The Heroine’s Journey: A Powerful Alternative to the Traditional Hero’s Arc
From ancient epics like Beowulf to modern myths featuring Link or Luke Skywalker, heroes have long dominated storytelling. You might be familiar with the Hero’s Journey—the classic narrative where a lone hero battles monsters, claims a prize, and returns transformed. But what about stories where victory isn’t about conquest, but about connection, healing, and integration?…
The Casquette Rose is Available
My latest book, a Louisiana gothic thriller/faustian tragedy is now available for purchase across the web (and in select Louisiana bookstores). This is a much darker book than anything I have written, and it is, in many ways, the most personal book I have written. It’s the second novel I’ve written that connects to the…
Faust in the French Quarter
The semester has gotten off to a rousing but exhausting start, so I’ve been a bit lax in updating. For that, I do apologize. However, we are one month and two days away from the release of my new Louisiana gothic novel, The Casquette Rose. And the more I look back at the manuscript, the…
Soundtracking The Casquette Rose
In a previous post, Soundtracking a Work in Progress, I introduced the soundtrack to my upcoming Louisiana Gothic novel, The Casquette Rose. Now that the novel is finished, I want to revisit this and talk about some more of the songs. Here’s the soundtrack: Vive la Rose – Nana Mouskouri Harvester of Eyes – Blue Oyster Cult…
Sins and Tragedies: The Darkness of The Casquette Rose
On the 1st of September, I will reveal the cover of The Casquette Rose, my second Louisiana Gothic novel. This one will be far darker than my last novel, Wolf in the Sanctuary. Both focus on the interplay of history and its unconfessed, unatoned-for sins with the struggles of the present. However, while Wolf focused…
Gothic Romance x Genre Romance: Two Takes on the Same Pairing
So, as I’m working on my current manuscript, a Louisiana Gothic novel tentatively titled The Casquette Rose, it’s come to my attention that I’ve done something similar before… in Carmilla’s Ghost, my second novel in The Adventures of Sam Hain. And what is it that I’ve done? Write Louisiana Gothic in both? No. What I’ve…
Soundtracking a Novel
A lot of authors, especially indie authors, post mood boards and/or soundtracks for each of the novels. I don’t. My brain doesn’t work that way for some reason. Usually, a singular image is all I have in mind when I start working, and I don’t have the patience with myself to go searching for images…
From the Archives: The Alchemist’s Rose
This has been an interesting week for me, as I’ve been interviewing for university jobs across the country, ranging from teaching posts to administrative positions. I’ve also been quite busy with another Louisiana Gothic novel (more on that in a future post). So, I haven’t posted much to social media. But today, I want to…
When Writing Gets Personal
This isn’t the type of post I ever thought I would make as a writer. When I was a child and even through the early stages of my writing career, I thought I would tell stories about other people, using the “write what you know” maxim as a way to share things I had researched…
Destiny’s Gambit: The Book that Almost Was
So, today I want to muse about a book I almost wrote as the seventh installment in The Adventures of Sam Hain: Destiny’s Gambit. That’s right, the original plan for the book that became Carmilla’s Gambit was to focus on Destiny’s mental and emotional struggles with her past as she returns to the field to…
What Abandoning a Manuscript Taught Me About Writing
So, in previous posts I talked about working on a cozy gothic fantasy for myself as a brain cleanser after the darkness and heaviness of Carmilla’s Gambit and Wolf in the Sanctuary. After drafting 21,819 words of this manuscript, I abandoned it. And I’m not sad, because the process of deciding to abandon this manuscript…
Unexpected Inspiration for Wolf in the Sanctuary
Wolf in the Sanctuary, my Louisiana Gothic novel about a popular romance novelist seeking a career pivot into gothic fiction, features a lot of expected and unexpected inspiration. Given that there is a Rougarou, many would expect the old Cajun legends surrounding this werewolf-like creature to have been inspiration, and they were. The same goes…
Wolf in the Sanctuary eBook Sale!
I’m excited to announce that my book, Wolf in the Sanctuary, will be available as part of a promotion on Smashwords for the month of July as part of their Annual Summer/Winter Sale! This is a chance to get a digital copy of my book at 50% off the listed price (at Smashwords only!), along with…
What Happened to Those Dark Fantasy Short Stories?
