Robin S. Blackwood

Robin | Any pronouns | Queer fantasy and science fiction writer | Loves gothic themes, old movies, and music.

[robinswrites]

About Me

Hi! My name's Robin, and after years of writing and posting fanfic (on a different account, which I will be continuing with), I've decided to start trying to get my original fiction published. I am A Trans who doesn't much care what pronouns/gendered terms you use for me as long as you're not being deliberately insulting. The various stories I'm writing or want to write vary in genre from fantasy to science fiction and horror, but they're all queer (in different ways, because queerness isn't necessarily approached in SF/F cultures in the same way as in our own, and they don't necessarily fit the often very romance-focussed conventional ideas of what queer rep looks like, but it is present in everything I write).

I am an adult, and my writing is aimed at adults (I've noticed a few people getting their stories labelled as YA when they're really not aimed at that audience at all, so I thought I'd make that clear right from the start), but I'm not writing anything so explicit that I'd object to someone under 18 following me if they're interested in my stories. I will use tags and TWs on my posts--feel free to let me know if I forget.

WIPs

My three main WIPs are novels that I intend to publish (I'm an incurable WIP-hopper and have been alternating between writing bits of each of these for years...), so I'm not going to be posting the stories themselves online, but I will be sharing character and setting info, discussing progress, taking part in the usual writeblr ask events, etc. One is a deliberately over-the-top space opera sci-fi, one is a modern-day fantasy, and the other a mediaeval fantasy. At some point, they might even have titles. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

I'm also sometimes going to be writing short stories and submitting to anthologies and magazines--I'll post updates on where to find any that get accepted.

And at some point soon, a free short story will be going up here as a taster of my work!

I'm also currently doing a major rewrite of the plot outline for a webcomic I initially plotted out as a teenager--once I've got the story to make sense, I'm hoping to start drawing and posting some stuff for that.

What else?

I'm hoping to use this account to follow and get to know other authors, to follow and interact with publishers, take part in any writing events that look interesting--and also to some extent for general blogging.

You'll probably see some reblogs of gifs of films I like, and other mostly-on-topic reblogs (I'm not going to use this account for random memes).

I might share music I've been listening to, or sometimes post about anything interesting I've been doing/places I've been going. I do aim to stick to interesting stuff--I'm not going to be blogging about what I ate for breakfast, but if there's something that I think really would interest SF/F fans and writers, I might do a blog post, especially if I got some cool photos, instead of getting home and thinking too late "I really should have taken some photos of that [supposedly haunted secondhand bookshop / sword I was tempted to buy in an antique shop / whatever]".

Fandom stuff and other "general nonsense" posts and reblogs will stay on my other account.

Looking forward to sharing what I do here on writeblr and getting to know more original fiction writers in this community!

[duckprintspress]

Kickstarter Launch Day for “Ducks in a Row” and “Duxxx in a Row”!

Since Duck Prints Press was founded in January 2021, we have published over 200 stand-alone short stories by dozens of authors, ranging in length from just over 1,000 words up to 9,999 words. Most of these short stories are available for purchase individually from our webstore or are only available to people who back our Patreon… until now! With Ducks in a Row: A Curated Collection of Short Stories and Duxxx in a Row: A Curated Collection of Explicit Stories, Duck Prints Press dips into our vault, anthologizing stories we published from 2021 to 2023 into all-new collections!

Whether you’ve looked at our short story offerings and weren’t sure where to start, or you’ve heard about Duck Prints Press and wanted a tasting selection of what we offer, or you’ve wanted all your favorites in one lovely volume, or you had no idea we existed until today and just heard “short stories by queer authors” and said “SIGN ME UP,” Ducks in a Row and Duxxx in a Row have a little something for most everyone, with stories in different genres, with different types of characters, and by many different authors!

