Quil Carter

Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality

Dealing with Amazon's stupidity

UPDATE: The Companion ebooks are finally up again. I have at least a few months of peace before this thing happens all over again. Hopefully this will be the only time they outright block the companion books. Uhg! But for now, all is back to normal.

Currently dealing with the most frustrating shit ever. The filters or bots or whatever that cruise around the published books on Amazon are catching the word 'Companion' in my companion books' subtitles and automatically assuming they're companion guides or study guides, even though its so stupidly clear that they are not, and KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) doesn't allow companion guides/study guides. https://i.imgur.com/QmzXV6S.png

Since the end of 2022 this has happened like a dozen times, either randomly, when I try to update one of the companion books, or when I try and submit a new one to be published. Usually all this takes is an email explaining they're wrong, a dice roll whether they actually read my email, and if so it gets fixed, and if not, more emails, more dice rolls.

This time however the fucking big brains decided to outright block my books for sale right off the bat. After a day and a half trying to get them to answer my emails, it apparently got sorted, books are live.

Oh wait, but theyre not, still had issues with the paperbacks saying ‘Draft Unfinished’ which it would default back to even when I resubmitted my books. Sent off an email, fixed 3 of them, sent off another email, fixed the rest.

Great

Or not, now I see that the fucking ebooks landing pages aren’t up, even though they say they’re live on my end. Just sent off another email, hopefully just resubmitting the books will solve this but I doubt it.

I am in hell surrounded by people who don’t want to do their jobs properly. This is the most aggrivating shit I have ever had to deal with and I wish every hour for the sweet kiss of death.

Hopefully this will be solved very soon, until then I am sorry if you’re trying to get one of my companion books, I am trying to fix this as fast as I can but it’s like trying to teach physics to a salamander.

Q&A with Quil Carter!

Hello everyone!

An interview that I did with Kayla Cramer went live earlier! (Link below) It's my first interview in quite a while and was a lot of fun. For those who especially don't know how The Fallocaust Series came to be and the hilarious amount of planning I put into publishing it (ie: none), and what initially inspired the series, check it out! There's also a lot of fun questions on there too, like if I was thrown into the Fallocaust world what 3 items would I bring.

It was a blast to answer these questions, so check out the interview, and check out Kayla's Insta too because she does a lot for the mm, dark romance/horror genres and has made many many posts about The Fallocaust Series. She goes good quality work and research, and clearly has amazing taste.

Kayla's Instagram

Thank you for getting me in on these Q&As Kayla!

INTERVIEW



Merry Christmas, lovelies!

Merry Christmas, lovelies!

You are all truly the best readers that an author could ask for. I am so appreciative of all your love, support, and encouragement. I look forward to releasing Book 5 in 2024 and hopefully Book 1's audiobook too!

As my Christmas gift to you, here is Chapter 2 of The Fallocaust Series Book 5: Fathers of the Fallocaust Vol. 1. This was released yesterday on my patreon as an early preview and now here it is for everyone else! I’m going to attach it to the Chapter 1 preview already available on my website, so just scroll down. Click Here

Here's a bit of what I wrote on Patreon too to explain a few things you'll notice when reading since this is still a draft and I'm a masochist. For context, I'd announced a few days prior that I'd be releasing Ch 2 as a Christmas Eve gift and this first post was made at like 6PM Christmas Eve saying I needed a bit more time, and the last one, when I finally finished what was critically important to get done before release, it was like 10PM lol.

Oh and if you haven't yet, why don't you check out my patreon! I'll be doing another mailing of patreon rewards soon and I hold raffles for signed books for everyone at random times of the year too! https://www.patreon.com/quilcarter

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Hello, lovelies.

I just wanted to let you know the excerpt is coming I just need a couple more hours. I had decided when starting book 5 that Elish's POVs would be in third person, given that future events wouldn't be feasible to write if we could constantly see what was going on in Elish's head. But now that the story has developed more, I realized that I could indeed pull off an Elish POV for this current timeline. And, really, I write Elish so much better in first person.

So not only has this meant I need to go back and change Chapter 2 to reflect this (and the subsequent chapters too) but on top of that, while re-reading Chapter 2 I realized that it wasn't showing as much of the current world as I think was fair. It would work well if you're just going to keep reading, but this is going to be the last excerpt and preview for a while, so I wanted to show where they were currently living, some of the family that was there, and just a sneak peak of how life is now. In the original Chapter 2, we pretty much jump right in to Elish, Killian, and a couple other characters in a plane going to a different location. No Atlas, no where they're living.

Soooo, needless to say I've been editing a lot and today have been writing in a new beginning for Chapter 2. I don't think I'll get to switching the Elish POV from 3rd to 1st before I need to release this for Christmas Eve, but I will be finishing the new beginning, and when I release this in the FalloCult, I should have the POV changed over. Yes, I will be working on Christmas Eve and Christmas, but really, it's fine, everyone here is working because the money is so good so I was going to be spending it playing video games anyway lol.

See you all in a few hours!

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And here is what I wrote for the release, explaining a few 'draft' things you'll be seeing in the Chapter.

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(Sent at like 10PM)

Here it is! Complete with like 7 new pages added and a bit of editing to switch Elish's POV from third person to first person, but I couldn't switch it all tonight. It takes a lot more work than just changing Elish to 'I' and himself to 'myself', so it'll take some rewriting, but third person Elish will do for now.

I have literally been at this for like 10 hours, so I'm going to relax a bit and finish the rest later lol. The new 7 pages I haven't been able to look over again, but ah it'll be fine!

