iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Headless🎃Horsewoman🪉💎🏹🐴⚔️ @acturek.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Still AMANDA 💎 Writing Rushak but dressed up for Halloween! #fantasy #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #WIPSnips #well Aaran’s vision - Brother’s Keeper, my fantasy WIP about two brothers bound by a misunderstood power

He splintered into pieces of flashing steel.
About him, cacophony and chaos spiraled and he within it, not steel bits himself, he now saw, but surrounded by them, and all else smeared with blood.
Above the battle, a black shadow heaved itself upward on heavy, articulated wings. Its neck snaked
forward, sinews bulging like Silverbark roots from a body armored with volcanic boulders. Its mouth opened, vast and fiery. The earth cracked under its appalling screech, and a deeper, still more dreadful wailing arced from elsewhere across a dark sky
ribboned with crimson rents. He knew that scream, or would know it, issuing from a WELL of anguish as deep as the Nethernight itself: his own voice, or that of some other. He dropped his longsword.

Brother's Keeper
A.C. Turek

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Mark Paleologopoulos @markpaleo.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I’m sitting in a chair with my hands tied behind me. Various aches & pains lead me to believe my body wasn’t treated as fragile. Hints of mold & motor oil in the air aren’t blending well with the taste of the rag in my mouth. I do not want to find out what it’s like to vomit while gagged. #WIPSnips

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Tempest Teapot ❌ 👑 🐸 @tempestteapot.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #amquerying #writesky #epicfantasy 💙📚 🪐📚 From my Epic Fantasy novel Demon’s Bargain. Despard shows the weird foreign refugees a place to stay.

“Thank you for your generosity,” Kahyla said. The soldier frowned. Kahyla picked her way through the debris. “We’ll need to clean it before we can sleep here.” Abber snorted in agreement. “Is there a bucket for water?”
Tebfin squirmed out of Kahyla's reach and picked up a cracked leather strap. Abber nudged a dented bowl from under the remains of a chair. Despairing over Abber’s scandalously unbound hair, Kahyla wondered if any of their other coolans had survived the fire.
“You could draw water from the Silva temple a few blocks from here,” said the soldier. His hand crept to a coin closure on his cloak. “The House of Atelle is closer, but the water's sweeter from the goddess' well.”
River grit crunched against Kahyla's teeth. A lying demon could disguise mud as pure water. “As a daughter of Parkith, I couldn't enter the temple.” She tugged Abber's hair into a more modest position, receiving a pouting glare in return. “We follow His Laws, even when outside Huxen.”
“Huxen? You three are from Huxen? I thought your accent sounded funny.”
“The wellspring of morality and the True Faith of Parkith.” Kahyla reflexively formed a flame symbol with three fingers and tapped over her heart.
“But you people are zealots! You won't let any trade ships further than Gooseport without some goofy requirements. Ferruthan privateers love taking Huxen ships,” the mercenary said. “Why come here?”

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Mark Paleologopoulos @markpaleo.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Cory Booker stops just short of calling his fellow senators, liars. Why?

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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 29/09/2026

Good to know!

Screenshot of America.gov answering who won and lost the 2020 presidential election. It states that Joseph R. Biden Jr. won and Donald J. Trump lost, with an Electoral College result of Biden 306 to Trump 232, and links to National Archives and FEC election results.

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Mark Paleologopoulos @markpaleo.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

My upcoming schedule for this week: M: Shitlib - 10am - 2pm, Idpol Socialist 2pm - 11pm T: Libtard - 10am - 5pm, SJW 2pm - 11pm W: Wokester - 10am - 2pm, Shitlib 2pm - 11pm T: Shitlib all day F: Blue MAGA - 10am - 2pm, Radlib 2pm - 11pm S: Lawn mowing - 10am - 2pm S: Day of rest

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Mark Paleologopoulos @markpaleo.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I've never heard Choosin Texas. I've never heard of Emma Langley before today. I'm not cool, or hep, or whatever the kids are saying these days.

