Xan van Rooyen

Dear Google, I really do mean 'flence' and not 'fleece' so if you could stop auto-correcting this word in my doc, I'd appreciate it.

#amwriting #WritingCommunity

Please do!

Thank you! Do you have a current horror-related/adjacent work you'd like to promote?

Thank you @ruadanbooks.bsky.social ❤️

Today I picked up a very special package: the original artwork (a painting on canvas) my publisher commissioned for the cover of my novel, Born of Malice. It is so magnificent I actually teared up opening the bubble wrap!

I really wanna show you, but I can't yet!! 😭

Soon, though...

#booksky

Ending today's writing session with the WIP now at 23 500 words! 🎊 I'm enjoying this eerie little horror novel so damn much!

#writingcommunity

Absolutely brilliant!

Cover of A Million Points of Light, audible edition, by CL Hellisen. The mostly blue and black cover features the silhouette of a figure against a splay of white light emanating from an ethereal figure. There are black mountains in the background. The audiobook is performed by Omari Douglas.

Started listening to @clhellisen.bsky.social 's A Million Points of Light and absolutely love it. The narrator is phenomenal!

If you enjoy your fantasy queer and dark, and written with lush prose, this is for you!

#booksky #audiobooks

This story got ACCEPTED!!! 🎊🎊🎊

*does the happy dance*

More info coming soon...

#writingcommunity #booksky

Would any LGBT+ writers/artists creating in the dark SFF/horror genres be interested in being interviewed for the Divination Hollow Review's annual Pride month event?

If you are, please drop a comment or send me a DM 😊

#booksky #writingcommunity

A quick reminder that I'm appearing in public giving a talk about queerness, witchiness, and Being A Goddamn Problem. If you're in the area and able to make it, come say hi!

Thanks to very enjoyable weekend writing sessions, the WIP is now just shy of 20k words !! I'm also starting to realize just how much I love writing horror 😆

How did your writing or reading go this weekend?

#booksky #writingcommunity

aw, thank you!! ❤️

Stunning!!

For those wanting more queerness in their cyberpunk, I've got a cyberpunk retelling of Dorian Gray called EXQUISITE DECAY coming out in December! Y'all can add it here: app.thestorygraph.com/books/c4f9e5...

#booksky #cyberpunk

A white background overlaid with vertical lines of binary code. A trans femme person of colour fills up one side of the graphic with two mechanical limbs and one hand raised into the air. Beside them, text reads ‘Trans in the Machine: Chronicling the New Cyberpunk Canon’. Beneath, bolded in black, is text that reads ‘//Back Now’

Be part of the first-ever book exploring transness in cyberpunk

Your support is an act of resistance in a time of surveillance & censorship

What’s more punk than that?

Not-for-profit crowdfund runs until March

Let’s chronicle the new cyberpunk canon together!

🔗 www.backerkit.com/c/projects/s...

I wrote 3445 words today of the brand new YA novel I'm working on and it feels so good to be writing something new again!

#amwriting #writingcommunity

The text "Read Black Comics" on an inky almost-grey textured background.

CALLING ALL BLACK COMIC ARTISTS, WRITERS, AND ALL-AROUND CARTOONISTS!

Reply to or quote this post showing off your favorite work so we can get more people reading your creations!

Wow, the new novel WIP is sitting pretty at 12 730 words!! No idea how or when that happened but yay!

#amwriting #writingcommunity

It is rather odd to be working on a new novel for the first time in almost two years without any deadlines or pressure, just making words at my own pace for the sheer joy of storytelling.

#WritingCommunity

The background features a dark and gritty cityscape with pinprick lights. In the foreground, there is a silhouette of a person with dishevelled hair and a picked collar but it's too dark to see their face. The text at the top in bold red letter reads EXQUISITE DECAY.

It's official...

My cyberpunk Dorian Gray retelling has a new title:

🖤🖤 EXQUISITE DECAY 🖤🖤

It'll hit shelves later this year. Cover reveal coming soon...

#booksky

Hello #BookSky💙📚 community!!!

Time for a little reintroduction?

We are Tiny Ghost Press, an indie Queer publisher that publishes LGBTQ+ stories that are spooky, paranormal or just hit us different! 🐺👻🏳️‍🌈

We hope you’ll stick around, and of course enjoy our next release: KEEP IT IN THE DARK🧛🧛🖤

Hi All, I'm Xan and I have two queer books coming out this year!!

1. Exquisite Decay, a YA cyberpunk retelling of Dorian Gray

2. Born of Malice, an adult dark fantasy

Here's a sneak peek at Malice:

#QueerPrompts #booksky

When your copyeditor lets you keep your comma splices, semicolons, and em-dashes because they get your lyrical writing style 😍 😍 😍

#booksky #writing

THE SHORT STORY IS DONE!! And two days before the deadline!! 🎊🎊🎊

Also, why are there not more synonyms for corpse? I feel like we could do with a few more...

And yes, this story is bleak. It's meant to be 😆

#amwriting #booksky

Publishing for Minnesota Silent auction 'Publishing for Minnesota' hosted online at 32auctions.

For anyone interested in helping people in Minnesota, and wanting awesome bookish goodies, please check out this auction. It closes on Friday:

www.32auctions.com/organization...

#booksky #minnesota

YouTube video by Motionless In White Motionless In White - Afraid of the Dark [Official Video]

I needed this:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jola...

Just gonna have this play on repeat all day.

So I rewrote the WIP short story, scrapped the whole thing, just didn't vibe with it, and now I have 2500 words of a weird lyrical beast about a near-sentient city becoming a monster to fight the synthetic monsters rampaging in her streets. It's gonna get bloody.

#amwriting #horror

01/25/2026 Recent Reads & Reviews: SAUUTI TERRORS SAUUTI TERRORS Short Stories from the Unique Universe created by Contemporary African Writers. Edited by Eugen Bacon, Cheryl Ntumy, and Stephen Embleton.SAUUTI TERRORS, by its own description, is an a...

www.candacenolaauthor.com/post/01-25-2...

01/25/2026 Recent Reads & Reviews: SAUUTI TERRORS SAUUTI TERRORS Short Stories from the Unique Universe created by Contemporary African Writers. Edited by Eugen Bacon, Cheryl Ntumy, and Stephen Embleton.SAUUTI TERRORS, by its own description, is an a...

When a review of the anthology specifically mentions your story 😊

"Kyi’yaji by Xan van Rooyen was one of my favorite stories, equal parts chilling and mesmerizing. I loved the concept within and how music was used as the catalyst. I found this one profoundly moving."

Link 👇

#booksky #horror