That’s right, I’m doing Camp NaNoWriMo this year! I’m still working on the Demon WIP, but this time it has a title: We Who Refuse To die. I created a Twitter Accountability page, but also plan to post daily blog posts about my progress or just sharing some fun facts about the book.

Brief Summary: A group of scholars, mad scientists, warlords, and demons must work together to overthrow a corrupt theocracy while evading their (un)holy assassins

Long Synopsis:

Theme song:

“If I only could
Make a deal with God
I’d get him to swap our places“-Placebo, Running Up that Hill

PENNY DREADFUL X V FOR VENDETTA X THE DEVILS’ DANCE

Andra (she/they) is a former (un)holy assassin who is as skilled with a surgeon’s scalpel as she is with a revolver. She defected from the Church and is looking for salvation and security. She runs to her estranged brother, hoping against hope he’ll help her, but discovers he is in a bit of danger himself.

Sophia (she/her) is a misplaced real estate agent and cellist who’s fallen in love with two wanted expats: Dmitri, a ballerina, and Vasily, a scholar whose research can destroy the Church. They currently live in a border town but how long can they stay there when more and more Church assassins arrive every day?

Danijela (she/he/they) is Demonic royalty and a loud champion for Demon rights. When she isn’t fighting for her life against the Church’s (un)holy assassins, she’s trying to build a safe haven for her people and all who stand against the Church and its many hypocrisies.

The three misfits are brought together by Rashid, (he/him) an unwanted, cursed, suicidal, depressed, and anxious prince who is the only being that stands between the Church’s ruthless expansion and the rest of the world. Now they must work together to overthrow a corrupt theocracy or succumb to the Church’s assassins and overwhelming might.

TROPES!

• Bi, Poly, Pan, Ace Disasters
• Trans and NB Rep
• Demons
• Witches?
• (un)holy assassins
• Sewer adventures!
• Mad Scientists and their elaborate labs
• Monsters Fuckers and Lovers
• Exhausted, overworked, and underpaid newspaper staff
• a secret society
• weapon and drug smuggling
• Most Wanted “Criminals”
• Star-Crossed Lovers
• Throuples
• Corrupt and suppressed Priests
• Grave robbing

Story Playlist

MCs

Rashid Of the Sundara

Theme song:

“But that’s just the weight of the world
We do what we must to get by
That’s just the weight of the world
The weak and the weary will never survive“-Shayfer James, Weight of the World

Rashid (he/him), the Chrysanthemum Prince of the Sundara. A man cursed to bring about the end of his family’s empire. Hated by all of his siblings except one. His mother constantly tried to have him assassinated. He ended up marrying the last assassin she hired and is one of only mortals to ever bind himself to a Demon with a blood oath.

He is also an anxious, suicidal, depressed poly-pan disaster who is in charge of protecting his family’s flank as they expand their empire in the Ignis Desert. Should be simple enough, he just needs to manage the desires of warlords, drug dealers, mad scientists, obnoxious scholars/reporters, and his new Demon neighbors while evading the Church’s assassins and preparing for the Church’s eventual invasion.

Rashid’s Playlist

Andra Serzhankyzy

Theme song:

“Darling
Just don’t put down your guns yet
If there really was a God here
He’d have raised a hand by now“-Papillon, Editors

Andra (they/she) an orphan adopted into a family slaughtered during the Shadow War, embraced the Crossnic religion (unlike her brother who refused to convert and was nearly killed for his defiance), and became an (un)holy assassin. Befriended another questioning convert, Vasily Karaminov (he/him) who discovered the Church’s deepest, darkest secrets. When presented with a chance to kill Vasily or save his life, Andra broke from her Church and smuggled her friend out of the country. With a target on her back, Andra must turn to her estranged brother for help. Turns out her brother works for Rashid who needs a Demon expert to help him manage his new neighbors. Now Andra is a Demon scientist studying the Demon condition and supposedly working on a “cure”.

Playlist:

Sophia Henderson-Karaminov-Xojaev

Theme song:

“It seemed like everyone I knew was dying
I looked in the mirror and I was on fire
Somebody yelled out “Hey, stop drop and roll”
I said “That might save my skin, but it won’t save my soul”“-Kimya Dawson, Fire

Sophia Henderson-Karaminov-Xojaev is a real estate agent turned cellist who manages the finances for a failing newspaper & secret society. had the bad luck of falling madly in love with two of Gargain’s most wanted expats: Vasily Karamoniv who knows the Church’s deepest, darkest secrets and plans to use them to destroy the Church and Dmitri Xojaev who writes mean and sarcastic ballets about the Church. Being the most rational out of the three, it’s her responsibility to keep them alive and their newspaper/writing careers afloat. But when assassins force them out of their border town and into Rashid’s territory it becomes clear that their martyrdom may be more useful to Rashid than keeping them alive.

Playlist:

Danijela, Queen of the Demons

“And I said hello Satan, ah
I believe it is time to go
Me and the devil walkin’ side by side”-Soap&Skin, Me and the Devil

Danijela (the/she/he) is the leader of the Demons and partner to the father of All Demons, Rezan. Rezan is supposedly evil incarnate and is absolutely dedicated to her. He would do anything for her, including marching into Heaven and killing God for her. All she has to do is ask.

Together they defy the Church by building a sanctuary for all Demons and their supporters in God’s own “holy land”, right next to Rashid’s settlement. Despite being a Demon, Danijela desires peace more than anything and so makes an alliance with Rashid, encourages Vasily’s vendetta agenda the Church and allows Andra to study her people in hopes that someday they can find a “cure”. But as assassins infiltrate their settlement and the Church threatens to invade, Danijela may need to do the unforgivable to save her people and their supporters. She may have to ask Rezan to kill God.

Playlist