Some choices only look inevitable once you’re already falling.
A short excerpt from The Colors That Haunt Us.
October 8.
@aspenrayne.com
@aspenrayne.comSome choices only look inevitable once you’re already falling.
A short excerpt from The Colors That Haunt Us.
October 8.
@aspenrayne.comNothing made up, but Rosenfeld Manor has its own soundscape: an old piano tied to Suzette’s memories, half-heard humming in dark rooms, floorboards settling when no one is there, and a house that always seems to be listening back.
@aspenrayne.com#QueerPrompts #TheColorsThatHaunt
Mostly late winter, right on the edge of spring. Clara arrives at Rosenfeld Manor on March 6 for a 30-day residency, so the main story unfolds through March.
@aspenrayne.comNot the word meltdown, but a snippet for the middle of a meltdown
@aspenrayne.comThe Colors That Haunt Us contains:
Haunted paintings. Impossible sapphic longing. Missing memories. Grief. Obsession. Beautiful things becoming dangerous. A house with terrible boundaries.
October 8.
@aspenrayne.comYes! Suzette played piano, and music is tangled in her missing memories. The manor even has a music room tied to pieces of her past.
So music is less a hobby and more another way Rosenfeld remembers.
@aspenrayne.comClara would say she wants peace. She came to Rosenfeld Manor hoping to disappear awhile.
But she’s also the kind of person who finds a haunted mystery and goes, “Well, now I need answers.”
Suzette? She’s had enough adventure for several lifetimes. Give her peace.
@aspenrayne.comThis is the closest I have, so have a song flowing through Clara and feel free to yell at me if you think it's not vibes enough lol
@aspenrayne.comA little sneak peek from the photos I was taking for my next blog post because I just love how these turned out.
The book! In my house! A real physical object! And, naturally, the photo session required feline supervision.
@aspenrayne.comThe Colors That Haunt Us is almost here.
A grieving artist. A ghost who should be impossible. Paintings that refuse to stay harmless. And a house that knows exactly what you want badly enough to keep.
October 8.
@aspenrayne.comFor readers who like:
Haunted houses with opinions
Art that should probably stay unfinished
Impossible sapphic longing
Messy choices made for understandable reasons
Beauty with something wrong underneath it
October 8.
@aspenrayne.comNo exterior, but I do have facade as a synonym. And look I know this is my own writing, but I really love the word mottled here.
@aspenrayne.comThere's a reason the manor liked Clara.
@aspenrayne.comPreorder reminder!
The Colors That Haunt Us comes out October 8, and it’s starting to feel very real.
Queer gothic fiction, haunted art, impossible longing, grief, obsession, and one very possessive house.
@aspenrayne.comI’m sorry I had to. The antagonist is kinda the house itself so it’s just…houses.
@aspenrayne.comThe Colors That Haunt Us has a lot to say about being rewritten by other people.
You deserve to be remembered as yourself, to love without shame, and to become someone beyond what others decided you should be.
@aspenrayne.com#SongsOfSeptember #TheColorsThatHaunt
For Clara & Suzette: "The Rockrose and the Thistle" by The Amazing Devil.
It has the ache of loving someone you can never quite reach, while everything around you keeps making that distance hurt more.
Also in general, it's one of my favorite songs.
@aspenrayne.comYou know, I might have used this quote already for soup, since it's one of the few mentions of food. If so... oh well, it was a while ago.
@aspenrayne.comWhat if the mysterious muse isn’t asking to be painted?
Clara wants to understand Suzette. Painting her makes the impossible feel a little more real.
Suzette knows exactly how dangerous that can become.
The Colors That Haunt Us — October 8.
@aspenrayne.comIf you think you'll like The Colors That Haunt Us, here are a few books I’d recommend:
• The Reanimator's Heart — Kara Jorgensen
• Thirteen Storeys — Jonathan Sims
• All the Hearts You Eat — Hailey Piper
• The Spirit Bares Its Teeth — Andrew Joseph White