After a few setbacks—both financial and seriously-I-want-a-human-not-AI-why-would-I-hire-someone-to-use-ChatfuckingGPT-for-me—I found a human to take my clunky sketch of an idea and make it an actual, marketable, (er, Adobe-) illustrated image.

I’m so excited and I can’t wait for the book release.

Pre-orders for the E-book are live on Amazon. Paperback is coming soon!

…as soon as my next paycheck, when I can finally buy myself a bright, shiny ISBN.

Something, something, parenting-in-late-stage-capitalism, something, something, burn it all down.

Until next time. See you soon, and keep reading.

Alice

Re-(re-re-re-) returning to the wonderful world of Westeros by way of George RR Martin’s Dunk and Egg novellas, particularly The Sworn Sword. I had an urge to revisit the most personal account of the Battle of the Redgrass Field we readers have at the moment, dig for clues for my own personal fan theories, and, of course, simp for my senpai.

If this update made absolutely no sense to you, congratulations: You’re a normal person. Next time you see me, please remind me to touch grass.

Am sipping

Yin Zhen Silver Needle. A delicate white tea that’s luscious and velvety on the tongue.

Writerly updates

Welcome to Ironshore, where the weather is erratic, the football team sucks, and the veil is thin.

I’m so fucking excited to share my new series with the world! But first, I’m sharing it with you, dear readers. In exchange for your eternal soul an honest review, you can read A Fool at the Crossroads right this minute!

That’s right, it’s Advance Reader/Reviewer time!

If you’re interested in reading A Fool at the Crossroads and leaving a review, you can become an advance reader and pick up your copy at these sites:

Booksprout

Reedsy Discover

And here’s a bonus for you, my dear readers…THE OFFICIAL—back of the book!

You’ll have to wait til next time for full frontal.

…sorry. I’m out of control today.

FAQ

What inspired you to start the Blood Junkie series?

The seeds of Erica’s story have been in my head since my junior year of high school, if you can believe it. Teen Alice was a small-town theater kid with an Anne Rice obsession and a fascination with the Big City.

…meaning, Cleveland, Ohio.

Hey, when I said small-town, I meant small-town. Population: Cows. Cleveland was my closest thing to a big city. And I fell in love with its fierce pride and gritty vibe. As I honed my writing skills in my college years, my devotion to vampires and affinity for Cleveland began to merge. I began to ask myself, what would a vampire see in a city like Cleveland? What would that city look like under the patronage of, not a handful of Gilded Age profiteers or big evil corporations, but an immortal, inhuman creature with long-term goals that span longer than we can comprehend?...and the big evil corporation they founded?

In the soil of that question, the city of Ironshore and the idea for a series sprouted.

Do you like dark, sexy books that make you question your own sanity?
Check out Twenty-One on e-book or in paperback.

Interested in a series about an aimless college dropout who stumbles into a job as a vampire’s henchman?
Then follow me as I write it!
Find me on INSTA and FB.

Current Rabbit Hole

Um. Bone art.

Yes, I know how stereotypical it is for a goth millennial to dive into bones and taxidermy and all that. I haven’t partaken before (other than using bones from a batch of my grandma’s Sunday Sauce for the occasional osteomancy divination when it suits my heathen heart) largely because I abhor animal death. Even “ethically-sourced” bones mean the death of the animal. And I just don’t have the energy—or paycheck—to look for artists who scavenge bones from roadkill or forage from corpses in the woods.

A few weeks ago, however, I simply stumbled across a cool-looking bone while walking the baby bats to school. There it was, lying in a dirt patch just off the sidewalk, picked nearly clean. I scooped it up and, after confirming it wasn’t a potential piece of evidence from some gruesome unsolved homicide in my idyllic slice of suburbia—gotta love True Crime Brain—I decided to satisfy my morbid crafty urge. So. Anyone like my spooky suncatcher?

Hot Take

Night showers are better than morning showers.

