So shiny! I'm a biiiit broke right now, but these are cool. Good luck! (I especially like the fish, somebody needs to get the fish.)

Orchids! So many things are blooming today! youtu.be/x0RiXLndMkg

Fuck, all I did was sew Lovanders and argue with idiots on the internet. At least I did the sewing part?

MARS (1980) Acrylic on illustration board - 4” x 5” Roman gods accompanied each planetary chapter of National Geographic’s Atlas of Our Universe, with this alternative preliminary concept for Mars depicting the god of war in action. www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/ma...

Too real.

FOOZLES! I've made a Foozle plush, and I might perhaps make another someday, I've gotten a bit of interest? But even if I don't, I'll always be fond of them, they're so fun! The gender-weird cuddly space Care Bear thing is just <3

I relate to the horrors of intricate hand-sewing. But also TRANS FLAG TARRANTULA EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! That is SO COOL!!!!

Whenever I see Protostega plastron bones, I want them to move like clock gears. As if you could wind up the turtle and watch it go.

Oh wow, I can feel the manic swing gearing up. Wish me luck channeling it usefully? Gonna take a LOT of luck given the state of my burnout and mental health in general, but I might wring *something* useful out of it, I'm actually really lucky when it comes to the bipolar thing.

...I just got a quarterly royalties statement and it's higher than the last one?????? Huh. Is this residual income? Have I made it? (It's low 3 digits, to be clear, but like, I'm used to double-digits quarterly at *best* so uh...yeah. Weird, but in a good way.)

One of those things that's only a joy because the alternative is artificial shit, but still... LOVE when I contact a small business and I know I'm dealing with a thinking human being and not a godsbedamned robot. It's so much easier when the thing on the other end understands your question.🫠

I love them! What a delightful borb.

Finally got to my lithops repotting. Have some baby butts! youtu.be/At-vuQS2GkU

no cheating, repost with the most recent picture of your pet(s) I knew this was going to be Kali right before she went. Right in the feels! But sharing anyway. She was an absolute bitch, but also my baby. <3 She's very missed. Though the goober is already excited about picking out a new cat.

And it's off! Submitted a story to something for the first time in... uh... a while. Everybody wish me luck getting in. I personally think this is one of my strongest stories ever, but it's also very, er, specific and niche. I THINK it's the right niche for the anthology, but we'll see.

I barely have two brain cells to rub together after the last few weeks, and I have to do a final read-through on a story. Thank the gods for my editor, I wouldn't trust myself to do shit right now, but it probably won't need anything else fixed. Still, it's very unfair to make me think right now!

Fuck yeah.🐺

I once had a magical thing happen. I said "I wrote this thing, and wow that was FUN to write, but now it's going to sit on my computer, no publisher would publish that heap of depravity!" and a publisher replied to my post with "Wanna bet? Send it to me and I'll have a look." Write the weird ones!

Speaking of Lovanders, the first three footer is coming along and the fabric for the giant gals had arrived.

Once again I am telling myself that I do NOT need more pins, but really, the pin banner still has space... (Honestly it's more "How will the budget look when it's time to pay." My bank account is still screaming, but hey, the Lovanders are coming along pretty quick.)

The final anomalocaris! I probably should have done a proper photoshoot, but this was a gift for a friend, so I didn't manage it. Happy New Years, invertebrate fans and #paleoart enthusiasts. And happy #InverteFest !

I WANT TO BUT I CAN'T FIND IT!!!!! If anybody can find an early to mid 90s book about theropods and/or dromaeosaurs having feathers when that was speculative, that included lovely soft illustrations (probably watercolor?) of velociraptor and so on in calm, resting poses, THAT shaped me so much.

Anomalocaris number three! I tried to do the "gill fringe" that seems to line the body segments, on this one, but it didn't come out looking like gills, it just looks weird. Oh well! The color scheme is based on a mantis shrimp. #InverteFest

Well, happy New Year to me. This is my first bluesky post to get over 100 likes. Nice! Obviously I need to really double down on the cool invertebrates next year, lol.

Here's hoping! Re: my last post, my most likely zine is stupidly wholesome, but my *next* most likely is incredibly depraved, and maybe I'll manage to do both!

