The Writing Squid

Aroace writer of platonic-centered SFF, in original fiction (CITY OF STRIFE, BAKER THIEF, COMMON BONDS) or DMC fandom (REBIRTH, HUMAN BLOOMS, DISASTER DAD). 

[mayarab]

Common Bonds 3 financing campaign is live!

Common Bonds 3 - An Anthology of Aromantic SFF

Common Bonds 3 is an anthology of 18 SFFH short stories and poetry with aromantic main characters and a central platonic bond.

I have a short story in this and WE HIT OVER 50% IN JUST 3 DAYS!

Common Bonds is a series of anthologies that focus on aromantic representation and publishes short stories and poems!

My story is Bond of Choice, about a mage/witch and a mermaid finding what works for them ^^

We are asking for CA$12000 AND WE ARE ALREADY ALMOST AT CA$7000!!! And if we fund all the way to the stretch goal, the authors get paid MORE!

If you want to help, everything gets us further to our goal, including reblogs! And if you don't have the previous 2 anthologies, this is a perfect opportunity to get the whole collection!!!

[lakecountylibrary]

let's go to the library with mama

[macmanx]

[sirladysketch]

You can support the artist by buying a sticker from their etsy shop!

[thewritingsquid]

Every day I try to find words to better explain what Common Bonds 3 (and all others really) is about, but "aromantic SFF anthology" doesn't really carry it half as well as these two iconic tumblr memes

[luna-azzurra]

The most interesting question you can ask about any character is not what do they want. it's what do they believe they deserve. because those two things are almost never the same and the gap between them is where your entire story lives. a person can want love completely and believe they don't deserve it and that belief will destroy every good thing that comes toward them in ways they won't even notice they're doing. write the gap. the gap is the character.

[creativepromptsforwriting]

Another kind of diversity we need in writing is protagonists without love interests. Give me adults with full-fledged stories that don't include falling in love.

[bethany-sensei]

Hello, aspec tumblr. Hello people who love to read. I’m here to dangle a shiny new fantasy novel before you. It has:

✅ narrator is probably demisexual, but hasn’t thought about it

✅ romance-repulsed aroallo deuteragonist

✅ a time mage who solves problems with knives

✅ an angel with suspiciously infernal abilities

✅ dragonfolk

✅ unintentional allegory for having grown up queer in a conservative household

Balances ebook by Bethany Laurel - Rakuten Kobo

Read "Balances" by Bethany Laurel available from Rakuten Kobo. When renegade Demonslayer Akieryon crashes to earth in front of a human, he d

Balances

When renegade Demonslayer Akieryon crashes to earth in front of a human, he doesn’t know what to expect. Getting taken home into the heart of not-a-sorcerer Tempest’s life only boggles his preconceptions more. For the first time in his long life, Akieryon has the freedom to do whatever he wants. He throws himself into political intrigue and petty concerns with equal abandon. Family is what you make of it, and Akieryon wants as much as he can get. He just won’t worry too much about that thing his new friend(?) Tempest obviously isn’t telling him.

Half cozy, half unhinged, and thoroughly queer, Balances is a story of coming home.

Available for preorder now

💖reblogs welcome💖

[theechatnoir]

Any one know some books with good aro ace rep? I want to read some, but I also want my mom to read one because she seems a bit confused (she does want to learn though).

Plus not having to make a whole power point to come out would be nice.

[aroaessidhe]

I have a whole database of aro & ace books as well as a bunch of starter posts here!

I'm a firm believer in the fact that the best representation is a book that is your taste in every other way, and also happens to have an aroace character. So here's a handful, but maybe have a browse of things that seem interesting to you/her also (tho, def books of varying quality in there, haha)

I'm leaning more toward traditionally published books here, as well as modern/contemporary settings that do focus on it a bit more clearly, rather than being incidental or implied. This does mean these lean younger, which I realise may not lean toward parents' taste...

Some good middle grades about tweens figuring out they're aspec: Olivia Gray Will Not Fade Away, Just Lizzie, Every Bird A Prince, Rick

YA:

Being Aro & Being Ace anthologies have a bunch of good YA short stories about..being aro & ace. obviously not all aroace.