I don’t actually stand ten-toes down on this one, but it needs to be a hot take, so…yeahhh. Take that, morning showerers…!

In your face, people who can actually get out of bed in the morning.

What do you think?

If you do the ARC read, let me know what you think on Amazon or Goodreads in review form!

Until next time. See you soon, and keep reading.

Alice

Subscribe now

Surprise!

I’m giving you, my beloved subs-

…okay, nope. Can’t call you “subs.” Just can’t. If you’ve read my first novel, you can probably guess why.

Anyway, as subSCRIBERS to my newsletter, you get the very first look at the main character of my upcoming series!

And also I have a GoFundMe up because holy shit I swear to the gods just blinking is more expensive now why does everything on the planet cost so much burn it all down aaaaaaaaaahhhhh—

If you’re feeling generous, please make a contribution to help me fund the release of this book. You’ll be saving me from months of surviving exclusively off Mom Meals (half-eaten chicken nuggies, PBJ crusts, picked-over leftovers on my childrens’ plates, and goldfish cracker dust. It’s like Struggle Meals, but only parents do the “struggle” part!)

GoFundMe Link!

Either way, here we go: Friends, Romans, and Countrymen, Gentles, anything-but-subs, you’ve matched with Erica!

That’s all for today, friends. See you soon, and keep reading.



Alice

Ring, Koji Suzuki

Caught sight of this cover while wandering B&N (my natural habitat) and was transported back to a small-town movie theater long closed, where a far-too-young Alice sat with her friends sat cowering behind her knees, trying to use a box of Cookie Dough Bites as a talisman to ward off any jump scares. I’m a dyed in the wool horror fan and though I jump like a startled woodland creature upon most first viewings, very few films scare me on the re-watch. 2002’s The Ring is the one film that scares me no matter how many times I watch it. It’s the first piece of horror that made me face the existential trauma of inevitable, unstoppable demise.

So I thought, hey, maybe the book will be fun!

So far the only thing it has in common with the movie is the homicidal VHS with a ticking clock, but I’m intrigued.

Am sipping

Butterfly Pea Flower. Technically not a tea, but who cares? It’s so pretty! And when you add citric acid, it transforms from a bright, bold blue to a gorgeous violet. I make ice cubes out of the tea and pop it in my kids’ lemonade for a touch of summer whimsy.

Writerly updates

I have an update! Finally! Woohoo!

I finally scraped enough to hire a freelancer to collab with me. I had a sketch of exactly what I wanted and lacked the skill to make it…not look like a kindergartener’s crayon scribbles. After a bit of drama involving AI use for conceptual mock-ups (I did all these financial back-flips and hired a human artist to avoid AI, ffs) I ended up with a lovely human-made piece of collaborative art that I can work with.

My friends in the graphic arts, in the battle against the slop-ification of your profession, you have my sympathy.

So, we have a cover coming! That means it’s time to think of Advanced Reader Copies…if you’re interested in an ARC, you’ll have the first shot at them in next month’s newsletter!

Here’s a sneak peek of the cover—in the form of my original sketch of the idea!

FAQ

What is your favorite part of being a writer?

Playing make-believe, of course.

My childhood was that of a chronic daydreamer, a backyard-movie-maker, a theater kid. These days, I’m a Lost Boy in a grown-up body. I love creating my own world and my own characters and their stories. It’s all playing pretend.

The city of Ironshore, the fictional setting for my upcoming series, is my ultimate playground. I’ve poured so much into it—more than a little of my IRL home city, yes, but also childhood memories, family lore, endless references to favorite media, hyper-fixations, and rabbit holes.

I’ve had so much fun creating Ironshore and the people who live there. It takes me right back to my days of dragging friends through my backyard woods with a camcorder on a janky tripod, pointing to an enclave above the old creek and shouting, “Okay, that’s the cave where the demon shadow man hides when he’s not playing off hikers’ subconscious fears to get them to scream so he can take their souls-“

Do you like dark, sexy books that make you question your own sanity?
Check out Twenty-One on e-book or in paperback.

