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Peter Darbyshire

@peterdarbyshire.bsky.social
397 followers 248 following 298 posts

I write books and stories. Sometimes I even publish them. peterdarbyshire.com

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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 22h
Now more than ever we need to support the magazines that matter to us. I've long been a subscriber to @bcsmagazine.bsky.social and I can't think of a better investment. Please join me.
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Reposted by Peter Darbyshire
Beneath Ceaseless Skies Magazine @bcsmagazine.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
"The Angel Azrael Visits the Trading Post at the End of the World" @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social BCS #444. "Darbyshire’s Azrael stories are terrific reads, written in a tersely lyrical prose with a rugged weird Western edge. Recommended" @mariahaskins.com beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-...
beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Angel Azrael Visits the Trading Post at the End of the World a Final Time by Peter Darbyshire
Azrael went back to the dead horse and considered the trading post for a moment. Whatever was going on here, he had no choice but to walk into it. Nakir had to be still inside, after all. She never le...
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
D&D has made me the writer I am, for better or worse. Could have something to do with my players attempting to saddle a beholder and ride it into battle.... peterdarbyshire.com/2026/09/04/h...
peterdarbyshire.com
How D&D made me the writer I am
Roll a d20 for a creativity check. Whenever I do interviews, the discussion often turns to Dungeons and Dragons. What sort of influence has D&D had on my writing? I suspect my answer to that is…
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Should the Top Ten Books List be abolished? While we're at it, how about any ranking system (stars, etc.)? thewalrus.ca/abolish-the-...
thewalrus.ca
Abolish the Top Ten Books List | The Walrus
Rankings are a capitalist scheme. Just tell me about the text
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
New story out: "The Secret Library of Hell" in Black Cat Weekly. What happens when the demon Molox and his mischievous imp Malachi visit the Secret Library of Hell? They find themselves in a mystery that could change the nature of the infernal realm itself! Link: blackcatweekly.com/b/9kszJ
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
The end is nigh! I mean of course the end of the sale where you can get 50% off Has the World Ended Yet?, my collection of apocalyptic tales. Get it now before the world actually ends.
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Is there such a thing as distinctly Canadian urban fantasy? I make a case for it in "Conjuring a Magical Canada with Canadian Urban Fantasy," an essay at @wolsakandwynn.bsky.social's new House Style blog. www.wolsakandwynn.ca/blog/conjuri...
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Ah, this sucks. I've always loved Open Book. This is a loss that will definitely be felt. We need more support of #CanLit creators and publishers, not less. We are all part of the same community. In the meantime, many thanks to @openbookon.bsky.social for all the great work they've done.
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
The end of the world is now 50% off! My publisher @wolsakandwynn.bsky.social is having a backlist blowout and you can get my tales of the apocalypse, Has the World Ended Yet?, for half price in July. Discount applied at checkout by angry space bears. bookstore.wolsakandwynn.ca/products/has...
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Looking to read more Canadian? Check out the Canadian Literary Map! It's a very cool new resource that collects books set in different parts of Canada. It just launched on Canada Day so it's a bit light, but you can suggest additions. canadian-literary-map.netlify.app #CanLit
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Did you at least start smashing cereal boxes?
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Love the show so far. Episode 5 was gold.
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
New interview just went live! Great conversation about the power of storytelling and why it's so important to make our world magic again.
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
It's Zombie Awareness Month! Beware of: 🧟‍♂️Undead cyborg superheroes 🧟‍♂️Zombie marketers 🧟‍♂️Zombie actors Also futuristic hit men, ghost hunters, deity salesmen, elder god career coaches and more! All in Has the World Ended Yet?, a collection of various apocalypses. peterdarbyshire.com/has-the-worl...
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Do you have a weakness for 🪽 Diabolical angels ⚔️ Immortal rogues 💫 Scheming faerie 📖 Literary characters turned flesh and blood? Then you may want to check out The Wonder Lands War! More info: 🔗https://peterdarbyshire.com/the-wonder-lands-war
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Should we really be releasing the krakens from the fossils? www.cbc.ca/news/science...
cbc.ca
Earliest octopuses were Kraken-like sea monsters, fossils show | CBC News
Whale-sized, monstrous octopuses prowled the seas during the Age of Dinosaurs, snatching prey with their huge tentacles and crunching them with powerful jaws, fossils from B.C. and Japan suggest.
