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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

@inscrutablejoy.bsky.social
781 followers 668 following 2.6K posts

She/her, grumpy sometimes, safe to talk to unless you're shitty

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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 21h
Trailer Park Heiress chapter 8 is up now, with a bit of a cooldown from the close scrape of the previous chapter. The gift link in the quote is still active too! www.patreon.com/posts/171346...
patreon.com
Trailer Park Heiress - Chapter 8 | InscrutableJoy
Another weekend, another set of writing sessions. If I ever get enough readers here to make it work I'd love to write full-time, but sadly t
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
My Halloween Dorley microfic "Just Desserts" is now live on AO3
archiveofourown.org
Just Desserts - a Halloween Hijinks tale - InscrutableJoy - The Sisters of Dorley Series - Alyson Greaves [Archive of Our Own]
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I had music playing on my computer (which is hooked to an actual decent stereo) while I was busy in the next room It kept cutting out Went to investigate A cat had figured out stepping on the spacebar pauses and unpauses, and that's apparently the best game ever
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Reposted by Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️
Hel @gracewells1.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Almost to the total, please donate if you can.
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Reposted by Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️
Hel @gracewells1.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I've released the August 2025 exclusive short story for free members on Patreon. It will be reposted to ScribbleHub next month. www.patreon.com/posts/170927... Superheroes/tokusatsu
patreon.com
August 2025 exclusive: Finding A Glow | Helena Grace
Happy Tuesday! This is the exclusive from August 2025 now available for free members. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cOzQl3LxJQkuIdN7I9
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
My Dorley fanfic, Spilled, has grown a thirteenth chapter! Christine has a drink spilled on her clothes a few minutes into "that party" and has to leave early, and in her absence Stef meets a sweet goth girl named Jodie. archiveofourown.org/works/76953831
archiveofourown.org
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Reposted by Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️
Hel @gracewells1.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
New update on scribblehub. Chapter 18 is live. www.scribblehub.com/read/1645457...
scribblehub.com
It’s A Living - Chapter Eighteen | Scribble Hub
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Trailer Park Heiress chapter 7 is up on Patreon! This free month link still works too.
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I want my stories that are set in real-world locations to feel real to the people living there. I want my stories set during real events to feel real to the people who experienced those events. I want the lives I write to feel like a life someone lived. I want it to feel too real to be fiction.
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
If that's not your thing, a new-to-you chapter is still going to appear on AO3 every Sunday. archiveofourown.org/works/929542...
archiveofourown.org
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Sometimes writing just feels like screaming into the void, or throwing away a meal you just cooked. Sometimes you pour your heart and mind and effort into your work and nobody sees it. But you keep doing it anyway, because writing isn't just something you do, it's part of who you're supposed to be.
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Writing isn't really something I decided to start doing, it's something I decided to stop *not* doing. I've always made up elaborate stories in my head just to pass the time, but now I get them out onto pages instead of letting them mostly slip away.
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Chapter 5 of Trailer Park Heiress is live on Patreon, and you can still get a free month of access at the quoted link! This chapter introduces the story's first (realtime) villain:
patreon.com
Trailer Park Heiress - Chapter 5 | InscrutableJoy
My brain isn't letting me stop writing, so expect the next two chapters after this one (already 90-95% complete) within the next 24 hours! T
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Got another chapter of Trailer Park Heiress up this morning, in which Cheryl figures out how to say "Kosciusko" The free month is still available if you want to check it out!
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Here's a free month if you want to take a peek: www.patreon.com/InscrutableJ...
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Chapter 2 of Trailer Park Heiress just went live!
archiveofourown.org
Trailer Park Heiress - Chapter 2 - InscrutableJoy - Original Work [Archive of Our Own]
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
If half of my followers read my ongoing serial novel for a buck a month it would be enough to cover our electric bill If 1/4 read it that would cover our water bill If 1/10 subscribed that would pay for internet
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
If you're into ousider electronic music with emotional lyrics you might check out this bandcamp album
kfelicity.bandcamp.com
The Promise, by K. Felicity
12 track album
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Purple Rain
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Reposted by Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️
Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
*Trailer Park Heiress* Karla is a trans woman in her 20s, estranged from a family with a notable number of bachelor uncles who keep leaving her weird inheritances which are more trouble than they're worth. But when one black-sheep passes in a freak accident, she gets more than she bargained for.
patreon.com
Trailer Park Heiress | Collection from Joy the Inscrutable | 3 posts | Patreon
Karla Kosciusko, a trans twentysomething musician estranged from most of her relatives, keeps inheriting weird stuff from her weird uncles. This time it's all…
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
For the Dorley fanfic: Imagine Christine Hale had been indisposed on the night of 12 October... *Spilled* is what might happen if a certain redhead had run in one of the slightly less panic-prone residents of the Hall's second floor.
archiveofourown.org
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
For anyone who doesn't want to subscribe, you can read a fresh chapter of that one every Sunday on AO3; Chapter One is already live, and Chapter Two will drop in just a handful of hours.
archiveofourown.org
Trailer Park Heiress - InscrutableJoy - Original Work [Archive of Our Own]
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
*Trailer Park Heiress* Karla is a trans woman in her 20s, estranged from a family with a notable number of bachelor uncles who keep leaving her weird inheritances which are more trouble than they're worth. But when one black-sheep passes in a freak accident, she gets more than she bargained for.
patreon.com
Trailer Park Heiress | Collection from Joy the Inscrutable | 3 posts | Patreon
Karla Kosciusko, a trans twentysomething musician estranged from most of her relatives, keeps inheriting weird stuff from her weird uncles. This time it's all…
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I haven't been around here too much lately, because I've spent a LOT of my downtime on a couple of writing projects. I recently wrapped up Part One and got started on Part Two of what's going to be a long Dorley fanfic. I'm also three chapters into an original novel with a trans woman protagonist!
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I guess it doesn't really cost any different from doing it the way yours is, but I guess it keeps the house from feeling like a burner phone?
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Our electric service works a bit differently here and I'm not sure if that's good or bad; we put down an initial deposit that's a bit more than the average monthly cost and then we have until the middle of each month to pay the previous month's usage, and you get the deposit back if you move
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
If you're confused just click the alt text, which is proper alt text for the image but should give enough context to figure it out
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Language barrier in the "same" language
A photo of an English lorry on the left, a photo of American country music singer-songwriter Keith Whitley on the right. Under both is the caption "confused British noises" 