Enjoy and Merry Christmas guys! When the rest of the editing is done I'll switch out the file for the new one. This will also be posted in the Cult tomorrow too.

Love ya'll!

Quil Carter

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So, just be advised ahead of time eventually the POV will switch to third person but I'm actively switching it over to first.

And that's it! Have fun with your family and friends and once the Christmas stuff is all over with, unwind with a bit of Book 5. Feel free to discuss but just make sure you use spoiler tags!

Merry Christmas, lovelies!

Quil

1st episode of the unnamed podcast!

Okay guys, so here it is. I mentioned during the fundraiser that I was thinking of doing a podcast. Well, here is episode 1! It was a real pain to edit, so don't expect a second episode any time soon lol.

If you don't want to listen to me prattle on about nonsense, skip to 40 minutes for the book announcement stuff. You will probably want to listen from there since it's important, and since at the end is me reading a book excerpt that could possibly be from Book 5.

Possibly!

PODCAST LINK

All podcast posts will be on my website until Im established enough to move to like Spotify and all of those fancy ass places.

So I heard you want audiobooks...

Okay lovelies, LONG ASS POST ALERT!

TL;DR (but you really should read it). We're doing a fundraiser to get me the mini recording booth I need to do audiobooks in my office, and possibly a podcast but that's like... still in the development stage. The links to donate are below.

But I mean just read the damn post lol you already read my long ass books you might as well.

EDIT: The fundraising page on my website is up now. There is a donate button and a graphic to show how we’re doing so far. Graphic isn’t updated live though, just when Joshua is awake or not at work lol.

FUNDRAISER PAGE!

Hello, my lovelies!

WELL! I have been putting off this post for like a week now lol trying to figure out how to word it properly. No, no, don’t worry, nothing is wrong. Actually, if all goes well… a lot of things will be right!

Because you see… I have a plan to make The Fallocaust Series, and eventually The Gods’ Games Series and Silent Ground into AUDIOBOOKS. Yes, you heard that right.

As I had said a couple of months ago, to hire someone to do even Fallocaust Book 1 into audiobooks would cost upwards of 12,000 USD (about 16,500 Canadian), which obviously I do not have, so the only reasonable choice was for me to narrate the audiobooks myself. I have always been interested in doing this. I love learning new things and learning how to narrate and how to edit, and just the process in general fascinates me. Back when I first published Fallocaust, my spelling and grammar were awful, yet I couldn’t afford an editor. This was a huge embarrassment to me because I wanted people to focus on the book not the spelling/grammar, but I couldn’t expect people to look past it. For a little context, I was homeschooled for most of my life, which consisted of me having to teach myself everything. I never could grasp grammar rules and had been taught previously to just ‘sound out the word’ which meant a word I didn’t know how to spell could be spelled several different ways in a single page.

So, once Book 1 was published I spent two weeks learning as much editing as I could, grammar, spelling, and editing Book 1 multiple times, continuously uploading new editions of Book 1 every 6 to 12 hours. And even once I was done this binge, I continued to learn editing and all it entailed until, well, I think I’m pretty decent at it now. I taught myself not just how to edit after the first draft was done, but how to just not write those mistakes in the first place.

What's my point you ask? My point is that when a financial obstacle is in my path, a path to making my books better or more accessible to people, I want to climb over it. When I know I can’t afford outside help, my solution has always been to teach myself how to do it and then go fucking rock it.

So now that we’ve established my motivation, another obstacle in my path was space. I live in a small two bedroom apartment/suite with the second bedroom being my ‘office’ and there was just no space at all that I could transform into a suitable mini recording studio. And if I am going to be spending hundreds, and eventually thousands of hours recording, I want the audio to be as professional as possible. I am not going to half-ass this. If I’m doing this myself, I need a sound proof recording area that will give me consistent levels, and sound proof enough to cut out the sounds of crickets chirping, echoes, distressed cats upset that I’m in a closed off area they are not allowed inside, and distressed boyfriends upset that I’m in a closed off area they’re not allowed inside with all the liquor.

And thankfully, with some furniture rearranging, ie: moving my PC into the living room to crowd it up some more – I now have space in my office.

And this is where you guys come in! Because I NEED YOUR HELP! Or, well, THE AUDIOBOOKS NEED YOUR HELP! My friends and I have produced a plan to do a fundraiser, to raise enough money for me to purchase basically a mini portable recording studio. (https://www.bearcavesilentbooths.com/our-booths). Inside they are 4 x 4 and come with things you wouldn’t even think of needing, like ventilation so I don’t suffocate and die. The company that I settled on is based in Canada as well, or else I’d be getting gutted on customs fees and the exchange rate.

These things aren’t cheap, unless you’re comparing it to how much it would cost to rent studio time or hire someone, then they’re cheap as fuck, but I think this is my ideal solution. It will give me the audio levels and the background silence that Audible (more specifically the ACX) requires in order to submit your audiobook, while muffling outside noises and making me sound as good as possible. There’s also a door so I can completely close off the inside which is also really important. I have 4 cats that love either shredding foam or sleeping/shedding on the foam and it wouldn’t take long at all for them to take over whatever work area I’d created and wreck it one way or another. These work areas can also be dismantled too, so when I eventually move out of this apartment and into my own house, I can take it apart and put it back together.

But these things like I said are pricey, with some number crunching, basically the single wall recording booth + shipping and a decent mic, I’m looking at 5,700 Canadian at least (4,200 USD), maybe more if they are going to factor in tax which I’m not sure if they are. I don’t have that, clearly, I actually have minus that because I got two cats that need ongoing health care and one getting all his teeth pulled in November.

