By: Alex Wright

Some stories arrive like a whisper. Others strike like lightning.

Dar Dowling’s Sexy Bloody Mess is the latter — a charged, genre-defying fusion of supernatural action, queer mythology, and visual storytelling that feels as if it burst fully formed out of the city’s pulse. It’s a book that resists categorization and instead creates its own lane, where gritty urban fantasy meets emotional depth, and a cinematic visual style runs beneath the prose like an electric current.

“I don’t even know where it came from,” Dowling says. Sexy Bloody Mess was a moment of pure inspiration. I just knew I wanted to create something new and original — something that felt alive.”

That aliveness thrums through every confrontation, every subterranean secret, and every moment where love, loyalty, and violence collide. 

A Love Letter to New York’s Seen and Unseen Worlds

The novel unfolds across a New York that feels mythic and hyper-real all at once. Above ground, the city crackles with supernatural tension, shifting alliances, and the weight of choices that could alter the future. Below ground, forgotten tunnels house a strange and ancient chorus — rat-faced gargoyles offering cryptic commentary from the shadows.

Dowling’s New York isn’t grim for the sake of darkness — it’s alive with layers, history, magic, and memory. The mystical and the mundane don’t just coexist; they collide, overlap, and infect each other with meaning.

But beneath the chaos lies something tender: a story about belonging.

A Reluctant Warrior, Two Lovers Fighting the End of the World, and a Chosen Family Born in Blood

Connor — straight, human, and thrown into a supernatural war without warning — is a refreshing kind of protagonist. He isn’t destined, trained, or groomed for greatness. He’s simply doing his best to survive and evolve as reality tilts beneath him.

“Connor isn’t perfect,” Dowling says. “He’s just trying to figure out who he is in a world he never expected to be part of.”

Enter Sheba and Lady Bidet — fierce, loving, battle-scarred, and deeply connected to each other. Sheba is a lesbian warrior carrying centuries of knowledge and an impossible mission: stop an approaching apocalypse. Lady Bidet is a bisexual beam of intuition, creativity, and fierce devotion — a grounding force who balances love with a hunger for joy and freedom.

Their relationship is not a subplot.

It’s the emotional and strategic core of the book.

Dowling explains:

“I love the fact that the three of them eventually become a chosen family. Yes, Lady and Sheba already have that connection — but something bigger forms. It’s a family of the heart in a chaotic, bloody world.”

This isn’t a love triangle.

It’s an alliance born of purpose, survival, and unexpected trust.

It’s messy, beautiful, and emotionally true.

A Hybrid Book with Cinematic Bite

One of the defining elements of Sexy Bloody Mess is its fusion of prose and illustration. It’s not a graphic novel — and as Dowling notes with a grin, “it’s not a movie yet.” But the visual storytelling elevates the narrative and deepens the tone.

“I combined prose and illustrations because I wanted the book to have a graphic novel or cinematic feel,” she says. “Even though it’s not a movie yet, the illustrations add another layer of reality.”

The images feel like evidence: artifacts from another dimension, snapshots pulled from a story too alive to sit still. They give the world texture, presence, and emotional weight.

A Wild Ride Designed for Total Immersion

Dowling’s intention for the reading experience is crystal clear.

“I hope when people read it, they get lost in the moment,” she says. “I designed it to be a wild ride — something that fully immerses you in the story.”

Sexy Bloody Mess achieves that in spades. It’s violent, tender, queer, irreverent, and deeply human. It carries the grit of John Wick, the irreverent flair of Harley Quinn, and the heart of a story rooted in love, identity, and the creation of family through crisis.

It is, in many ways, a signature expression of Dowling’s creative brand, DarMa — a fusion of dark aesthetic, emotional truth, visual storytelling, and rebellious imagination. The DarMa style is instantly recognizable: cinematic, alt-glam, mythic, and grounded in the idea that art can be both fierce and deeply heartfelt.

The Beginning of Something Bigger

Hints within the book tease a wider mythology, ancient forces rising, and emotional arcs just beginning to unfold. There’s a sense that Sexy Bloody Mess is just the opening salvo — the crack in the universe before everything pours through.

And if this debut installment is any indication, what comes next will be wilder, deeper, and even more impossible to classify — in the best possible way.

Step Into the Story Everyone Is Talking About

Dive into the chaos, beauty, danger, and heart of Sexy Bloody Mess.

Meet Connor, Sheba, and Lady Bidet — and discover a world where queer love, unlikely alliances, magic, humor, and blood collide in unforgettable ways.

Sexy Bloody Mess is available now on Amazon — are you ready to fall in?