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T.R. Steele 🍂 @authortrsteele.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

🪨🔥 BARROWBOUND 🔥🪨 a dark fantasy novel Lorcan returns to his hometown after 5 years to find that the otherworldly barrow in the woods has claimed his childhood best friend, former lover, and hero of the land. With nothing left to lose, he enters the underworld to look for her. #DF #F #QueerPit #A

An image collage with an armoured hand in a field of yellow flowers, a cavern opening up to mossy rocks and the sky, a fox drinking water in the dark, a detailed close-up of the hands and a will o' the wisp from the 1888 painting Will o' The Wisp by Lev Lerch, and a group of sheep in the dark with their eyes reflecting light.

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T.R. Steele 🍂 @authortrsteele.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

⚔️✨THE UNICORN'S BANE ✨⚔️ a cli-fi fantasy novella SPEAR x TLoZ: TWILIGHT PRINCESS A troubled young transgender knight looking to prove himself is sent to a small town to hunt and kill a unicorn laying waste to the ecologically important dragon population. #F #CLI #N #QueerPit

Image collage of a green, mossy forest, a hand with light streaming through the fingers, an illustration of a 15th century sword hilt and armoured hand, and a detailed illustration of a knight in a forest with a black horse and a unicorn in the distance. The illustration is bordered by green dragons and acorns.

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T.R. Steele 🍂 @authortrsteele.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

🐎 🩸CAN'T MAKE THEM DRINK 🩸🐎 a gothic historical fantasy and horror novella WHAT MOVES THE DEAD x THE SCORPIO RACES An unnamed narrator, desperate for work, is blackmailed into caring for monstrous horses by the wealthy lady of a decaying estate. #H #HF #N #A #QueerPit

Image collage featuring a horse standing in grey fog, an anatomical illustration of a horse head and skull, a person's hands holding the reins of a horse with a brown horse's nose nearby, and an Irish peat bog.

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T.R. Steele 🍂 @authortrsteele.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

My short horror story "Home" is out now in the special Trans Eco Horror issue of smoke and mold! Read it here: smokeandmold.net/issue-13-spr... Wonderful story cover art by Gay Famous (Adam Ponto).

Cover artwork by Gay Famous (Adam Ponto) for the story "Home" by T.R. Steele. A trans man stands facing a flock of chimney swifts coming down the chute of a grey chimney. The lighting is eerie, dark but highlighted red, and the bright eyes of the birds are highlighted with red as well.

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T.R. Steele 🍂 @authortrsteele.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Happy winter birding season! I do a lot of birding and had the wonderful opportunity to visit this family of 8 trumpeter swans. Look at these beautiful birds!

Three trumpeter swans stand on the edge of the ice on a partially frozen body of water. Two of the swans are large all-white adults. The adult swan closest to the camera has a yellow identification tag on their wing. The swan in the middle is smaller, grey-feathered, and preening their tail. This swan is a juvenile.

A wider vertical shot of 8 trumpeter swans standing on the ice on a partially frozen body of water. In the distance, there is a dock and trees along the shoreline, part of a public park. One of the adult swans, one with wing tags, looks out at the dock and trees. The other adult swan is looking at the water. Between them are 6 juvenile trumpeter swans, grey-feathered, all in some stage of preening themselves. They all appear calm and content on this cold winter day.

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T.R. Steele 🍂 @authortrsteele.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Here is my awards eligibility 2025 post! I'm really happy I've had so much published this year. Thank you to all the magazines who believed in my work.

A text box that mimics the look of lined paper on a green, crumpled paper background. Above, it reads "Awards Eligibility 2025" and "T.R. Steele." The text box, it reads "The Owl-wife (Coup of Owls Press, June 2025), Under the Skin (Heartlines Spec, Issue 8, Summer 2025), At the Edge of the Tale (Plott Hound Magazine, Issue 2, Summer 2025), Fully-Formed (Hearth Stories Magazine, June 2025)." The silhouette of grass runs along the bottom border. The silhouettes of a small flock of birds fly above the grass.