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Mark Paleologopoulos @markpaleo.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I just found out I sold 1 book in the last six months. #Winning

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Laken Honeycutt 💫 Book 3 Kickstarter is live! 💫 @mycelialwriter.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Isyra’s first night in Kalimira—a secret temple of Thalis’ forbidden mind wizards deep inside the Ashirak desert… 🎪🖤✨ From The Mycellium Forest (Book 3) 💫 Kickstarter is live! 💫 Help bring this story to life… #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

From draft four of Book 3, The Mycellium Forest, chapter 21, Isyra POV:

The sun set in a vermillion splender, the deep set of silver speckled indigo pushing out the last few rays of brilliant light. Had she ever witnessed anything so breathtaking?

As Isyra made her way along the corridor the second gong sounded. Other Lyndallians streamed into the hallway around her and she followed their lead into a giant mess hall where a meal was about to be served.

She looked around the cavernous room, lost, and unsure what to do, when a voice said in her ear, “follow me.”

Ebiz.

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Mark Paleologopoulos @markpaleo.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Isn't that the value of pi? It's Tigers Stadium, losers.

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Heck Awaits @heckawaits.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity KNOWING NOTHING Ichadon and Wonhyo examine the room with the mangled body of the Southern commander still in it. Stepping outside linear time, they see events in the room move backwards, but simply watching a murder happen does not tell one why it happened, or by whom.

Ichadon turned, slipped the latch, and turned back to Wonhyo, who had already frozen his body and slipped out of time. Ichadon rolled back his eyes and did the same. Wonhyo’s stout body swayed in the gray stream of time. Ichadon moved through it, walked to the opposite corner, behind the door, and waited.
The Elder is leaving the room. Ichadon is entering the room. The Elder is talking while Wonhyo moves carefully about the body. Guards are walking out, and the Elder limping in. Wonhyo entering the room, speaking to the guards, waving his hands about, giving some kind of instruction. More guards standing around the body and talking. The housekeeper running away.
A guard is saying something to the housekeeper. The guard joins the housekeeper. A housekeeper screaming, seeing the commander, crawling into the room, opening the door. A single stream of blood trickling to the door; the rest soaking into the bedding. The commander’s body lays perfectly still. Much time goes by.

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Symon Pude 🫜 - Master Watch is out! @symon-pude.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Substitution stream -> river From 'The immortality heist' #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

After a short breakfast, and much too long for Petrina to gather all her stuff (they had to go back to get Thealaam, which had almost been forgotten in the room), they headed to the stable where Petrina had left her unicorn-mule. The stablemaid was there, losing her mind over the fact that the animal had managed to defecate in rainbow colours; it didn't help the simple woman that Petrina and Cate didn't see it as odd.
“Do you not see it?” the woman screamed. “I have worked with animals all my life and never once did anything of that colour come out of an ass.”
Petrina took out some coins and calmly counted them. “So, how much did we say?”
“Are you not listening to me?! This shit is the colour of the rainbow. Is this a miracle? A sign from god? Or is it the devil? How is this even possible? How? HOW…”

So, anyway, Petrina and Cate made themselves on the way. The human village lay at the mouth of a small river valley, where water was plenty and the soil fertile for crops. The wheat was crushed right there, by mills powered by the moving water. The exact location of the coven village was lost to time, but from the surviving evidence, we can conclude that it was a day's journey upstream, deeper into the valley and towards the mountains.

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Dan Sato @tellthestory.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

This is the reason so few #FrankMatsura photos from Seattle exist. The dining room image was inspired by Hopper's "Nighthawks." #WIPsnips #stream Later this week, my subscribers will receive the first of a serialized prequel short story about a wartime trauma alluded to in my novel. www.dansato.com

I still had no access to a darkroom, so my head filled with images I wanted to record but could not photograph. There were the horse and cart parked outside the hotel, the horse’s head down at the trough, its breath huffing clouds in the cold air. There was the cold winter light of late afternoon streaming through the hotel window into the dining room, illuminating two solitary diners, sitting at separate tables, each alone, yet not ten feet from the other. And there were still the white, forbidding mountains that I’d seen on my first day in Seattle, the Cascades. They stood like a detachment of smug sentries prohibiting passage to the inner continent. I had asked my employer, Mr. Jansson—pronounced Yahnson—to allow me to use the basins in the laundry room after hours, but Mr. Jansson had refused. He didn’t want to be in the position of having to explain to the owner, whom I had never seen, why he had hazarded the health of his guests for the weird chemical experiments of his Oriental dishwasher.

