Trae Dorn - Writer/Witch/Weirdo.'s Avatar

Trae Dorn - Writer/Witch/Weirdo.

@traegorn.bsky.social

Nerdy Genderqueer Wiccan Witch in WI. I make (geeky/witchy) podcasts, and write (queer) novels and comics. Ryan Kopf sued me twice. They/Them. All my stuff: www.trhonline.com nerdandtie.com / bsfreewitchcraft.com / patreon.com/traegorn

1,225 Followers  |  213 Following  |  1,488 Posts  |  Joined: 20.01.2024  |  2.0508

Latest posts by traegorn.bsky.social on Bluesky


Preview
C3E7. Fast Journey (Into the Autumnlands Part 2) The team sets off on their journey into the Autumnlands, and maybe learns that saying something is an "escort job" might be interpreted differently based on who hears it. The post C3E7. Fast Journey (Into the Autumnlands Part 2) first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.
27.02.2026 05:04 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Guest Announcement: Lewis "Linkara" Lovhaug We're excited to announce another guest for No Brand Con 2026: Lewis "Linkara" Lovhaug! Lewis "Linkara" Lovhaug is a comic book Youtuber most known for making excessively long videos about children's...

Guest Announcement: Lewis "Linkara" Lovhaug www.nobrandcon.org/p/2026/02/gu...

25.02.2026 02:03 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Context. A Northwoods Gothic
24.02.2026 05:03 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Video thumbnail

Mutual Parasocial relationships are the weirdest #parasocial #parasocialrelationships #internetculture

23.02.2026 18:39 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Right? Like part of me is cautious about assuming a pattern when it might be coincidence, but he just consistently goes after femme presenting critics.

22.02.2026 02:05 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Paul Castle and a Weaponized Fandom If yoiu don't spend time in the odd corners of bookish and queer social media, it's likely you've never heard of Paul Castle. Hell, even if you are in them, you may have scrolled on by, never to take note. But for those of us who have had him slide across their algorithmically driven feeds, he's become fairly infamous over the last few years. Paul is a blind creator who makes couples content with his husband Matthew, but more importantly for this discussion, he is the writer and illustrator of children's books that he independently publishes. Now, I've never read his books, so I can't comment on whether they're any good or not. I have seen the illustrations though, and they, honestly, look very nice. His books are queer positive, and his determination to still create this work with his remaining vision is admirable. If that were all there was to talk about, this would be a potentially feel good story, and I probably wouldn't be writing about it in my personal blog. But, y'know, this isn't the end of the story by far. You see, if you follow one of Paul's accounts long enough, you'll inevitably end up on a video where he stands in front of the camera, crying about how some obstacle has gotten in the way of his books getting to people. Maybe a bookstore supposedly cancelled an order. Maybe it was something else. Paul will always frame this as his book getting "banned" and that anyone not working with him directly is an act of persecution. This will result in a spike in sales of his books from his TikTok shop. I won't go into too many details, but others have detailed things on multiple occasions if you want to dig into this. I'm not here to argue about the veracity of his statements. I have doubts, of course, and I've definitely been critical of the tactic of "pity marketing." I made a video in June of 2025 where, after he started talking about how he wanted to start publishing other authors, I said that people should avoid it. My reasoning was pretty simple -- the only advantage to working with a "publisher" that small is that they can help you get into bookstores. And the one thing Paul Castle has proven is that he's bad at getting his books into bookstores. I made other videos too, but the pity marketing is not the point of this post. My big problem is what happens after Paul Castle makes his videos. That's where the real trouble begin. You see, inevitably his millions of followers will go after anyone who criticizes him or does some sort of perceived wrong against him. When one of his videos talked about a bookstore owner named Tanya, his followers went and attacked a completely unrelated woman who shared a name. Now this could be chalked up to an overzealous fanbase acting on their own, but it's rather clear that Paul Castle is more than happy to rile people up on purpose too. Almost a week ago, Castle made a video on his PaulCastleStudio account dragging up a video from three months ago, claiming that someone who criticized his marketing tactics had been ableist. Never mind that the video he points at doesn't make any ableist statements, and just points out how manipulative his marketing techniques are. Paul claimed he didn't want people going after her, but while he censored the person's face, he didn't censor the name on the wall behind her. The creator has now received a barrage of harassment across multiple platforms, and has made a response to the entire situation that is chilling. I've gotten a handful of harassing comments on a YouTube Short from October, because people found it looking for her. And it's not the first time he's done this. When an Ingram employee was critical of one of his marketing tales, he went after her. When he printed some books through IngramSpark, and she happened to get assigned to his account, he made another video complaining about it. That person also got harassed by his fans. He knows that if he calls someone out that this will happen, and since he keeps doing it -- it's apparent he doesn't care. And I guess I just wanted to write down how incredibly fucked up that is. It's also interesting to note that he seems to exclusively target women. My masculine presenting, nonbinary ass has never been singled out. Don Martin, who's been highly critical of him, has never been singled out either. Maybe it's just coincidence. Maybe Martin has a bigger platform as a traditionally published author. Maybe I've been too specific and controlled in my criticism that it doesn't give him enough ammo. Maybe it's just because the demographics of bookish spaces just lean towards women. But it's odd that a pattern seems to bubble to the surface. Anyways, this is a weird post to put a promotional tag on, but remember that pre-orders for Welcome to Peregrine Lake: Peregrine Lake Chapter One can now be made through BookShop.org and Amazon! The book is out May 1st.

