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Ashton J. Thomas

@ashtonjthomas.bsky.social
116 followers 105 following 33 posts

Writer of speculative fiction. @ashtonofwords on tiktok she/her ashtonjthomas.com

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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 8h
YOU’RE INVITED TO HOUSE GRAVES’ FINAL PARTY. Location: the family’s island estate Duration: 12 hours Hosts: 3 sisters on opposite sides of a revolution House specialty: bone magic One small problem: the house has started feeding on the living INNAMORATA x THE STARVING SAINTS #DVPit #A #F #H
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 10h
WHAT’S CRASHING HOUSE GRAVES’ FINAL PARTY: ⚔️ revolutionaries waiting for low tide 🌊 island with no escape 💔 3 sisters divided by politics 🦴 ancestral bone magic 🏚️ a house hungry for the living #A #F #H: THE STARVING SAINTS’ horror x THE POET EMPRESS’ politics x INNAMORATA’s gothic decadence. #DVPit
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 12h
SUCCESSION x MONSTER HOUSE By dawn, everyone in House Graves will be dead. 💀 12-hour countdown 🦴 sentient house hungry for living guests 💀 gothic fantasy x locked-room horror 🦴 3 sisters on opposite sides of a revolution 💀 body-based magic with a body count #DVPit #A #F #H #Dis
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 15h
🗡️ a revolutionary spy 👑 the heir in bed with an authoritarian 🦴 a wheelchair user kept alive by bone magic 3 sisters trapped together for their family’s final night. By dawn, everyone in House Graves will be dead. INNAMORATA’s gothic decadence x THE POET EMPRESS’ politics. #DVPit #A #F #H #DIS
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 17h
SUCCESSION x MONSTER HOUSE For generations, House Graves has fed on its family’s dead. On the night revolution comes for its last heirs, the house develops a taste for the living. The three Graves sisters have until dawn to survive their family’s final party. #DVPit #A #F #H #Dis
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 19h
By dawn, everyone in House Graves will be dead. On the eve of revolution, 3 sisters throw a final party, while the ancestral house that has always fed on their family’s dead begins to hunger for the living. STARVING SAINTS’ horror x POET EMPRESS’ politics x INNAMORATA’s decadence. #DVPit #A #F #H
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
THE LAST NIGHT OF HOUSE GRAVES | Adult Gothic Fantasy Horror The heirs of an aristocratic magical bloodline throw one final party beneath chandeliers made of bone, convinced their magic will hold until dawn. It will not. Querying soon. Excited for #dvpit tomorrow! #agentsguide
The image of Mont St Michel with a dancing skeleton overlaid. Text reads: An introduction to THE LAST NIGHT OF HOUSE GRAVES. An Adult Fantasy Horror, 95k WordsOld anatomical drawings of bodies with the skeleton showing beneath. A lace doily is placed over the top. Text reads: Pitch - By dawn, everyone in House Graves will be dead. On the eve of a revolution, the last heirs of House Graves throw a final, glittering party as the tides rise around their island estate, cutting them off from the mainland—and from the magicless masses waiting to storm them at first light. Silvy has spent a year secretly working with the revolutionaries gathering on shore, certain she can destroy her family's corruption without destroying her sisters. Isould is poised to inherit the House, but as she prepares to celebrate her engagement, she has already given her loyalty, and her bed, to the authoritarian leader promising to restore their family's glory. And Merien sits in her wheelchair, her family's living proof of the miracles their bone magic can achieve, even as her wound begins to blacken. As the hours count down and the tide recedes, their alliances fracture, their guests become collateral, and the house that has always fed on the Graves family's dead begins to hunger for the living. With revolutionaries waiting on shore, the sisters must choose between the causes they would die for, the family they would kill for, and the sisters they cannot bear to lose.Purple mist over water. Book covers for The Starving Saints, Innamorata, and The Poet Empress shown, as well as the poster for Succession. Text reads: For fans of: standalone fantasy-horror, claustrophobic setting, body-based magic, toxic family legacy, gothic, brutal fantasy politics, corrupt political maneuveringsImage of Mont St Michel with dancing skeletons framing the text. Text reads: Excerpt - It is not truly a tale until someone is stripped from life to bone. Twelve hours of deceit, of treachery, of death, and the horror that entails. One final party, before the tides of revolution stormed the country of Verane.

