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Baking By Death | Book Two - On Hiatus

For lots of reasons (hubris, anxiety, poor planning lol) I had to retire my original simlit, The Curious Chronicles. I kept some elements that I loved but started a whole new story that I'm a) really proud of and b) having a great time writing. I ramble about some lessons from failure on my blog but the true purpose of this post is start a thread for my new story!

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Baking By Death is a paranormal romance SimLit featuring a vampire, a sort-of-human, and their wacky group of friends. If you love a good Slytherin/Hufflepuff love match then this story is for you!

Content Warning: This story features adult language, adult situations, and some (paranormal) violence.

About the Story

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Alice Martin is twenty-nine years old, human-ish and cursed. Since the age of thirteen, she’s been sharing her headspace with Ben, the God of Death (and resurrection and agriculture and fertility and nectar, as he often reminds her). The arrogant, all-powerful being has run roughshod over her life, sending her on “quests” that have turned her into the town weirdo and putting everyone around her at risk with uncontrollable bursts of power. There are no two ways about it, Alice is a monster and monsters don’t get friends, love, or dream jobs.

When a reality TV baking contest offers a magical prize that can undo anything, Alice sees a chance to finally get the normal life she craves and distraction in the form of a handsome vampire is definitely not part of the plan.

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At 544 years old, Vladislaus Straud is a vampire uninterested in change. Oh sure, he’s willing to update his clothes, speak simlish instead of olde simlish, and even he can admit that cars are far more convenient than horses. But who he is on the inside will never change. Or at least that was the case before he ran afoul of a powerful witch. Now, the brutal king of the vampires is haunted by his past deeds and struggling to contain an emotion he is very unfamiliar with: guilt.

When he hears about a magical item with the power to undo anything, Vlad sees a way to get back to his old self—the monster without a conscience. And the monster without a conscience is definitely not going to fall in love.

Will Vlad and Alice follow their plans or will love conquer all? And just what other supernatural shenanigans will they get down to?

Start reading here: Chapter One: The God of Death Has a Few Demands

Updates: Every Sunday at 8:00 p.m.

Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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Post edited by FeroshaCoutora on

Comments

  • LadyLobsterLadyLobster Posts: 4,133 Member
    So glad I clicked on the link! Really enjoyed your first chapter.

    And I'm glad you decided to give simlit another whirl instead of getting discouraged! It's way too easy to get overwhelmed, especially when you're just starting out.
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  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member
    Thank you! That's such good motivation. Omg, I learned so much. It really is overwhelming in the beginning. There was so much I didn't know. But this is also a great community and everyone is so encouraging!
    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member
    NEW CHAPTER!

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    The king is dead. Long live the king. We meet Vladislaus Straud, Vampire King. He gets some disappointing news about his curse and its fair to say our hero doesn't take it well. Guilt is not something Vladislaus wears well and at 544 years old...well...he's done plenty to feel guilty about.

    Read it here: Chapter Two: Vladislaus Straud, Vampire King
    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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  • Dollyllama108Dollyllama108 Posts: 268 Member
    If anyone passing through is on the fence about reading this, don't be. It's totally worth it. @FeroshaCoutora does an amazing, professional job with her writeups, which showcase her playfully mature sense of humor. Her style reminds me of Terry Pratchett.

    Seriously! Read this! It's awesome.
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    Catastrophe Theory: If, through loose ends, we could resume/Unrav'ling defects from the loom/And soften as the shuttle mends---/Then save for me a few loose ends!
    Haunted: Picture Oscar Wilde dating Willy Wonka, also Oscar Wilde is still dead
  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member
    Thank you @Dollyllama108! Have I ever been more flattered? Ahh!! You made my dang day.
    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member
    NEW CHAPTER!

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    Salt shakers and strange bedfellows. Alice Martin goes in for her shift at the convenience store and it's the beginning of a real weird night. She has a fight with Ben, but is it actually possible to banish the ancient God who shares your mind just by yelling at him? Only time will tell...

    Read it here: Chapter Three: Tales from the Night Shift
    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member
    NEW CHAPTER!

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    Quid Pro Quo. Alice's work day gets worse before it gets better. Luckily, The God of Death is there to help her with a problem...right before a commercial comes along and changes her fate.