Interested in a series about an aimless college dropout who stumbles into a job as a vampire’s henchman?
Then follow me as I write it!
Find me on INSTA and FB.

Current Rabbit Hole

Sorry to say I haven’t fallen down many rabbit holes this month. Summer break has begun for my offspring, and we don’t have any actual events lined up for them until damn near July. As a result, my every waking moment from sunrise (seriously why are they so freaking averse to sleeping in?!) to bedtime has been swallowed by the Sisyphean task of keeping three feral children safe, fed, and occupied. I’m sure after a month of playground-hopping, breaking up fights, doling out extra snacks, and asking howcanyoupossiblybeboredyouhaveamountainoftoysandgamestwosiblingsandanewpuppybesideswejustgotbackfromthefreakingbeachwhatdoyouwantfrommedontyounapanymore---I’ll be happily fixated on some strange subject. But for now, it’s Mama Mode 24/7.

Pray for me.

Hot Take

Being too cold is worse than being too hot.

Maybe that’s just a hot take in my particular house, but it’s about as heated
(ha) a debate as my spouse and I ever have. Team Cold proclaims, “if you’re too chilly, you can always wear a sweater, curl up under a blanket. If you’re too hot, you’re just miserable.”

And I actually agree with that sentiment. It is easier to rectify being chilly.

However, as a certified Freeze Baby, being too cold is a far more frequent issue for me. I hate being cold. I don’t acclimate to winter like most warm-blooded humans. I find the act of shivering as unbearable as my spouse finds sweating.

I honestly wonder if it’s not a true physiological difference between people rather than a preference for this weather or that. I’m the kind of person who has to have a sweater stored in the car for grocery shopping in the summer because stores overcompensate for the heat with air conditioning that could comfortably accommodate Mr. Freeze. I can’t walk the dog in snow without a constant chanting fuck fuck fuck it’s so fucking cold fuck this fuck winter fuck fuck fuuuck. As for heat? I and my frizz-bomb hair aren’t fans of humidity, but 80-something degrees and sunny? I’m basically a turtle on a toasty rock. Basking weather, baby. Yes, please. I don’t get uncomfortable until it’s close to 90, and even then…I can just cool off in the shade, or hose off my feet in cool water, or luxuriate in a pool—so long as it’s heated.

I guess some people are tropical reptiles and some people are polar bears.

What do you think?

Just for funsies, I’m going to drop my DIY first version of my new book’s cover. I’m pretty proud of it, honestly, and it took hours upon hours of work. In the end, it just didn’t have the right vibe. A Fool at the Crossroads has its dark themes, but it’s also fun and a little cheeky. This cover reflected all the darkness and none of the fun. But what do you think?

Until next time. See you soon, and keep reading.

Alice

I came for the species-transcending bond between a man and a herd of traumatized elephants.

I got that…between shootouts with poachers, earth-shattering storms, bush fires gone rogue, deadly snakebites, and intricate webs of tribal politics.

I’ve never been more prepared to oversee a wildlife conservation in Zululand.

Am sipping

We just passed the first flush season but here in Spring-Wait-Summer-Hold-on-Sleet, it still feels like early spring, so I’m still enjoying a delightful First Flush Darjeeling. It’s a bit astringent for me—I’m a big baby when it comes to bitter flavor—but the initial bite is worth it for the fruity-floral finish with a honey sweetness. The brew says Spring to me far more than the light, airy, floral-scented blends that are promoted around this time.

Writerly updates

I’m glad I gave myself a long release period for Book 1. The story is, finally, ready to go. I could send it off to ARC readers today…if I could pick a fucking cover design.

For weeks, I was seized by the urge to physically embroider the cover. The fact that my embroidery experience consists of a beginner’s kit I barely started, and that it took me literal weeks to patch a pair of jeans, did nothing to abate this desire. Putting needle to fabric finally exorcised this craft demon. Four attempts before I stitched a barely-recognizable series of hearts on my hoodie sleeve was the reality check I needed.

