Das Manuskript ist zurück – es geht in die letzte Lektoratsrunde. Der Überarbeitungsplan steht, nur noch eine kleine Besprechung mit der besten aller Lektorinnen, und dem Finale steht nichts mehr im Weg. Es wird ernst. ❤️‍🔥 #MaschinenMacht2 #QueerSFF

Morgen bekomme ich Band 2 aus dem Lektorat zurück, und weil ich schon dezent nervös bin, hab ich den heutigen Abend damit verbracht, mich mit der Bastelei eines neuen Headers abzulenken. #MaschinenMacht #QueerSFF #IndieBuch

It's Pride Month in much of the world, so here's an overview of my queer books (under both my names)🌈.
#queersff #pridemonthbooks #sapphicbooks #queerwitches #queerbooks #rainbowbooks

Really nice selection of essays by queer writers about formative older queer #SFF works on Tor dot com #queerSFF

https://www.tor.com/2023/06/07/celebrating-the-books-that-queered-us/

Still wrapping up Part 3 of #ThoseWhoCreateAndDestroy, but visions of the sequel are already blooming in my mind.

I can't wait to introduce Jules's hero, the legendary alchemist Evander Lockwood, and dive with Rory into the rich polytheistic world of the Hermetic Order of Khmun.

#TheNullweaverCycle

https://readformandvoid.com/the-nullweaver-cycle/

#AmWriting #queerSFF #fantasy #AmWritingFantasy #UrbanFantasy #LGBTQbooks #trans #transgender #books

#WritingWonders 3/5! (Image CW: eye contact)

We'll stick with Hunter for antagonist questions. The answer is basically no, he does not have moral boundaries. The only authority in Hunter's world is his ego, the only value self-preservation. This value is, of course, inseparable from the patriarchal worldview that shaped him, so Hunter finds ambiguity, flexibility, and vulnerability—what we might call "feminine" traits—threatening, yet secretly fascinating. He denies these traits in himself and objectifies, persecutes, and/or tries to subjugate those who embody them in any noticeable measure, while recognizing on an unconscious level that they hold a power he doesn't understand.

Link to January's Hunter intro: https://writeout.ink/@emrys/109671387343219965

#ThoseWhoCreateAndDestroy

Link to series: https://readformandvoid.com/the-nullweaver-cycle/those-who-create-and-destroy/

#WritingCommunity #trans #transgender #LGTBQ #books #fiction #queerSFF

#WritingWonders 3/3!

The answer to this one is yes, big-time. Perhaps Jules's most notable physical feature is the alchemical tattoos that cover his left arm and parts of his right hand, which enable him to perform transmutations on the go—including in combat. 💥

He gives an action-packed demonstration in Chapter One: https://readformandvoid.com/the-nullweaver-cycle/those-who-create-and-destroy/chapter-one/

#ThoseWhoCreateAndDestroy

#WritingCommunity #writing #AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy #fantasy #UrbanFantasy #queerSFF

#WritingWonders Day 2! (Trying it out as a thread this time. ✨)

The short answer: It varies. Jules started out as a supporting character in the first draft of what later became #ThoseWhoCreateAndDestroy, but soon stepped forward demanding to center his story. In some sense, it feels like he existed fully formed from the start and I always knew him, but he's definitely revealed many specifics to me in the process of writing.

#WritingCommunity #writing #AmWriting #queerSFF #fantasy

Happy March #WritingWonders, gang! 🙏✨ We're kicking it off with the softball questions, I see...

Since I'm still wrapping up Part 3, I'm back again this month with our queer epic switchblade-and-sorcery novel #ThoseWhoCreateAndDestroy and, for today, its precocious young alchemist co-protagonist, Jules. (You can check out the complete Parts 1 & 2 here: https://readformandvoid.com/the-nullweaver-cycle/those-who-create-and-destroy/ )

How is Jules *not* me, would be an easier question to answer. He's a prickly pear with a heavily guarded warm heart and a rarely seen or acknowledged effusive side, who escapes his trauma by trading in human realities for cosmic conceptualizations. He reaps the social rewards of high achievement (not so much me now, but me in grade school) and toxic self-sacrificing (also me until recent years), while continuing to feel vaguely but deeply unfulfilled in both his intimate and his inner life (once again, me till recently).

Jules lives as a mostly-out-and-visible trans man in a largely socially conservative magic wainscot society in the aughts—which has a range of social ramifications. I, by contrast, am usually taken for a cis woman (outside my inner circle) and (usually) let it slide. 🙃 But I think Jules and I both feel essentially genderless, while at the same time experiencing dysphoria, to no small extent, at times, with our "female" bodies, but more intensely and persistently with the social roles and perceptions traditionally associated with femaleness in our cultures of origin (although we're both also able and willing to lean on "feminine" expressions in limited circumstances, when it serves our purposes). Part 3 flashes back to trace the arc of Jules's gender experience from childhood, and, while his journey differs in many ways from mine, the book's climax finds us both in more or less the same place (albeit still using different pronouns... I seem to be more partial to "they," at least for now).

