Cover reveal for A Fable For Hollow Creatures

Cover reveal!

A Fable for Hollow Creatures is releasing October 27th 2026!

I'm so excited to share this stunning cover by Lila Selle She's done a fabulous job with even the smallest details. I love the little mask, the swirling abyss, the claw and detailed filigree.

Doing a cover for a book is always a challenge, because it needs to convey to the reader what they're going to find inside. It's especially hard for a book like this, which combines creepy unsettling fairy tale horror and monsters that one might see in a T Kingfisher or Naomi Novik book, with the unique and sometimes whimsical fantasy characters one might expect from Howl's Moving Castle or the Emily Wilde series.

I think this cover does a wonderful job conveying that vibe.

Description of the book:

About the book:

A vengeful monster hunter is forced to work with a charming monster in this addictive blend of horror and fantasy.

In a world teaming with monsters and even more monstrous gods, Jierz lost her whole town to a creature that ate peoples minds and puppeted their corpses. Since then, she’s worked as a monster hunter, hoping for a chance at revenge.

But when a hunt goes wrong, she’s forced to ask for help from the only other survivor from her home, Halesz. He’s endlessly cheerful, perfectly charming—and not at all human, something she found out when she learned he spent the last year they knew each other stealing and manipulating her emotions with his magic. He’s also the reason she’s still alive when everyone else is dead.

But beggars can’t be choosers in the game of life and death, and Halesz, for all his faults (and there are many), comes running to help her. The problem is, now he won’t leave. He’s determined to win her friendship back—without any emotional magic at all, this time, or so he claims. And he’s going to prove himself by helping her finally get her revenge.

But this monster doesn’t want to be found, and while they may be monster hunters, that doesn’t mean they can’t be hunted...

A Fable for Hollow Creatures is coming Fall 2026!

I’m so excited to finally share with you my next novel!

A Fable for Hollow Creatures will be coming to bookstores near you in fall 2026!

This book will be my first published adult fantasy, and I’ll be writing under the name RR Schaeffer, both to separate my adult and ya books from each other, and also because my actual initials are RR so I couldn’t resist doing the Tolkien and Martin nod.

This book is for you if you like:

—T Kingfisher, Katherine Arden, or Heather Fawcett

—terrifying and unique monsters

—atmospheric, unsettling world

—Epic fantasy with revenge against creepy, powerful, and deeply fucked up creatures

—Complicated, deeply messy interpersonal relationships

—Twisted fables interspersed throughout the book

More information can be found here.

Dead But Not Gone Season One Finale

Tonight the season finale for Dead But Not Gone goes up!

I want to thank all my readers for coming with me on this journey! I've had a ton of fun working on this comic and I hope you all have too!

Now, for the updates I know a lot of you have been waiting for:

So, the good news is, there will be a season two. The bad news is that readership for season one was lower than Webtoon wanted, so instead of a full season two, I've been given the opportunity to do an abridged season two to wrap things up.

What does this mean? Some subplots will be cut, or condensed, and some plotlines will be simplified, but the core of the story will remain. It will be fast paced, twisty, and I hope, a satisfying read for all of you.

Even though next season will be shorter, it will still take us some time to draw the episodes. Mioko is one person, and good art takes time. I don't know when we'll be back, but I'll be sure to let all of you know when I am.

Until then, thanks for reading, and I hope you had fun!

Dead But Not Gone is here!

Introducing Dead But Not Gone!

I’m so excited to share my new webcomic with all of you. It’s about a lonely ghost who desperately wants to live again… and decides that he can do so by possessing the boy who’s just moved in.

It’s available to read for free on Webtoon now!

Cage of Dreams Release!

Cage of Dreams is now officially out in the world!

This is the conclusion to my comedic Gotham inspired duology, and I’m so excited to share it with you. It has everything I love, from angsty vampires and capricious dream demons, to dinosaur gang wars and malevolent turtles. It’s fun and funny and absurd to the extreme, and I hope you all enjoy it.

Official description:

Nineteen-year-old Ness used to have a vehement terror of Nightmares—people who’d been turned into their worst fears while they slept. Through two assassination attempts, an explosion, and a faustian bargain with a dream demon, she’s finally working through those fears.

Unfortunately, Nightmares aren’t the only dangerous thing in Newham. Working at a speakeasy where gunfights are common and death is a regular occurrence, Ness is forced to reckon with all her other fears—including her fear of mortality. It’s easy to die in Newham, but it’s hard to live.

