iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Indie Book Spotlight @bookspotlight.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

He’s had many names, lived many lives, worn many disguises. 🎭 a magician’s last act 💖 a burgeoning romance 🗡️ brothers at odds 📓 21 pages 🔖 universal link: mybook.to/H6oGDdB 💌 itch.io link: rebecca-crunden.itch.io/the-final-ac... 📖 goodreads: www.goodreads.com/book/show/12... [ #booksky ]

cover for the final act of jonas black by rebecca crunden; shows a faceless figure in a hat with glasses, black and white colour scheme

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

#WIPSnips The word for September 29 is WELL In NOMARA, human captive Kharys is very, very good at being what he needs to be to survive. #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #SFF

Text excerpt from NOMARA, a science fiction WIP by L.L. Stephens. Snip reveals the thoughts of Arasend, a nomari Queen, about her captive lover Kharys:

“No, not those,” she said when he chose one of the several garments offered by the attendants. “The gold. It suits you better.” She saw him hesitate, then obey. Settling into her chair, she watched as he dressed. Every movement was graceful, deliberate, even his stance, the angle of his limbs, executed to be pleasing. Nothing in Kharys ever jarred. Not even his lapses.
From the very first moment when Oandah had brought Kharys to Eshuun, Arasend had marked his differentness. Kharys’s coloring, with his skin of pearl and his hair like red honey, had been too rare. His innocence was not that of barbarians, but of people more refined: his body showed few signs of having been reared in harshness, he embraced cleanliness eagerly and captivity too well. Even his speech, when he did speak, lacked barbarian inflections. The Nogshari’im had never raised Kharys. He knew nothing of the nomari, not even so much as was known to the youngest child of the ri’im.
For a time Arasend had thought Kharys unintelligent, an exquisitely beautiful idiot, possibly a slave-trader’s prize the Nogsha had captured from the caravans, for he had looks even the ri’im might sell for pleasure. But within passings she knew otherwise. Her exquisite boy’s hesitancy and quiet concealed an alert mind. The speech of the nomari came quickly to his lips once he had chance to hear it; he recognized his duties without fail and soon performed even the most complex of social functions in a manner as beautiful and flawless as his person—he could and would be the consort of a Queen. Arasend had not known, when she had first taken him from Oandah, that he would so suit her purposes.

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Steve Hugh Westenra 🕷️🧛‍♂️🏳️‍⚧️📚✒️ @stevewestenra.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

#WIPSnips - "Well." "Well" is one of those crutch words I kept in TETK because it's very much part of Tyler's speech and how he narrates. A dark moment. D : If you're looking for a Hallowe'en read, find it here!: steve-westenra.itch.io/the-erstwhil... Or: books2read.com/u/boB9YL #transhorror

"You never think of yourself as that person. You think you’re way too clever and self-aware not to shut someone down as soon as red flags start popping up like China just won the showjumping gold. And you can see exactly how you got here. You trace each and every cord to its socket and pinpoint all the singular moments when you should have stopped it, walked away, said something. And didn’t. Every. Single. Time.
And you hate yourself for that, too. You start to wonder, well, if you let it happen, maybe you wanted to be broken. A glass lamp standing an inch over the lip of the table—so hard not to push. Some part of you must’ve thought you deserved it. You made this happen. You summoned [redacted] like Mephistopheles. The Cavale to your Slim. [Redacted] didn’t even have to hold a .45 to my head." - The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle

Image is a red theatre curtain at an angle. Text is coloured neon pink and blue.

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

#WIPSnips 29 September 'well' My favourite thing about this novella is these two characters trying to outmanoeuvre each other. #WriteSky #indiefantasy #WritingCommunity 💙🪐📚

Wipsnips 29 September prompt 'well'

They matched stares over the diplomatic plateau of her second-best tea service. Eventually, Hailene asked, “Is that a threat, Ambassador? Because I can assure you, I’m perfectly capable of dealing with Alyas’s temper tantrums.”
He shrugged elegantly. “He’s your nephew.”
“Yes,” she agreed, setting down her cup. “He is. More to the point, all Cassana has done—all she will do—is attend Elidne-Sera’s garden parties, along with every other woman of consequence in Avarel. And if you have ever tried to prise the details of those parties from the ladies involved, you will know as well as I that what goes on there is not shared with their menfolk.”
“And what exactly does go on?”
“A different kind of powerbroking.”
He quirked a polite eyebrow.
She smiled. “Just so, Ambassador. So you see, there really is no need to scuff those pretty boots hiding in my flower beds.”
He looked down and swore.