I could go on, but instead I'll just say that, aside from being (rather aspirationally) more organized and more accomplished, more action-oriented and more abrasive, Jules is about as "me" as any character I've ever written—though I wasn't at all aware of this when @dontdoitneil and I first started drafting TWCAD in 2016. Jules, I like to think, came along to help me see myself more clearly, at a time when I'd all but lost sight.

@emrys@sunny.garden

#WritingCommunity #transmasc #transgender #nonbinary #gender #LGBTQbooks #queerSFF

Happy March #WritingWonders, gang! 🙏✨ We're kicking it off with the softball questions, I see...

Since I'm still wrapping up Part 3, I'm back again this month with our queer epic switchblade-and-sorcery novel #ThoseWhoCreateAndDestroy and, for today, its precocious young alchemist co-protagonist, Jules. (You can check out the complete Parts 1 & 2 here: https://readformandvoid.com/the-nullweaver-cycle/those-who-create-and-destroy/ )

How is Jules *not* me, would be an easier question to answer. He's a prickly pear with a heavily guarded warm heart and a rarely seen or acknowledged effusive side, who escapes his trauma by trading in human realities for cosmic conceptualizations. He reaps the social rewards of high achievement (not so much me now, but me in grade school) and toxic self-sacrificing (also me until recent years), while continuing to feel vaguely but deeply unfulfilled in both his intimate and his inner life (once again, me till recently).

Jules lives as a mostly-out-and-visible trans man in a largely socially conservative magic wainscot society in the aughts—which has a range of social ramifications. I, by contrast, am usually taken for a cis woman (outside my inner circle) and (usually) let it slide. 🙃 But I think Jules and I both feel essentially genderless, while at the same time experiencing dysphoria, to no small extent, at times, with our "female" bodies, but more intensely and persistently with the social roles and perceptions traditionally associated with femaleness in our cultures of origin (although we're both also able and willing to lean on "feminine" expressions in limited circumstances, when it serves our purposes). Part 3 flashes back to trace the arc of Jules's gender experience from childhood, and, while his journey differs in many ways from mine, the book's climax finds us both in more or less the same place (albeit still using different pronouns... I seem to be more partial to "they," at least for now).

I could go on, but instead I'll just say that, aside from being (rather aspirationally) more organized and more accomplished, more action-oriented and more abrasive, Jules is about as "me" as any character I've ever written—though I wasn't at all aware of this when @dontdoitneil and I first started drafting TWCAD in 2016. Jules, I like to think, came along to help me see myself more clearly, at a time when I'd all but lost sight.

@emrys@sunny.garden

#WritingCommunity #transmasc #transgender #nonbinary #gender #LGBTQbooks #queerSFF

🏖☕⚡New story! ⚡☕🏖

"The Willingham Bay Witches" is out now in Electric Spec. Would-be detective Sandy works a case in their seaside town and makes some poor decisions...

http://www.lesleylsmith.com/electricspec/Volume18/Issue1/jackson.html

#ShortSFF #UrbanFantasy #ShortStory #QueerSFF #SpeculativeFiction #ShortStories #Fantasy #SFF

#AmReading Even Though I Knew The End (C. L. Polk). The first 3 chapters have left an ache in my heart.
... a shame I have to work today. Would love to read this in one setting.

#bookstodon
#sff
#queerSFF

The Part Two finale reveals new hope for a once-doomed friendship, the Nihilites' under-city lair, Cyrano's long-delayed choice, and Hunter's dreadful secret power.

Read Chapter 47 online: https://readformandvoid.com/the-nullweaver-cycle/those-who-create-and-destroy/chapter-forty-seven/

Start back at Chapter 1: https://readformandvoid.com/the-nullweaver-cycle/those-who-create-and-destroy/chapter-one/

@dontdoitneil @emrys@sunny.garden

#ThoseWhoCreateAndDestroy

#TransWriters #TransBooks #TransFiction #enby #nonbinary #NonbinaryWriters #fantasy #DarkFantasy #grimdark #SFF #SFFBookClub #SpeculativeFiction #queerSFF #UrbanFantasy #AmWriting #AmWritingSFF #AmWritingFantasy #LGBT #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #trans #transgender #transmasc #LGBTQwriters #LGBTQbooks #WritersOfMastodon #Bookstodon #QueerFiction #LGBTbooks #QueerFantasy #books @lgbtqbookstodon @bookstodon

In "The Number No Good Things Can Come Of," Jules intuits a vague forecast of doom, and, together with Caliban, visits the site of the grim ritual in which Max was conceived.