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Aud Connelly: transcribing #Dogwood3 (66.9/95k) @audconnelly.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I have already edited this in the official WIP😅

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Headless🎃Horsewoman🪉💎🏹🐴⚔️ @acturek.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

#fantasy #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #WIPSnips #stream Rushak and friends haven’t much farther until their destination. They’ve been careful to keep north of the war. The war doesn’t care. - Brother’s Keeper, my fantasy WIP about two brothers bound by a misunderstood power

The ground leveled into a forest of tall, still
conifers. Not far ahead, the land dropped away into a deep canyon. Sounds echoed, cries and crashes, strange, loud rustling, chaotic rumbling. Uneasy, Rushak hurried with his friends to the edge of the
land and dropped to peer over a rock shelf. It
shadowed a black strip of crevasse running alongside the valley. A quiet rush flowed through the other noises, the light cascade of a small river. But he heard another rushing also, and cries lifted almost as music.
His jaw tightened and he gripped Cerel's arm, flattening himself against the rock.

A cavalry flowed into view, warriors on bridleless horses riding with such grace their charge seemed a dance and their cries, lifted song. Their leader leaned into the charge, fierce and fey. His long hair STREAMED like a mane over his horse's neck. Rushak's breath sank like a rock into the pit of his stomach.

"Lord Deran," Virgil whispered.

Brother's Keeper
A.C. Turek

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Adregem ཐིཋྀ @adregem.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

This one is from Death & the Dreamer: Soryl and Win have finally found the tomb of Macsen Fawr. #WIPSnips #WIP #AmWriting #WritingPrompts #Writers #Writing #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #Fantasy #FantasySky #DarkFantasy #Necromancy

A raised walkway circled the room, and four steps led to the black marble floor comprising the lower level. Light streamed into the building through an arm-sized crack in the ceiling.
The domineering presence in the room was an open, black sarcophagus. The remains of an effigy lay beside it, a casualty of grave robbing, pried off by a team of reckless thieves. Mascen’s stone face stared up at me from within the rubble.
Win perched on smashed pieces of Macsen’s image, peering into the coffin. “I don’t know what he looked like with his skin on or off,” he said. “But there’s bones in there.”

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STEPHAN MICHAEL LOY @stephanloy.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

#WIPSnips The word is 'stream.' In Stormbreak, more Julio, Stormbreak's Observer-ground for Meso-America. Also, a talented meteorologist. Mac asks him to translate the news on the TV in this Mexican bar. #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #WritingPrompts

But Julio had been listening even if he hadn't been translating to that moment. "Okay. He say there's a fire. Brush and grass. About 3,000 hectares. It not in the Big Bend Park, but a little outside. They hoping the park not threatened."
"Oh. Well, that's good."
"But it is threatened."
"Whoa. Wait. They said that? Who said that? The Americans, the Mexicans, that guy on the TV?"
"I say that. It's kind of obvious."
"Like that storm was kind of obvious? Who was it, Pedros and Imelia?"
"Petros and Idalia, and they both happened, yes? Just not the way you thought. Anyway, this fire. No rain to speak of since November. Missed its whole wet season. Red warning for fire since January. Much tinder there, dry grass and brush. Then there's the Jetstream so far south. And a dry low pushing north. Worst for fire, spread fast."
"You don't have to tell me. I've seen brush fires outrun a man. Outrun a truck, sometimes."
"They not careful on your side of the border, and that fire get away from them, it run right into Chihuahua, maybe Coahuilla."
"The Rio Grande's a stop."
Julio screwed up his face and waved that away. "The Rio Grande won't stop un niño Pequeño. A, a little baby walking… Whatchoo callit?"
"Toddler?"
"Oh! Si! One of them things. River level been down many months. Fire go right over it." He pantomimed an arc over his empty beer then, noticing it was indeed empty, called the bartender.