Ducks in a Row contains 22 short stories by 22 different authors and is 236 pages long. Duxxx in a Row features 19 short stories by 19 different authors and is 264 pages long. Each is being offered in e-book (ePub and PDF) and trade paperback formats, and we’ve also got some of our signature dux merchandise (including our first-ever dux enamel pin!) and art prints and bookmarks featuring the gorgeous artwork Pallas Perilous did for the book covers!

Visit our Kickstarter to learn more and become a backer today!

Campaign ends April 14th 2026!

[3liza]

I feel very defensive about the "goth is bougie" shit because it is historically incorrect, yes, but also and more personally, because it just erases the generations of goth kids who grew up in trailer parks and project housing or just straight up homeless, helping each other out.

it's specifically such a supportive subculture for poor and neglected kids and I really fucking hate that this has been revised and erased. juggalos and goths are very culturally close and many subcultural people are both, and juggalos have the same (and, I would argue, even better defined) culture of collective support. the Skids in Letterkenny are not made up for the show, that's just a real type of rural subcultural person. this has also been forgotten in the interim but in the 90s and 00s we didn't even really refer to OURSELVES as "goths" very much except in a joking way. goths had regional endonyms (like "skids" or "trenchies") even if they could all go to a convention or a club in a city and in that context be all called "goths" together, once they went back home they would go back to being whatever the locals called them or whatever they called themselves. this is a whole linguistics and sociology subtopic that's out of scope for a Tumblr post but is sort of related.

my point is that people who wore actual rags, and sharpie instead of nail polish, and wet n wild eyeliner instead of black lipstick, and dyed their hair with markers or food coloring or kool-aid, were and are the core of the goth scene. the majority of the pictures the mallgoth blogs are posting are from catalogs, fashion shows, costume events, yearly balls and fetes like Wave Gothik Treffen, and other places where people save up literally all year, or many years in a row, to put together ONE outfit. and there's nothing wrong with that, personally I'm proud and pleased that our hard work is being recognized and preserved. but just like formal studio photographs from the Victorian era, it is not representative of the daily or even weekly (for clubs) reality of people in the scene, some of whom were completely out of goth clothing during the day or week just to fit in at work or sometimes just to get along without being bothered at home by family members who thought the Cure was Satanic.

the people who RUN the scenes, the promoters and DJs and gogo dancers and independent designers and people who run the mailing lists and websites, the people who organize the room parties at conventions, and yes even most of the original Burning Man camps like Thunderdome, they mostly live in poverty. especially if they're young. when people organize club nights and shows, they're lucky if they break even. I wasn't aware of any of this until I started working at DNA Lounge in San Francisco, which hosts one of the oldest goth nights in the country, Death Guild. I got to know the owner of DNA well enough to find out about the financial reality of the entire scene, even the people who own the means of production and the actual property in this case, and it's not lucrative. I mean, it sometimes is, if you're running a bar for normal people and have investment captain etc, but the majority of legit subculture economics is just barely breaking even. every single event is 90% volunteer labor.

the issue of labor is maybe the confusing thing for the zoomers who are confused. goth outfits take actual physical work. maybe the Aspirational Spectacle of Labor that makes up most of TikTok has made it appear unreal to the audience rather than something you can just sit down and do?

it takes forty seconds to make the fishnet tights into a shirt. you don't need instructions, you really can just look at it and figure it out. then you think, hm, if I can make fishnets into a shirt I wonder what other things I can turn into something else. your brain will amaze you. my mom would save her tights from her formal work outfits for me when they got holes or whatever and I would just go crazy with scissors and safety pins. lots of young designers are getting attention for this layered, tights-n-pins look at the moment and it really is a fantastic aesthetic but I wonder if people think there's something special about the people who make these clothes? there isn't. you can just do it at home while you watch trashy youtubes.