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Happy BC Book Day from a proud BC author! It's a great day to read local and shop local. Let me know your favourite BC author as I'm always looking to expand my reading list. 📚BC indie bookstores: www.readlocalbc.ca/resources/bo... 📚BC publishers: www.readlocalbc.ca/resources/in...
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
If you're interested in hearing me go on about Zelazny, I did a podcast with the Re-Creative crew on the Chronicles of Amber: re-creative.ca/the-chronicl...
re-creative.ca
Episode 61: The Chronicles of Amber - Re-Creative
Author Peter Darbyshire joins the lads to champion the classic Roger Zelazny fantasy series, The Chronicles of Amber.
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
Roger Zelazny was one of the first writers to show me how lyrical and poetic writing could be, to say nothing of being wildly imaginative, genre blending and just plain funny at times. This is a wonderful honour for a wonderful writer.
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
So looking forward to this one!
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
I’m thrilled and honoured to see my latest book, The Wonder Lands War, get a shoutout at Transactions With Beauty! Transactions With Beauty features thoughtful mediations on art, books, calmness, culture and everything else we need to be our best selves. transactionswithbeauty.com/home/threebo...
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Happy World Theatre Day! Is there any place more magical than the theatre, where we can all create new worlds together? Maybe even worlds better than this one? peterdarbyshire.com/2026/03/27/h...
media.tenor.com
a man is sitting on a stool in front of a meat pie shop with the words `` times is hard '' .
ALT: a man is sitting on a stool in front of a meat pie shop with the words `` times is hard '' .
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Links to all the Azrael the angel gunslinger stories in @bcsmagazine.bsky.social here: www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/authors/pete...
beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Peter Darbyshire by Scott H. Andrews
Peter Darbyshire has published multiple Azrael the Angel Gunslinger stories in Beneath Ceaseless Skies as well as several books, including Has the World Ended Yet?, The Warhol Gang, Please, and the Cr...
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
What happens when the angel gunslinger Azrael rides into a strange town of the dead and becomes trapped in a supernatural card game? Find out in "The Angel Azrael and the Dead Man's Hand," a Locus recommended read. #WeirdWestWednesday www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-...
beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Angel Azrael and the Dead Man’s Hand by Peter Darbyshire
Only Azrael knew it wasn’t luck. He’d watched the game in the reflection of the bottles before he’d turned around, and he’d seen Nick palm a card in one hand and drop a card out of the sleeve of anoth...
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
"While Cross’s quest takes him to many fascinating places — magical libraries with supernatural librarians, a Venetian island of murderous and undying priests, a secret tomb for an angel — my favourite place in the book is the Wonder Lands, which are more dangerous than their literary counterpart."
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
What if your favourite places from books were real? I'm over at @maryrobinettekowal.com's My Favourite Bit to discuss The Wonder Lands War, where the immortal rogue Cross ventures into the faerie realm that inspired the Wonderland tales in order to save Alice. maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/my-f...
maryrobinettekowal.com
My Favorite Bit: Peter Darbyshire talks about THE WONDER LANDS WAR
Peter Darbyshire is joining us today to talk about his novel, The Wonder Lands War. Here’s the publisher’s description: The eagerly awaited fourth book in the Cross series of supernatural thrillers…
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
Want to support Canadian creators? Check out the On Spec 2026 Kickstarter. I just backed them because now more than ever we need to help build a stronger Canadian culture. www.kickstarter.com/projects/edw...
kickstarter.com
On Spec 2026: New Canadian Literature of the Fantastic
An anthology of science fiction and fantasy by Canadian authors, following in the footsteps of the late, great On Spec Magazine.
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Most books published now are self-published? Interesting article on the increase in the number of books published with ISBNs in the U.S. jumping 32.5% in 2025, with the majority of books being self-pubbed (3.5 million of 4 million). www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
publishersweekly.com
Book Output Topped Four Million in 2025
The total number of books published in the U.S. in 2025 jumped 32.5% over 2024, according to statistics compiled by Bowker, led by a boom in self-published titles. The number of traditionally publishe...