 Indulge me for a moment. Relax somewhere safe. Return to a time of aristocracy, of manners and lineage. Can’t you see it? Let House Graves sit once more on that island in the bay, windows illuminated from within, a party imminent. It is filled with conversations and laughter, and soon thereafter, it will be filled with screams. 
 
 House Graves will be gone again in no time at all.
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
THE LAST NIGHT OF HOUSE GRAVES in which the heirs of a dying magical bloodline throw one final party. 🕯️ gothic fantasy x locked room mystery 🕯️ proletariat revolution vs aristocratic magic 🕯️ no one survives #PosterPit #W #F #H #A
Image of Mont St Michel with the image of catacomb stacked skulls in the sky. Text reads: Twelve hours, three sisters, one historian chronicling their fate. The Last Night of House Graves. The heirs of Hiuse Graves throw a final party beneath chandeliers carved from bone, convinced their magic will hold until dawn. It will not. Innamorata x Once and Future Witches, They all die at the end ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
THE LADY A disabled woman in LA discovers a mirror that lets her slip free of her body each night, but the glass is starting to crack, something hunts the Hollywood Hills, and borrowed flesh was never meant to last #PosterPit #W #H #SPF #A
An image of The Lady of Shalott painting transposed on a mirror, with a backdrop of an inverted picture of Los Angeles. Text reads: A novel by Ashton J Thomas, The Substance x The Lady of Shalott, speculative horror. In this body-horror reimagining of the Lady of Shalott, a woman finds a way to trade her physical limitations for a series of borrowed, radiant bodies, only to realize the mirror’s magic is as predatory as the monster hunting the hollywood hills outside.
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m 🌸 @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
Ten years after family tragedy ended their relationship, she reconnects with her ex at a family wedding and confronts the difference between loving a person and yearning for nostalgia when her insecurities are tested. #posterpit #a #r #q

None of This Was Real

Comp Titles
Every Summer After
Happy Place
How to Hide in Plain Sight

When her ex is at a family wedding, reopening old wounds might not be worth a second chance at happiness.
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Caelem @caelem.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
To stop her body from being possessed by Death Herself, the last necromancer must trick the paladin who hunts her into helping her seal away her powers. #posterpit for UNFORGIVABLE my new Romantic Fantasy I'll be querying very soon. #Q #F #R #A
Poster of a woman holding a heart and a skull
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Suzy A. Win @suzyawin.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
Tired of terrorising the sea with her sticky fingers, a mermaid bargains her life for a chance to roam the lands, falling into a deadly conspiracy entangling both land and sea as she sets out to kiss the prince she's stalked, before sea-foam or his cousin kills her. #PosterPit #F #FT #YA #W
Movie Poster Version of The Stray Scales.

Art contains main character Pearl holding a green potion bottle, with two people looking at her behind. (One with a smile, the other with a scowl)

Tropes includes
- fractured fairy tale
- self-discovery
- a magical immigrant experience
- predator x prey

Blurb
Tasked to kiss her stalking victim to avoid death, a mermaid gets tangled in a feud between sea and land...
... while stuck with her predator.

Title
THE STRAY SCALES

Tagline
Kiss or become sea foam.

