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Lena Cole

@lenacole.bsky.social
79 followers 346 following 131 posts

Fashion historian and romance writer! Read my sapphic Cinderella retelling, The Happy Secret of It All: books2read.com/u/470Rd7

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Reposted by Lena Cole
Jenny with a Green Ribbon Around Her Neck @readingtheend.bsky.social · 20h
I remember when Heated Rivalry came out, my sister and I were explaining the book series to my brother-in-law, and he was like, "well, hey, that's kind of neat! almost like an MCU thing, where the world keeps expanding book by book and you get to know all these different characters"
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Forcing myself to do the hard work of getting Arrow Collar Man up on the different platforms this evening. Managed Amazon but am getting stymied on other sites ...
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
marymarchbanks.wordpress.com/2026/09/26/c... - in which Mary is pestered by a charming gentleman in company, and comes to a decision regarding Mr. Blackstone's offer of magic lessons.
A graphic that reads "Mary Marchbanks: Historical fantasy, gothic drama, sapphic romance"
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
marymarchbanks.wordpress.com/2026/09/26/c... - in which Mary is pestered by a charming gentleman in company, and comes to a decision regarding Mr. Blackstone's offer of magic lessons.
A graphic that reads "Mary Marchbanks: Historical fantasy, gothic drama, sapphic romance"
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
A lovely little story!
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
It's great to see tailoring accommodate such extreme movement today. This level of tailoring was a bit more common in the past, as you can see in old films featuring Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly, but many modern suits will lift off the wearer's neck even when they're just walking.
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Khonri 🫜 @khonri.com · 23/09/2026
I'm testing out using Leaflet and decided to make an opinion piece on prompt games that apparently became the equivalent of nearly 66 bluesky posts. I hope you like proper long-form Khonri, because this is more my element.
khonri.leaflet.pub
so you want to run a prompt game?
a tired person's thoughts on hosting community engagement bait
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Ada Lovelace Day @adalovelaceday.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Ada Lovelace Day is coming up soon, on Tuesday 13 October, so if you're celebrating in any way, please add your event to our calendar. If it's a private/internal event, you can set it to 'private'. Add your event: findingada.com/worldwide-ev... What's on: findingada.com/worldwide-ev...
The Ada Lovelace Day Indie Event roundel.
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Tuatha @tuatha.ie · 22/09/2026
The Autumn Equinox is upon us. A time of balance between night and day. Evidence of the importance of the equinox can be found at Cairn T, one of the Neolithic passage tombs that crown the hills around Loughcrew, Meath, Ireland. Its passageway is aligned to the equinox sunrise. #Ireland #Equinox
An aerial view of the complex on Carnbane East with the great mound of stone covering Cairn T, at LoughcrewThe passageway of Cairn T at LoughcrewLight falling on a stone engraved with megalithic art in Cairn T, Loughcrew Cairns.
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Mass Observation Archive @massobsarchive.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Remember this iconic cardigan? Well PhD researcher Neve from @manchester.ac.uk has written us an excellent blog post looking at this, and lots of other creative submissions, to our 1988 directive on clothes and personal appearance! massobs.org.uk/2026/09/21/e... #skystorians
Photograph of the back of a cardigan, with the wearer standing with their back to the camera. Across the back of the cardigan are white lines that look like yarn or string, there are then four kittens playing with the yarn. The bottom of the cardigan has a black and white border with white mice running along it.
