iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Keygan S. S. McClellan @keyganssmcclellan.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

It is late. Please see the attached image for an unhinged list of potential audiences for THE TOWER'S BLOOD, my (querying soon) science fantasy about a fugitive blood mage who helps start a workers' revolution with the power of Heart and Bad Jokes (and flesh manipulation). #QuestPit #Q #A #SFF

an "unhinged" list of potential audiences for the proposed book (The Tower's Blood); potential audiences include people who vibe with "eat the rich," want more mental illness rep in fantasy, vibe with "be gay do crime," want there to be something like a horror version of Howl's Moving Castle where the castle is evil, are biology nerds, want the powerful dark mage who believes he is a danger to his loved ones to cope by telling bad jokes (instead of brooding), think having cosmic horror and body horror in the same magic system sounds fun, and enjoy media such as Final Fantasy VII, Gideon the Ninth, The Bone Shard Daughter, Trigun Stampede, The Jasmine Throne, The Surviving Sky, and Nevernight

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Keygan S. S. McClellan @keyganssmcclellan.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

A fugitive blood mage, trying to lay low, finds a new home (an organic, malevolent palace where the world's corrupt rulers dwell) and a new family (the four young revolutionaries infiltrating it). His power could be the revolution's salvation. His secrets could be its downfall. #QuestPit #Q #A #SFF

list of tropes/themes (including found family, revolution, bio-magic, and eldritch horror among others) for a work-in-progress book along with comparison titles (including Gideon the Ninth, The Bone Shard Daughter, The Jasmine Throne, and The Surviving Sky)

moodboard for an unpublished novel; images include dripping blood, old pipes, a decrepit staircase, a conifer forest lit by magenta fog, grand halls, antique items, lights glimpsed through tree trunks, and a dimly lit passage

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Keygan S. S. McClellan @keyganssmcclellan.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

o.o "The longer he peers at the old map, the more unsettled he feels. There is a symbol he doesn’t recognize marking the Palace’s plateau, which isn’t that weird, but there’s also an identical symbol in the surrounding mountains. What could that mean?" #CRPFireflies #CampRevPit #ScavengerHunt

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Keygan S. S. McClellan @keyganssmcclellan.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

Once, the world was fuller. Creatures roamed all the land, and vast forests and grasslands grew. People built great cities and knew luxuries we must only imagine. Then, the Maws came. As they spread, they swallowed everything, except when they spat out monsters. #CRPFireflies #CampRevPit #CampMyth

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Keygan S. S. McClellan @keyganssmcclellan.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Foreground antagonists: this unprecedented disaster was a tragedy for diplomatic relations between the city-states Background antagonists: our plan for procuring a new, sustainable energy source is going really well, actually #CRPFireflies #CampRevPit #VillainVoices

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Keygan S. S. McClellan @keyganssmcclellan.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

MC's ally, nervous: "Do the paramilitaries have blood mages like you? Does the Sanguine Order?" MC, flippant: "Like *me*? No one does." #OneLineMC #CRPFireflies #CampRevPit

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Wikipedia @wikipedia.org · 22/04/2025

Earth Day is a reminder that we only have one planet. Sometimes, it takes seeing Earth from space to truly grasp how precious it is. 🧵⬇️ (1/4)

A view of Earth rising above the Moon's horizon, taken from space. The Moon's barren, gray surface stretches across the lower portion of the image, while Earth appears as a small, vibrant blue-and-white sphere against the vast blackness of space.

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Keygan S. S. McClellan @keyganssmcclellan.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

I hoist my pack, the embers of my campfire extinguished. I'm at the edge of a clearing. Ahead, the Forest of Editing seems brighter, the brambles less tangling, the path clearer. I might finally reach the other side. I might finally reach the Sea of Querying and set sail. #CampMap #CampRevPit

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Keygan S. S. McClellan @keyganssmcclellan.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

I'll be working on some light edits of my first pages and query for my science fantasy, working title The Tower's Blood, about a blood mage who joins a burgeoning workers' revolution in a malevolent, organic palace. Think Gideon the Ninth x the Avalanche team from FFVII.

