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John A. McColley

@jamccolley.substack.com
1K followers 1.6K following 884 posts

Writer(SFWA, Down The Drain, Ascendent Publishing, Feb 2025), Artist, Dad, DM, not-quite-musician and video maker. (He/They) Breaking The Word, out Aug 15 2026: linktr.ee/jamccolley

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Neon Hemlock @neonhemlock.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
okay this deadline is in two days, and then we open for novella submissions 😅
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Francesca Baerald @francescabaerald.com · 09/10/2026
4 HOURS LEFT! Last chance to get my cartography artbook UNBOUND with the special limited signed print of Camelot 🏰
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John A. McColley @jamccolley.substack.com · 08/10/2026
Writing buddy @jscottcoatsworth.bsky.social had a new book come out yesterday! MM Romantasy, the second of a series, if you're into series (I know I am!) www.jscottcoatsworth.com/book/office-...
jscottcoatsworth.com
Office of the Lost
When Perfection Collides With Chaos, Sparks Fly Crispin Eladrin, desk fae at the Office of the Lost, could find a needle in ten haystacks. His desk is so neat it would make an accountant blush, and he...
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Matt Wolfbridge (read Typebar Magazine) @wolfbridge.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The co-author of this book, @tobiasbuckell.bsky.social, is brilliant. I've walked away from conversations with him with reshaped understandings of the written word. He's in a bad spot right now. His GoFundMe is nearly funded and every little bit will help! www.gofundme.com/f/help-autho...
gofundme.com
Donate to Help Author Tobias Buckell and His Cats Move to Scotland, organized by Tobias Buckell
Hi, I'm author Tobias S. Buckell, and these are my two cats, P… Tobias Buckell needs your support for Help Author Tobias Buckell and His Cats Move to Scotland
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Gail Simone @gailsimone.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Writing "wisdom" I hate: WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW. This is the worst advice ever. It would be better if it was KNOW MORE SO YOU CAN WRITE ABOUT IT. Every good writer I know is constantly researching and getting new information and asking experts. It's a terrible bit of advice!
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Caroline M. Yoachim @carolinemyoachim.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Lightspeed and Nightmare are running a kickstarter! Pick up a subscription and help spread the word! www.kickstarter.com/projects/lig...
kickstarter.com
Update 2: New Add-On Rewards are Here! · LIGHTSPEED & NIGHTMARE: Award-Winning SF, Fantasy, & Horror
Overnight, we surpassed 40% of our funding goal! Geting to that point has cleaned us out of most of the limited quantity rewards we had (including all 25 copies of LIGHTSPEED: YEAR ONE!), but good news: Today we've added a bunch more signed books and other goodies, including: LIGHTSPEED Issue #100: A physical copy of our landmark 100th issue. New signed books from Chuck Wendig, Daniel H. Wilson, Ken Liu, Paul Tremblay, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Stephen Graham Jones, Veronica Roth, and Victor LaValle. Signed two-book bundles from Olivie Blake, P. Djèlí Clark, and Seanan McGuire. Two more signed limited editions by Martha Wells: Witch King and Queen Demon. Plus, we found one more copy of the rare NIGHTMARE #1 in print. And lastly, we've moved our D&D experiences to the add-on menu. Bring some friends to play in a game alongside John Joseph Adams and/or play in a game DMed by JJA! If you've already backed, you can edit your pledge to add any of these new rewards.Thanks again so much to you all for the amazing amount of support.
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George @hannahtempler.com · 22/09/2026
luckily!!! in 2026 there are a lot of independent Webcomic templates that are more affordable and accessible than ever (thank you to the heroes building these!) this is one that I know of, but please reply if you have others: rarebit.neocities.org
rarebit.neocities.org
Rarebit | HTML Webcomic Template
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Today is #HobbitDay because Bilbo and Frodo Baggins were both born on September 22nd. Normally we'd shire a hobbit pun or two but it might just feel like a tolkien gesture and we don't want to embarrass our elves. Anyway it's a good day to come and boromir #Tolkien books. 📚
A shelf of books by JRR Tolkien
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FrodoLove @frodolove.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
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Pete Buttigieg @petebuttigieg.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
We don’t have to put up with this. Not these policies or these politicians or even this system of politics. It's time for us to chase out corruption and build a politics that actually responds to the people.