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Kate Strasdin @katestrasdin.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
This feels like a quietly appropriate approach to autumn dressing, a loose early #1880s ‘at home’ kind of gown in reddy brown challis, a lightweight blend of wool & silk. The Watteau pleat at the back & panels at the front are embroidered with pale forget-me-nots #newcanaanmuseum #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡
Partial view of the back of a reddish brown loose gown of challis. It has a high collar, slightly puffed sleeves at the shoulder and a broad pleat centre back embroidered with small pale flowersFull length view of the red brown early 1880s at home gown. Long sleeved, with high collar. The floral embroidery continues down centre panels and around the collar, cuffs and pockets
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Kate Strasdin @katestrasdin.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Printed leaves become appliquéd leaves the higher up the dress they travel. Blurry pastels become more defined and the edges frame the shoulders, finished with a pale pink bow. Pierre Balmain, 1954 #V_and_A #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡
Back view of a form fitting pastel shaded silk strapless dress with a pale pink sash and appliquéd bodiceFront view of the pastel leaf Balmain dress with the pink silk sash which covers one side of the bodice. It has a draped ruched front to the skirtPartial view of Balmain’s mid 1950s pastel coloured leaf dress which shows part of the silk bow and the way that the leaves were appliquéd around the bodiceThe original sketch of the Balmain dress shown here in a different colour way with a pink stole
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Finally rewriting the beginning of A Run of Better Fortune, and it feels very good to replace the original first chapter with something much more immediate and full of characterization. I've got a good feeling about this book! #WritingCommunity
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Callisto Khan @Persephone Effect Out NOW! @callistokhan.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
If you want really great ace rep and feel cheated by how underdeveloped Sayolara is on that front, I recommend this absolutely delightful lesbian monster x monster hunter (sort of) romance by John Wiswell. The romance between fmc (a monster that takes the shape of a human, which has similar trans
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Alex Larkspur 💛📚🌻 @applesncinnamon.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
It's #SapphicSeptember! I'm giving a rec for every day until the end of September! Today, I'm recommending Fire at Her Fingertips by @bookspotlight.bsky.social mybook.to/WDd0F
Over a background of violets, Sapphic September Recommendation of the Day 
Fire at Her Fingertips by Rebecca Crunden
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
marymarchbanks.wordpress.com/2026/09/19/c... In the latest chapter of MARY MARCHBANKS, we meet the cool and mysterious Olive Randolph, who will shortly become a more major character in the story. 😍🌈💜
marymarchbanks.wordpress.com
Chapter VIII
Thursday morning seemed to pass as quick as a wink, between our new habit of late rising and the flurry of activity required by the ball that evening. After breakfast, I found myself required and s…
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W&S_BOOKCLUB @wsbookclub.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
@biblionerdrflxn.bsky.social reviews Bodies of Magic by Freya Marske.
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
In current project - he'd have a solo about getting what he wants that's kind of a reprise of his earlier rollicking drinking song in a minor key (or modulated in some other way). In Mary Marchbanks - something like "Mother Knows Best" from Tangled, starting more delicate and ending BELTED.
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Kate Strasdin @katestrasdin.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This is a gown I revisit every so often for its outrageously rich colour & extravagant silhouette. The early 1830s ballooning sleeve is a divisive detail, some people love it, others not so much. I am firmly in the love it camp precisely because they are so enormous #museumatfit #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡
Partial view of a deep green satin gown from the early 1830s which shows the long sleeves fullest at the upper arm and horizontal gathering across the bodiceFull length view of the green satin 1830s dress with long skirt gathered into the waistband, a ruched, gathered bodice and long sleeves ballooning at the upper arm
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Mary Marchbanks update: marymarchbanks.wordpress.com/2026/09/12/c... In which Mary re-encounters Mr. Blackstone in London. (Next time: Olive enters the narrative, this is NOT A DRILL! 🌈💜 #SapphicSeptember #sapphic)
marymarchbanks.wordpress.com
Chapter VII
The next morning was a very strange experience for me, as it was the first time I had spent the night anywhere but at Marchbanks Hall; in addition, the result of our having had supper at nine-thirt…
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KJ Charles @kjcharleswriter.com · 13/09/2026
But people need a break. People need to consume art, it's what we are as a species. And people need to create, in whatever ways. That's not a 'nice to have', it's a necessity, and grinding it out of people is criminal. Just...don't let anyone tell you you oughtn't be creating, for whatever reason.
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KJ Charles @kjcharleswriter.com · 13/09/2026
Create things, and enjoy things that other people have created. Those things will keep your humanity fed and watered. And God knows we need more of that.
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I was away for a few days, and wrote about 3,800 words! Mostly on airplanes. They're such a good place to trap you with the manuscript ...
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Stephanie Burgis @stephanieburgis.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
A quick reminder: you can preorder the epic conclusion to the Queens of Villainy trilogy, my sapphic marriage-of-convenience romantasy novel Melting the Ice Queen, for 25% off from @barnesandnoble.com with the code PREORDER25 today or tomorrow: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/melting-th... #romancelandia
This image shows the illustrated front cover of Stephanie Burgis's Melting the Ice Queen (Book 3 in The Queens of Villainy) surrounded by this text: Marriage of convenience; (literal) ice queen who refuses to fall in love; fiery priestess who is all in on her new wife; the other queens have *opinions*; epic conclusion to the Queens of Villainy trilogy. 25% off B&N preorders with code PREORDER25.
The cover itself shows two women facing each other, holding twin candles, in the midst of a cathedral made of ice. The woman on the left is slim, Black, and wears an icy crown above her cool blue wedding gown, with more shards of ice held ready in the air behind her as she regards her new bride with open suspicion; the woman on the right is white, red-haired, lushly curved, and wearing a gold wedding gown as she grins mischievously at her new wife, with rainbow-colored heat rays beaming out from behind her own figure. The tagline reads: Nothing melts the heart like an old flame.
