iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Today's Creature Feature: The Abyssal Snailsnout. This little pink guy feeds on marine snow on the sea floor of the abyssal reef. As our professor-diver Dal points out, the Snailsnout finds meals that have been marinating for many millenia... Yum! #WritingCommunity #QueerWriters #FantasyWriters

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

#WritingCommunity #QueerWriters #FantasyAuthors I just finished writing a chapter from the perspective of a gay abyssal sea monster, and it was maybe the most fun experiment I've ever done. My WIP about a crew of explorers in the abyss of a fantasy ocean grows ever more mysterious... stay tuned!

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

#queerwriters #WritingCommunity I've had a tough week of workplace drama and a termite infestation, but whenever shit hits the fan in my life I always think about how I can use it as inspo for my book... my deep sea expedition absolutely needs a Sunken Script spell that scares away bugs. Revenge!

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

#queerwriters This was a hectic week for me at the bookstore where I work, but I did lock in the structure of my deep sea expedition fantasy! Let's just say, the structure itself is quiiiite queer and poly... and my writing group loved it! Now I'm super excited to charge into the writing!

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Hadestown has been on my mind lately, and I just... Choosing to hope and dream for what the world could be is so important. I strive to show that emotional heart in all of my stories. We authors and readers are the many, and together we can do anything. #WritingCommunity #FantasyIndies #WriteSky

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

My current high fantasy WIP follows an expedition through an ocean full of magical creatures and dark mysteries. Jaera, captain of the Lystiem, visits her ailing mother in the MedWing of the Threshfaerin Deep Sea Association (TDSA) to recenter herself. #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #FantasyAuthor

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

In my independently published novel RUNEWAVE, the magical flora and fauna of the Zenithian Swamp are key elements of the ecosystem. See here an illustration from Gavin's journal, which he references to keep his children safe in the wilderness... #WritingCommunity #FantasyIndies #IndieAuthor

A drawing of an Alimin leaf, a Vargus, and tree bark that the Vargus has chewed. The text warns of the danger of a Vargus swarm-- Vargus are little bugs that will devour human flesh.

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

#QuestPit #A #F #Q #LGBTQ In order to save her Mama and her creche from the wildfire, Luka has to uncover the fire's secrets... After learning to eat the flames, Luka can move like the fire's fastest tendrils, glow with all its light, and even breathe temporary life into the lifeless.

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

#QuestPit #A #F #Q #LGBTQ ON THE ORIGIN OF LIVING FLAME follows an aspiring stone age dragon-hunter who has to abandon her dream to rescue her Mama from a burning forest. Fighting through the flames, she uncovers the dark secret of the fire, and its connection to the dragon she dreamed of hunting.

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

ON THE ORIGIN OF LIVING FLAME: THE POET EMPRESS x BLOOD OVER BRIGHT HAVEN, but 2 million years ago at the dawn of community. 😤 Audacious and based FMC 🔥 Gain magic by eating fire 🏳️‍🌈 Queer norm world ✨️ Pre-gender world 💥 Anti-capitalist Neanderthals #QuestPit #Q #A #F #LGBT

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Today's creature feature: Jjj, discovered here by the protagonist of ON THE ORIGIN OF LIVING FLAME, Luka. She must maintain the fire, to bring warmth and light to her crechemates. Here she finds her first obstacle... fire-eating insects! #AmQuerying #QueerWriters #WritingCommunity #FantasyBooks

Luka discovers fire-eating insects, known as Jjj. She is trying to maintain the fire to keep her crechemates warm. This scene details her discovery, and the scary description of the Jjj's many legs and teeth.

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

#queerwriters #WritingCommunity #AmQuerying #lgbtqwriters My next project is an ensemble story following the crew of a magical deep sea submersible, with a more complicated plot than I've ever attempted before... so its time to write out a huge timeline on paper, cut it up, and figure things out!

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

#QueerWriters #WritingCommunity #AmQuerying Queerness embraces even the most ancient of peoples. I can't explain the context of this one without major spoilers, just know... Mama Loga and Saka have been apart for a long time. Luka is afraid of what they will do to each other. And yet... And yet.