So what I am hoping for lovelies… is that you can help me make all of our dreams come true and be a part of these audiobooks coming into being. And not only the audiobooks either, I’ve been mulling around in my head an idea for a podcast that I wouldn’t mind feeling out to see if it’s a fit for me. Think both m/m book reviews from me (which would be on the positive side) and forcing myself to read utter trash like Colleen Hoover so you all can laugh at my pain and listen to me rip it apart, and also practicing my audiobook reading by devoting the last hour or so to reading a chapter of one of my books. This would be a patreon based thing I think, until I get some advertisers at least. Oh, I’d also offer advertising to my fellow LGBTQ+ writers too, and do interviews with them as well. There seems to be a lack of podcasts centered around the m/m genre, so I might take a crack at it.

I also love some trash reality show TV so maybe something like that too. Who the fuck knows, I’m still brain storming.

Now you might be thinking… holy shit Quil this is a lot of work, are you sure you’re up to tripling your workload? And the answer is yes. I still got this brain fog shit constantly making me feel tired and unmotivated and I need something to kick me back into gear. Writing is my main priority, but I miss learning things and audiobooks and learning how to narrate and podcast is the only other thing besides writing that has caught my interest. I spend too much time playing video games, when my boyfriend is away for work my life is just video games and writing. I need a new project, I need to be creative and produce something, and I’m praying to the dead gods that this helps me with that.

SO, let the fundraising begin. Let’s make these audiobooks a thing, let’s see if this podcast thing is do-able. I have Joshua and Larissa who will be overtaking a lot of this fundraising stuff too since they know what to do, and I will be here… I don’t know, hoein’ for audio booth funds. Joshua and Larissa have provided some links and will be giving the details below.

I also wanted to add that I was thinking about adding some neat rewards for the top donors. Since this audio booth will soon be my life, I was thinking of getting a plaque made, much like Homer’s in “And Maggie Makes Three” which says, “Don’t forget you’re here forever”. I was thinking the top donors can send in pictures of them giving me sarcastic thumbs up or something, so my weary eyes can wander over to that plaque when I have been locked inside the audio booth for 10 hours and silently curse you, hope that somewhere out there you just stubbed your toe super bad. You know, things like that.

DONATION LINKS! Joshua Rook and Lara Skyland (Larissa) are spearheading this because I can't just go throwing around my full name for privacy reasons:

mrrook82@gmail.com (paypal/venmo)

OR

katz.larissa@gmail.com (paypal)

To reduce the fees these fundraiser websites tack on, we're doing paypal or venmo. We'll have all the receipts and all that available too, so you know the money didn't go towards crack (Anyway crack is so 80s)

Like I said Larissa and Joshua will be taking on this side. There’s going to be a cute graphic going up on my website to tell how much we have raised so far and follow up posts and all that.

This is the first fundraiser I’ve actually been a part of that hasn’t been a surprise, and oh boy, I’m nervous as all hell and absolutely dreading it because I am a proud man who doesn’t like asking for things. But getting this audio booth is also kind of in a way making sure I then don’t need to ask for things, since I’ll just be doing it all myself?? Who knows lol I am pushing down the ingrained guilt that comes with stuff like this, and telling myself that, well, we’ll get some damn audiobooks out of it!

So, let’s see what we can do, loves.

Also, if anyone is wondering what happens if we don't reach the goal. It'll take a lot longer to get the audio booth but I will find some way to fund it myself. I will make this happen one way or another, no matter how long it takes.

Thanks guys, I love you all to bits. I hope we can make this happen. I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I'd do anything for my books, just like I'd do anything for you guys (Well, almost anything).

Garden of Spiders 2: House of Flies Vol. 1 Part 2 is out!!!

My latest baby is live! Garden of Spiders 2: House of Flies Vol. 1 Part 2 is out and about and ready to give you all the feels. My biggest volume yet, but that is just something that Elish and Sanguine demanded.

Available Here! nd free if you have Kindle Unlimited too.

I still really wish I hadn't been forced to split Volume 1 into two parts, but now that Part 2 is out and everyone in the future can just slide from P1 to P2, that makes me feel a bit better. Part 2 is just such a fucking ride, and like I'd mentioned previously, I think it contains some of my best writing. There is just so much going on in this book, and it really rewards a reader who has been paying attention. Not just paying attention to the book in general, but the entire series and Silent Ground! Like my other books, Garden of Spiders 2 is going to be perfect for re-reads also, get ready for a lot of 'Oh my god, I didn't pick up on that the first time". There are so many answers in this book, so many huge puzzle pieces, and I can't wait to watch everyone pool their knowledge to piece them together.

And to watch that puzzle get worked on, and maybe provide a few pieces yourself, I greatly urge everyone who hasn't yet to join the FalloCult! My main FB gets a bit bare because basically all the damn discussion just goes to the Cult lol. https://www.facebook.com/groups/620135551487546

So, now that Vol. 1 is released, I'm going to take a few days off before launching myself into Vol. 2. And by days off, I mean I'll still be thinking about it and trying to hammer out a loose game plan. I'm not one to plan out much in advance with these books but since there is a timeline of events I need to work with, I have to sketch out a rough road map. Not too used to that lol.

I'd like to again thank my amazing beta readers too. They help pick up typos and other little errors made during the writing process, and since they're all my best buds, we have a great time doing it. They're also the literal first people to see these books too, and my first wave of feedback. Those wonderful beans are Lewis, Larissa, Joshua, and Mari. Also I have to thank Christina B who does my cover jacket for the physical books too, and my handsome boy Jon who does the interior formatting for the physical books also.