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Miaganga @miaganga.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
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abcdef 🕶️ @onecaliberal.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
And we will obviously be watching and we’re not fucking around with do nothing about fascists any more. Do it or we will get rid of you too. We are done.
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Christina🌊🌊 @sassycc.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Do you understand it!!
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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
A minor detail is missing from the headline.
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Slarg @slarg.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
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Porter Square Books in Cambridge & Boston @portersqbooks.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
It is so goddamn perfect out in Cambridge today. Here's your plan: 1. Wander to your local bookstore 2. Buy a book on a whim. (Don't overthink it, don't make it hard) 3. Get a tasty beverage 4. Set up somewhere outside & read for a bunch 5. Remember you deserve joy
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Nurse Chapel 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇬🇱🇨🇺 @nurse-chapel.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
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S.E. Danesti @seedanesti.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The President of the United States is a traitor and a rapist.
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Casey Whitaker @alphacentauri53.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
An Aussie brings the 🔥🇦🇺 “You run a country with 600,000 homeless people sleeping on the street tonight. A country where 40% of adults can't cover a $400 emergency without borrowing money, a country where insulin costs more than a car payment and people are rationing it to survive.” #EndOligarchy
This Australian's reply to Trump's rant about "NATO not being there for America" is perfect.
"Mate. You run a country with 600,000 homeless people sleeping on the street tonight. A country where 40% of adults can't cover a $400 emergency without borrowing money, a country where insulin costs more than a car payment and people are rationing it to survive. A country where medical debt is the number one cause of Bankruptcy, A country where women are dying in hospital car parks because doctors are too scared of abortion laws to treat a miscarriage.
You lock up more of your own citizens than any nation on earth. More than China. More than Russia. More than North Korea. The land of the free has 2 million people in cages, and a quarter of them haven't even been convicted of anything. They’re just too poor to make bail.
Your life expectancy is going backwards. You're the only developed nation where that's happening. Your infant mortality rate is worse than Cuba's.
Your kids do active shooter drills between maths and English while you sell the gunmaker’s stock to your mates.
Your minimum wage hasn't moved in 15 years. You've got teachers working 2 jobs and veterans sleeping under bridges and you just spent a trillion dollars flattening a country that didn't attack you.
And you've got a convicted felon, adjudicating raping, paedophile protecting, porn star shagging insurrectionist running the biggest dumpster fire war campaign since the Taliban in Afghanistan thanked you very much tor losing again
And you're calling Greenland poorly run?
Greenland has universal healthcare. Free education. One of the lowest incarceration rates in the world. Nobody goes bankrupt there because they got sick. Nobody dies in a waiting room because their insurance said no.
'NATO wasn’t there when we needed them." When exactly was that, champ? September 11? Because NATO invoked Article 5 for the first and only time in history FOR YOU. Soldiers from dozens of countries deployed, fought, bled, and die…
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T E Hodden @tomhodden.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Absolutely this. It is very rare that an author won't accommodate a reader wanting to discover their work, but, and I can not emphasise this enough: EVEN IF THEY DON'T ASK FOR OR EXPECT A REVIEW, GO LEAVE ONE! It is *literally* the least you can do in return for a free pdf.
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Morgan Brice/Gail Z. Martin @morganbrice.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Glow is LIVE! Enter the Legends world, where National Parks hold secrets—and monsters steal hearts. With hurt/comfort, first-time romance, shared danger, fated mates, and true love. Grab it here in ebook and paperback: www.amazon.com/Glow-Morgan-...
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drachenmagier @drachenmagier.bsky.social · 09/10/2024
It's #PortfolioDay ~? I'm a traditional fantasy artist, with a strong love for dragons and unicorns and cake~! <3
snufkin riding a frog and looking at glowfliesstriding unicorn with fishes in backgroundwater dragon in water under lily padsmatch-stick-like creature with sword and shield
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The Whimsical Muse @whimsicalmuse.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Surround yourself with the kind of people who are proud to have a library card.
