iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Messy friendships from my dark portal fantasy psy-ops book 🐺To Dream a Darker Realm🐺, coming soon to Kickstarter... #WIPSnips #BookSky #WriteSky 💙🪐📚 #indiefantasy

For a moment, Cam was too surprised to reply. Yes. Yes, I was using you. He felt like the biggest idiot. Like, why was he putting in the effort? Why had he expected anything to be different? Was this why he’d been so anxious for days, weeks… months? 

And yet, something was different. Because old Sergei, last semester Sergei, never would have admitted it. 

“Okay,” Cam said softly. “Okay, and fuck you. But you’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

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Anna 🌿👁️ @annacwebs.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

There is something deeply comforting to me about the idea that we have not yet “discovered” all the animals in the world yet

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Read Indie Fantasy.com @blog.readindiefantasy.com · 15/09/2026

Today we’re celebrating the launch of Arcane Awakenings, An Urban Fantasy Anthology campaign on Kickstarter by Shadow Stained Press. www.readindiefantasy.com/arcane-awake...

A banner showing a map with a open book and pages flying in the air. It has the text Saturday Spotlight and the book cover to Arcane Awakenings.

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

We didn't quite vibe with this book, but you might, so you should definitely check it out!

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

It's Book Quote Wednesday and the word is 'drip'. Here's an excerpt from The Many Shades of Midnight, a fantasy book I wrote in a fit of rage at the state of the world in which I take corrupt corporations and spineless governments and subject them to my justice... #bookqw #writingcommunity 💙🪐📚

Front cover and excerpt from The Many Shades of Midnight for Book Quote Wednesday 9 September - 'drip'

Rumour was a deadly thing, and Alyas had proved himself extremely adept at seeding it. So adept, in fact, that the tiny snippets of gossip had done what she had not thought possible and shaken, ever so slightly, the regard of the rich for the hand that fed them. He was the reason she was cooped up here instead of out there, enjoying all the rewards she had earned. Because every time she stepped outside her door, those bloody kids with their placards were there to shout their complaints and their devastating truths, turning the people against her drip by drip.
Gods, she hated him.
So when he turned up on her doorstep one evening, she could not say she was overjoyed to see him.

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

#WIPSnips 14 September 'month' Taking a break from wrestling with my main WIP to revise the draft of a novella in my Tales of Isyr series that has been gathering dust for a couple of years - lots of tea drinking with a bit of blackmail on the side. #WriteSky #indiefantasy #WritingCommunity 💙🪐📚

Wipsnips 14 September 'month'

Marching into the salon where Cassana was drinking tea with her brother, Hailene tapped her cane against Melar’s ankle and told him to leave.
The Flaeresian ambassador looked up at her with a bemused expression. “May I ask why?”
“Because I have a matter of some urgency to discuss with your sister, concerning Alyas, and you have no need to hear it.”
Cassana’s heart sped up. Had something happened? The company had been on an extended contract for months, working in the coastal kingdoms east of Flaeres. She’d had little news, but that was not unusual. There was no reason to think...
“Now, there’s no need for that,” Hailene said briskly, seeing her face. “This is a political matter, and I would like it resolved before he ever hears about it. Off you go, Ambassador.”
Melar hooked his elbow over the back of his chair and regarded Hailene with a quirked brow and quickened interest. “A Lankaran political matter? About Alyas? This I must hear. Perhaps,” he added with an innocent glance at Cassana, “I could help?”
“I think not, Ambassador,” Hailene informed him, settling herself into a chair. “My nephew has more than enough problems without owing you a favour. Your sister and I are quite capable of handling the matter. You may go.”

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Oddly, even though To Dream a Darker Realm is about a man constantly awakened by nightmares who also works as a mechanic, I did not have any form of the word "exhaust". Instead I used "tired". #WIPSnips #BookSky #WriteSky 💙🪐📚

Sergei settled in to watch the game as it continued. Now that he’d sat down, he realized how tired he was. The beer had probably been a mistake. He stretched out in the chair and rested his head against the back. If he closed his eyes for a second…  

“Sergei!” 

He jerked. The bottle knocked against the aluminum chair arm with a clank and sloshed beer on his leg. He sat up, cursing and blinking. 