Unfortunately, that left me nearly bereft of ideas, and here I am digging deeper and deeper into May, flailing in Photoshop.

Do the Greeks have a muse for graphic design? If so, someone please give her my number.

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FAQ

- How do you find time to write?

In short? I set aside a designated time in my schedule and adhere to it.

It sounds simple, but trust me, it has been anything but. I shifted my day-job schedule to do it. I carved out two chunks of time a week and I guard that time fiercely. I have to fight for my writing time—I even fight myself. Guilt plagues me—how dare I write when I could be working more hours, making dents in our endless household to-do lists, etc? I force myself to make this time sacred. If I don’t, life will absorb it in an instant—if not work, then appointments, errands—the responsibilities of parenthood and adulthood in general are endless, their appetite for time is insatiable.

Some days, I have to give myself a pep talk, like morning affirmations: It’s okay to prioritize your art. Financial benefit is not the definitive measure of value, and keeping house is not a moral virtue. Your time is your most precious commodity in this late-stage capitalist hellscape and you must guard it with your life and not let it be stolen by societal pressures and grind-culture grifts designed to keep you quiet and complacent and afraid-

Okay, I don’t have to turn two mornings of writing time into an act of ideological protest, but you get the point. I have a strictly enforced, consistent writing time. Easier said than done, but done nonetheless.

Do you like dark, sexy books that make you question your own sanity?
Check out Twenty-One on e-book or in paperback.

Interested in a series about an aimless college dropout who stumbles into a job as a vampire’s henchman?
Then follow me as I write it!
Find me on INSTA and FB.

Current Rabbit Hole

Largely thanks to my offspring’s rapidly-developing assimilation into gen-alpha culture, I am currently fixated on the study of culture and speech of children—called childlore in scholarly circles. I’m fascinated with the way children create their own, entirely unique subculture, generation after generation. Yesteryear’s nursery rhymes and local folklore evolve into movie references, deep cut memes, glitches in video games, and brief moments on a twitch stream isolated and elevated to internet immortality. Yet it’s all the same. While they struggle to navigate and understand an adult-run world into which they’ve been dropped, children create their own language, rules, rituals, and mythologies. I am obsessed with this phenomenon, and my side-quest obsession is the confusion, condescension, and fear with which older generations always respond to their kids’ childlore, as their parents had with their own, and so on back through recorded history. Even Socrates had an “Old Man Yells at Cloud” reaction to the youth of his era. Why does this pattern repeat so consistently in human behavior? Why is cultural transformation so inherent in the young and reviled in the old?

…Can I pursue a degree in this?

Hot Take

Off the heels of my childlore fixation…Gen Alpha’s slang isn’t any more ridiculous than any other generation’s. Your kids delight in shouting “6-7?” We wrote 80085 on every calculator we could get our hands on (iykyk.)

Kids are easily entertained. That’s part of their appeal. Leave them be.

Wait, what? Poll time!

How do you read the majority of books?

Until next time. See you soon, and keep reading.

Alice

Thanks for reading Tidings from the Raven Tree! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Unfortunately, I just conceded to my first DNF of the year—I loathe a half-read story—so I’ll share a “recently read” of mine instead:

The Wild Truth: A Memoir by Carine McCandless

If you, like many, read Jon Krakaur’s Into the Wild (or saw the film) and left with the impression that doomed outdoorsman Chris McCandless was little more than an inexperienced wannabe Thoreau who died due to his own arrogance, you’ll want to pick up this memoir for a new perspective. McCandless’ sister, in an effort to atone for keeping secrets that she feels contributed to the common misinterpretation of Chris’ story, opens a Pandora’s Box of family secrets in this memoir. In doing so, she shows us the Chris she knew and loved; not a spoiled rich kid with delusions of grandeur, but a capable, confident, and incredibly strong-willed big brother attempting to start afresh after a lifetime of horrors. If that sounds appealing to you, I highly recommend giving this a read—after you refresh your memory with Into the Wild.

