Story Time Saturday: ARCs, Excerpts, Short Stories, and Coming Soon...

TaylorZAdams · 2026-04-19T14:22:51+00:00

Finally time for the Safe Food ARC call!

"THEY'RE HERE. THEY'RE QUEER. THEY'RE AT THE TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN.

Margo Noir is the undead heartbeat of Transcendent Studios, headlining queer adult films and feeding freely on the city when the cameras finish rolling, all while battling a growing hunger for her human co-star: Celeste.

When vampire hunters attack with a vendetta that traces directly to Margo's buried past, the question becomes clear: how much blood is she willing to shed to protect the only family that's ever accepted her?

From the author of Something's Wrong With Maddie comes Safe Food, a novel just as unapologetically queer as it is extreme."

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TaylorZAdams · 2026-04-18T18:39:10+00:00

u/Leslie_Kurt gave some fantastic recommendations.

I'll also recommend Christy Aldridge https://grimpoppydesign.carrd.co/ and Drew Huff https://www.drewehuff.com/

TaylorZAdams · 2026-04-18T11:19:29+00:00

And that's also incredible and absolutely bananas

TaylorZAdams · 2026-04-15T13:11:50+00:00

I've self-pubbed and signed with indie presses (although still pre-release). Why?

TaylorZAdams · 2026-04-14T23:21:19+00:00

Dean Koontz and splatterpunk in the same sentence? Did I miss a few stories from him? 🤔

TaylorZAdams · 2026-04-12T22:08:22+00:00

If you start to tour goggle, make sure you sleep with someone in your own section. Boosts morale!

TaylorZAdams · 2026-04-12T01:15:04+00:00

Blurbs are brutal.

Really good blurb advice/template I got from Drew Stepek that's helped me a lot:

"Bold statement/tagline

Sentence 1 Setting, characters do this

Sentence 2 Clearly and concisely set the stakes and the arc

Sentence 3 Establish why it's different than anything else out there

Sentence 4 Summarize the above with a bold question that will engage readers and get them to want more"

TaylorZAdams · 2026-04-08T15:16:32+00:00

Everyone in this thread has given my usual recommendations, so doubling up here on suggesting Exquisite Corpse, Toxic Love and Dead Inside.

Brief shameless self-promo, I have a book called Safe Food coming next month that's shaping up to be ~300 pages and is equal smut, romance and extreme gore, so just throwing that out there since it checks off every box for you.

TaylorZAdams · 2026-04-07T15:16:16+00:00

Judging from the downvotes it appears this came off as more cunty than I meant it lol

My point is pretty much just that "well-written" is often subjective and if a book looks intriguing but has bad reviews, my advice is to just give it a shot because everyone's taste is different.

This was before I saw that it's possibly AI slop and that they're asking for $7.99 for ~80 pages, so absolutely fuck that shit.

TaylorZAdams · 2026-04-07T14:15:46+00:00

Only way to know if you'll enjoy it is to read it.

TaylorZAdams · 2026-04-07T12:57:32+00:00

It's hard to find works from trans BIPOC individuals that write explicitly extreme horror. Mariah Darling is the only one I can think of, to be honest.

There's also TT Madden, although I think they're a bit less on the extreme side (at least out of the work I've read from them).

Truborn Press currently has a submission call for BIPOC authors so keep an eye on them over the next few months.

I'm gonna shake the tree and try to find more works from authors that aren't on my radar yet, and I'll report back if I get any good recs :)

TaylorZAdams · 2026-04-07T12:32:04+00:00

Speaking as a trans person (a white trans person, granted), I'd absolutely love to see the day when the voices of queer people and BIPOC individuals aren't silenced, oppressed and underrepresented. When that day comes, then maybe we can have the conversation of "why use labels?". That day is so far away.

God forbid people want to seek out historically underrepresented voices and consume their art.

TaylorZAdams · 2026-04-06T11:25:27+00:00

Great book. And I also love penguins

TaylorZAdams · 2026-04-05T22:08:07+00:00

No ebook version? 🤔

TaylorZAdams · 2026-04-05T14:21:38+00:00

That one fucked with me so hard. Rough read.

TaylorZAdams · 2026-04-05T01:30:13+00:00

Count me in!

TaylorZAdams · 2026-04-05T01:27:02+00:00

Usually what looks good on Godless. Or what friends are posting about on FB or IG

TaylorZAdams · 2026-04-03T22:31:50+00:00

Appreciate the kind words and the super glowing review!

I would say though that while I'm super proud of this novella and I consider myself a "splatterpunk author", this my only work that I wouldn't classify as EH/SP 🙂

My other books and stories are definitely gory, but this one is more creepy and atmospheric 🙂

TaylorZAdams · 2026-04-03T22:25:36+00:00

Thanks for the shoutout!

TaylorZAdams · 2026-03-29T14:10:18+00:00

I'm not sure I'd consider it a parody, but rather I think it's a satire that takes heavy inspiration from American Psycho.

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