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Rowena @neaththepumpkin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

It is never too early for spooky season, and today I am reviewing a book that is the perfect Halloween read. The House Where Halloween Sleeps by J.D. Harris, which was a delightfully spooky and fun read, with Hocus Pocus vibes and a haunted house with ATTITUDE. 📚💙

neaththepumpkinpatch.co.uk

Book Review: The House Where Halloween Sleeps – J.D. Harris

Hello! Today I am reviewing 'The House Where Halloween Sleeps' by J.D. Harris, which was an absolute blast to read and I am very much looking forward to checking out some of the author's other autumnal/spooky books in the near future.

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

#WIPSnips 28 September - I don't have 'prime' so I have gone with 'first'. Two of my favourite side characters have their own adventure in this novella in my Tales of Isyr series. #WriteSky #indiefantasy #WritingCommunity 💙🪐📚

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

It's Book Quote Wednesday and the word is KNOW This is from NOMARA, one of my science fiction novels. Action. Adventure. A loose tie to the Triempery novels. I've been putting snips up on another site but now I have cool art to share! Art by Mara, @hajima7.bsky.social #bookqw #WritingCommunity

Left side of image is an illustration by Mara of two characters from the novel NOMARA. Novel by L.L. Stephens. Illustration shows a proud red clothed nomari queen in the background and a defiant, stubborn dark haired Terran woman in the foreground.

Right side has a text excerpt from NOMARA, a science fiction novel by L.L. Stephens:

“Do you know what you stand upon, Terran?” Oandah asked. As she stepped into the light, her face drew the glow. “Knowledge is gained more often by loss than acquisition. I spent seven years among your kind; I walked a hundred soaring cities and spinning metal wheels, I have seen a hundred suns, some natural, some made by Terrans, all real, and never once did I set foot upon true earth. Just spinning satellites in space, and cities rising from dead stones without air, and big ships such as that one up there, that brought you here.”
Reflexively, Kate looked up. Clouds obscured the stars, cut her off from the familiar sights of space, as if she stood beneath, rather than upon, the surface of the planet. Layers of density, she reminded herself. She stood at the bottom of a gas sea.

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

It's Book Quote Wednesday and the word is KNEW/KNOW Here's an excerpt from The Siege of Druine, which fills in some important backstory about the characters in The Many Shades of Midnight - it's also free to download on my newsletter. #bookqw #writingcommunity #indiefantasy 💙🪐📚

Front cover and excerpt from The Siege of Druine for Book Quote Wednesday prompt KNEW/KNOW

“I knew your father. Did you know that?”
There was a knife in those words. Storn saw it in the way Alyas froze, colour leaving his face.
Haki tilted his head, taking in the reaction the other man was too tired to hide, and he thrust that knife deeper. “I was there when he won from the emperor the right to claim any reward he could name. He named the Ado blades.”
It was only because Storn was watching so closely that he caught the tiny twitch at those words. Haki was watching just as intently. He laughed. “Oh yes, your father asked for them. He never told you that, did he? We all expected the emperor to strike him down for his presumption. Those blades were the greatest prize in all of Qido. But do you know what he did? He begged your father to choose something else, anything else. He shamed us all that day, begging a foreigner, and he did it not to preserve a national heirloom, but because he said the blades were cursed.”

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Mee Zee @bokemonpie.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

One of my friends is on bed rest and do you know how much effort it is for me to not visit and just pull up a chair with a book and go: "The Game of Kings. By Dorothy Dunnett. Opening Gambit. Lymond is back." #LymondChronicles

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I put up another blog post about one of my Triempery characters. Hans has been a fun character and he has quite a story in the series. He's also one of few characters who is in every book. There's a reason for that... www.triempery.com/post/charact...

triempery.com

Character Note: Handurin Stauberg-Randolph

Hans was the first character I created for what became the Triempery Revelations and he appears in every book. From The Second Stone on he remains central to the series. He was created by a young teen...

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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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Fantasy-Faction @fantasyfaction.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Today Angela Boord asks the question: Is trope marketing ruining literature? - JI 🐉 "[This] is really a gripe about how books are being written to compete in a crowded marketplace...In other words, trope is sliding from “shared motif” to “cliché”." fantasy-faction.com/2026/is-trop... #booksky 💙📚🪐

The image is a photo of the aisle in a bookstore. On the right half of the image is a shelf of books seen from the side. On the left half is the back end of the aisle. The image is done in browns, creams, and greens. Over the image are the words, "Is Trope Marketing Ruining Literature?" and "A Fantasy-Faction Article".

