mere rain

I shared this in my Widdershins fan group.

Plotthound is open for 2 more days!

It was meant to be the heroine's "how I became a necromancer" backstory but I never returned to it.

Bring back giving people The Cut Direct like those 18th century hostesses.

"canceling" is just social consequences for things people have done that we have decided should be subject to moral opprobrium like this isn't how society functions

Haha, did I tell you I had a ghoul romance flash fic years ago?
Pretty sure it's out of "print" now...I should expand and republish it.

Same, usually between 100 and 800 words per day. Over 1k is rare and generally only when I'm starting a project and getting the characters and setting sketched out.

Still somehow wrote several short stories, two novellas, and a poem that someone traded actual currency for this year.

In the center of a black frame, a photo of the author (a smiling, bespectacled person with dark hair and a sparkly witch’s hat) standing in the Halloween aisle of a store. In the bottom left corner of the frame, an illustration of a creepy clown peeks out from the corner. Top text: Lena Ng's "Afternoon Tea Over Innsmouth " is free to read on the Die Laughing Website Bottom text, in a speech bubble coming from the clown: “Arghugarrkjejrble,” he said. And he meant it!

With eight daughters of marrying age, what's a man to do when a wealthy abomination comes to call? Put the kettle on, naturally. Do horrors beyond our comprehension like scones? Read today's free story by Lena Ng to find out for yourself! #dielaughing #horror

dielaughingmag.com/2...

Book cover of Poisoned Soup, curated by Wendy Dalrymple and Grace R. Reynolds and published by Brigids Gate Press floating against a black-and-white background of trees, with the publisher logo and name in the upper left and "December 2025" in the lower right. The book cover includes the title and "CURATED BY Wendy Dalrymple and Grace R. Reynolds." The title is in big illustrated text in smoke rising from a bubbling cauldron of, well, poisoned green soup. The cauldron is sitting on a burning logs. In the background, hexagons depict eerie illustrated scenes like ghosts rising from holes in the ground, symbols, and other forms.

"Los Fantasmas en Su Boca," a poem about my great-grandmother protecting me from ghosts, arrives December 16 in "Poisoned Soup for the Macabre, Depraved, and Insane" from @brigidsgatepress.bsky.social. Edited by Wendy Dalrymple and Grace R. Reynolds, the anthology can be pre-ordered now.

Archaeologist doesn't do demons, but it turns out he's willing to do a demon hunter.

Text: Frequently Asked Questions about the Portals at Frank’s Late-Night Starlite Drive-In by Kristen Koopman Image: a swirling vortex with a dinosaur, a red umbrella, SCUBA flippers, a pink and chrome diner booth, and a stack of onion rings with sauces- all spinning into the vortex

Happy Friday! Jump into this portal and see where it takes you! @kkoopman.bsky.social

magazine.trollbreath.com/frequently-a...

...for all we know

An image of J.R. Blanes’ Portraits of Decay cover, with the title scratched out to become “Portraits of Abundance.” The words READERS AGAINST HUNGER appear above this.

Paint portraits of abundance: buy books & build a food bank donation with our Readers Against Hunger drive!

We're donating 50% of all profits on our books sold through 12/23/25 to @gr8bosfoodbank.bsky.social, & our CEO will match this donation!

Get our books direct:
📚 links.ruadanbooks.com/shop

Do you know author Ellie Thomas? She has a pleasant blog where she reports on her research as she gets ready for each book.

My library stopped offering it because the fee per read is higher, but it is a good way to get books from small presses.

Both are subscription services, but they work differently.
Per my understanding: with Libby the library is licensing a book for a certain number of checkouts at a flat cost, VS Hoopla where each borrow has a fee.

Authors and publishers can add their books to Hoopla. Libby picks more trad items.

Matt wasn't well enough to promote the release day of his new short story ebook All Quiet On The Terraces. It's a spooky tale but the kind that tugs on your heartstrings; especially apt since he passed away. You can get the kindle edition here:
amzn.eu/d/ewl1JWr

Several of my books are on Hoopla. I actually have the most ratings there (probably because it's easy to click without writing anything). I'm not at all bothered if you read via a library service!

Hoopla is pretty good about carrying indie books.

I knoooow, I looked the book up and could not believe this was how they described their own book!

Vile Lady Villains NetGalley helps publishers and authors promote digital review copies to book advocates and industry professionals. Publishers make digital review copies and audiobooks available for the NetGalley comm...

A little blackbird told me that my UK publisher is now granting requests for Vile Lady Villains on NetGalley so if you want to read my stabby sapphics early… you know what to do 🖤🥀

www.netgalley.co.uk/catalog/book...

It sounded good from your review!
...unlike the AI 'review' that attributed authorship to nba player Paul George.

The alternative to ellipsis —— abruptsis

Practice leopard distancing

I haven't read any of these, but The Last Wrathwitch is free rn.

Users of Gen AI climb on the backs of actual creators and stick flags between their shoulder blades, treating them like territory. Us and our work are just ladders to them. The only work they really want to do is to climb over us and claim our talent and abilities as their own.

Female-presenting people aren't supposed to make statements, they're supposed to wonder and opine, apologetically. 🙄

This reminds me that I saw a nail salon whose menu included "mechas" and I am so curious

Nice to see these childhood favorites reissued!

By the way, if you're not British it may take you a while to realize that these are speculative fiction with the civil war having a different outcome.

Mere Rain

@smashwords.bsky.social sale time! 🔥
Books from @jms-books.com 25% off. I know Kaje Harper has some discounts, R Cooper, Magen Cubed... who else?
FEEL FREE TO POST RECS
www.smashwords.com/profile/view...