MISC Text

Suzy A. Win presents a YA FANTASY novel A FORGERY OF FATE x LITTLE THIEVES x SHREK x THE PRINCESS BRIDE comps PEARL - ALEXANDER - MALTHE - KOBI -SAKURA

DIVING BACK INTO THE TRENCHES SOME DAY
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rihdara klay 📖 @rihdaraklay.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
tw: fake blood and organs WE HARVEST THE CARNAGE in which a college freshman joins a club of pre-meds to harvest the organs of the elite with body magic 🫀dark academia x body horror 🫀south asian rep x bi4bi 🫀vengeance, moral ambiguity, & guts galore #PosterPit #WIP #A #F #H
a picture of a fake heart on a plate with the following title “We Harvest the Carnage” forming an arch above it. Subtitles include: “For those who seek justice above all.” - The New York Times, WE KILL THE RICH TO GIVE TO THE POOR, QUEER, BI4BI, SOUTH ASIAN REP, “Ninth House meets If We Were Villains,” vengeance, moral ambiguity, guts galore, A COLLEGE FRESHMAN JOINS A CLUB OF PRE-MEDS TO HARVEST THE ORGANS OF THE ELITE WITH BODY MAGIC, HUNTING DOWN THE BILLIONAIRE WHO KILLED HIS FATHER. BUT THE MAGIC COMES AT A COST: DEMONIA. HE’LL HAVE TO DECIDE IF VENGEANCE IS WORTH LOSING HIS HUMANITY, COMING SOON TO THE TRENCHES
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viola @violawrites.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
ISLE IN THE SILVER SEAxMALICE Míra, a mer princess, loses all memories of her love Skadi when she betroths a human king for military aid. Skadi makes a deal w a god: if Míra falls for her again, her memories will return. If Skadi fails, she'll become the god’s thrall #PosterPit #A #F #LGBT #Q #R #FT
Movie poster-like image of a book titled "Beneath These Treacherous Waves". There is a picture of a mermaid swimming in the sea in the background. In the middle there are three pictures, one of a red haired woman, the other of a black haired woman, and the third one of two people kissing. The text on the top says: a warrior princess, a sea witch, a storm mage. The text in the middle says: "To save her country, she gives up everything---her voice, her fins, and even memories of her true love. But true love has other plans. The text on the bottom says: found family, queer yearning, now querying
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K.L. Lempereur is Querying! @kllempereur.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
A failed hero's daughter is captured by their enemy: a life-eating god. Now trapped on Asteria's spaceship/temple, Calypso must get close to learn the god's plans without being consumed by her. ⭐️ sapphics in space 💫 hot, evil women 🌟 protagonist-antagonist dual POV #posterpit #W #A #SF #F #SFF
A movie-poster style image for a book. On top looking down is a woman's face silhouette, bright gold with colorful swirls of power behind it. On bottom looking up is another woman's face made of purple-pink galaxy designs. The title The Brightest Star in the Sky is on the bottom, followed by "an adult sapphic sci-fi fantasy", followed by "coming soon". At the top is "A novel by Kira Lempereur".
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Sab is making FINAL EDITS ✨ @sabrinamars.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
WHEN LIGHT IS NOT ENOUGH ~124k Ohio wasn't great, but it sure didn't have magic and monsters. Pulled into a new world, Kassidy will have to master power that feeds off emotions and control before she destroys herself, the Realm, and the one person worth staying for. #posterpit #w #f #r #na
A mock movie poster with the title WHEN LIGHT IS NOT ENOUGH, a silhouette of a woman with a burning castle and flames filling the space. It lists the main characters names and says coming to beta readers May 15
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Jenn Lee Frances @jennleefrances.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
🖤Find Courage in Fear 🖤Power in Rage 🖤And Become The One They're Afraid of THE TRUTH OF FEAR A Good For Her Horror with Girls Who Scare Boys, Revenge, Reclaiming Power, ooh & Romance Meet the New Urban Legend #TheEastRiverWraith #SPF Upper #YA Feminist #H Revising & Soon to be #Q #PosterPit
Image: A scared teen girl, and a ghost girl with bloody tears.  TEXT: This dangerous world is scarier than a vengeful ghost. The Truth of Fear.  Young Adult Feminist Horror. BECOME THE THING TO FEAR. # The East River Wraith. Accolades: Big 5 editor requests. Best Submission Award. Winner WriteHive mentorship.
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Sab is making FINAL EDITS ✨ @sabrinamars.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
INUYASHA x SAILOR MOON x DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS 🥍College lacrosse player turned fated magical girl (portal fantasy) 🧠 C-PTSD rep ✨DBT coded magic system ❤️‍🔥Forbidden romance 🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒Found Family after family trauma ⚔️Sexy sparring 🎲D&D wild magic #posterpit #w #r #f #na
a mock movie poster whith the title WHEN LIGHT IS NOT ENOUGH. The tagline says save the realm, or save yourself. It also has text that says "portal romantasy new adult" and "C-PTSD rep dbt coded magic system. There is a young woman with long blonde hair and a white dress with a flower crown looking up with a hand on her face.
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Kala is ✨️querying✨️ & ✍️🏽something 💫new💫 @kpbooksnstuff.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
𝑑𝑢 𝑀𝑎𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑟'𝑠 𝑅𝐸𝐵𝐸𝐶𝐶𝐴 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑁𝑒𝑡𝑓𝑙𝑖𝑥'𝑠 𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝑃𝐸𝑅𝐹𝐸𝐶𝑇 𝐶𝑂𝑈𝑃𝐿𝐸 They're like family to her, but when murder is suspected a PR exec must decide how far to go to protect them. They all have a motive. Especially the dead woman's husband. The man she's always loved. #PosterPit #Q #A #M #R
Slow-burn Romance; Obsession; Secrets & Lies; Betrayal; Murder.

