Welcome and Updates!

It's been a hot second since I wrote anything here, but that doesn't mean I haven't been active in the world of writing. I'm currently working hard on my next release, the first book in the Postmortem Justice series: Shield & Scalpel. I've also attended three (eep!) book fairs and had lots of good conversations there. In my personal life, I've graduated with a Master's in Clinical Mental Health, started a job as a mental health therapist, and also lost my mom to a battle with cancer. Welcome back to my little blog!

Let's dive in to some of this stuff!

Shield & Scalpel

Shield & Scalpel has been renamed about 4 times now, from it's original working title of Wild One, to it's official self-published title of Finding Home, to it's "oh wait I have an independent agent" working title of Autopsied Truths. It's final title reflects the two protagonists, a trans masc detective (Liam Turner) (he got guilted into being a cop, it makes sense in context, I promise) and an aroace agender forensic pathologist (Dr. Sanal Chand) (I love them.) For those of you who have had interest in Finding Home, this iteration is so different, it's almost an entirely different book (no, really -- I rewrote most of it from scratch). It's more focused on the Main Mystery, but still has a solid underlying thread of relationships, mental health, personal growth, and love.

I call it an atypical romance, because The Relationship is a major part of the story -- but it's not ye typical romance, because Sanal is aromantic and Liam has been burned by his last relationship. Neither of them are in a place to pursue a passionate love affair. Theirs is a slow burn, unique relationship that is modeled after my experiences as a grayromantic, asexual individual.

I adore Shield & Scalpel and am enjoying working with my friend, S. B. Watson, who is doing developmental edits and being an awesome partner in writing. I'd love to hear your questions in the comments!

Book Fairs

I attended my first book fair in May after applying on a whim and miraculously getting into the Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books (now the PGH Book Fair). I had such a great time interacting with readers and fellow authors that I decided I needed to do it again. I ended up at a community day festival in Beaver Co, and then an indie authors convention in Philly. Both were their own kind of unique -- community day had a ton of kiddos, which is great but my books are 13+. I still had a great time, and hope to see some of those folks back at Library Con in Beaver in October. The indie authors convention was ... interesting in that the fair was apparently Christian-based despite not being advertised as such. Luckily, I did not get kicked out, and actually had quite a few great conversations with my target audience -- queer individuals looking for themselves in story.

I'll be attending Library Con at the Community College of Beaver County on Oct. 18th, and then Scribble House Lit Fest in November in Pittsburgh. I hope to have Shield & Scalpel with me by November, but that depends on a lot of moving parts.

If you ran into me at any of the fairs I've been to, drop a comment and say hi! It's likely that I'll remember you :)

Life Stuff

I graduated in December 2024 with my Master's in mental health counseling and soon after started my job at a small private practice in Butler, Pa. It's a great place, with multiple queer therapists (me included), and some of us are neurodiverse as well. I am building up a caseload slowly but surely, and truly enjoying the work I do.

In June, my mom won her battle with cancer, in a manner of speaking. She was a woman of deep Christian faith, full of love and kindness, and I truly believe that she is with my dad again, wherever that might be. Dealing with the aftermath of all that has been ... difficult. My wife and I are doing our best to clean out mom's house and get it ready to move into with our three cats. We'll be introducing them to my mom's (ours now) doggo as well. It'll be a full house eventually, but right now we're a bit scattered.

Thanks for reading along! Feel free to drop a comment, shoot me an email, or find me on BlueSky at holfelder-writes.bsky.social. I love connecting with you, fellow author or reader or friend.

See you on the next page!

-ALCH