Now for the usual plugs! If you want to help my ass out I have a Patreon. Without Patreon I wouldn't be able to write these books full time, so if you have the means and want some cool Fallocaust merch in return, and for the highest tier, a handmade drawing by me (and a ton of stuff in between like a thank you/shout out at the end of my latest book) join my patreon! I am a bit behind sending out the latest wave of rewards but now that Vol. 1 is finished I'll be able to crank some out, hopefully during this mini vacation: https://www.patreon.com/quilcarter
I also have an Amazon wishlist full of everything from essential items like groceries, to cat supplies, to toilet paper, and non-essential gift-type items like video games or house plants (which I'd totally name you): https://www.amazon.ca/hz/wishlist/ls/3MUQBO6W0YMM2?ref_=wl_share

And other ways you can help out: https://www.quilcarter.com/help-quil There is also a shop full of Fallocaust merch including t-shirts: https://www.quilcarter.com/thefalloshop

And if you need a refresher on some of the characters, there's a Fallocaust Wiki now too!

https://fallocaust.fandom.com/wiki/Fallocaust_Wiki

Okay I know I am probably forgetting a lot of shit, but I woke up like an hour ago lol. Thank you so much to everyone for their support and their love, I hope you enjoy this latest book and I can't wait to bring everyone the next installment!

Garden of Spiders 2: House of Flies Vol. 1 Part 2 is available for pre-order and will be released July 29th!

Good lord, he comin'! Garden of Spiders 2: House of Flies Vol. 1 Part 2 is available for pre-order and will be released July 29th!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B6QFGCGT

The conclusion to Vol 1 is on its way! I am really excited about this book, more than Part 1. Since I hadn't written Vol. 1 like it was going to be split up, I always felt like Part 1, even though it ended on a good story note, didn't have that epic conclusion that I like having at the end of my books. And now with Part 2 on its way, I won't have to worry about that since, well, the next one is right there.

So, prepare yourselves, guys! And remember, when you read a happy fun chapter... enjoy it while it lasts

And also, Part 2 is about 14,000 words bigger than Part 1, making Volume 1 as a whole: 486,000 words! Which is just ridiculous for a single volume lol.

Buckle up, lovelies! It'll be here before you know it.

In the meantime, if you haven't already join my patreon so I can keep not starving! https://www.patreon.com/quilcarter

Join the FalloCult, our facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/620135551487546

Check out the Fallocaust Wiki to help keep track of the madness: https://fallocaust.fandom.com/

And my other social medias:

https://www.instagram.com/fallocaust/

https://www.tiktok.com/@fallocaust

https://twitter.com/Fallocaust

https://www.facebook.com/quil.carter

Blurb:

Of all the punishments to give, this has to be the most humiliating.

Stripped of his title, kicked out of his apartment, and without a cent to his name, Elish Dekker is now homeless. The former Heir of Skyfall and most of his brothers are being forced by King Silas to make their own way, and they won’t be allowed back until they’ve proven that they appreciate everything Silas has done for them.

But something is off about Silas’s explanation over how the Crown became bankrupt, and the fact that Silas kept Elish in the dark over Skyfall’s dire financial state, and now refuses to speak to him, hurts Elish more than he cares to admit. The man that Elish wants to one day marry won’t speak to him, yet Sanguine is free to slither around Silas’s apartment like the snake he is.

However, Elish is about to have bigger issues, because a series of unfortunate events is going to have him showing up beaten and starved on the doorstep of a certain former greywaster that has already caused the ex-prince an abundance of problems.

And while Elish is both recovering and trying to keep his sanity around this new hyperactive roommate, Sanguine is on the warpath. Now confident of the skeletons inside of Silas's closet and still hellbent on punishing the king for Valen’s death, Sanguine is determined to make life miserable for Silas as much as he can.

Unfortunately, life is already miserable for Silas, who is deep in one of his depressive episodes. Silas rarely gets out of bed and with most of the family homeless or struggling to deal with a new wave of hostility in Skyfall, the once mighty king has been left to wallow.

But Silas will not be wallowing alone, although he’s going to wish he was. With Sanguine’s own caustic resentment destroying him from the inside out, Sanguine is beginning to let his most depraved desires take hold. Determined to break Silas and expose his lies to the family, Sanguine is going to cross lines never before crossed and feed well the demon alter who only wants to see the world burn.

Patreon Post!

Hey Everyone!

So it's been a while since I made a post advertising my patreon, and decided to sit down on this beautiful day and see if I can recruit a few FalloCultists!

https://www.patreon.com/quilcarter

My patreon helps me immensely, like as in: "I wouldn't be able to sustain myself financially if it wasn't for this thing" and the tiers start at a dollar. Every cent of it goes towards rent, food, cat supplies, and whatever vice I have currently to keep me going. Actually, it's probably all going just towards rent, especially since it's getting raised by 70 bucks July 1st!

Now, being a patron has some really cool perks to it too. It's the only way to get signed books from me (I also have started drawing inside some of them too), I hold raffles at random points in time (no rhyme or reason or timeline I just do it when I have enough spare books then I just go and send them to like 5 people lol), have given away signed t-shirts in the past, and have a few more giveaways planned in the future too. ALSO! If you join my top patreon tier, I hand draw and colour (with fancy Copic markers) a character from my books of your choosing. Right now is a great time to join that tier because I just finished my latest round of drawings and am about to start a new round (basically I do these in like batches of 5, and once they're done, new batch). I've drawn everyone from Elish to Sanguine, Teal to Shade God, and can do a few different styles but mainly I do a kinda anime-looking thing.