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I can feel the rage. This book offers a beautifully woven tapestry of hard emotion.

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

It's Book Quote Wednesday and the word is DRIP I don't often provide quotes from THE RILL LORD, but this one provides a good example of "dripping." Things in that book get a little bloody. #bookqw #WritingCommunity

Left side of image is the book cover of THE RILL LORD, sixth and final book of the Triempery Revelations series by L.L. Stephens. Cover is gray and stormy with a red-robed sorcerer facing off against a distant power.

Right side is a text excerpt from THE RILL LORD. Excerpt shows a lone soldier appealing for help to a woman at a farm:

“And they cannot stay here. Or don’t you see this man is armed? A soldier.” The mistress’s weasel-sharp eyes had discerned the sword Robdan wore strapped to his back, though he had wrapped it so that the jewels in the hilt would not catch light and so betray them.
“Lady, I will bring you no harm. I promise it.” Robdan addressed the woman in his best Stauba. It was imperative to demonstrate he was not rabble, that he was educated, a civil man. “I am asking only for my friend. Can’t you even let me warm him in your house? Or help me send word?”
“You will not demean my house with that filthy beggar, dripping blood all over our floors! Let the wolves have him—and you too!” The woman turned to Mellona, making her order clear. “See them gone or I’ll set the dogs on them.”

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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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Indie Book Spotlight @bookspotlight.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

🗡️ fantasy novella ⚰️ accidental reawakening of dead immortals 🏹 gallant knights 👑 evil kingdom 🤝 evil queendom 🌲 enchanted plants and forests 🥀 romance and friendship 🔖 link: mybook.to/mUVTmR 💌 itch.io: rebecca-crunden.itch.io/a-light-for-... 📖 gr: www.goodreads.com/book/show/23... [ #booksky ]

Ebook cover for ‘A Light for the Dead to Follow’ by Rebecca Crunden. Cover image is of a skull surrounded by red-pink flowers. There are vines at the top beside the title. The title font is black and maroon, the name font is white.

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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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Rowena @neaththepumpkin.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Sticking with the horror again today with a review for Long Island Memorial by Michael R. Fletcher and Clayton W. Snyder. This was a brutal, lucid dream of a book, that ultimately I couldn't put down. 📚💙

neaththepumpkinpatch.co.uk

Book Review: Long Island Memorial – Michael R. Fletcher & Clayton W. Snyder

Hello! Sticking with the horror again today, for one of the most brutal and mind-bending books I've read for a while, Long Island Memorial by Clayton W. Snyder and Michael R.Fletcher.

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Delilah Waan | Epic fantasy author @delilahwaan.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Convincing you read these indie books with only the pitch and first line 👀 💙📚🪐 🧵 1/8

White text on dark background of six blurred book covers

Text reads "convincing you to read indie books with only the pitch + first line"

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Rowena @neaththepumpkin.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

It's Sunday. The weather is properly Scottish Autumn, and we're having every this morning (sometimes all at once). Today we're starting a new feature on the blog, a weekly roundup of what's happening on the blog and a selection of reviews, reveals and other things that have caught my eye this week.

neaththepumpkinpatch.co.uk

Good morning, This was something I'd been wanting to do for a while, and so with the new blog each sunday there will be a roundup of what's happened on the blog, what's to come for the week ahead; and a roundup of things that have caught my eye during the week (unlike spotlights these will be completely random). As we finish out the week, I am currently reading:

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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

More info about the book on Kickstarter! If you think it's interesting, click "notify me on launch" and we'll unlock a follower bonus at 100 followers 😁 www.kickstarter.com/projects/ang...

kickstarter.com

Coming soon: To Dream A Darker Realm: A Dark Portal Fantasy Thriller

STRANGER THINGS meets ELIZABETH ARDEN in this dark tale about risking everything for family. Limited edition hardcover & early release.

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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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Anna ZenKen Stephens is on Patreon @annasmithwrites.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Here it is! The cover for The Sport of Wings, publishing 16 October 2026. ARCs available: sign up here: anna-stephens.com/.../arc-sign... and pre-orders soon. Please share with anyone who would enjoy a fantasy romance full of high stakes dragon racing, rags to riches, and a forbidden relationship.