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Rachel Lichtman @rachellichtman.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

CHICAGO — Tickets for this spectacular television event on sale now at Programme4.tv

Programme 4 at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago — Dec 3rd at 7pm, with special guests Rich Koz, Liam Hayes, and Carolyn Engelmann on the Rhodes

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C Alexandra @nerdcactus.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Dionysus spends half the novel giving Beren emotional whiplash. His characterization is the one thing I think I got perfectly right in this thing. #WIPSnips #writingcommunity #writesky

Dionysus regarded Beren with something like bemusement. “I believe you truly want safety for this town. But even with that admission, you have not revealed the whole of your desire to me. Why do you hold back?”

“Because someone has to be here to pick up the pieces after you get bored and leave.”

Dionysus was at the door in a blink, staring up at the afternoon sky, a halo of sunlight around him. Beren’s breath caught in her throat, and her fingers twitched. “My dear, I wish it were as simple as my choosing to leave, though why you think I would get bored when you continue to prove so intransigent is beyond me.” He turned and regarded Beren with a cool detachment that twisted her stomach. “Your coven has bargained with a god, Berenice Guiscard, and accepted his gifts. You must now fulfill that bargain between us. Until then, I will remain in Glaucaster.”

“But—” Beren’s throat tightened with dread. “What am I supposed to do?”

“I have told you. Revelry, ecstasy. True worship, though I would settle for the workings of worship sincerely given.” Dionysus smiled suddenly, mad and proud, pointing his walking stick at her. “The Fates themselves make answer when gods and mortals strike deals. And I should not like to see your soul rent by their dreadful cut. I can say only this: you have until the grape vines bud to make your payment. After that, I cannot stop what happens, no matter what I might want.”

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Ross McDermott @beyondtheonions.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

#WIPSnips #payment #writing Just a courteous FYI folks. ⬇️

The fates have demanded #payment from me today. It happens from time to time, and that's what 'they' demand of me, those crones who spin that arbitrary loom, weaving the tapestries that hang in the halls of eternity... time... time heals all wounds, so 'they' say, but what do 'they' know? Today my wounds fester... so, I have no post to share... not today... perhaps tomorrow.

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Maria Bamford @mariabamford.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Oh hey. If you want to see if I’m going to be in your city or want to get notified via my newsletter, visit MariaBamford.com I’m doing a lot of shows. If you can’t afford it just let me know at ariamaamfordba@gmail.com and if it’s not sold out , I’ll get you in! Photo Tara Rochelle

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PJC Cahill @pjccahill.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

#WIPSnips -Blood Price (TaMB 4)- No one knows what Sulaf is up to! Not even Zhi at this point! Handy snip for introducing one of the new supporting cast members. Agent Sidiropolis was fun to draft! Also confirming: Darien is 'Agent Wilson' (from Silverwolf). My Books: pjccahill.carrd.co

Vasiliki cut in again. "Our current theory is that Dhana orchestrated this breakout, then killed the hired vampires simply to spare herself payment. As the literal expert on Dhana, do you have any insight to offer?"
Zhi stared, then let her eyes falter down. "I can see why you'd think that. I'm sorry, Agent... ah."
Vasiliki smirked, "Sidiropolis, but almost no one can pronounce it anyway. Agent Sid works."
"Sounds Greek?"
Vasiliki smiled with a light 'mm.'
"I try to pronounce names correctly. So... Agent Sidiropolis," Zhi flicked a smile for the tiny thumbs-up the agent gave her attempt, "I'm afraid I don't have much to offer you. Sulaf is a master manipulator and incredibly powerful. I haven't learned enough about her, even with years of exchange. I doubt she hired these vampires, but I have no proof to offer you for that. I am curious how they arrived and she departed during daylight hours, though?"
Darien answered, "The intruders used a specialized crew van. The severe tint to the front windows implied some manner of protective layer against sunlight. Sulaf took the same vehicle. We're running checks, but it was custom and unmarked, so -- outside of witnesses catching it -- it'll be a long search."
"I see. Thanks," Zhi muttered, barely remembering to nod. "All I really know, Agent Sidiropolis, is that Sulaf thinks highly of herself, and she has interest in me. I'm honestly surprised she left me here rather than whisking me away."

