Would any LGBT+ writers/artists creating in the dark SFF/horror genres be interested in being interviewed for the Divination Hollow Review's annual Pride month event? If you are, please drop a comment or send me a DM 😊 #booksky #writingcommunity

A quick reminder that I'm appearing in public giving a talk about queerness, witchiness, and Being A Goddamn Problem. If you're in the area and able to make it, come say hi!

Thanks to very enjoyable weekend writing sessions, the WIP is now just shy of 20k words !! I'm also starting to realize just how much I love writing horror 😆 How did your writing or reading go this weekend? #booksky #writingcommunity

For those wanting more queerness in their cyberpunk, I've got a cyberpunk retelling of Dorian Gray called EXQUISITE DECAY coming out in December! Y'all can add it here: app.thestorygraph.com/books/c4f9e5... #booksky #cyberpunk

Be part of the first-ever book exploring transness in cyberpunk Your support is an act of resistance in a time of surveillance & censorship What’s more punk than that? Not-for-profit crowdfund runs until March Let’s chronicle the new cyberpunk canon together! 🔗 www.backerkit.com/c/projects/s...

I wrote 3445 words today of the brand new YA novel I'm working on and it feels so good to be writing something new again! #amwriting #writingcommunity

CALLING ALL BLACK COMIC ARTISTS, WRITERS, AND ALL-AROUND CARTOONISTS! Reply to or quote this post showing off your favorite work so we can get more people reading your creations!

Wow, the new novel WIP is sitting pretty at 12 730 words!! No idea how or when that happened but yay! #amwriting #writingcommunity

It is rather odd to be working on a new novel for the first time in almost two years without any deadlines or pressure, just making words at my own pace for the sheer joy of storytelling. #WritingCommunity

It's official... My cyberpunk Dorian Gray retelling has a new title: 🖤🖤 EXQUISITE DECAY 🖤🖤 It'll hit shelves later this year. Cover reveal coming soon... #booksky

Hello #BookSky💙📚 community!!! Time for a little reintroduction? We are Tiny Ghost Press, an indie Queer publisher that publishes LGBTQ+ stories that are spooky, paranormal or just hit us different! 🐺👻🏳️‍🌈 We hope you’ll stick around, and of course enjoy our next release: KEEP IT IN THE DARK🧛🧛🖤

Hi All, I'm Xan and I have two queer books coming out this year!! 1. Exquisite Decay, a YA cyberpunk retelling of Dorian Gray 2. Born of Malice, an adult dark fantasy Here's a sneak peek at Malice: #QueerPrompts #booksky

When your copyeditor lets you keep your comma splices, semicolons, and em-dashes because they get your lyrical writing style 😍 😍 😍 #booksky #writing

THE SHORT STORY IS DONE!! And two days before the deadline!! 🎊🎊🎊 Also, why are there not more synonyms for corpse? I feel like we could do with a few more... And yes, this story is bleak. It's meant to be 😆 #amwriting #booksky

For anyone interested in helping people in Minnesota, and wanting awesome bookish goodies, please check out this auction. It closes on Friday: www.32auctions.com/organization... #booksky #minnesota

I needed this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jola... Just gonna have this play on repeat all day.

So I rewrote the WIP short story, scrapped the whole thing, just didn't vibe with it, and now I have 2500 words of a weird lyrical beast about a near-sentient city becoming a monster to fight the synthetic monsters rampaging in her streets. It's gonna get bloody. #amwriting #horror

When a review of the anthology specifically mentions your story 😊 "Kyi’yaji by Xan van Rooyen was one of my favorite stories, equal parts chilling and mesmerizing. I loved the concept within and how music was used as the catalyst. I found this one profoundly moving." Link 👇 #booksky #horror

The cover art for Born of Malice is in my inbox and it is STUNNING!!! I cannot stop staring at it, and I absolutely cannot wait to share it!! 😱😍😱😍 #booksky #amwriting

🎊 !!HAPPY RELEASE DAY!! 🎊 I am so thrilled this deliciously dark, diverse, and dynamic collection of short stories and poems inspired by all things African is now available wherever you buy books: www.simonandschuster.com/books/Sauuti... #booksky @sauutiverse.bsky.social

Why this out-loud edit is taking FOREVER: Decided to change a word. Did a search to make sure other POV character doesn't use this word. They do. Had to change word again, do another search. All good. Had to restructure whole sentence for new word. 15 minutes for ONE WORD! #amwriting #booksky

I'm a trans author in South America Please back my comicbook Kickstarter, "Legendary X-Knights #2" It's about queer heroes standing up to American imperialism. I want to inspire change, with character who represent the marginalized. BACK TODAY: www.kickstarter.com/projects/jam...

Research while working on copyedits at 10PM on a Friday night: 1. Which piano etudes have cadenzas 2. What's a good NRC rating for classroom carpeting 3. Technical difference between contagious and infectious #amwriting #booksky

To clarify, I meant the peanut butter filled pretzel snack things, not like the German bread.

Websites of African and Black Writers and Poets www.writingafrica.com/websites-of-...