one time, around 2008 or so, @gothiccharmschool and I were at the photoshoot for tabletop RPG Unhallowed Metropolis. we were there with a bunch of local goths to all make the pictures for this book together. we had all brought tons of our costumes from home to cobble together outfits for the book illustrations, and there was a moment when I just handed Jilli a pile of black skirts and some pins and said hey Jilli, could you please make me up a bustle skirt for this model real quick while I shoot these other models? and of course she did, and they were beautiful, because she knows exactly what she's doing, and because that's all a bustle is: it's a way of bunching up a skirt with another skirt. you can do it at home. you don't need instructions or to hire a seamstress or watch a video. you can just look at something and say hm does it look like a bustle? let's drape it and play with it and pin whatever works. and then you wear it for the photoshoot, or to the club!!! and then next week you pin it a different way and it's a cape instead and you wear it again!!!!!!!

[gothiccharmschool]

I suspect this may be the topic that draws me out of my torpor about updating the actual Gothic Charm School site, but some quick asides here: The majority of goth fashion in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s was DIY out of necessity. Even when there WERE pre-made goth clothes (Lip Service, Bogies, indie designers), most of us couldn't afford them. Even basic goth staples like fishnets and black lipstick or nail polish weren't available year-round. We waited until Halloween and cleared out the costume aisles of our local big-box retailers. A group of friends spent an evening pouring over the pages of the big fall fashion edition of Vogue that one of us bought so we could see what dark style clothing would be trickling down to the mall department stores so we could hit the clearance racks in January, or the thrift stores in March. We memorized the discount day schedule for thrift stores and bought wedding and prom dresses to hack apart and dye. We saved for shitty plastic-boned "corsets" from Frederick's of Hollywood to wear over those hacked-apart dresses. Goth, especially in the previous decades, was about getting whatever you could afford and figuring out how to make it spooky. Plain black leggings + thrift store or clearance black slip + layers of thrift store or clearance belts were a standard "goth uniform" for femme goths. Did we look amazing? No, not even half the time. But we took whatever we could afford and made it work as well as we could.

[gothiccharmschool]

Reblogging again because YOU DON’T NEED TO BUY EXPENSIVE CLOTHES TO BE GOTH is something that always needs to be repeated.

[robinswrites]

Also, the people whose style of goth is full elaborate Victorian costume, waistcoats and top hats and velvet tailcoats and such things, even if they do spend more money on their clothes than you can afford (and they might not, I once bought a vintage pinstripe waistcoat for about £10)--if they are at all decent people, will not judge a ripped-black-jeans-and-band-T-shirt goth.

If you do meet someone who insists on being a snob about their personal kind of goth fashion being "better" somehow instead of just seeing a fellow goth, that is not a sign that you're not goth enough, that is a sign that that particular person is an arsehole.

[isitcasualnow]

Also to be clear if you put the new Harry Potter show on my dashboard I will be unfollowing and probably blocking you. JK Rowling is responsible for the death and pain of too many trans people to count in my country and I cannot tolerate her new way of trying to gain cultural and financial power in any way shape or form.

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

I don't even want to see critiques of it. I don't want to see hatewatch reviews about how bad or dumb or racist or transphobic parts of it are like people did for the fantastic beasts movies of the hogwarts video game. You are part of the problem. Do not feed the machine. Let it die. You do not need to consume media you don't like just to show off to everyone else how much you don't like it. It's especially heinous if you say something like "I'm donating the cost of a movie ticket or a month's streaming subscription to a trans charity," because that doesn't balance the scales, it doesn't negate the evil, it just shows you are willing to support both sides, making you a spineless coward.

Just fucking ignore it and understand that it's going to be recationary on purpose. It's going to be full of bait. Warner Bros is counting on there being a ton of controversy to boost the numbers because there's no such thing as bad publicity.

DO NOT ENGAGE. Let it come and go, and maybe the numbers will be bad enough that it gets canceled before it gets to book 7. Probably not, though. This is a tentpole for WB, they're putting all their eggs in this basket, it's not gonna bomb like Morbius. They're gonna push it through to the end no matter what, so just do your part by not playing along.

