Elinor Gray's Blog

My last project for the year! I’m excited to share with you theTake a Chance anthology edited by Jamie Deacon. The theme of the anthology is young people taking risks on love, so, being in a historical fiction place in my life right now, I wrote a post-WWI romanceabout a wounded soldier encountering an old […]

Think of Sherlock Holmes and you think of mysteries, John Watson…and bees. While Arthur Conan Doyle sent the great detective to tend hives in retirement, here bees are front and centre in stories of love and romance, war and hope, of honey on the tongue and a sting in the tail. In tales of rare […]

This is so exciting. I’m vibrating.Compound a Felony: A Queer Affair of Sherlock Holmes is now available as a paperback!For $12.99, you can read this in public with the cover showing and everything. It’s 233 actual pages! It is on the FFF Digital store and at Amazon.

My own copy is in the post and I can’t wait to kiss its beautiful cover art. I owe thanks to Basil Chap, my consulting artist, who did beautiful work on the back cover, the title page, and the scene dividers, to bring the whole p...

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the value of pen names, and what it means to have one. This name is not quite as anonymous as perhaps I wish it was, as it is made up of my own given names, although it is not the name I put on my job applications. Sometimes I wish I’d picked a more androgynous name, or a more mysterious one, but I am glad for the authenticity of this one.

When I write a book more suitable for a wider audience (i.e. not exclusively 100% pornography, not that I dislike wri...

My deadline for the end of this month is fast approaching, and, against many odds, I managed to get my draft finished in time to have a few beta readers look at it before I send it to the editor. I have four people working on this draft, all of whom I trust to the ends of the earth with my writing.

Why? Because they all have their pet peeves, and between them they can corral most, if not all, of my writing tics and general bullshit. I have a habit of using the word “gotten” in British narrati...

Right now! Until the 13th! If you get it direct from the Full Fathom Five Digital store! Actually, all their books are 75% off with the coupon codebookshelf2016.

So, if you’ve been considering gettingFelony and have been putting it off because who pays $4 for fanfiction? or just haven’t gottenaround to it, get it while it’s dirt cheap.

I just mistyped that as “dirty cheap,” which is also true.

Enjoy! Remember the coupon code as you check out!

I told myself I would only make small, non-judgmental New Year’s Resolutions for myself, so here they are:

blog more about writing read at least one published book a month try hard be kind to myself

So! Here goes for number one.

I’ve just finished up a Holmes/Watson fic for a commission: it’s a 5,000ish word scene that continues in my alternateHolmes-is-an-actor universe. The buyer wanted disguises and Watson appreciating same, so I’ve written some case-related crossdressing that turns sult...

I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but the Victorians were sexier than we give them credit for. An English doctor invented the vibrator for the purpose of assuaging “hysteria” in women, primarily because he was tired of performing pelvic massages by hand. The smut market boomed with the advent of photography. Despite decency concerns, booklets were printed educating young women about what to expect in the marriage bed and how to make the most of it. Sexual desire was a part of life. Yes, wome...

When I start out writing a Sherlock Holmes fic (or a pastiche, as they’re called if you use a certain style and hope people pay for the privilege), I operate on a sliding scale of “how married are they?” and often include a little “how drunk are they?” I like to visit Baker Street between cases, explore the domestic side of things, listen to a conversation over a late-night pipe or a mid-morning breakfast. I can write a case a lá Conan Doyle when pressed, but I much prefer to leave the myster...

It’s finally here!Compound a Felony: A Queer Affair of Sherlock Holmes hits e-book stores and (if you pre-ordered, aha) your e-readers today, and I’m so excited for you to finally read it (or read it again in its new form, whichever). You can get it from Full Fathom Five, or from your favourite e-book retailer.

I first read the Sherlock Holmes stories when I was a kid, before I could really appreciate them. The book my dad owned was a tome, with a brown cover and no dust-jacket, and it wasn’t...