Image is split in two by a red gash with names in the centre: Elisa (Listy) Powers, Kris Constantine, Christina Naccasian, guest appearance by Rianna Constantine.

On the right side is the face of a beautiful woman; on the left side is a couple about to kiss each other.

A 5 star review by Magazine Reviewer says "A Masterpiece". 
A 5 stars given by Variety says "The du Maurier 'Rebecca' vibes are 'chef's kiss'!"

She knew secrets. Now she's dead.
HERA PRODUCTIONS presents CARELESS WHISPERS a 97k BOOKCLUB MYSTERY by Kala Patel
IN SELECT INBOXES NEAR YOU
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K.L. Lempereur is Querying! @kllempereur.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
Twelve years ago, the god-king Asteria ascended to power despite the efforts of a team of heroes. When she hunts their spaceship down, she finds an unexpected prize: their daughter. In the midst of deadly games, Calypso must get close to Asteria and find out her plans without being consumed by her.
A movie-poster style image for a book. A gold-tinged woman's hand wraps around another woman's chin, who is overlaid with a pink-purple galaxy. At the top is "A novel by Kira Lempereur". Towards the bottom is the title: The Brightest Star in the Sky", followed by "An adult sapphic sci-fi fantasy", the "Coming soon".
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Donna Ho @handle.invalid · 18/04/2026
IF I HAVE TO BE HAUNTED x THE INVOCATIONS When her missing lab partner turns up as a ghost begging for help, a prickly teen medium determined to ignore both the living and the dead is dragged back into a gift she’s spent years suppressing— #PosterPit #Q #SPF #P #T #YA
A shadowy figure in between tall trees is in the background. Two hands almost touching, one being translucent and double-exposed (meaning ghost) are in the for front. Title is: In Between.
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K.L. Lempereur is Querying! @kllempereur.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
Imprisoned on a spaceship/temple by her father's old enemy, Calypso must play a dangerous game with the hungry life-eating god, Asteria. But can she get close enough to learn Asteria's plans without her heart or her life being consumed in the process? #PosterPit #W #A #SF #F #SFF
a movie poster-style image. Dark galaxy background. In the top-right is an outline of a face profile with red and blue galaxy colors. Behind the face are swirls of gold and colorful magic. It says "A hungry life-eating god ... And the hero's daughter trying to stop her."