Cover of The Sport of Wings, featuring a bold black and red background with filigree and roses in the corners and a black dragon in the centre, above the book title.

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

#WIPSnips 4 September - all instances of 'collapse' in my historical fantasy WIP are spoilery, so I've gone for 'fallen' instead #WriteSky #indiefantasy #WritingCommunity 💙🪐📚

WIPSnips excerpt for 4 September - 'fallen' instead of 'collapse'

Darri wiped the blood from his knife and put it away before he climbed wearily to his feet and walked to where Bren was sitting in the snow by his brother, tears pouring down his round cheeks.
Crouching before the boys, he put one hand on Fien shoulder, tucking his bleeding wrist out of sight. “Someone will come for us soon,” he promised them. “But we should start walking so they find us sooner. Can you do that?”
Both mounts had bolted. If they were lucky, one or both would return to Cynnor. He didn’t relish the uproar that would cause, nor the lecture, but Bren’s clothes were soaked through where he had fallen in the snow, and both boys were cold and pale with shock. He needed to get them back to the warmth of the hall as quickly as possible.
Fien gave him a solemn nod. Bren, teeth chattering and tears leaking down his cheeks as he stared over Darri’s shoulder, seemed not to hear. When Darri touched his face, he blinked and looked up, then threw himself forward, little arms wrapping themselves around his chest. He stood, carrying the sobbing child with him, and Bren’s legs curled around his waist, head buried in his shoulder.
“So,” he said, settling the weight on his hips and looking down at Fien around Bren’s dark curls, “shall we go?”

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Rowena @neaththepumpkin.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Today's review is for The Black Bothy (The Archive Files) by Aiden Blackwood is a Scottish Folk Horror Novella, that ultimately didn't stick the landing for me. But absolutely nailed the atmosphere and folk horror aspects. 💙📚

neaththepumpkinpatch.co.uk

Book Review: The Black Bothy (The Archive Files) – Aidan Blackwood

Hello! Today I am reviewing The Black Bothy by Aidan Blackwood, a Scottish Folk Horror novella that overall didn't stick the landing for me, but absolutely nailed the atmosphere and folk horror aspects.

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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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Susan Murray @pulpthorn.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

It's Book Quote Wednesday and today's #BookQW word is 'appear'. In this extract from The Waterborne Blade exiled queen Alwenna has plenty to deal with already without experiencing weirdness around water.

Cover of The Waterborne Blade by Susan Murray. A woman in an ornate gown is moving past the viewer, a long dagger held in her blood-spattered right hand. Cover art by Paul Young.

Extract from The Waterborne Blade by Susan Murray:

The cool water had eased the raw discomfort of Alwenna’s fingertips. Now she spread her fingers wide and lowered them to the bottom of the shallow pool. The pebbles on the stream bed were of many different colours: browns, greys and ochres, all intermingled, smooth to the touch. The rippling of the water made them appear alive as they shimmered beneath her fingers, shifting and dancing. The rushing of the stream grew louder and her vision blurred then cleared to reveal the citadel of Highkell in fading light. Behind her she could hear the jingle of harness, and the steady progress of horses’ hooves on the road up to the main gate. She blinked, disorientated, and she was gazing at the pebble-strewn stream bed once more, her hands cold, still sunk to her wrists in the water. The sound of horses’ hooves had gone, but she twisted round to check, nevertheless. She knelt by a stream in a forest clearing, with only Wynne and Weaver for company.

She turned back to the stream, studying the pebbles which lay innocuously beneath the surface of the water. She plunged her hands in again, spreading her fingers over the stones as before. The water was cold and wet and that was all.

#BookQW – appear

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

It's Book Quote Wednesday and the word is APPEAR How Dorilian appears matters more to some people than others. In this snip from SORDANEON, villain Nammuor warns his sister, Dorilian's wife, that not everyone will find Dorilian ugly. #WritingCommunity #bookqw

Left side of image is book cover of SORDANEON, first book of the Triempery Revelations series by L.L. Stephens. Cover is gold and brown with a young man looking at a fantastic city with a glowing core of power at its heart.

Right side of image is a text excerpt from SORDANEON:

Nammuor studied Daimonaeris with amusement. “Your husband is not hideous, fire jewel. Shadowed by lesser blood, yes, but not ugly. He’s growing into his looks. Women will eventually find his appearance as appealing as his lineage. Be wary.”
She eyed him venomously. “I will not have to—if we are rid of him.”
He laughed and reached for another sugar feather, this time choosing a different color and flavor. “A year he has promised, so a year shall we have. Let us work on the father, then, and attend to the timing. Deben’s single vice in women is that he prefers young virgins. And thanks in part to your reluctant husband, sweet Sister, you have done a splendid job of keeping your temple pristine.”