Dear Wendy is a YA contemporary about two aroace students becoming friends

Funeral Girl is a YA paranormal about an ace (probably aroace) girl

Elatsoe is a YA contemporary fantasy mystery about an aroace girl (not so focused on aroace identity, but good)

Loveless is one of the most known - and it is one of the only traditionally published, popular books that's about and centred on figuring out and coming out as aroace, this is what most people will probably rec if you ask this anywhere else lmao

Is Love The Answer? is a manga about a student discovering she's aroace, with multiple aspec side characters too.

Adult:

Sailing by Orion's Star (trilogy) is historical fiction about pirates with multiple aroace (man) MCs

Kaikeyi by Vaishvani Patel is historical fantasy with an aroace MC (though does marry and have children because she's royalty)

The Murderbot Diaries is a scifi series with an aroace agender MC - notably aroace because of nonhumanity, so not what everyone's looking for as a starter, but very relatable to many

Until The Last Petal Falls - an aroace QPR beauty & the beast retelling

If you're into indie urban fantasy I'd also check out Baker Thief/Painted Flock, and The Thread That Binds/The Tale That Twines

Beautyland is about an aroace woman who believes she's an alien because of how different she is from everyone else

and Convenience Store Woman similarly has a very aroace coded MC. These last two are less directly Explaining Being Aroace And Identifying As Such but very much show how it is being aroace (and neurodivergent) in an amatonormative world

Also, it's not a book, but I'd highly recommend checking out Koisenu Futari, a jdrama about two aroaces meeting and living together. It is very much about being aroace, and I think would be a good explainer for someone (if a little cheesy and straightforward in some ways, but I love it <3) Konya Sukiyaki Dayo is another jdrama with an aromantic (probably aroace) MC that I also enjoyed recently.

I don't know if any of this is what you're looking for, but maybe it can be a start!

[queerliblib]

lots of these are available through QLL! you can find them & more browsing through our aro & ace lists <3

[thewritingsquid]

sometimes I spend hours scheduling Extremely Normal Marketing TM for Common Bonds 3 and then I just browse here a little to cleanse it. XD I'm barely on tumblr I knew I'd find some silliness here to help

[skittlesandham]

idk dante, some kind of sick karma probably.

[thewritingsquid]

isekai into your favourite rpg but you're a sex/romanced-repulsed aroace and it's the first delayed campsite/long rest and all your companions are coming REALLY strongly onto you and there is no other way to learn anything meaningful about them

[harbinger-of-the-defiled-heires]

i hate when people are like “i really understand what it’s like to be Prey… to look up into the jaws of a predator and know it’s my purpose to be Consumed…” like bitch no, prey runs away, you’re some other shit

[lucymasonwrites]

You, Me, and the Sea, my short story featuring an aroallo siren named Marlowe that definitely eats people (but would never eat Masie), and Masie, their tired aroace human bestie who is hanging on by a thread, has been accepted in Common Bonds 3! Art by the incredible @starsinmycoffeedraws

Be sure to visit the Kickstarter and sign up for updates, and support it when it launches.

Get Ready for Common Bonds 3 - An Anthology of Aromantic SFF

From Claudie Arseneault - Get Ready for Common Bonds 3 - An Anthology of Aromantic SFF

[lgbtqreads]

Exclusive Cover Reveal: Common Bonds 3 ed. by Claudie Arseneault, Em Ishii, and RoAnna Sylver

Today on the site, I’m delighted to reveal the cover of Common Bonds 3 ed. by Claudie Arseneault, Em Ishii, and RoAnna Sylver, the third in a series of anthologies starring aromantic main characters! The editors have written up their own intro to present a Kickstarter campaign, so I’ll let them take it away! Common Bonds strikes a third time with a new volume of speculative short stories and…

Exclusive Cover Reveal: Common Bonds 3 ed. by Claudie Arseneault, Em Ishii, and RoAnna Sylver

[thewritingsquid]

COVER REVEAL TIME. Look at this incredible cover!! II'm so excited about it, so in love with the winter vibes of it.

[kafkasapartment]

Utah transportation: “ Good news we could all use: the Parley's Wildlife Overpass is working.”

Thanks Blake Ledbetter (@blakethy) and @usuaggielife for leading the study.

[leebrontide]

Wow that is wildly more successful than I would have expected! That's fantastic! And so incredibly replicatable! We can just make more of these. Like, we can just do that.

[thewritingsquid]

just casually making some warm tea before a writing sprint and watching the snow fall while my author friend down in California makes themself iced tea because it's unbearably hot

[whimsy-flags]

Happy Pi(e) Day, everybody! Enjoy some classic little pride pies in honor of math nerdery :3