2026 is the Year of the Horse - more specifically, the Fire Horse 🐴🔥 It's rumored to be an especially dynamic year that may call upon your rebellious instincts and will to fight. I hope all of the changes you experience are for the better! #art #happynewyear #newyear2026 #謹賀新年2026 #午年 #animal #horse

Yeah, okay, fuck, I have ONE resolution. Since my publisher cancelled my books on me, I gotta do it all myself, and I'm going to have at least ONE finished, awesome new self-published thing out next year. Zine, e-book, maybe even physical book I dunno. Probably zine? But yeah, DOING THE THING.

Hello, #InverteFest and happy almost-2026 (or already 2026 for some peeps!) Have anomalocaris plush #2. This one is based on the wikipedia illustration, though a little more simplified/chibi.

Now let's finish out #InverteFest with my favorite extinct invertebrate, anomalocaris! This is the first of four I've made (so far) and is based on a story I'm writing about the god Thanatos through deep time. :D The other three will be posting later today, so stay tuned.

Horror gods, whoever you may be, please let my finances recover enough in 2026 to buy EVERYTHING Tenebrous has ever published, preferably in dead tree edition. I'll make offerings, I'm good with blood, just tell me what I need to do, Amen.

I contain multitudes. There is screaming and bitching and freak behavior and also cute plush! Have another #invertefest post, this time a spanish shawl nudibranch.

Here's the vibe I'm taking into the new year: SCREAMING. Honestly NY stuff makes me SO ANGRY right now. 4 years running life has been hellish and every year I go "at least next year can't get WORSE?" and THEN IT DOES. Next year will be worse! I will die of stress! Happy fucking new year!

Spelling #invertefest right today, whoops!

Apparently I can't read, #invertefest has an extra E in it! Lol. Also I forgot to tag #hadesgame

Re: my cat Kali who passed today. Some of you may not know, but over a decade ago I made a fursuit based on her. I am not longer able to wear it (getting old means getting fat for some of us, lol.) But I still own it. Maybe someday I'll modify it for my current shape? Still glad I have it.

Just about out of days for #invertfest but that's okay, I'm just about out of invertebrate plushes. Obviously I need to make more! This is Legslegslegs the millipede. Three feet and 72 legs. :D

So I'm just gonna sell via dms/email forever now, i guess. Jesus Tapdancing Christ.

But I still don't have cool cyber body-mods! Why do we get the lame version and not the fun transhumanist one? Boooo.

...I appear to be Mother Earth? The biosphere? Or maybe just the plant part of the biosphere. (Last book I read was non-fiction.) If it's last fiction novel, I'm an entomologist, if zines count, I'm a cat that detects harmful radiation. :D Yay for reading broadly.

Welp, Kali had to be a stubborn little pee monster to the last. We had an appointment to have her euthanized this afternoon, but she just passed in my arms, and peed on me one final time. I'm going to miss her a lot.

If you see this, post a unicorn 🦄 (Four different plush, but they're all Princess Celestia, so I'm gonna insist "a" unicorn. Or alicorn. Whatever. :D )

More #invertfest fun, here's Antos! Also Mort, but rats are definitely vertebrates. Lol.

I did several test shells for the hermit crab, and I really don't remember why it ended up with a flat spiral for the final when I quite like the more cone-shaped one.

I haven't done my Tax Math yet (ohgods, the Tax Math is coming) so I don't have the numbers, but I suspect it's roughly 40% Everfree, 40% plush commissions, and the other 20% every other hustle I've got lumped together, but book sales are 5% tops, and declining since I have no new books lined up.

Not doing so hot. I had hit extreme burn-out three or four years ago, *before* horrible relationship bullshit, Cheetoh in Chief round two, couch crashing and SUDDEN DOG (love her, but those first weeks were wtf) and the "all day at the vet" week from hell, and now Kali is dying and I'm so exhausted.

You are missed 💜

A hermit crab that tucks into a pocket on a shell-shaped pillow. One of my favorite plushes ever! #invertfest

Any time you're doing a new "genre" of thing, or on a new platform, it will take *time* to build a following. You can get a little lucky and have something pop off virally early on, but barring that you're just gonna have to spend years putting in the work. Yes, years. Deal with it.

I'm gonna need some of these. :D