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

It's Book Quote Wednesday and the word is 'appear' Here's an excerpt from The Siege of Druine - and they're going to get a siege whether they want one or not. #bookqw #indiefantasy #writingcommunity 💙🪐📚 The ebook is free on my newsletter: www.andeira.net/newsletter

Front cover of The Siege of Druine and excerpt for Book Quote Wednesday prompt 'appear'

“So what now?” Agazi asked. He was lounging against the wall and appeared completely unconcerned about the fact there was an entire fucking Qidan division camped on their doorstep.
“Now we wait. Either Haki moves or Diago does.”
“And we’re stuck in the middle,” Esar complained. It was an uncomfortable position, trapped between those two powers. Holding the balance.
Alyas shrugged. “He’s not convinced, but we have surprised him. He has doubts. If he hesitates too long, he’s lost, and he knows it.”
For Haki, success meant striking hard and striking fast, taking possession of the Donea before any of its treaty-bound neighbours were even aware Qido had moved. Which meant taking Druine and control of the pass.
Except he didn’t even need to do that. “He could just pin us down here,” Esar pointed out. “We can’t withstand a siege for long.”

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

#WIPSnips The word for September 2 is BUTTON Kate presses a "button" in this snip... and wreaks havoc. That's a good thing, but also creates a situation over which she needs to keep control. She's the only one with a Terran weapon. #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #SFF

Text excerpt from NOMARA, a science fiction WIP by L.L. Stephens. Snip shows Kate introducing her new allies to a Terran weapon they've heard about but have never seen used:

Kate pressed the blaster’s firing button, the sights flaring, locking on all incoming targets. The thing was so damn easy to use. Laser fire burst from the barrel in rapid tracers of light, seeming to explode as each warrior’s flesh charred and broke open, internal organs blossoming from yawning cavities. It took only seconds to kill them all.
Jorii stared in violent fascination as Troya turned away to be sick.
“You could have killed us, all of us, in the kumbh.” Jorii gaped at Kate, wide-eyed, as that reality sank in. “Why didn’t you use it?”
Dominance, Kate thought. Never pass up the chance. It took only the slightest movement to train the gun on Jorii once more. “It’s a weapon, Jorii, but it doesn’t kill unless I want it to. And I don’t kill people I’m trying to help—or who aren’t trying to kill me. Just don’t cross me when we get out of this.” When the queen bent her head ever so slightly, Kate lowered the weapon.

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

#WIPSnips 2 September - I've gone for 'lacings' as I don't have 'button'. A longer snip today, of a very complicated relationship #WriteSky #indiefantasy #WritingCommunity 💙🪐📚

“You know that’s not what I meant.”
Reis looked down into the face of the prince of Morn and was given a rare glimpse of unvarnished sincerity. Gently, he prised Allard’s fingers from his arm. “Your father is sending me back to Cynrith.”
“I will talk to him. Stay in Morn, Reis. Stay with me. I will make you my—”
“Your what?” he asked, but gently, because he did not want to hurt Allard. “What can I be to you? Other than this? You will be the king of Morn one day. You will marry and have sons, because that is your duty. There’s no room for me.”
Allard’s face twisted in annoyance at this unwelcome truth. “But until then…”
“Until then I will be your pet Lynish prince?” The words were bitter, because he wanted to be more. He ached to be more. To matter. He had lived on Morn’s charity all his life, an outsider. And he would go home an outsider, tainted by that charity in a land still reeling from Mornish aggression.
“No,” Allard said fiercely. “I will give you land in Morn, a title.”
“I have land. Here, in Cynrith.” Maybe. There was no certainty Darri would let him claim it.
He saw the words on the tip of Allard’s tongue, the reminder that he was merely exchanging Carwel’s charity for his brother’s, but for once the prince chose the wiser course. Instead, he said, almost pleading, “You don’t have to be Lynish, Reis.”
But the unspoken words burned into him, sparking an anger that had been simmering ever since he had arrived in the land of his birth. “Why?” he demanded, snatching his shirt from the floor. “Because you intend to crush us?”
“One day, yes,” Allard agreed with that same painful sincerity. “Your brother will make me, you know he will.” And as Reis stared at him, he said, “I don’t want to crush you too, Reis. Please.”
But they were abruptly, achingly, too far apart. Leaving the lacings on his shirt undone, Reis grabbed the rest of his clothes and made his escape before either of them could say something they couldn’t take back.