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T.R. Steele 🍂 @authortrsteele.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Hi! Here are publications, and all the links can be found here on my website: authortrsteele.wordpress.com/publications/

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T.R. Steele 🍂 @authortrsteele.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

Speaking of novellas... this is art representative of my fantasy novella about a struggling young trans man knight who is called upon to kill a unicorn that is herself slaying dragons important to the local ecosystem. I commissioned this beautiful piece from @milirine.bsky.social!

A young man with dark reddish-brown hair dressed in armour with a sword at his waist stands beside a beautiful black warhorse in a woodland scene. In the distance, an ethereal, fawn-coloured unicorn stands among the plants. The colours are cool-toned greens and browns, and the scene is lush and detailed. Bordering the art are oak leaves, acorns, yellow celandine flowers, dandelions, and more. Two white hares blowing medieval-style horns perch on top of the frame, while two brown hares blowing longer horns crouch below it. On either side of the frame, the mirrored image of a green wyrm-like dragon curls its tail among the plants.

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T.R. Steele 🍂 @authortrsteele.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

My submission to @augursociety.bsky.social's microfiction contest! #AugurMicros2025 🌊

An image of a body of water at dusk, with a pink and blue sky and a moon reflecting the setting sun, giving it a pinkish tinge. Overlaid text reads: "Alive Again by T.R. Steele

With the rivers unearthed, the water took its first breath in a long, long time.

It was dusk on the day of the unearthing. The shores were crowded, but we’d arrived early, holding hands as we waited.

The tired flow eased into riverbeds throughout the city that had been cleared and raised and tended back into being with the help of a thousand thousand hands. Ours were only a few of many.

As the rivers streamed into the lake, the sigh billowed around us, sound and feeling both, an utterance not heard for an age. The waters were alive again."

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T.R. Steele 🍂 @authortrsteele.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

This one from Anne Carson is an all-timer in my eyes:

A screenshot of the poem "O Small Sad Ecstasy of Love" by Anne Carson (born 1950). It reads:

I like being with you all night with closed eyes.
What luck—here you are
coming
along the stars!
I did a road trip
all over my mind and heart
and
there you were
kneeling by the roadside
with your little toolkit
fixing something.

Give me a world, you have taken the world I was.

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T.R. Steele 🍂 @authortrsteele.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Thank you to Eli Spencer (@eli__spencer on IG) for this commission of Finola, the "cursed" trumpeter swan-maiden from one of my short stories who learns that maybe being a swan isn't so bad after all... ✨

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T.R. Steele 🍂 @authortrsteele.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

🪨🔥 BARROWBOUND 🔥🪨 Lorcan returns to his hometown to find that the otherworldly barrow in the woods, the same barrow that claimed the love of his life 5 years ago, is awake again. With nothing left to lose, he decides to enter the underworld and look for her. #WSPit #WSPitQ #WSPitW #A #F #LGBT

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T.R. Steele 🍂 @authortrsteele.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

⚔️✨THE UNICORN'S BANE ✨⚔️ a fantasy novella with gothic vibes SPEAR x TLoZ: TWILIGHT PRINCESS A troubled young transgender knight looking to prove himself is sent to a small town to hunt and kill a unicorn laying waste to the ecologically important dragon population. #WSPit #WSPitQ #A #F #LGBT

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T.R. Steele 🍂 @authortrsteele.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

🐎 🩸CAN'T MAKE THEM DRINK 🩸🐎 a gothic historical fantasy and horror novella WHAT MOVES THE DEAD x THE SCORPIO RACES An unnamed narrator, desperate for work, is blackmailed into caring for dangerous horses by the wealthy lady of a decaying estate. #WSPit #WSPitQ #A #H #F #Hi #LGBT

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T.R. Steele 🍂 @authortrsteele.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

🐎 🩸CAN'T MAKE THEM DRINK 🩸🐎 a gothic historical fantasy and horror novella An unnamed narrator, desperate for work, is blackmailed into caring for dangerous horses by the wealthy lady of a decaying estate. #questpit #Q #OS #F #H #HR

A teal square image. A silhouette of a running horse appears above a quote that reads "In the dark, the horse's eyes glittered. She huffed again, lips curling back. I saw a needle-pointed canine resting on clear, pink gums, and the sight cut through me." Below lies a silhouette of feather-like grasses that cover the bottom half of the square.

