I made one of these a bit back for the book itself, but now I’m doing a few others: one for Jey, and one for her lover Maisie. I’m also going to remake the one for the book itself, just because I’ve learned a bit about what to do, and hopefully it’ll be better this time.
The Joy of Text, or, An Interest In Bookbinding
“Wait,” you say, “Bookbinding? You mostly have e-books, isn’t that kind of old-school for that?”
Yes… but.
Everyone who’s read my blog (or knows me) knows that I have written one novel, am working on a second, and have plans for a couple more. But eventually, one of my hopes is to be able to go to a convention and have a table and sell copies. (I also have ideas for buttons and pins, but that’s for later.)
I’ve also had some interest in bookbinding lying dormant for a while. And so, these things collide.
The Joys of Small Business Setup
This was yesterday’s “laugh or scream, I cannot tell which” moment: Apparently, if I want to get some more of the advertising I want to do working, I need a state of Pennsylvania business license, because:
- I live in Pennsylvania
- These sites want you to have a business license to do advertising.
Looking at Taeliana and the future…
…and what I can do to improve it. I’m going to be talking just financially, not about social things with being transgender, which is a crapshow in the USA right now. No, this is all talking about things that are related to my fictional world, Taeliana.
Happy Independent Bookstore Day!
Today is Independent Bookstore Day! It’s a day to celebrate booksellers outside of the corporate ranks, the little place in your town, the used bookstore on the side street, places like that.
It’s also a place to celebrate online independent stores, like those on itch.io, selling you books that you might not be able to find in the big stores.
For example, if you go to the Taeliana Books itch.io store you can buy my independently created book The Ballad of the Grey Swan in DRM-free epub and PDF formats.
And if you go to the top level of itch.io, there’s a lot of other authors there selling their books. Mine might not be your cup of tea, but maybe someone else’s book could be!
Keep the indy bookstores alive!
Just a little update.
Work on the next Taeliana book, Fiendblood, is going mostly well. I’m in the last part of the book, but I’m just trying to figure out some stuff and how it works, and then there’s the editing, formatting, finishing the cover, writing the cover copy, getting everything ready to go. It takes a little time, but we’ll get there.
Transgender Day of Visibility 2025
Hello. My name is Jen Dantes. I am:
- a married transgender white woman
- a technical support professional
- a writer
- a diabetic
- a person suffering from depression
I am all these things. All of them help to define me.
This is me being visible in the face of a government that wants to stifle me, deny me, say I don’t exist or am mentally ill (well, I knew that part) or am some kind of horrible person for the sheet reason of what I am. I am standing up and telling them no, in this little way.
Doesn’t matter what the press says. Doesn’t matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn’t matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world — “No, you move.”
– Captain America
No, transphobes and MAGA and TERFS and all the rest of you who hate me for claiming my own identity.
You move.
If you don’t like it? Go to hell.
Richard Chamberlain, March 31, 1934 – March 29, 2025
I just found out that Richard Chamberlain has passed away.
I never brought it up, because I had no room, but the character of Swordmaster Corin, Jey Corbeau’s sword teacher, was in part based on his portrayal of Aramis in the 1973 film of The Three Musketeers.
He’s also going to be the mentor of another character in a different book, where he plays the Chairman of the High Council of the Organization of Pilferers, Rogues, Enforcers, Assassins, Conmen, and Highwaymen – better known on the streets and back-alleys of the cities as just the Organization or the Business. (For you fantasy readers/gamers, yes, it’s basically the Thieves Guild.) If you’ve watched the show Leverage, you saw Richard Chamberlain as Archie Leach. (That’s the part he plays in that book: a somewhat retired gentleman thief who can still outmaneuver and out-think the younger crew.)
Rest well, kind and noble sir; your gentle humor and smile will be missed.
A Request for Assistance
Greetings all! Things are a bit tough here, so I am asking for some help.
First, I’d like to remind you that my first book, The Ballad of the Grey Swan, is out for sale with some revisions and a new cover.
If you haven’t seen much about it, you can check it out at the link in the menu or just click on this link for the page on the book.
You can find it at:
- Amazon.com for Kindle and in paperback
- My page on Itch.io
- And a bunch of other stores if you don’t like either of those
And now to the core of things…
New store!
Just a quick note – I’ve opened a store for sales of The Ballad of the Grey Swan in both PDF and epub formats on itch.io.