Leo Astrum

An ad for the transhet jam upcoming on Itchio!

The page for the #transhet jam is up! It'll run from Jan. 1st to March 9th, 2026! Start your new year off right with a sexy new project.

JOIN HERE: itch.io/jam/the-tran...

I don't know if that's accurate - I can't know unless I try, I suppose. Should definitely just focus on the writing bit and worry about the rest later, but now I have the brain space to think my brain is insisting on thinking about *all* of the picture

I mean that on a traditional and self publishing level, fwiw. Right now it feels inevitable that work like mine is 'too risky' for traditional, and my most natural audience on a self publishing level most definitely doesn't have book time/money.

Now I'm feeling up to writing again I am perhaps inevitably thinking about publishing again but it just feels like a terrible time for that. I am so very awful about giving up before I begin, and I shouldn't look for excuses to call publishing a write-off, but the landscape seems....bad!

Gonna see how much 'being an actual human person' I can cram into the next few months for sure. I want to WRITE dang it

I have had a certified Year (esp the last couple months) but I think. Maybe. My brain is beginning to have room for proper writing/reading things again

(Bought a house. No big deal, yknow, just my brain being monopolised for logistical/financial thoughts All The Time)

I recently had a convo with a group of friends where pretty much everyone else feels the same way. I think a lot of people are feeling this, and for pretty much identical reasons

I've been enjoying Confessions of the Fox recently, and I liked An Unkindness of Ghosts a lot. I haven't read his adult work yet but I like Andrew Joseph White's YA work a lot and he released an adult horror book earlier this year

mary shelley, mother of science fiction

‘women are not usually
interested in science fiction’

There is a Frankenstein musical! The music is absolutely phenomenal

Cover of the novel A LEGACY OF BLOOD AND BONE. Background is red, and the cover features the silhouette of a woman's profile.

Today is the day! My Gothic & sapphic historical fantasy novel is available everywhere ebooks are sold! #Fantasy #Booksky

The "I don't have time to read lots of dusty tomes for research, so I just ask a bot for a summary" thing keeps coming up. I just can't relate to anyone who isn't incandescently excited about digging into an archive and spending days deciphering Victorian handwriting. It's like a party drug to me.

I recently read Ghost Apparent by Jelena Dunato (pubbed by a small press) and it was really good! Not technically 'my thing' - it was relatively by the books as a fantasy succession story - but it was SO tightly written and I enjoyed it a bunch

Maybe Hades 2 has finally cured me of being a hater and I can enjoy Greek myth-related media now
(I studied classics - I'm historically really picky. But Hades 2 is REALLY GOOD)

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Yeah it's HARD up there. I juuuust beat Chronos for the second time but getting the feeling the surface is gonna take a lot more. The bosses especially do brutal amounts of damage and everything has SO much health

I want to see all of my fellow trans writers succeed. Even if you write things that aren’t my interests. Even if you market or talk about your stuff in ways I wouldn’t. Even if I don’t know you personally. It’s like how I see wanting my friends to succeed: the more of us succeed, the better.

They must have recently done some checking of something - I got an email from them a couple days ago saying they owed me money, too! 🤞💸

It Is Journalism’s Sacred Duty To Endanger The Lives Of As Many Trans People As Possible The task of reporting is not a simple one. Each and every day, reporters and editors at publications like The Onion make difficult decisions about which issues should receive attention, knowing that o...

From ‘The Onion’ Editorial Board:

being trans is not a negative outcome and neither is being autistic

A graphic of the fantasy semifinalists: 1. BETTER LIVING THROUGH ALCHEMY by Evan J. Peterson (Broken Eye Books) 2. CURSED UNDER LONDON by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch (Farrago Books) 3. GHOST APPARENT by Jelena Dunato (Ghost Orchid Press) 4. TALIO'S CODEX by J. Alexander Cohen (Space Wizard Science Fantasy) 5. THE EXTRAVAGANZA ETERNIA by Kristin Osani (Ghost Orchid Press) 6. THE HARLEQUIN: THE DRAPER’S REEL by J.A. Mortimore and Penelope Hill (Elsewhen Press) 7. THE JAGUAR MASK by Michael J. DeLuca (Stelliform Press) 8. THE MYSTERY OF THE PALE KING by Sam Flynn (Timber Ghost Press) 9. THE WITCH AND THE OSTRICH (Space Wizard Science Fantasy) 10. TREE GODS by R. Lee Fryar (Midnight Meadow Publishing)