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Oscar Lozada @oz-of-the-ancients.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Something we don't talk about much - these stones are maybe 2 billion years old! They're Lewisian Gneiss, a local rock laid down in the Precambrian, before complex life evolved! Puts the 5000-year stone circle into perspective! 📍Callanish stones, Scotland 📸 Me🏺 #StandingStoneSunday #archaeology
A large standing stone on the right with geological layers clearly visible in vertical lines, set in green grass in front of moorland
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Something I realized recently wrt depictions of corsetry in fiction is that most people are only seeing them on dress forms from a distance. That makes them look like hard, solidly shaped shells that have to be cracked open to be taken off. 🗃️🪡
A white corset on a dress form made to be entirely hidden, so that the corset appears to be floating in the air.
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DD Ward ..."Interim Pirate Queen" @ddwardiswriting.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Blair wasn’t used to women looking down at her. She felt drunk. And as she stared at the countess, she realized that she felt aroused as well. Something boiled deep in her, throbbing within her hips. www.patreon.com/posts/155627...
patreon.com
Captive of the Crimson Countess Chapter 16 | D.D. Ward is Writing
Blair caught up with Nadia in the dining hall. The other women milled around, ignoring Nadia. When they realized that Blair had arrived to s
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🏳️‍🌈RJ Martin - Queer. Cat Parent. Author. @rjmartinwrites.com · 04/09/2026
It has come to my attention that I never actually set my sale to "live" .... Well, it's live now! go buy my books! #SapphicBooks #QueerBooks 💙📚🌈📚🌶️
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
It feels appropriate that my birthday is in Sapphic September.
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Sapphic Cinderella retelling set in fantasy 1920s, in pastiche style. books2read.com/u/470Rd7 #PromoSky #BookSky #10WordPitch
Cover of The Happy Secret of It All, showing a blonde butch woman in a suit dancing with a brunette in pink.
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Arden Powell @ardenpowell.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
34 hours left to get this Queer Historical Indies Bundle and stock up on gay, trans, and sapphic books featuring knights, pirates, vampires, and explorers in settings including ancient Greece, Arthurian England, the Age of Sail, Colonial America, and 1920s Cthulhu mythos. ✨ itch.io/b/3875/queer...
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
A self-indulgent shopping interlude in which Catherine tries on corsets. (Self-indulgent for both me and Olympia.) #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity 🌈💜
“Quite right.” Mrs. Farrar’s voice was lower and amused, fully in control, and she strode over to the girl’s side. As soon as she gave the answer, the panicking thing within Catherine collapsed into calm. “Let me see what you’ve brought … No, this one won’t do, it’s scarcely better than what she has on already. Hm. Yes, this one should suffice. Whoever picked it has a good eye for measurements.”
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Kate Strasdin @katestrasdin.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Sometimes just a detail is enough to appreciate. This #1770s gold ribbed silk gown has quite a story from its many alterations, refashionings and later use as fancy dress but this point here is beautifully constructed, seams and sharp pleats and covered buttons all a-glow #VandA #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡
A zoomed in detail of a 1770s open robe gown looking at the centre back which includes a fitted bodice and tightly arranged pleats at the waistband. There are two self covered buttons, one behind each hip
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Worn On This Day @wornonthisday.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Worn #onthisday in 1901 by the four sons of the Maharaja of Cooch Behar, photographed in London. The three youngest wear wide Eton collars, named for the boarding school they attended near Windsor, UK; the oldest was enrolled at Oxford, where he played on the university polo team. #OTD 📷️ V&A Museum
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Kate Strasdin @katestrasdin.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
So satisfyingly neat with its lilac panels, some striped some plain, bisected with stripy buttons. Heather Firbank truly took her name into sartorial life with shades of purple throughout her wardrobe. This c1912 gown is by Mascotte with unusual twist of a label inside #V&A #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡
A side by side image that shows the front and back of a pale lilac dress partially striped and partially plain. It has striped buttons centre front, a small lace collar and a plain cotton tie at the neckPartial view of the upper half of the lilac cotton dress which shows the arrangement of the striped panels either side of the bust and along the sleeves with a narrow belt, lace collar and cotton tieAlternatively view of the bodice of the 1910s lilac cotton dress which has a central purple placket, narrow neck tie and small lace collarAn image of the white cotton tape twisted into a loop to form the name label for Mascotte, maker of the c1912 lilac cotton dress
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
I love how difficult Olympia finds ignoring or being unmoved by Catherine throughout this entire story. #WIPSnips #WriteSky (Please, graphic, upload as words rather than a void.)