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Headless🎃Horsewoman🪉💎🏹🐴⚔️ @acturek.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

#fantasy #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #WIPSnips #payment -> repay Drisal answers questions about his gem work. Chalmalch offers payment for his services. - Brother’s Keeper, my fantasy WIP about two brothers bound by a misunderstood power

You know not the significance of what you do. Where do you obtain the gems?"

"I'm sometimes paid in them, like with the rubies. A Loëthgil kinsman trades outside, and I make trips with ... another kinsman to find them. We've seldom gotten much beyond Yellow Pass ourselves.
Because of the homelonging, you see. Precious gems, we don't find often. The majority are quartz crystals I transform. They can change color or clarity during the Work, sometimes even their lattice structure, but-"

"The Lago Mountains above the Cedhrun
lands teem with precious jewels for those who know where to look." Ra'am Chalmalch sat back, tapping his fingertips together as he thought. "Rälla Etania will repay you for your services in jewels or metal or a combination thereof. In addition, I will give you two maps of the Lago. I think you'll find them helpful."

Brother's Keeper
A.C. Turek

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Dan Sato @tellthestory.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

#FrankMatsura meets Goro, a kind farmer who will be his friend during a difficult time. #WIPsnips #payment Today, my goal is to finish recording my audiobook.

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Tempest Teapot ❌ 👑 🐸 @tempestteapot.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

#WIPSnips #amquerying #writesky #epicfantasy 💙📚 🪐📚 From my Epic Fantasy novel Demon’s Bargain. Kahyla promised to pay Malgrim in Huxen etiquette lessons for helping her find Despard in a mercenary tavern. Naive Kahyla isn’t aware that Despard has been hiding from her for a very good reason.

A possessive grip slid over her waist.
“Get your hand off me!” Instinct raised Kahyla’s arm as she turned, but stopped short. Her fingertips brushed the hard leather below Despard’s shoulders. Weariness lined his face as he rose to his full height, closing the gap between them.
“A few gods-damned weeks,” he cursed softly. “Only a few weeks and you would’ve been safe.”
“Despard, I don’t understand,” she said.
Despard increased the pressure with his hand on her waist, crushing her breath. Kahyla sensed Malgrim scrambling to draw his rapier.
Had she earned Despard’s anger?
Leaning his chin against her coolan, he whispered, “Follow my lead. You’re in danger here.”
Her body sagged with relief. He wasn’t angry. She could face danger together.
“I’ll take this bed warmer for what you owe me,” said Despard, pulling her a step away from Malgrim.
Bed warmer? What did that even mean?
“Thank you for your help, Malgrim,” Kahyla said, catching her breath. “You’ll get your payment later at the minstrel’s guild.”
A beat passed before Malgrim recovered in true minstrel fashion. “I see I’ll leave you with good protection.”

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Kim Findlay (she/her) @authorkimfindlay.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

'Absolutely. Discount for fellow Canadians.' Three dots appeared and disappeared. Humor didn’t always translate to texts. What if she thought I really wanted to be paid? 'That was a joke. I’m not expecting payment.' The three dots again 'I thought jokes were supposed to be funny' #wipsnips

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Diane M. Johnson @caseyadamsstark.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I know I’ve shared this #WIPSnips before. But it’s appropriate.

Pedro recovered from the sad memories etched in his face. He held his hand out to Smith, who handed over the recently acquired satchel of spices. "My good man, you’re in luck. I’m looking for pig iron…at discount prices." Pedro shook the spice bag in front of the man's nose like a dinner bell. The man snatched it up, pulled the drawstring open and drooled.

