iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 20h

Here's my submission! My first time drawing in digital instead of traditional, all done on my phone! This was super fun! Still can't get over how feral and stabby the possum rogue is! On the trail of adventure!

A raccoon on two legs, with a cloak and a sword, a fox in a hat holding a lantern, and an possum with two daggers and a fierce look on its face!

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 28/09/2026

Still looking for an authenticity reader for my fictional trans-affirming magical girl anime!

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 26/09/2026

I am hiring an authenticity reader for The Egg Prime Directive: specifically for the sections set in Japan in the early 2000s. I'm looking for someone with lived experience of Japanese language/culture & specific domain knowledge about anime/manga, Japanese LGBTQ+ experiences, & Japanese folklore.

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 26/09/2026

At long last we have obtained and administered puberty blockers for our trans son!! It took almost 12 months since he realized how badly he needed them to get to this point! It was a JOURNEY to get access to these, but QueerMed—the folks who eventually came through for us—forever have my gratitude!

Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 24/09/2026

Without looking at tropes dotcom or whatnot, what's something in your book/comic that *isn't* an established trope, but you treat like one? (e.g. you always have this theme, situation, character, archetype): Neurospicy T4T polycules. oh, also: Euphemisms for transfeminine lady parts!!

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 24/09/2026

Still reading my ARC of this, but fuck damn I'm enjoying it! The texture of the world, the sense of history imbuing everything, the genuinely fresh cosmology and magic system...and that's just the *backdrop* for two EXTREMELY compelling viewpoint characters and a page-turner plot!

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 24/09/2026

I feel like I'm finding my style with the digital sketching. Really quite pleased with the mood of this one!

A digital illustration of a Valkyrie Necromancer, in black line art.

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 23/09/2026

The big consistency edit is a humbling reckoning with how much of a chaos gremlin Past Tess was, even *after* multiple copyediting passes through the book. But fuck damn it feels good to feel like I'm running out of issues to fix!

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 21/09/2026

Copyedits on the Egg Prime Directive are done (huge thanks to @drtanenbaumii.bsky.social and @catblackard.bsky.social !) Initial layout in InDesign is done!! Final page count is likely going to fluctuate a bit as I tweak things, but it's at 359 currently! It's really real! It's really a book!

static.klipy.com

Kermit the Frog Dances - The Muppet Show Tribute

Alt: Kermit the Frog flails excitedly in front of a red velvet curtain!

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 20/09/2026

Make friends with nice lesbians who have goats, and you can have an afternoon that is the Greatest Of All Time!

Tess, holding a goat, surrounded by goats, and smiling the biggest smile ever!

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 20/09/2026

I've had enough people ask me "when did you get top surgery?" this summer that I guess it's time to accept that my breast growth is real and not just a figment of my hopeful imagination. Y'all, I don't think I should be trusted with this kind of power...it's highly unlikely I'll use it responsibly.

Selfie of Tess, in a very dyke-y outfit: hiking boots, blue shorts, punk belt, green tank top, and an ankh necklace.

Tess, in a very dyke-y outfit: hiking boots, blue shorts, punk belt, green tank top, and an ankh necklace. She is bent over, and her boobs a boobing mightily.

Tess, in a very dyke-y outfit: hiking boots, blue shorts, punk belt, green tank top, and an ankh necklace. She's looking down at the camera with one hand on her hip, and an expression on her face that says: "Hello, bottom."

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 17/09/2026

@drtanenbaumii.bsky.social is currently writing a scene for our new book where the MC—a trans academic—encounters a dude at a conference who critiques her on an overreliance on her "husband's" research only she has no husband, just older papers published under her deadname & it's SO BRUTAL Y'ALL!

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 17/09/2026

Science isn't a statistical gachapon. The contempt these clowns have for the bedrock processes underlying knowledge production & scholarship truly knows no limit. It was bad enough when—as a scholar in an interdisciplinary field—I had to deal w/ quants reviewing qualitative/humanistic papers badly.

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 16/09/2026

PLEASE BOOST & SHARE! I spent some time this week reworking my Patreon I'm shifting away from monthly poetry-posting & towards behind-the-scenes & early-access stuff connected to new writing, illustration, game design & music projects. Only $2/month for full access!

patreon.com

The New Moth Mother Patreon! | Theresa Jean Tanenbaum | Moth Mother

Hi y'all! I took a chunk of August and September off to to travel for WorldCon and think carefully about the future of this Patreon. I also

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 16/09/2026

patreon.com

The New Moth Mother Patreon! | Theresa Jean Tanenbaum | Moth Mother

Hi y'all! I took a chunk of August and September off to to travel for WorldCon and think carefully about the future of this Patreon. I also

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 14/09/2026

This goes double for any business that adds me to an email list just for using my credit card at their physical point of sale system. I just wanted to buy some juice, brohime. I'm not here to enter into a committed relationship with your brand.

