Barb Writes

Specifically:

Of Monsters and Mainframes

Amazon ✦ Barnes and Noble ✦ Bookstore.org

Of Monsters and Mainframes is a novel about a spaceship who decides to kill Dracula. It's 80,000ish words and came out in June 2025 with Bindery Books.

She's A Doll

She's A Doll is a horror/comedy about a ghost who, in the moment of her death, glued her ectoplasm to a porcelain doll (functionality ain't the best, but aesthetics are on point), and she's not letting go until she's found the man who killed her and returned the favour.

Coming out Fall (the Northern Hemisphere one) 2026 with Bindery Books.

The Secret Lives of Zombie Wives

The Secret Lives of Zombie Wives is a fun, freaky, fleshy little book about a trad wife influencer who has totally left her zombie days behind her... except maybe she hasn't. Maybe, in order to live her true authentic self she should reintroduce brains into her diet, her husband's brains specifically.

A girl's gotta eat after all.

Coming February 2027.

The City of Monsters Duology

The City of Monsters Duology is the story of a city, and the supernatural power struggles within it. Both games are full of paranormal thrills, romance, and choices, both big and small, that will change the course of the city.

These interactive novels are written with choicescript and released via Hosted Games.

App Store ✦ Steam ✦ COG Forum ✦ Tumblr Post

Blood Moon is a 445,000 word interactive novel. Play as a werewolf as you defend your pack against vampires and (if the mood is right) fall in love. Published with Hosted Games.

Free Demo ✦ Tumblr Post ✦ COG Forum

Thicker Than is a in development sequel to Blood Moon. Play as a fledgling vampire turned undead lord surviving in the aftermath of a werewolf attack. Schemes, politics, and danger are around every corner. Release date TBD.

Ren'py Shorts

Back in 2023 I wrote and released a handful of short games made with Ren'py. They're free and (in my humble opinion) very fun. Featuring fairies, mermaids, and super powered farm kids.

You can find and download all three games on my itch.io.

I also have a website and a KoFi page which is the best place to support me, if you like what I do.

I'm on chapter 12 and still haven't seen any mention of the name. Is he the type of character you can only meet on certain routes?? I could be forgetting something...

Btw, love the if :> Tracy is my beloved and so is Marcel. ❤️

The vibe I was going for was bodyguard.

That's why Iliya and no one else follows you around. Because he's the big, intimidating guy. The muscles. The whole showing-up-to-a-preschool-play-with-a-guy-who-looks-and-sounds-like-a-gangland-mafia-dude-and-is-obviously-shadowing-you-like-you're-hiss-boss-because-you-are started as a joke. I liked the idea of the other parents being like:

I admit, I wandered away from that inspiration a lot as the character developed. Characters tend to do that. You start off with an idea, and they grow from there.

Yep. Vampire the Masquerade is a huge inspiration for Blood Moon and Thicker Than. I played an epic game of it back in 2019 with my friends (met and made a lot of new friends around that table that I'm still friends with today). While hunting for a fix of that during the pandemic I found VtM Nightroads which is the game that got me into CoG.

Obviously, vampires that become a corpse during the day dates back to the vampire panic (both the Europe and the new england variety) that happened in the 18th and 19th centuries, what with people digging up bodies and staking them due to a spike of deaths (that we now know were likely caused by TB or other pathogens). Also Dracula did it in his book. When exploring castle Dracula Jon finds Dracula as a corpse during the day... but VtM has kept it fresh. Especially when you consider how powerful vampires can get, I think it's great to give them a little kryptonite. They're gods... but they'll always be brought low before the sun.

My vampires are weaker than most in the sun. There is no get out of jail free card. Even an ancient vampire will burn as quick as a fledgling. There's no powers they can have or magic they can use that'll mitigate it. They also do turn into corpses, making them so, so susceptible to hunters.

The sale is on at B&N over here, but you can preorder it at a bunch of different places. I often buy from Blackwell's (for a stupid inside but-not-that-inside joke reason) and from Booktopia because I'm Australian, but I also try to support my local book store when I can, and sometimes they can get good preorder deals if you ask.

Needless to say, She's a Doll is around. You never know where it'll be. Many places, hopefully. In your house one day? Perhaps.

The cover was organised by my publisher Bindery Books. I got to consult on it (which is such a cool experience) but lion's share of the artistry, ideas, and awesomeness come from the designer Charlotte Strick and illustrator Christian Chang.

My big contribution was: 'I like the pink... make it more pink.'

And now it is so beautifully, radioactively pink.