“Dude, were you asleep?” Cam asked, incredulous. He unfolded a chair beside Sergei with a flick of his wrist and sat, holding his own beer bottle in the other hand. “How much have you had to drink?” 

Sergei rubbed at the beer stain on his jeans with the cuff of his sweatshirt. “Just tired,” he mumbled. “Been working a lot.”

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

There are some great points raised in the discussion, so definitely check out the comments/thread. Nils is identifying a lot of the same things I felt when trying to identify tropes in my own work... which was the inspiration for the article.

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

So I wrote a thing... Maybe you've seen this sentiment around the internet, too? I decided to try to take it apart. 💙🪐📚 #BookSky #WriteSky #indieauthors #indiebooks

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I'm so excited that I wrote a fantasy book with the word "elevator" in it!! 😅 I feel bad for Chris, though--Cam gives him such a hard time throughout the book 😆 From TO DREAM A DARKER REALM, my dark 80's portal fantasy thriller with Stranger Things vibes 😁 #WIPSnips 💙🪐📚 #BookSky #WriteSky

“Are you going to explain any of this?” Chris said when they got in the elevator. 

Cam darted a glance up at the elevator’s ceiling. Surveillance cameras. He resisted the urge to wave. And also the urge to answer Chris’s question. He had to be cool now, collected, not the same idiot who had picked a fight with Kenneth Lefler’s friends even though they had all deserved it. But he couldn’t resist fucking with the police, just a little. 

“Well, Chris, it sounds to me like you had a psychic experience.”

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

From my dark 80's portal fantasy with Stranger Things vibes--Sergei (Seryozha) and his sister Anya are talking about their mother, who supposedly gave her life to get them through the Iron Curtain when they were young. #WIPSnips 💙🪐📚 #BookSky #WriteSky #writingcommunity

Anya sighed and pressed her free hand to her forehead. “All right. I'm just saying, all you’re missing is a big bulletin board with newspaper articles pinned all over it before the cops think you’re a serial killer.”

“You think she’s dead, too.”

 “I’ve told you before, Seryozha. Part of me wants to believe she’s not. But another part—just as big—is afraid she really is. You need a break. You’re going over and over the same things without making any progress, and it’s starting to show. Jude thinks you must be using drugs. Jason’s getting into trouble at school and Jude thinks it’s because he’s using you as a role model.” 

"Jason has the same problems I did: assholes.” “

"Jude is trying to be a good stepfather, Seryozha. He just doesn’t understand what it’s like to be us. And you’re not helping, passing down all those little tricks Kolya showed you.”

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

#WIPSnips 6 September - 'sigh' From my historical fantasy WIP - are these characters changing the patterns of past generations or repeating them? #WriteSky #indiefantasy #WritingCommunity 💙🪐📚

WIPSnips excerpt for 6 September - 'sigh'

“What do you mean to do, Darri? Will you honour Edrin’s treaty?”
He glanced at her in surprise. Edrin’s treaty. And Edrin was dead. Yet that did not free him. His uncle might have made the treaty to end the war, but it bound him too. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because when I look at you, I see my mother.”
Gaurin gave a huff of grim laughter and would have said something, but one look at Merionn’s face stopped the thought behind his teeth. He looked down, as though he had suddenly remembered the cup in his hand, and drained it in a single swallow. Then he stood and went to fetch another, leaving them alone.
In the wake of Gaurin’s retreat, Darraion returned Merionn’s searching stare. “Maelys honoured her treaties.”
“Of course,” Merionn agreed. “Until she didn’t, of course.”
“By then they were already broken.” He sighed. “And that’s the problem with these treaties, Merionn. They’re bandages over a festering wound. We don’t need endless truces with Morn, we need peace and recognition of Lyn’s right to exist, free and independent, and we’ll never get that if we’re continually fighting amongst ourselves. So yes, I’ll honour the treaty—until it’s clear that it’s meaningless, like every other before it. And then…” He shrugged. “Then, we’ll see.”
His aunt smiled, a little sadly. “Now you sound like her too.”