Tomas took time to peer past the artist and his mistress, where he found pieces of the man's work stacked along a gouged and paint chipped wall. A fresco was obscured by those iron made trellises, as twisted and ominous as the trellises themselves. Demonic figures spiraled together with nude women in the threads of that trellis work. Crosses tied the images together. The depictions in the fresco were hauntingly similar. And the Christians and Catholics call Esme’s practices the devil's work, Tomas mused.

This supposedly infamous unnamed artist did not surrender any of the iron in his possession as payment for the little satchel, no. Instead, he directed them to a ship in the harbor. It was up to them to barter for a steal. They reached the right ship at the right rickety dock as the sun hung low to the west.

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Adregem ཐིཋྀ @adregem.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I might have used this one before, but here you go ... From Losing You Backward: Fion thinks Joric gave her a false name, and Joric is a little too drunk to properly defend himself. #WIPSnips #WIP #AmWriting #WritingPrompts #Writers #Writing #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #GasLamp #TimeTravel

“Why did you lie to me?” she said again.
He spat out an ugly, jarring laugh. “What does it matter what I call myself?”
“Basic principles of honesty. If you can’t trust a man to tell you his name, you can’t trust him to tell you anything.”
Joric spotted the barmaid and stuck his hand in the air, but Fion caught it and wrestled it back down before it could do its work. “You’ve had quite enough,” she told him.
“I disagree. Barmaid!”
The barmaid swept by. “Barkeep says you’ve had enough,” she called over her shoulder.

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PJC Cahill @pjccahill.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

#WIPSnips -Blood Price (TaMB 4)- CW: Foul Language Debated how much of this to show, erred on the side of 'short.' For the record, I consider Zhi's reactions here entirely justified. Sulaf has done things that showing guilt can't get her out of. My Books: pjccahill.carrd.co

Sulaf's expression etched with all the marks of sincere guilt on her demonic visage. "Zhi, please. I give you my word. I will not harm your coworkers. I only wish to keep you safe in this moment, and I know you're worried for them upstairs. I want to help you relax, so that we can talk after."
Zhi twitched, her fingers contorting as her eyelids spasmed. "OH, IT'S ALL DIFFERENT NOW BECAUSE YOU WANT TO TALK!?"
Sulaf winced, and started to reach up toward Zhi.
Zhi jerked away and found the open vault door with her back. "Don't touch me! If you're busting yourself out now, go! If you mean it, fine, save them, then GO! You made it very clear we could never hold you against your will anyway!"
Sulaf appeared grieved for that reaction, but she didn't try to grab. "Zhi, dearest, I--!?"
"DON'T FUCKING CALL ME THAT!"
Sulaf sank, her expression falling morose. "...Dr. Chen," she rasped with a weaker voice, "I sincerely wish to speak with you. Please. Come with me. I will secure your associates. You'll see for yourself that they'll be safe. I'm requesting to speak with you after. Please?"

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Gillian Isaacs Russell @girussell.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Today's #WIPSnips is "exterior." I went for "outside." #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #speculativefiction #SFF #womenwriters #speculative @adamrhemmings.bsky.social Aya wants to tell her former lover on Earth what the Mars habitat is like:

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Tempest Teapot ❌ 👑 🐸 @tempestteapot.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

#WIPSnips #amquerying #writesky #epicfantasy 💙📚 🪐📚 From Epic Fantasy WIP, Waking the Saints. When an invasion requires a response, who goes? Bizal has a history as a succesful general and a deadly rival for the throne.