Subscribe now

Am sipping

Longjing with a hefty does of ginger root. I don’t know about your area, but here at the Raven Tree, the weather has been pure chaos. It’s 70! Now it’s 30! Have a thunderstorm! NOW A METEOR! My sinuses are struggling and nothing helps more than a steaming cup of the classic Longjing (aka Dragon Well) with a heaping helping of ginger.

Writerly updates

My 2026 plan had me simultaneously doing a developmental edit on Book 2, Draft 1 of my impending series and, well, taking Book 1 from “impending” to “upon us!” Ah, I love how ambitious and confident I am in January. Unfortunately, March slapped me with some hard truths: Namely that I don’t have the time or mental bandwidth to deep edit one project while self-publishing another. A self-published author—well, a broke-ass one like myself—is not only writer of the book, but editor, promotor, platformer, cover designer, formatter, etc. All the hats are mine. I still haven’t given up on my ultimate goal—that of releasing Book 1 around October and having Book 2 release-ready this time next year—but I’m definitely having a humbling moment regarding my multitasking skills. If I have to edit Book 2 in 2027, così sia. I’m not quite ready to surrender yet, though. Please send productive vibes!

Expect not only more frequent update from me as the release date nears, but snippets from inside the world I’ve been building! Subscribe for a first look at the great city of Ironshore: Where the weather is erratic, the football team sucks, and the veil is thin.

FAQ

-How do you work through writer’s block?

If I’m ever stuck while working on the story proper, I set the story aside and do other tasks that keep me in the story’s world. For me, that looks like worldbuilding, exploring a side character or fleshing out someone’s backstory, and allowing myself to tumble down research rabbit holes. Breaking writer’s block, for me, is less about forcing words onto the page and more about completely immersing myself in my book’s world. If my book is on my mind, eventually I’ll find a path forward in the narrative.

Do you like dark, sexy books that make you question your own sanity?
Check out Twenty-One on e-book or in paperback.

Interested in a series about an aimless college dropout who stumbles into a job as a vampire’s henchman?
Then follow me as I write it!
Find me on INSTA and FB.

Current Rabbit Hole

Snakes!

…again!

I’ve had an affinity for snakes my entire life. I had at least one pet snake from the minute I left my parents’ house and all through my twenties. I volunteered at the campus herpetology lab in college, feeding and breeding snakes and teaching visiting elementary classes about them. I’ve belly danced in crowded bars with them coiled around my body. My love for these sweet sentient noodles runs on a spiritual level. So, naturally, when one of my children revealed their own snake obsession, I immediately began to plan for a future pet. It’s been a decade since I’ve had a snake (long, sad story) and now that I’m ready for one, it’s all I can think about.

Hot Take

This one comes from my years working in a tea shop: The right way to make tea, is how you like your tea. Like your English Breakfast with milk and sugar? Go for it. Iced tea, even in the dead of winter? Awesome. Six sugars in a 16oz cup? Your business, darling. Snobs and “purists” come in every subculture, and tea is no different. My advice? F*ck ‘em. Life is too short to judge someone’s matcha smoothie.

Mom Corner

Nothing reminds you that most of us only have a very basic understanding of genetics and biology than looking at your children. I fully expected my swarthy Sicilian genetics to stomp all over my partner’s fair Northern features. After all, consider the Punnett square! Dark dominant features! …something about pea plants!

Well, with three spawn produced, the scoreboard tells a different story.

One—count them, one—of my babies emerged with the dark hair and olive skin of my bloodline. A second has my exact face writ in my spouse’s coloring, and the third…I’m fairly certain my third is just my spouse’s clone and I didn’t contribute to them genetically at all. Their dimples might be mine?