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Jeremy Ghooooost Shipp @jeremycshipp.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Hey Bluesky, have you grabbed a Halloween gift yet for your doppelganger or homunculus? I'd love for you to check out my shop. Each Jeremy Creature is designed and hand-sewed by me and takes many hours to create. You can learn more about each Creature at the shop. jeremycreature.bigcartel.com
Here's a lovely photo of a bunch of my fabric art creatures.  They're sitting together with purple fleece on the background and green fur on the ground. Samantha Shadowseed is a fabric art watermelon. She's light green with wavy darker green stripes. She has a red face with seven bulbous black eyes and an open mouth with five sharp teeth. Phantasmorgana is a white ghost bag with a gray face, twinkly black eyes, and a little frown. Her body is covered with embroidered black flowers and red markings. The top of her head is a metal coin purse clasp. She's wearing a black, magnetic, fabric witch hat. Lapina is a fabric art bunny of sorts. She's black with a gray face, seven red eyes, a little open mouth with six pointy teeth. She has long black and gray ears, and two twirly tentacles. Her body is covered with hand-embroidered stars of various sizes and colors. There's also an embroidered red planet with a yellow ring and another purple planet. She's holding a yellow fabric egg. She's sitting on a metal pink wire chair.  Titania is a fabric art black cosmic spirit with a gray moon face, twinkly black eyes, and a little frown. Her body is covered with embroidered stars of various sizes and colors. I also embroidered a couple planets. One is yellow and one is purple with a red ring. She has black twirly head wispy embroidered with a line of white stars on each one. Bazletazle is a tiny black celestial spirit with a gray moon face and four black bulbous eyes. He's covered with stars of various colors. Those two are sitting on a green and pink striped chair. There are two black, cosmic spirits covered with various stars and planets of various sizes and colors. One of the cosmic spirits is a moon face with twinkly black eyes and a black frown. One of the cosmic guys is a sun face with twinkly red eyes and a red frown.
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David Whitman @davidwhitman.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Meanwhile, MAGA bootlickers and cultists continue pretending everything is normal…
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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 17/08/2026
Every time someone says "but how will we afford it?" I want to ask them how we are affording it now, and in many cases, the answer is that we aren't.
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slingerofarrows.bsky.social @slingerofarrows.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
FUCK TRUMP
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Ursula K. Le Guin on the meaning of maturity and what it really takes to grow up www.themarginalian.org/2026/06/17/l...
themarginalian.org
The Meaning of Maturity: Ursula K. Le Guin on What It Really Takes to Grow Up
It is not merely a matter of growing bones and growing responsibilities, this business of growing up, this unfinishable project of becoming ourselves. It is less like the evolutionary diagram of th…
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Angels In Velvet @angelsinvelvet.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Please Vote for Francesca Hong tomorrow. 💙🇺🇸
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Ali Trotta @alwayscoffee.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
It is on the AI slop list, if you’re already using that, FWIW:
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Skeletired @skeletired.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
The political party test: You walk into a room that has a starving child and a loaf of bread. If you give the bread to the child, you're a progressive. If you eat the bread or try to sell it to the child, you're a conservative.
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Beneath Ceaseless Skies Magazine @bcsmagazine.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
New Issue: BCS #463 out today, featuring stories of shapeshifters and humanness by Richard Parks and @chezza.bsky.social Lee, podcast of Parks read by @follyblaine.bsky.social, From the Archives story @rhiannonheld.bsky.social, cover art Tyler Edlin. www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/issues/issue...
beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Issue #463 by Scott Andrews
My Blue Silk Fan by Richard Parks. The Heart of the Fox Spirit by Chezza Lee. BCS 363: My Blue Silk Fan by Richard Parks.