I tried peanut butter pretzels for the first time today and why are they so bad!?!? How can you mess up peanut butter (literally the food of the gods!!) this atrociously!?!? 😭

Yes! I've got two anthologies I want to shout about: 1. Spring in the City from @ruadanbooks.bsky.social available everywhere: ruadanbooks.com/product/spri... 2. Sauuti Terrors by @sauutiverse.bsky.social available for pre-order: www.simonandschuster.com/books/Sauuti... #HorrorWritersChat

In my Gothic cyberpunk retelling of Dorian Gray, Exquisite Decay, it's the MC's eroding sense of morality (due to unintentional memory loss) and a corrupted AI - feasting on said memories - that antagonizes my characters. #HorrorWritersChat

In my dark fantasy novel, Born of Malice, the story features chthonic demigods - Nightmare and Chaos incarnate - who love nothing more than antagonizing each other 😆 #HorrorWritersChat

I tend to write very vivid description including all the senses, which makes my writing quite atmospheric and 'visceral'. Readers have told me they feel immersed in my stories, like they could taste/smell what I'm describing. Not great when the story is littered with corpses 😆 #HorrorWritersChat

I love to play around with the conception/perception of self, especially the fallibility of memory, and the disintegration of identity through physical/psychological or other changes, whether real or imagined. #HorrorWritersChat

Hi, I'm Xan (they/them) an autistic, nonbinary South African in Finland. I write dark fantasy, Gothic, folk- and body-horror. Influences incl. graphic novel authors like James Tynion IV & Jeff Lemire, as well as CG Drews, Andrew Joseph White, Lee Mandelo, & Silvia Moreno-Garcia. #HorrorWritersChat

And my copyedits are DONE!! But since I've got the time (deadline is Jan 31), I'm going to do a full read through of the ms, out loud, for final fine-tuning. Dare I say I'm feeling good about this book?? 🙂 #booksky #amwriting

Things I have googled today while working on copyedits of Exquisite Decay (my Dorian Gray retelling): 1. The difference between ebony and mahogany 2. How combat androids might be programmed 3. Images of metallic gold with a purple shimmer #amwriting #booksky

Why is no one talking about the absolute brilliance of Hazbin Hotel?? This show is enthralling and has my whole heart! 😍

What if I just let all those poor dangling modifiers be, and called it 'style' ?? 😆😆 /this is a joke - I am obviously fixing them. #amwriting

My copyeditor has done an absolutely PHENOMENAL job!! This book is going to be so much better (and more consistent, ahem) because of her attention to detail. Dear Dana @tinyghostpress.bsky.social, THANK YOU!! I've never been this excited about working on copyedits before 😍 #amwriting #booksky

I cooked kabocha squash for the first time tonight and I have to admit kabocha squash is the superior squash and my new favorite pumpkin. Sorry, butternut - you've been relegated to second best.

Had a really good writing session in my favourite local cafe today. I'm just shy of 5k on the short story now but oof, I don't know how to end it. I always struggle with the endings of short stories. It needs to pack a punch and I never feel like I do that well enough 😟 #amwriting #WritingCommunity

January is gonna be busy: 1) Want/need to finish this short story 2) Need to do copyedits for the Dorian Gray retelling 3) Got short stories to read/edit for the anthology I'm editing 4) And anticipating copyedits for Born of Malice arriving I am so ready! 😍💪 #WritingCommunity #booksky

And now the short story is at 3,8k words. The limit is 7,5k so I think I'm okay. Got a few scenes left to go before this one is finished, I think. It is not an easy story to write, but it is an important one. #amwriting #WritingCommunity

While all my stories are personal, either born of or have threads of lived experience stitched into the larger tapestry of plot, world-building, or character, the short story I'm working now is easily the most personally piece of fiction I have ever written 😵 #WritingCommunity #booksky

The short story is now at 2.3k words! 😊 How is your wording going #WritingCommunity ?

So after I finished edits, I planned to take a break from writing and yet I somehow accimagically have 1.5k words of a new short story 😆 If I can finish this by the end of the month, I'll be able to submit it to specific anthology call... hm... #amwriting #writingcommunity

And if you'd like to get acquainted with my writing but not sure where to start, might I suggest checking out I Heart Robot or My Name is Magic, both books are part of this Sci-fi and Fantasy promo happening over here: books.bookfunnel.com/fantasyandsc... #booksky

Welcome new followers and new readers! Here's a little of what you can expect from my books: #booksky

Storygraph wrap-up !! I do love seeing all my reading stats. The most surprising one for me is that I discovered 89 new-to-me authors this year! 😍 Here's what I read... #booksky #storygraph

Very ALL of this!!

An excellent article by Chisom Umeh regarding the negativity and vitriol people receive when they post their high reading stats: open.substack.com/pub/izomchis... #amreading #booksky

SOUND THE TRUMPETS (or blast the palace kakakis rather) because I DID IT!! These edits are DONE! My novel about factious demigod siblings making poor choices that leave them stumbling toward a self-inflicted apocalypse is now ready for copy edits!! 🎊😎🎊 #amwriting #booksky