not to be obnoxious, but my debut novel is NOW OUT! please consider purchasing a copy of BLACK AS DIAMOND or borrowing it from the library 🖤💎 #2026debuts

BLACK AS DIAMOND, my debut novel is OUT NOW! AHHHHHH!!!! go grab a copy of this epic dark fantasy about fate & free will TODAY 🖤💎 it's not fully computing that i'm a published novelist now, hooolyy shitt... #2026debuts

The gallows creak. The tumbleweeds roll. The land remembers every soul it’s swallowed. And now, these creators step into Devil’s Claim... please welcome Ares , @mattbrownwrites.bsky.social , @megaducko.bsky.social , and @nebulouswrites.com 🤍🌵 #zine #westernhorror #oc #originalcharacters

T&F Volume 4 features... ✒️ “Divinity, Abloom” by @nebulouswrites.com ✒️ “A Village Born After the War” by @awintersplace.bsky.social ✒️ “The Little Mouse Knight” by Aaryan Balu

happy days everyone! augur came out with another banger yesterday & i have a story in it!! please enjoy <3

no you are not oppressed for liking cishet f/m when it's the default across every single facet of society ffs 🤦🏾‍♀️

Alucard's prologue attire from Castlevania: Nocturne Season 2, now available on Blu-Ray 🦇

I AM PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE I HAVE RECEIVED A FINALIZED COPY OF BLACK AS DIAMOND 🖤💎 she's so beautiful i need to fucking CRY & WEEP ashskdldklj!!!!!! THANK YOU @binderybooks.bsky.social #2026debuts

Illustration for the Castlevania Piano Collection vinyl

finally crossed 100 rejections recorded on the grinder this week. just 900 more to go. perhaps sometime between now & then there'll be a clarkesworld acceptance :)

I take back everything reasonable I said during the SFWA debate. Until we have regulations in place on this monster shit, I am unreasonable. I am reactionary. I am anti-progress. They are posting pictures of naked 14 year olds, WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE DOING HERE.

The one, the only: the ✨UNMISSABLE SFF of 2026✨ list! 🎆 🎆 🎆 🎆 🎆 aka all the fantasy and sci-fi that should definitely be on your tbr, how are these not on your tbr already??? you poor unfortunate soul, let's fix that! buff.ly/IWTR8A6

to close off 2025, a flash of mine was published in baffling mag today! if you're a fan of crowwkui's wlw frankenstein, toxic yuri, and body horror, you'll probably like this story: www.bafflingmag.com/issue-twenty... happy new year 🖤💎

