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R.P.Holliman

@rpholliman.bsky.social
54 followers 46 following 77 posts

Therapist turned fantasy novelist. Magic, swords, and emotional baggage linktr.ee/rpholliman

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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
One of the best things about self-publishing: I get to make the decisions. A book coach once told me a novel without a romantic subplot would be hard sell in trad publishing. Some subplots in otherwise great stories read like a note from the publisher. 📚🪐 📚💙 #AmWritingFantasy
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Best writing advice I've gotten: "Allow yourself to write poorly." Every time I've struggled writing, it's because I was trying to edit and create at the same time. Can't cite any neuroscience studies, but I'm pretty sure the brain can't do both at once. Let it be messy! 📚🪐 📚💙 #AmWritingFantasy
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Shield mages at Galdur Academy don't just protect — they do the slow, unglamorous work of healing what comes after. Most people never grasp that kind of power. A peek from the free lore guide for Galdur Academy, coming soon. 📚🪐 📚💙 #AmWritingFantasy
Quote on navy blue background" True power is having the fortitude of will to protect another and engage in the mundane particularities of healing their wounds. This is a power most cannot ever fathom" By R.P. Holliman # Galdur Academy.
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Nothing like finishing your first draft's big finale... and realizing it's actually just the midpoint. Back to the outline. Anyone else's "finished" draft turn out to be only half finished? 📚🪐 📚💙 #AmWritingFantasy
Writing on a wall that reads" Nothing like realizing your novel's finale is actually just the middle of the story" Grafitti is added that says, "The End"
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Big news: finishing a free lore book on Galdur Academy's schools—for newsletter subscribers only. I promise news-only, no 20-page sagas every time I sneeze like a bad LinkedIn post. Sign-up at www.rpholliman.com 📚🪐 📚💙 #AmWritingFantasy
rpholliman.com
R.P.Holliman
Born and raised in North Texas, R.P. Holliman is a counselor, professor, and novelist who writes stories where the extraordinary brushes up against the deeply human. His debut nov
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Unpopular opinion: Temple of Doom is the best Indiana Jones movie. Why?: It's the only one where the entire world isn't ending. Just Indy having a really bad Tuesday. I want novels with human-sized stakes sometimes instead of always having universe-ending ones. 📚🪐 📚💙 #AmWritingFantasy
Picture of a dark alley lit by a lantern. Quote, "This isn't the End of the World... It's just Another Tuesday." Photo by Patrik Carlberg.
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
My wife is my most valued first reader. Her note on anything I write: "It needs 75% more cats." She's never wrong about anything so more felines in the sequel it is! Drop a cat picture in the comments if you agree with my wife 📚🪐 📚💙 #AmWritingFantasy
Black cat with green eyes, with the following caption: "The thing this book really needs... is 75% more cats in It.
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
On June 8th I'll be presenting on Creating Psychologically Complex Characters at the East Texas Writer's Guild. We're going to dig into what makes fictional people feel real- from complicated and messy heroes, to villains that are sure they're the hero.
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
I love writing pseudo-medieval England — castles, intrigue, magic. Actually living there in the middle ages? Hard pass. I spent a week in Munich without AC once and nearly didn't survive. Medieval England would finish me off entirely. 😅 What's your timetravel dealbreaker? 📚🪐 📚💙 #AmWritingFantasy
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booksbyjeffrey @booksbyjeffrey.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
“It is not the critic who counts. The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena, so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” ― Theodore Roosevelt #quoteoftheday #booksky
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
One thing guaranteed to earn a book a one-way ticket out of my hands — a main character with no redeeming values! I rage-finished An American Tragedy once, hating the protagonist more and more with each page. Never again! What sends a book to your DNF pile? #DNF 📚🪐 📚💙 #AmWritingFantasy
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
In the world of Galdur Academy, every mage candidate must submit their blood to a phylactery repository. Not as a formality. As a leash. 🧵 Choose magic, and you choose to be findable. Stoppable. Accountable. 👀 Grab your copy: www.amazon.com/Galdur-Acade... #Ga 📚🪐 📚💙 #AmWritingFantasy
A vial of blood with rose petals floating in the air. The Text reads: The Wizard's Phylactery. Photo by Anastasiia Ornarian.
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
I said Biblo (not Bil-bo) Baggins until I was way too old to admit it. Bil-bo sounds like a hillbilly hobbit. What's your most embarrassing fantasy mispronunciation? Mine is apparently a hobbit's entire identity. 📚🪐 📚💙 #AmWritingFantasy
Fantasy character names printed in different text. The names include: Drizzt Do'Urden; Rand al'Thor; Elminster; Daenerys Targaryen; The Morrigan; Bilbo Baggins; Nynaeve al'Meara
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Underrated trilogy. Important life lesson: whatever you do, don't let anyone turn your hands into snakes. Also can we talk about how rad 90s fantasy cover art was? These artists were operating on a completely different level and they deserve their flowers. 📚🪐 📚💙
A book cover titled "The Medusa Plague: Denders of Magic Trilogy Volume 2. Author: Mary Kirchoff" The book cover shows three medieveal peoeple looking at a man whose hands have turned into snakes." Beside the book cover is a caption that reads "Only in 90's fantasy"
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
As a therapist, I know our brains sometimes see the world in black-and-white morality. So I wrote a novel where the authority figures are passive and ineffectual, and the villains make some uncomfortable sense. Who are your favorite morally gray characters in literature? 🩷🧙‍♂️⚔️ 📚🪐
Quote with a library as a background: " You're a scared, old man that would rather put his head in the sand than do something. You belong in a library." Author: R.P.Holliman, Book:Galdur Academy-Secrets in the Blood
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
I walked into work today, and when asked how I was doing I said, "The only thing that's keeping me going is caffeine and spite." My colleagues said they were jealous that I still had spite
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Today I finished the final scene of the first draft of Galdur Academy: When the Ley Breaks. A door shuts, and not everyone gets to walk away unchanged. I’m learning to let the story hurt a little. #AmWritingFantasy 🪐📚