A teal square image. A silhouette of a crescent moon is to the left of a list of elements of the novella that reads "Trans man MC, carnivorous horses, historical gothic, horror and fantasy, decaying estate, eerie countryside, atmospheric, literary writing." A silhouette of a lake with hills and trees covers the bottom half of the square.

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T.R. Steele 🍂 @authortrsteele.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

⚔️✨THE UNICORN'S BANE ✨⚔️ a fantasy novella with gothic vibes A troubled young transgender knight looking to prove himself is sent to a small, forest-bound town to hunt and kill a unicorn laying waste to the ecologically important local dragon population. #questpit #OS #Q #F

A moss-green square bordered by intricate floral designs. Line work art of a unicorn is positioned above a quote from that reads "The unicorn needed culling, and soon, before summer came and the dragon hatchlings emerged from their dens." Below this quote is line work art of a sword.

A moss-green square bordered by intricate floral designs. A list of elements included in the novella read as "Trans man MC, deadly unicorn "antagonist", ecological themes, ancient woodland, atmospheric setting, poetic, literary writing, depiction of depression, anxiety in a fantasy world." Below this quote is line work art of a sword.

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T.R. Steele 🍂 @authortrsteele.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

✨ A SORCERESS COMES TO CALL by T. Kingfisher This version of The Goose Girl weaves a narrative of found family, magic, horror, and community. I loved that one of the heroines was in her fifties; not common in fantasy novels! A genuinely amazing reimagining of the fairy tale.

The cover of T. Kingfisher's A Sorceress Comes to Call (featuring two golden trees and a series of star-like sparkles on a dark purple-brown background) is on a pale lavender background in a doorway-like frame. The author name is to the right of the cover, and the title is to the left.

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T.R. Steele 🍂 @authortrsteele.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

🐉 ORMESHADOW by Priya Sharma One of the best books I've read. A miserable (in the best way) work of gothic fiction. It's got everything that makes the genre great: a horrible family, a depressed protagonist, a damp and gloomy landscape, a folkloric underpinning woven into the land - perfection!

The cover of Priya Sharma's Ormeshadow (which depicts a spit of rocky land jutting out into the sea, and a large golden circle encircling the title and author name) is on a light grey background in a doorway-like frame. The author name is to the right of the image, and the title is to the left.

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T.R. Steele 🍂 @authortrsteele.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

⚔️ SPEAR by Nicola Griffith I was never into Arthurian legend (not my vibe), but this novella intrigued me, so I picked it up and I'm so glad I did. A sensory delight, this grounded historical fantasy novel feels so much more human than the bloviated narratives I usually expected from such stories.

The cover of Nicola Griffith's Spear (which depicts a grey cauldron, and in the cauldron is a smoke-like artistic depiction of trees, a castle, and a person on horseback holding a spear) is on a red background in a doorway-like frame. The author name is to the right of the image, and the title is to the left.

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T.R. Steele 🍂 @authortrsteele.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

🌳 THE BUTCHER OF THE FOREST by Premee Mohamed No notes on this one - a perfect fairy tale-inspired fantasy horror novella. I read it one wonderful sitting. The forest in this book quickly became one of my favourite fictional forests (and I have many favourite fictional forests).

The cover of Premee Mohamed's The Butcher of the Forest (which features a dark green forest scene and a unicorn, fox, crow, and rabbit, all with skulls instead of regular features) is on a beige background in a doorway-like frame. The author name is to the right of the image, and the title is to the left.

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