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Back with a snip from my dark 80's portal fantasy! I really have a hard time describing this book--it's my "It doesn't just whisk the characters away 80's paranormal mystery fantasy thriller with Stranger Things and dark academia vibes" portal fantasy 😅 💙🪐📚 #WIPSnips #BookSky #WriteSky

He ducked into the space and followed her up. He was a lot bigger than he’d been when he’d first discovered the chimney-like space. A gangly kid could squeeze into it, but there had come a time when his shoulders wouldn’t fit and he sure hadn’t been able to put his feet on the opposite wall to climb. So he’d dismantled the panels that made the space and built himself a ladder in the shop when Papa had been out for groceries one afternoon.

 Of course, back then he hadn’t thought he’d have to hide it from Anya.

 She hauled herself up onto the old attic floor and pushed herself to her feet.  

“Seryozhka,” she exclaimed in the same tone of voice American mothers used to call their children by their first and middle names when they were in trouble. 

He dragged himself up after her. “What? The radios get better reception up here.”

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

From my dark 80's portal fantasy TO DREAM A DARKER REALM (coming to Kickstarter next month): 💙🪐📚 #BookSky #WriteSky #indiebooks #WIPSnips

I often wondered… Were the “doctors” really asking about my dreams or did they want to know how I dreamed, how real that goddamned lake in the birches could be every night? Did they want to know about the other things I saw when I visited the lake in my sleep—as if everything in sky and earth and forest was animated by its own soul, turning it from object or animal to something more. 

And then there was that book of indecipherable fairy tales that had ended up in my pocket. 

Instinctively, I kept that a secret. From everyone but Anya, who, despite being seven years older, was so often my partner in crime. 

The government doctors treated me like a computer that would spit out national intelligence if they just pushed the right buttons.

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Tru Skies @trudieskies.readindiefantasy.com · 01/09/2026

After a few years of hard work, The Chosen One Con is out now on ebook with paperbacks to follow soon! Available on Kindle, Kobo, Itch and more to come. books2read.com/thechosenone... But of course, I couldn't publish this book without help, and I have a lot of people to thank! 👇

A promo image for The Chosen One Con, out now on Kindle, Kobo, and Itch. It shows the book cover to the Chosen One Con (a young white man in a trench coat holding a glowing blue potion bottle as though trying to steal it) and the following text: Magic spoke to me, whispering promises of fortune and fame. It spoke when I switched on the old MV and the screen came alive with the blue glow of magic, the faint spark and pop of aether flowing through the cables.

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Sergei's culinary philosophy summed up. From my dark 80's portal fantasy TO DREAM A DARKER REALM, coming to Kickstarter in October! #WIPSnips #BookSky #WriteSky #indiebooks 💙🪐📚 #WritingCommunity

Sergei shrugged and eyed the dough again. Probably couldn’t get away with snagging two. Anya might as well have been shooting daggers at him over Linda’s head.  

“Are you and Papa eating?” she asked. 

She got the short end of the stick, being the only girl, especially since their older brother Kolya had been absent for much of the last ten years, doing God knew what. Getting into trouble. Making their father worry. No one knew if he was coming to the wedding or not. Anya was sure he would come through, but then, Anya was always sure about him even though she’d had to slide into their mother’s role too often, and then she’d had kids early. 

It was still a pain in the ass. 

“Shoe leather if you and Linda haven’t been over in a few days.”  

Anya narrowed her eyes. “You know what I mean, Seryozha. Pop-Tarts are not food.”

 “Pop-Tarts are food, as are Cheetos, Twinkies, Ding Dongs, and potato chips. When are we eating?”

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Thank you, Symon, for this excellent review! 😁😁😁 "A compelling cold war era mystery with magical elements that perfectly sets up a portal for the sequel." ARCs are still available--if you'd like one, check the thread! 📚 #BookSky #WriteSky 💙🪐📚 #indieauthor #indiebook #kickstarter

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

No "adept" or "skilled" so I settled on "good at" 😆 From 🐺To Dream a Darker Realm🐺, my dark 80's portal fantasy with Stranger Things vibes, coming soon on Kickstarter! #BookSky #WriteSky 💙🪐📚 #kickstarter

“I’m just mentioning it as a possibility. I think you need to focus your anger. Instead of wearing incendiary clothing, why don’t you start asking your questions? Why don’t you start wondering why the snow looks different to you, and the rain, and the sky?” 