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Keygan S. S. McClellan @keyganssmcclellan.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

Makin' a little intro post for the novel I'm currently working on for anyone curious: A renegade blood mage joins a burgeoning workers' revolution in the halls of a malevolent, organic palace. Think Gideon the Ninth x the Avalanche team from FFVII.

moodboard for work-in-progress novel: images include dripping blood, old pipes, creepy dark stairs, woods shrouded in magenta fog, and a pale-colored, grand hall

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Keygan S. S. McClellan @keyganssmcclellan.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Spring is here!!!! 🌱🌸🌿 Featuring the sharp-lobed hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba)

A cluster of pale wildflowers on the forest floor

A cluster of pale hepaticas on the forest floor

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Emma Berquist @emmaberquist.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

🕯 🕯 🕯 🕯 literally any 🕯 good news 🕯 🕯 🕯 🕯 🕯

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Keygan S. S. McClellan @keyganssmcclellan.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

✨ Bird protocol. Take a bird, leave a bird. Bird. ✨

a barred owl sits on a tree branch, framed by golden-yellow autumn leaves

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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Many products sold in the U.S. are made in El Salvador. In response to the El Salvador president’s statements today, we’re calling for an immediate boycott of all Salvadoran-made goods. Please help by listing any products or brands made in El Salvador in the comments below.

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Keygan S. S. McClellan @keyganssmcclellan.bsky.social · 06/04/2025

This is great! There are plenty of locally native mason bees (Osmia species) around the United States. A movement focused on incorporating them into our food production systems could also bolster efforts to preserve and create bee habitat!

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Liz 👻🍂🪦 @thewriteratlas.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

NAUSICAA X IF WE WERE VILLAINS ‘Ari waited until the groundskeeper turned around the bend of the carriageway to break the window.’ #1stLinePit #A #F #WIP

Moodboard featuring: misty old building through a gate; a shelf of animal and human skulls, a piano in a greenhouse with a chandelier; a hand reaching out of thorns; a center square with reading: BONES WIP, Eco dark academia, ghosts, murder, bone magic; a messy desk with books and plants; a messy shelf with oddities; a big antlered skull on a rock; a shoulder dressed in an old-style buttoned white shirt and black vest.

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Gwend💫lyn Vines @gwenvines.academics.blue · 05/04/2025

PROLOGUE: The shovel was old enough to be an heirloom, the hands gripping it trembling enough to be a child’s. Jim hadn’t been a child in a very long time. A forge exhaled into his left ear, eddies of heat forming words. *Be of use.* And then— —nothing. #1stlinepit #Q #A #F #SF

Digital painting of a blond man wearing a tank top and a toolbelt from behind, his hand on his hip. In the bottom right is the text SEE IN ME THE WOLF by Gwendolyn Vines. In the upper left is the text "Adult STEM Postgrad Academic Fantasy, 107k words". In a green box in the upper right titled FIRST LINE is the text "To be Techniker was to be masochistic. Technikers worshiped at the altar of exhaustion, taking sick pride in toiling over a workbench or anvil until their bodies failed them. Glory lay in suffering for their craft, in creating small miracles powered as much by their own blood and sweat as the aether that underwove existence."

Pitch card for SEE IN ME THE WOLF by Gwendolyn Vines. Background top image is an anatomical diagram of a torso with left arm outstretched, bottom image is of dark nested ferns. Atop the image is a digital painting of a man with curly dark hair and medium skin tone, wearing dark green clothing and a gold hoop earring in his right ear, looking away from the camera. His hand rests atop a text box reading "When Institute graduate student Jim invents a device that could revolutionize medicine, his intoxicating suitemate Bash warns him it could be weaponized—and stops at nothing to prove his point. Are Jim's degree & the lives he could save worth staining his conscience?"

In the text box is the author's name and "Adult dark academic fantasy, 107k words." Below the textbox are cover images of the Netflix show Arcane (with Viktor's face), BLOOD OVER BRIGHT HAVEN by M.L. Wang, THE TWO DOCTORS GORSKI by Isaac Fellman, DON'T LET THE FOREST IN, by C. G. Drews, and RIPE by Sarah Rose Etter.

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Angela Benham @authorabenham.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Kaveh moved through the forest in silence, his dark eyes trained upon the barely visible silhouette of his quarry. He froze as a pale flicker of light sprung to life, illuminating the face of his prey. Hovering above the man’s palm was a small blue orb. A Stitcher. #1stLinePit #A #F #WIP

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inde.s @indeeeeeeeeesii.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Dolphins have more in common with humans than most of us realize. Their social structure is complex; they travel in tight-knit groups—called pods—but they form other relationships outside of them. #1stLinePit #WIP #A #R #CON 👇 Blurb, small Josie & Will profile, continued opening.