For the lower tiers, you get a thank-you card from me and I always write something funny inside of it, the thank-you card is a print from a drawing I made, and signed bookmarks, magnets, stickers, there's tons of stuff you get just from signing up for any $5 and up tier.

There's also two special tiers also. Expensive one-time tiers. One of these is that you can commission me to write you a short story about any of the characters. There are some rules of course, but some of the stories Ive done before is Greyson, Leo, and Reno having a threesome and a short story involving Reaver and Killian all grown up with kids (including a son with Silas and Reaver as parents. Silas created him without Reaver knowing of course). They're a lot of fun to do, and a nice break from whatever I'm currently working on.

I also have some future plans for this Patreon too, that may include me doing casual readings of my books starting with Fallocaust Book 1. I want to have like 3 episodes done before I announce it though just to make sure it's something I can do in between writing and editing. Once announced though, that'll be patreon exclusive and will be releasing every week.

So, if you're able to, please join my patreon to keep my ass afloat and keep my cats buried in cat treats. Every patreon member is so sooo much appreciated, and I try to make it worth it on my end by mailing out cool shit.

There are also a few other ways to help me, if you're so inclined. https://www.quilcarter.com/help-quil and that link also includes a link to my Amazon wishlist which is full of essentials for living, and lower down at the bottom, things I totally don't need to live: https://www.amazon.ca/.../ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_pVTbAbC8NWMFS

Alright! With that out of the way, I am going back to my editing. I hope everyone is having a good pride month! Which also reminds me, buy a Crow Pride t-shirt to show everyone just how fashionably gay you are. https://quil-carter.squarespace.com/fallo-clothing

Garden of Spiders 2: House of Flies Vol. 1 Part 1 is available in physical book!

F I N A L L Y

After two more failed attempts and a 'we need 5 business days to review' Garden of Spiders 2: House of Flies Vol. 1 Part 1 is available in big boy physical book form! Here!

Thanks Amazon, after 5 different e-mails rejecting my request for the flag to be removed and telling me my book about a gay genetically engineered mutant living in the post-apocalypse is a study guide, you finally saw that my book (shockingly) doesn't have @#$% 'study guide' or 'summary' in the title. If only you learned this the previous times when you flagged every other book with the word 'companion' in it. Do better Amazon.

I can't wait to go through this again with Part 2 and Volume 2! But for now... victory.

New Merch Available!

Hey guys! New FalloShop Merch!

I got some new merch up on the FalloShop! The first is a new Garden of Spiders: House of Flies bookmark. I decided to go in a different direction with this bookmark and make it look a bit more unique than the usual ones. I love how it turned out and I reckon it's a perfect addition for pride month too.

The second is a new Garden of Spiders: House of Flies fridge magnet. Vista Print FINALLY started giving the option for thicker magnets. I never liked how thin the previous magnets are. Once the old magnets run out and I need to buy new ones, every magnet will have this thicker magnet base.

And also! A lot of you who have bought bookmarks from me for the last several months may have noticed that I included little charms on the tassels. A couple year ago one of my readers Anja ad sent me some homemade bookmarks with these really cool mini charms and after gushing over them, told me where to buy them. So I bought like a fuckton of any and every charm I thought would fit in with Fallocaust or The Gods' Games (and will be buying more in the future). At first I was thinking of making charm bracelets but for now, I have a new listing up for bookmarks with your choice of charms. I have charms of everything from automatic rifles, to pointed teeth, spiders, to crow skulls and tons more, and for The Gods' Games: swords, mirrors, arrows, and even Ben's treasured stapler.

I have also updated some photos too so the old bookmark pics with the old tassels are gone. Check it out and order yourself from merch! https://quil-carter.squarespace.com/the-falloshop

And bonus! I am almost out of the classic FalloShop envelopes that everyone knows and loves, so any new orders will be sent out with a new FalloShop envelope I designed. Still the same badass envelope but with some different covers designs on it now.

Garden of Spiders 2: House of Flies Volume 1 Part 1 is now available for preorder!

The wait is finally over! Preorder Here! Garden of Spiders 2: House of Flies Vol. 1 Part 1 will be released April 29th!

It's 187 A.F, six years after Sanguine's unexpected arrival, and Elish is mentally preparing himself to ask King Silas to marry him. However, it can be difficult to even get time with Silas considering the damn Beast Island Games are starting soon. Skyfall's first reality show competition that pits convict Skyfaller against convict greywaster is the brainchild of the king and is currently taking Skyfall by storm. Every family member is invested, all except Elish who thinks this 'foolish game' is a mistake that will cost the Crown hundreds of thousands – whereas Silas is confident it's going to make money.
A mistake, a complete mistake, but for some reason a certain player has Elish unable to stop watching the competition, unable to stop obsessing over him. Elish doesn’t know why, but he’s not about to let his compulsions control his life… again.

And while Elish struggles with his worst enemy - his self control - Sanguine is fighting his own battle. It has been a year since Valentine died and Sanguine's resentment against Silas is strong. But how could it not be? Silas condemned Valen to death knowing how much Sanguine had loved that boy. After everything Silas put him through, the king still let Valen die.
However, Silas isn't the only one suffering under Sanguine's hurt, Jack too has been worn down by his boyfriend's grief. It was hard enough when Sanguine temporarily left him to be with Valen, but even after the pink-eyed chimera died, it's clear Valen still has a deep hold on Sanguine.

