V. Astor Solomon

the cover of THE DEATH OF MOUNTAINS is off to the left of this image. the rest of it is text on a dark blue background. it says: AWARDS ELIGIBILITY The Death of Mountains from Lethe Press ELIGIBLE FOR: the Nebula, the Hugo, the Locus, and other novella etcetera LISTEN: if you want to think of this book during awards season? great! thank you very much! are there too many things to think about right now? of course there are. way too many things. i am making this graphic while also internally screaming and procrastinating dinner. so. i get it.

eligibility post time!!!!
this year i published two things:

novella: THE DEATH OF MOUNTAINS from @lethepress.bsky.social

short story: "The Messengers of Despair" from @bcsmagazine.bsky.social

🧵

Cover of the book IGNORE ALL PREVIOUS INSTRUCTIONS by Ada Hoffmann. The title is written in bright, colorful block letters and the author's name is below it in a handwriting-like font. A tiny robot peeks out from the "S" at the end of "Instructions." Below the title and author there is a cartoon depiction of the planet Jupiter, against a starry background, with a cartoon spaceship flying up from it. There is a small Jolly Roger flag on the spaceship.

BEEP BEEP BEEP WE HAVE A COVER

A graphic advertising the new book THE MAIDENS OF MIDNIGHT AND OTHER LOST MEDIA. The book is displayed on the left, with the following text on the right: Dim Shores presents: One novella and eleven short stories of lo-fi horror in an illustrated collection. Snapshots of life through distorted lenses. PREORDER NOW, December 8 2025.

Dim Shores is proud to present THE MAIDENS OF MIDNIGHT AND OTHER LOST MEDIA, a short story collection by Rhiannon Rasmussen, hauntingly illustrated by Lucia Retamales.

12 dark tales and 13 illustrations. 168 pages. Limited to 150 copies.

Coming December 2025, Pre-order now! bit.ly/3XyScs6

You can’t eat them, and when you try and leave them alone, you find even more the next day.
When the other vegetables also start opening their eyes too, you decide that’ it’s just time to find a new hobby.

You’re dead sure you planted onions. Normal ones. Ones that shouldn’t stare back at you.
But they are. Every one you find has a set of wide, black eyes that stare up at you. There’s no mouth, no nose. Nothing but those eyes that track your every movement.
You don’t know what to do.

You are good: special guest: hector gonzalez

NEW EPISODE! In which we talk vampires, breaking curses, and the Guillermo del Toro of it all. @mexicanity.bsky.social joins to talk Cronos and we are all better for it.

Two Fic Tuesday Welcome! So, we've made it to the end of October. I know this month has been weird for my posting schedule, but I seem to be back on track, which is great. I've really loved being able to share two s...

It sure is Tuesday and I'm actually remembering to post a link this week!

For Halloween week we have @cjtavares.bsky.social and H. Pueyo stories! Yay!

howsweetthewords.com/two-fic-tues...

🎊🎊🎊🎊YOOOOOO IT'S HERE🎊🎊🎊🎊

🪐🪐🪐FUSION FRAGMENT #26 AND SAROS #4 🪐🪐🪐

My latest story is in FF#26 BUT so are incredible stories from lots of other wonderful people, please check them out!

If you read mine you get to read 5k words of an ultrarunner hallucinating his way across Mars

It's a "fun" time

Here's a thread with ideas for where to go to give/get food assistance for folks in the US. 1 in 8 of us depend on SNAP to feed ourselves and our families. Roll out that mutual aid folks! Time to double down on community. Know a national resource I haven't listed? Let me know & I'll add it.

He looks over his shoulder instead, though there’s nothing there.
Something moves on the table, making him jump and turn back to the food.
The crab rises, scuttling forward, claws grasping.
Stepping back, he laughs softly. He knew something might visit him, but not this.

Crab isn’t traditional for Halloween, but it’s what he has. It’s not like he’s entertaining many guests, it’s only him, the cat, and whatever might join him while the veil is thin.
He spreads the newspaper and fishes out some corn and potatoes, but waits on the crab itself.

Birb story flies again 🐦‍⬛

Phantom View - Reactor A disabled son care-taking for a disabled father try to understand the mysterious blur haunting them.

New story day!

"Phantom View" is about a son caretaking for his father, and discovering a blurry person in all their family photos that he has no memory of. The same figure is in all his dad's paintings--and the figure may be in the house with them right now.

It will happen | Mari Ness Get more from Mari Ness on Patreon

Not in the best of headspaces right now, so tried to distract myself by finishing up a poem.

And now it's up on my Patreon - free for all readers:

www.patreon.com/posts/it-wil...

A square graphic with a starry night background. There is a graphic of three moons with intricate designs. The designs are illustrated by POM POISON. Underneath it says Thank you for one year, with the title of The Cradle Of Eternal Night. The title PNG is surrounded by screen clips from various sources. 281 copies sold on amazon, 57 units sold on itchio. On storygraph CRADLE has a 4.1 rating, with a list of the moods beneath, the top being dark and mysterious. On good reads cradle has 23 ratings, with 140 people marking it as to read, and 8 people currently reading.

