IN PROGRESS
Emory- King of the Fairies - KINGDOM OF THE WORTHLESS, volume 0.5
Dr Emory Anderson was not born a doctor, of course.
Less obvious is perhaps to say that he wasn’t born as Emory, either.
Wherever he goes, Emory feels like an outsider. Sometimes a man, sometimes a woman, sometimes both and neither. Attracted to men and women indiscriminately. Thirsty for a kind of knowledge that blurs the confines between science and the occult.
Janet Blackwood, a centenary witch with enormous charm and influence, seems ready to give him everything he ever wanted.
But his soul isn’t the only thing Emory could lose if he decides to give into the temptation and join the other side...
Prequel of "Nell Ruell Goes to Hell", the first volume of the LGBTQIA+ dark fantasy series "Kingdom of the Worthless".
Nell Ruell Goes to Hell - KINGDOM OF THE WORTHLESS, volume I
London, 1880.
Nell Ruell is fifteen and has a bone to pick with the devil.
Life in the London slums has never been easy for a thief’s daughter, but when her father goes to the gallows swearing that the devil framed him, Nell’s only goal in life becomes going to hell in search of the justice she cannot find on earth—and there is someone ready to help her.
Lady Blackwood, a powerful witch from the Scottish Borders, proposes an exchange. All she requires is to inhabit Nell’s young, strong body for two years; in return, she will send the girl’s soul down to the shores of the Acheron River. But the deal with the witch demands a much higher price than Nell is willing to pay.
Through psycho-phage hedgerows, bloody arenas, grotesque banquets and hot-air balloon journeys under electric skies, Nell’s quest is accompanied by the ticking of the clock. Time below does not run as it does for mortals, and every threshold crossed is a step closer to the abyss...
In for a penny, in for a pound.
The stakes?
All that you are.
Some reviews:
Born in 1984, originally from the Po Valley in Northern Italy, as I was studying classical literature in secondary school I fell in love with theatre. In the years following my diploma, I studied acting while at the same time juggling semiotic squares and structuralism in university. Once I got my master’s degree in semiotics I looked Greimas straight in the eye and said: "It’s over. I love drama, I have always loved it and am tired of pretending otherwise. I’m leaving you for Shakespeare."
Greimas moved on pretty quickly.
About R.J. Driscoll
Life is strange: a three-month internship in the south of Ireland turned into a stable job at a private school. The relationship between Shakespeare and I hit some cultural challenges at that point, something got lost in translation. But a marriage is worth fighting for. So I committed to the relationship. By day, I taught Italian while in the evenings I went to acting school again - in English, this time. I emerged four years later with a Fellowship in Speech and Drama and a happy ending worthy of an Elizabethan comedy. Shakespeare and I are in a fairy-tale romance now. The happiest bi x bi couple in the world.
Theatre isn’t the only literary source that shaped my writing. My love for the Greek myths was born in childhood and is a passion that continues to accompany me; over time, my interest has expanded to world folklore. With the discovery of the steampunk genre, I began to appreciate the Victorian era as a complex historical period, fraught with social turmoil and scientific evolution, and at the same time animated by a spiritualistic and gothic current that never ceases to fascinate me. These ingredients often emerge in my stories: the relationship between technology and the human condition, the complexity of "evil", and the search for oneself amid these paradigms.
Thirteen years have passed since I landed on the Emerald Isle, where I decided to establish my home. I still teach Italian, but now I’m also an acting coach for the LAMDA exams, I lead a girls' choir, and occasionally take on the role of director for a slightly more important school production.
In the (little!) free time I have left--without considering the hours spent writing--I go on a hunt for second-hand books and records, with which I fill the small apartment I share with Hamlet, the cutest black cat that has ever existed.
I am proudly bisexual, non-binary, and I write queer things. Because people like me exist and want to be represented in the media that they consume: so why not take a pen and write our own stories?