Becoming an adult is already hard. Add in involuntary wanderlust, young love, a swarm of bees, and one extremely sassy octopus — Vivian and Frieda will have their hands full as they start new lives with their new familiars!
Honeycomb Heart is a sapphic romance featuring two young women from Hex, a fictional country populated by the female descendants of persecuted witches, and their animal familiars. It can be read as a standalone novel, but will receive a sequel in the future. This campaign will fund Honeycomb Heart's initial publication in paperback and ebook. Now's your chance to be one of its first readers, and get your name in the book's acknowledgements section. Stretch goals will include unlocking a hardcover edition and character art, as well as potential suggestions from backers.
Vivian is dreading her eighteenth birthday. Where most Hexian girls look forward to the day they receive their familiar, a past family tragedy has Vivian scared of having her life connected to another creature.
Familiars come in all shapes and sizes, but nothing could've prepared Vivian for receiving a swarm of several hundred bees as her companion. When her swarm refuses to settle down and build a hive in the meadowlands she calls home, Vivian is forced to hit the road and search the patchwork landscape of Hex for a place where she and her familiar can live. With Vivian feeling forced to travel and wanting to keep her new familiar — her lifelong companion with whom she should have a deep and meaningful emotional bond — at arm's length, their relationship is off to a rocky start.
In contrast, Frieda would like nothing more than to hit the road. After eighteen years of living with her overprotective mothers, Frieda sees the agency of adulthood as a chance to experience the parts of life that felt out of her reach as a child.
Frieda immediately loves her new familiar, and her familiar, Koi, loves her back. It’s just that Koi is an octopus and Frieda lives at the landlocked center of Hex. Frieda knows Koi deserves better than being stuck in an aquarium tank for the rest of her life, but she fears she can't provide that on her own.
When a chance encounter unites Vivian and Frieda, they embark together on an unplanned journey across Hex, searching forest, desert, and coast for a place where their familiars can not only survive, but thrive. None of this adventuring was on sullen and anxious Vivian’s bucket list. Nor was catching feelings for her travel companion as they endure homesickness, heat stroke, existential dread, and one (1) mountain goat. Yet as the options for potential new homes narrow, Vivian fears that even if she does find the perfect place for her familiar, it won’t be the same place that Frieda and Koi choose…
Content notes:Honeycomb Heart is a low-spice book that "fades to black." There are discussions of parental death and family estrangement throughout the book.
Want to give the book a try before you back? You can read Honeycomb Heart's opening scenes on my website.
Backing Honeycomb Heart now means you can be one of the first to read the book! There will be a one month window between when ebooks are delivered, and when the book is available to purchase elsewhere. After that time, I'll be listing it on Amazon, Kobo, itch, my own website, and potentially other retailers, so if you miss the campaign, you can still get a copy!
Backers at any tier will have the option to list a name of their choice in the Acknowledgements section of the book. You can use part or all of your full name, a nickname, an account name you use online, etc. Please note that offensive monikers will be rejected.
Ebooks will be delivered in epub format. This is a standard file for digital books that works well across the majority of ereaders and ebook apps (including Kindle, Kobo, and Nook devices; Kindle, Kobo, Nook, and Apple Books apps). Ebooks will be delivered as soon as paperbacks are ready to ship.
Paperbacks are 6 x 9 inch trim size. The final and fully formatted version is expected to be in the 300-400 page range. Paperbacks come in regular and large print editions. Please note that at this time, international shipping into and out from the United States is increasingly complicated and prone to sudden rule changes; because of this, paperbacks will be available within the US, Canada, the UK, and within the EU. If you live in another region and would like to receive a physical copy, please reach out to me directly and I'll see what I can do to get one in your hands! For UK and EU customers, paperbacks will be processed through a printer in the UK and then shipped to you. This is largely due to concerns about meeting GSPR requirements, as well as the ever-changing tariff situation; on a more positive note, it means that your books will get to you quicker, cheaper, and without the environmental impact of needing to cross the entire Atlantic Ocean. All paperbacks will have the option for a personalized thank-you (or other) message printed at the start of the book; this will be part of the backer survey sent out post-campaign. Shipping is charged SEPARATELY, after the campaign ends.
Snag yourself the print and digital versions for a discounted price! Ebooks will be sent out as soon as paperbacks are ready to go, so you can get a head start while you wait for your package to arrive. Please see above note for regional availability of physical copies. Shipping is charged SEPARATELY, after the campaign ends.
Add-ons
A set of 3 small prints (roughly 3 by 4 inches) meant to resemble polaroids. After futzing around for a while with different digital and traditional art styles, I realized that I wanted a soft and comfortable look to the prints, and set aside my tablet and paint markers for felt and embroidery floss. Yes, the original pieces are cut, embroidered, and stitched together by hand! This is of course not the quickest way to make art, but it is one I quite enjoy, and I hope you like the outcome. Three print options will be automatically unlocked when the campaign funds; more will be made available as achievements are unlocked. You'll be able to pick which ones you want when you fill out your backer survey after the campaign ends.
You can see one of the 8 inch originals and its miniature print version below.
Additional ebook and paperback copies will be available for the same price as add-ons!
The first stretch goal unlocks a standard hardcover edition of the book with art on the back cover; a poll will be run to decide whether backers would prefer a continuation of the front cover's art, or something different.
Prequel short stories - $1500
I've had some ideas percolating in my brain featuring the spirit that protects the land of Hex. This stretch goal would include writing at least two new short stories, as well as potentially expanding one I previously wrote. Backers who pledge $5USD or more would digitally receive these stories for free within six months of the campaign ending. If you want to get a taste of what these stories would be like, you can read the first one I've already written for free here on itch.io.
And from there?
I'd love to get feedback from all of you on what you'd like to see from the campaign! I'd love to create an audiobook version of Honeycomb Heart someday, but would need to raise a significant amount beyond the goal of this campaign in order to create a professional-quality end product (and fairly compensate said professional for their time and effort — we support real humans at Monsters and Maidens Publishing!)
Shipping costs may fluctuate; these are estimates as of the end of August.
Within the US
Shipping for one or two paperbacks will be $5. Estimates for shipping more copies will be calculated on request.
To Canada
Shipping for one or two paperbacks is $12 USD. Estimates for shipping more copies will be calculated on request.
Within the UK and EU
Shipping for one or two paperbacks will be 8 euros/roughly $10. Estimates for shipping more copies will be calculated on request.
Again, if your region isn't represented here but you'd like to receive a physical copy, please reach out to me directly and I'll see what I can make happen for you.
Please note that this timeline is only an estimate, though barring any major shakeups in my life or related to the novel's production I'm hoping for a smooth fulfillment process.
November-December 12th 2025: Campaign runs
Late December-January 2026: Additional round of content edits as needed
February 2026: Final read-through to catch any potential line editing issues, final formatting, ordering of proof copies
March-April 2026: Bulk order and fulfillment of paperbacks, with ebooks being sent out as soon as the first packages are on their way
Welcome to The Book Bazaar, a celebration of all things indie and small press! We're collaborating to help make each creator's dreams come true with their publishing project.
🌟 Back five projects, get an exclusive reward. We're offering an exclusive The Book Bazaar reward to anyone who goes all out and backs five or more projects. The Book Bazaar 2025 participants are putting together a one-of-a-kind anthology full of unique and never-before-seen stories. Claim your anthology by showing your support now! Your anthology reward will ship separate from other rewards.
I highly recommend checking out the whole Book Bazaar catalog. We're a small but mighty group! To get you started, here are some specific projects I think you'll enjoy:
