Heya,

The book is going to the printer on Friday, which means this is the last call for your name to go in the Acknowledgements. Please fill out this one-question form if you want to be included!

https://forms.gle/Cc5gJZKCG28BiWu49

I've got about half of you so far. If you can't remember whether you filled it out or not, submit it again, I'll remove any duplicates.

If you have any trouble accessing the form, let me know, or comment/reply to this update with your name and I'll include it.

Meanwhile, here's a sneak peek at the dust jacket design!



Talk soon!

Kel

Hello good people,

tl;dr – go to the form linked below and complete

I'm about to finish the interior design for the hardcover! Super happy with how it's come out. Chocolate everywhere, and I got to add a few of my doodles to it too. The bonus stories have elicited laughter.

This means I really need your name for the acknowledgements as soon as possible. Like, today.

Just kidding. Tomorrow is fine ;P

Please fill this out at your earliest: https://forms.gle/xanTyZWEHZxb6MPJ9 It's very easy, I promise, literally type your name and hit submit.

If you don't fill it out, I will assume you are opting out of being named in the acknowledgements and won't include you. This is to protect the privacy of those who choose to stay anonymous, so please, if you want to be on the list (and I want to thank you!), fill out the form. If you can't access it, let me know.

That's all for now – I'm onto finishing the cover designs!

Kel

Hello good people,

tl;dr – typesetting in progress. Please provide your name for the Acknowledgements promptly. Link below.

Happy new year! After a rocky start to 2026 with a stomach bug, I'm back and working at the Operation: Chocolate Overload edition.

The dust jacket is getting close. The espionage-style case design is taking shape (preview below). I've started the typesetting, spending way too long trying to choose a cute cake design for the dinkus (the symbol in a break between sections of text, usually *** but not in this book!).

The next thing I need is the acknowledgements, and you, having helped bring this project to life, get to be on the list!

Please find the link to provide your name in the Backer content section below*. It is essential that you fill it out – if you don't, I'll assume you've opted out of the Acknowledgements.

Here's the case design!



There's a bit more work to be done on it, but I like the idea of a secret case file hidden under a snazzy dust jacket.

Once I have the final page count and weight I can calculate shipping, at which point I'll start getting surveys organised. I expect that'll be a couple of weeks away. Or thereabouts.

I've also been working on my absurd, angsty queer fairy tale series with a rogueish take on The Frog Prince, where said prince is a rake and a gambler and must learn to find true love. Series starts with Another World's Stars if you're interested!

Talk soon,
Kel

*I think it's below. It's somewhere around here! Message me if you can't find it.

Hello good people,

Just touching base before the obligatory festive season radio silence. I hope your year is winding down with as little chaos as possible, or if it be chaos, it is at least the good kind of chaos.

Pledges have been collected. If yours didn't go through, don't worry, you'll be able to fix it when surveys go out in January. 

I've started on the annotations. First disagreement is with Gabby over roasted almond chocolate being the go-to crisis snack. Hazelnut is clearly superior.

And I'm about to release a book! (Because Past Fox thought publishing a book while wrangling a crowdfunding campaign was totally doable and a Good Idea.)



Angsty, whimsical, cheeky and with burgeoning feminine rage. It's book 3 in a series, but you can probably (maybe) read it first if you don't mind missing some of the backstory about the war going on. Or grab the whole series from the book's Amazon page! It's all in KU and drops on Saturday: https://a.co/d/eMy0KmL

That's all from me for the year. Happy holidays, take care and I'll see you in 2026!

Kel

Hello good people!

First, a HUGE thank you to all of you. I'm excited to bring the Operation: Chocolate Overload (OCO) edition of Darkhaven to you, and thrilled that you're part of the journey. It's the best thing about crowdfunding – being able to chat to you and personally put books in your hands, digitally speaking.

Time for some housekeeping; if crowdfunding is old hat for you, skip on down for the cat photo and some pretty covers.

If you haven't been charged yet, you will in the next couple of days. Please keep an eye on your BackerKit emails in case there are any problems and follow their directions.

If you haven't voted in the Chocolate Polls (Very Important Life Questions, results of which will be included in the OCO edition), now is the time to do it. The polls close on December 20. Find them all here. Voting isn't mandatory, but it is fun!

Then we all relax a bit! It takes a couple of weeks for funds to find their way to me, and what with the Christmas/New Year period looming, not much will be happening. Don't worry, I won't hassle you with surveys and the like over the holidays!

All going well, I expect to have digital goods complete around the end of January. Proofs of the hardcover will likely arrive towards the middle/end of February. If they're correct, I'll ship them asap; if not, it'll be late March for hardcovers.

This means backer surveys will come around the middle of January. Shipping will also be charged at this time.

Of course things might not go smoothly (I could, for example, be sabotaged by cat), but I'll keep you updated along the way.

If you like, find me on Bluesky or YouTube. Bsky I post erratically about book fairs, art and writing. YouTube is dodgy author vlogs where I ramble and flail about the creative process.

If you want to read something now, let me tell you about my romantasy fairy tale retellings! They're queer, they're angsty, they're dramatic AF and a little bit absurd. They're also set in the same universe as Darkhaven, which means there is a minor character cross-over! Oh, and miracle of miracles, they're short (unlike this update).


I love these books. Slightly smouldering* fantasy romance with some quirky adventure set against the backdrop of a devastating war and lots of dancing. Yes, I mix up all the vibes, it's my thing. These are very different to Darkhaven!

Start with Another World's Stars – enby/m Sleeping Beauty with portal magic, a lost dancer from Australia, a cursed prince doomed to destroy his world and kissing under mistletoe. Available on Amazon/KU books2read.com/AnotherWorldsStars

Note that the series is ongoing. As I Command releases in a few weeks, and I'm working on a sort-of sapphic (it makes sense, trust me, in as much as anything I do makes sense) Beauty and the Beast right now.

THANK YOU again, and I'll touch base before Christmas with any further news. 

Read and be weird :D

Kel

*It ranges; book 1 is just kissing, book 2 is fade to black after getting naked, book 3 has a cheeky bit with a mast and some rope, and who knows about the rest! No graphic sex, though.