The title is towards the bottom: "The Brightest Star in the Sky"

Beneath that is "A novel by Kira L Lempereur" and "An adult sapphic sci-fi fantasy" and "Coming soon"
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Daemi Rhys @daemirhys.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
Iron Widow x Captive Prince meets AMC's IWTV Caught in the orbit of two men who run Aethryn, Soren faces an impossible choice. And it isn't picking between them. Not anymore. #PosterPit #Q #A #SF #R
Grayed out poster background with opaque, see through golden orbs of light and star bursts. At the top there are two laurels on either side, the first saying "Dropped us into the story at the perfect place and didn't let go" -Lit Agent, Writers Workshop. Second Says "The Voice is clear from page one and brings us close to Soren while using 3rd person" -Lit Agent, Writers Workshop. Centered between the Laurels are the names "Soren Ampthyr" "Kieran Voss" and "Amos Rhyne" above golden lit bars. A Golden frame in the center, above it text reads "What would you do if everything you want is closer to reality than everything you fear?". Inside frame is a blond boy leaning on a table against a greyed out city. Below is stylized text reading Avarice's Wake. In smaller text, Daemi Rhys Presents “AVARICE’S WAKE” A QUEER SCI-FI EXPLORATION INTO LOVE BETWEEN DAMAGED PEOPLE." and comp titles Captive Prince, AMC's IWTV, and Iron Widow. Querying in May 2026.
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
THE LAST NIGHT OF HOUSE GRAVES in which the heirs of a dying magical bloodline throw one final party. 🕯️ gothic fantasy x locked room mystery 🕯️ proletariat revolution vs aristocratic magic 🕯️ no one survives #PosterPit #W #F #H #A
Image of Mont St Michel with the image of catacomb stacked skulls in the sky. Text reads: Twelve hours, three sisters, one historian chronicling their fate. The Last Night of House Graves. The heirs of Hiuse Graves throw a final party beneath chandeliers carved from bone, convinced their magic will hold until dawn. It will not. Innamorata x Once and Future Witches, They all die at the end ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
THE LADY A disabled woman in LA discovers a mirror that lets her slip free of her body each night, but the glass is starting to crack, something hunts the Hollywood Hills, and borrowed flesh was never meant to last #PosterPit #W #H #SPF #A
An image of The Lady of Shalott painting transposed on a mirror, with a backdrop of an inverted picture of Los Angeles. Text reads: A novel by Ashton J Thomas, The Substance x The Lady of Shalott, speculative horror. In this body-horror reimagining of the Lady of Shalott, a woman finds a way to trade her physical limitations for a series of borrowed, radiant bodies, only to realize the mirror’s magic is as predatory as the monster hunting the hollywood hills outside.
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
NINTH HOUSE x FLEABAG 🩸 unreliable narrator with a parasite in her head 📚 a university where fairy tales are dead specimens 🫀 disability woven into the cost of magic ⚔️ academic rivals bound by secrets & decay 👻 a best friend’s ghost that won’t let go #GhostPit #Q #A #F #H
A black and white image of a shadow of a clawed hand grasping towards a human head. Text in center of the screen in red text reads MALUS. Other text in white reads: An adult fantasy horror novel, written by Ashton J. Thomas. Modern Day London Setting. A university that studies dead fairy tales. Unreliable Narrator. Are her choices her own... or the monster in her head? Haunted by a magical parasite whispering in her head, a dropout returns to the university where her best friend died, while the remnants of fairy-tales rot in jars and the failing barrier between worlds demands the truth she’s buried. Now Querying.
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
NINTH HOUSE x FLEABAG Haunted by a magical parasite whispering in her head, a dropout returns to the university where her best friend died, while the remnants of fairy-tales rot in jars and the failing barrier between worlds demands the truth she’s buried. #GhostPit #Q #A #F #H
Moodboard featuring nine images, including: top left an image of a London Underground train in motion, top middle is an artitst's interpretation of fairy taxidermy, pinned similarly to an insect within a shadow box, top right is a man sat in a wheelchair, middle left is a blonde woman who's face is in shadow, middle image is the shadow of a monstrous hand grabbing a person's head, middlie right is a group of five people standing in the shadows of an old archway, bottom left is a pale hand coming out of a dark wooden wardrobe, bottom middle is is foggy Big Ben on Westminster Bridge, bottom right is two blurry people running down a marble staircase
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
🩸NINTH HOUSE x FLEABAG🧠 Once, fairy tales were alive. At Velum, their remnants are dissected and studied. Now the Veil between worlds is fracturing, and Devon, the dropout hiding a monster in her head, insists she wants to stop it. She’s always been good at lying to herself. #DVpit #DIS #A #F #H
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
👁️NINTH HOUSE x FLEABAG🪞 At the University of Velum, brilliance and nepotism are a parasite’s favorite meal. The best students are meant to rot first. Devon swore she’d never return—but Velum always calls its monsters home. #DVpit #DIS #A #F #H