Blog Entry: Paul Castle and a Weaponized Fandom

21.02.2026 23:43 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

That looks safe and reliable.

I think you should, instead, buy ten eBikes, weld them together, and use them to pull a radio flyer wagon like a chariot.

20.02.2026 21:39 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Video thumbnail

Here's a clip from the new episode! Available 2/28 to the public (or right now on Patreon) #witchsky #witch

www.bsfreewitchcraft.com
www.patreon.com/traegorn

20.02.2026 20:54 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

This month's episode of BS-Free WItchcraft is up for early access on Patreon! www.patreon.com/traegorn

(Episode goes public 2/28)

20.02.2026 19:42 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
C3E6. The New Girl (Into the Autumnlands Part 1) The newly minted Stormwood team has been hired by a local pawn shop owner to make sure his taxes make it safely to the current government of the Autumnlands. But first, a new person has joined the party... The post C3E6. The New Girl (Into the Autumnlands Part 1) first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.
20.02.2026 05:05 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Video thumbnail

"You only made a video about that so someone would watch it!" #internetculture #tiktok

18.02.2026 22:06 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

"The demand for endless growth and parabolic improvement, forever, stretching into the unseen horizon, is pure and unsustainable insanity, insisted upon by fools"

- Woman who gets mad at herself if she goes slower on the treadmill than she did yesterday

18.02.2026 04:38 β€” πŸ‘ 355    πŸ” 45    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Yeah, I saw that.

Remarkable how bad his fans are at deduction that they went looking for that person and found ME. πŸ˜†

18.02.2026 01:32 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

In April it will be. Half of the second book is already online.

17.02.2026 23:47 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Video thumbnail

So Paul Castle must have said something again, because his fans have decided to "defend" him #paulcastle #pengrooms #booksky #booktokdrama #indieauthor

17.02.2026 21:50 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Video thumbnail

I need to talk about @illusbal.bsky.social and my comic Peregrine Lake more. #webcomic #comic #author

You can literally read it for free at www.peregrine-lake.com
Or, like, pre-order the book: a.co/d/03bFo2y3

17.02.2026 17:15 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
Preview
Probation? A Northwoods Gothic
17.02.2026 05:02 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Video thumbnail

Just a quick review of the movie #ColdStorage -- cuz I'm still doing these apparently #moviereview

16.02.2026 18:07 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

Just got this ad on a site.

