About Havermouth
© 2035 by The Clinic. Powered and secured by Wix
Havermouth's Creation and History
I started writing The Pack’s Secret Keeper in May 2022. It was to be a non-exclusive Pay-Per-Chapter series for Radish Fiction and GoodNovel where long books tended to be outperforming shorter ones.
I initially conceived the Past Story Line – where in the last year of high school Aislen Carter meets the Triquetra, and their sexually charged romance turns toxic because of the secrets they’re all keeping from each other. I drew on my own teenage years, and the way the boys I grew up with talked about girls, and treated them.
Exploring my past experiences in writing Aislen’s was a very cathartic and also very enlightening process – I don’t think I’d ever truly processed how toxic and predatory the boys/young men I grew up around were until I was depicting an admittedly highly dramatized version of their behavior onto the page.
I realized that although my intention had been to write a dark romance, this was very, very dark and raw, and would polarize readers.
I had intended on writing the Present Story Line of Aislen’s return to Havermouth five years later as a separate book, but I decided to intertwine the two in order to show that although she’d gone through Hell with the Triquetra, she was far from broken.
(I had some readers love this decision, and others hate it – which is why I’m now releasing Havermouth in Chronological Order, starting with Havermouth’s Harem – Book One, Havermouth’s Secret Keeper.)
When I planned the Present Story Line for Aislen’s return to Havermouth, I had in mind something like a TV Series. A little bit of True Blood, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Once Upon a Time, but darker. With Aislen’s telepathy, and her abrasive history with the town, she’d uncover all their nasty secrets, however as I wrote this, the question of what Aislen was came up over and over, and I realized I needed a much bigger plan!
Aislen the Emissary was inspired by The Morrigan. The Morrigan is a triple goddess archetype, which fit well with the Triquetra. The river flooding was inspired by the story of The Morrigan in the guise of the Washerwoman of the Ford.
The town where I grew up was a river town and therefore this connected back to my teenage years and experiences of the river flooding, and all our social events being by the riverbank with a fire or swimming.
I have written about domestic abuse before in another book series and wanted to explore it again in Aislen’s toxic relationship with the Triquetra, and so deliberately included examples of gaslighting and DARVO. Writing about it expanded my understanding of these behaviors in relation to my own past, and I liked to think that I was giving others a safe place couched paranormal fantasy where they could recognize those behaviors as well.
Havermouth Emissary was finished December 2024. I hope that you enjoy the series!
Havermouth's Werewolf Hierarchy
I use this hierarchy often with my werewolf books, and no, it’s not one that most people are familiar with as it’s what makes sense to me.
Most werewolves have no rank. They’re just ordinary people. But with some people as they reach adulthood it becomes clear that they fit within a certain hierarchy of the werewolves.
Alphas – More aggressive, strong willed, less compromising, often narcissistic, cunning and conniving. Valued for their leadership skills. They are considered the top rank of werewolves.
Betas – A step down from alphas, betas tend have strong but more balanced and easy-going personalities. They are usually second in command, happy to take orders, but also happy and confident to give them.
Rogues – Rogues are most often alphas who as disenfranchised, or outsiders. Sometimes werewolves of other ranks become rogues through criminal activity or exclusion, but it is more commonly an alpha situation.
Rank Within The Triquetra and Pack
Supposedly, Triquetras are formed of alphas from leading werewolf families – the equivalent of werewolf royalty. However, throughout the series there are allusions that Jules Edison and Cameron Edison aren’t “as alpha” or “completely alpha” or “almost beta” because compared to the normal alpha personalities, Jules and Cameron are more laid back and easy going.
This is somewhat misleading as both display strong leadership skills, and both are strong willed and can be aggressive and temperamental – Jules focus just has always been on the land, and not on people, and Cameron is just contrasted against the extremes of his two alpha mates.
However, for the sake of ease – I often classify Cameron as Beta/Alpha.
Heath is all alpha, even to some levels, an extreme alpha.
Rhett is an alpha, but he is at risk of going Rogue because of his rebellious ways. He doesn’t like being told what to do, he doesn’t like conforming in any way, and he’s not afraid to butt-heads against other alphas to prove it. This is demonstrated through his personality, his style, his tattoos, his choice of career.
Heath worries a lot about what will happen if Rhett has motivation to go rogue against Heath’s leadership, and it is discussed how if Rhett hadn’t become part of the Triquetra, he probably would have gone Rogue from the pack at some point.
Everleigh's Favorite Lines
“They didn’t come with an instruction manual.” Aislen – speaking of the Triquetra.
“We fed your food, and he opted to watch TV in the bedroom rather than join us.” Rhett – speaking of Tyler to Talen.
“There is a saying that a man’s reputation is like his shadow. It sometimes follows him, and sometimes proceeds him, but it rarely fits him like a glove.” Talen – speaking of the past.
“What the actual fuck?” Cameron – being real about the creatures in the kitchen.