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
💀 NINTH HOUSE x FLEABAG 🩸 - with #DIS rep Parasites in skulls. Ghosts in lecture halls. A rival collapsing before her eyes. Devon March fled the University of Velum once; she won’t escape twice. The only Host who survives has returned—and Velum always collects its dead. #DVPit #A #F #H
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
🩸 unreliable narrator with a parasite in her head
 📚 a university where fairy tales are dead specimens
 🫀 disability woven into the cost of magic
 ⚔️ academic rivals bound by secrets & decay
 👻 a best friend’s ghost that won’t let go NINTH HOUSE x FLEABAG with #DIS rep #DVPit #A #F #H
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
NINTH HOUSE x FLEABAG Ten years ago, Devon fled Velum the night her best friend died. She awoke with a parasite in her skull and Clementine’s severed finger in her throat. Now she’s dragged back to the university that rots its brightest students alive. #DVPit #DIS #A #F #H
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
NINTH HOUSE x FLEABAG Haunted by a magical parasite whispering in her head, a dropout returns to the university where her best friend died, while the remnants of fairy-tales rot in jars and the failing barrier between worlds demands the truth she’s buried. #DVPit #DIS #A #F #H
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
My next project, THE WIZARD’S CHAMPION, currently #amdrafting: UPROOTED x THE KNIGHT AND THE MOTH In a realm where champions bleed for their wizards, Leocadia must fight as a knight for the man whose magic is fueled by the goddess who cursed her. So excited for #DVPit tomorrow! #DVParty
Collage of 9 pictures, top left is three veiled women in pastel colors, top middle is an illustration of a knight's tear filled eye through a helmet, top right is a photo of a woman laying down in flowers wearing a suit of armor. Middle left is a woman in a suit of armor, sitting on a church pew and leaning over. Middle center is the image of a suit of armor with someone holding a sword in front of them. Middle right is a dark grey slide saying "The Wizard's Champion". Bottom left is the image of a hand holding a sword, bottom middle is a group of women, some veiled but all wearing pastels, tulle and with flowers in their hair, bottom right is of a dark haired woman in a dark dress, holding a dark hand up in the air as she faces away from the camera.
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
I present the opening line of MALUS, my adult fantasy horror. 🩸📚👻 #DVParty #DIS #A #F #H
Image of a London church against a cloudy sky, white text overlayed saying - Opening Line: The monster in my mind accompanied me to my mother's deathbed.
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Introducing Devon, and the ones she can't stop thinking about: 🩸Empty skull, nothing to see here. 🩸No really, why would you think there's something in her head? 🩸Definitely over her ex-best friend's death 🩸Did you see that flash of blonde hair out the window too? Oh, nevermind... #DVParty #DIS
Four images in a collage, top left image of a woman with dark hair turned away from the camera, in a misty field with trees in the distance. Text reads- Devon: Dropout. Liar with a parasite. Top right is an image of a man in a suit sitting in a wheelchair. Text reads - Alastair: Rival. Reluctant ally. Almost dead. Bottom left is the image of a shadow with claws reaching towards someone's head. Text reads - The Malus: A magical parasite. Bottom right is a picture of a blonde woman with her face away from the camera, surrounded by darkness. Text reads - Clementine: Best Friend. Dead, or maybe not.
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
Here is my moodboard for my adult fantasy with horror elements, MALUS 🩸📚👻 #DVparty #DIS #A #F #H
Moodboard featuring nine images, including: top left is the shadow of a monstrous hand grabbing a person's head, top middle is foggy Big Ben on Westminster Bridge, top right are two blurry people running down a marble staircase, middle left is a tube station with a train waiting, middle image is a group of five people standing in the shadows of an old archway, middle right is a room with old oil paintings on the walls, and a marble bust head, bottom left is a man laying on the floor next to a table and papers in black and white, bottom middle is a London street with two double decker red buses and bicycles, bottom right is an artitst's interpretation of fairy taxidermy, pinned similarly to an insect within a shadow box.
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Ashton J. Thomas @ashtonjthomas.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
#agentsguide to MALUS, an adult dark academia fantasy. Currently #amquerying
A London building sits against a cloudy sky. White text reads: An Introduction to MALUS, An Adult Dark Academia Fantasy, 90K WordsA London building with white text overlayed, reading: Pitch - Devon March has spent the last decade in exile, hiding at a small American museum and keeping the monster in her head a secret. Her anonymity ends when she witnesses the first magical breach in centuries, forcing the University of Velum to send Alastair—her former rival, now a Host already breaking under the strain—to drag her back to London. All Hosts end the same way: deteriorated, disabled, and dead before thirty-five. All except Devon.