So when the Nightmare Phantom—the monster that turns people into Nightmares—shows up, asking her another favor, she agrees, but only if he turns her into a Nightmare. One of her own choosing, something bullet proof and strong and able to live without fear.

But when Ness’s attempt to fulfill the bargain goes wrong, things start to spiral out of control. Now, Ness is in the crosshairs of enemies old and new, and this time, she can’t run from her problems. If she wants to survive, she’s going to have to conquer the most difficult enemy of all: herself

City of Nightmares is out now!

City of Nightmares is out today, and I couldn't be happier!

This is a book I've always wanted to write, though I never knew what form it would take. I've always loved action stories that were over the top, full of villains that were increasingly absurd--something I loved about both manga and western comics. And while the hero of those may only face one at a time in a villain of the week style, I always wondered about the background characters who just live in that world. What would it like to be a regular person in Gotham, where the Joker is running wild and the Riddler kidnapped your neighbor and the Scarecrow poisoned your whole building with fear gas? What would it be like to be the npc in that world?

As much as we all wish to be the powerful characters in stories, the heroes who can shoot lasers from their eyes or the billionaire villains who laugh at the good guys as they swoop away on their helicopters, most people aren't. We're the people left to live through the chaos made by the powerful.

This is a book about living in the chaos. About being powerless and scared as the world falls apart around you, and all you can do is keep going and hope for the best.

More than anything though, I wanted this book to be FUN. I wanted to write something that was absurd and wild and ridiculous, but also something wholesome, and empathetic, and funny. Something that took the absurdly chaotic, that took the complete lack of control in your own life and the world falling down around you and chose instead of spiralling into grim dark and depression, to simply reach out and give you a hug.

I hope you all enjoy City of Nightmares, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to share this story with the world.

I hope you all have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.

Cover Reveal for City of Nightmares

I’m so excited to share the cover for City of Nightmares, coming to you January 10, 2022


The cover was designed by Molly Fehr and art by Marissa Ware, and I love the shadowy city in the background and the toxic color scheme!

This book is about a coward accidentally caught up in a villainous plot in a city where people turn into their literal worst nightmare

You will like this book if you like:

—the unhinged chaos of things like Baccano and Everything Everywhere All at Once

—A Gotham-inspired city full of rampaging supervillains

—Vampires

—Black humor

Full summary:

Gotham meets Baccano in a story about a cowardly girl in a world where dreaming means waking as your worst nightmare
Ever since her sister became a man-eating spider and slaughtered her way through town, nineteen-year-old Ness has been terrified—terrified of some other Nightmare murdering her, and terrified of ending up like her sister. Because in Newham, the city that never sleeps, dreaming means waking up as your worst fear.

Whether that means becoming a Nightmare that’s monstrous only in appearance, to transforming into a twisted, unrecognizable creature that terrorizes the city, no one is safe. Ness will do anything to avoid becoming another victim, even if that means lying low among the Friends of the Restful Soul, a questionable organization that may or may not be a cult.

But being a member of maybe-cult has a price. In order to prove herself, Ness cons her way into what’s supposed to be a simple job for the organization—only for it to blow up in her face. Literally. Tangled up in the aftermath of an explosive assassination, now Ness and the only other survivor—a Nightmare boy who Ness suspects is planning to eat her—must find their way back to Newham and uncover the sinister truth behind the attack, even as the horrors of her past loom ominously near


Announcing City of Nightmares!

I’m so excited I can FINALLY share this with you guys! I’ve been holding onto this since fall 2020!

My next book, CITY OF NIGHTMARES is coming out in LESS THAN A YEAR. Its current publication date is January 10, 2023!

Official pitch:

GOTHAM and HOLLY BLACK. In a world where people go to sleep and can wake up as their worst nightmare, Ness, a certified coward, is forced to suddenly face her fears when she ends up tangled up in the aftermath of an explosion that killed hundreds and left only two survivors—Ness, and a Nightmare boy who she suspects might be planning to eat her. In order to survive, she'll have to figure out who’s trying to kill her, and stop them before she loses everything that matters to her.

Basically, it’s about a coward, a cult, an assassination gone so wrong, and a whole lot of monsters.

Some things this book features:
—a Gotham-style city full of so many villains they trip over each other
—black comedy
—a girl who joined a cult for the free food and rent
—The chaotic energy of Baccano
—hot sad vampire boy
—prohibition vibes
—so many different types of monsters

If you want to learn more, head over to City of Nightmares!

I really love this book, and I really hope you guys all will too!