Friends for Lonely Gods continues some of Monsters and Maidens Publishing's favorite themes (autism self-rep, empathy for and connection with inhuman characters) in the first novel of a new shared fantasy universe! This campaign will fund the book's upfront publishing costs to create a digital and paperback edition. As always, backers get to read the book before anyone else and can have their names in the acknowledgements.
...Friends for who?
Gods, magical entities formed and fueled by human interest and belief in their domain, used to come to the human world to build a following. They still do...but humanity has changed since the old days, and with the constant growth in human knowledge and population, there are now more gods than ever vying for attention.
Isabelle, a young autistic woman, has never felt comfortable in her community. Born to pastors of the god Mammoth, whose domain is charisma and connections between people, Bell would like to build strong relationships with others but it's never quite worked out. When she befriends and bonds with Sallow, a hydra-shaped god who is just as lonely as she is, the quiet rejections from her community become much louder.
Once a god of the hunt and harvest, Mammoth has pivoted countless times to protect himself and stay relevant to an ever-changing humanity. He's shaped his appearance to pass among them, mastered social media, has hundreds of churches across the globe.
After Mammoth's centuries of studying humanity, his first encounter with Bell catches him off guard. Bell wants to help gods fit in with humans better, and teach humans to be more accepting of those different from them—and needs his help to do it. Mammoth is fully aware of the systems in place to make life among humans hell for any gods who aren't too popular to touch without causing a scandal. Working to dismantle them could bring reputational and even physical danger. But winning Bell's belief and affection becomes a challenge he can't pass up—and her plans to create a better world for both gods and humans could offer him safety if his past lies are ever discovered.
Backing Friends for Lonely Gods now means you can be one of the first readers! There will be a one month window between when ebooks are delivered, and when the book is available to purchase elsewhere. After that time, I'll be listing it on Amazon, Kobo, itch, my own website, and Bookshop.org, so if you miss the campaign, you can still get a copy!
Backers at any tier will have the option to list a name of their choice in the Acknowledgements section of the book. You can use part or all of your full name, a nickname, an account name you use online, etc, so long as it isn't offensive. Surveys must be filled out within one month to ensure your name will be in the first batch of ebooks and paperbacks! Ebooks will be delivered in DRM-free epub format. This is a standard file for digital books that works well across the majority of ereaders and ebook apps (including Kindle, Kobo, and Nook devices; Kindle, Kobo, Nook, and Apple Books apps). Ebooks will be delivered as soon as paperbacks are ready to ship.
Paperbacks are 6 x 9 inch trim size. The final and fully formatted standard version is expected to be in the 300-400 page range, while the large print version will likely be around 500 pages.
Shipping for physical rewards is charged SEPARATELY, after the campaign ends.
Previous books
Friends for Lonely Gods is my third book. My previous two, Graft and Honeycomb Heart, are available as add-ons! If you're interested, please consider picking them up here to help this campaign...and keep scrolling for a special deal.
Are you new to Monsters and Maidens? Looking to have physical copies of your ebooks, or vice versa? Some other situation I haven't thought of?
You can get an ebook or paperback bundle of all my books so far for a discounted price.
Community Copies
Unfamiliar with the term? Community copies are books ordered to be donated, like when schools run book drives to expand their libraries, or charities collect books to distribute to communities and regions that may struggle to access them otherwise. As part of this campaign's funding goal, I'll be donating a digital copy of each of my current three novels, and will have options available for others to donate a physical or digital copy!
Community copies will be sent by me directly to the listed charities or as similar to one as I can find. They will not be sent to you.
Physical community copies will be made available to a program that sends books to incarcerated people. I'm currently looking at LGBT Books to Prisoners as a way to support one of my communities; should that not work out, I'll go to Seattle's Books to Prisoners. Community paperbacks are available at a lower price than retail; again, these will be sent straight to the charity, not to you.
Ebooks will be donated to the Queer Liberation Library. Per their donation guidelines in their FAQ, the cost of any community copy ebooks will be donated to QLL so they can then purchase the ebooks.
Shipping is charged after the campaign, when surveys are sent out! The costs listed here are an estimate as of the end of August 2026. All prices are in USD. *EU folks—based on new rules implemented this year, you may be charged an import fee on packages I or the UK printing location send you.
UK and EU paperbacks will be printed using a facility in the UK and sent to you from there to avoid the cost, risk, environmental impact, and time of having to send packages overseas to you. Same for Australian backers, using a facility within your country.
If your region isn't represented here but you'd like to receive a physical copy, please reach out to me directly and I'll see what I can make happen for you.
Please note that this timeline is only an estimate. If there are delays to when your books will reach you, I'll post an update to keep everyone on the same page.
Welcome to The Book Bazaar, a celebration of all things indie and small press! We're collaborating to help make each creator's dreams come true with their publishing project. The more you back, the more goodies you earn. Here's how you can earn more:
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