A square graphic with star like designs in the corners illustrated by POM POISON. The background is a dark snowy night landscape with a lone cabin. There is a QR code at the bottom and the text reads: Support Toxic Yuri, get CRADLE on sale for .99 cents, subscribe to my newsletter, leave a review of my work, post a picture with your copy, make out with an aberration

My boss rush frostpunk yuri illustrated by @pompoison.bsky.social turns 1 today !!

Thank you so much for your support; if you've been waiting to get it, it's $0.99 on ebook

📚 books2read.com/thecradleofe...
🔗 payhip.com/b/p6Ux7
✒️ ladz-merch.square.site/product/the-...

A pencil drawing advertising an upcoming art show at SLICE Gallery in Vancouver, BC from 3-8PM on October 18, 2025. The drawing by @fictograph features a hand holding three harpies with mixed woman and crow features.

I'll have some prints and this original, pencil piece at SLICE Vancouver's collective art show this week! Along with awesome art, prints, and other goodies from 20+ local artists.

Trust me, it'll look a lot better in real life. ;)

#shoplocal #artgallery #artshow #traditionalart #womenartists

Join Werewolf: Pax Romana - Rage Across Gallia Belgica - Discord - Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition | StartPlaying Games Werewolf: The Apocalypse is a roleplaying game in which players take on the role of Garou, werewolves who are partly of the spirit world, given the task of defending the world, Gaia, from the forces o...

My GM of 30 years is offering a public Werewolf game set in the 1CE Lowlands on the border of the Roman Empire. Jamie does amazing, well-researched historical settings, highly recommended! startplaying.games/adventure/cm...

COVER REVEAL AND RELEASE

WE WILL SPEAK AGAIN OF THE RED TOWER is a tribute anthology of stories inspired by Thomas Ligotti’s “The Red Tower” and it’s out NOW: dl.bookfunnel.com/zum1k2dg9b

(I totally thought I said something to this. I'm sorry for the delay!)

I hate that this is happening to other people too. If it was just me, I could reason that the money is going to people who need it more, but it's really not.

Update: My mom is able to stagger the payments so she's not losing so much of her SS. This is such a relief. She's still not getting her whole check for a while, but it's better than before.

Thank you all for helping me out. The SNAP thing is still an issue, but the bigger crisis is averted.

If anyone is wondering how I feel about October this year, it is nothing but "Please, please stop."

I debated putting this here, but it changes my finanical plans, so seems worth saying.

My mother got $70 in her social secirty check because of not realizing that part of it gets taxed as income and had to miss a psych appointment becasue she didn't have the money.

So now I'm helping her too.

V Astor Solomon | Patreon is creating microfiction and other miscellany

Here are links if you're interested. If you think of something else I could add as a tier, please feel free to let me know and I'll take it into consideration.

Patreon: www.patreon.com/cw/howsweett...
Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/howsweetthew...

On the chance you see this from someone's repost, Hi! I'm V/Vale. I'm a trans, disabled, mentally ill, neurodivergent author, just trying to make my way in the world.

I live in two places, and while I know both will be sure I have food to eat, I really want to be able to contribute.

Last week was awful. There was a death on my birthday, and I found out my SNAP benefits went from $290 to $23

It was a bad time

So, if anyone wants to join the Patreon or Kofi, even for a month, I'd be thrilled.

There's microfiction, and updates, and tarot/oracle readings. Maybe other things too.

Pictures of author Maya MacGregor and literary Keir Alekseii on a mauve background with the silhouettes of a forest, photos of brambles, and the text: “I am represented by Keir Alekseii! Announcement! New representation: Keir Alekseii of Azantian Literary Agency”

I have a wonderful bit of good news to share!

I have a new literary agent and am now represented by @keiralekseii.bsky.social of Azantian Literary Agency!

The moment Keir and I connected, I knew she was the perfect person to represent my work. I cannot wait to see where we go from here. 🥰✨

Courtney Lovecraft’s Book of the Dead - Nightmare Magazine Honey, the spirits are here with us tonight and they are deeply disappointed. [audience laughter] Momma, do you not own a mirror? Did you think you looked cute when you walked out of your house tonigh...

This freshly-hatched horror story has possibly my favorite title of any story I've ever written. I give you....

"Courtney Lovecraft's Book of the Dead"

Free to read, at @nightmare-magazine.com !!

www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/cour...

The Witch of Prague, from Homeward Books! Splendor over mediocrity. Stories for the hot bath & the cold plunge. Defying the constraints of genre & delving deep into your heart.

Have we mentioned if we hit the Kickstarter goal for WITCH OF PRAGUE, we'll open pre-orders for our second book? According to @courtneymilan.com, @zenaldehyde.bsky.social's THE PERILOUS LIFE OF JADE YEO is "Poignant, beautiful, and incredibly meaningful."

www.kickstarter.com/projects/hom...

Marked by fangs Scarred by blood Claimed by herself A book cover for Bitten and Burned by Penelope Wren; red roses on a green background. A silver pendant with a red stone on a silver chain is intertwined with the title text.

My friend Penelope Wren has a new book out! I'm a little biased because I made the cover, but I think it looks pretty good! If you like:
- Witches
- Vampires
- Why choose
- Librarians

You might want to check it out! Free to read for KU: www.amazon.com/dp/B0FS74B261

Make that $224 away from nonfiction and 5 backers from our final backer goal! We are SO CLOSE! Thank you!!!