The Dreamer awakes, the shadow goes by; the tale I have told you, that tale is a lie...Portals to magical worlds, corvids that speak the meaning of life, and more await one who sits and listens to this sharing of tales between two anachronistic raconteurs, one of whom may or may not be Geoffrey Chaucer.Reader, remember this: the tales are pure fictions. Fantasies. Except when they are not.…
Need a bite? A stripper gets caught in the act of impersonating a goddess... A beauty is loved by a beast... A painter makes her work come to life... literally. But there is a price to pay... Two Sapphic edge-players put the pieces of a flower arrangement to unusual uses on their first date...Here are some short stories that might satisfy you. Some are sweet. Some are savory. But be forewarned: some of these amuse-bouches are as spicy as ghost peppers. They are marked accordingly.Explicit. 18+ only.════════════════════════════════════"Sera Drake showcases impressive range, moving seamlessly from dark, Grimm-esque fairy tale retellings to contemporary tales of BDSM and magical realism... A highly recommended collection for open-minded readers looking for something beyond the conventional." - Champion (Amazon)"I loved the subtle aura of this book, the way the stories built up slowly, peaked, and faded, leaving me pondering, and I liked that the characters and vocabulary were not vulgar. I loved how the stories were arranged so that each story was better than the last." Ann Linus for Readers' Favorite"Drake is a pro at playing with the reader's emotions in a way that I am slightly terrified of...If you are someone who's tired of the hetero-normative blandness of Fifty Shades of Grey, give Morsels a try." - Hannah Gonzalez, Reedsy Discovery════════════════════════════════════This book was shortlisted in the 2025 Passionate Plume Awards, an annual contest hosted by Passionate Ink, an affiliate of Romance Writers of America.…
She had it all - riches, a college scholarship, a girlfriend - until her conservative, hyper-religious parents found out about the girlfriend and made her choose between conversion therapy and disownment. That was the end of her academic career.Three years later, she met a shy public reference librarian in a bookstore. He'd been waiting his whole life for her. Meanwhile, she was starting her whole life over. What ensued between the two was magic. Given that he was about to become her tutor in the magickal and erotic arts, that was only to be expected. But at what cost?The mysterious older man was all she could ever have wished for, but she might need to choose between her developing identity and the most profound love she had ever known.════════════════════════════════════"Magic and philosophy sandwiched in between some of the hottest scenes I've read in recent years... Loved it!" - Hannah Gonzalez, Reedsy Discovery"Love is brutal, bloody, and ecstatic in this passionate romance... BDSM afficionados will love it... A richly imagined, lurid love story that's not for the faint of heart. (Our verdict: Get it!)" - Kirkus Reviews🏆 Wattpad Accolades: 100+ indie awards since its January 2024 launch; featured in 4 Ambassador profile booklists, including AfterDark, Romance, and LGBTQ+…
She had it all - riches, a college scholarship, a girlfriend - until her conservative, hyper-religious parents found out about the girlfriend and made her choose between conversion therapy and disownment. That was the end of her academic career.Three years later, she met a shy public reference librarian in a bookstore. He'd been waiting his whole life for her. Meanwhile, she was starting her whole life over. What ensued between the two was magic...Given that he was about to become her tutor in the magickal and erotic arts, that was only to be expected. But at what cost?The mysterious older man was all she could ever have wished for, but she might need to choose between her developing identity and the most profound love she had ever known.════════════════════════════════════"Magic and philosophy sandwiched in between some of the hottest scenes I've read in recent years... Loved it!" - Hannah Gonzalez, Reedsy Discovery"A richly imagined, lurid love story that's not for the faint of heart. (Our verdict: Get it!)" - Kirkus Reviews════════════════════════════════════THIS IS A SPECIALLY EDITED EDITION OF THE ORIGINAL NOVEL. It is designed to be easier on the eyes of smartphone readers. There are also caution bars and spoilers bracketing erotic material in the (*) asterisked chapters so that readers who wish to avoid explicit content can read as much of the chapter as possible while skipping the explicit parts.…
On her fortieth birthday, Rennie Fitzgerald has finally realized that there is no timeline for adulting, no ticking clock for setting a date for marriage, and no pressure to have children. If only Imani Aguillon's parents had reached the same conclusion...What do you do when you're on the cusp of middle age and under pressure to get married, give your folks some grandkids, and live a life that's completely different from the one you want? And what if your Ms Right is just around the corner, waiting to be met?Welcome to a kinky Sapphic romcom containing bondage, spanking, orgasm denial, social justice questions, the Unipiper, active volcanoes, an argumentam ad absurdum proving that bats are bugs, ballroom dance lessons, Immanuel Kant, marriage discussions, THE WORLD'S LONGEST SAFEWORD! and more. Adults 18+ only.…
In Neihon, the Yokai are leaving. Slowly, one by one, they cross the waves toward the rising sun, walking, flying, and swimming toward a new land that only they can see. Yet some remain. They remain out of love, or out of obligation.The Minamoto clan has defeated the Taira clan, driving its warriors into the sea. The Hojo clan, mighty through its use of a captive Kinko kitsune, craves ever more power and will do anything to get it.Their kitsune only wants to be free.…
