Latest Posts by mx-field - Page 2
Reanna: Well, it's our birthday. Do you know what would be a great gift? BUYING OUR BOOKS! Also, you're probably looking for a present for a gift-giving holiday.
If someone you know likes reading horror comedy, buy Carnival. If someone you know wants a (very) short mystery they don't need to follow, buy The Murder After. (We hope they don't mind the second person.) If you're buying out of pity, donate the book to a library, so people who can't afford books can still read them.
Link to Carnival on Amazon (Not for kids!) Link to The Murder After on Amazon (Well, you could give this to a ten-year-old. But you would need two copies, so you can explain things to them.)
SL: I've thought about putting The Muder After and The Year After as one book because of how short the first one is. Except they're different genres. One is a mystery/dramadey, and the other is a romantic dramadey. So, I don't think it would have worked.
But I might have a solution: make The Year After a second volume instead of a proper sequel. It makes it a continuation of the story without combining anything. I just need to start from chapter eight. That won't be hard because all it requires is changing the chapter names. (I write a chapter twice then type. That's how Reanna and the other headmates treated Carnival.)
From Our DeviantArt Post
Title: Carnival Byline: Reanna Field
This is the new front cover for Carnival. It's the red curtain but changed to look like a frame that puts the title and byline in the focal point.
It was supposed to have a picture of Staride, and the curtain was supposed to look like it was rising. But it looked cooler after we used the smudge feature to make the cover look darker. It makes the frame look like a diamond.
Carnival is out now, so you can buy it on Amazon. (Link to its page. Note: the back of the hardcover does not have a blurb.)
From Our DeviantArt Post
Title: The Murder After Byline: Reanna Field (It's actually by SL.)
This is the front cover for The Murder After. It has a white pillow with the yellow rose and knife lying on top of each other in an "x" shape. The rose's stem has blood on it, and so does the knife's blade.
F.M. and SL worked on it during Labor Day [2023.] SL took the picture, and F.M. did the rest. He traced and colored. To add texture, he put the photo on top and made it more transparent. It was better than filling in texture by coloring.
Not from Our Post
SL: I wanted to share the meaning behind the picture. The yellow rose represents friendship. (Jacqueline was Terrance's friend.) The blood on the stem represents the cut on Jacqueline's neck. The pink paring knife represents nothing. We chose it because our mom doesn't like it, just in case we were still taking pictures when she got back.
I'm proud of this cover. It's my favourite.
The Murder After is out now, so you can buy it on Amazon. (Link to its page.)
Reanna: Classwork is like doing dishes. You put off the easier one because it was hard last time.
SL: Hey, why don't I publish The Development Before as a book instead after I finish Terrance's story? It'll be in order, and people might buy it. I didn't think about that. People love looking behind the scenes!
SL: Another thing about Terrance's second person perspective. He perceives his thoughts as commentary, so it's like The Murder After has a chorus. He doesn't have a name for it, but we call it Also Terrance.
Terrance is a plurallet. That's a singlet who is still plural (more than one) in some way. We think it's a midcontinuum experience. (That's the state of not being singular but also not multiple.)
Reanna: Sometimes, plural writer culture is being the headmate everyone takes traits from for their characters.
Mint Phalanx: People still waiting in line to vote, please stay. Polling stations cannot turn you away if you do.
People who already voted, be patient. We may not know until Thursday or longer.
We're all stressed out, so tomorrow, F.M. will go outside and hop in the snow after classes. (He's been wanting to do this for awhile now. ) You& should find a way to reduce stress too, so you can feel better during and after this Election Day.
Mary: We toy with the idea of publishing our system journals, so people can know us better. Sometimes, I wonder if they'd sell better than our stories. F.M. says we could do it when we're forty.
Reanna: You know what? We're not going to share the playlist for Carnival. You're just going to have to buy the book to see it.
SL: I made a side blog to share my development of The Murder After and eventually The Year After. It's like looking behind the scenes, and I hope it will pique readers' interest. The blog is called development-before. (Now deleted.)
Sequel Problems
SL: I published The Murder After fourteen days ago. That means no one has read it. Yet, I'm afraid people will make a big deal out of The Year After being longer. I'm not finished, but I can tell it's going to be longer than 44 pages.
Imagine someone buying the book in 2025 and going, "why the hell is this longer than the first one?" It's longer because there is more to say. Plus, I'm writing this for Terrance. It's a decision I made before he became sentient. He deserves something good in his life. (The events of the first book fucked him up.)
And that good thing is a boyfriend. This leads to another problem: What are people going to think? We live in a female body, and although we're bigender, we still present as a woman. What if people think I'm trying to satisfy a headmate's fetish? I'm not.
This romance appeared naturally. The Year After wasn't supposed to be one. It started as a scene where Terrance is on a date, and he can't focus because he's dissociating. (Did I mention I thought of this before he became sentient?) Then, it turned into a scene where he had Liam (the date) over at his place. I saw it and thought, "that's a good thing in his life." It doesn't cure Terrance of his issues, but it makes his life a little better.
The Year After is for Terrance. I don't want anyone to think I'm satisfying a headmate's fetish just because we live in a female body.