Her words rattle him. He’s repeated his dreams so many times he wants to throw up, but he hasn’t told anyone how he sees the rest of the world. Not since he was very small. He’d found out fast that secrets need to be kept because they might be held against you. 

“How do you know about that?” he asks shakily. 

She throws the pigeons more bread. “Oh, I know about a lot of things. Like these pigeons here. They all look like pigeons, don’t they? But if you look closer… really close… you might see something else inside some of them, something more.” 

“Why would there be something more about a pigeon? They’re just pigeons. They eat trash.” 

“You’ve become very good at not answering questions, haven’t you, Seryozha?”

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Grab a complete series for just 0.99! The Many Shades of Midnight is free in the @narratess.com #indiebooksale. I've dropped the price of the accompanying collection of short stories and novellas to 0.99. And the prequel novel The Siege of Druine is free on my newsletter! 💙📚🪐 #indiefantasy

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Hel ✨ || Untwined is out now!! 🌀🪷 @helynalc.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Show me what you got! This is what I got! #NarratessSale 💙📚 - Death Show Colossus by @williamjadams3.bsky.social because I heard so many good things EVEN THOUGH The Godsblood Tragedy is still inching up on my TBR ;__; - Garner for Gold by @catandherwips.bsky.social because just look at that cover &

A screenshot of my Kindle library showing 9 ebook covers.

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Alan K. Dell @alankdell.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

🚨Bundle Alert🚨 If you don't want to scroll through the full list of individual books, there are a bunch of Itch-io bundles available as part of the #NarratessIndieSale per genre for you to partake in. Check them out below 👇🏻 📦📚 1/2

Book covers of the 23 books in the Sci-fi bundle for $45

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Tim Carter 🇨🇦 @tbcart.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

What more is there to say? This sale is awesome. Get your copy of Majordomo now.

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AC Cross @aaronccross.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Right! Cheap books, many books, all for the taking! The Narratess Indie Sale is going on NOW and you can get The October Music and other great books for a song (or, like, two or three bucks at most). indiebook.sale

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Lizzie Blackwood @lizzieblackwood.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

✨🌟✨BOOK SALE MEGATHREAD✨🌟✨ It's the #NarratessIndieSale and there's a whole dragon's hoard of excellent SFFH books to be had for a steal! But where to start? I'll be adding to this thread all weekend with the books I'm most excited about. Find them all at indiebook.sale!

Indie Book Sale
indiebook.sale
Fantasy, Sci-fi, & Horror
29-31 August

Background illustration shows ghosts, skulls, gems, planets, a spaceship, and a reading dragon against a starry backdrop

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I don't have snuggle, so I substituted "hug". From my dark 80's portal fantasy 🐺To Dream a Darker Realm🐺, Book 1 of the Rai Ascendant series, coming soon to Kickstarter! #WIPSnips #BookSky 💙🪐📚 #indiebooks #amwritingfantasy

“I doubt that, but I imagine he is a little stressed today with you moving out.” Kolya hesitated, then added, “Mama would have been proud.”  

Would be, I automatically corrected him in my head. She would be proud.  

The idea hit me unexpectedly and therefore harder than I was prepared for. I wondered what Mama would think if she were here like Cam’s mom, if she would have sent me to school with a five-pound jar of peanut butter to make sure I wouldn’t starve. Probably not. But maybe she would have sent me off in a cloud of cigarette smoke with a rough hug and a kiss on both cheeks. Kolya was watching me slantwise from under the brim of his cap, and I swear I could see a little shine in his brown eyes. Papa always said they were the same shape as mine, the same shape as Mama’s. Maybe I had some shine in my eyes, too. 

We both looked up so we wouldn’t have to look at each other, and that was when I saw Ben walking back. Instantly, I forgot about the family feelings—or maybe it was a relief to shove them aside. Old hurts don’t stop hurting just because they’re old.

