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2025 on Tumblr: Trends That Defined the Year
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
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@ellebeauregard
I’d love to connect with my bookish peeps on here. If you’re a reader (especially if you love reading fantasy and paranormal romance!) or an author, and you’re seeing this, let’s be friends! Or, even just like/comment so I know there’s more of us out there! ❤️
In honor of pride here is one of the most sapphic scenes I've ever written (that I can share here 😘)
The day I finally met Calistus, she walked into my studio with her assistant, Mary, by her side, a ghost of pale among the dark fabrics I regularly worked with then. She was five minutes early, and I was in the middle of deconstructing a vintage jacket so I could use it as a pattern for something better. There was a seam ripper held between my teeth as I plucked thread from the garment. I spit it into my hand when I saw her, and then shoved it, points first, into the messy knot of hair on top of my head as I crossed my studio to greet her.
“Calistus. So nice to meet you in person.”
“You, as well,” she replied, and she seemed…something. Surprised, maybe? I’m still not certain whether I saw her gaze catch on my lips, but I thought, at that time, that I might have.
My blood warms now, just thinking about it.
“Mary, would it be too much for you to wait outside?” I’ll never forget the way her gaze hung on mine while she said it.
“Not at all.” Then Mary up and left, like Calistus’s request wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Knowing Calistus as I do now, it probably wasn’t. Calistus values her independence as much as the input from those she trusts.
The way the air between us lit with electricity when Mary left… I’d hoped she was about to kiss me. It was intense enough, though, there was a non-zero chance she was about to kill me.
Which title do you like best for the first season of a high steam, medium bloody vampire romance serial?
Blood Pact: Silk, Sex & Slaughter
Blood Pact: Beautiful Scars
Blood Pact: Endings & Origins
I’ve started collecting supplies for my absolutely insane Barbies-as-my-characters-photoshoot idea and my ten-year-old is SO into it! Her Barbie clothing and accessory collection is truly impressive, built over years of lockdown and pandemic-era-birthdays where gifts flowed because everyone felt bad she couldn’t have “real” birthday parties 😅 Can she help me stage most of the scenes? Absolutely the fuck not (they are way too adult), but are we having so much fun collecting supplies together? Hell yes we are. 💜💜
I should be ready to announce the full title and release date soon and I can’t wait!
Blood Pact - last line
I finished writing the first draft of Blood Pact!!! Mwahahaha!
81,100 Words
24 Episodes (chapters)
Last line:
In this moment, at least, we both have everything we need.
I'll talk more about it later, for now I just had to come into one of my favorite slices of the internet to celebrate. 🎉
I Want You To Quiet Down by Patrica Grullon
2011, acrylic and ink on wood
This got taken down for violation, even though it’s a perfect example of what is supposedly allowed. So I’ll put it back up for the three minutes it’ll be allowed up. 😴
Look, I can forgive a lot of factual inaccuracies in fanfic, but STOP KISSING FRESH TATTOOS DURING SEXY SCENES. That is a WOUND. And definitely don’t SUCK ON IT.
Fanfic, or original fic. Just, please, respect the fresh tatts.
Is first-person POV in a romance novel really that evil? 0_0
No.
First person POV, especially first person present, offers the opportunity for very visceral, character-centered moments and inner thought on the page that other POVs don’t. I’ve written novels in third person, first-past, and first-present. They all have their place, and some stories are best suited for one over others.
As a side, the POV I likely won’t touch again (never say never) is first-person, past tense. It was the POV of the moment when I wrote the Shift Series and I didn’t give it a second thought at the time but I’m not sure I could get into writing that way now.
Dirty Barbies
I’m going to be turning Barbie dolls into characters from my upcoming vampire Romance serial, Blood Pact.
So why “Dirty Barbies”? Because eventually I’ll gift my upper tier supporters with pics of the characters at pivotal (some nsfw) moments from the story. More on that later.
Am I bananas? Maybe.
Do I have any business taking on an other creative project atm? No.
Is this bringing me a lot of joy? Abso-fucking-lutely.
Join me on this journey. First up: Calistus and Rain.
Here is their “before” 👇 They liked each other as soon as I took them out of the package, which seems like a good sign.
I think one thing that keeps me coming back to Vampire stories (besides the surface value of pretty ladies with sharp teeth that I would let take a nibble out of me) is how malleable the type of story is to the preference and worldview of the writer. Yes, any fictitious creation can potentially mean whatever you want it to mean. But in practice, I've yet to see a single creation cover such a broad spectrum as vampires.
In the days of classic literature for examples, Vampires were simply parasites literally drinking the vitality out of people, but they were based on something in reality that the writer deemed to be the cause of societal rot. Bram Stoker believed those parasites to the the wealthy, aging aristocracy choking the life out of the common folk. 25 years before THAT, however, Sheridan Le Fanu said the parasites were the gays.