At the center of the image is a blurb that reads: As a marine biologist specializing in sea turtle conservation, Josie Lark has spent her entire life chasing the next coastline, the next job, determined to put as much distance as possible between this version of herself and the grief of her childhood. But when a call from her pregnant little sister drags her home to the sleepy island town of Pelican Cove, Josie returns with a set itinerary: pack up their late mother’s house, put together her restoration proposal for the Gulf Conservation Center, greet her baby niece, and board a flight to her dream job in Australia eight weeks later.
Will Mercer is not part of that plan.
Will is the boy she once loved. He’s her childhood best friend, her first kiss and her first heartbreak, and the one person Josie never quite stopped regretting. While she ran off to college, Will stayed, tied to his family marina and a life Josie didn’t want for herself. With Pelican Cove’s fragile ecosystem and coastal economy in crisis, Josie’s project at the Conservation Center puts her directly in Will’s orbit. The electric chemistry is still there, but so are the ghosts of who they used to be—and the reality that Josie is leaving. Again.
As summer stretches into fall, between long days on the water and a storm that changes everything, Josie begins to question where she truly belongs—and what it would mean to stay.

The background is a pale blue to darker blue gradient from left to right. The bottom of the image reads “@indesii”.

A cartoon image of a white young woman with long and wavy brown hair looking off to her left, wearing white-beige shorts, a peach tank top, a white sports cap, and a small white bag over her shoulders. Multiple arrows lead to various passages of text. These read: JOSIE LARK, 31 YEARS OLD, BISEXUAL, WOULD BURY A BODY FOR HER SISTER, LOVES: LUCY, SEA TURTLES, DOLPHINS, AND TACOS, and HATES: PEOPLE THAT LITTER, WILL MERCER, PEOPLE THAT BLOCK AISLES TO CHAT, WILL MERCER. The background is a yellow to pink gradient from left to right, with a line art border of teal-y blue and green seashells, starfish and conches. The bottom of the image reads “@indesii”.

A cartoon image of a tanned young man looking straight ahead, with his hands in his trouser pockets. His hair is black and tousled. He wears a light brown oversized jumper and dark brown trousers with black shoes. To his right are multiple arrows with various passages of text. These read: WILL MERCER, 30 YEARS OLD, LOVES: MADDIE, FISHING, TATTOOS, AND LOCAL IPAS, and HATES: THURSDAYS, JOSIE LARK, PEOPLE WHO REFUSE TO ACCEPT HELP WHEN THEY NEED IT, JOSIE LARK. The background is a yellow to orange gradient from left to right, with a line art border of teal-y blue and green of seashells, starfish, and conches. The bottom of the image reads “@indesii”.

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Amy Oates is querying @oatesam.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

The Fork in the Road: "I've lost Bette’s scent. I close my eyes to focus and adapt. My nose itches as it flattens, tan fur growing over the skin and scratching my browbone. It’s dark and the street’s quiet; no one will see the change. " #1stLinePit #WIP #A #F #UF #writingcommunity

Moodboard for The Fork in the Road novel in progress, featuring the Appalachian mountains with birds flying over them on one side, and an open book, cozy blanked, and cup of hot cocoa with a spoon in it on the other. In the middle are graphics of a black feather and white magnolia flowers. The title appears on the left side, followed by the pitch: "Someone's kidnapping supernatural beings. Diane Brooks, human and owner of 'The Fork in the Road,' a magical coffee shop and bar, may be the only one who can save them.

Trope Map for The Fork in the Road, a novel in progress. Three images are stacked left to right - a coffee shop counter, a woman with a dark background in red light, and a burning forest. The title "Tropes" sits over the middle image, followed by a list of bullet point tropes: Multi-POV, Women's Rights & Women's Wrongs, Supernatural Kitchen Sink, Mostly queer cast, Mythology in present day, Sentient bar & coffee shop, Enemies to ???

A first page snippet from "The Fork in the Road," a novel in progress. Feathers are lined on the left side of the image, leading to a blue feather at the bottom. A blue text box sits in the middle, featuring text from the first page:
I've lost Bette’s scent.
I close my eyes to focus and adapt. My nose itches as it flattens, tan fur growing over the skin and scratching my browbone. It’s dark and the street’s quiet; no one will see the change. The smell of the city sharpens. Damp earth, muddy grass, and crowded bodies linger in the air. But I still can’t smell her. I twitch my nose and restore it to human form.
The storm that flooded the Appalachian foothills, causing mud slides and chasing me to her mother’s house didn’t cover Bette’s scent. That only happened recently.
Her kidnappers are sidhe, the type to steal a child for their own amusement. The rowan berries smashed on the lawn and the tang of lake reeds proved that. They led her through rivers and on trains to disguise their route, but Bette left clues, marking trees, posts, or whatever else she could find with a spot of blood. She must have bitten at a nail or the corner of her mouth to manage it.
That made it easier to follow their trail, despite being weeks behind. Until I reached Chicago.

