Yeah, this just sort of happened, apparently. I didn’t plan on participating in NaNoWriMo this year, but here’s a 40k word novella I just wrote in a straight sprint in the last 9-10 days.
Alright, that deserves some context: Urhexen is both a very stream-of-consciousness work and largely distills things I’ve already been thinking about a lot. That makes for much easier writing by the time I actually sit down at the keyboard than the kinds of multi-layered high concept novels I’ve usually written in the past. And will continue to write in the future when I so desire, lest any of you get the wrong notion. It also means this is a very talky book, especially in the first half. You may find it boring. You may find it refreshingly easy to get into compared to my more fantastical fare.
Personally? I do not care! Urhexen exists because I needed to write something to really dig into a number of intersecting traumas, fears, and frustrations I have surrounding my womanhood, occult practice, and leftist ideals. It has achieved that purpose. Anything else? Just a bonus! If helps other survivors, that’s wonderful! I’d love to hear about it!
If you have negative things to say then you don’t exist for me. Like… yeah. A book about women’s need to make peace with our selves as messy, fallible imperfect beings is going to be an imperfect text. What do you want from me? A hug? I’ll give you a hug! I’ll give you all the hugs! I just don’t feel like adding more emotional rigor to my personal relationship with an already rigorous piece of writing. That’s one of the reasons I’m releasing this fucker for completely free!
Anyway, this is a complete, self-contained story for adult audiences. Specifically, Urhexen is a realistic fiction paranormal romance. Yes, all four of those words at once. I believe that the book’s genre is no longer accurately stated if you remove any of those words, or dissociate them from each other. That said, Urhexen is completely free and I’m throwing it directly into the public domain, so I’m just stating an opinion, not setting a precedent of canonicity.
It is only for adult readers. There’s no sexually explicit content in Urhexen, though it definitely toes the line in places. It does go in depth on many extremely murky questions of identity, politics, morality, and the nature of justice which I just cannot in good conscience say are broadly suitable for young readers.
I’m not insensitive to platform concerns, but I’m also a tired trans girl who definitely shouldn’t have written this thing while sick. For that reason, I’m afraid the only formats I will be offering for the time being are a Word document attached here, and a Google docs link. However, if you’ll read the integrated Foreword and Capitulation of Copyright–itself a very interesting piece of writing, if North can have a little authorial pride? As a treat?–you’ll find you are legally allowed to convert this to any file format you like!
Happy reading. Please be good to Carrie, Hanna, and Mero. I know they’re just fictional characters but I really, really want them to be real. Maybe if we’re all kind enough, there’ll be a chance? Either way, I’ve had enough sorrow for ten lifetimes. If you hate this book and these characters, please talk to someone else about it.
Google Docs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MsRbKnaRGKF3xzzj2R6CSaQEU7-EDAj6MwnxyWAhQ58/edit?usp=sharing
Ashenvein Gate: Stories & Dreams 