Rose awakens in a fairytale land, stripped of her memories and any sense of self she might once have possessed. Facing a short life of brutal servitude as one of the May Queen's executioners, she chooses instead a reckless dash for freedom alongside her sister-captive, Lavender. Yet even if the two women manage to flee the otherworld to return earthside, they may never be safe from the reach of cruel faeries who seek to use them as pawns in a deadly game.
When a strange silver man calling himself Clarent unexpectedly dumps out onto the doorstep of their apartment, Rose and Lavender will work together with a diverse community of survivors in order to stay alive and free. Through the magical dangers that assault them on all sides, Rose must navigate the struggles brought on by her painful past while contending with the difficulty of forging an intimate relationship with the two people who love her most when her very body is lethal.
Frequently Asked Questions!
Why does the Kindle preview have garbage formatting?
I am sorry about that. There is a known problem with the rendering of the preview page; the Amazon site-maintenance elves were given socks by Jeff Bezos some years back, left the office, and were never heard from again. Here's a picture of what it will actually look like on your Kindle, and I've tested the formatting extensively across multiple Kindle platforms.
When will your book be available on other electronic platforms?
The plan is to have it up on the other major bookselling sites in three months. Barnes & Noble (Nook) is first because they aren't too terribly hard to upload to, but anything I do through Smashwords (Apple, Kobo, etc.) is a nightmare. Smashwords still prefers its authors to upload a Word document instead of a nice clean epub file and that's a big headache. I may need to get professional help for that part.
When will your book be available in paper format?
Possibly never? A paper version will depend heavily on demand, since the upfront costs are pretty high. (Including special page formatting + more artwork for the back cover.) If enough people show interest, I could maybe hold a Kickstarter. I will definitely keep my mind on the possibility!
Will there be an audio book version?
That's the current plan! I'm vetting voice actresses and keeping my ear open. (I would use my Pulchritude narrator but while her voice is like a golden bell, I am looking for an American actress this time.) If you are a woman of color (preferably black or Jewish or both, but I am open to others) who has experience with voice performance and is interested in working for indie wages, please let me know?
Is this book part of a series?
Yes! I have already started the next one; I hope it will be out in a year.
Is this book related to Pulchritude?
No! This is a brand-new series set in modern-day Texas with paranormal magical elements.
Okay, setting the product page description aside, tell me what you like about your novel, Ana.
I'm so glad you asked, imaginary voice in my head!
Poison Kiss is a paranormal romance story with three main characters I adore, but it's also about a community of survivors banding together to protect each other. I love stories about communities; there's nothing wrong with lone-wolf characters, but I've always been more interested in the dynamics of cooperation and coordination--and especially in situations where everyone brings a wide variety of talents and powers into the mix. That interest is probably why I liked Xanth so much as a kid, and why I'll always hold a soft spot in my heart for X-Men.
I'm also thrilled by how diverse this fictional community is. There are eighteen named community members in this book, and precisely none of them are [white + cis + straight + male]. And I didn't even do that on purpose! There's a lot of women of different ages, ethnicities, and body types. There's genderqueer folks and a trans man. There's gay, lesbian, and bisexual people, many of whom are polyamorous. The protagonist, Rose, is a bisexual polyamorous biracial black Jewish woman who is a rape survivor (as part of her backstory; mentioned but not shown directly on-page) who lives with depression and post traumatic stress disorder. Yet this isn't a story which is capital-a About her identities; she just happens to be attracted to girls (just like I am!) while paranormal fantasy shit is going down around her (just like I would be!).
I don't know if I can read a novel that doesn't have a white cis straight man in it, Ana.
There is a white cis dude! He's just not straight. There's also a cis straight man who isn't white. Maybe you can sorta average them out and round up!
You mentioned 'rape survivor'. Is this book going to trigger people?
I hope not! I don't think so? The setting and backdrop of the story is admittedly grim, as this is a story about humans who have been kidnapped by cruel and mercurial faeries to serve as labor, entertainment, and food. At the same time, there's a deliberate fluffiness to the tone that I've worked hard to cultivate and maintain. I've always felt like it should be possible to write about grimdark subjects in a manner that isn't super triggering, and I hope that I've achieved that here. As a rape survivor myself, I want to see protagonists who are like me and deal with the same challenges without the story needing to be A Very Special Episode about sexual assault.
As we are nearing a holiday gift-giving time, I would like to buy this book for my doting silver-haired grandpapa, but I am not sure if he would like it. Is there swears?
There are indeed some swears, I do apologize. There is also a M/F/F sex scene that was hilariously difficult for my shy self to write and edit, but which is probably the most tame M/F/F sex scene anyone has ever created. Though it did spawn a delightfully lively conversation regarding the appropriate words for 'clitoris'. Kristy kept me from using anything egregiously awful, for which I think we can all be grateful.
Does this have a happy ending? You've broken my heart before, Ana.
I know, and I'm sorry. This book does indeed have a better ending than Pulchritude, or I wouldn't call it capital-R Romance.
Is there anything I can do to help promote your work?
Um, it sounds trite but... buy my book? If you've done that already and want to go above and beyond, I love it when people find time to read my books. (No small task, I know; I, too, have a terrifyingly long To-Be-Read list.) And if you've read it and you liked it and wanted to review my book on Amazon or elsewhere, that would be amazing because it really does make a difference for new readers who haven't heard of me before.
Other than that... be kind to yourself and know that I love ya'll.
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