Ten years ago, she fled Velum after the night her best friend Clementine died. At Velum, students are bound to maluses, sentient parasites drawn from the realm where the creatures humans once called fairy tales still kill and breed. On Earth, their remnants are bottled and displayed: unicorn horns under glass, fairy wings pinned like insects. Clementine was chosen to guard the Veil between worlds. Shortly after, she died. And Devon awoke with a malus in her head and Clementine’s severed finger in her throat.

Now breaches multiply and Velum rots from the inside. Alastair suspects Devon knows more about Clementine’s death than she admits. And the deeper Devon digs, the more she questions whether the echoes of Clementine are memory, madness, or the parasite whispering through her veins. To survive, Devon must expose Velum’s secrets before the Veil collapses—or before her malus convinces her Clementine might still be alive. She insists she wants to save the world. But she’s lied before. Especially to herself.
A London building against a cloudy sky, overlayed with images of the show Fleabag and the books Ninth House and Katabasis. White text details: For fans of - Fleabag (arrows pointing to text reading fourth wall breaks, unreliable narrator, and messy grief), Ninth House (arrows pointing to text reading outsider in elite spaces, magic is real and studied in our world), and Katabasis (arrows pointing to text reading UK based dark academia, magic is real and studied in our world)Statue in London, white text overlayed reads: Excerpt - It was easy to tell when the university grew close, its extended outer wings of Victorian ashen stone slowly becoming more imposing. To me, the students at Velum looked more like pastiches of students in glossy catalogues than actual fully formed complex individuals. Wool sweaters, argyle, and leather satchels tripled in occurrence as the taxi approached the iron gates. There are articles written on the subject I’m sure you could read, something about how an “appreciation for the past” the students possessed reflected in their garb. But when I was a student it was simply that we were all pretentious assholes who liked that we were distinguished from the corporate office workers on the streets of the city.
  The city itself thought of us a peculiar sight, a den of monks in the midst of a forest of glass trees. Uniquely devoted, largely ignorant of all outside our boundaries. In the center of cosmopolitan life and yet inextricably venerating the beyond, the unknowable. There was nothing for us outside Velum’s walls, not in the skyscrapers or the old bombed-out churches long ago turned into gardens. We were placeless people who had found our place, a decaying monument to mystery. We studied dead languages, and dead bodies, and the dust of dead artifacts. Mortician school was the slang term in the UK for Velum, as we studied the already dead and decaying. A study of rot.
        But I was an optimist of a sort. I saw Hosts and maluses and saw proof of the ethereal, magic made manifest. They were living, they were passed down, they were immortal. A way to cement yourself in history. In a field of decaying dreams, of history dying, what do you do when you see the living, see the heartbeat of it all carrying on? If you were me, you wanted to be a part of it, a cog in the living thing that ceaselessly ran onwards.
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