Preorders are now open for The Colors That Haunt Us. This queer gothic novel about art, grief, obsession, longing, and a house that does not let go will be available October 8. You can find all preorder links here: www.aspenrayne.com/books #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #QueerBooks

#WeeknightWriters I do! I have officially announced my novels release date of october 8th and pre order links are coming soon (most likely tomorrow if I can get my shit together)

#WeeknightWriters A3: a lemon drop frappe my cat and coming out the other end of a massive writers discord explosion with a group still active and leaving the bad behind.

#WeeknightWriters A4: not really sure tbh. Maybe try to go to sleep earlier but we are hitting what is known as second Fourth of July here in Utah and so there’s more fireworks going on.

#WeeknightWriters The same way I always am. Numb tired and refusing to look up any news. I assume that anything important will make its way to me eventually.

#WeeknightWriters Hey I’m Aspen! I’m working on a few things, right now I’m editing a fantasy novel about Elyse and cassia and then trying to save their realm. As for how the writing week is going, I hit my monthly goal today! 🎉

#SFFChat A3: yes. In one of my novels being low on magic is considered both a chronic disorder and an acute one. It causes pain, brain fog, reckless behavior, and eventually death.

"I'd kill for my child" okay but would you put aside your preconceived notions of gender or sexuality for your child? would you apologize to your child when you're wrong? would you tell your child they can be whoever they want to be, and mean it? your child doesn't need more killing in their name

#SFFChat A2: again I have a few. But miles is depressed and it suck when you’re a depressed vampire because no one thinks anything is wrong.

#SFFChat A1: I have a few. Rex is the main character in his story. He has EDS, uses a cane, is an all around badass (not true he would rather stay in his bookstore but he wants to be)

#SFFChat Intro: hey I’m Aspen! Writer of a lot of genres but specifically spec fic and horror. My favorite summer activity is hiking!

Release date reveal. The Colors That Haunt Us will be available October 8. A queer gothic novel about art, grief, obsession, longing, and a house that does not let go. #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #QueerBooks #GothicFiction

Sell your book in five words: Lesbian mistakes haunting for love.

Last teaser before the date reveal. Tomorrow, I get to share when The Colors That Haunt Us is coming. #TheColorsThatHaunt #Booksky #QueerBooks #GothicFiction

Very soon, I get to tell you when The Colors That Haunt Us is coming. Which is wild. And exciting. And maybe a little haunted, as is only appropriate. #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #QueerBooks #GothicFiction

There are only FIVE DAYS LEFT to grab this bundle!! Get yourself an amazing deal on some amazing books NOW before it disappears!

THE SCOTTISH BOY has now finally been republished by Wilton Square/Eye Books, and if you want a queer action thriller that can best be described as “Heated Chivalry” you should buy it. bookshop.org/a/23067/9781... There’s also a great audiobook & thousands of amazon and goodreads reviews

A lot of my work circles beauty, danger, transformation, queer longing, and the ways people are changed by what they survive. The Colors That Haunt Us lives very much in that space, only with more art, grief, obsession, and haunted rooms. #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #QueerBooks #GothicFiction

Marketing scams aimed at writers via email are rampant. Here’s the latest list of scammers: [email protected] [email protected] #bookmarketingscam #author #writing #amwriting #writer #writerslife #indieauthor #amediting #fiction #authors #shortstory #booksky

In The Colors That Haunt Us, atmosphere is not just mood. It is the house watching. The paintings remembering. The silence pressing closer. The beauty becoming harder to trust. #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #QueerBooks #GothicFiction

Cover reveal day! This is the cover for The Colors That Haunt Us, my upcoming queer gothic novel about art, grief, obsession, queer longing, and a house that does not let go. #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #QueerBooks #GothicFiction

Mayo, ketchup, dijon mustard, pickle slice (sweet or dill I don't have a preference)

It's tied: “Then I will have loved you before you went.” and “Neither do I. We can be terrible at it together.”

#SummerofStories Admittedly, I haven't read many craft books. I took a fiction writing class in college when I was still an english major, but I hated the class so much I wrote each story with hatred instead of love for the craft. The best thing that has helped, is the Novel Roadmap by the Novel...

#AwesomeCharacters #TheColorsThatHaunt Clara is health conscious in the way exhausted people are: she knows what she should do. Eat something. Sleep. Stop before she breaks. Keep her hands busy. But grief has made care feel like another task to survive, and Rosenfeld is not helping.

