iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 03/10/2026

#WIPSnips #TheColorsThatHaunt Unsurprisingly, there's quite a few options for petal(s) in the book that talks about roses a lot.

A dozen roses, long dead, their petals curled inward, brittle and colorless.
She walked over and reached out.
The petal beneath her fingertips disintegrated. It crumbled into nothing, fragile as ash.

050

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 03/10/2026

#LitHodgePodge #TheColorsThatHaunt Please don't take this as an official "this is what Suzette looks like" I struggle to picture characters so none of my characters technically have an official "this is what they look like" but this is close enough. This is Suzette, our favorite 1880's ghost.

A tall, pale woman with a high necked red shirt, black bow necklace, dark eyes, and dark hair pulled up into a bun.

361

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 03/10/2026

#QueerPrompts #TheColorsThatHaunt Can I just...put the whole book here? The best part about having a horror novel lol. A little too long to share the way I normally do, so have a screenshot from the text editor.

The garden should have felt like relief, open air after the pressure of the conservatory, but it did not. The hedge rose too high, the paths folded into shadow too quickly, and the manor remained visible from every angle like an eye refusing to close. Even out here, there was no place from which Clara could quite forget it was watching.
That should have made Suzette easier to fear. Instead it did the opposite. With the house behind them and the evening closing in, Suzette felt like the only thing in the garden honest enough not to pretend harmlessness.
“You keep doing that,” Clara said, more breathless than she wanted to sound.
Suzette’s gaze moved over her face, then to the house behind her. “You were in there too long.”
Clara gave a short, humorless laugh. “I’d love to know how long that was.”
Something changed in Suzette’s expression. Not surprise. Recognition.
“Then you noticed it,” she said quietly.
Clara stared at her. “Noticed what?”
Suzette looked back at the manor. “That it does not give without taking.”

010

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 02/10/2026

One last excerpt before The Colors That Haunt Us is out in the world. Rosenfeld Manor has always wanted people to stay. Whether that means it loves them is another question entirely. October 8. www.aspenrayne.com/books #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #QueerBooks

“The house likes being the place people return to,” she said quietly. “That is not the same as being wanted by it in any way that ends well.”

090

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 02/10/2026

#WIPSnips Dent, notch, what's the difference? This is right when Clara starts realizing things are weird.

Then, after a hesitation, she crossed to the easel and dragged the back of her thumbnail against the frame beside the altered door, leaving a shallow notch in the wood. A mark. Proof. If it shifted again, she wanted to know exactly where.

0112

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 01/10/2026

#WIPSnips #TheColorsThatHaunt No use of injury directly, but Clara is hurting and in pain, so close enough?

Clara could feel the wrongness with perfect clarity now, the way a body feels fever before the thermometer confirms it. Her wrist hurt. Her fingers were cramping around the brush. The headache behind her eye had spread into a hard band across her forehead. And still the relief of painting was immediate, seductive, almost tender.

2130

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 01/10/2026

#LitHodgePodge Hi! I’m Aspen Rayne, a queer indie author who writes speculative fiction across horror, fantasy, gothic, and romance. Genre-wise, I’m all over the place, but my stories tend to come back to queer characters, complicated relationships, transformation, grief, strange magic, and...

Literary This or That (* means the circles option)

*PAPERBACK – HARDCOVER
*SERIES – STANDALONE
*TEARS – LAUGHS
*COFFEE – TEA
HERO – *VILLAIN
*CHARACTER-DRIVEN – PLOT-DRIVEN
*COMPUTER – PEN & PAPER
*SWEET – SALTY
SILENCE – *SOUNDTRACK
*BOOKMARK – DOG-EAR
*PLOTTER – PANTSER
*LUSH – MINIMALIST
VOMIT DRAFT – *SLOW CRAFT
MORNING – *MIDNIGHT

3221

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 29/09/2026

#WIPSnips #TheColorsThatHaunt Going to be so honest here, I forgot that the word well was more than just the noun so I went to search it thinking that I wouldn't have any uses. It's been a long morning and it's only 10 am.

She only understood how far she had gone when her brush slipped in her hand and her wrist flared with pain. Clara stepped back, blinking, and saw that the canvas had moved well past the sketch into something close to finished.

1101

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 28/09/2026

#WIPSnips #TheColorsThatHaunt I had a choice between this and a mention of primed canvases. This one felt much more atmospheric.

Roses.