Horror semifinalists: 1. A SPECTRE IS HAUNTING GREENTREE by Carson Winter (Tenebrous Press) 2. BEAR SEASON by Gemma Fairclough (Wild Hunt Books) 3. BENOTHINGED by Alvar Theo (Haunt Publishing) 4. CHURCH OF SKATAN by Damian Casey (Mad Axe Media) 5. FROM THE BELLY by Emmett Nahil (Tenebrous Press) 6. RESISTERS by Chris Campeau (Anuci Press) 7. SUNDOWN IN SAN OJUELA by M.M. Olivas (Lanternfish Press) 8. TERROR AT TIERRA DE COBRE by Michael Merriam (Queen of Swords Press) 9. THE SCIENTIST, THE SPACEMAN, AND THE STARS BETWEEN THEM by A.L. Davidson (Timber Ghost Press) 10. YOU WILL SPEAK FOR THE DEAD by R.A. Busby (Stelliform Press)

Semifinalists for science fiction: 1. A TRUTH BEYOND FULL by Rosie Oliver (Elsewhen Press) 2. EMPRESS OF DUST by Alex Kingsley (Space Wizard Science Fantasy) 3. HER GILDED VOICE by K.C. Aegis (Elsewhen Press) 4. MOON DUST IN MY HAIRNET by JR Creaden (Mythic Roads Press) 5. MORE BUGS by Em Reed (Knight Errant Press) 6. THE MOSQUITO FLEET by Andrew Penn Romine (Broken Eye Books) 7. THE RIGEL REDEMPTION by Robin C. M. Duncan (Space Wizard Science Fantasy) 8. THE SEA OF CLOUDS by Sheila Jenné (Midnight Meadow Publishing) 9. THE YEARS SHALL RUN LIKE RABBITS by Ben Berman Ghan (Wolsak and Wynn Publishers) 10. WORLDS ALIGNED: WORLDS APART 2 by Terry Jackman (Elsewhen Press)

It is time to announce the semifinalists for the Small Spec Book Awards.

Thank you to our readers, who worked diligently to assign ratings to all books. The competition was close.

Authors, we hope you are proud of your stories because we are. Thank you for sharing them with us.

I recently played a choice-based game where the game gives you clear rules to say 'hey do this or there will be Serious Consequences for your character' and then had every character repeatedly express disappointment when I followed the rules!! It was SO stressful even tho I understood why

I'm really tired of the "everything should be sexy" / "nothing should be sexy" arguments about media. Some things should be sexy and other things should not be sexy and everyone needs to come to terms with the fact that not all things will please them, personally.

A stylized watercolor of basalt cliffs framed by trees in pinks, oranges, and purples.

Fini! #art #watercolor

Your occasional reminder to report and block fast, rather than give a boost to hateful content.

They want your outrage: give them nothing.

Especially transphobic accounts with 4 whole followers. They need your outrage to grow their reach. Don’t give them it.

Once again, people who are protesting hotels are not ordinary. If you have travelled to a location, bought a flare, printed a t-shirt with a niche far-right slogan, you are by definition out of the ordinary, and you are almost certainly exceptionally politically engaged and ideologically hardened.

Okay, here's my hot writing take of the week:

I think the narrative of "A writer writes because they must" has done a lot of psychological damage to a lot of writers.

Let me tell you, in a truly supportive way: You don't have to be a writer.
🧵

Honestly, if a bookish organisation's social media is even 1% HP, I'm out. I lose all respect the moment anyone gives the series air

When I was 11 my mum took one look at the requirement for her to sign my homework planner every week and said it was nonsense. My signature now is the signature I used to pretend was hers every week for five years

BUT but my exception is characters who are autistic coded. I've generally felt that autistic coding is done far less intentionally/with more nuance than trans coding, and because my trans readings are generally linked w my autistic readings, there's a lot of overlap there