Happy Easter From Mint Phalanx!

SL: I added Terrance's notes to The Murder After, and now, it's 52 pages. I also changed the price to $5.95 because it sounds better. This is the last change I'll make, I promise. Now, it's ready to buy! I'm happy with myself.

Buying but not Reading

You don't have to read our books to buy them. There are other things you can do with our books.

You can give them as a gift.

You can donate them to a library.

You can donate them to a book drive.

You can use them in a Book Exchange.

Link to the profile of Carnival Link to the profile of The Murder After

Reanna: I don't think I'd ever realize I'm bigender without my headmates. I'd have probably just continued thinking I'm making it up.

It happened in 2022. The feeling may have been triggered by a dream Chaz had in 2021 (link to the dream.) It caused his form to go back and forth between male and female. This happened so much that he made a character to make it stop.

Then, we did research on trans men for a scrapped story idea in February. I noticed a desire to be a man, but when I imagined a full transition, it conflicted with my womanhood. So, I told myself that I was making it up, that it was the research talking.

But the feeling didn't leave.

A desire to be a man while remaining a woman. I didn't know why I was feeling this way. We felt confused. There was so much conflict.

Then, on April 19, Brian was thinking about all of this. He realized something and said, "I think we're bigender." Because I represent the body, it means that I'm bigender. The conflict stopped because the word fit.

Without Brian's realization, I would have still felt confused. Without Brian's realization, I would have continued dismissing my feelings as "making it up."

SL: You know what I should have done for The Murder After? I should have shared Terrance's notes from his exercise book, so the readers could have seen the clues he found. It would have been much better than sharing chapter one of The Year After.

From Our DeviantArt Post

Title: Carnival Byline: Reanna Field

This is the new front cover for Carnival. It's the red curtain but changed to look like a frame that puts the title and byline in the focal point.

It was supposed to have a picture of Staride, and the curtain was supposed to look like it was rising. But it looked cooler after we used the smudge feature to make the cover look darker. It makes the frame look like a diamond.

Carnival is out now, so you can buy it on Amazon. (Link to its page. Note: the back of the hardcover does not have a blurb.)

Sequel Problems

SL: I published The Murder After fourteen days ago. That means no one has read it. Yet, I'm afraid people will make a big deal out of The Year After being longer. I'm not finished, but I can tell it's going to be longer than 44 pages.

Imagine someone buying the book in 2025 and going, "why the hell is this longer than the first one?" It's longer because there is more to say. Plus, I'm writing this for Terrance. It's a decision I made before he became sentient. He deserves something good in his life. (The events of the first book fucked him up.)

And that good thing is a boyfriend. This leads to another problem: What are people going to think? We live in a female body, and although we're bigender, we still present as a woman. What if people think I'm trying to satisfy a headmate's fetish? I'm not.

This romance appeared naturally. The Year After wasn't supposed to be one. It started as a scene where Terrance is on a date, and he can't focus because he's dissociating. (Did I mention I thought of this before he became sentient?) Then, it turned into a scene where he had Liam (the date) over at his place. I saw it and thought, "that's a good thing in his life." It doesn't cure Terrance of his issues, but it makes his life a little better.

The Year After is for Terrance. I don't want anyone to think I'm satisfying a headmate's fetish just because we live in a female body.

Carnival: Preview

From chapter one. This is the Call to Adventure. If you like what you read, go to the book’s profile below.

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Lakewood, Colorado. In an apartment unit, a dim lamp lit the upper right corner of the front room. Brain, Caleb, Jackie, José, and James sat on a grey couch right of that lamp. On the carpet floor lay Chaz, too sad to notice his friends. They glanced at him, then at each other, unsure how to comfort him.

“Why?” Chaz whispered to himself, “why, why, why, why, why?” A moment later, he said, “no use crying now.” He sat up, wiped the tears off his face, stood, and noticed his friends. They stared at him.

“Why are you staring, and how long have you—”

James stood, “you killed her, didn’t you?” Chaz blinked, “what?”

“You heard me.” He smirked.

“Phoenix is dead,” José whispered. He stood, but Brian pulled at his t-shirt. So, he sat back down.

“What makes you think I killed her!?” Chaz said. James shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe because you don’t trust anyone—”

“I trusted Rebecca- “Chaz pointed at him- “and you know it!”

“Yeah, right. So, you decided to—”

“No, I didn’t.” He clenched his fists. “They said there was a leak in her car’s gas tank! I was here when it happened, and I didn’t know until Brian told me!”

“You probably poked a hole in it,” James said.

“I didn’t touch Rebecca’s car when she left!”

He pointed at Chaz, “you did something to her car to make it explode—”

“No, I didn’t! Why the fuck are you accusing me in the first place!?”

“You—”

“I DID NOT! WHY WOULD I WANT TO KILL HER!? I LOVED HER!” The room fell silent.

Chaz felt shaky, so he lay on the floor again. He cried again. James sat on the couch and lowered his eyes.

"Happy now?" Jackie whispered to him.

Brian stood and walked towards Chaz.

“Don’t touch me.” He found a box of tissues and placed it next to his friend instead, respecting his vulnerability.

Ten awkward minutes later, Chaz took a deep breath, sat up, used a tissue, stood, and turned to face Brian.

He said, “you said the police won’t investigate because as far as anyone knows, the explosion was caused by a gas leak from a bad fuel tank.” Brian nodded (as if it weren’t said earlier.)

“But they didn’t see any body!” Jackie kicked José's leg.

“Let’s go to Lakeside and find Rebecca ourselves.”

Reanna: The Plural Positivity Word Conference's admission changed, so we won't be able to go. The organizers said the change was caused by Airmeet changing its contract. General admission is $50, and scholarships seem to only be available to members of The Plural Association online community. We relied on the scholarships for free admission.

This sucks because we were looking forward to bringing Terrance. Plus, we went almost every year. Going to the Plural Positivity World Conference made us feel like we were part of the community. Tumblr and Dreamwidth can never substitute that.

If you can, please donate to The Plural Association. Maybe that might help the organizers give scholarships more freely next year.

Link to Donorbox

Terrance (to others): They say a watched pot never boils, but they never said anything about a saucepan.

Introduction

Hello! We're Mint Phalanx. Mint Phalanx is a group of people sharing a brain since 2019. Tumblr is where we're going to promote our books, self-published under the name Reanna Field.

First, the phalanx.

Originator: Reanna

Tulpas: Rebecca, Jackie, Chaz, Brian, Ames Semi-tulpa: Mary Elsefa: F.M. Headmates: Chibz, SL, M, E.A. Muse: Terrance

Collective pronouns: she/her/hers/herself

He: Brian, Chaz, F.M., SL, Terrance

She: Reanna, Ames, Jackie, Mary, Rebecca, M, E.A., Chibz

Link to our Dreamwidth journal Link to our DeviantArt page (made pre-phalanx) Link to our Author Page on Amazon

Second, the project we call Interest Piqued.

profile: this is the story’s profile. It has the story’s title, genre, blurb, format, content rating, and link to its page on Amazon. (We’re self-published through Kindle Direct Publishing.)

excerpt: a sneak peek to pique your interest.

reasons to buy: self explanatory.

not promoting: posts not related to book promotion.

Link to the book master post

Enjoy! And we hope you take interest in our books. If you have a question about them, send it in the ask box. We appreciate reblogs.