Their scent hung thick in the air, rich to the point of spoilage, like blossoms a day past their prime. Beneath the floral weight came something sharper: oil paint, turpentine, the faint metallic edge of linseed and pigment left uncapped too long.

0142

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 24/09/2026

In 14 days, The Colors That Haunt Us will be out in the world. I’ve spent so long writing, revising, formatting, and talking about this book that it’s strange to finally be this close to people actually reading it. October 8. www.aspenrayne.com/books #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #QueerBooks

14 DAYS UNTIL
ROSENFELD MANOR
OPENS ITS DOORS

The Colors That Haunt Us
October 8
Preorders Open

010

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 24/09/2026

Some choices only look inevitable once you’re already falling. A short excerpt from The Colors That Haunt Us. October 8. www.aspenrayne.com/books #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #QueerBooks

The choices did not feel like choices at all. They felt like different names for the same descent.

060

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 21/09/2026

#WIPSnips #TheColorsThatHaunt This is the closest I have, so have a song flowing through Clara and feel free to yell at me if you think it's not vibes enough lol

The sound that emerged was soft at first, tentative, but it quickly grew, flowing through Clara like the song was part of her own heartbeat. Her hands moved with ease, the music coming from her as if she had always known it. The tune poured out of her, flowing like water, like it had been waiting for her to play it all this time.

161

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 21/09/2026

A little sneak peek from the photos I was taking for my next blog post because I just love how these turned out. The book! In my house! A real physical object! And, naturally, the photo session required feline supervision. #TheColorsThatHaunt #AspenWrites #BookSky

Dark gray cat resting beside a bright window behind a blurred red-and-black copy of The Colors That Haunt Us by Aspen Rayne on a purple blanket.

Red book titled “The Colors That Haunt Us” by Aspen Rayne resting on a patterned fuzzy blanket.

120

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 16/09/2026

#WIPSnips #TheColorsThatHaunt No exterior, but I do have facade as a synonym. And look I know this is my own writing, but I really love the word mottled here.

The stone facade, mottled with lichen and streaked from years of rain, bore the cool, solid weight of permanence. Weathered granite met richly carved wooden trim, each flourish around a window or door frame spiraling into strange motifs, some floral, some bordering on the grotesque.

070

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 12/09/2026

#WIPSnips #TheColorsThatHaunt You know, I might have used this quote already for soup, since it's one of the few mentions of food. If so... oh well, it was a while ago.

She brushed the thought aside and rummaged through the supplies, pulling out a wedge of cheese and a thick slice of bread. It wasn't the hot meal she wanted, but it would do. No electricity meant no easy, thoughtless cooking, and she wasn’t about to coax the wood stove to life just to boil water on her first night.

1151

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 12/09/2026

What if the mysterious muse isn’t asking to be painted? Clara wants to understand Suzette. Painting her makes the impossible feel a little more real. Suzette knows exactly how dangerous that can become. The Colors That Haunt Us — October 8. #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #QueerBooks

ARTIST X IMPOSSIBLE MUSE

CLARA
I need to paint you.

×

SUZETTE
You need to stop.

What happens when making someone real starts to look like keeping them?

The Colors That Haunt Us
October 8
aspenrayne.com/books

040

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 09/09/2026

A little Clara and Suzette today. If you like queer gothic stories with impossible longing, haunted art, and relationships where tenderness keeps edging toward obsession, The Colors That Haunt Us may be for you. Coming October 8. #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #QueerBooks

Slowly, carefully, she reached out. Just to see. Just to try.

Her fingers passed through.

The cold bit at her fingertips, and Clara swallowed, a tight, frustrated knot forming in her throat.

Suzette's gaze flickered down, watching where their hands should have met. A sadness crossed her face, soft and fleeting.

Clara let her hand drop, curling her fingers into her palm as if she could hold onto the ghost of the feeling.

140

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 05/09/2026

Have a giant dandelion I ran across in the wild (well a walking trail along a lake)

A giant dandelion along the edge of a lake

120

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 03/09/2026

#WIPSnips #TheColorsThatHaunt No witty caption today, unfortunately, this one is pretty straightforward.

“Any family name?”

Clara held his gaze. “Rosenfeld.”

The effect was immediate.

The librarian’s hand stopped on the edge of his book. A woman shelving periodicals turned to look at Clara outright, then quickly looked away. Somewhere deeper in the room, a chair scraped.