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Fun fact: Lewis Carroll’s inspiration for the Wonderland tales was his visits to the real Wonder Lands, a chaos realm ruled by faerie that had enchanted him. Learn all about it in The Wonder Lands War. Out now in magical book emporiums near you! peterdarbyshire.com/the-wonder-l...
peterdarbyshire.com
The Wonder Lands War
The eagerly awaited fourth book in the Cross series of supernatural thrillers. The immortal Cross is back in a wild new adventure – a desperate hunt to find the enigmatic Alice from the Wonderland …
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
If you do like my Cross books, then check out Stan On Guard. And if you don't like my Cross books, then also check out Stan On Guard! #ShoutoutSunday
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
A pair of immortals live through the ages, getting caught in history and myth, hanging out with characters such as Odysseus and Nietzsche, while locked in a deadly dance. No, I’m not talking about my Cross books. This is the premise of Stan On Guard by KR Wilson. guernicaeditions.com/products/sta...
guernicaeditions.com
Stan On Guard
Ishtanu (call him Stan) is a Hittite immortal keeping his head down in Toronto and recounting some of his experiences. Tróán is an immortal Trojan princess who thought she’d killed Stan in post-war Be...
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
What happens when angels fall from the sky into a community of retired superheroes who just want the world to end? Find out in Has the World Ended Yet?, a collection of #WeirdLit apocalypses for a strange world. peterdarbyshire.com/has-the-worl...
peterdarbyshire.com
Has the World Ended Yet?
“Darbyshire (The Warhol Gang) delights in mashing pop-culture genres together, exposing profound truths beneath classic tropes in ways at once hilarious, weird, and heart-breaking.” &#8…
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
“In the beginning was an angel, a church and a knife.” Read The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, the book that kicked off the Cross series. 🪽 A holy war among the angels fought on earth 💫 Mischievous faerie with their own agenda 🗡️ An immortal rogue caught in the middle peterdarbyshire.com/the-mona-lis...
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Thanks for reading and supporting authors like myself!
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
If you haven’t yet checked out The Wonder Lands War, please give it a read. Most bookstores now only carry new books for a few months or even less. Every copy that gets sold means the bookstore may keep carrying that book a bit longer — or even order new copies!
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
If you have read The Wonder Lands War and liked it, please consider giving it a shoutout on your platform of choice. The best publicity for books is always word of mouth and personal recommendations. As I’ve said before, we’re all our own books sections now.
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Spring is coming and with it will come a bloom of new books. So it’s a good time to remind people I still have a new book out! The Wonder Lands War is a supernatural thriller full of magic libraries, enchanted islands, immortal rogues, scheming angels and more. peterdarbyshire.com/the-wonder-l...
peterdarbyshire.com
The Wonder Lands War
The eagerly awaited fourth book in the Cross series of supernatural thrillers. The immortal Cross is back in a wild new adventure – a desperate hunt to find the enigmatic Alice from the Wonderland …
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
It's Freedom to Read Week in Canada. 📚💪📚 Now more than ever we need to stand against censorship and support intellectual freedom! #FTRW26 #FreedomToRead
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Looking to support Canadian indie bookstores? Check out www.booksellers.ca!
booksellers.ca
booksellers.ca | Purchase print books and eBooks online
A network of over 100 bookstores, more than 500,000 print books or eBooks, unparalleled expertise. It is possible to buy local on the Web!
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
This makes reviews by real readers even more important.
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
Happy Valentine's Day!
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Share your favourite reads. Talk about them on your platform of choice, review them where you like, tattoo your favourite lines on visible parts of your body. Carry on the conversation and keep culture alive. Because we see what happens when people don’t care about culture.
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
So yes, we can mourn the death of the Washington Post books section. We should mourn the death of any such place that facilitates conversations around culture. But each of us should become the next chapter.
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
We all need to become our own book section. Word of mouth and personal recommendations have always been the best publicity for a book and that hasn't changed. Passionate readers urging others to check out their favourite books leads to more passionate readers.
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Be your own book section. I’ve seen a lot of conversation online about the Washington Post shutting down its book review section, and it's sad to see this happen no matter its cause. There are only a handful of books sections left, and their days are probably numbered. So what's the answer?
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
I remember Shaw once offered me six months of free cable to stay. The sales rep was stunned when I declined. I quit cable and never looked back.
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Short story club! Book club! Let's do both!
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Ha yes! I am working on book club....
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
"A wonderfully strange tale of angels, nephilim, humans, and more in an apocalyptic Weird West." A nice review of "The Angel Azrael Encounters the Revelation Pilgrims and Other Curiosities" published in @bcsmagazine.bsky.social. www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-...
beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Angel Azrael Encounters the Revelation Pilgrims and Other Curiosities by Peter Darbyshire
“Old bones like those back in the shop just have a little smouldering spark of power left in them,” Azrael said. “Bibles, though, they’re like lightning bolts. Ain’t many that can handle them without ...
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Peter Darbyshire @peterdarbyshire.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Glad you liked the Azrael tale! Thanks so much for sharing!
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