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Lindsay Bowen - A SWINDLER'S SONG April 6 '27 @beckgotbooks.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Another Dreamer was dying. Perched on her tufted velvet window bench, Auriene Cadieux glared at the faint rainbow looming over the chateau grounds, her lip curling into a sneer. #1stLinePit #RF #A #OS

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Katie Collan @kancollan.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

LEGENDBORN X AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER The wind has only spoken to me once in my life. #Q #YA #F #Jewish #1stLinePit

A title card with the text "An Agent's Guide to THE WINDWALKER - Katie Collan - young adult urban fantasy 105,000 words" over a person with a red cloak standing in the middle of a grassy field.

Pitch: "When fighters start disappearing from an underground tournament, a sixteen-year-old participant with wind powers must uncover the tournament's secrets before she loses a match and shares their fate."

A mood board featuring eight panels with a corresponding color palette in the center, as well as the caption, "Believe in the wind and you'll prevail." From left to right, top to bottom: fire burning down a building; ocean water; the sky above the clouds; a cracked, rocky ground; a red-haired girl in a red cloak with glowing white eyes, holding a dagger hilt with a transparent blade made of air; a skyline view of nighttime Manhattan; a NYC subway track; a boxing ring that depicts two people practicing punches beyond the ropes.

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Emma Al-munshi @emmaalmunshi.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

"Heat beats me down to a sweaty pulp, the sun ablaze and unforgiving like it’s trying to set the world on fire." - To Ruin the Sky ⚡️ #1stLinePit #q #RF #NA #UF #OwnVoices

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Jax Devora (is writing) @jaxdevora.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Mick Martin was halfway through writing the words “coq au vin” when an eight-foot-tall rock golem rampaged after a rooster down the street just beyond the terrace of his family’s café. #1stLinePit #WIP #NA #F #R

Moodboard of eight images.
Top left: A figure plays a violin in a dark room. The image is shot in such a way that only the violin and one of the player's hands is visible.
Center left: A man stands in darkness; his head is on fire.
Bottom left: A wireframe of a dragon against a bright orange background
Top/mid center: Alphonse Mucha's Emerald, featuring a woman staring intensely at the viewer as she leans against the head of a snarling serpent. A white line is drawn straight through the image to neatly divide the woman's head from the serpent's.
Bottom center: The Lovers, from the Art Nouveau Tarot deck, featuring a couple just about to kiss. The card is lying on a white space, surrounded by red/white roses.
Top right: A figure in white robes wanders through a very green forest.
Center right: A bolt of lightning arcs above a mountain range in a very violet sky.
Bottom right: A black hole swirls in a sea of violet stars and nebulae.

When magicless Mick agrees to go adventuring with his mage best friend (and crush) Eleanor, the last thing he expects is to be stuck a dragon and bound to the gods' dead adversary. Now he and Eleanor must restore Mick's humanity, before his existence triggers a war.

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rae mariz @raemariz.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Kass harbored no illusions that the sun rose and set on her; she had nearly fifty-two years of experiential evidence that proved otherwise. Every moment the planet faced the sun and each rotation around it, she had to fight for her position. #1stLinePit #Q #A #LF #COM #WF

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Angie is ✨querying✨ @angie3tomatoes.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Mexican Gothic x Belladonna X ODW “Inadequacy is a quiet thing. A shadow curling beneath the ribs, a whisper woven into the fabric of a life. Tayah Wellworth wore it well, had worn it for so long it felt like a second skin.” #amquerying soon #1stlinepit #rf #a #na #c

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B. van Bodegom 📃is AGENTED @bvbodegom.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

"Fuck me, Troy." “That’s a bit inappropriate, Dave, considering the situation.” #1stlinepit #A co(s)mic #Horror #WIP Query ready this summer at approx. 75k words!

moodboard layout with 9 squares 3 x 3, 6 have over the top terrified men (the dads), along the top and bottom 3 squares. Blood decal drips from top squares through the middle to the bottom ones. A Victorian mansion silhouette sits in the middle most left square, the title DAD BODIES in the middle, and right of that is the silhouette of a d20 with a skull icon showing.

DAD BODIES on top of a black d20, black background. To the right, PITCH & COMPS, CABIN IN THE WOODS X JOHN DIES AT THE END X KNIVES OUT, when their detective friend is murdered during annual gaming retreat, 5 dads nust use their years of ttrpg experience—and puns—to solve the crime before they're all killed off like npcs in a badly-written campaign.

"Fuck me, Troy."
“That’s a bit inappropriate, Dave, considering the situation.”
Dave averted his gaze from the bloodied corpse of their friend to face him.
“Really, Troy? Now?”
Troy shrugged. “Marv would’ve laughed.” The grin on his face faltered. Marv was lying in a pool of his own blood. The cause of death was clear, the hilt of the murder weapon protruding from his back. Since Marv was stiff as a board—not much different from his current state—they could rule out suicide. Marv was also more inclined to stab others in the back instead of himself.