[goddamnlethamlet]

don’t even pirate it. let it die in obscurity.

[ariaste]

Here is a fun challenge. If you ACTUALLY want to do something material against this stupid fucking show, that's a two-step process.

Step One: As described above, JUST IGNORE IT. Do not comment on it, do not mention it, do not even say the name of it or the series that it is based on, do not put anything in the tags. As of right now, It Does Not Exist, PERIOD.

Step Two: Go find some trans/nb authors to fall in love with. Read their books. Flood the internet with recommendations, discussion, fanart, fanfic, anything. The show is a hateful thing, so fight back with Love. Drown it out by openly, loudly, vocally loving Anything Else But That. Especially around the time the show gets released, coordinate together to drown it out with all the noise you can make about authors who deserve it way more than whatshername.

Will this make much of a difference to whatshername or Warner Bros? Nope! But I guarantee you this will make an immense difference to the trans/nb authors you're loving out loud. Do you know how often authors who don't have mega-fandoms get fanart of their work? EXTREMELY rarely. Do you know what sales numbers are like for smaller authors without big-budget marketing support? It can be just one or two books a week, if that. One single reader getting vocally enthusiastic on the internet can boost that by a factor of ten. If they've got a big following, it's a factor of a hundred. I'm not joking.

You can't take money out of whosits and WB's pockets in any way that matters, but you can throw your VOCAL, NOISY, LOUD support behind trans/nb authors in a way that very, very, very much would matter.

[drchucktingle]

today you have the power to build entire universes. every choice creates a timeline that resonates in some new way, and it is up to us wether or not we want to resonate with each other more or less. GREAT opportunity to wield your power for love. cant wait to see what we can accomplish LETS TROT

[sadhoc]

hi trans people in my phone. The life expectancy of trans people is not 35. That is the average age of Brazilian transmisogyny affected murder victims, taken from crime data from the early 2010s. Brazilian trans women also usually live longer than 35 years; this data comes solely from the subset of trans women who are murdered, and does not account for the majority of Brazilian trans women. Murder victim age averages are not a good proxy for overall life expectancy even of the same demographic group. Take a deep breath. You have a future. Start planning for it.

[robinswrites]

The same goes for autistic people! The study people quote looked at a bunch of autistic people over the course of several years, and of the ones who died during the study, the average age of death was 39. The majority of people in the study did not die during the study. Only 26 of the 400ish people in the study died during the 20 years of the study.

(Also, the study quite heavily focussed on autistic people who couldn't live independently, with the people who died mostly falling into the "can't go to the bathroom by themselves" level of intellectual disability. Many of the causes of death were things like "accidental poisoning" and "choking on food"--things that can tragically happen to people who can't live independently if their caretakers aren't as careful as they should be. This is not to diminish how sad and horrible it is that these people died so young--but if you're an autistic person who leads a generally independent life you don't need to worry that just being autistic is going to make you drop dead at 39, and you certainly shouldn't be living your life thinking "I'm not going to live past 39 so there's no point starting new things in my 30s / making any plans for past that age / etc".)

As OP said: you have a future. Start planning for it.

[littlefreakiesaesthetics]

Another one for those of us who have 5000 OCs. Name an OC who…

…you share a hobby with.

…has helped you with one of your own insecurities.

…sleeps with a stuffed animal.

…has a phobia.

…tends to get too absorbed in their activities.

…cries easily.

…has a physical disability.

…has a mental disability.

…collects something.

…has a unique fashion sense.

…doesn't outwardly show much emotion.

…has a certain accessory they always wear.

…has a different native language than you.

…is afraid of their own shadow.

…is pretty much fearless.

…has a comfort food.

…is seen as childish by their peers.

…nobody ever believes.

…misses somebody badly.

…is good at fixing things.

…has changed a lot from their original design.

…you made up a long time ago.

