News

New Release – The Gentle Dark

Professor Rosalyn Greenwood just wants to continue her rare species research in peace. But when a supposedly extinct werewolf appears, she volunteers to study him—even if it risks her career.

Jules Abbot was perfectly content with his predictable life and boring job at the bank. But when he wakes up in the basement of the Museum of Natural History, he must face his inner demons or live the rest of his life behind bars.

As Rosalyn and Jules investigate Jules’s curse, they learn that lycanthropy spreads not through bites, but through a much more intimate act… complicating matters with Rosalyn’s prudish colleagues.

If Rosalyn and Jules don’t crack the curse in time, they’ll lose their futures—and each other.

***

The Gentle Dark is a short monster/human romance novel (52k words) in a lightly magical Victorian/Steampunk setting. Featuring high heat and neurodivergent main characters, The Gentle Dark explores themes of intimacy, stigma, loneliness, love, and facing your shadow.

Detailed content advisories are available on the author’s website.

Get your copy here!

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News

2022 in Review – Updates & Musings

Quiet as the site has been this year, rest assured that I’ve been cookin’ up some goodness behind-the-scenes.

First off, I for-real published an eBook in 2022 and forgot to post it here!

At first, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get into eBook publishing—it’s intimidating. And while I’ve remained sure that I want to steer fully clear of a certain unlimited reading subscription, and I’m glad I didn’t rush into eBooks right away, it really is a much better format for long-form work, both for reading and for publishing.

Plus, the idea of having my covers in a storefront gets me excited, so I’m going to keep doing what’s gotten me this far–chasing the dopamine.

Towards that end, I have a ~50k word werewolf manuscript that’s just pending final copyediting and cover tweaks before I publish it as an eBook. I had intended a spooky season release there, but life got hectic. I’m really, really excited to share this one–it’s an especially quintessential expression of my signature blend of hot, heartfelt, and philosophical.

I also started a Tumblr! There will be some original shorts there, mostly as responses to writing prompts, and it’ll be another place to get news about new stories–and chat a bit, if you’d like! I’m excited that Tumblr seems to be reliably allowing spicy stories again, since it’s very much my vibe overall. Feel free to follow me there, and if you have any requests you’ve been sitting on, my main blog allows anon asks! There’s a chance I change the main blog URL, so if that link breaks, you’ll always be able to find me through monstrous-morsels.

Just in time for Christmas, I’ll be publishing a new Krampus short. And for no seasonal reason whatsoever, I’ve got a first draft done of a ~20k novella inspired by a certain strange plant in a certain little shop–so stay tuned for that too.

Further out on the horizon, I’m most of the way through a first draft of current-day farm-themed monster-loving goodness, and have an outline together for a sequel to the werewolf story. We might even see some of that before this time next year! 🙈

Most importantly… wishing you pleasurable holidays & a frisky new year~

♥ Bethany

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New Release – By the River Kyveli

It’s not as new now since I forgot to post this earlier, but I published my first eBook!

Get your copy here.

Rafail stalked along the path that climbed up from the bed of the river Kyveli, his footsteps as quiet as the breeze rustling the leaves. He was dark-skinned and of medium build—strong enough to wrestle a boar and quick enough to catch one. A tie at the crown of his head kept the ringlets of his long black hair from falling into his face as he strode further up into the hills.

***

With a snarl and a flash of golden fur, the hunter becomes the hunted. But this predator is far from ordinary—she is one of the gods’ children, a manticore-like lion woman named Lawai. Lawai spares Rafail’s life, and he repays the debt by healing the wound that drove her to starvation. 

Passion ignites, and where lust flares, love follows. But a wild thing like Lawai does not belong in human lands, and Rafail cannot abandon his family. Can they find a future without losing each other—or themselves—in the process?

By the River Kyveli is a steamy monster romance novella standalone (19k words) set in ancient Greece, featuring a female monster and male human. A story of passion, lust, and longing, By the River Kyveli celebrates how love transforms us into our truest selves.

Start reading…

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Grand Opening

I’m so excited to be sharing this project!

It’s been several years in the making, slowly developing from something I did for myself to something I shared with my partner to something I can’t not share with you all.

Sexual health and wellness are really important to me, all the more so because mine started out so poor. (‘Purity culture’ kids, holla back!)

This project is all about putting forward a playful, imaginative approach towards sex and intimacy. Play and imagination were such effective antidotes to the shame and gravitas that characterized my early sexual experiences, and I hope you’ll find them therapeutic too!

I strongly considered going the traditional publisher route for sharing these stories (you’ll find full-length, carefully edited novels here) but there’s one key reason I didn’t.

I want this project to be something that a younger me would have stumbled upon, like I stumbled across oglaf.com, I Roved Out, and so many others.

Sexual health should be a right, not a privilege, and so for that reason also it was important to me that these novels be available for free.

That being said, I do have goals that you can help support! I’ve launched a Patreon page and have my sights set on making eBook and print-on-demand versions available. At Patreon you’ll find WIP updates, Q&A, exclusive voting, and more.

To see my ongoing and completed projects, head over to The Cookie Jar.

I’ll be posting regularly, so if you want notifications for the latest posts you can follow on Patreon, Twitter (@BakeSmut), or subscribe below.

Thanks for stopping by the kitchen, and hope to see you around! ☺

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