical-romance-sampler-podcast/will-forrest-samples-an-inconvenient-earl

Magical musical murder with A.C. Merkel

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One of my favorite things about indie publishing is the diversity of storytelling! Not just DEI-style diversity where every voice is represented, but real diversity of stories, where we can tell any story we like. Today’s Spotlight is on A.C. Merkel, who blends fantasy with political consciousness and rock and roll to tell a story like no other!

HER NAME IS MURDER

“We can’t waltz forever, Grant.”
“We can damn well try.”

Magical musician Murder LaVoe is tired of running. She’s been running for almost 500 years. When you don’t age, people take it personally. She has returned 40 years later to her favorite borough in New York City.
Her hope?
To finally settle down and hide her secret by taking the identities of falsified heirs.
A public attempt on the life of her Rock-N-Roll alter ego, Lady Dreamscapes.
A chance meeting of subservient immortals in need.
threaten to take away the life she holds so dear. Can NYPD detective Grant Noble III solve her mysteries in time to save her?
Or is it him that needs saving?

A.C. Merkel is the author and creator of The Lady Dreamscapes series and Witch Vs. Witch, infusing magical tales with a musical heartbeat 💓 🎻 🎸 🌈

A maze of monsters with Sarah Cook

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Welcome to the next installment of the Indie Author Spotlight, my ongoing series highlighting the latest in independent storytelling. Today’s featured author is Sarah Cook.

Promotional graphic for Sarah Cook's book A Maze of Monsters of Men, showing the book's cover against a backdrop of stars.

Set in 1900, A Maze of Monsters & Men sees two rival archaeologists, and ex-lovers, leading opposing expeditions to Crete. However, whilst on the island, they are both called to labyrinth seated at the heart of the mountain… And a minotaur who is willing to love them both.

Sarah Cook is a historical fiction author who writes about the Victorians in all sorts of japes. Her debut novel Diary of Murders is a dark erotic murder mystery. She plans to finish the series whilst also releasing an upcoming Victorian sports romance and a dark fantasy.

“You open your safe and find ashes.”

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As authors, we are constantly on the receiving end of all sorts of advice about how to promote our work, much of which rely on magical thinking and/or spending a lot of money (or both.) Selling books in person, selling books at a discount, selling yourself as a brand, but for pure return on your investment, nothing beats giving away free books.

I’m not handing out paperbacks on the street, but I’m not the only one who believes in the power of free. Attract abundance by being abundant. Give books to everyone who wants one: that’s how you win fans for life.

Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.”

― Annie Dillard, The Writing Life

Readers win too, because *ahem* book tastes are subjective. I honestly don’t expect everyone in the world to enjoy what I write. I would rather you read my free stories and decide that my work isn’t to your liking than make you pay money for a book that you end up hating. Costco has it right: give away as many free samples as you can. Your fans will find their way to you.

Visit my Free Reads page for bonus material from my series and some standalone shorts. I’ll be adding to the page in the next few months as I build up to the release of a series I’ve been working on for ten years. Mary Mac and her band of merry perverts have some deep lore, y’all. I have stories for years.

E.M. Denning: soft & steamy

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Welcome to the first edition of the Indie Author Spotlight!

I’ve been running this on my author newsletter for the past few years, but I thought it would make a fun feature here as I try to relaunch this page. So let’s say hi to my first victim–I mean awesome indie author: E.M. Denning.

A promotional graphic for E.M. Denning's story 'Up in Flames'

UP IN FLAMES

A grieving man trying to cope after the best day of his life becomes his worst.
A firefighter determined to keep his head down and stay in the closet.

E.M. Denning has more than twenty romance novels under her belt and has become an author you can rely on to bring you emotionally endearing, soft and fuzzy, steamy stories. She is well known among her friends for her love of naps and sarcasm. She spends her free time reading as many romance novels as she can get her hands on.

Next: Historical Japes with Sarah Cook

The Indie Author Spotlight – a brief introduction

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One of the best things about independent AKA self-publishing is the variety of stories we are telling. Publishing companies are under pressure to sign *profitable* authors, but when has the profit motive ever produced the best art?