But all of this hurt is soon going to get pushed to the back of Sanguine's mind, because a chance find on Beast Island is about to open a can of worms. Silas is up to something, and with the king distracted trying to stop Elish from ruining those very games, Sanguine intends to find out what it is.

Perhaps Sanguine can finally pay Silas back for all the pain he's caused.

Happy 8th Anniversary Fallocaust!

8 years. Wow.

8 years ago, I woke up thinking that it would just be another day (well, another Valentine's Day). I woke up with absolutely no plans of publishing my first book. See, I have always been an avid writer, even though some years life had me drawing more or doing poetry more (Yes, I used to write poems lol I was a bit of an emo kid in my teens), but even though I loved writing, I'd come to accept that no one would want to read what I wrote - and certainly not publishers. I wanted to write with mainly gay characters, and I didn't want to write romance or erotica, I wanted to write whatever the hell genre I wanted to write.

That left me having to accept that I would never be published nor would I ever have an audience who wanted to read what I wanted to write. I had to accept that if I wanted to be a professional writer, I'd have to basically sell out. It was a sad thing to realize and accept, and seemed so unfair, but also like a sadistic joke the universe was playing on me. I loved writing, but I loved writing things no one wanted to read.

But since my head was so full of ideas, not writing wasn't an option once the inspiration hit. So, I wrote Fallocaust for me, I wrote Breaking Jade for me, and I was writing The Ghost and the Darkness for me. And I decided that somewhere along the line, I'd finish The Gods' Games and make that my safe 'sell out' book that would have asexual characters, no swearing, like a safe YA sort of thing.

So, 8 years ago, I woke up with absolutely no plans of publishing my first book.

See, even though I knew no one wanted to read what I had written, every 6 months or so, I'd ask myself "What's the point? Why am I doing this?" and I specifically remember looking at Breaking Jade's word document after I'd finished it "Breaking Jade MASTER" (because it's the master file lol but that does suit it) and just feeling so sad that I'd just finished something I was so proud of, yet no one would ever see it. But after thinking this, I'd also ask myself "Like how would I even do it?" and I'd google how to self-publish a book.

What I was met with, wasn't how to self-publish, but articles telling me why I shouldn't bother. I remember one article saying how there's millions of self published books out there and 99% of them are shit. How they're full of typos, bad formatting, flat characters, shit writing, and that the market is so saturated, that if you self-publish and sell a single book, you're in the top 10% of earners. That's how little of a chance you have of making it as a self-published author.

So, I'd realize that not only did no one want to read my books, but even if I did have something, it would get lost in the sea of endless self-published books anyway. This would make me click off, give up, and move on. Well, keep writing and move on.

But 8 years ago, even though I woke up with absolutely no plans of publishing my first book, when I once again googled "How to self-publish", something else showed up. Instead of discouraging articles, Amazon's self-publish program had pushed itself up the rankings.

I forget if I even knew that Amazon did their own self-publishing, I think I thought that maybe you had to go through some other program, company, or something? Either way, I got curious and ended up in the KDP part of Amazon's website.

I linked my amazon account and found the link to submit a book.

The page opened. Oh, I can enter the title and author name and all that? Alright. So I sat back and thought "Hm what should I upload?" The Gods' Games was still in its old version state and needed a lot of work, Breaking Jade was a companion book to Fallocaust and... Jesus, Fallocaust? That's a complete book... Oh and I have that cover I made a few months back. Huh, alright. I'll upload it and once I get to the page where they want me to pay money, I'll click off.

So I entered in the title, my author name, thought up a quick blurb, then the next page I uploaded this random cover I'd made on a whim, and finally, the manuscript. Then, I priced it at .99 cents and enrolled into their Kindle Unlimited program so I could take advantage of a perk that lets you list it for free for three days.

And like what the hell, they still weren't trying to charge me money to list this? Or direct me to some website where I need to get the book approved or something? I was sure it had to be more complicated than this.

But it wasn't... on the last page, I saw the 'Submit' button, and I clicked it.

I remember it so clearly. "I just published Fallocaust" I said to my best friend Jay. "What? Like, right now?" he said back.

Yep, right now!

Then I made a post in a small little subreddit for gay gamers, and got some very awesome people wanting to read it. I remember when I saw that 0 turn to a 1. One sale! I was so excited. I sold a book!!

There was no advertising after that, just that reddit post, but something weird happened. I kept selling books, and once it was listed for free, I had 100 people download Fallocaust. Then, I started getting reviews on goodreads, reviews on Amazon. I was told by every butthurt failed author who wrote an article that I wouldn't get any sales, no reviews, no nothing, but from practically no advertising, I was suddenly getting sales and all this activity. I was getting good reviews too! Good ratings! The book that I thought no one would want to read, was being read. The genre I thought was nonexistent, actually existed. I wasn't alone with this passion, with this want to show people that gay characters could just be characters, that gay wasn't a personality trait. And not just that, the dark and fucked up stuff too that I would've never been able to write if I thought anyone would see it... people liked that! I could write my gay boys, and also, just write what I wanted to write, no matter how dark, sexualized, transgressive, or just plain fucked up.

I was floored, humbled, excited, but most of all, hopeful... hopeful that... I might not have to sacrifice or sell out in order to become a professional author, that I could write what I wanted to write, even The Gods' Games which I was sure would have to be my 'normal' book. I no longer had to use that as my sell out book and could explore my own imagination by asking myself "If you could write the Gods' Games without restraint, how would it look?"