Tauno patted the young girl’s back before striding to the head of the table. “We must assemble an army to drive the invaders out of Huxen.” The servants scrambled to pull out his chair, but he threaded through them to stand behind her. His hands rested on her shoulders, a warm weight that did little to calm her trembling knees hidden beneath her skirts.
“Armies cost money, Sire.” Bizal tucked his perfumed handkerchief into his sleeve. “Your barons will, of course, provide the liege-sworn soldiers required if you call a royal levy, but beyond that you will need mercenaries. Soldiers expect to be paid, fed, clothed, and outfitted. If you had chosen your King’s Advisor, I’m sure he would have told you that the royal treasury is limited. Do you intend to supplement this war funding from your House Gooseport purse?”
The weight increased on her shoulders.
Demons take the man. He knew Tauno had spent every coin securing votes in the Baron’s Moot to win his crown. His fleet was mortgaged, everything risked to save her from a loveless match.
“How can you debate about money at a time like this, my cousin?” The Prelate’s hands twitched on the table. “An invasion by the demon-eaten. It could be the beginning of the Demonflood and we have no saints to protect us. The temple will supply funding for this holy war. Ten thousand gold coins for the first month and three legions of temple guards.”
Bizal coughed curses into his handkerchief. Lualih blinked slowly as she calculated what that much gold could buy. Only for the first month! How much were the priests hoarding?

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DD Ward ..."Interim Pirate Queen" @ddwardiswriting.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

"That’s interesting. Shall I tug at this thread?”

Nadia trembled. This was her fault. She’d tried to help, but she’d made things so much worse.

The countess laughed and shook her head. “Not yet. No. This is proving so amusing. I wish to draw it out and enjoy it.”

She turned back to Tristan, and called out to him, “Tristan. The lamia, now.”

Tristan nodded and called into the tunnel. Nadia waited as Blair picked up Ash’s boar spear and took a ready stance. Nadia could see movement in the darkness. Something was approaching.

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Mark Paleologopoulos @markpaleo.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

“After my divorce, I had no interest in long-term. Women I met weren’t looking for that either. I only date married women. I say date, but it’s usually a hotel room a few towns away for a few hours. It’s meaningless, but they’re looking for excitement & I need, uh, call it companionship.” #WIPSnips

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Jesse Duquette @jesseduquette.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

My 9/11 drawing got taken down by Meta but joke’s on them because I #neverforget

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PJC Cahill @pjccahill.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

#WIPSnips -Blood Price (TaMB 4)- Zhi's reminiscing upon where her hopes came crashing down. A happy moment that sets off something painful. A beautiful light before it all goes so wrong. My Books: pjccahill.carrd.co

The morning before the breach, she'd been so happy. She kept it private, but it had been real. Sulaf was finally out of the awful, torturous shackles they'd kept her in since before Zhi took over the department. Basic clothing rather than a ratty medical gown, some furnishings so she could actually lie, sit, read, write.
It had taken so long, months of arguing, to convince Weber and the higher-ups of International Paranormal Management to allow the lessened restraints. Constant work, Sulaf's cooperation with every test, psych profiles confirming she was conciliatory and peaceful.
Zhi had kept it professional. She'd buried her personal interests hard and deep. A childish fascination with vampires was no excuse for mistreating a prisoner and patient and research specimen. It wasn't fair that, when properly fed, Sulaf was one of the most beautiful human-like beings on the planet, but it wasn't an excuse.
But that day, that morning, it had been such a relief. Zhi knew Sulaf was proud of her long, black-brown hair. So, as a celebration for the freedom, she brushed it for Sulaf after the first proper shower the vampire had been allowed in... an inhumanely long period of time.
It had been a blissful fantasy for that moment. Sulaf was quiet, almost shy for the first (and only) time Zhi had ever witnessed. Zhi finished, and had slipped up. She caressed Sulaf's hair gently as she eased away to check with her.
In that moment, Zhi thought she saw something that made her heart flutter. A gentle, warm, loving smile on that beautiful honey-tan face. The brown-gold eyes, healthy and full of vitality at last, sparkled with those emotions. Zhi knew she'd smiled back, but it hadn't been a choice. She smiled before she thought about it, touched and happy and excited by that little glance.

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Mark Paleologopoulos @markpaleo.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

If you want the general populace to believe that AI can pose an existential threat to our species, provide them with concrete possible scenarios. You can't rely on people believing that the plot of Terminator is the only threat.

