vampires, spaceships, and fantastical worlds—the tales of L.E. Teetzel

And to me, but that’s secondary.

Today my debut novel enters the world and I, like most authors, am terrified. But also excited. But mostly nervous. But really, really happy too.

It’s a very strange thing to release something that’s just been mine for so long, something that’s been with me through much of my life and contains very vulnerable bits of me. Something other people will not only have but will read and think about and maybe talk about with their friends.

The release of An Errant Ray of Sunlight is also infinitely more emotional for me than Icarus‘s release was because the novella was completed so long ago that, while it still contains pieces of me, it’s further removed and thus those pieces aren’t as sharp-edged anymore. If that makes sense. It took me a long time to write An Errant Ray of Sunlight too, but the final version was done pretty quickly over the last six months or so and I put a lot more of me into the book people will be able to read starting today. Like, a lot more.

Like me, the protagonist, Eleanor Darker, is plus-sized, demisexual, and deals with Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Most authors will put pieces of themselves into their characters, or some of their characters anyway, so this isn’t a new thing by any means, but it’s the first time so much of me is going to be visible to strangers. Knox, the protagonist of Icarus does not contain as much as me, so that also made the release of the novella easier. Eleanor is very special to me and her story is, hopefully, going to be one that people really enjoy reading.

I won’t be reading or responding to reviews, since that’s a reader’s space, but I cannot stop my anxious mind from thinking what people will say about Eleanor, or any of my characters, or the book itself. Will they like it? Will they hate it? Will they want to read the sequel to find out what happens next? Will there be something that makes them smile or laugh? Something that makes them cry? Do they like vampires or werewolves more? Obviously none of this is up to me and I’ll be writing the sequel regardless, but these thoughts are pinging around and I’m basically a bundle of emotions today. A bundle of emotions I wasn’t entirely prepared for, if I’m being honest.

Most of those emotions are good. What I want more than anything is for people to read my book and enjoy it. If it can inspire someone to write or make art or even try to self-publish their own works, then that would be the cherry on top. But I’ve read for fun my whole life and I want to write books that are fun to read.

I love books, I love writing, and I love creating worlds. I’m over the moon that I get to further explore the world of the Ridge City Clan novels and get to discover more of Eleanor’s story. I’ve had ideas bouncing around in my head for so long and now it’s real to other people than just me.

I will share here that I’m hoping to have the sequel to An Errant Ray of Sunlight out by the end of the year, but that might be a bit too ambitious. But we’ll see what happens, won’t we?

Anyway, if you pick up a copy of An Errant Ray of Sunlight, thank you! If you like it and tell your friends about it and spread the word, thank you again! This book means a lot to me and even though this post probably doesn’t make a lot of sense, I’m so happy it’s a real book that exists for people to read now.

So go forth and read! Links to grab a copy of An Errant Ray of Sunlight for yourself can be found on my Books page.

I’m going to go eat my birthday cheeseburger and maybe make myself some cake or cookies later.

Take it easy, hot dogs! 💙