Always worth a post

my last newsletter of the year is out! I am watching Heated Rivalry btw, yes, several people asked this one also includes my 10 favourite books that I read in 2025! here's to a happier and less shitty 2026 ashvale.beehiiv.com/p/ash-vale-u...

Reminder, original fiction/poetry submissions open TOMORROW NIGHT, at 12:01am Eastern Time on January 1st 👀 Reprint submissions will temporarily close at the same time. Nonfiction will remain open! We can't wait to read your work. We're so excited for 2026 🪐🗡️ othersidespec.com/guidelines/

there we are having a nice civilized hundred years war, just how everyone likes it, and then the french decide to rock up with bloody joan of arc, you can't just bring a living saint to the battlefield, it's not sporting, wafting miracles everywhere like its going out of fashion, it was outrageous

🎆Welcome to the Round of 16 of the 2025 Headline of the Year Contest!🎆 Voting will be open in 4 locations for each round for about a day. 16 headlines. Only 1 winner. A reminder of the nominees: bsky.app/profile/paul...

still my favorite christmas post

God jul, nästa år vänder vi kampen mot fascismen till seger!

[first day as a shepherd] boss: where are you going? me: [pointing] star boss: what? why me: [shrugging] baby

Today my city will have 7 hours and 28 minutes of daylight. A dark day to cap off a (personally) dark year, but the sun rises again- it always does. Happy solstice, friends 💜

blergh, I HATE having to ask coz I know it’s super hard for everyone especially around this time of year… but I’m also about to hit negative balances and I don’t get paid til next Friday :/ been a real f’ing hard eight months tbh and I’m sorry everything is so awful ko-fi.com/mercwolfmoor

Fancy a post-Christmas Regency and sapphic chill reading sesh in your pjs? Like and repost this skeet (is that really what we call them?) for a chance to win one of 3 signed copies of THE UNLIKELY PURSUIT OF MARY BENNET! Open worldwide until midnight 23rd Dec, winners drawn on Christmas Eve.

Again, I truly *loved* this week’s episode of Heated Rivalry, but IT IS A WISH FULFILLMENT ROMANCE. The success of a gay hockey romance TV show, largely watched by people who are neither hockey players nor hockey fans, is not “proof that the world is ready and all we would do is love you”

I've tried to suppress it but I have to speak my truth...I'm obsessed with KATSEYE

We're reopening to submissions on January 1st. Writers, ready your most depressing, unnerving, dislocating, horrible stories.

I just finished The Traitor & the Wretch by @mythjae.bsky.social and LOVED IT!! I love a scraggly little rat man and boy this book delivered. Also genuinely one of the best romantic chemistries I've read all year, with real, awkward humour and a slow build from dislike to love. Highly recommend

Going into 2026, a reminder for everyone who's fallen off the creative wagon, game dev, writing, art, music, whatever, no matter how long:

I finally did it, I'm so brave—an awards eligibility post! I've had a few short stories and one poem published this year, and I'd be grateful as always if you nominated any of them for any kind of awards, or if you just read them. Links to all of them are available here: ash-vale.ca/stories.html

I finally did it, I'm so brave—an awards eligibility post! I've had a few short stories and one poem published this year, and I'd be grateful as always if you nominated any of them for any kind of awards, or if you just read them. Links to all of them are available here: ash-vale.ca/stories.html

I keep this lovely John K. Samson laminate nearby at all times to store this message in heart and mind.

when you turn 35, you get the big-ass breakfast poutine and the gay lil latte and no one can say shit to you

So excited to reveal the cover for Tea & Treachery at the Infinite Pantry! It's a cozy fantasy full of delicious food, magic, found family, and sweet romance (with two queer middle-aged MCs!) Oh, and tea. Lots of tea. First in a brand new series! I can’t WAIT to share it with you #sff #booksky

seeing the fellowship of the ring with my dad, right after finishing the book trilogy, and right after my birthday. I cried so much

pirate yuri

By No Contract, No Coffee, we mean EVERYWHERE! www.bbc.com/news/article...

good morning, I have noticed that some of the critical responses to the Crave show Heated Rivalry have been, let's say, incomplete sex scenes are craft! goddammit!

my last story is out for this year, and it's a doozy! a pregnant woman discovers an...interesting new symptom: an overwhelming desire to eat her own hair (cw: vomit)

Oh gosh this is 🤌🏻

a poem I wrote recently about parenting, gratefulness, and community. Full text is also in the alt text ❤️

my last story is out for this year, and it's a doozy! a pregnant woman discovers an...interesting new symptom: an overwhelming desire to eat her own hair (cw: vomit)

Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Snoop around in their medicine cabinet for clues.

One of my neighbors has been putting up these fish facts posters. All kinds of different fish, marine, freshwater, deep, shallow, all kinds. This is a good one. “Stg this real fish” took me out. Good work, neighbor.

Alt txt in the genocide by Omar Sakr. It stays with me always

Thread on how to detect ai in that viral dog video

Canadian citizens and residents, there's a new official parliamentary petition raising the issue of electoral reform and proportional representation. Signing is a direct means of meaningful action toward improving our democracy, and it just takes a moment to do. www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...

Alt txt in the genocide by Omar Sakr. It stays with me always

After a couple of unexpected delays, COSMIC DYKE PATROL will finally hit bookshelves February 10. Think GHOSTBUSTERS if the ghostbusters were all fucking each other. Written by Lor Gislason. Cover by Val Hal. Pre-order here: ghoulish.rip/product/cosm... @lormaggot.ca @valhal.bsky.social

The entirety of The Two Headed Calf by Laura Gilpin (whole poem in alt text):

"The Hunger haunts me most when I’m nauseous, which feels like it’s all the time these days." Check out this new story by @ashvalewrites.bsky.social in @unchartedmag.bsky.social!

Love it 🙌

I wish all PWHL teams success just because it's an exciting new league, but it is hard-coded in me to enjoy seeing Vancouver fail 🤠

I can't listen to the song without thinking of

reverse advent calendar where I scream a little scream into each tiny box and close it up tight

Do you like science? Found fiction? Sporror? How about laughing? We really think today's free story by @ashvalewrites.bsky.social will grow on you, if you know what we mean. Read it today on our website! dielaughingmag.com/2...

Thanks for recommending Ash! 💕 I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Inner Worlds is out!! My (t4t love story) of two queers healing from loss with the help of a strange octopus/alien? creature that gives them otherworldly dreams is free to read today :') & so many other creature stories! Would be so thankful if you read some 💜 🐙 inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-to-s...

in this month's (slightly late) newsletter, I talk a lil about pressure around the holidays (esp with kids), social overwhelm, and what I've been up to lately. I also have story recs from @crystalkoo.bsky.social in @innerworlds.bsky.social 🐆 and @aishatuado.bsky.social in @heartlines-spec.com ❄️