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Reposted by Mark Paleologopoulos

Tempest Teapot ❌ 👑 🐸 @tempestteapot.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

#WIPSnips #amquerying #writesky #epicfantasy 💙📚 🪐📚 From my Epic Fantasy novel Demon’s Bargain. An alliance marriage between Kahyla & Tauno would allow Lualih as Tauno’s second wife. It would solve problems for Kahyla but endanger Despard as a heathen and her chosen Paer or spiritual father.

“Thank you, Princess Lualih,” said Kahyla. “I am in your debt.”
“The debt is mine, if you choose to accept Tauno’s offer. I’ve been a pawn all my life, either my father, Master Vayhne, the Queens, or whatever Baron was on the rise.” Her face softened. “Tauno never saw me as a stepping stone to power. He knew I was bored with watercolors and brought me ships’ logs instead. I snuck out to see him wherever I could, but I knew it had to end someday. I’d be married off to a Baron to seal a deal, or worse, a foreign prince, to secure an alliance and never see Huxen or Tauno again.”
Lualih leaned forward. “Whatever you want to accept Tauno’s proposal, I will get for you. As soon as you’re wed, he’s a lord with land in Silvern barony. The Prelate of Parkith can marry Tauno and I in the Grand Temple and the demons can howl protest for all I care. You can get me Tauno. What do you want, Kahyla?”
“I want what marrying Baron Gooseport would destroy: a quiet life in Tamrin Manor, free to choose a partner instead of married to a stranger.”
“Marry Tauno and you’ll get it. You can retire to Tamrin with a squad of Blues to enforce your privacy. If Tauno tried to claim bed-rights against your wishes, I’d make sure he couldn’t walk straight for a month.”
Despard’s armor creaked as he shifted uncomfortably.
“It’s not that simple,” said Kahyla. “But getting us safely through reclaiming our home is a start.”

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Mark Paleologopoulos @markpaleo.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

“Are you a vegetarian?” “I’ll eat whatever you put in front of me.” “Good to know.” She winks and sips her seltzer. Did I really just say that? I’ve been training myself for months to avoid double entendres, so I don’t make a mistake just like that. She's got me back on my heels again. #WIPSnips

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

#WIPSnips The word for September 14 is MONTH Kharys is captured by the nomari when he's a child. He knows nothing about them... and they know nothing about him. He thinks of time in "months" at first. And he gradually learns what the nomari want of him. #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #SFF

Text excerpt from NOMARA, a science fiction WIP by L.L. Stephens. Snip is a flashback from Kharys's POV to the time of his capture by the nomari and his presentation to Arasend:

Too beautiful to kill.
Arasend’s lips had touched those of the captive, and she gave him a name, Kharys, which meant Beautiful. His own name she never attempted to learn. He stored it with his other memories, a thing he no longer had need to use. Kharys he was, the Queen’s treasure, her possession, and Kharys was what he became.
The place where they kept him would have been a palace among Men. He lacked for nothing, not silk to wear, nor food to eat, nor beauty in his surroundings. For a time, tormented by imaginings and ignorant of speech, he had feared a fate such as that which had befallen a nomari queen the Nogsha had once captured—to be tortured brutally and ravished, and then publicly slain by some cruel means, a sacrifice or worse. But one day after the third month of his stay there, and struggling with his new mastery of the language, he at last voiced his fear to one of the ocher-eyed females who cared for him. She had soothed him and assured him otherwise.
“It is Her pleasure for you to live, so that you might serve Her.”
“But I do not serve Her,” he had said. It was true, for he did nothing.
“You will.”

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MrOmega @mr0mega.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

#WIPSnips Our thief returns to his home city after fleeing under circumstances that made it uncertain if he ever would. There are a couple problems he has to deal with. #Fantasy #writingcommunity #writesky #writingprompts

(....) I know we had a lot of work to do, but l wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon just taking it all back in. Get a good meal, head to one of the parks at the edge to get a look outside, and take a long nap back at...

"Wait." I said out loud. "I haven't paid my landlord in months." This got the attention of the rest of the group. "Where am I gonna sleep?"

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