…tends to hog up a lot of space in your brain.

…has a lot of energy.

…isn't human.

…grew up in a different country from you.

…has changed so much in appearance that somebody who knew them years ago might not recognize them now.

…has a lot of trauma, even compared to the rest of your OCs.

…is grieving.

…wouldn't kill a mosquito (or similarly bothersome bug).

(pro tip: be sure to send an ask to the person you reblog this from!)

[duckprintspress]

Support Independent Queer Publishing: Become a Duck Prints Press Patreon Backer! Like/Reblog to Enter a Giveaway!

Duck Prints Press, the indie publisher owned by @unforth/Nina Waters, founded by fancreators to help fanartists and fanfiction writers publish their original work, with an emphasis on works featuring LGBTQIA+ characters, needs YOU!

There are two ways for you to help, now through September 30th:

like and share this post on the platform(s) of your choice to help us spread the word – and to enter a giveaway for an original copy of the first edition of our debut anthology Add Magic to Taste! (Scroll down for details.)

become a Patreon supporter, help an awesome small business, get backer rewards, AND get a merch freebie valued up to $5 US!

To help us maximize the amount of money we can pay to creators, we rely on our Patreon to pay our overhead costs. As things stand, we need to bring in about $750 a month to pay our baseline monthly expenses…and as of now, we’re bringing in about $550 per month. Factoring in our website and other online sales, vending, and crowdfunding campaigns, Duck Prints Press is currently breaking even, but we can’t grow, initiate more projects, pay creators more, expand our offerings, get software and equipment that will help us streamline our processes, and more…without enough money coming in to ensure we make ends meet each month.

That’s where you come in! The more people support us on Patreon, even just at $3/month, the more we’re able to do!

In exchange for monthly support, we offer a bunch of cool rewards to people who choose to back us, with 5 support levels ranging from $3/month to $25/month. All backers get coupons to use in our webstore, access to our Discord, behind-the-scenes blog posts, voting rights on polls that decide anthology themes, and at least one free short story per month. At higher levels, backers get exclusive merchandise, one artwork per month, access to our monthly Duck Prints Press Panel, bonus stories, free selections from our book catalog, extras for supporting our crowdfunding campaigns, and more!

We can reach our goals, and you can get lots of excellent stuff, by backing the Press on Patreon now! AND you’ll get your choice of a freebie if you back during the month of September! (All our current backers will get to claim a freebie too, as a THANK YOU for their long-time support of our work.)

What can you get?

This giveaway is the only way to get access to Patreon-exclusive merchandise usually reserved for Patreon backers who also support our crowdfunding campaigns! Here’s the exclusives we have on offering for this year’s freebies:

You can get any merchandise item we offer on our webstore that costs $5 or less, or you can claim a backer-exclusive reward previously only available to Patrons! The Patreon exclusives that I have leftovers of, listed left to right, top to bottom, are:

A Truth Universally Acknowledged – this version of this design is only available in this set of 5 note cards with envelopes (art by A. A. Weston)

The Salt in the Sea – blue iridescent acrylic wave pin (art by planetsandmagic) (only 4 available)

Pride Dragons – Gilbert Baker Pride Flag and Intersex Inclusive Pride Flag acrylic pins (art by Florilege) (only 5 and 4 of these respectively)

Hockey Bois – standee of chibi art of the two main characters (art by diminuel) (only 1 available!!)

Scrap Metal Angel – rainbow feather magnet featuring the same art as the chapter dividers (clip art) (only 4 available)

He Bears the Cape of Stars/She Wears the Midnight Crown – sun/moon day/night mask die-cut sticker (art by Aceriee)

Aim For The Heart – musketeer of pierced hearts magnet (art by Aceriee) (only 1 available!!)

Many Hands – poly pride flag dragon with hologram stars (art by reshipkmn)

Missed Fortunes – post card of the cover art (art by Jade Hallett)

If none of these are to your taste, on duckprintspress.com we’ve got bookmarks, stickers, key chains, magnets, and more!