A: i plan to keep going the same pace and abandon resolutions! in terms of worldbuilding i'd like to focus more on Ešurassun and the TTRPG setting i want to run (👀). my writing goals are to write 1) more short stories & 2) a novel—literally ANY novel orz happy new year~! #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: i feel a pretty neutral "meh" about it. definitely did NOT write as much as i wanted (which was to complete the zero draft of a novel... didn't happen). despite this, i like a lot of what i wrote and am coming to appreciate my style more because at least i CAN write! #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: something unique about Ešurassun is that it's one of many realms dotting the spokes of a world known as the Wheel: a literal wheel with "heaven" as the hubcap! and the necrotic energy of the dead worlds along the spokes have slowed down the wheel, therefore time itself #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: there's very little water on Ešurassun, only one river and a small sea. around Kaftoares some of the snakes that inhabit the island are aquatic. there are also frogs, as well fish (still working on what kinds specifically) who eat the riverside clay #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: sorry they keep cropping up this week, but cetus are flying space whales! many demons have flight-capable wings (Gozzimir, lamashtu, & minor spirits). and there are also winged-snakes, an invasive species from another realm in symbiotic relationships with cetus #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: this part of the world is underdeveloped, so brainstorming time! Ešurassun probably has flightless birds who burrow under sand, lizards drawn to the desert oases, and horsey-dinosaurs people can ride as mounts. and with the existence of witches, frogs are a must as well! #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: this part of the world is still a work-in-progress, but one of Zel's powers is that she can *turn into* cute animals! though, it's not quite shapeshifting. she specifically likes turning into a super fluffy lion and laying in Tapputi's lap since Ta loves big cats #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: demons are not animals but creatures of questionable sapience (due to the fact that in this* realm, they're all under the control of the Bird King, as well as consummate liars). while mostly nocturnal there are 2 notable exceptions that bring doubt to demons' true natures #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: touched on this a bit in the previous prompt, but the colossi are megafauna. more than 10x larger than titanoboa, these giant serpents resemble statues when stationed at the gates of Ešurassun's major cities. and being made of stone they don't need food for sustenance #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: cetus - space whales with special horns that open portals to other realms upon resonating with a "singing stone" (portal sizes are based on the stones). their hollow insides allow them to transport people and cargo without being cursed by alternate realm polarities 1/3 #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: there are a few! for example, cetus operators oversee portal travel between realms, most necromancers tend to corpse clean up (Tapputi is a... unique exception), and oracles whose job it is to keep "in tune" (like a radio) with the demigods who provide their visions #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: so... as has been made abundantly clear by now, Ešurassun heavily features slavery (inspired by greco-roman and other mediterranean systems). while there has been a slight softening in recent times, slave trading was massive when Zel was a child 1/4 #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: haha... well, yes. but very few—even with the general amelioration of slavery across Ešurassun. for the most part servants and helpers are slaves, except high tier positions like perfumers, priests, cetus operators, and certain thaumaturges #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: routines! Laín rides a horse that they (obviously) care deeply for—feeding, watering, grooming, etcetera. before [REDACTED] Zel did daily sword training, but has now replaced that with writing practice for spoiler reasons. and Tapputi goes foraging as often as she can #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: Masede can weave due to her status (almost all elite women create textiles). Laín knows armour repair and clothes mending because their people are known for intricately smithed suits of armour and have a culture of independence that makes these homemaking skills necessary #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: since most of Ešurassun is desert, keeping on top of food production is vital for basic survival. around the temples and cities, farming is the main form of food-related labour; on Kaftoares, it's fishing; and in the mountainous plains region hunter-gathering reigns #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: what an unconventional prompt! okay, so everyone who lives in a temple does chores from sunrise to sunset (ie. collecting clay, preparing offerings, cleaning tombs). and due to Ešurassun's desert climate, sweeping sand is THE most commonly performed chore everywhere #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: haven't actually considered this yet! children of wealthy families have unfree nurses; while slave children are given basic care by the temple staff and very minimal education—unless chosen for the [REDACTED] or handpicked to become a member of the religious authority #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: Kaftoares is the one kingdom on Ešurassun known for its symbology. snake are the centralmost image as the royal family allegedly descends from a snake demigod. so for this reason the most important aspect of their legacy is maintaining a serpent priest every generation #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: not 100% on this yet, but bastards definitely don't have any claim; however, [REDACTED] monarchy is starved for heirs and are willing to legitimize those with confirmed blood ties. there's also lots of chosen families, so the attitude towards inheritance is pretty chill #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: The Bird King is the last god Zel has to kill... and a father? kinda?? his "family" are the Errata sisters, demigods cloned from [REDACTED], more vessels for his divine energy than actual people. plus he hasn't seen them in centuries so their relationship is non-existent #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: Zel is an orphaned ex-slave who has never known any* sense of "family." though raised in a temple with other children, the harsh work prevented forming close bonds so Zel's only vaguely familial relationship was with a fellow claymaker who has long since died... 1/4 #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: workshopping the details, but elites hire chemists to make stills that prevent pregnancy & regulate their own reproduction much differently than the rest of Ešurassun. there are also wild abortifacient/contraceptive plants that folk healers and non-elites make use of #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: Ešurassun contains 3 former slave-societies inspired by Orlando Patterson's definition of slavery as "the permanent, violent domination of natally alienated and generally dishonored persons" so for 10k years this has affected how most of the world views family as 1/2 #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: astrology will have relevance in Ešurassun's culture due to the gods, the geography of the world/wheel, and the fact you can see the vault of heaven from anywhere at all times—including the brightest hours of the day. but this aspect of the world is still mostly a wip #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: not sure if this counts, but in terms of symbiosis, the cetus are creatures (space whales) that create portals between realms. the Ešurssuni have harnessed this migration and hitch rides to other worlds by artificially activating the cetus' portal opening abilities #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: the most notable disease on Ešurassun is necromancy. unleashed by the fall of the Tower of Laverna, necromancy is an infection that causes necrosis where necromancers must "pour" their excessive life energy into corpses to keep from necrotizing into a state of living death #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: Ešurassun is a sword, sandal, sorcery setting roughly equivalent to neo-babylonia. their tech level is actually behind other realms in this world. the most progression has been made in terms of inter-realm transport, agriculture, & medicine—WRITING* doesn't even exist yet #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: the deuteragonist is inspired by Tapputi-Belatekallim, the first recorded chemist. in Ešurassun, chemistry is a form of magic where thaumaturges brew potions imbued with divine energy. palace chemists (perfumers) are assassins retained for their skills with poisoned stills #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: evolution mostly; and while there are gods, they aren't "the" creators. evolution resulted in anthrokith and alethokith. witches, on the other hand, are believed to be some kind of cursed genetic anomaly due to their drastically different appearances from the kith #DecemberWorldbuilders

A: sort of. there are no institutes of science on Ešurassun, but anyone who wants to participate in "research" can become a palace perfumer (chemist) if free, necromancer if infected, and lector priest if a temple slave or elite who binds oneself to a temple #DecemberWorldbuilders

Family Portrait by Katie Silva (@/kloysius) for the Castlevania Limited Edition Box Set 🦇

Issue 8.3 features... ✒️ "On Fields of Purple Grass" by @ianli.bsky.social ✒️ "Tapetum Lucidum" by @nebulouswrites.com ✒️ "The Great Divide" by Meryem Yildiz ✒️ “Chlorophilia” by @mikethorn.bsky.social & @miriamricher.bsky.social augursociety.org/augur-issue-... 🧵

YAY AUGUR MY BELOVED!!! i loved working on this piece, and it also comes with an eerie illustration! please enjoy reading everyone <3

I need everyone to feast their eyes on this STUNNING tarot done by the IMMENSELY TALENTED AND SUPER KIND Caemi of the main character from my debut novel (now available for preorder~~)!!! Thank you Caemi once again for the art!!! And Mecenates for hosting the raffle!! 🖤🖤🖤💎💎💎 #2026debuts