Anyway, parenting is a humbling experience on infinite levels, and it’s both beautiful and terrifying to confront just how little you understand about being human.

What do you think?

When you read my incredibly niche erotic thriller in which a meticulous madman sifts his sex slaves into three categories, have you ever thought, Hm, you know, I wonder which collar I would wear based on my zodiac sign? Of course you have! Well, wonder no more, because here are the Zodiac Signs as Seen by Demetrius!

Agree? Disagree? Did we call you out? Shout out in the comments below!

Wow, that sounded like some gross YouTube call the action. Ugh. I’m not about this marketing thing. Pity me, friends.

Until next time. See you soon, and keep reading.

Alice

Thanks for reading Tidings from the Raven Tree! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Subscribe now

Am sipping

HOJICHA: Toasted green tea that’s become my favorite evening cup. Toasty, nutty, pure cozy comfort. Sometimes I add a few balls of Jasmine Pearl to be fancy.

Writerly updates

After taking six years to write my debut novel (and a six-year break right after because babies,) I have to say it’s absolutely bizarre to be editing one complete book and simultaneously writing its sequel.

My new project is a series following the misadventures of an aimless college dropout who stumbles across the secret paranormal underbelly of her hometown—and winds up with a job. It’s queer, it’s sassy, it’s sexy, it explores themes of family, generational trauma, addiction, and the existential consequences of immortality juxtaposed with humankind’s short-term memory regarding history and our cyclical nature.

But, you know, in a comedy series.

I’m currently on the agent query hamster wheel, but to be honest, my heart’s not in it. I promised myself I’d send out a certain number of queries, and if I hit that mark and it comes up fruitless, I’ll once again traipse down the self-publishing path, as I did with my debut novel, Twenty-One.

Speaking of my debut novel, be sure to vote in the poll at the end of this newsletter!

FAQ

Do you base your characters on real people?

Yes. Well, no. Sort of?

I really hate to answer a question with “it depends,” but…well…it depends. When I have a large cast of characters, I will borrow attributes from real people—a hairstyle here, a singular quirk there—to flesh out minor characters. But I stitch my main characters together with my own seeds and secrets. Chloe Leroux from Twenty-One, for example, I imbued with darker experiences from my own past. A lot of her psychological breakdown mirrors my state of mind during those times. Chloe’s captor, Demetrius, probably holds more seeds of my personality than any other character in that novel.

My new project, an upcoming series, has a much larger cast of characters with a huge variety of personalities. I do the same in this series that I did with Twenty-One. I pull traits from myself, from mythology, from historical figures, even from current culture. One character introduced in book 2—the one I’m currently drafting—is heavily aesthetically inspired by one of my favorite shows.

Follow me!

Do you like dark, sexy books that make you question your own sanity? Check out Twenty-One on e-book or in paperback.

Interested in a series about an aimless college dropout who stumbles into a job as a vampire’s henchman? Then follow me as I write it! Find me on Insta and Facebook.

Current Rabbit Hole

Terrariums! Holy hell, I have been fixated on jars, moss, dwarf ferns and isopods. I’m fascinated by worldbuilding, and terrariums are like their own little realms. After months of Google deep-dives, I signed up for a class run by a dear friend and fellow chaotic crafter, and went home with an admittedly crowded little mini forest of my own. My favorite part? The bugs! My terrarium—dubbed “Short King”—is home to some truly gorgeous Magic Potion isopods. Now when I get stuck while writing, I can stare through the mist and watch my tiny, multi-legged terraformers thrive.

Hot take
The Starburst Flavors, from best to worst, are: Red, Orange, Pink, Yellow.
This is an absolute fact.

Guilty Pleasure
One of the best things about having kids is re-discovering childhood loves like arts and crafts. Recently, the craft of choice has been beaded bracelets. I wound up making this year’s tags for my garden out of alphabet beads. Like a grown-up.

What do you think?

That’s all for today, friends. See you soon, and keep reading.

Alice