090

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 03/09/2026

Rosenfeld Manor is all wet paint, stale roses, dark halls, and the uneasy feeling that the house has been expecting you. #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #GothicFiction

Moody, nostalgic moodboard combining a dim dusk window, crowded bookshelves, a rusty saw, black brushstrokes on crumpled paper, a blurred woman at a curtain, wilted flowers, a dripping candle, rain-speckled glass, ancient temple ruins, and muted swatches suggesting memory and decay.

080

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 31/08/2026

Still a little surreal that I get to say this: The Colors That Haunt Us comes out October 8. The cover is real. The date is real. Somehow this book is almost out in the world. www.aspenrayne.com/books #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #QueerBooks

Cover of a novel titled "The Colors That Haunt Us" featuring a painting of back view of a woman in a deep red dress with auburn hair swept into a bun against a dark crimson background; title in the upper left and author "Aspen Rayne" at the bottom.

041

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 29/08/2026

#WIPSnips #TheColorsThatHaunt I didn't really have adept or much close, but Thalia is pretty adept at making conversations go her way?

“Sorry,” Thalia cut in, not sharply, but with the smooth precision of someone used to directing conversations back onto the rails she preferred.

“Which program are you a part of?”

0120

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 29/08/2026

One of the tensions at the heart of The Colors That Haunt Us: Clara wants to be seen. The danger is that Suzette wants to keep what she sees. www.aspenrayne.com/books #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #QueerBooks

"Do not mistake pity for devotion, Clara. Or obsession for tenderness." centered in cream serif type on a deep maroon background, with a thin divider and small attribution reading "The Colors That Haunt Us" beneath.

021

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 27/08/2026

#WIPSnips #TheColorsThatHaunt So I thought I'd have to do a funny here, but turns out I did have moths. But the funny was going to be doing the word month, because when writing, that was my number 1 typo that I had to go through a change manually.

$One hung ajar, revealing a glimpse of wallpaper patterned with winding vines and golden moths. Another was closed tight, its handle worn to a pale shimmer. Above her, suspended from the center of the dome, hung a chandelier that must have once been the pride of the manor. Dozens of crystals hung like captured rain, dulled by time but still snaring what fractured light remained.$

1212

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 27/08/2026

#WIPSnips #TheColorsThatHaunt No symbol, but a mark counts right? Especially if it's being used as a symbol of her trying to prove reality is still real?

0131

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 27/08/2026

#WriterShareWednesday #TheColorsThatHaunt The Colors That Haunt Us is a queer gothic novel about a grieving artist, an impossible muse, haunted paintings, and a manor that turns the need to be seen into obsession. Preorder: www.aspenrayne.com/books or add to your TBR on your tracker of choice

Book cover for "THE COLORS THAT HAUNT US" by Aspen Rayne, featuring a woman's head from the back against a red background.
Around it are the following tropes:
Haunted house as a character
Artist × Impossible Muse
Isolated artist residency
The house chose you
Lost time & unreliable memory
Erased queer history
Art that changes reality
Obsession mistaken for devotion
Grief as a haunting

032

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 24/08/2026

The Colors That Haunt Us is for readers who like their gothic fiction intimate, unsettling, and a little obsessive. Haunted houses that feel alive. Queer longing with teeth. Psychological horror. Beauty tangled with danger. www.aspenrayne.com/books #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky

Promotional spread for the novel The Colors That Haunt Us by Aspen Rayne — a book cover on the right shows an oil painting of a woman's turned head and red dress; the left lists reader types (gothic intimacy, psychological horror, haunted houses, queer longing, beauty tangled with danger)

030

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 23/08/2026

Portraits are everywhere in The Colors That Haunt Us: painted faces, watching eyes, unfinished work, and the uneasy feeling that making an image can become a way of keeping someone. www.aspenrayne.com/books #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #GothicFiction

Moodboard titled "The Colors That Haunt Us" pairing vintage portraits, fabric texture, paint‑stained hand, mirror reflection, dried roses, an extreme close-up eye and dark red abstract to evoke a nostalgic, haunting color palette.

050

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 22/08/2026

#WIPSnips #TheColorsThatHaunt I had a few options for fresh today, some involving fruit, some involving paint, I went with this one.

She pulled a fresh canvas onto the easel. “Show me,” she said, though she could not have said whether she meant the house, the paintings, or the missing woman herself.

The manor emerged first, but not the manor Clara knew.

0121

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 08/08/2026

Stained glass recurs throughout The Colors That Haunt Us: beauty broken into color, light entering in fragments, every room briefly remade by what passes through it. It is also a warning. Nothing in Rosenfeld Manor is ever seen whole. #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #GothicFiction

Light rays streaming through stained glass windows in a gothic cathedral, illuminating ornate stone architecture and a decorative wooden screen.