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On Wednesdays We Read Pod @owwrpod.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

We're hosting a special #IndieMission X! Join us next week on our Bonus Wednesday Ep. as we host a knockout round of these twelve contenders and choose which of these completed series we will be reading in October! #Booksky #Reading #SFF #Fantasy owwrpod.com/2026/08/19/i...

owwrpod.com

IndieMission X

Laura and Hannah have been hosting IndieMission since the end of our first season! It was actually born of our first supporters, indie authors! Indie authors were our first followers, the first peo…

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On Wednesdays We Read Pod @owwrpod.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Here is an amazing 5⭐ review of @triempery.bsky.social's Triempery Revelations series! This is up in our #IndieMission this week! Join us! #booksky

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

It's Book Quote Wednesday and the word is 'question'. Here's a little snip from early in The Many Shades of Midnight. #bookqw #indiefantasy 💙📚🪐

Front cover of The Many Shades of Midnight by CM Debell with excerpt for Book Quote Wednesday word 'question'.

Brivar took the cup Ailuin offered him and thought about his assertion that Alyas would not wake until morning. He felt like he could sleep for a day with that smoke in his lungs, even as its effects tried to untether his thoughts. He was quite sure its use had been deliberate, but he was too tired to care. “What did he say to you?” he asked Ailuin.
The old man resumed his place in his chair, rocking it gently. “Enough.” He eyed Brivar. “Do you know what he saw?”
Brivar looked away. “I know only what I heard.” Much of which he could not interpret and most he did not want to. He would not share it, but he found there was something he did want to know, quite badly. “Did he… did he speak of his father?”
Ailuin studied him. “That is what Esar fears, isn’t it? That they are too alike. But that is not the question you must ask.”
“Then what is?”
Ailuin smiled sadly. “The correct question is why.”

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

New pinned post! You can now follow TO DREAM A DARKER REALM, my 80's portal fantasy with Stranger Things vibes, on Kickstarter! 🐺 Flawed MC who will do anything to save his family 🐺 Magic book of clues 🐺 Haunted library 🐺 Disaster bromance www.kickstarter.com/projects/ang... 💙🪐📚 #BookSky

To Dream a Darker Realm by Angela Boord, Rai Ascendant 1: A crow descends in a flurry of feathers over an Arctic lake, a distant pack of wolves, and a grove of birch trees, surrounded by a frame of Gothic architecture and swords

trope graphic: To Dream a Darker Realm by Angela Boord, Rai Ascendant 1: A family struggling with parental loss, Slavic culture, A bromance in need of repair, Dark urban legends in an 80's college town, Nightmares bleeding into reality, Romance subplot with a FMC in STEM, Creepy abandoned library, Dubious government experiments

"What if I told you there is a place somewhere outside your dream, a place your mother might have gone. A place someone is keeping her... for now."

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

From my dark 80's portal fantasy To Dream a Darker Realm: 💙🪐📚 #BookSky #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #indiebooks

“Do you know where the art comes from?”
 “I've only seen it in a book of fairy tales. I mean, I assume they’re fairy tales but I can’t read the writing.” 
“So this writing here isn’t Russian either? I was thinking these inscriptions were symbols—like magic symbols, I guess, that somebody invented. But they do repeat.” 
“Well, it’s definitely not Russian. Or anything else, as far as I can tell.” “You’ve studied this book?”
 “A little. It… came in my mother’s stuff.” 
She looked up. He was staring out the window again. The restaurant lights cast shadows under his eyes that made him look tired.

 It was strange seeing him in person after Dreaming about him for three years. Dreams weren’t always a good judge of character, but she kept feeling like she knew him and forgetting he didn’t know her at all. His first impression of her had come from Kenneth and her destroying Kenneth’s car.

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The first review for To Dream a Darker Realm is 🥰🥰🥰 Thank you so much to @cmdebell.bsky.social who has been a champion for Sergei, Cam, and Maddie from the time I started this crazy experiment to re-release a new book 1! 💙🪐📚 #BookSky #indiebooks

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Want to read a dark 80's portal fantasy with Stranger Things/X-Files vibes and a Soviet defector/immigrant MC who will risk literally anything to put his family back together? You can follow the prelaunch page on Kickstarter now! www.kickstarter.com/projects/ang...

A dark-haired man cracks the ice above him with his hand surrounded by glowing blue magic

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

From my dark 80's portal fantasy with Stranger Things/X-Files vibes, TO DREAM A DARKER REALM: 💙🪐📚 #BookSky #WriteSky #WIPSnips

“Seryozha needs me. Anya needs me. The wedding—” 

“Peter Preobrazhensky. I do not want a fancy wedding if it means I lose you in the process. We can go down to the judge Monday and get the license. You know he’s a friend of mine. We could do it tomorrow. He’d come to the house.” 