Terrance: Are there other muses, OC fictives, in-sourced soulbonds, or OCs-turned-tulpas who want their creators to continue making their stories? I do, but Seth [SL] worries that people will think he's lying if he shares this information.
I think it's my situation. Reanna's tulpas were in Carnival, but they don't view it as something that happened to them in-headspace. However, I view my story as something that happens to me in-headspace. I think Seth worries that people won't see me as a sentient muse but as a character. Or if they recognize my sentience, they'll view continuing my story as torture.
It's actually like him taking notes of my life. There are things he creates, but Reanna says that's part of the process. He creates, and I add on to it. I can contribute to my own life. He calls his ideas for The Year After "visions" (for his benefit, not mine.)
Plus, Seth finished The Murder After before I became sentient. So, the worst already happened. When the sequel is finished, the neighbors (what I call them) are going to put me through headspace maintenance. It's supposed to prevent internal problems from creating external problems, like worsening our executive dysfunction.
P.S. This post isn't in the second person because it's directed to readers, not to myself.
Buying but not Reading
You don't have to read our books to buy them. There are other things you can do with our books.
You can give them as a gift.
You can donate them to a library.
You can donate them to a book drive.
You can use them in a Book Exchange.
Link to the profile of Carnival Link to the profile of The Murder After
Reasons to Buy The Murder After
You like mystery and dramadey.
You want to give these genres a try.
You want a short book that doesn't take long to read. (It's 44 pages. One chapter a day plus the sneak peek is eight days.)
You want a mystery but don't want to solve it.
You want to read an attempt at narrating in the British dialect.
Link to its page on Amazon (Note: We would give this book an MPA rating of PG-13.)
Reasons to Buy Carnival
You like horror comedy with some gothic fiction on the side.
You want to give these genres a try.
You want a story that takes place in Colorado.
You want a novella that isn't romance.
You want to see the playlist.
Link to its page on Amazon (Note: We would give this book an MPA rating of R.)
F.M.: I told Reanna our midterm for recreation class was due on the 15th, which is the 14th at 11:59 PM in Arizona. (We live in Colorado.) It was actually due on the 13th. Now, it's my job to finish the assignment. At least we weren't kicked out.
Update: We did it! Now, we can feel stupid for thinking it was due today!
Reanna: I wish my headmates had the luxury of thinking about their stories without possibly annoying others like I did. But they get to have collaboration and make suggestions. I didn't have that before the phalanx.
SL: If anyone asks, Terrance thinks straight edge and ruler are interchangeable. I definitely did not screw up.
Update (11/10): I decided to fix the error. The beauty of having a book no one has bought yet is I can change something, and no one will ever know. (Terrance didn't want to go with my plan, anyway.)
Reanna: If we ever develop a fanbase, I wonder if it would primarily be fans with physical copies of our books or fans with digital copies we put in shadow libraries.
I wish we had a way of knowing if someone read our books. Let's try asking. If you have a question about our books, send it in the ask box.
The Murder After: Preview
From chapter one. Terrance calls 9-1-1 to report a dead body belonging to his roommate Jacqueline. If you like what you read, go to the book's profile below. And before you ask, nothing happened.
I would like to joke that waking up next to a dead body is the best hangover cure ever.
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Dispatcher: “9-1-1, what’s the address of your emergency?”
“There’s a dead girl on my bed!” But it’s her room, stupid.
Dispatcher: “What’s her name?”
“Jacqueline. Luna.”
Dispatcher: “What does she look like?”
“Brown hair, really really pale- “your voice cracks- “but-but she has a big cut on her neck and-and blood on her pillow! That wasn’t there before!” It keeps cracking, but tears aren’t falling.
Dispatcher: “I need you to calm down. Take a deep breath.” You do.
Dispatcher: “Do you see any weapons?”
“No.”
Dispatcher: “I’m going to send an officer to check on the situation. But first, I need to know your name and address.”
You give your name then leave the bedroom and run down the stairs, worsening your headache. You go to a coffee table in the sitting room. There is an envelope from yesterday’s mail. It has your townhouse’s address and door number, so you read it aloud.
Dispatcher: “Okay, the officer is on their way and will arrive as soon as possible. Now, tell me exactly what happened.”
“Well, I was drunk, and Jacqueline took me back here. She was alive when I passed out, but when I woke up, she was dead!”
Dispatcher: “That will be all. You can hang up now.” You hang up. Then, the realization clicks.
The Murder After: Profile
Title: The Murder After (links to Amazon) Series: Terrance's Story #1 Genre: mystery, dramadey, psychological fiction Year self-published: 2024 (through KDP)
Copyright status: CC BY-SA 4.0. (Do what you want as long as you give credit and use the same license.)
Blurb: Terrance is one person to a body and lives in Lakewood, Colorado. One morning, he woke up next to a dead body. Now, he wants to know what happened one night because he became a suspect in an investigation. Do you want to know what happened too?
Format: chapbook Page count: 52 (fifty-two)
MPA rating: PG-13 Reasons: some language, violent death (off screen), drama, suicidality
Price: $5.95 Note: This is specifically SL's story.