    Read it here: Chapter Three, Part Two: Sunny, With a Chance of Baking

    BTW, I posted this on my blog but I'm sorry for the weird chapter split. I’m still working on the pacing/length of my chapters. From now on, when a chapter is too long, I’ll post both “parts” on the same day.
    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member
    NEW CHAPTER!

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    Vlad tests the limits of his curse in the worst way possible. He has a productive sparring session before a commercial comes along and changes his fate. But it doesn't end there. With the commercial comes knowledge of a powerful magical item and the King of the Windenburg Vampires does not intend to let it go to anyone except him.

    Read it here:

    Chapter Four, Part One: An Empty Heart
    Chapter Four, Part Two: The Owl of Undoing

    Bonus stuff: I made a commercial for the Baking Show (because I'm a nerd). You can check it out here.
    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member
    NEW CHAPTER!

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    Alice does some research on Windenburg, the God of Death isn't everything he seems (or is it everything "she" seems?), and Ben learns all about the challenges of having a corporeal form.

    Read it here:

    Chapter Five, Part One: Cowplants and Revelations
    Chapter Five, Part Two: Marionette

    Bonus stuff: I made a fake book entry for The Elder-most Manuscript of Myths and Creatures (the book Vlad was reading last chapter). Why did I do this? Nerd reasons. You can check it out here.
    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member
    NEW CHAPTER!

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    Vlad makes a dangerous enemy. The kind of enemy that sells cookies and cannot be stopped. He also decides to head to San Myshuno for all the wrong reasons.

    Read it here:

    Chapter Six, Part One: A Formidable Opponent
    Chapter Six, Part Two: Burn it All Down

    Bonus stuff: Our two protagonists get their meet-cute next week, but I decided to use the extra images to make a little prologue of all the ways they nearly missed meeting each other. You can check it out here.
    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member
    THE STORY IS BACK!
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    Okay, well it was never really completely gone. I just had a family crisis over that took over the last few months and my choices were write/post or keep everyone up to date on my writing/posting. I didn't have the energy to do both, so I chose to just write. That means the chapter updates stopped here at chapter six while they kept going on my blog through the end of the year. Things are 1000 times better now so I'm back at it.

    In the time that I've been off, I've done a lot of writing, redesigned my blog and reordered my chapters because the story has evolved a lot. A few things were written out of order or listed as bonus content that are really canon as far as the story is concerned and in some cases, a really long chapter got divided into two. Since I just posted a new chapter tonight, I'm going to use this post as a Table of Contents just in case anyone is actually reading this thing and wants to catch up!

    After that, I'll start doing regular weekly chapter posts like before. Thanks for sticking with me!

    (p.s. - most chapters are multi-page because...well...I write long chapters. So make sure you don't miss out)

    CHAPTER LIST

    Prologue: Excerpt from The Elder-most Manuscript of Myths and Creatures

    Chapter 1: The God of Death Has a Few Demands

    Chapter 2: Vladislaus Straud, Vampire King

    Chapter 3: Tales from the Night Shift

    Chapter 4: Sunny, with a Chance of Baking

    Chapter 5: An Empty Heart

    Chapter 6: The Owl of Undoing

    Chapter 7: Cowplants and Revelations

    Chapter 8: Marionette

    Chapter 9: A Formidable Opponent

    Chapter 10: Roll to Investigate a Mystery

    Chapter 11: Burn it All Down

    Chapter 12, Part 1: A Meet Cute

    Chapter 12, Part 2: A Meet Cute

    Chapter 13: Nothing to See Here Folks!

    Chapter 14: Resistance

    Chapter 15: Smile, You’re on Camera

    Chapter 16: What Becomes of the Dark?

    Chapter 17: What Becomes of the Dark.

    Chapter 18: To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

    Chapter 19: 100% That Weirdo

    Chapter 20: A Query and a Summons

    Chapter 21, Part 1: King’s Gambit

    Chapter 21, Part 2: King’s Gambit
    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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  • MythologicatMythologicat Posts: 19 Member
    I love this story! It is so well written, and I can tell that you put a lot of thought into your characters and the plot—I can’t wait to see where it goes! 😃
  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member
    Thank you so much! It means a lot. Oh I have so many plans for them ::laughs maniacally:: Glad you're enjoying it!

    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member

    NEW CHAPTER!