In a more modern example, Sinners presents Vampirism as... less a metaphor for the violence and assimilation of white imperialism and more a monstrous branch of it. One of many. And it does a very good job at that , Ryan Coogler knocked it out of the fucking park.
34 years prior however, writer Jewelle Gomez, a black lesbian, writes a vampire story that's decidedly different in the Gilda Stories. A girl escapes a plantation and then becomes a Vampire so that the white man can never subjugate her again. She's tutored by elder vampires who teach her how to hone her abilities and fend for herself while also showing compassion and gratitude to those they feed on, showing that she is not a monster just because she has chosen to be strong and stand up for herself.
These are two very different vampire stories but are equally rooted in the identity of black Americans.
And of course there are the very mormon vampires in Twee-ligit, but that IP's been discussed to undeath already.
And I think that's part of what makes vampire fiction so varied. It's a demonstration that there are no monoliths. Across periods of time and even within a single community, you can see a vast difference of perspectives and values. And Vampire fiction is a handy teaching tool of that in creative writing. From portraying them as a parasitic ruling class or a marginalized species nearly hunted to extinction by an imperialist church, or anything in between. It's interesting seeing how the creator sees the world through how they view Vampires.
For everyone who ‘used to love reading’ but now hasn’t finished a book in years, you CAN get it back. Genuinely start bringing a book (preferably short and either fiction or a non fiction topic you already really enjoy) everywhere you go and when you have 5-20 mins waiting for the bus or at the doctors office or mechanic or whatever, get out your book and read it! You don’t have to finish it quickly or even read it often but it is so good for your brain and fun to get into the habit of reading more (and replacing being on your phone for those moments). Source: I read 0 books in 2023 and I’ve read 12 in the first 4 months of 2026
Book Date | The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope
The Monsters We Defy is a beautifully crafted fantasy set in a fictionalized 1920s Washington DC. I learned so much about the Black experience during this era, and about the Black Renaissance (something nobody ever taught me about in school!) The main character, Clara, is a 23-year-old woman born with the ability to speak to and see spirits. She’s witty, wickedly smart, and a lot of fun to…
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The problem with commercial F/M romance is that it's written by the most heterosexual women alive and reading it you feel yourself slowly suffocating from the Gender of it all like a fish in a eutrophying lake. And what we actually need as a culture is F/M written by insane bisexuals violently allergic to heteronormativity
You called for an unhinged bi who writes m/f and f/f in the same series (sometimes in the same book)? 👋😃 Hellooooo!!
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐔𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 (𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐖𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐓𝐨 𝐌𝐞)
Bring back illustrations in books.
I want full page art that makes me pause mid-sentence and go “oh.”
Bring back little drawings at the start of chapters. Bring back weird decorative headers. Bring back maps that are slightly confusing but I will stare at them like I’m planning a military campaign anyway.
Where is my glossary. Where is my pronunciation guide. I am tired of guessing. I want to know if I’ve been saying a name wrong for 300 pages so I can feel betrayed properly.
Give me marginalia. Give me fake documents. Letters. Diagrams that look important but are emotionally suspicious. Let the book look like it’s been handled.
Why did we decide everything had to be Just Text. Who voted for this. Show yourself-
I want footnotes that feel like the author is whispering additional lore directly into my ear. I want diagrams that explain nothing and somehow make everything worse.
Give me endpapers with art. Give me symbols that repeat until I start connecting dots like a conspiracy theorist. Give me one illustration halfway through that alters my brain chemistry permanently.
Books used to come with bonus content like they were slightly haunted objects and now we’re just… behaving? No.
If I am committing to 300 pages, I deserve enrichment.
Let the text do things. Let it shift. Let it breathe. Give me a page that’s just one line in the center so I can sit there like I’ve been personally attacked.
We have the technology. We have the printing capabilities. Why are we acting like books have to behave.
Also imagine the DRAMA. A character dies and suddenly the chapter header symbol changes. A map detail you ignored becomes relevant. A little drawing you thought was decorative is actually foreshadowing. Hello???
Anyway this is my formal petition to make books a little more unhinged again. Add the art. Add the maps. Add the weird glossary entries.
This is not a want. This is a need. Publishers, please let books be weird again- I AM BEGGING
The Our Ship Must Sail series by Lin Lustig has tiny illustrations throughout—Chibi character reactions at pivotal moments. They’re adorable and they add so much to the story!! Plus the whole series is cozy and weird in all the right ways.
Amazon.com
April 25th was Indie Bookstore Day, and I spent mine signing books at Shelf Indulgence, Tacoma's only Romance genre indie bookstore!
may you attract someone who treats you like they want you in their veins
Spent the afternoon selling and signing books at my local indie bookstore to celebrate Indie Bookstore Day!