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PJC Cahill @pjccahill.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

💙📚🌈🐺 Do you need monstrous werewolf lesbians? Do you need warm, fluffy feels? Buy Cry Wolf (To a Monster Bound 1)! "I recommend to anyone in search of a unique monster romance and I just love the cover." (R.J. Webb, Author of A Vampire's Lament) Buy: pjccahill.carrd.co #booksky 📢📚 #sapphic

Art by Luigiix - extreme close-up of a wolf's eyes. The eye is yellow-gold, surrounded by dirty-blonde fur. At the top is the title 'Cry Wolf' in yellow lettering. At the bottom, in smaller font is 'To a Monster Bound 1' and 'PJC Cahill'
Luigiix's DA page: https://www.deviantart.com/luigiix
Luigiix's Commission Info page: https://www.deviantart.com/luigiix/journal/Commissions-444182461

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Frog and Toad Bot @frogandtoadbot.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Toad found a lantern in the attic. “Frog will see this light. I will show him the way out of the woods,” said Toad.

Toad gathers a lantern in his attic.

From "Christmas Eve"
In *Frog and Toad All Year*

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Indie Book Spotlight @bookspotlight.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

🧙 wild witches 🐦‍⬛ a crow (or two) 🔮 portal fantasy 🐈‍⬛ a cat who wanders in 👨‍❤️‍👨 true love 🗡️ revenge 👑 evil faeries 🔖 universal link: mybook.to/rlEOgP 💌 itch.io link: rebecca-crunden.itch.io/enlil-aris-t... 📖 goodreads: www.goodreads.com/book/show/23... [ #booksky ]

Cover for ‘Enlil and Aris: The Complete Collection by Rebecca Crunden’. Cover is purple, yellow and orange with white font. Image shows two silhouettes of men with a crow above them, the sun behind.

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

#WIPSnips The word for September 1 is GARDEN The "garden" is both place and symbol in NOMARA. The nomari cultivate humans alongside their species for a reason. They could have wiped them out. But humans are... useful. And Kharys, in this flashback, recalls a garden. #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #SFF

Text excerpt from NOMARA, a science fiction WIP by L.L. Stephens. In this snip, Kharys recalls his first years among the nomari and how he was cultivated to be a Queen's lover.

A bench stood nearby, its smooth, pale marble beckoning through the purpling shadows. She pulled him to it and drew him down to sit, facing her, across the dusk. He allowed her to lead him. Her hand on his wrist had become a summons he wanted to obey. He followed it the same way he might follow the sound of water in the desert, or light in darkness, a yearning as deep as his life and beyond his power to ignore. He was a child no longer. His youth was rapidly seeking manhood, subject to fevered, half-formed desires of the flesh.
“I envy Arasend her garden,” Oandah said. “I envy her the flower that she keeps.”
Realizing what she meant, he dropped his gaze. Arasend, of course, had been growing him for a purpose. Oandah plucked a blossom as crimson as the blood that pounded in his veins and held it in her hands to warm it with her scent.

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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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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

#WIPSnips 1 September - I don't have 'garden' in this WIP so I have gone with 'courtyard' instead. An angsty little snip from one of the three brothers at the heart of this story. #WriteSky #indiebooks 💙🪐📚 #WritingCommunity

WIPSnips 1 September - 'courtyard' substituted for 'garden'.

No news reached him here; his gaolers made sure of that. Not even a whisper of a rumour. Morn could have invaded again and he wouldn’t know it, locked away in this hall-fortress deep in Gytha’s Spine.
He had stopped expecting to be released. Stopped hoping for it. He wasn’t sure exactly when it had happened. He was not patient, not made to be locked away from the world, and he did not have the fortitude to withstand it. Confined, he simply withered.
So when the clatter of hooves woke him from a doze, he merely rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. He had been sleeping more and more these last weeks. What was the point of being awake if all he could do was stare at the same bare walls?
One hundred and twenty-eight days. Or was it one hundred and twenty-nine?
Sleep eluded him. The clamour from the courtyard was too great for a single rider. Men called out to one another, their words indistinct over the howl of Gytha’s wind. The bloody wind. How he had grown to hate the sound of its passage, whistling through the foothills of Gytha’s Spine and down into the lowlands. The breath of the dragon. The sound of freedom.

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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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