Hello, my quiet little website, and happy Pride Month! In May I released two new gay little books and now I am here to post about ’em.
Goblin Girl
“For twelve years, Gertrude has been the only goblin in Pinnec Hill.
The adopted daughter of the Captain of the Guard, she tries her hardest to live a normal life, ignoring the looks of disgust—and the rocks—thrown her way. But when an invading fleet of airships brings a goblin army crashing through the city gates, she understands why everyone fears her. The leader of this army is Wrendell, a powerful goblin sorceress, who burns the city to the ground in pursuit of one thing: the human princess, Beatrix.
Gertrude’s father tasks her with rescuing Princess Beatrix. With the aid of a cursed knight and a talking tree, Gertrude will encounter trolls and dragons, discover the true history of her banished people, and—as if that weren’t enough—struggle with her own blossoming crush on a princess who doesn’t trust her.
No one expects much of a measly goblin girl, but Gertrude may be the only person who can save the kingdom.”
On May 15th, I released Goblin Girl, a queer middle grade novel that I’d been writing since 2016. It’s a story about children having no choice but to fix the world broken by the actions of their parents. I wrote the first draft in anger at the state of our world and, while I am lucky the book is better than ever in its final draft 9 years later, the world has only gotten worse and I am even angrier. I hope Goblin Girl reaches kids who need it, and I hope by the time they’re adults we will have defeated the rising tide of fascism and its tools of deception, bigotry, and genocide. And I hope enough people like my self-published middle grade that I’ll be able to write my first ever sequel! I have many plans, all of them nefarious.
The gorgeous cover art is by underpalewater. The wonderful cover text and the incredible interior design are by Ursula Gray. I’m in love with the scene breaks she drew for the physical copies.
You can download Goblin Girl for free or pay-what-you-can on Itch, where you can also purchase bonus content. You can purchase a paperback copy on Lulu for $40, which is quite a lot and makes me uncomfortable, or get a copy from me for $30 at an in person event or by messaging me so I can send you one directly.
Lonely in Happy Town
“Virtually or IRL, love can be a confusing game.
Quentin’s year sucked. Parents? Divorced. Friends? Ditched him after coming out. Work? Unless you find a convenience store thrilling… hopeless.
At least he can always escape real life when he plays Happy Town. Quests to complete, a world to explore, quirky characters to befriend, and an online crush called Mabel the Axolotl.
Suddenly the real world gets a lot better when he gets to know his bubbly coworker, Celeste. Now torn between two girls, can he learn how to navigate the changes in his life and show up in his relationships, both online and off?”
What started as a cute little Christmas short story inspired by my addiction to Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp has become something much more meaningful to me. Lonely in Happy Town is about depression during the holiday season, finding community online and IRL, and my enduring, lifelong love of Animal Crossing and other cozy games. It is also about ska, and making soup, and learning you deserve to be loved—and how those who don’t love you as you are don’t deserve you. Mostly, however, Lonely in Happy Town is about serving virtual coffee with a barista chicken in a cafe called Starbocks.
Quentin has the misfortune of being given a lot of my own anxiety and insecurity, and I hope writing him helps readers who feel the same way. Lonely in Happy Town was published on May 20th, 2025, and I will be having my book launch at Old Goat Books on Tuesday, June 3rd 5pm-7pm alongside Vanessa Ricci-Thode, who will be debuting their new novel The Dragon Next Door.
The cover is by Tyler Cleroux.
You can buy the paperback, hardcover, or ebook through Lorimer or anywhere where those things are sold, or in person if you see me at a book event. Or you can request it at the library!
You can find my recommended listening playlist here.
Bonus: The Dirge of the Twin Flames
”Following the events of NaddPod’s Pathfinder two-shot, Menace Under Otari and Ballad of the Twin Flames, Krudbert and Hellbiscuit have finally found the family they’ve always craved—only for their new father, Cinnamon, to die of natural causes. But when Cinnamon promptly returns as a ghost with unfinished business, he gives them a vital task to put him to rest: sacrifice his spice baron father.
Together with Ginger the familiar and Edgar the tree, Krudbert and Hellbiscuit will have to confront their pasts, dismantle the evils of capitalism and, worst of all, adjust to having a new, annoying brother with no parent around to mediate.”
While waiting for my actual books to come out, I spent from October until March writing my first real fanfic for the NaddPod Big Bang fan event, and it is not an exaggeration to say I have never done more research to write a piece. It turns out transcribing comedy podcasts is really hard and time-consuming!
Dirge of the Twin Flames takes place directly after the events of the NaddPod two-shot Pathfinder episodes, Menace Under Otari and Ballad of the Twin Flames, and it is 25k words meaning it is the same length as my actual books Losing Hit Points and Lonely in Happy Town.
If you want to read this odd story where I’m writing in a canon not my own while trying to keep the characters true to the players and the narrative balanced between taking itself seriously and acknowledging it’s still a TTRPG, but don’t know NaddPod, I recommend you listen to the aforementioned episodes first. They are easily my favourite episodes of my favourite podcast, and I can only hope my story is half as funny. You can find it on Ao3.
Words by K.A. Mielke
Art by Tiredbread and Anachronistic_Cat
Listen to the Dirge of the Twin Flames playlist here.
