The quick version: ‘Mostly Lies’ is an independent, self-publisher of Fantasy, Horror and Paranormal fiction.
As of 2018, most of the titles are by one Jordan Castle (me!) Self publishing is a relatively new phenomenon, and if it holds to the same pattern as other forms of self-produced content (e.g. YouTube) then it has a very interesting and bright future.
This website is both a platform for the fiction and the general exploration of this emerging practice.
Longer version
This ol’ site has gone through many iterations.It started with my somewhat compulsive habit of buying up neat sounding domain names. I couldn’t believe that there wasn’t a site called “mostlylies.com,” so I purchased it. There it sat for a long while, until three friends and I started toying with the idea of a webcomic and podcast combo. Among us we had a bunch of web, writing and design experience (and a desire to at least see what happened when we recorded ourselves talking and drinking for a few hours). The domain found a purpose, and a rather sleek and sexy site was born.
Alas, as is the case with many ambitious-yet-unprofitable creative ideas, after a few months of keen effort it fell by the wayside. We got a few good recordings and several beautiful comics out of it. The only surviving pieces of that site would be those comics, some of the colour accents (pink, green, blue, orange) and the actual logo/mascot (whose name is Dimlit, for those taking notes). Shoutout to Joe Pelow for all the design work, including the comics!
V2 was stripped down version of original, and simply displayed some of the early titles that are still here, such as The Mountain Dancer or Ghost Train. It hung around doing not much of anything for while. Then, I was hit with some inspiration and decided to remake the whole site (V3) in Wix . Yeah.
Don’t get me wrong, Wix is great for non-web people who need to get a site going and want a few more bells and whistles than typical out of the box WYSIWYG site builders. But, inevitably, I became frustrated with my lack of control over certain elements.
So, I took it back to WordPress–the version you see today (Nico theme by CSSIgniter).
The purpose is still the same: showcase the titles, display some blog posts and other pages. An eventual ideal is to expand this place in a solid resource for self-publishers.
About me
I’ve been writing fiction since I was six years old or so. But I never seriously considered the idea of seeing a book of mine on a shelf somewhere. Writing was always a hobby to me.
In late 2014, that all changed. A lifetime of ideas, concepts and half-finished stories combined and encountered a blast of inspiration, and I wrote my first bona fide novel. I put it up for free on Wattpad, where it reached #7 in Fantasy after being featured. Who needs bookstore shelves, when you have the magic of the Internet?
This spark ignited a passion. I started to research publishing, I joined online writing communities, and I connected with other writers. In 2015, I started a personal journal. It helped me get through some stuff (still does), and reaffirmed my love of the craft, and how important writing is for me. In 2016 I wrote another novel in the same world as the first. I learned how to use Scrivener and publish using KDP, and put out a few short stories along with a novelette.
I repurposed this site to serve as my self-declared imprint. More stories are on the way, with lots of stuff on the go!
This place will document the journey, thirty years now in the making.
— Jordy aka Jordan Castle