All backers, current and new, who back at the $25/month level by the end of September will ALSO get our 2026 Calendar of Queer Art as a freebie! You can learn more about the calendar on our webpage.

Wait, what was that about a giveaway?

Don’t want to be a backer but want to help us spread the word? Have we got a giveaway for you! To encourage people to share this post, we’re offering a free copy of the first edition of our first anthology Add Magic to Taste, which features 20 sweet, fluffy, queer stories set at magical coffee shops, tea houses, and bakeries. There are only three mint, print copies of this book left, and they’re not for sale – this is the rare chance to get one for yourself!

Want to help a small, fan-run, aroace-agender-owned independent business get more support, and maybe win something awesome for your efforts? Then enter the giveaway! You get one entry for liking this post, and one entry per reblog/reskeet/share for up to three reblogs/reskeets/shares! AND you can get additional entries by sharing our posts on different platforms: we’re posting shareable versions of the giveaway on Tumblr, Pillowfort, Bluesky, and Mastodon! (Note: we will NOT give entries for people making their own posts. We love when people make their own posts, but they’re too difficult for us to track for giveaway purposes.)

TL:DR: Duck Prints Press is a growing indie press working with fancreators to publish queer art and fiction. Become a backer on Patreon during September 2025, and get all the backer rewards associated with the backer level you select PLUS a freebie worth up to $5. Help spread the word and get entries to win a fabulous print anthology available nowhere else!

Stuff for us, stuff for you – couldn’t be better! Don’t miss your chance: this event ends September 30th, 2025!

(And don’t forget to sign up for our mailing list so you can hear about our latest projects, merchandise releases, crowdfunding campaigns, publications, coupons, and more!)

Thanks in advance, everyone.

(For all legalese related to this promotional event and giveaway, go to this link! Make sure you check it out.)

[robinswrites]

Headcanon for Nicolette? She's from my slice-of-life The Transfers, and starts going to the other characters' school midway through the year. She has strong opinions and loves debating things and probably wants to go into politics someday. She had a past relationship that did not go well/end well, but has not opened up much about it most of the way through the series.

Hm... headcanon the kind of person who'd colour-code her notes?

...Wow, coming up with headcanons for characters I only know a short description of is genuinely terrifying when fandom-wise I'm a "I must consume ALL the canon material available to me so that I know EVERYTHING before I write" kind of person.

[duckprintspress]

Final Day to Back the SCHOLARLY PURSUITS Campaign!

We're in the home stretch on our crowdfunding campaign! It's not a "miss it and miss out" situation - late pledges are available for some backer levels, and the book will be published roughly 6 to 8 weeks after we complete fulfillment - but still! Back the campaign! Get awesome merch! Help us hit our second stretch goal! Be awesome! We'd appreciate it!

Alternative: boost this post to be my hero.

Learn more about the crowdfunding campaign for Scholarly Pursuits: A Queer Anthology of Cozy Academia Stories now!

campaign ends August 12th at 1 pm Eastern time.

[robinswrites]

Less than $1000 left to go to hit our second stretch goal!

It would triple every author's pay, and backers would get bat stickers on top of all the other great merch you can get if you back... but we've got just 6 hours to do it in...

I think we can do it. Everyone loves bat stickers (and authors of queer SF/F getting paid more), right?

[maggiepageauthor]

We're so close! About 5 hours now...

[robinswrites]

Last hour!

[robinswrites]

New guide to my worlds and characters!

I realise I've reblogged some ask games saying "send me the name of one of my characters" and such while not everyone knows who all my characters are, so... here's a new guide! https://robinswrites.com/worlds-and-characters

[maggiepageauthor]

Fair Winds and Fortune from Scholarly Pursuits: A Queer Anthology of Cozy Academia Stories A @duckprintspress project - Crowdfunding now!

