Carla Hennes ❌ 👑

For Despard, it’s primarily love for Kahyla. He‘s seen what a demon-mage can do and almost lost her, so he knows the danger of demons on the loose. But he doesn’t have the same cultural revulsion for mages that Kahyla does and has his own loyalty to his home country and father-issues of his own.

Out today, in the autumn issue of @kaleidotrope.bsky.social, my story of a space pilot dealing with her first clone resurrection, with a little help from the rescue ship's AI and several kinds of cheese.

The Nine Crashes of Flight Lieutenant Hilla Quinn

www.kaleidotrope.net/autumn-2025/...

#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #amquerying #writesky 💙📚 🪐📚 With ghost story vibes and a feminist journey, “Haint Blue” in VOICES LIKE THESE from @story-forge.bsky.social When you work in a haunted house, the fake monsters are your family and real props open dimensional windows. More at bit.ly/46BBttP

I always wanted to be a mom. Okay, that’s not true. There was a period in my life where I could not understand anyone wanting that kind of responsibility and being financially, physically, and emotionally tied down like that. It seemed so suffocating to me. What happens if you have a baby and realize “eh, this just isn’t for me?”  You can’t return them. I mean, okay, there are Safe Havens. And they serve their purpose. But they’re also for extreme scenarios and you can’t drop off a teenager there. This isn’t like buying a pair of expensive shoes and realizing they pinch your toes so you bring them back. This is a human. This is growing a human, birthing a human, naming a human, and literally being the only way that human survives day in and day out for a really long ass time. It is not sunshine and rainbows. It’s not adorable onesies and lullabies. It is up-the-back and into the hair shit explosions covering those adorable onesies while you sing made up songs about how you wish this screaming banshee would just stop crying for seemingly no reason so you can get some sleep for the first time in months. It is a war zone that you are entering, essentially, unarmed. 

Today’s #wipsnips word is “safe”. #writingcommunity #writingprompts #writersky #writesky #parenting #babies #parenthood

That’s why I decided to do this story for #plotober. I have great ideas for before the pirates (marriage is what bwings us together) and the pirate attack itself and the fallout (navy won’t pay the prize money? Let’s steal the ship back!). But the final climax is a vague fog.

1 large goal of finding a defense against the coming demons but many smaller goals along the way. I’m concerned that the smaller goals will overwhelm the final mcguffin at the end. Kidnapped by pirates is hard to top but raises the stakes for them to escape and continue their journey.

#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #amquerying #writesky 💙📚 🪐📚 With ghost story vibes and a feminist journey, “Haint Blue” in VOICES LIKE THESE from @story-forge.bsky.social When you work in a haunted house, the fake monsters are your family and real props open dimensional windows. More at bit.ly/46BBttP

Things are warming up in the kitchen...

From my romantasy wip about a priest of the dead and a thief with a heart of gold.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity #Wrencer

Guided By The Lost, by @liampboyle.bsky.social
Haint Blue by @tempestteapot.bsky.social
Lehol by @odepoptop.bsky.social
Christ's Blood by @anyajulchen.bsky.social
I am A Button by @pandorahasabox.bsky.social
Shadows of the Mountain by @glenweatherhead.bsky.social

💖💖💖

According to legend, the wizard-kings were killed and their demons driven out by the Grand Ry's ancestors, but no one knows how. None of the demon-hunters remain and the chain of oral knowledge was broken after a massacre. Why are the monasteries evenly spaced around the last battlefield?

Trying to keep it to just the two MCs, at least as POV, but the privateer captain may insist on getting her own subplot. The legend of Anne Bonny and Mary Reed are inspirations for some of her exploits. Anne escaped execution claiming pregnancy.

#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #amquerying #writesky #epicfantasy 💙📚 🪐📚

From my Epic Fantasy novel Demon’s Bargain. Entering a foreign temple might imperil her soul, but Kahyla must find Despard to help with her Dancing Day ceremony before it's too late.

store = cart

I got one that had hijacked a real author's profile (but spelled the last name wrong) who tried to send me to her agent...with a scammy gmail address. Reported as Illegal/Urgent and blocked.

Graphic shows silhouette of couple filled with courtyard, leather armor, and a structure consumed by flames. Six of Crows X Witch King Demon's Bargain A bastard gentrywoman, Kahyla struggles to protect her siblings against assassins, demon-eaten mages, and political rivals intent on the throne. She faces a demon's bargain: fight with soul-destroying magic or lose her family, her beloved, and her life. 120k Epic Fantasy Novel. Tropes list: Deliberate values dissonance Feminist within patriarchy Heel-face turn Slow burn Forbidden love Powers via Possession Coming of Age Quiet girl finds her voice Target markets: adult fantasy for darker themes, detailed world-building, and a blend of magic and political intrigue. YA for coming-of-age story and slow burn romance, while skewing older for the consequences of difficult life choices. #F #R #YA #A #Q Body count 11, proposals 4, weddings 2

Sending some sibling sadness your way.

