Content Notes follow for each of my titles, enabling those looking to read or gift my books the ability to avoid unwanted content prior to purchasing the book or being exposed to the content. As Content Notes may reveal elements of a story’s plot, a reader not concerned with specific content may choose to avoid these descriptions. None of my books have extreme or gratuitous content, especially so for those published in 2018+. Atthis Arts and E.D.E. Bell have posted Content Notes for all of our titles since 2019. Content Notes for our anthologies and all Atthis Arts titles are posted at atthisarts.com/content/
I am not a mental health professional and am only giving you my assessment of the books, which may also be flawed or incomplete.
My books are written for adults, and I consider them fine for teens. I have had people tell me they loved these books from ages 8 through 88. (Literally.)
In general, I come from a background of intense learning and discovery. I have been repressed, bullied, controlled, and misinformed. I have written through the lens of mental disorders. Frankly, it was the art that got me here today. And so it’s important to understand that my art follows that journey with me: of struggling to find a progressive place from a restrictive background. The older the piece is, the more likely it contains elements I wouldn’t write now, or at least would write better now. However, a lot of other people are working through their own journeys, and they have told me how much these stories mean to them. So I want to offer that caveat.
Alyssia
This series was started in 2020 and continues today. All stories are told from the perspective of a character with anxiety disorders, and content is told gently and with awareness of trauma. All stories include romantic and sexual attraction, and mild use of alcohol.
Night Ivy includes instances of manipulation and emotional threats regarding family members, and intent to harm or abduct.
Inkbloom includes loneliness, feelings of abandonment, intent to abduct, and mild injury from glass.
Storm Tree content notes will be posted when available.
Just Duology
The episodes of this story were written between 2018 and 2024.
Just Bart includes playful references to gender made by a nonbinary main character. One of the characters is a whiskey bottle, who could be interpreted in the context of alcohol dependence. Throughout the storyline, reality and fiction are blurred, and difficulties in life are alluded to. An occasional f-word. The pandemic is briefly mentioned.
Just Chad includes references to alcohol, and brief interactions with bigoted people. Throughout the storyline, reality and fiction are blurred, and difficulties in life are alluded to. An occasional f-word. The pandemic is occasionally mentioned.
Awkward Tomatoes
These stories were written between 2014 and 2020.
The stories are generally gentle and non-violent in nature. The editor’s note before each story indicates any specific content notes, as a few of the earlier stories contain violence and/or problematic content.
Lord’s Dome
This project was completed between 2018 and 2020.
The world of Lord’s Dome depicts strife and poor living conditions for a society, including general abuse. One character has a lingering wound that causes her chronic pain. There are offscreen mentions of undesired, but not physically forced, sexual acts, and brief mentions of sexual harassment. There are brief instances of violence against children. There is one scene of generally torturous labor including a child. There are brief references to fire and burns against a child’s skin. There is a brief discussion of enslavement. None of the violence is drawn out or intended to be graphic.
There are brief references to deadly illness and quarantine that were written prior to the pandemic. A child deals with mental possession and hearing resultant voices, and depicts resultant mental distress. Aspects of the plot deal with related invasive emotions and could be interpreted as psychological.
The plot involves a non-Earth religion and the followers of this religion learn that aspects of their faith are untrue. God-like characters interact in unsympathetic manners and may be harmed or cause harm, including potentially disturbing references.
Diamondsong
This project was completed between 2017 and 2020.
Diamondsong is generally set in a non-violent world and focuses on themes of non-violence, both physical and emotional. However it is not a fully non-violent story, in the interest of exploring those themes. There are brief acts of physical and emotional violence on and off camera, including mistreatment of babies, but I tried not to be more graphic than was necessary for the story.
The story includes mild alcohol use. A character suffers with drug addiction.
There are themes of classism, speciesism, and related brief instances of non-Earth supremacist language.
There is discussion of a past contagious disease, the pain it caused to the affected community, and how it impacted the actions of some since, including actions taken against the community of its perceived origin. This content was written prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Shkode Trilogy
This project was completed between 2014 and 2017.
This trilogy is written from a perspective of deep repression. It is set in a world that has overt themes of sexism, racism, and queerphobia, though not in the context of Earth races or cultures. I was still learning as a writer (and a person!), and so there are problematic elements.
The trilogy includes acts of violence, both emotional and physical, and murder against human and non-human characters. They are not graphic by many standards, but there are some that could be deeply upsetting. There are two terror-style attacks including suicide, use of blades and explosives, destruction of property, and death by fire. Acts of violence are depicted as harmful, not glorified, except in one instance of satire.
There are references to off-screen suicide, kidnapping, and child sexual abuse.
The series, especially the first book, has casual instances of ableist language, such as a character thinking she is “going crazy.”
The series includes alcoholism and alcohol abuse. A briefly-described consensual sexual encounter involves alcohol. A character uses drugs.
Birth scenarios are depicted.
While I am deeply passionate on issues of gender and gender freedom, there are elements that could have been done better. I was and am learning.
The inclusion of a trans character was done for specific and positive reasons that would be a spoiler to get into, but because of the way this idea was folded in with already developed plot ideas, the trans character has been subjected to severe violence, physical and emotional, and including brief instances of misgendering. I better understand the harm of this trope now, and I apologize for including it. (If you are not as familiar with this, yes, a trans hero can be the victim of violence—but because that is so common in stories with trans characters and also because of the sensitivity of issues facing the trans community, it should usually be avoided.) This character has meant a lot to people, including trans readers, who have reached out to tell me this. The character is a true hero, defined by much more than gender, and is presented with clear love and admiration. But the warning (which I understand is very serious) stands, so that you can make that choice.
This title contains both vegan and non-vegan characters. Treatment of animals is discussed.
Spireseeker / The Taking of Stonecrop
This project was completed between 2012 and 2014.
When I wrote this title (and its short prequel), I was not educated in either content sensitivity, tropes, or editing. (Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing.) I was also working through depression, untreated mental disorders, and other personal difficulties. So I advise you that this story is problematic. I can’t even list it all. However, the same naïveté and state of personal repression with which I wrote the book seems to be the reason why it so passionately loved by many. Many readers have told me that this title has spoken to them personally, and brought them through a time of difficulty in the way nothing else had. So I present the title as-written, but be aware that it frequently falls into tropes (never mean-spirited, but perhaps reflecting internalized harm) related to disability, abuse, and mental illness. Some of the characters fall into unintended stereotypes. I also, while deeply passionate about the exploration of gender, did not know the right terms then, and I frequently misspeak on these subjects.
Characters utter phrases of praise for and occasionally discuss an in-world (non-Earth) religion, which has been interpreted by readers as both pro- and anti- religion.
There is a poorly-written attempted rape that is not sexually graphic. Sorry.
The title includes violent acts and large-scale death against both humanoids and animals, psychological abuse, and (non-Earth, non-racial) slavery. While none of these are, by most standards, excessively graphic, they are certainly prominent and have explicit moments.
Alcohol is used and at one point, overused.
This title contains positive references to the use of honey. (I have not used bee products since 2014, but I did when this was written and published.) It features vegan and non-vegan characters and depicts animals being used and eaten.