Summary:

Bastian, a knight errant, is convalescing at the University of Vismark's Halls of Healing following a wyvern attack that severely damaged his left wing. Because wyvern claws are one source of a rare material needed to craft magic-nullifying potions and objects, the wounds they inflict leave a magical deadzone that takes months to fade. Tending to Bastian’s wounds successfully requires an extended stay as a medical ward, waiting for his wing membrane to heal. And waiting to see if his pinion feathers can be regrown once healing magic can again take effect. But Bastian is not good at remaining idle. Losing the ability to fly, even temporarily (so he hopes), has profoundly unsettled Bastian, which exacerbates his restlessness. Luckily for him, his assigned healer, Zara, has patience enough for two. Her skill at soothing Bastian’s stress seems as remarkable to him as the medical methods used to repair his physical ills. Zara has kept him occupied and calm during the long weeks of his recovery, allowing the two of them to grow close. Now that Bastian is well enough to venture outside, Zara introduces Bastian to her friend, Emory, intuiting that they will get along. Emory, a mage adept, is researching and experimenting with teleportation, attempting to distill the power into reusable charms that have the same efficacy as his own natural ability. Success would open up unheard-of opportunities for travel, even to those without magic. Bastian is happy to help with testing Emory's prototypes. In their free time, Bastian, Zara, and Emory quickly become inseparable. Underneath her professionalism, Zara has a sense of humor and mischief that complements Emory’s bold and adventurous nature. Together, they explore the ancient beauty of Vismark’s campus on foot and by boat, play games, read books, share meals, and support one another in learning. Spending time with Zara and Emory makes Bastian feel more vibrantly alive than he has in years, which leads him to confront truths he's been avoiding for just as long. Bastian couldn't ask for better companions in this unexpected chapter of his life. As time ticks closer to the deadline that will reveal if Bastian's wing has been permanently damaged, the three of them realize that none of them wants the connection they've formed to end.

Check out the details, including teasers from the authors on Kickstarter! The campaign runs through August 12, 2025.

[maggiepageauthor]

Masterpost Links

Contributor Spotlight Previous Works with Duck Prints Press Excerpt #1 Excerpt #2 Excerpt #3

Today is the final day to back the campaign!

[robinswrites]

I look forward to reading this--also, that is a beautiful moodboard!

[writeblrsummerfest]

Writeblr Summerfest Challenge: Buy, Read, Review!

One of the most powerful ways to support indie authors isn’t actually through buying their books. It’s leaving reviews.

Reviews help books get noticed in search algorithms, give potential readers the confidence to pick them up, and can literally mean the difference between an author getting their next sale...or not.

Some people find leaving reviews daunting but it's important to know that reviews don’t have to be long! Even a few sentences about what you enjoyed makes a huge impact.

This month, let’s not only read indie—let’s boost them!

Authors: Drop a link to your own published work in the notes or reblogs.

Readers: Share these books on your own Tumblr or other socials, tagging the Summerfest blog so we can see!

[transman-badass]

Hi y'all! Here's where you can get my two:

FRIEND OF THE DAMNED is a gaslamp fantasy x gothic horror short story. Owen Rosedown, a detective for hire called a Runner, writes a letter to the one person who will understand what really happened at the Glint Hall Hotel, and the fate of the grieving medium Miss Dartmere. Features women's wrongs, hostile strangers, and "dogs".

LOCK THE LAST DOOR is a Cthulhu Mythos short story. Lazarus Core, a private detective, is looking for a runaway when he gets caught in an abandoned house by his mob boss rival. His rival challenges Lazarus to find the answers to a strange scene within the building. It's going to be a long night.

Find books by Vincent Lore at your favorite digital store!

Books by Vincent Lore

[robinswrites]

These look intriguing, definitely going to read them!

[writeblrsummerfest]

On The Spot Thoughts

Send me an ask with the word 'headcanon' and some information on one of your oc's. I'll respond with an on-the-spot headcanon about them!