“I am *not* going to the judge.” 

“Why is this so important to you? After all these years? We’ve both done this before!” 

Panic set in. Sergei wanted to put the phone down, but it felt like it was welded to his hand.  

He was listening to a bug in the farmhouse kitchen.

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

I don't have *album* but To Dream a Darker Realm takes place in the 80's so I do have *tape*. Sergei's family defected from the USSR when he was young; Cam is his (ex) college roommate. #WIPSnips 💙🪐📚 #BookSky #WriteSky #portalfantasy #indiebooks #kickstarter

“Tak… Put in a tape, all right?” Sergei gaze flickered from the windshield to the rearview mirror and back, though there weren’t any headlights reflected in it. If Cam hadn’t already known Sergei was nervous, that slip into Russian told him. Sergei only used his Russian if he was really tired, sick, drunk, or high. Cam dug around inside the console, but all he found was a folded newspaper, open to the classified section. A few circles stood out in heavy black marker.  He popped open the glove compartment and dug through Sergei’s tape collection, trying to ignore the hollow feeling in his stomach. If Sergei was looking for jobs or apartments to rent, that meant he still wasn’t planning on coming back.
Cam didn’t know why it bothered him so much. But it did.

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

#WIPSnips 21 August prompt 'wine' It turns out these characters drink a lot of wine 😂 Here's a little snip from relatively early in the first book (of three, I think) between two frenemies. #writingcommunity #writesky #amwriting #writingprompts 💙📚🪐

WIPSnips 21 August 'wine'

Darraion eased out stiff legs towards the fire. The servant arrived with the wine, setting it down on a stool with its legs carved as dragon’s feet, and he waited until Hewrin handed him a cup before asking, “What do you know of Aymer d’Carle?”
A flicker of surprise crossed the Prince of Maigana’s face. “Now why would you ask me that?”
He shrugged. “You fought with him.” Against Cynrith. But he managed not to say it.
“Oh aye, I did,” Hewrin agreed, sitting back. His fingers drummed a rhythm on the back of the bench. “And I will tell you this for nothing—if there’s any man you should avoid getting involved with, it’s that one.”
“Why? He can’t be trusted?”
Hewrin barked a laugh. “Depends who you ask, but isn’t that always true? No, because there’s poison between him and his king, and you don’t want any part of that. Nor anything that comes from it.” He took a sip of his wine, shrewd eyes on Darri’s face. “What game are you playing that Aymer d’Carle is a piece on the board?”

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Pythonmelon (Comms open) @pythonmelon.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

#WIPSnips From Ethel Was Alone- the rural Appalachian trade economy

As uncharitable to uninvited company as Ethel felt, as much as she wanted to run off Dora Chapman with the excuses of being busy, with being curt, there was always a way things went. You took a little, you gave a little. You grew more than you could eat and you sold some and you shared most of it. It’s how she got fresh venison and any baked goods better than a biscuit or butter cookie in her house, how the Chapmans got blackberries and cheese in theirs. No one could grow, raise, or cook everything, but everyone liked a taste of variety.

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

I don't have "fresh" but I have quite a few instances of "freshman" because the characters in my dark 80's portal fantasy To Dream a Darker Realm are college students. Meet Maddie, my mathy dyslexic girl who can also dream possible futures: #WIPSnips #BookSky 💙🪐📚 #WriteSky #amwritingfantasy

She sighed. “I know, Chris.” And she did. She knew Chris was only trying to help because he only tried to help her a lot and had since she’d been a freshman in high school. He was like an old shirt that fit reliably whenever or however she wore it. After her rollercoaster relationship with Shannon, reliable had seemed like exactly what she’d needed.

 But now her relationship with Chris, which had once seemed comfortable, only seemed… old. What she and Chris needed was a new shirt, a… friend shirt. She didn’t want to admit that there were parts of the rollercoaster that she missed. Not all of it, not the terrifying plunge at the end, but— 

Good God, sometimes instead of a rollercoaster you just needed a little glitter. Not huge, overwhelming, how-will-I-ever-clean-this-up amounts of glitter, but something.