Read Chapter 46 online: https://readformandvoid.com/the-nullweaver-cycle/those-who-create-and-destroy/chapter-forty-six/

Start back at Chapter 1: https://readformandvoid.com/the-nullweaver-cycle/those-who-create-and-destroy/chapter-one/

@dontdoitneil @emrys@sunny.garden

#ThoseWhoCreateAndDestroy

#TransWriters #TransBooks #TransFiction #enby #nonbinary #NonbinaryWriters #fantasy #DarkFantasy #grimdark #SFF #SFFBookClub #SpeculativeFiction #queerSFF #UrbanFantasy #AmWriting #AmWritingSFF #AmWritingFantasy #LGBT #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #trans #transgender #transmasc #LGBTQwriters #LGBTQbooks #WritersOfMastodon #Bookstodon #QueerFiction #LGBTbooks #QueerFantasy #books @lgbtqbookstodon @bookstodon

⚔️ On the blog:
⚔️ Why am I involved in New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine?
⚔️ Or, of outsider heroes and sympathy for monsters...

https://amgalant.com/why-new-edge-sword-sorcery/

#lgbtq #queersff

In "That Girl Possessed," Rory tries breaking the bad news to Max on Jules's behalf, and it doesn't go well.

Read Chapter 45 online: https://readformandvoid.com/the-nullweaver-cycle/those-who-create-and-destroy/chapter-forty-five/

Start back at Chapter 1: https://readformandvoid.com/the-nullweaver-cycle/those-who-create-and-destroy/chapter-one/

@dontdoitneil @emrys@sunny.garden

#ThoseWhoCreateAndDestroy

#TransWriters #TransBooks #TransFiction #enby #nonbinary #NonbinaryWriters #fantasy #DarkFantasy #grimdark #SFF #SFFBookClub #SpeculativeFiction #queerSFF #UrbanFantasy #AmWriting #AmWritingSFF #AmWritingFantasy #LGBT #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #trans #transgender #transmasc #LGBTQwriters #LGBTQbooks #WritersOfMastodon #Bookstodon #QueerFiction #LGBTbooks #QueerFantasy #books @lgbtqbookstodon @bookstodon

⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Tyrant Baru Cormorant / Seth Dickinson

I don't think a series has ever ruined me as much as Baru's story 🥹💔 But fuck, I'm all here for it. I'm craving the final book – when is it out? It doesn't matter. I'll probably reread this master piece mix of cunning and dark and queer before then.

... what do I do now?

#BookReview​
#MicroReview​
#SpeculativeFiction #SFF​ #QueerSFF
#Bookstodon​

In "Headfirst for Halos," Elisha and Jules finally learn the true circumstances of Max's conception—and tragedy ensues.

Read Chapter 44 online: https://readformandvoid.com/the-nullweaver-cycle/those-who-create-and-destroy/chapter-forty-four/

Start back at Chapter 1: https://readformandvoid.com/the-nullweaver-cycle/those-who-create-and-destroy/chapter-one/

@dontdoitneil @emrys@sunny.garden

#ThoseWhoCreateAndDestroy

#TransWriters #TransBooks #TransFiction #enby #nonbinary #NonbinaryWriters #fantasy #DarkFantasy #grimdark #SFF #SFFBookClub #SpeculativeFiction #queerSFF #UrbanFantasy #AmWriting #AmWritingSFF #AmWritingFantasy #LGBT #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #trans #transgender #transmasc #LGBTQwriters #LGBTQbooks #WritersOfMastodon #Bookstodon #QueerFiction #LGBTbooks #QueerFantasy #books @lgbtqbookstodon @bookstodon

#Books #LGBTlit #UrbanFantasy #Lesbian #QueerSFF

Blood Canticles T01 - Blood Witch, by Naomi Clark.

OK I know the cover is kinda clickbait and not really interesting (a tipical lesbian surnatural romance really) (others books of the author are worse :p), BUT it was a good read ?

I was ranting about not finding enough queer main characters in urban fantasy, while all the discourse about monsters and outcasts (not the Wednesday kind ty) were pretty queer in itself, well, here it is !

Some tension and murders, a bit of lesbian romance, blood magic, sultry demoness - please take my money !
Tbh, not a huge twist of the genre, cops aren’t bastards here and it lack of other representations, but it was a fun read, and that's just what I were asking :)

#Books #LGBTlit #UrbanFantasy #Lesbian #QueerSFF

**Blood Canticles T01 - Blood Witch**, by Naomi Clark.

OK I know the cover is kinda clickbait and not really interesting (a tipical lesbian surnatural romance really) (others books of the author are worse :p), BUT it was a good read ?

I was ranting about not finding enough queer main characters in urban fantasy, while all the discourse about monsters and outcasts (not the Wednesday kind ty) were pretty queer in itself, well, here it is !

Some tension and murders, a bit of lesbian romance, blood magic, sultry demoness - please take my money !
Tbh, not a huge twist of the genre, cops aren’t bastards here and it lack of other representations, but it was a fun read, and that's just what I were asking :)