MELT: refrain [PREORDER]

re·frain /rɪˈfreɪn/

n. the burden of a song.
v. to hold back.
n, again. the burden of a man.

what you return to, again and again.

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PREORDERS OPEN, AVAILABLE AUGUST 2026.
Buyers receive a preview of the full first chapter on preorder!

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One-two-three-four…

Have you been enjoying your holiday?

The London-based Ichorous Innovations was founded, ostensibly, sometime in the 1900s by René Louvel, a man determined to not only research, but build, a better life for people like himself—vampires, that is. Surely the specific year is on their company logo or something, but Hector can never remember it. He’s preoccupied with other, more important things, like the next time he’s going to get laid, the shock waves up his arms when he cracks someone’s skull, or, most recently, hazy memories from a birthday party that ended in sharp glass being plucked from his forehead by cold, gentle hands.

The fact that it took two decades of animosity is truly impressive, he'll give himself that much. Not his fault ████ has an explosive fuse and a mean left hook.

The company was founded, for the record, in 1922, though it didn't get off the ground until several years later. This information is burned into Simon's retinas, courtesy of a keen memory and too many hours staring at the plaque on Lee's wall proclaiming as much. Same goes for the image of blood streaming down Hector's face, and the knowledge that Simon can't let something like that happen again. Managing the tension grows more difficult by the day, though, as being a turned vampire is just as taxing during its eighth year as it was on day one.

Simon's always thought it was the short end of the stick. Being proven right has never tasted so sour.

…five-six-seven-eight.

Relearning the world is a nightmare.

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AKA:

Morally grey corporate vampires in a semi-functional T4T polycule, or
medically managed immortality isn't all it's cracked up to be, or
when your interpersonal life is also an organizational chart, or
vampires in love (and other four-letter words).

MELT: REFRAIN is the first book in a queer horror series about reinventing what it means to be alive—to live—and the pieces of yourself you lose along the way.

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Stats: Novel | “Urban science-fantasy horror romance”, or: the specfic smorgasbord | ~50k words | Explicit | M/M*, T4T(4T4T4T...) | Vampires in love (and other four-letter words) | Complex extended polycule

Content advisory (contains spoilers!)

This story is for mature audiences only and deals with topics including abuse, violence, death, medical content and discussions of illness, fantasy and real-world bigotry, and sexual assault. Please read responsibly.

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Want a physical copy? Follow the Backerkit campaign for the print run to be notified when it starts in October, and get some exclusive goodies along the way.

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External credits:

Cover illustration by visceralhit.

This book is priced so I can withdraw my payout balance with just one purchase. To learn more about how much your favorite creators get paid per purchase, visit itch’s Creator FAQ page under the “Open Revenue Sharing” header.

GenAI didn't and will never touch this. Get bent.