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DianaResists @dianaresists.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
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John A. McColley @jamccolley.substack.com · 02/08/2026
If you're in New Hampshire or a nearby state, I'll be at the Oscar Foss Memorial Library in Barnstead in two weeks (8/15, 10am to 3pm) for Shirefest, a high fantasy celebration and fundraiser for the library. I will also be releasing "Breaking The Word," book one of my new fantasy series. Link below
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Charles Keener @charleskeener.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
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A.J. Calvin @ajcalvin.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Any indies have SF/F/Horror books coming out in August? I'm building next month's new release post, and there's room for new titles! You can submit the book info using the form here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... #writingcommunity #writesky
Red to yellow to red background with black text

Calling Indie Authors with new releases coming in August 2026 for
Science Fiction
Fantasy
or Horror
My new release list has space for plenty of new titles!
*Please do not submit books created using genAI. Thank you.
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Ramin Nasibov @nasibov.me · 16/07/2026
Sky and Water I by M.C. Escher 1938
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Kaleidotrope @kaleidotrope.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Fifty-one fantastic flash stories! Why not pick one that sounds interesting and read it today?
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charlie @spacehearts.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
my brother & his partner are telling me an insane story about this local deity called "st. rat" which is apparently a mosaic relief put up by some queers in seattle. the city kept trying to paint over it, but people would repeatedly just use acetone and remove the paint until the city gave up
a mosaic relief to st. rat
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omgisme @omgisme.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
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John A. McColley @jamccolley.substack.com · 30/06/2026
Happy birthday to me! I've got books coming out, books already out, and a Patreon. Please read below and check out one or all!
Time again for my yearly plug of my Patreon (link in the comments) and formally published books. 
First, the book that started my Patreon, "Breaking The Word," is finally reaching its moment of release. It's currently with a line editor, and needs a cover, but other than that, we're good to publish in August in time for my in-person event in support of the Oscar Foss Memorial Library in Barnstead, NH.
This is the first in a series of five, with four books being drafted on Patreon in case you read it and just can't wait for the polishing of later books. I'll also be serializing book five as sook as "My Starter Object is a Snowball" wraps up (chapter 23 just went live this morning, so it's about halfway through, I expect.)
I am ALSO collecting fantasy stories, some published, some new, for a book I'll ALSO be releasing at the above mentioned event on Aug 15. I'll try to get eBooks available about the same time. We'll see. Formatting and be... fun...
Anyway, again, thank you to all who support me on this journey, whether on Patreon or by buying my books when they come out, or just sharing these posts. I don't even know who I would be if I wasn't writing, but I know I would be even more boring... lol.
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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
💯
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Trollbreath Magazine @trollbreathmag.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Our last Free Fiction Friday of issue 7 has arrived! This is a wonderful and sweet story about magic and bird watching and finding bridges when we struggle to communicate our own feelings of inadequacy. "On the Subject of Moonwhites" by Erin Keating. magazine.trollbreath.com/on-the-subje...
magazine.trollbreath.com
On the Subject of Moonwhites - Trollbreath Magazine
On the Subject of Moonwhites
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Jeremy Ghooooost Shipp @jeremycshipp.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Writers and artists and creatives of all sorts: reply with a link to one of your works, if you'd like. And feel free to tell us about it. Everyone: let's check through the replies and buy some creations and support some human beings.
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John A. McColley @jamccolley.substack.com · 18/05/2026
So, I did a thing. You can now find/join/sign up for my newsletter at the URL in my username! See my first post here: open.substack.com/pub/jamccoll...
open.substack.com
Looking for a Stack of Subs
I’m hoping to reach my people, in particular, my readers…
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Hoodlum 🇺🇸 @nothoodlum.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Good morning to everyone who didn’t write 55 insane posts from 10pm to 1am last night on TruthOptional™️, crap like calling for Barack Obama to be tried for treason.
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Kira Leigh 🏳️‍⚧️ @kiraleigh.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
just a reminder that all my eBooks are free on my website! snatch up some trans as fuck, queer, angry, robot books from a trans, disabled indie author. constelisvoss.com/collections/... reskeets appreciated. tysm. 💗 #writingcommunity #booksky
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Donna Stern @dvsmemphis.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
We don’t need a War, we need healthcare! #HealthcareNotWarfare
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Jendia Gammon @jendiagammon.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
We’re at 90%!! Help us bring this beautiful and unique book to life! Today’s the last day…
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