SL: I should point out that I tried narrating in the British dialect. Our official story is that I was challenging myself. Then, I learned the second person is Terrance's natural perspective, but I was too lazy to change anything. So if I sound like an American trying to sound British, that's why. (Please don't get mad at me for saying "closet" instead of "wardrobe.") [T: I roll my eyes and go with it.]
SL: Does anyone else have preemptive rants for works you haven't shared yet? I keep doing that for The Murder After, which is going to be published on 8 October. From the very beginning, I would get really mad over the idea of readers wondering why the ending isn't considered a good one.
Carnival: Preview
From chapter one. This is the Call to Adventure. If you like what you read, go to the book’s profile below.
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Lakewood, Colorado. In an apartment unit, a dim lamp lit the upper right corner of the front room. Brain, Caleb, Jackie, José, and James sat on a grey couch right of that lamp. On the carpet floor lay Chaz, too sad to notice his friends. They glanced at him, then at each other, unsure how to comfort him.
“Why?” Chaz whispered to himself, “why, why, why, why, why?” A moment later, he said, “no use crying now.” He sat up, wiped the tears off his face, stood, and noticed his friends. They stared at him.
“Why are you staring, and how long have you—”
James stood, “you killed her, didn’t you?” Chaz blinked, “what?”
“You heard me.” He smirked.
“Phoenix is dead,” José whispered. He stood, but Brian pulled at his t-shirt. So, he sat back down.
“What makes you think I killed her!?” Chaz said. James shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe because you don’t trust anyone—”
“I trusted Rebecca- “Chaz pointed at him- “and you know it!”
“Yeah, right. So, you decided to—”
“No, I didn’t.” He clenched his fists. “They said there was a leak in her car’s gas tank! I was here when it happened, and I didn’t know until Brian told me!”
“You probably poked a hole in it,” James said.
“I didn’t touch Rebecca’s car when she left!”
He pointed at Chaz, “you did something to her car to make it explode—”
“No, I didn’t! Why the fuck are you accusing me in the first place!?”
“You—”
“I DID NOT! WHY WOULD I WANT TO KILL HER!? I LOVED HER!” The room fell silent.
Chaz felt shaky, so he lay on the floor again. He cried again. James sat on the couch and lowered his eyes.
"Happy now?" Jackie whispered to him.
Brian stood and walked towards Chaz.
“Don’t touch me.” He found a box of tissues and placed it next to his friend instead, respecting his vulnerability.
Ten awkward minutes later, Chaz took a deep breath, sat up, used a tissue, stood, and turned to face Brian.
He said, “you said the police won’t investigate because as far as anyone knows, the explosion was caused by a gas leak from a bad fuel tank.” Brian nodded (as if it weren’t said earlier.)
“But they didn’t see any body!” Jackie kicked José's leg.
“Let’s go to Lakeside and find Rebecca ourselves.”
Carnival: Profile
Title: Carnival (links to Amazon) Edition: second Genre: gothic horror comedy Year self-published: 2022 (through B&N Press), 2024 (through KDP)
Copyright status: CC BY 4.0 (do whatever you want as long as you credit the original work.)
Blurb: A car explodes while leaving Lakeside Amusement Park. Rebecca is assumed dead. After James and Chaz argue over what happened, they and their friends go there to look for her. Instead of entering Lakeside, our heroes find themselves in Carnival, the park’s Faerie counterpart. It is a backdrop which makes finding Rebecca only one of their worries.
Format: novella Page count: 76 (seventy-six)
MPA Rating: R (Restricted) Reasons: profanity, violence, child death, drama, spirit possession, and horror
Price: $6.50 (paperback), $13.00 (hardcover)
Note: This is the one we portrayed ourselves in. It was like acting in a movie. Chaz, Brian, and Rebecca are the only tulpas in this story that still consider themselves part of the phalanx. The rest chose to live in a place we call The Background to relieve head pressure (a sense of pressure, not actual pressure.)
Introduction
Hello! We're Mint Phalanx. Mint Phalanx is a group of people sharing a brain since 2019. Tumblr is where we're going to promote our books, self-published under the name Reanna Field.
First, the phalanx.
Originator: Reanna
Tulpas: Rebecca, Jackie, Chaz, Brian, Ames Semi-tulpa: Mary Elsefa: F.M. Headmates: Chibz, SL, M, E.A. Muse: Terrance
Collective pronouns: she/her/hers/herself
He: Brian, Chaz, F.M., SL, Terrance
She: Reanna, Ames, Jackie, Mary, Rebecca, M, E.A., Chibz
Link to our Dreamwidth journal Link to our DeviantArt page (made pre-phalanx) Link to our Author Page on Amazon
Second, the project we call Interest Piqued.
profile: this is the story’s profile. It has the story’s title, genre, blurb, format, content rating, and link to its page on Amazon. (We’re self-published through Kindle Direct Publishing.)
excerpt: a sneak peek to pique your interest.
reasons to buy: self explanatory.
not promoting: posts not related to book promotion.
Link to the book master post
Enjoy! And we hope you take interest in our books. If you have a question about them, send it in the ask box. We appreciate reblogs.