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Gretchen Felker-Martin PRE ORDER CHIMERA 2.16.27 🍉 @scumbelievable.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

a coalition stands together, that's how it generates and wields power in the political arena. on top of being basic human decency, standing up for trans people is politically expedient.

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 13/09/2026

"vote blue no matter who" undermines the project of representative democracy just as much as voter suppression & gerrymandering do. It gives politicians carte blanche to take your vote for granted. If you aren't demanding that your representative in government EARN your vote, you're enabling abuse.

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 13/09/2026

This stabby possum is officially my favorite thing I've ever drawn! #possum #sketch #natureissoothing

A black and white digital line art illustration of a possum standing on two feet, with her mouth open, hissing. She wears two black booties, and holds two curving daggers in her fists, which are raised up to her mouth. She looks INTENSE!

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 12/09/2026

This call has inspired me to try digital drawing for the first time. I have a phone with a stylus that has been unused up till this week. So far I am having WAY too much fun!! H/T to @jellyfishlines.itch.io for sending this my way and @goodtrailcams.bsky.social for amazing reference images!🫶🏻🙏🏻

A digital drawing of a raccoon standing up wearing a cloak and carrying a sword, and a fox kit holding a lantern in its mouth.

A trail cam photo of a raccoon standing and staring at the camera.

A trail cam photo of a fox kit squinting its eyes.

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JK @miniver.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Thinking of that TV series where the villain is the lead characters’ own money < nested threads >

youtu.be

Succession Opening Credits Theme Song | Succession | HBO

YouTube video by HBO

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 12/09/2026

The event horizon in a singularity is the point at which the gravitic pull of its mass is so great that not even light can escape any more. Money has an event horizon that billionaires live inside of where the weight of their accumulated capitol is so great that they literally can't get rid of it.

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 12/09/2026

As an outsider artist making art with my hands and handmade ink whose work lives in that messy imperfect space that AI will never colonize, I support this message! I'm dipping my toe in the water of accepting commissions if anyone wants to buy some of my inky scribblings! ko-fi.com/c/1b4143d846

ko-fi.com

Watercolor and Black Walnut Ink Illustration

Commission available on Ko-fi.com

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 10/09/2026

These Democrats! You'd think they actually AGREE with the conservatives about how much they all hate trans people, amirite!? But of course they're actually on our side, right? ...right? They make unforced errors like this because they genuinely agree with their opponents about us.

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 09/09/2026

Continuing to prepare art for my October show. This is the biggest piece I've done so far in this style and I just can't get over how cool it turned out! #traditionalart #mixedmedia #acrylics #blackwalnutink #painting #art

Tempest (2026) acrylic, black walnut ink, and ephemera, on watercolor paper, mounted on plywood, painted with acrylic and black walnut ink.

The painting is of a seascape, with palm trees in the center, and three-story book princesses standing on a rise made of strips of an old letter.

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 09/09/2026

I'm framing and mounting some of my paintings for an upcoming show and had a fun idea that I think has turned out SO cool!! (Posting in reverse order so the finished piece is at the front and then the process works backwards...)

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 09/09/2026

I'm as much of an armchair endocrinologist as the next trans femme, but the really niche expertise I bring to my writing is decades of academic service and committee work, all of which fuel the simmering rage of my current (professor) protagonist.

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 09/09/2026

Holding this beautiful thing in my hands tonight & I'm so thrilled that my poem "With all due credit to Kafka, etc." was chosen to be a part of it! It's a STAGGERINGLY brilliant collection of writing! Y'all should pre-order now so you don't miss out when it is unleashed upon an unsuspecting world!

Tess holding a copy of Your Body is a Fever Dream with a stunned but happy look on her face.

"With all due credit to Kafka, etc.
Theresa Jean Tanenbaum

One day I woke up and the skin of the woman
I'd been becoming
had sloughed off me
It stuck to the bed sheets starting to dissolve

I thought I knew what I was transitioning into
when I started HRT
but I didn't | couldn't | wouldn't"

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 08/09/2026

Y'all, it's been a rough day. Discovered our male duck disemboweled by a predator this afternoon and spent most of the day digging a grave and modifying the duck house so we can shut the rest of the flock in at night. Also broke up with my new(est) girlfriend. Please send all the hugs!

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 08/09/2026

I was a tarot card reader for the Psychic Network in the summer of 2000. Our location was entirely staffed by women (although I didn't realize that at the time) & owned by a married Mormon couple. I worked graveyard shift. My co-workers came & went between long-haul trucking gigs. The pay was shit.

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 08/09/2026

RT if you've never had a tab of ChatGPT open, period.

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 07/09/2026

Absolutely shameful non-response from the #LACon folks here. Mari was one of the first people to welcome me and make me feel like a part of the community at my first worldcon. It's a stain on our community that she was made to feel so unwelcome this year.