050

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 04/08/2026

Rosenfeld Manor does not need to move to feel alive. Its silence has a rhythm, its rooms seem to breathe, and Clara feels its attention long before she understands what it wants. Preorder: www.aspenrayne.com/books #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #QueerBooks

The house was not quiet so much as listening. Its hush had rhythm, a slow pulse pressed into the stone, and she could almost feel it through the soles of her boots.
The Colors That Haunt Us

040

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 02/08/2026

The Colors That Haunt Us is full of haunted houses with intentions, impossible muses, queer longing, lost time, art that changes reality, and devotion sharpened into obsession. Which trope would pull you in first? Preorder: www.aspenrayne.com/books #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #QueerBooks

THE COLORS THAT HAUNT US
ASPEN RAYNE

Haunted house as a character
Artist × Impossible Muse
Human × Ghost sapphic longing
Erased queer history
Art that changes reality
Isolated artist residency
The house chose you
Lost time & unreliable memory
Obsession mistaken for devotion
Grief as a haunting

050

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 01/08/2026

#WIPSnips #TheColorsThatHaunt Another situation where I do have the word but the use of it is so spoilery I had to find a close friend.

Fine. If the road would not behave, she would take the question out of the car’s hands. She would try it on foot. If she could get high enough, maybe she could find a signal. Maybe from above the trees the world would start making sense again.

070

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 31/07/2026

Color in The Colors That Haunt Us is never only decorative. Here, the beauty of the stained glass becomes proof that the manor is still breathing, while the world beyond it has already been painted away. #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #QueerBooks #GothicFiction

Light through the stained-glass window cast shifting color across the floor, deep blue, muted gold, blood red over the wooden panels.
Outside, beyond the stained glass, there was nothing. No sky, no trees, no hills. Only a flat midtone expanse, like canvas already primed and waiting for the first committed mark.
The Colors That Haunt Us

040

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 28/07/2026

#WIPSnips #TheColorsThatHaunt In all transparency, I did have an "assist" but it was the line directly after yesterday's so I went with help instead.

She sighed and glanced towards her car. "Sorry, I'm just heading somewhere and I need a little bit of help getting there."
He grunted and nodded once.
"Right, uh do you know Rosenfeld Manor?"
The whole station went still.

090

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 26/07/2026

Rosenfeld Manor is rarely truly quiet. Its silence listens, its rooms pull Clara where they want her, and even the most beautiful moments carry the sense that something has already begun closing around her. #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #QueerBooks #GothicFiction

$"The house was silent, but not empty-silent. Listening-silent. She found herself walking toward the parlor before she had decided to go there at all. Suzette stood by the stained-glass window, touched by fractured moonlight and the last guttering candle on the side table." The Colors That Haunt Us$

020

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 17/07/2026

Preorders are now open for The Colors That Haunt Us. This queer gothic novel about art, grief, obsession, longing, and a house that does not let go will be available October 8. You can find all preorder links here: www.aspenrayne.com/books #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #QueerBooks

Preorder announcement for the queer gothic novel The Colors That Haunt Us by Aspen Rayne, available October 8; left features a painterly back-view portrait of a woman in a red dress against a deep red background, with gold decorative text and ornate borders.

1125

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 17/07/2026

#WeeknightWriters A3: a lemon drop frappe my cat and coming out the other end of a massive writers discord explosion with a group still active and leaving the bad behind.

A white blended drink with whipped cream and freeze dried lemon drops on top

A grey and white cat under a leaf staring up at the camera

1101

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 16/07/2026

Release date reveal. The Colors That Haunt Us will be available October 8. A queer gothic novel about art, grief, obsession, longing, and a house that does not let go. #TheColorsThatHaunt #BookSky #QueerBooks #GothicFiction

Promotional graphic for the novel "The Colors That Haunt Us" by Aspen Rayne, featuring a person with brown hair and a red dress seen from behind against a burgundy background, with gold text announcing the release date of October 8th.

052

Aspen Rayne - The Colors That Haunt Us coming October 8th @aspenrayne.com · 16/07/2026

Sell your book in five words: Lesbian mistakes haunting for love.

Book cover for The Colors That Haunt Us by Aspen Rayne. The cover features a painterly portrait of a woman turned away against a deep red background, with large antique gold title text along the left side and the author name at the bottom.

030