The context is that Whitley's most notable song is titled "Tell Lorrie I Love Her" which was written to his wife, singer Lorrie Morgan.
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Reposted by Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️
Hel @gracewells1.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
My friend has been struggling with bad housing from a landlord who hasn't kept up maintenance for years. She needs help getting into a safer environment. Please donate or repost if you can. gofund.me/226bbc843
gofund.me
Help Noémie move out of an unsafe housing, organized by Noémie savanxayadeth
Hello, I am Noémie, a 33 years old french trans woman… Noémie savanxayadeth a besoin de votre soutien pour Help Noémie move out of an unsafe housing
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Good catch I was too caught up on the symbolism of Chucky's desk being *outside and at distance from* the gates of heaven, and his opposition clearly filing down from them, to notice it myself
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Goddess frickin' bless, there are people in certain discords I would give a stern warning to if I were a mod, and would ground from their electronics if I were their mom
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
There is no person more obnoxious to me than someone who habitually argues in bad faith. I find it especially repugnant when that person of no integrity changes facts which are inconvenient to their position, especially when their position is simplistic and absolutist.
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I tend to be self-conscious about my semicolons; unfortunately, they're my go-to method for following up a statement with a detail.
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
"smells of <common scent> and <concept>" is my favourite tell
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Update: I've decided I'm allowed to skip things I find triggering, and it feels like taking off a fully-loaded hiking pack after a long day.
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Which makes my current project of reading and reviewing a large collection of works which incidentally contains scenes with implied consent to D/s stuff extremely emotionally taxing; I'm going to power through it but I have to take breaks after the more extreme examples
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I can read stuff with high-control power dynamics without dissociating, but only if it's clearly within the bounds of prior negotiation of consent or else I can't help thinking "they didn't ask for this" and shutting down
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Mentally I get that kink power dynamics are often about the illusion of pushing through comfort zones and past boundaries Emotionally I remember years of abuse
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I *just* figured out why I have such a hard time reading most power dynamic smut Anytime there's not on-page careful discussion of specific consent and boundaries beforehand, my brain interprets "sub being a brat" as "victim fighting past a fawn reaction to push back as much as they're able"
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
A couple of years ago we bought a midcentury modern house with all contents, and I kept waiting for my ice cream bowls to make an appearance
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
There are tens of millions of LGBTQ+ people living in countries that criminalize our existence, and if even 10% of that population could get refuge somewhere with strong protections it could have a significant impact on geopolitics
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
If a sovereign country facing economic and population decline wants to turn that around, they should offer an easy refugee process for LGBTQ+ people coupled with strong equal rights laws Especially since a lot of us have location-independent incomes (out of necessity) this would be a boost to both
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Adding ~780k to a population of ~1.9m would put us within rounding error of 30% of the NI population, and actually outnumber the protestants
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Personally I'd rather split us up in a way that gives a majority in every city in Northern Ireland, to concentrate the political impact at Stormont
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Corporations might be people according to my country's government, but unfortunately they don't have ears
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Idk, I'm thousands of miles away in the middle of nowhere up in some mountains with nothing but trees, maybe it's the whole planet cooking
Screenshot of weather notification showing a high temperature of 37 C and a low temperature of 23 C for the current day
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Reposted by Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️
Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️ @64ordle.au · 14/08/2026
FUCK THE NHS! /Third Strikes,/ another related sequel following on from my earlier story /First Day,/ concerning transphobic shit about to go down in comprehensive high schools across the UK. Reading this story will make the NHS very sad. archiveofourown.org/works/90035521
archiveofourown.org
Third Strikes - Catherine Cowie (cathycowie) - Original Work [Archive of Our Own]
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
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Reposted by Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️
Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️ @64ordle.au · 14/08/2026
I’d meant to put this up a few days ago, but I was busy writing. Chapters 1 – 3 of the Untitled Novel Project [first draft] A headless body discovered while a brook is trawled for algae, brings a detective who’d fled his small country town back to investigate. www.patreon.com/catherinecow...
patreon.com
Flashpoint | Catherine Cowie
Detective Reynolds has dragged in a suspect for the murdered body in the brook, still yet to be firmly identified… but is he the culprit or
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Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @inscrutablejoy.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Please don't let the bad thoughts win, but if you do we'll all be here when you recover
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Reposted by Joy Barlow 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️
Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️ @64ordle.au · 13/08/2026
Also on Patreon, due for public release a fortnight today (28 August) Fifth Column A permanent injury to a trans student crosses the line for some staff of the school, and the Resistance forms against the ‘gender-critical’-dominated administration. www.patreon.com/catherinecow...
patreon.com
Fifth Column | Catherine Cowie
The change in ethos at CHS was already unconscionable, but physical harm to a transgender student crossed a line for some of the teachers. A
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