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Hello! I’ve teamed up with a group of fantasy authors to offer free review copies of epic fantasy and magical academy fantasy titles. We’d love for you to take a look: storyoriginapp.com/to/3H72SrC #ARC #AmWritingFantasy 🪐📚
storyoriginapp.com
Magical Academies & Epic Fantasy — ARCs for Honest Reviews
Fantasy | Magic | Academy | Epic | Fae
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Just went through character creation with a player for a new Changeling: The Dreaming campaign, and it was magical. There’s something about the very start of a story — like previews before a movie — all promise and hope, before anything has had the chance to break yet. #Fantasy #TTRPG
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Only in academia do people fight so hard over something so little. It took me years to realize I’d built that truth into Galdur Academy—how scarcity turns minor differences into identity wars, and why people bleed over slices of pie. rpholliman.com/blog/galdur-... #writing #fantasy 🪐📚
rpholliman.com
Blog | R.P.Holliman
Galdur Academy & the Slices of Pie Theory | I’ve spent most of my life in academia. The first twenty-seven years, I was on the receiving end of the red pen. The rest of it, I’ve b
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Reading Guy Windsor’s longsword manual to write a sword-fighting scene in my new novel. Sadly, my Texas education focused a lot on the Alamo and not nearly enough on Italian swordfighting.
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
I’ve put up a StoryOrigin review request for Secrets in the Blood. If you enjoy magical academies, institutional secrets, and morally complicated characters, I’d love to hear what you think. #writingfantasy
Screenshot of a storyorigin review request.
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
There’s something endlessly intriguing about tarot decks. I keep one on my desk and use it like an alternative Rorschach — everyone always wants to look through it. This year, The Hermit feels right: insight through solitude. That’s the energy I’m making room for.
A woman in a black dress with a grey cloak and a star pendant looks at a book on a table in a dark room with gothic style windows. The image is from a modern interpretation of the Tarot representing the Hermit card.
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Kaija Rayne 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇨🇦 Randomly active @kaijarayne.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Reminder to every creative person making anything. Having hope and creating in the face of horror is rebellion too. It's also one of the bravest things we can ever do. Please remember that. Oh... and that all art is innately political.
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
So Merriam-Webster did me dirty for 2026 and gave me the word mid. Which… honestly feels fitting, since I frequently tell people I’m a pessimist who thinks he’s a realist.
The word "mid" on a blue-green background with the heder, Merriam-Webster, Your 2026 Word.
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
It’s that special time of year: the time when my wife and I try to beat our reading goals for the year in a single week. One of the advantages of living with an introvert. Anyone else doing a last-minute reading sprint?
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Krista D Ball is Canada's Spooky Potato @kristadb1.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
The cat who died - but got better - is having his corrective surgery today to finish the work they started before he died (but got better). I'm well into five digits for pet bills this year, so please RT a book from this long book thread.
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
One of the reasons I fell in love with fantasy as a kid was Bilbo Baggins. Even then, I knew I was a hobbit at heart—and Tolkien made me believe that even hobbits can go on adventures. #Tolkien #Fantasy
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
One of the biggest surprises while writing my book was realizing that one of the most supportive, kind-seeming characters had quietly become the antagonist. I’m still not ready to call her the villain — and that’s part of why Galdur Academy: Secrets in the Blood means so much to me.
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
If you’re tired of fantasy that defaults to pseudo-medieval England, Throne of the Crescent Moon is such a breath of fresh air! I wish it was the first of a 10 book series. What’s your favorite fantasy set outside the usual medieval-Europe mold?
Book cover with the title, Throne of the Cresent Moon, by the author Saladin Ahmed.  The cover shows an older slightly oveweight man shooting a burst of light from his hand, while two other warriors help him fight off a horde of animated skeletons.
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
In the Holliman household, the engine that drives fantasy writing is simple: cold Diet Dr Pepper, warm cats, and an AC blasting while I’m buried under blankets.
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
A small teaser from [Galdur Academy: Secrets in the Blood] (www.amazon.com/Galdur-Acade...).
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Polly Schattel @pollyschattel.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
Indie fiction is punk rock. You may not be blowing away the bestseller lists, but you’re still important and you still matter greatly. And as always, it’s the work that counts.
"People realized there was a way to do it in a very underground, low-key way that still counted and was still important," says Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo. "People got this idea that ultimately what mattered was the quality of what you were doing and how much importance you gave to it, regardless of how widespread it became or how many records it sold."
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
I was a professor and half the faculty stopped speaking to each other. We hadn’t had a meeting in over a year. Mediation rejected. And administration said, "Just give the aggressor what he wants." That’s when I knew I had to leave—so I wrote "Secrets in the Blood" about staying and fighting.
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Galdur Academy: Secrets in the Blood is officially live on Amazon. If you like magical academies, flawed heroes, hidden histories, and a touch of danger, this one’s for you. Swing by www.rpholliman.com to explore the world of Galdur Academy and the stalwart mages in the academy!
Book cover with the title, "Galdur Academy: Secrets in the Blood" written by R.P.Holliman. It shows a woman with frost-white hair, alabaster skin, and a green robe. She is standing in a chamber with bookcases filled with vials of blood, while she carries a torch.
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R.P.Holliman @rpholliman.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
My co-author insisted on this photo shoot.
 Black cat with green eyes staring at the screen while sitting on a book
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