Here is a tale of two dimensional gates. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair...Through "The Gilden Door," a young girl grows up rapidly as she discovers she must save a land from ruin. Through the door into "Arkesh," two teens stumble and fall into a kingdom's civil war. Enter the portals to two magical worlds in this back-to-back collection.…
What happens when the healer of an oppressive, tiny village helps her younger brother learn magic, giving him a chance at living a decent life?Nothing good.…
Between rhyme and howldangles a fragile world,a mundane egg of art:where words dance and displayand are not prosebecause prose is not fitfor frame or stage...My husband found some of my old poetry in a box in the back room when we were decluttering our house. He asked me if I wanted to save it. As it turned out, I did. I wrote these in September and October of 2003, shortly after I'd discovered I was pregnant with our second child. It is now my autumn. I am not young; I no longer bear fruit. But here is a memory of summer. My tree once blossomed.…
My high noterings out in darkness, my soul withstands,I curse the pain and protestas a Grail forms under the Goldsmith's hands.Sonnets. Triolets. Villanelles. Ballades. Sestinas. Loricas. Qasidehs. Ghazals. Tanka. Haiku... These poems are all structured somehow. They may not all rhyme, but all have structure. Some of these poems have been previously published in Excavations or elsewhere.I will be adding to this collection over time.…
AN AMBYS 2024 FAVORITE (POETRY)These my offerings,tiny and fragile, they must take rootin stubborn soil. Fertilize them.Give them shape. Twisted they may grow,but their trunks must be strong.They must reach through the night.They must be of their ground...Note: this is as much an art portfolio as it is an anthology of my poetry. Every poem is illustrated. There is a regular section, and then a second section consisting of Instagram poetry posts that effectively make a "graphic novel" second edition of the first half of the book.Some of these poems were published in a chapbook, Eleusinian Mysteries, in 1995, under the pen name Sarah Maddox.Other publications that accepted my poetry include The Mill, Isis Magazine (the literary magazine for students at the University of Oxford), Tournaments Illuminated, and the late, great Shadowdance zine.All rights reserved; the moral rights of the author have been asserted; I do not provide consent for my writing to be used to train artificial intelligence.…
Oozed out in blood, my words seep slowlyonto drifts of white paper. What soil will I floodwhen springtime comes to dance? What flowerswill feed from this dying pool? What poems will screamas they gasp their first cold air?Looking for more unearthed poetic arcana? Passion? It's here.This book is a sort of dark sister to Excavations. The poetry in it is old, like what I published in Excavations. It's a little edgier, a little more raw. Here is what lies underneath. As in Excavations, some of the poems have been previously published under the pen name Sarah Maddox. They are also available in the commercial edition of Excavations. I retain all the rights to my published poetry.Mildly explicit. Mature readers only.…
I joke with the people who read my prose that writing my erotic literary fiction is like baking lasagna. The plot and characterization and style are the meat, pasta, and cheese; the naughty bits are, of course, all sauce; and then I go and ruin everything by sneaking philosophical discourse, literary discussion, and other nonsense in there like broccoli bits.Well, this book is nothing but broccoli. If you're here, you must want broccoli. Bon appétit.…
This is a collection of reviews I have written of various books as part of judging them for contests. I have gathered them together in a portfolio for the convenience of contest hosts who want to see samples of my work, but writers who I have judged in a contest are welcome to look for their reviews here if they want to see them.…
No, you can't apply to be listed in my book of COOL BOOKS. No, I don't guarantee that a COOL BOOKS listing will confer a boost in readership. It confers a listing and a sticker that I send you privately. At some point it might also confer a book review. Maybe.As it is, it confers COOLNESS.…
Fun fact: Ancilla has its own art gallery! It's here. Behold the collection of all the promotions, illustrations, book trailers, and playlist videos I've ever made for my novel. (FYI: The gallery is safe for work, as the saying goes, but the original story is absolutely adults only).My art is also viewable on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seradrakethebookwyrmAll rights reserved. The moral rights of the author/illustrator have been asserted. I do not consent to have my poetry and prose used to train artificial intelligence.…
Wild Is the Wind: The Art of Ancilla concluded at the end of December 2024. New art gallery, coming up!This one has art for all of my commercial projects. As in Wild Is the Wind and my contest logs, Asphodels and Narcissi will be peppered with offhand comments about the "joys" of being an indie author in the publishing industry, whether that involves self-publication or publishing on Wattpad.…
This is a portfolio of art. Or graphics. Or aesthetics. Or something. I'm not sure what to call it. Viewer, if you choose to look at what I have created, I hope you call it beautiful.…
Exactly as labeled, here is another gallery of my trippy, woozy art edits. Enter the story at your leisure.…
In my spare time (when I have spare time...) I make art. To be more specific, I make layered, heavily edited digital collages that collide and swirl images together until the end result is something that looks like it could have come out of a fever dream. Here it is.Dream.…