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

For "wine", I'd have to go to my Eterean Empire books. My people in To Dream a Darker Realm are college students in the 80's. So I substituted beer. 😜 #WIPSnips 💙🪐📚 #BookSky #WriteSky #amwritingfantasy

Stopping at a convenience store outside the tiny town of Riverine for beer and gas gave Sergei another chance to make sure no one was following them, but Cam’s confusing directions and the expanse of empty fields and enormous black sky made him feel like he was hurtling through space on a collision course with the unknown.

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

ARCs of To Dream a Darker Realm, Book 1 in my dark 80's portal fantasy Rai Ascendant series are here! It's a little STRANGER THINGS x EPIC FANTASY. And also a little X-FILES X ELIZABETH ARDEN. Sign up at the link and I'll send you one! 😁 forms.gle/mUzgeaqVUPRj... 💙🪐📚 #BookSky #indiebooks

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I didn't think I would have this word, but here is the ONE instance in To Dream a Darker Realm, my dark 80's portal fantasy coming soon to Kickstarter. All the action in the book takes place in one action-packed night 😅 #WIPSnips 💙🪐📚 #BookSky #WriteSky #amwritingfantasy

The staff got the first-aid kit and he bandaged his finger, then limped back into the dining room, shaken badly. Even the lemon meringue pie had lost its luster. The soles of his boots felt slippery, like they were wet, but the rest of him was dry and he didn’t leave footprints… It was probably the grease on the floor.  

Had the drugs affected him so much that his dreams were now breaking through into his reality? Had he hallucinated the whole damn thing?

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I’m lucky enough to have read this already and it is excellent. You definitely want an ARC.

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

From TO DREAM A DARKER REALM, Book 1 in my dark portal fantasy Rai Ascendant series, coming to Kickstarter soon! This is my MC Sergei from chapter 1: 💙🪐📚 #BookSky #WriteSky #amwritingfantasy

His emotions about the whole situation felt increasingly like the not-rats infesting the place. He hated feeling this way about Linda. She’d never been anything but nice to him, and he wasn’t a kid anymore. If he truly believed his mother was dead, all the ribbons and vases would only have made him happy—happy to see his father finally committing to a future, to a happiness that might endure beyond the next day or the next week. 
But he knew too much. And at the same time, too little.

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Looking for a chonky epic fantasy to listen to while escaping the heat (or the cold, for everyone down under)? Want it from somewhere other than Audible? I got you🦾 Fool's Promise, Book 2 in the Eterean Empire series, is 60% off until 9/3/26! 💙🪐🎧📚 #BookSky www.audiobooks.com/promotions/p...

audiobooks.com

Fool's Promise

Will love be enough to bind these two broken souls? Reunited after years of separation, Kyrra and Arsenault long for a peaceful life together. But the magic keeping Kyrra alive is also tearing her ...

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

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Read Indie Fantasy.com @blog.readindiefantasy.com · 25/07/2026

Books. Books are nice. You should read more books. Today for Self-Published Author Appreciation Week, we share this guest post by @angelaboord.bsky.social about the importance of reading. www.readindiefantasy.com/guest-post-h... #SPAAW

Banner image for our article about reading, by Angela Boord.

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Another #WIPSnips from To Dream a Darker Realm, book 1 of my Stranger Things X Robin Hobb series... 💙🪐📚 #BookSky #WriteSky #amwritingfantasy

“I wasn’t talking about the other boys, Seryozha. I’m sure they deserved whatever you gave them. But I think the fights you’re getting into are a substitute for lashing out against the people who really deserve it.”

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

I have a lot of fun doing #WIPSnips so let's see if I can get going again! There are a lot of instances of "humid" and "humidity" in To Dream a Darker Realm, my 80's portal fantasy paranormal/epic mash up... more than I realized! 💙🪐📚 #amwritingfantasy #BookSky #WriteSky

What the hell was he doing here? The maintenance building at the dead end, the street itself, and even the hulking forms of the Ghost Stacks were quiet. A mist had begun to form in the humid night, and the amber light from the streetlamps gave the darkness a gauzy glow.

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