DAD FRIENDS, HORROR AND MYSTERY, DARK HUMOR, SECLUDED MANOR, TTROG ELEMENTS, DARK AND STORMY NIGHT.

3 SQUARES next to each other. Firat contains silhouette of an old mansion, middle has TITLE DAD BODIES, thirs has a skull on a d20

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Mycah Houser | Author @mhouser14.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

“Whenever I started to believe I truly was divine, I reminded myself of one irrefutable fact: real goddesses didn’t need binoculars to spy on their worshipers.” ✨TANGLED x WHERE THE DARK STANDS STILL✨ #1stLinePit #YA #F #Q

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x.o.tanic @xo-tanic.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Here we go! Joining the #WritingCommunity on BlueSky and participating in #1stLinePit! “Rain cleanses both the pious and the wicked.” - Dark Fantasy - Paranormal - Buried Truth - Rewritten History - Dying Magic - Folklore Inspired - Found Family - Unwanted Bonds #WIP #F #R #P #NA #RF #CMe

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Keygan S. S. McClellan @keyganssmcclellan.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

"There are places where the skin of the world is thin. Where the atmosphere grows teeth: space can unfurl, convulse, or split like a frost-cracked tree; ghosts gather like mold. Visiting a place like that isn’t something you do unless you’re desperate or have a death wish." #1stLinePit #F #A #Q soon

comp titles for pitched book (comp titles include Gideon the Ninth, The Jasmine Throne, The Bone Shard Daughter, and The Surviving Sky) (comparisons include lgbtq+, bio-magic, revolution, and explorations of power)

mood board for pitched book (images include dripping blood, old pipes, a decrepit stairway, a forest glowing with magenta mist, and pale, ornate halls)

pitch for "The Tower's Blood" (pitch describes the book as a queer, biopunk, adult science fantasy of found family, spies, eldritch horror, and class warfare)

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Keygan S. S. McClellan @keyganssmcclellan.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Okay, so one of my hobbies is watching storm tracker/stormchaser livestreams. I watched this happen live two days ago, and lemme tell you I was FROZEN in my seat - no thoughts, just pure awe and dread. There is so much raw kinetic power visible in this thing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ispu...

youtube.com

The Most INTENSE Tornado I've Ever Live Streamed...

YouTube video by Storm Chaser Brandon Copic

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Keygan S. S. McClellan @keyganssmcclellan.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

A little late, but I wanted to share just for fun! I have a vibe songs, not theme songs. These are some: Opening: Cave Spellcaster - Fortress of Eternal Cold then Voices from the Fuselage - Destitute Closing: Starset - Something Wicked This Way Comes then bitcrush - 270 Degrees

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Boze Herrington, Library Owl @sketchesbyboze.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

Ursula le Guin, on the accusation that fantasy is an escape from reality

[“Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape? The moneylenders, the know-nothings, the authoritarians have us all in prison; if we value the freedom of the mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can.”]

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Keygan S. S. McClellan @keyganssmcclellan.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

It could fix society if we switched ourselves to being protostomes.

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Keygan S. S. McClellan @keyganssmcclellan.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

When your first major assertion of self-identity is also your first major act of rebellion 😄 (also some world-building, all from my science fantasy manuscript) #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Manuscript excerpt text on a background of a dark forest shrouded in reddish mist. Text: "He is supposed to discard his youth name, ‘Cirrus,’ and take on an adult name formed from a collection of historical phonemes, each one laden with meaning and the weight of oral memory. A name burdened by human associations, human expectations, human hubris. Diverse, melodic life crowds around him, but just a little further, the metropolis of Imizen and its threaded favelas and logging camps crowds around the grove. An image comes to him: an image of his name, an image of lonely, wispy clouds voyaging the upper atmosphere, distant but still here, still part of the world. And, suddenly, desperately precious to him. Cirrus takes a step backwards. Everyone assumes that first step is a loss of balance, an uncorrected mistake, until he takes the second."

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Keygan S. S. McClellan @keyganssmcclellan.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

Trying to submit to #RevPit but the outside is so ✨️atmospheric✨️

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Keygan S. S. McClellan @keyganssmcclellan.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Endwalker is my favorite game. Ever. Came at a really important time for me, declaring hope in the face of despair. "Should we lose our way / tire of all this pain / we won't be afraid / to forge ahead" "Flowing, winding toward eternal sea / and yet our hope remains" (usually start crying here)

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