#JulyInterviewFic #TheColorsThatHaunt Clara: Honesty, even when it has a cost. Not cruelty dressed up as truth, but the honesty that refuses to let silence rot into something worse. I value people who can face what hurts, admit when they are afraid, and still choose care instead of control.

#JulyWorldbuilders Elyse is a morning person by force. Owning a cafe means dawn brings wards, kettles, doors, customers, and fake rest. Cassia is not a morning person until coffee works. Rae belongs to moonlight, for wolfy reasons. Callan arrives at noon and acts like everyone else is early.

#WIPSnips #TheColorsThatHaunt I don't know how to caption this one so. Here's a line, it's from a really good scene that I can't include too much of.

#WeeknightWriters We went to the river yesterday.

#WeeknightWriters The same things as always. Exhaustion, money, and imposter syndrome. (Also my blog post today was personal and the fact that people get to see pieces of me is hard)

#SummerOfStories Suzette's style in The Colors That Haunt Us is old-house elegance, candlelight, soft sleeves, dark eyes, and the feeling of someone too composed for a woman who should not be there. #TheColorsThatHaunt

#AwesomeCharacters Clara does not seek out puzzles. She wants a practical way around them, preferably with a door, a phone call, or simply leaving. Unfortunately, Rosenfeld turns every workaround into another question, so she solves puzzles while insisting she is not playing. #TheColorsThatHaunt

#JulyInterviewFic Clara: Mistaking silence for mercy. I thought if I stopped asking questions, stopping pushing, stopped naming what hurt, I could spare myself the worst of it. Instead, I left too much unsaid, and grief filled in the blanks.

#JulyWorldbuilders Idk if this counts, since the sun is boring, but the sunlight itself interacts with different types of magic

#WeeknightWritiers I've been having a lot of really bad fatigue days, but I went to the river yesterday and that helped my mood significantly.

#WIPSnips #TheColorsThatHaunt A snippet of a conversation early on in the novel.

#WeeknightWriters Hi I'm aspen, I have a number of WIPS, one closer to release, a few in various stages between written and done, and a few in the process of being written. Writing has gone pretty well. I've written over 12k so far.

Writing Queer Stories for Queer Readers This matters because I grew up not seeing queerness treated as ordinary. I want queer readers to enter my stories without making themselves smaller. www.aspenrayne.com/post/writing... #BookSky #QueerBooks #AspenWrites

The first I remember was either: The original version of Adesina (she might have been called Rose in that version) I still use her in the sense that I haven't fully abandoned her novel, but I have been writing it for 13+ years. or Another character named Rose that was created for a facebook rp

#JulyWorldbuilders In Eiravel, special-occasion clothing depends on whether the event is joyful, legal, sacred, or dangerous. For funerals, people tend to dress simply, often in gray, dark green, or brown. Mourning is less about jewels and more about restraint: covered wrists, plain cloaks, and...

Very much a plotter. I write outlines, character notes, worldbuilding articles, timelines, arc breakdowns, and planning docs long enough to qualify as their own side quests. The story can still surprise me, but I want a map first. #BookSky #WritingCommunity #AspenWrites

Clara: My greatest fear is losing myself one small piece at a time. I fight it by paying attention. I name what hurts, even when I would rather turn away. Fear can distort the truth, but it does not get to decide who I become. #JulyInterviewFic #TheColorsThatHaunt

#WIPSnips #TheColorsThatHaunt Not just one quarter but three!

The Colors That Haunt Us is for readers who want: a red room a turned-away figure art as haunting beauty with teeth queer longing grief in the walls a house that does not let go #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #QueerBooks #GothicFiction

One that still baffles me. A cat breaks into the MCs shop/house and the MC is like “whelp guess I have a cat now” and the feedback was “why would he take in a stray” like I’d be more shocked if he didn’t.

Different vibes but back when I worked retail, over winter we sold slippers up to a US women’s size 12. This woman I was helping out saw that and went “why do they make them that big? Who does that even fit?” And I just made awkward eye contact until she said “that’s your size isn’t it?”

The Fun Shortage Is Real, and It’s Making America Miserable. “With fewer places to relax and socialize, and steeper prices for entry, having fun is quantifiably harder than it used to be.” [bloomberg.com]

Fellow authors, without any context, what is the first line of your current WIP? —— The blade had always found comfort in silence.

in light of the other shoe dropping today:

Everyone - can you help us carry all 96m of the @transunityquilt.bsky.social through central London as an enormous statement of trans strength and solidarity? Can you help us find people who will? Saturday July 25th with London Trans+ Pride - sign up at the link below from @goodlawproject.org