A.E. Ross's Blog

Hey y'all!

Exciting news! I have a short story being released next week in NineStar Press's Once Upon A Rainbow anthology series.

Volume 3 is out on July 2nd, and you can read my millennial Cinderella re-telling, "Green Things Grow From Cinders" plus lots of other fun stories.

Find it on Goodreads

"What if you could walk into a party with the perfect outfit—one that matches the way you feel inside?

For Ash Zermeno, the night of his best friend’s brother’s wedding reception is a hard pass: he’s certainly not going to wear the dress he ordered months ago, and he’s got no other wardrobe options. Forget about the fact that his long-time childhood crush Roman is going to be there. It just ain’t happening, no matter how hard he wishes on it. And he didn’t even wish on it…or did he?"

Today I joined the folks at WROTE this week to chat about my novel, writing a world without micro-aggressions, and how my own mental health issues influence my writing. We also talk a little bit about screenwriting, and my own experiences getting discouraged in college fiction classes.

Written On The Edge is a weekly podcast discussing LGBTQ storytelling in a wide variety of genres and mediums, and I highly recommend tuning in! 

This week, LGBTQ Reads was kind enough to have me on for a guest post, where I tackle a topic that's important to me: the importance of including questioning characters in queer narratives. 

I also talk a bit about Del from Run In The Blood, and how I approached writing him as a questioning character.

You can check it out right here!

The amazing E.M. Hamill was nice enough to have me on their blog for a Q&A!

We chatted about pirates, dragons, world-building, mothman & more!

If you haven't already, you should check out their latest release, Dali! It's a fantastic Sci-Fi adventure. 

Find the Q&A here.

Let's talk about music! 

I am a little bit obsessive about writing playlists. I have one for each idea that I am constantly adding to. Sometimes songs even give me prompts for ideas that help to shape the narrative. Besides that, listening to music also keeps me focused and stops me from second-guessing on first drafts. 

Since there are only 2 weeks until Run In The Blood is released, I've put together a super trimmed version of my playlist for this book: just one song for each chapter.

Enjoy!

In honor of there only being 3 weeks (ack!) until Run In The Blood is released from @ninestarpres on on December 25th, I’ve created some aesthetics for the three MC’s (Y’know, like the kids are doing.)

Here are some moodboards to reflect my favorite swashbuckler, scout and soon-to-be princess.

The digital pre-order for Run In The Blood is now up at NineStar Press!

It's also been added to Goodreads, in case you'd like to toss it on your TBR pile.

If you're hoping to get your hands on a physical copy, the Amazon pre-order will open in about a week.

Super excited to share the cover for Run In The Blood!

The artwork is by Natasha Snow, who has done an amazing job capturing the snowy and isolated vibe of the story's capital city, Ghara.

As you know the book will be released from NineStar Press on December 25th, but pre-orders should be going up next week.

I'll be posting here (and literally everywhere else) with a link, so don't worry - you can't miss it. :D

I can't wait to share this story with y'all.

- A.E.

I can't believe an entire month has already passed since my last post about Run In The Blood!

Over the next month I'll be editing this novel, working on the first draft of another as well as a couple anthology pieces, and... turning 30! Truly terrifying stuff. 

One of things I've found the most difficult when telling people about my upcoming novel is answering the question "What's it about?" I want to make sure I don't leave out anything exciting, but I also don't want to explain the whole plot... 

Luckily, the other day it hit me that this is probably the best way to sum it up:

Run In The Blood is a fantasy novel. It has cutthroat pirates, and powerful magic. It has scaled beasts and corrupt monarchs. It has tons of all the fun fantasy stuff that I loved reading about as a kid, as well as a romance that I wish I'd been able to read as a kid.

But, at it's heart, Run In The Blood is really just a story about the moment you realise that your parents/guardians are just people, like everyone else. 

The three main characters all have very different relationships with their parents. One doesn't even remember hers. Regardless, their lives are all affected by the decisions that their guardians have made, for better or worse. 

That's all for now! Looking forward to sharing more in next month's update. 

I leave you with this picture of my cat, Dutch, who has yet to figure out that I'm a people. 

-A.E. 

Finally got my workspace sorted in the new house. It's very cosy - great breeze on my feet since I'm right in front of a window, and I've got a charming brick fireplace behind me. 

Managed to get a proper day's work done today (Labour Day) and I'm excited to keep writing on my current work-in-progress! 

Now to get the rest of these boxes and bins unpacked... (By which I mean continue watching The Challenge)