In Hell We Dance

Author's Note

I'm finally done with this story! It is a reason to celebrate. Books can drag so much of you emotionally and mentally. It really does take so long, and a considerable amount of effort for something you know is taking valuable time just to be released for free on the internet. Then you hope people will click on that little rectangle and that the bio gets one more click. And you get the picture from there. I've had varying success with my books. Different readers and numbers, but one thing that has remained consistent is for those who have stayed, they have really connected with these characters and stories and for that I thank you so so much! When you're an artist, you really do see all the flaws, the hidden depths you have put out for the world to see. Your precious baby. You want people to share in your stories, yet at the same time, it can be really intimidating, far too intimate.

I've juggled a number of stories on here, so many in fact that I had to abandon some older ones. It's just life. I'm getting older, and any works from here on have to be serious. My next major project will be one I'll seriously consider pushing for publishing if I am proud with the end result. I'm super excited with what I have so far and the story I know it can be. More on that later.

I just thought I'd talk a bit about where my writing ability is now, and where it will be taken with my next project. I've had a certain style up until this point, one refined, but even so I'm too partial to my writing. There's no one else to edit it down, tell me what does or doesn't work. With the next chapter of my writing life, I'll be taking everything I've learned and just crafting the best stories I can craft. Isaac and Connor end this phase of my life. Oscar will thrust it into the next. It's gonna be so fun!

Yes, no secret there. I've only said it a dozen times in my end chapter notes. Oscar is the next protagonist. A name in Wild Hearts, then fleshed out here when I realised I needed that bridge between my old stories and this new phase. While everything changes, I hope returning readers can find comfort in some old, familiar faces. With Oscar though, he has so much more to tell, and a whole cast of diverse characters to tell it with. If In Hell We Dance was a more personal, small-scale affair (with some big emotional punches), Autumn Leaves is my shot at a proper teen fiction story (but with the added twist of being in an academy in Canada on a snowy mountain) with an array of cool folks to tell their own tales. I hope you amazing, devilishly handsome person reading this now check the story out!

So I just wanted to thank you again. Really, a proper thank you for spending time with me, my boys, my story which for some reason you've stuck around for. Happy reading, and if you take any lesson from Isaac and Connor, it's to find someone you can dance with no matter where, someone to love even despite their flaws.

Want more Isaac?

My newest short story collection, Outcasts features four separate stories from four very different outcast characters across my books. A few of them featured in this book (read Corin's story 'Heartache' to get a deep dive into her head), but of course, Isaac had to get a spot on this list. You can read his story: 'A Broken Inferno' now!

His story is set at the end of this book, where he visits Trevor, that guy he was intimate with, in the prologue, hoping to atone and apologise. It's a really small, personal and important step for Isaac. Little tease here: Trevor's dad, the cop, isn't a cop. Just a guy with a gun and a terrible ego He's an asshole and he abuses Trevor. I wanted to tell that story here but never found the time. Also featuring a short story revealing Ryder's past!

Thanks again, and we'll be seeing Connor and Oscar again real soon. Isaac's not leaving too, as if he would. He can never stay away from his rabbit too long. 😉