Updates, a Kickstarter, and news on PRAY FOR HIM

at last: news on PRAY FOR HIM

Author

Tyler Battaglia
June 09, 2024

Hopefully this newsletter doesn’t end up being bi-annual—but this time I come with a couple of major updates… including a long overdue one about PRAY FOR HIM! I’ll try to keep it relatively short up-front so we can get to the really exciting parts.

Short story updates, a Kickstarter, and PRAY FOR HIM below.

short stories

First, I’ll start by saying we started the first half of 2024 off strong: five short stories have been published so far, with a few more in the pipeline! As always, you can find a list of publications to date (and some upcoming) on my author website, complete with links and content warnings. A few highlights so far:

  • I’ve self-published two grief stories, one is Pay What You Want and an itchio exclusive, the other is $1 on itchio or across major retailers

  • I’ve published (or will be publishing) a couple of 100-word drabbles this year, collected in themed anthologies

  • One of the first microfiction I ever wrote finally found a home!

  • There is a Kickstarter on now for a weird west anthology I will be participating in

Which brings us to the second non-PRAY FOR HIM update before we jump into that!

DEAD COWPOKES DON’T WRANGLE

There is a Kickstarter on now for a queer weird west anthology that I will be participating in along with a ton of other incredible authors! We’re a week in and we’re almost three quarters funded—we have the rest of June, but we have some incredible stretch goals, including stickers, annotated copies, and an audiobook!!

With more queers, weirds, and steers than you can shake a stick at, DEAD COWPOKES DON'T WRANGLE collects original weird west tales and art and will take you to the strangest plains over yonder, then further still. So tie up your horse, settle in to wet your whistle 'round the fire, and prepare to be amazed. When shape-shifters, duels, gunslingers, and strangers come to town, you best be saddling up for a hootin' hollerin' good time.

I’m excited for the anthology and loving everyone’s stories.

And now, the main event…

PRAY FOR HIM

It’s time for a major update—a pre-order link, a release date, a blurb, and a cover teaser. I’ll be posting all over social media over the next few months—tons of info to follow on characters, genre, tone, pace, and so on. Why?

Because PRAY FOR HIM will be coming on October 1, 2024, and the ebook is available for pre-order now. The ebook will be available on Kindle Unlimited for at least the first 90 days (tbd after that), as it’s a hefty one—the paperback formatting isn’t finalized yet, but is currently clocking in at nearly 400 pages. Paperback pre-orders will be available once some more line edits and etc are done and formatting is complete.

So are we ready for the blurb and cover teaser?

A psychic priest is thrown headfirst into a battle of faith and love against the forces of Hell when his dearest friend becomes possessed.

Father Isaias Flores may not have much, but he has his faith—and his dear friend Hector to keep him anchored when he is mired in self-doubt. But when Hector’s daughter, Violet, comes to Isaias with concerns that her father is acting strangely, Isaias’s doubts only increase, now with no one to keep him steadfast. For Hector seems to be possessed by something darker than even the traumas of the past, and Violet has nowhere else to turn to save her only family.

This is a problem that may require divine intervention—the rites of exorcism.

Unsure of his place in the church, doubting his gifts from God, and struggling to make sense of his feelings for the man he had thought was only a friend, Isaias isn’t sure if he is strong enough to save anyone’s soul from damnation.

For what can one man do against the torments of Hell?

Full cover reveal coming soon

If you’re interested, you can add it to Goodreads now.

Goodbye for now—expect more in the coming weeks.