June 15, 2026

Belated celebration, pantheons, and new skills mid-year

Hey, babes!

Don’t forget to grab your free books in the Promotions section at the end of the newsletter.

Yesterday’s newsletter was delayed til today as a result of my child’s birthday. Every year I reflect on her birth, growth, and the journey we’ve taken as a family. She is the love of my life, my heart and soul. Every day she grows more impressive, funny, and shows a little more of her powerful personality. I think if her confidence could be bottled, you could make a lot of money distributing it.

Kitten update: Mila gave birth on the day my daughter left. She waited until I got home from a 2 day trip away, and began labor as soon as she saw that I had returned. It was deeply moving to have her choose to sit with me and receive comfort from me while she progressed, and then only remove herself to sit a little further from me on one of the towels I prepared for her to birth her litter.

The new family

Four kittens in all, two black and two striped. They’re now 12 days old, and their eyes are open, and they are gaining weight steadily. Mila is very tired, as you may expect, and it will be some weeks before she is recovered.

After giving birth, she moved them from the corner of my room to her favorite napping spot under my bed as their permanent nest. I largely left them alone for the first week outside peeking just once a day to ensure they were all alive. Now I weigh them every couple days, and she allows me to pet them as long as she is there to watch.

They will be fixed and vaccinated before being sent on to permanent homes at around 10-12 weeks of age.

Book News

What’s your favorite piece of dark folklore? I’m balancing different projects, and I’m developing one spicy MM based in Greek mythology right now. The quote that inspired it comes from book 5 of the Iliad.

“From the wound flowed the immortal blood of the goddess, the ichor, such as floweth in the blessed gods; for they eat not bread neither drink flaming wine, wherefore they are bloodless, and are called deathless.”

Between reading Percy Jackson with my daughter (I think this series is her gateway to chapter books from graphic novels) and the God of War videogame content on my social media feed right now, I’m taken in by the depth and grittiness of the Greek pantheon across different media. Tell me what your favorite pantheon is, and why. If it’s one I’m not familiar with, I’d love to learn more about it.

Aside from that, I am working to wrap up the first draft of a book I’ve been working on since… 2017? As with my debut novel, Bune, I will sometimes have to sit with a concept for years to find my way through it, refine it, and build it into the full novel I envision in my head—or understand where it must deviate. Defiance also followed this pattern, and it’s not a coincidence that those two are my longest books.

Part of developing this draft is also working on a cover. Affinity is a free program comparable to Photoshop, and I have been building my skillset and the concept for this second project over time. Shifting back and forth between creative modes has been incredibly stimulating, and I’ve been taking Regina Wamba’s Photoshop for Authors courses, which I purchased about seven years ago.

The ability to create my own covers (and even my marketing copy) without the use of generative AI is as meaningful to me as my ability to write a book without it. I’ve largely stayed out of the discussion about generative AI in the public sphere, but my stance is very simply that the obsession with output and fixation on “free” and “instant” is the anathema of art. Artists and authors spend years dedicated to learning craft and cultivation of skills and tools, developing a vision and personal style (or author’s voice). The use of AI to “democratize art” or what-have-you is where the line between artists and consumers becomes clearer by the day.

Thank you all for coming on this journey with me. I can’t wait to share what’s next.

XOXO,

Mariah

Promotions

Here are the promotions for June 2026!

Note: This is a dark romance, so please be sure to check content warnings on the author’s website! dahliavale.com

He’s her captor, her hell, and the only man who makes her feel alive.

Briar

I thought my nightmare ended when my husband died. I was wrong.
In The Ravens’ world, widows like me don’t get freedom—we get auctioned.
I ran to save myself, but they sent Cain to drag me back.
He’s everything I should fear.
But when his hand is at my throat, fear isn’t the only thing I feel.

Cain

I was sent to return a runaway Dove.
She’s fire where there should be fear. Defiance where there should be obedience.
But when they told me to kill her, I knew I’d never give her back.
And I can’t decide whether to break her… or make her beg for more.
Either way, by the time I’m through, this little Dove will know exactly who she belongs to.

Twenty years ago, my world died on an Atlanta street. One bullet. One moment. One man who didn’t even spare a glance at the lives he destroyed.

I become something that makes monsters check their closets at night. Each calculated step brings me closer to the debt Gregor Polov owes—a debt written in the blood of innocents.

In this dark tale of revenge, redemption remains a distant dream. For when I dove into the abyss to become the very thing I hate, I realized the only way out is through more darkness.

Some debts can never be forgiven. Some souls can never be saved.

But Jarek Farrel soon realizes that in a game where power and violence reigns... even the most carefully laid plans can unravel. Polov is a master at the games powerful men play, and Jarek quickly learns that some debts create deeper wounds when they’re repaid.

I am willing to pay any price—use an innocent woman—to settle the score… Even if it destroys the little humanity I have left.

The Sordid Debt Duet will drag you into the shadows where morality blurs, justice bleeds, and the line between vengeance and redemption dissolves into nothing but crimson mist.