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    Chapter 22: For All the Marbles

    Happy Valentine’s Day! It’s an appropriately sappy chapter for an appropriately sappy weekend. Vladislaus Straud is forced to ride coach, but the upside is plenty of quality time with Alice. It all goes smoothly...until it doesn’t. Meanwhile, time is a tricky thing. We think it’s something we can control. But time...well...time does whatever she wants. Literally.

    Part 1
    Part 2
    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member
    NEW CHAPTER!

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    Chapter 23: The Secrets We Find

    We stumble upon some secrets in the Old Barn, Caleb learns just how out of touch Vlad really is, Alice learns that she hates biking, and Akira comes to Windenburg.

    Read it here.
    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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  • MythologicatMythologicat Posts: 19 Member
    I got a tiny bit behind the last couple of weeks but was able to catch up today and I’m glad I did! What a feast of world building material! Caleb is such a complex character (well, they all are, but Caleb more so than I realized!). As alike as they still are, in some cases he’s really starting to turn into more of a foil for Vlad than a true protege, the more we get to know him. Of course, I may just be getting that impression because of Vlad’s recent character development, à la curse!
  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member
    Squee! Thank you! Honestly, this really makes me smile because even though it's been a bonkers amount of work, I love knowing that people are reading and enjoying the story. Also, world-building is crazy hard, even with so much source material lol.

    Caleb is DEFINITELY complex! Vlad has always thought of Caleb as a protege and they are similar in so many ways, but Caleb has carved out his own path. I really wanted to write about the ways in which we try to break free from generational trauma and Caleb is at this crossroads where he is trying to build a healthier life for himself, but unlearning codependency is hard, especially if you are a nigh indestructible immortal creature and you've been around someone for centuries.

    Everyone has layers though, and their perceptions of themselves don't always match up with what's actually true. Oh man, so many good reveals coming up. it's hard to keep it to myself :-) Thank you for reading!
    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member
    New Chapter!

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    Chapter 24: The Secrets We Keep

    If you’re in a dark woods and a werewolf tries to eat you, but a red-eyed monster tries to save you will time even let it happen?

    Read it here.

    P.S. - Sorry it's so late. It was a doozy to write/edit lol.
    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member
    Hot off the presses (and late because life)!

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    Chapter 25: A Kiss is Just a Kiss

    YES FINALLY. There is baking. There is a kiss. Not necessarily in that order. And DEFINITELY not before Alice tells Vlad about himself.

    On other news, I'm working on a new posting schedule (clearly Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. is impossible for me to be on time for). Stay tuned.
    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member
    Another Update!
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    Chapter 26, Part 1: The Things That Can Be Undone

    Alice and Vlad pick up where they left off after the kiss, Akira wakes up in the Realm of the Fae, and the Queen of the Fae is displeased (which may, or may not be putting it mildly).
    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member
    I've been so bad! I updated and completely forgot to post about it here, but that means you get two for one!

    First of all, you can read Chapter 26, Part 2: The Things That Can Be Undone. Vlad ponders his mistakes, William worries over past decisions, and Akira spends some (un)pleasant time with his brother-in-law.

    and then...

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    Chapter 27, Part 1: Bread Week is for the Undead
    Alice goes in search of a banana bread recipe in a funeral home (as you do), while Vlad approaches romance much the same way he approaches battle.
    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member
    New chapter!

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    Chapter 27, Part 2: Bread Week is for the Undead

    Alice raises the dead in the name of banana bread, Vlad meets and old enemy, and there is romance...and then betrayal.

    Enjoy!
    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member
    New Chapter (Early this time!)

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    Chapter 28, Part 1: The Wings Are A Lot
    Vlad decides to go all in on revealing secrets just as Alice decides to go all in on keeping them. A baking contestant is in danger and we take a trip to the past with the God of Death.
    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member
    New Chapter!
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    Chapter 28, Part 2: The Wings Are A Lot

    Vlad confesses his feelings, Alice's delay tactics finally catch up with her and the God of Death's plan is finally in motion.
    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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  • FeroshaCoutoraFeroshaCoutora Posts: 142 Member
    New Chapter!

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    Chapter 29, Part 1: Life After Death

    The Sages have breakfast, Vlad makes Alice some stew, and Morgyn tells Anastasia to "go big or go home" with werewolf sized results.
    Dark Family Comedy & Paranormal Romance

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