Two new books in the works!

If you follow me on Bluesky (@ScaerieTale.itch.io) you already know about my current projects, but I know BigCloset is its own microcosm too. I wasn't going to announce anything yet because, at first, it was just one book I was working on. But I finished it and needed to occupy my time and creative energy with all the ideas that I didn't use in that book, so now, I'm writing a second one while the first one cools and awaits final editing. There's also been some family medical drama but I won't drag this down yapping about all that right now <3

When they're ready they'll both be available a chapter at a time here on TopShelf, or as an e-book for anyone who wants to skip ahead :)

---

Y'all I am SO completely over the moon for how these books are turning out. I've poured my heart and soul into them, into refining every plot point so that they don't just feel like "a TG story" but like a mainstream novel that happens to feature trans characters. The first one is called "Split Victory."

The elevator pitch is that this is a psychological thriller set against the backdrop of a NASKA style mixed martial arts tournament. The book follows a set of identical twins who were separated at birth and intentionally kept just 30 miles apart, but raised in very different lifestyles. Morgan was raised to believe he was the torchbearer for a legacy, chasing an impossible ghost of a father he only knew was named 'Sterling' (surname).

Tiffani was raised in a literal gilded cage, adopted out to a lesbian couple living in Chicago's north shore in a gated community called Stonewood. She pursued the martial arts as well, unknowingly following in her biological mom's footsteps to become a Taekwondo Kukkiwon certified black belt (poon belt, due to the twins being 14).

The book follows these two elite athletes as they struggle with their legacy, their neurodivergence (Morgan as a top-down thinker, Tiffani as a "bottom up" analyzer), and the struggle to not just uncover the social engineering plot that separated them from each other, but from their biological parents, and how they can bring down the egotistical mastermind's corporate empire once and for all.

Pretty heavy, right? Now you understand why I'm writing a second book.

This second novel is called "The Dead Pixel Society" and anyone who's a fan of Robin Williams already knows where I'm going with this. It's a character drama that's been described as a five act Shakespearian comedy of errors, with intrigue, a legacy of "Dead Pixels past" and everyone struggling with balancing the performance of being at an elite private school with just trying to survive and find their own identity, whether that's transgender, gay, neurodivergent, goth, or "All of the above". There's even a "Mr. Keating" type who meta-awarely refers to herself as such at one point.

I'm currently in the last mile writing Dead Pixel, while I let "Split Victory" cool on the back burner awaiting its final editing pass. And, like I said, I'm going to be publishing both of these as free seialized books here on TopShelf while providing an e-book completed version through Doppler Press once they're ready.

Split Victory will probably come first because it's, you know, actually finished, but if high stakes psychological thrillers aren't your cup of tea, stay tuned for The Dead Pixel Society which I would genuinely describe as "Becoming Robin if I had written it in 2026 instead of 2009, with everything I know now as a writer" :D

Thank you all so, so much for your patience. I know I kind of fell off the grid for awhile after finishing The Green-Eyed Maid Inn. I wrote it as an intentionally low stakes casual piece, and by the time I had reached the final chapter, I had exhausted all of my low stakes ideas. I just could not keep it going without it feeling like filler for the sake of filler. With "Split Victory" and "The Dead Pixel Society" I don't have that same concern, but, I'll have to let my editors be the final judge when I'm prepared to submit them.
- Zoë