Kahyla faces a DEMON’S BARGAIN where all the options are bad: fight with soul-destroying magic or lose her family, her beloved, and her life.

⛓️‍💥Feminist within patriarchy
🔥❤️ Slow burn
🕴️Powers via Possession
🚶‍♀️Coming of Age
🗣️Quiet girl finds her voice

#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #amquerying #writesky 💙📚 🪐📚 With ghost story vibes and a feminist journey: “Haint Blue” in VOICES LIKE THESE from @story-forge.bsky.social ‪When you work in a haunted house, the fake monsters are your family and real props open dimensional windows. bit.ly/46BBttP
"follow"

I decided to shoot for more bonus points, and broke the silence. “Actually, women often have a pretty good social position in hunter-gatherer societies.” He blinked, as did several others at the table. The wolf-women favored me with considering glances; Ellen’s was cautious. “Even when there’s a division of labor, it’s usually not that sharp. Something like eighty percent of the hunter-gatherer societies we know of include women hunters.” I gave Felix a pointed glance. “Social power often seems to depend on how many calories people bring in.” His eyes had narrowed; I met his scowl. “A lot of places, hunting’s just a bonus; it’s the gathering that really feeds the group.” I allowed myself a modest grin. “Turns out guys can do a decent job sharing power when their meals depend on it.”

#WIPSnips 4: hunt

An academic discussion gets a little confrontational.

(There's *some* hunting in SECONDARY... but a lot more anthropology. The science is correct to the best of my ability.)

#SciFi #ScienceFiction #SFF

Voices Like These: A StoryForge Anthology A StoryForge Anthology

#WritingCommunity #amquerying #writesky 💙📚 🪐📚

Out now! bit.ly/4mLwQSw

Ghost story vibes & feminist journey: “Haint Blue” in VOICES LIKE THESE from ‪@story-forge.bsky.social‬ When you work in a haunted house, the fake monsters are your family and real props open dimensional windows.

Voices Like These: A Short Story Anthology — StoryForge StoryForge has published our first book! 20 short stories compiled into one anthology. Every story is a window to a different world. Which window will you open first?

#WritingCommunity #amquerying #writesky 💙📚 🪐📚

Out now! bit.ly/4mLwQSw

Ghost story vibes & feminist journey: “Haint Blue” in VOICES LIKE THESE from @story-forge.bsky.social When you work in a haunted house, the fake monsters are your family and real props open dimensional windows.

#octoberworldbuilders day 3

In the puppet vodes with permanent cities, thick clay brick walls to hold the heat in the night and cool during the day. For the Grand Ry, gathering grounds fill with felted wool tents passed down through the mother’s line.

Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian. I binged the whole series of Napoleonic-era ship adventures. Battles, tricks, capture, spies, love!

Queen’s Ransom follows a sea journey, packed with privateers. By the time you try to claim your prize money, the navy won’t pay for taking a now-ally’s ship.

💙📚 🪐📚
With ghost story vibes and a feminist journey, “Haint Blue” in VOICES LIKE THESE from ‪@story-forge.bsky.social‬ When you work in a haunted house, the fake monsters are your family and real props open dimensional windows. Details at storyforge.com/anthology Buy at bit.ly/4mLwQSw

#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #amquerying #writesky 💙📚 🪐📚 With ghost story vibes and a feminist journey, “Haint Blue” in VOICES LIKE THESE from @story-forge.bsky.social When you work in a haunted house, the fake monsters are your family and real props open dimensional windows. Buy at bit.ly/46BBttP

Hibernate = dormant

Spencer tells Wren how he first met Reggie.

From my romantasy wip about a priest of the dead and a thief with a heart of gold.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity #Wrencer

So many people looking down their nose at the MCs but they keep trying. Converting enemies to allies is another favorite trope of mine.

👀 *scribbling furiously* herring boiled in mares milk, women turning into hawks you can no longer hunt, never tell the wee folk you’re done building the gathering grounds

#octoberworldbuilders day 2

The descendants of the wizard-king have intermarried with the invaders. The new society centers around the Grand Ry who rules his conquered kingdoms or puppet vodes through his daughters. Try NOT to marry the Rya or you’ll end up dead.

Looking to continue the theme of choices making you who you are. Adding in some sacrifices for love (whose country do you save from the demons?) and proving yourself worthy to an unworthy opponent.

If you see this, quote the energy you bring to bsky

Voices Like These: A StoryForge Anthology A StoryForge Anthology

Listed in the wild here from my favorite indie bookstore @creamandamber.bsky.social

bookshop.org/p/books/voic...