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 06/09/2026

Do you want humanity to survive, or do you want human institutions to survive? Because right now we exist inside of a monster that has eaten us, and we're going to either have to cut our way out or sit still and patiently wait for it to digest us. All institutions need a built-in expiration date.

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Autumn Wolff | Lesbian Romance Author @autumnwolff.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Tonight's update to my rent assistant fundraising goal: NOICE. ko-fi.com/autumnwolff/... We're getting closer and closer! Thank y'all so much. Just about there, and my wife and I can stay housed for another month. #mutualaid

ko-fi.com

Buy Autumn Wolff a Coffee

Become a supporter of Autumn Wolff today!

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 04/09/2026

The novel is going to be super fun! As much as I dislike reducing a book down to its tropes, it's useful at this stage when we're still working out the basics: this one will have sapphic rivals to lovers, secret cryptids, dark academia, monsterfucking, and a hidden paranormal world beneath our own!

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 04/09/2026

The lovely thing about being done with edits for the novel is that I get to work on other projects again! Even though I'm still traveling, in the last week I've finished & submitted a new speculative poem, revised an older novelette substantially, & started a new short story & new novel!

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 02/09/2026

Without saying your age, what is your favorite movie that came out when you were 20 years old? y'all, I am way too autistic to choose a single movie from that year (because hierarchies are bullshit) and it was SUCH a good year for movies. but, also this came out *right* after my 20th birthday...

static.klipy.com

Matrix Neo: Keanu Reeves' Bullet-Time Dodge

Alt: The infamous bullet time sequence in the Matrix, where Keanu Reeves as Neo dodges a hail of gunfire in slow motion while the camera pans around the character.

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 02/09/2026

I have a simple rule when starting a new project: "Does writing this make me cackle with maniacal glee?" I have to believe I'll find readers who feel similarly, but if I don't it's OK because the writing was joyful. I think I'd struggle with this, tho, if my rent or healthcare was at stake. 🧵

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 02/09/2026

Greetings new followers from the starter pack on TTRPG scholars! You might know me from such hits as "thank fuck I left academia" and "LLMs are as welcome as a wet fart on an airplane". Stick around for thirsty trans sapphic magical girls and monsterfucking! go.bsky.app/NmSNGup

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 02/09/2026

New band photo just dropped! We are the weirdo kids your parents warned you about! with Zabé Ellor, @viengsamai.bsky.social, @mothmother.com, @charliejane.bsky.social, and @fozmeadows.bsky.social!

Five extraordinarily attractive people across a wide spectrum of gender expressions. They stand in a cluster, staring at the camera and smiling. Several of them wear WorldCon badges.

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 01/09/2026

No firm release date for The EggPrimeDirective.com yet but since I've been talking about this at WorldCon I figured I'd share it here too: I'm looking at an Easter 2027 release (because, you know...eggs)! This gives me time to get it to beta & authenticity readers & make sure everything is perfect!

eggprimedirective.com

The Egg Prime Directive - A T4T Sapphic Romance by Theresa Jean Tanenbaum | The Egg Prime Directive

The Egg Prime Directive is a cozy, sexy, sapphic magical girl romance about two useless lesbians - and one of them doesn't even know she's a girl yet! By Theresa Jean Tanenbaum

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Karen Tanenbaum @drtanenbaumii.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Somehow we have acquired too many books, both purchased and adopted. The @laworldcon.bsky.social freebie table is clearly a fae trap designed to sell suitcases. #worldcon

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 31/08/2026

Done with my last panel at WorldCon and ready to sleep for a week! But I also have an endless stack of books I NEED to read, and stories I NEED to write!

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 31/08/2026

A delightful thread of @tkingfisher.com's fascinating animal facts from last night's Hugo Awards ceremony.

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 29/08/2026

I've just quarantined 95 pages of poetry that is ineligible for first publication in the poetry markets I'm most interested in (because I've published them on my Patreon). Which means I've got 95 pages of poetry to mine for my next chapbook! Frown turned upside down!😝

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 28/08/2026

It was so incredibly cool to see this post when I got back to my room! I had so much fun reading poems and a selection from The Egg Prime Directive tonight! I can't believe people came out at 9:40 to hear them! Absolutely thrilled with the response I got to it!

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 28/08/2026

It's true, I did read a poem entitled "Hot Girl Shit"! (also, how cool is this!?)

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Tess is Surviving the Horrors @mothmother.com · 28/08/2026

1st day of Worldcon done! Chatted with @adapalmer.bsky.social on zoom, caught up with @fozmeadows.bsky.social, talked about writing neurodivergent folks, met @eruditorumpress.com, read speculative poems & a chapter from The Egg Prime Directive, & found a copy of my book on sale on the dealers floor!

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