8 years ago, I published Fallocaust, and in the oncoming days after, I learned that my dream wasn't dead and that I wasn't alone. How much that meant to me, I can't put into words. It was life changing, absolutely life changing. I can split my life into two parts, before I published Fallocaust and after.

When I say you all helped me achieve my dream, I'm not saying that lightly or flippantly. You guys did. Before Fallocaust, my long term goals were to just make enough money for rent, to keep my head above water for one more month, and after that? I don't know. I didn't even humour being able to write professionally, I thought it would always remain a hobby that I did by myself, with my books remaining in the shadows - my dirty secrets that contained parts of my soul, from fantasies to past traumas, to dark desires, dead friends I wanted to write about so I could still talk to them one last time, and many other amalgamations that combined to make the person I am.

Fallocaust changed my life and still continues to change my life. I am now living the dream my younger self had of me, of being able to write all day with a house full of cats and endless internet (literally that was all kid me wanted out of my adult life lol). I have made lifelong friends through Fallocaust too, have learned a bunch of new skills, and have been able to process a lot of bad shit that has happened in my life through my writing.

8 years ago, I woke up with absolutely no intention of publishing my first book, but that whim ended up being the best decision of my life. I don't know where I would be if I hadn't clicked that Submit button, but I do know I wouldn't be nearly as happy, fulfilled, nor would I be surrounded by so many amazing people.

So, Im raising a glass to Fallocaust Book 1 today (And I'm declaring Feb 14th and 15th Fallocaust's anniversary because even though it was submitted on the 14th, it wasn't approved until the 15th. So fuck it, two day celebration!). Thank you Fallocaust for changing my life, thank you Rob Zombie for the song Super Beast, which gave me the first mental images of the Fallocaust world, thank you to Claude, Jay, Jon, and Ashkan for being my cheering squad as I wrote. Thank you to the ever-hungry beast Amazon for giving me the platform to publish my book, you'll one day consume us all but until then, thanks for paying my rent.

And thank you especially to my early readers, my 2014 gang who took a chance on my book and who have watched me grow as an author.

Here is to 8 more years, then 8 more, then 8 more, and 8 more. I am not going anywhere. I wasn't being dramatic when I said being an author was my dream. It is my calling, literally all I want to be in my professional life. I am going to write until I can't write anymore. And as someone with the opposite of writer's block, I won't be hurting for ideas either.

As long as you guys want to read it, I'll bring it.

I love you all!

Garden of Spiders 2: House of Flies Vol. 1 Update!

Garden of Spiders 2: House of Flies Vol. 1 Update!

I think we're close to a release date! I don't want to blow my excitement load too much but a lot of progress is being made and after finishing this Sanguine chapter I've been needing to write, things will be handed off to my beautiful beta readers! The last few books I've been putting the release date pretty close to the release date announcement, since I want everything pretty much done by the time I lock a date in... soooo... let's just say I think we're closer to Garden of Spiders 2: House of Flies Vol. 1's release date than you think!

NOW! There is a dilemma. Garden of Spiders 2 Vol. 1 is fucking HUGE. I'm guessing I'm going to clock this in at 400,000 words by the end of it (I have some more chapters to write in so that's why I'm not entirely sure). The issue here, is that Amazon's max page count for the dimensions of my physical books makes it so anything over 343,000 words won't fit in a single physical book (820 pages).

I knew I'd eventually have to figure out how I was going to remedy this. And before today, I took the solid stance of "Let Future Quil figure it out". But it's time. I have a few solutions to this, none of which I overly like, but this is where we are now.

The first solution is what I did with The Gods' Games Book 1. Which is I had 1 ebook and it said "Vol. 1 and Vol. 2" right on the cover, then I had two physical books. So, 1 ebook, 2 physical books. Now, that was fine, but it ended up fucking up how Amazon links ebooks and physical books together into one page. I ended up having to unlink both physical books from TGG's ebook page because Vol. 2 wouldn't show up in searches (Amazon help was no help at all and if my book was unlinked, they'd say to link it, and if it was linked they'd say to unlink it and nothing ended up working) and I reckon that's still bloody well happening sometimes.

Second solution: Make two ebooks and two physical books and call them Vol. 1 Part 1 and Vol. 1 Part 2. This is most likely what I think I'm going to have to do. I don't want to, but it's the most viable solution. What I don't like about it, is that people already have trouble grasping companion books and volumes and this is essentially going to make the title of GOS 2 even longer "Garden of Spiders 2: House of Flies Vol. 1 Part 1" I keep telling myself it's not THAT confusing and hard to grasp but I still wish there was an easier way. I'm also going to have to make another cover! Which sucks but I'm sure it'll be fun lol.

The third solution is to split Volume 1 into Volume 1 and 2 instead of Part 1 and Part 2 and make the old Vol 2 into Vol 3. I don't like this mostly because it's already been established that a Volume is pretty much it's own book in itself and will end at a monumental place and Vol. 1 as it is now ends with a huge bang whereas where I'd split it would still end at a cool part but nothing compared to if I kept Vol. 1 intact as it is now. Part 1 and Part 2 seems more "This is still the same book just split up" instead of "This is its own mini book". Makes sense? No? Yeah, sorry lol.

I think I'm going to have to go the Part 1 and Part 2 route for this companion book. I know Vol. 1 Part 1 and Vol. 1 Part 2, especially for a book that already has 2 in its title, is just... a lot lol but I'm running out of options here. My long books have come to bite me in the ass! But at least by the time the reader is at GOS 2 they'll already have an understanding of how I number these books and really it's not that confusing.