(bonus points if you reblog and tell me how close I am!)

[duckprintspress]

Final Day to Back the SCHOLARLY PURSUITS Campaign!

We're in the home stretch on our crowdfunding campaign! It's not a "miss it and miss out" situation - late pledges are available for some backer levels, and the book will be published roughly 6 to 8 weeks after we complete fulfillment - but still! Back the campaign! Get awesome merch! Help us hit our second stretch goal! Be awesome! We'd appreciate it!

Alternative: boost this post to be my hero.

Learn more about the crowdfunding campaign for Scholarly Pursuits: A Queer Anthology of Cozy Academia Stories now!

campaign ends August 12th at 1 pm Eastern time.

[robinswrites]

Less than $1000 left to go to hit our second stretch goal!

It would triple every author's pay, and backers would get bat stickers on top of all the other great merch you can get if you back... but we've got just 6 hours to do it in...

I think we can do it. Everyone loves bat stickers (and authors of queer SF/F getting paid more), right?

[robinswrites]

Playlist for Griffin, and also Rávanir if he had time to explore music as well as the sound quality of his headphones!

This question made me realise that, while I have songs with lyrics I associate with Griffin (which is a whole different question), I hadn't thought that much about what he'd actually listen to, though I imagine he'd enjoy a fairly wide range of things.

Now that I have given it some thought, here's some music he might have on his airport waiting playlist! This is very different to the playlist I use to write him, and different again to songs he might listen to in other circumstances. Tried to lean towards calmer things here since that's what most people--Rat aside--tend to go for in these situations.

Soliloquy by Midnight Syndicate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH2I1k9-fuk

Tuning To The Moon by Jill Tracy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvXbJi-xVcI

The Raven by Nox Arcana https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e01wCjPBnU

Rávanir definitely would explore music first, as one of the first things he'd do if he found himself in our world (he'd just also want to make sure it sounded as good as possible, considering he has more acute senses than a human and would notice if it didn't, but that would come later) and he'd be very excited about how much music you can listen to whenever you want and no matter where you are.

He'd also have varied taste, including probably some unexpected things. The first of the tracks I've chosen I think is not far from some of the music he's used to from his own world, the others are different things he'd discover and enjoy while in this world. Four songs this time, three songs was not enough to convey "weirdly eclectic variety" properly. He is not trying to make a coherent playlist here, he is just adding songs that he likes, and I'm sure this is just a random selection from a much longer list.

A Danza das Ánimas by Sangre de Muerdago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-_UkZ5IbwI

Élan by Nightwish https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPonioDYnoY

Arsonist's Lullabye by Hozier https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoQvbDROucQ

Heroes by David Bowie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLp2cW7ICCU

Rávanir's actual character playlist is FAR more mood and genre whiplash than this. He also learns languages for fun, being canonically fluent in three, and there should probably be more than one non-English-language track on here to reflect that, but most of my non-English-language music taste didn't have the right vibes for this specific playlist (I have more on his private character playlist).

[writeblrsummerfest]

Character Ask: Airport Edition

What definitely not suspicious thing on your character's person makes TSA raise an eyebrow?

[robinswrites]

Locke has claws. And sharp teeth. And yellow eyes with slit pupils. And pointy ears. Everything about them screams "suspicious weirdo who isn't human", and that in itself will raise plenty of eyebrows--it's quite likely they'll be recognised as a ghoul, although ghouls aren't the most well-known of magical beings, but they'll definitely be recognised as something supernatural. They know better than to bring weapons but will definitely have some magic items on their person.

Griffin probably has books of demonic lore and other dark magic that would make people wonder if he's planning something. It really is mostly out of academic interest but people rarely believe that. Especially if he's also got dark magical artifacts with him, though I'm not sure that would actually be allowed and he wouldn't try to sneak them on unless he had to for some reason.