Mama Loga stood up quickly, but then froze, steps away from Saka. They stared at each other, hardly breathing. Mama Loga stepped forward, raising a hand out with half-curled fingers. Saka stepped forward too, hesitating. They both tensed and leaned half-away from each other, waiting for a blow to land, waiting for the other to be the first to swing. Mama Loga staggered the last few steps forward, their crunching steps in the snow the only sound to melody their union.
Their knuckles brushed against Saka’s cheek. Saka threw her arm around Mama Loga and hugged her.
Luka watched through tearstained vision as the two hunters made the same choice. They hugged each other with all of themselves; Mama Loga’s hands slid through Saka’s hair, while Saka’s nose rested right by Mama Loga’s ear. Saka hooked her leg around Mama Loga’s ankle, pulling the other hunter even closer.
Luka ran through the ways that Saka could knock Mama Loga to the ground from that position, and the ways that Mama Loga could shift their hands to grab Saka’s neck.
They didn’t. They kept hugging. Luka couldn’t tear her eyes away from the reunion. The two hunters pressed their bodies together; Saka’s nose hunted down Mama Loga’s neck like she was searching for a heart to rip out, but all it led to was a kiss along Mama Loga’s collar bone. Mama Loga spread their fingers around Saka’s whole head and pressed it into their neck, as if to crush her skull, but somehow all it did was make them whole.

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

My high fantasy, ON THE ORIGIN OF LIVING FLAME, is set in a stone age, so many of the sticky social constructs we have exist differently. This week, I had a breakthrough on how to write a genderless community in spite of gendered English! #queerwriters #WritingCommunity #lgbtqwriters #AmQuerying

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #AmQuerying Luka, the protagonist of my adult Paleolithic high fantasy novel ON THE ORIGIN OF LIVING FLAME, needs to learn the magical secrets of the fire in order to protect her Mama and her creche... see below her very first attempt.

A scene from ON THE ORIGIN OF LIVING FLAME, my adult Paleolithic high fantasy novel, following Luka as she attempts to figure out the magical secrets of fire in order to protect her Mama and her creche.

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

#questpit #WritingCommunity #AmQuerying Luka would bring a torch, for she trusts the wisdom of her elders, who tell her there is nothing more important than keeping the fire... if it gets truly dire, if she is left with no choice, then she may have to swallow the fire to fill herself with its magic

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

#BluePit #WritingCommunity #📖 #A #F #Q #LGBT In a stone age community where only the strong survive and the leader refuses to care for the weak, Luka charges into a magical wildfire to save her Mama, and in grappling with fire-addled monsters, becomes the catalyst for a new vision of community.

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

#BluePitHype I wrote a thesis project on The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon: the way she crafts fantasy into impermeable worlds that necessitate our crossing feels fundamentally queer to me. This potential of fantasy's queerness always inspires me towards my next book!

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

#BluePitHype Since the project I'm currently querying, ON THE ORIGIN OF LIVING FLAME, doesn't yet have art... here's the gorgeous cover of my self-published novel, RUNEWAVE. I am forever grateful to @avalach.bsky.social for the incredible cover. Buy Runewave now at your local independent bookstore!

The cover of the high fantasy novel RUNEWAVE, by Joseph Langley, depicting a father sculling on a small boat to bring his twin children safely through a swamp full of mysterious creatures.

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

#BluePitHype #AmQuerying I wrote Luka to explore the feeling of being small in a world that can be scary and cruel. She survives through the memory of a hug. She survives to hug her Mama again. Writing Luka helped me remember that the antidote to a scary world is a hug from your community.

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

#BluePitHype #BluePit Hi everyone! I write queer high fantasy. I love discovering all the ways that magical, beautiful, sometimes horrifying critters can change our lives. I work at an indie bookstore while on my journey towards publication one day (🤞🤞!). I can't wait to meet you all!

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Magical creature of the day... The Ubukiran! The Ubukiran (Uk - a small lizard, Ir - a dragonfly) is a huge scaled, winged beast of the mountains, with a heart of flame. Legend holds that the Ubukiran only descends from its lair to devour burning trees during a forestfire.

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Today is writing group week for me, which means it's time to finish another chapter of my WIP novel about a gay magical submersible engineer falling in love with his captain while diving deeper under the sea than anyone has gone before... #queerwriters #lgbtqwriters #writingcommunity

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

One of my favorite things to do as a writer is make up unique creatures for my fantasy worlds! Today's highlight: The Alotam Alotam are large land birds with long necks. They are viciously protective of their eggs, and have scoop-shaped beaks to carry their eggs with them wherever they have to go.

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

If you haven't yet, check out my debut indie novel RUNEWAVE, a high fantasy chase through a magical swamp, featuring an enemies-to-lovers sapphic romance, and a father who would burn down the world for his kids.

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Joseph Langley @jlangleyauthor.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Current Project: ON THE ORIGIN OF LIVING FLAME, an adult fantasy novel set in a stone age where fire fuels magic and strange beasts prowl the forest... Stay tuned for updates!

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