No, she had to stop feeling sorry for her. Feeling sorry for Miss Baring was what had made her insert herself into that game and take her in as an ill-tempered guest. She had to remind herself of how dreadful beautiful women with curling dark hair and snapping black eyes always behaved toward those who had to resort to clever dressmaking tricks and effective use of cosmetics in order to curtail her bleeding heart.
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Patreon is driving me crazy ... I thought briefly about serializing romance fiction over there so started an 18+ creator page. They hit me with the age verification thing and I went eh, don't need this, so deactivated my creator page. But now they've turned off my ability to see any 18+ content?
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Can't believe I only use "button" twice! Here's the selection I like more: #WIPSnips #WriteSky
It was a lovely room. If she hadn’t been in such a mood, she’d have appreciated the way that the small table was placed by the window to catch the light, and the excellent suite of mahogany furniture, all with matching inlays and upholstery. She also might have appreciated the sight of Mrs. Farrar, her auburn hair still in curling papers in the front, dressed in an old banyan of striped silk worn mostly unbuttoned. As it was, she only enjoyed the complete surprise on her hostess’s face at her appearance, and the way she set down her teacup so hard that the saucer rattled.
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
From the early chapters of A Run of Better Fortune! Reminding me that I will someday need to fill in the placeholder "[write the whole blackjack game]". #WIPSnips #WriteSky
In a real club, the sort that the Fox Hunters’ Club tried hard to emulate, there would probably be a sense that this wasn’t appropriate, wasn’t worthy of a gentleman, if only to save the reputations of everyone else involved. (Olympia assumed. She’d only been inside Boodle’s a few times, dressed in a coat and pantaloons, and it had seemed fairly staid in comparison to nights in hells or Covent Garden.) But here it seemed that the concept of gentlemanly behavior was fixed solely to the issues of fair play at the tables and making good on one’s debts.
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Skulls and Sheets @skullsandsheets.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Our Mari of Autumn (Subtle)
A mari with a crown of leaves and stars in a cloak of patterns autumn leaves drop dpwn drom her cloak
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Aubrey 💖🏳️‍🌈 @clericofthevoid.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
ATTENTION SAPPHIC LADY KNIGHT ENJOYERS 🏳️‍🌈⚔️
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Did we ever figure out a replacement for Draft2Digital other than uploading to every retail website individually? #WritingCommunity
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Not clickbait! A real discussion of the process I went through over the last month or so. Plus a discussion of an 1860s portrait. buttondown.com/lenacole/arc... #WritingCommunity #FashionHistory
buttondown.com
How to End Writer's Block (By Writing)
After being blocked and only intermittently able to write for the last few months, I seem to have cracked the problem! Lately I’ve been getting in the groove...
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
I forgot that I made this! I should use it every time I post a chapter.
A graphic split into thirds: the first third is a portrait of a young woman in a tan gown and white pelerine, the last is a black and white engraving of medieval storefronts in early 19th century London, and the middle reads "Mary Marchbanks: Historical fantasy, gothic drama, sapphic romance".
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
This weekend's Mary Marchbanks chapter! marymarchbanks.wordpress.com/2026/08/29/c... In which Mary has a migraine, and gets some news that's hard to take in because of said migraine.
marymarchbanks.wordpress.com
Chapter V
I woke the next morning with a splitting headache, the worst I had had in years. They did tend to come with some regularity, sometimes from understandable causes and sometimes with no warning, but …
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I'm finally back in the groove of writing every day, yay!
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
In this week's chapter, we meet an unassuming character who couldn't possibly have any greater importance down the line ... marymarchbanks.wordpress.com/2026/08/22/c...
marymarchbanks.wordpress.com
Chapter IV
Even though it had been decided that new clothes must be got in London in order to be as fashionable as possible, it was still necessary to make sure everyone else was well-outfitted for the journe…
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Elizabeth Boyle @thecelticist.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
'Archaeologist Lynne McKeggie added: "When site staff first saw the pit and how well the stone lining was built they thought it might be modern, but the finds inside, and this style of building, all point to an Iron Age date."'
bbc.com
Archaeologists uncover Iron Age woman in 'beautifully made' grave
The discovery was made ahead of a planned expansion of a Highland quarry.
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Not so much a misunderstanding, but Olympia and Catherine are just on completely different wavelengths and do Not talk about how they see themselves and each other, which means that they definitely don't understand the signals they're sending or receiving.
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Lena Cole @lenacole.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
I just listened to the first chapter today, and LOVED it: open.spotify.com/episode/0vME...
open.spotify.com
Ch. 1 - Mr Warren's Profession narrated by Gary Furlong (audiobook sneak peek!)
Right Here Write Queer · Episode
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