The best stories are happening underground. Indie publishing is all about helping each other. My book might not be your next favorite, but I bet you’ll love something by one of my friends. I have been profiling fellow authors on my newsletter for a few years now, and thought this blog would be a good platform to expand the reach of this feature. Anything to get me off ordinary social media…

I’ll be back in a few days with the first installment of this new series. Or join my readers club if you want to find out more about my books: http://willforrest.com/newsletter/

Why do they hate us?

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So, it’s like that, is it? You really want to read this book that badly, huh? All I did was casually post the meme that inspired it and my Threads blew up. At least compared to my normal bookish content.

I don’t expect any of my other book promo posts to do this well. The mysterious entity we refer to as the social media algorithm (but which is really a bunch of underpaid staffers supporting their billionaire employer’s fascist ideology) doesn’t want to see us win, and will crush your reach if it senses even the slightest chance that you’re going to reach people organically.

Good thing I had a review copy link ready to give people. Even so, I wish I had set up pre-orders, because not everyone wants the responsibility of a review copy. JK there is zero responsibility. I just want people to read the damn thing.

So if you like queer romance full of disaster gays making bad decisions and learning to get over them, adorable twinks who don’t understand how many people want to cherish them, and the trope I like to call Oblivious-to-Lovers where two best friends (who occasionally bang) realize that this is what love looks like for them: I got you, babe.

OMG yes I want to read this book.

Between an app and a hard place

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Innovation is bullshit. There, I said it. Tech companies feel the need to justify their existence by constantly ‘upgrading’ their products but it comes at the cost of stability. Every time I develop competency on a platform, the company reformats. My writer website is stuck on a platform that’s being phased out by my ISP. The new platform is hard to navigate and has me wanting to delete the whole thing and start over. Or maybe just direct everything here.

I spend too much time managing the peripherals of publishing. Every solution to this seems to depend on learning yet another system then making all the systems play nicely together. It’s time to cut some ties.

Ironically that might mean showing up here more. I could never bring myself to delete this blog entirely. Too many years, too many posts, and I like the URL, so there. Let’s see what happens.

In the kitchen today: Classic Unsweetened Chocolate Brownies and Jerk Chicken with onions & peppers

I’m just here for the recipes.

an assortment of baking ingredients and a rolling pin lying on a white cloth with blue stripes.
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Because I’m sure as fk not posting anything else these days, am I?

Chocolate Cookies

Adapted from: Soft Chocolate Cookies

I’m a parent and also interested in my own health, so I have reduced the sugar from the original recipe and also swapped in whole wheat flour. I was trying to approximate Bear Paws packaged cookies, but better – no palm oil or packaging and a lot more fiber. The result is a thick cookie with a soft, brownie-like texture. The high butter ratio means they will flatten out if you don’t chill the dough very well before baking.

Makes 12-15 cookies

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup each white sugar & brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup whole wheat flour (or 3/4 cup plain flour + 1/4 wheat germ)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon soda

dash of salt

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Cube the cold butter and beat until softened with an electric mixer. Add the sugars and beat until no lumps of butter remain. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat well, then add dry ingredients in two batches, combining well.

Chill the dough for at least an hour, then roll into 2.5cm/1″ balls. Chill for another hour or longer before baking (I freeze the balls then bake them straight from the freezer.)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat. Leave space between the cookies in case they spread. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or just until edges have set and the tops are no longer pudding-like. Do not overbake–they will firm up as they cool. Leave them on the baking sheet until they are mostly cool. I don’t know how long they keep because they never last more than a few days.

Once more again with feeling!

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Ok so I’m back? I dunno, the fact that I never gave up this blog maybe means I was eventually come back to it. I still have “blogger” on my business bio so there: validation.
I deleted a lot of posts. Some of it was whiny, some was incomprehensible. I might take down the poems because I would like to release them as a book. And there is a lot of content I never posted in the first place. Most of that will likely stay hidden. If it wasn’t worth it at the time, do I really expect it’s improved with aging?
I am also playing with my writer website. Right now this feeds there, and I’d like to think I’ll start posting more book news here among my other rumblings. We’ll see how that goes. I was 5 minutes from starting a Substack but oh, how I do not wish to start over again. I don’t have the hustle to turn a Substack into a great paying venture (at least not yet) so I’ll just burble away here for now. This is a year of pruning my orchard, of getting rid of dead wood i.e. poorly performing components of my system. Yeah there’s a system. It’s not great but it’s there.
Maybe this time I’ll stick to it.