Earlier in the year, I teased a series of dark fantasy short stories in the vein of The Witcher meets Dark Souls, a series I called Tales of the Veiled Rose. That’s been put on hold, but it is still coming. But it is on hold for two reasons. The first is dark content burnout. Carmilla’s Gambit and Wolf in the Sanctuary both…
Villainous Stakes and Motives
With the release of Carmilla’s Gambit only a few days away, this post is going to contain a complete scene, an early scene, that should have no spoilers for anyone who has either read the book’s blurb or followed the series. That being said, this scene will demonstrate some of the stakes that are being…
Carmilla’s Gambit – 7 Days Out
Two book releases in the next three weeks. Carimlla’s Gambit enters the world next Tuesday, 3 June, and Wolf in the Sanctuary howls from the bayous on 10 June. I’ve put my dark fantasy Patreon, Tales of the Veiled Rose, on hold for now. In fact, I’m going to be taking a break from Sam…
Time Off to Recharge and Write: But for Myself
So, in just over a week, Carmilla’s Gambit will be released with Wolf in the Sanctuary following the week after. So, what comes next? A semi-break so I can recharge and come back refreshed. And yes, I canceled the Patreon for my Tales of the Veiled Rose dark fantasy series—at least for now. I love…
Toasting the End and the New Beginnings: Changes to Sam Hain’s Adventures After Carmilla’s Gambit
Carmilla’s Gambit will bring the first major arc of the Adventures of Sam Hain to an end, for the most part. There is only one loose thread from the promises put forward in Liam’s Doom that needs to be resolved. But we are moving toward two major changes in the world that will impact the…
Religious Trauma and Horror: Thoughts and Questions
File Settings Done Title Description Thumbnail Will be cropped to a 3:2 aspect ratioUpload DraftPreviewContinue Style Button More Help your friends start a Substack Know someone who would be great on Substack? Insert your referral button to get credit for bringing them onboard and expand your network for recommendations, cross posts, and more.Not nowAdd referral…
Carmilla’s Gambit: Building a Phantom Strike Team
So, I’ve said before that Carmilla’s Gambit will do some world-building and reveal some secrets and relationships that I’ve had planned for a while. I won’t give too many spoilers, but I will reveal a few tidbits that I hope will pique interest in the novel. Again, yes, this is the seventh book in my…
The Unmarked, Backwards Grave: Symbolism in Wolf in the Sanctuary
I rarely talk about symbolism in my books. That’s for the readers to decipher. After all, what is symbolic to me might not have the same meaning for a reader. And yes, your English teachers were often basing what they taught you on some scholar’s opinion of what the “symbols” of a text actually are.…
Horror, Heart, Humor: Essential Elements in Carmilla’s Gambit
So, this is going to be a busy marketing month for us here at Cursing Raven Books. In addition to the Tales of the Veiled Rose dark fantasy novelette series patreon, both Carmilla’s Gambit and Wolf in the Sanctuary release next month. And while I do not want to spam post, I will be posting…
Wolf in the Sanctuary Release
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA, May 3, 2025, On 10 June, former folklore, rhetoric, and literature professor turned independent author and freelance editor Robin Schadel brings her home state into her passion for creating worlds and spinning tales where the fantastical and folkloric move side-by-side with the mundane world. “Stories have always been my life,” Schadel says…
Werewolves in MY Bayou?
Hey, this is a multi-part update on a few projects. Wolf in the Sanctuary Update The first is on the Louisiana gothic horror novel I was working on earlier. That novel is both drafted and revised, and now it’s off to my editor. We’re looking at an early summer release of Wolf in the Sanctuary.…
A Paranorma-latte Romance?
Hey, I’ll be quick. I’m working on getting everything set up for release of the first Veiled Rose short, but I do have something fun and light to share in the meantime! Over the past week, I wrote a short paranormal romance/romantic comedy called School Spirit: a Paranormalatte Romance under my Elisabeth Shade pen name.…
The Veiled Rose Dark Fantasy
So, I’ve mentioned a few times in passing on these posts and throughout my various social media profiles that I’ve been working on a series of dark fantasy short stories in the vein of the Witcher meets Dark Souls but a little more high magic. Now, I’m prepared to begin the formal introductions to what…
Louisiana Gothic: A Beautiful and Horrifying Gumbo
Hey, I’ve got some cool stuff to show y’all this weekend once I get my concept art back from the artist I hired to help with my upcoming dark fantasy novelette/novella series. But I also want to talk about my Louisiana Gothic novel, my first real foray into longform horror of any kind, that I’m…
Goodbye KDP Select
So, I spent last week working on short stories and avoiding editing both Carmilla’s Gambit and Wolf in the Sanctuary. In addition, I’ve made a decision that may have a short-term negative impact on my royalties, hopefully nothing more than short term. What is that decision? I am having my books removed from KDP select.…
State of the Draft: Updates and Upcomings
So, I didn’t post an update last week, and that was because the week got away from me. It’s Mardi Gras here in Louisiana, so my plan is to throw you something worth more than cheap beads. This post will serve as a formal announcement of where I am in the drafting process, what is…
I Dislike Fate and Destiny: in my heroes, that is
I had planned to produce a video post this week, but a severe sinus infection has kept me from feeling up to it. I didn’t want a week to go by without a post, so here is something I’ve been thinking of: Fate and Destiny in heroes. I started thinking about this after a romance…
cursingravenbooks.com 