Free *what* motherfucker? FREE *WHAT*!? πŸ˜†

15.02.2026 18:18 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Pre-Order the First Print Collection of Peregrine Lake! It's been a long time coming, but I'm super excited to announce the upcoming release of the first Peregrine Lake print collection. "Welcome to Peregrine Lake" is officially releasing May 1st, and it collects the first chapter of the comic. Additonally, it has the short prequel bonus story "The Move" (which we made only available for a limited time online) which shows how Lynn and Megan moved from Eau De Puanteur to Peregrine after the events of UnCONventional. You can pre-order the book right now online through either BookShop.org or Amazon, or your favorite retailer with the ISBN 9798348498733. Ethan and I have been working really hard on this, and I'm excited that you'll be able to take it home in a physical format finally. If you haven't been reading the comic, this is a great place to start of course. From the back of the book:Bev Armstrong is having a hell of a time. She's recently inherited her uncle's house near a small town called Peregrine Lake. After losing her job and getting dumped by her boyfriend, it seemed like the perfect place to start her life over. It probably isn't. The Village of Peregrine Lake is nestled in the western part of the Wisconsin Northwoods. Just another small town with small town problems, but in the cold and dark of Wisconsin winter, something may be watching you out there in the woods. It may not be safe to be there on your own. ...and also, Pappy's Sunset Bay Supper Club out on Highway P has the best french onion soup you'll find for at least a two hour drive. You definitely have to try it. This is probably the proudest I've ever been of a comic I've put out, and I'm so happy that folks are enjoying it.

Blog Entry: Pre-Order the First Print Collection of Peregrine Lake!

13.02.2026 18:05 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Pre-Order New Books by E.H. Lupton, Trae Dorn, and Ethan Flanagan! We’re excited to announce some upcoming book titles by the creators here at the Nerd & Tie Network! To start The post Pre-Order New Books by E.H. Lupton, Trae Dorn, and Ethan Flanagan! first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.
13.02.2026 17:55 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Also, did you know I have a forum? nerdandtie.social

12.02.2026 00:16 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Discord Just Showed Why We Need to Bring Back Forums. This week Discord announced that to continue to have full access to their platform, all users will be required to verify their ages using either a face scan or a photo of their government ID. This massively intrusive policy goes into effect in March, and if you trust Discord with this kind of data... please remember that in October 2025 there was a massive data breach of over 70,000 records from one of their former vendors. This is bad. Very, very bad. Over the last decade, Discord has risen to prominence as a place where people can build niche communities. Both companies and individuals have used the service to build their own "servers" for niche discussions and direct interactions. It's effectively been used to emulate the features of old school forums and chat rooms because people have gotten sick of the toxicity of centralized social media. But for all of its perceived privacy and siloing, Discord is still just another central company controlling the platform. They own every "server," and you're just using their space. So when a policy decision like this happens, it means we're all screwed. To me this is just another example of how we need to decentralize the web again. Because we used to have siloed, independent online communities where people could talk about their niche thing and connect in private. We called them forums. Someone would just pay for a little webhosting, install PHPBB, and then boom β€” there you go. You might make it so only logged in users can read them, but anyone can get them off the ground. Now can they handle everything Discord does? No. Sadly with the death of Skype there are very few good, free options for voice chat out there. But that's not what 90% of Discord communities are used for. I mentioned this almost a year ago (and touched on it again in November), but modern forum software has come a long way since PHPBB2. We run a Flarum install for Nerd&Tie[dot]Social (the official Nerd & Tie forums), and that works amazingly on mobile. There are other options like Discourse and MyBB too. But you just need one person in the community to get some shared hosting, do the install, and then bob's your uncle. Setting up independent forums is the only way to ensure that our communities are no longer at the whims of corporations that fundamentally do not care about us or our online safety. Use fake names. Hide your personal information. Only share what you want to share. Use the internet like it's 2006. I call it being an internet cockroach, some call it the "Indie Web," but either way the only reason that we're at the whims of these companies is because we let ourselves be. There's a simple solution to that problem, and it's just to go do stuff on our own. Seems like the best option, really. (Also the old forums for my site still exist. No one's used them in years, but they're technically still up as of 2/2026)

Blog Entry: Discord Just Showed Why We Need to Bring Back Forums.

