Blue Velveteen Dormouse is a 81,000-word Queer Lit Urban Fantasy occult mystery that blends Goth whimsy, dream logic, and emotional transformation. Think Haruki Murakami meets The Night Circus by way of Showgirls — if surrealist Andre Breton and Agatha Christie collaborated on a murder mystery. At its heart is a disillusionment arc: a young man’s search for magic, justice, and self-worth during the collapse of an epic, toxic MM romance.
Jonathan Love, a 21-year-old gay ballet dancer, is still glowing from his whirlwind wedding to Bigalow Love —a big record producer and part-owner of the decadent Bijou Burlesque — when the honeymoon shatters. Bigalow is arrested for the murder of Madame Dodi, a beloved local fortune-teller and drag queen. His alibi? At the time of the murder, he was inside a magical Blue Velveteen Dormouse mascot costume capable of soul-switching — meaning someone else was in his body while “he” committed the crime. The police aren’t buying it. Neither is Jonathan. But he can’t let go.
Teaming up with genderqueer parapsychologist Dr. Babs Matie, Jonathan dives into a surreal web of enchanted costumes, underground body-swapping rituals, and the Constellation of Nine — a cabal exploiting the Dormouse spell for high-priced, identity-switching prostitution. Each time Jonathan enters the suit, he becomes someone else — an aristocrat in Vienna, a stripper in Paris, a mercenary in a Russian bathhouse — peeling back layers of conspiracy. The deeper he goes, the more he suspects this mystery isn’t just about saving Bigalow…it’s about busting him.
The final act unfolds in a kaleidoscope of magic and betrayal: severed fingers, demonic prophecies, and a ritual dance of eighteen Blue Velveteen Dormice to trap the demon Asmodeus on the Summer Solstice. Whether Jonathan can save his husband’s soul — or choose to set it free — hinges on this last performance, one that may cost him everything but could win him his freedom.
With the theatrics of Pose,and the absurd body-swapping premise of Being John Malkovich, the result is surrealist theater, Blue Velveteen Dormouse is both a murder mystery and a story of transcendence. Beta readers praise its immersive world, diverse cast, and emotional resonance. It is currently in its fifth draft.
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Thank you,
D.W. Hamilton