Oh and Part 1 and Part 2 will either be released on the same day or pretty damn close together. Depends on how this last leg of editing goes.

At least ya'll will most likely be getting a bonus cover for Part 2 lol but yes, besides all that... a release date is coming! As soon as I have my beta readers settled in and have an idea how long it'll take them to read through GOS Vol. 1. But it's coming!! Elish and Sanguine await.

Garden of Spiders 2 Vol. 1: House of Flies cover reveal!

Garden of Spiders 2 Vol. 1: House of Flies

COVER REVEAL! GOS 2 Vol. 1 is now in editing mode. No release day yet, but it's on its way!

Garden of Spiders 2: House of Flies starts 6 years after the events of Severing Sanguine. Elish is doing just fine (he thanks you for asking) and Skyfall is enjoying an extended period of peace. Sanguine on the other hand isn't doing too well. He's still not over the death of Valen and is harbouring a massive amount of resentment against King Silas and the majority of the family. Elish doesn't care however, he's too busy being in love with Silas, dealing with the oddest sengil to date, and becoming obsessively engrossed in the Beast Island Games, a brutal and sadistic televised reality competition created by Silas that has a certain contestant that Elish is entirely not interested in (and he'd thank you to stop asking). Even with all of that though, it's peaceful, just family drama, and certainly that's what it'll remain as.

Garden of Spiders 2 Vol. 1 cover reveal tomorrow!

Okay! Sorry for the bit of the delay, but cover reveal for Garden of Spiders 2 Vol. 1 tomorrow!! Get that hype on!! I’ll be putting it on this website and also my other social media platforms too.

I have been really loving writing the prologue for GOS 2 also, since it's my first time writing after the planned Book 5 time jump. I'm not suuuuure if it'll be able to be used as a prologue, it might just end up as a sort of a 'book 5 prep' but if it does go in that direction, I'm still planning on releasing it to everyone as a sort of "Biggest Cock Tease in Cock Tease History' since it'll be giving everyone a first look into this new world. But I am hoping to be able to make it into a prologue, I just might need to either slightly retcon the epilogue of GOS 1 or think of some other way to tie it into GOS 2 lol. I'll figure it out.

But in the meantime, tomorrow cover reveal!

Also, since I haven't plugged them in a while. I have a Patreon! So if you want to help support me and get some cool stuff in return (everything from a thank you card, to free merch, to custom drawings done by me of whatever character you like, to t-shirts, and book raffles). I also will probably release the prologue a few days earlier on there too, and in the past, have given out previous books days earlier than their release too. So, sign up! Pledges start at like a buck! https://www.patreon.com/quilcarter

And I have an Amazon Wishlist too!! It includes essential stuff like cat food and toilet paper and all that fun stuff, and gift stuff too. This helps me SO MUCH! So buy your favourite author some toilet paper today. Wear it like a weird, weird badge of honour. https://www.amazon.ca/hz/wishlist/ls/3MUQBO6W0YMM2... and some other links to help me not die! https://www.quilcarter.com/help-quil

I also have a twitch! I usually stream weekly and you can come and hang out with me and my little twitch family. I play Dead by Daylight, Wheel of Fortune (a fan favourite) other horror games, Death Stranding, and have past videos of me playing Undertale (I do the voices and gush over how much I love Sans), Resident Evil, Until Dawn, and much more! https://www.twitch.tv/fallocaust

New FalloClothes and book updates!

Good afternoon, Lovelies! New FalloShop stuff and book news!

I just wanted to let everyone know that the new winter line of FalloClothes is out! We now have every current Fallocaust print in long sleeve and in sweater form! And also PHONE CASES!! They are also now available in the FalloShop. Not every print is available yet but I will be adding more in the next several days. I currently have a sick cat but he's on the mend, but vet visits, trying to get him to eat and giving him lots of lap time has delayed the rest of the cases a bit. https://quil-carter.squarespace.com/fallo-clothing

As for book news, I am nearing the end of the mammoth that is Garden of Spiders 2: House of Flies Vol. 1. Volume 1 has turned out to be huge, and even though that's no surprise, it has surpassed the 337,000 limit I have on physical books (because amazon caps physical book pages at like 820 and that's about 337k with how I format). No idea how I'm going to fix that, but that's future Quil's problem! Once I'm finished, there's still editing to be done and all that, but I'd really love to have a Jan-Feb release but it really depends on how difficult editing is going to be. I already have a cover in mind though, so I'm hoping to have a new book release soon!

~~~SPOILERS FOR Garden of Spiders 1 and Severing Sanguine~~~

GOS 2 isn't just a sequel to GOS 1, but also to Severing Sanguine as well. It has Sanguine POVs intertwined with Elish's as Sanguine's resentment against Silas letting Valen die grows. Elish, as we know, is fully in love with Silas right now, but as he protects and loves on his king, the first annual Beast Island Games (think Hunger Games and Survivor meets the Fallocaust) is going on, and one of the contestants has caught Elish's attention.

END OF SPOILERS

So, right now, like I said, I'm nearing the end, then I need to pluck in a few more Sanguine chapters and write the prologue. Right now though, we're at 350,000 words and I'm guessing 390,000 by the time I'm done, maybe a bit less. So... 3 volumes? I don't want to do three because I really like the ending I have in mind, but I don't know I might have to lol. Fucking big ass books. I really never mean for this to happen.

I hope everyone is having a good November!! Go buy some long sleeve shirts and sweaters! Go buy a phone case!! Either way, have a good day!