11.02.2026 20:34 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Nerd & Tie[dot]Social - The Official Nerd & Tie Forums The official forums of the Nerd & Tie Podcast Network

For the record, besides our Discord, @nerdandtie.bsky.social maintains a forum at nerdandtie.social running Flarum.

10.02.2026 16:58 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Video thumbnail

With Discord's new policies, it's tome to move your online community to an independent forum #discord #internetcockroach

10.02.2026 16:30 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Spill. A Northwoods Gothic
10.02.2026 05:04 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Fandom Spaces are Adult Spaces. I'm not sure why I have to say this sometimes, but fandom spaces are adult spaces. What we consider organized fandom was built by adults, for adults. But there are people who forget this. Like I've seen people admonish adults for being involved with fandom, saying "adults should be doing adult things" (whatever the hell those "adult things" are), and I've seen kids lament growing up saying they'll have to stop liking anime or comics or whatever property they're passionate about. And I'm just like... no kid, that's not how it works. That's the opposite of how it works. Modern organized fandom, as we know it, really starts with Star Trek. There were certainly fans of fantasy and science fiction before that β€” science fiction conventions have existed since the 1930s β€”but this was an inflection point where the culture we know today started. Star Trek fandom galvanized in a way we hadn't seen before. People formed fan clubs, published zines, and organized conventions. And importantly, these were actions done by adults. To be more specific, it was dominated by adult women. Now obviously people of all genders were involved, but its undeniable that they were and remain the dominant group. Those zines were often filled with Spirk fanfic, and it's the origin of fanfic and shipping culture. Elyse Rosenstein, Joyce Yasner, Joan Winston, Linda Deneroff and Devra Langsam organized the first Star Trek convention in 1972, which was arguably the first modern media convention. All of these things were done by adults, for adults. And the successors of these fannish actions and organizations (the modern fandom sites like AO3 and the massively scaled fandom convention scene) are still made by adults primarily for other adults. It's not to say that younger people can't be welcome in these spaces, but they importantly are not centered. Yet some people forget this. There are a couple of reasons for this. One major one is that a lot of fan activity is online now. In the decades before widespread internet access, a lot of fan activity happened at in person fan club meetings. Adult nerds would meet regularly to socialize with other adult nerds. We saw the faces of our fellow fans, and knew more about their lives. When things moved online though, while we were able to connect farther and wider, these connections became more surface level. People were just avatars on screens, and there's a funny thing that happens when that's our reality. We start assuming that everyone else is just like us. We assume that people's backgrounds, opinions, and ages are similar to our own when it's not contradicted with direct informaition. A young person reading fanfic on AO3 starts to assume that the authors are their peers and not, say, a 40 year old office worker writing on their lunch break. The whole fandom world looks like it's also young people because they've never known better. Secondly, our culture infantalizes anything done by women, and as I said repeatedly in this, women have always dominated organized fandom (regardless of what some CHUDs on social media pretend as they decry the latest comic book movie casting). That means that misogyny makes people think of fandom as childish, whether they realize it consciously or not. The truth remains though: fandom spaces are adult spaces, and they only survive because they're adult spaces. The world of fandom does not end when you reach adulthood, it opens up.

Blog Entry: Fandom Spaces are Adult Spaces.

07.02.2026 23:25 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

ohthankthegods... tumblr's back online

07.02.2026 01:33 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Neither "quote tweet" nor "comment" are things you do on Bluesky.

07.02.2026 00:49 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Video thumbnail

You don't leave fandom when you grow up, that's when you actually belong in it more. #fandom #nerd

06.02.2026 22:36 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

@traegorn is following 19 prominent accounts