Arden Powell ❄️✨
@ardenpowell.bsky.social
Queer SFF author + artist, they/them 🇨🇦 Flos Magicae, The Carnelian King, Faerie Hounds. March 17 2026: THE BAYOU audiobook
Patreon: https://patreon.com/ArdenPowell
Itchio: https://ardenpowell.itch.io
Book Links: https://ardenpowell.mailerpage.io
Patreon: https://patreon.com/ArdenPowell
Itchio: https://ardenpowell.itch.io
Book Links: https://ardenpowell.mailerpage.io
Pinned
Arden Powell ❄️✨
@ardenpowell.bsky.social
· Oct 17
Hello! I'm a queer indie author of fantasy, romance, and gothic horror. I write the Flos Magicae series, my new release is a short story collection #TheCarnelianKing and I publish a sword & sorcery serial on Patreon #TheBlackKnightSaga
✨Books: shorturl.at/KHuF3
✨Patreon: www.patreon.com/ardenpowell
✨Books: shorturl.at/KHuF3
✨Patreon: www.patreon.com/ardenpowell
Roommate made chocolate-date cookies instead. And also shamed me for the amount of chocolate I have stashed away. And scornfully deemed it "not that fancy anyway."
I have a stash of fancy chocolate left over from Christmas. The problem is that when I feel like crap I'd rather eat cheap chocolate; the good stuff is wasted on me. But I don't want to buy more because cheap chocolate costs more than it's worth right now. Enormous struggles going on over here.
February 7, 2026 at 2:26 AM
Roommate made chocolate-date cookies instead. And also shamed me for the amount of chocolate I have stashed away. And scornfully deemed it "not that fancy anyway."
Reposted by Arden Powell ❄️✨
Learning to draw really just takes lots of time and practice. But when you say that a bunch of people are like "if that was true, then I could do it!" And then you're like "yes" and then they're like "see? that's why you're lying!!" and then they continue to not practice because they don't like to
February 6, 2026 at 7:43 PM
Learning to draw really just takes lots of time and practice. But when you say that a bunch of people are like "if that was true, then I could do it!" And then you're like "yes" and then they're like "see? that's why you're lying!!" and then they continue to not practice because they don't like to
Reposted by Arden Powell ❄️✨
Deciding to delete your whole account because you posted so bad the entire app spent a whole day dunking on you is also a luxury position.
February 7, 2026 at 12:53 AM
Deciding to delete your whole account because you posted so bad the entire app spent a whole day dunking on you is also a luxury position.
Reposted by Arden Powell ❄️✨
generative AI has become widely available in the summer of 2022 and entered mainstream in 2023
people are working themselves up in a frenzy, convinced they're utterly helpless without software younger than still-fresh canned tuna. we have been making art for at least 50,000 years, get a grip
people are working themselves up in a frenzy, convinced they're utterly helpless without software younger than still-fresh canned tuna. we have been making art for at least 50,000 years, get a grip
February 6, 2026 at 11:13 PM
generative AI has become widely available in the summer of 2022 and entered mainstream in 2023
people are working themselves up in a frenzy, convinced they're utterly helpless without software younger than still-fresh canned tuna. we have been making art for at least 50,000 years, get a grip
people are working themselves up in a frenzy, convinced they're utterly helpless without software younger than still-fresh canned tuna. we have been making art for at least 50,000 years, get a grip
Trying to convince the roommate that iron levels are unaffected by blood draws because the iron is in the blood they're taking, so the body's blood-iron ratio will be the same before and after.
Unsuccessful.
Unsuccessful.
February 7, 2026 at 12:41 AM
Trying to convince the roommate that iron levels are unaffected by blood draws because the iron is in the blood they're taking, so the body's blood-iron ratio will be the same before and after.
Unsuccessful.
Unsuccessful.
Reposted by Arden Powell ❄️✨
Tarot/CCG Deckbox, Willamette Walnut with brass hardware. www.galdrecraft.com/product/taro...
February 6, 2026 at 6:47 PM
Tarot/CCG Deckbox, Willamette Walnut with brass hardware. www.galdrecraft.com/product/taro...
Reposted by Arden Powell ❄️✨
Of all the easy things you can do to help the environment, conserve water for communities not corporations, not perpetuate scams, support the labor and rights of creators... *not* using generative AI is the fucking easiest. You absolutely deserve to be shamed for using it for image and text creation
February 6, 2026 at 10:18 PM
Of all the easy things you can do to help the environment, conserve water for communities not corporations, not perpetuate scams, support the labor and rights of creators... *not* using generative AI is the fucking easiest. You absolutely deserve to be shamed for using it for image and text creation
Reposted by Arden Powell ❄️✨
the only thing gatekeeping art is livable wages. which ironically are being gatekept from artists from people who don't want to hire them.
February 6, 2026 at 10:11 PM
the only thing gatekeeping art is livable wages. which ironically are being gatekept from artists from people who don't want to hire them.
If you don't want to work at your craft, that's fine. You can choose not to. But the writers and artists who are crafting impressive things practiced for years in every stolen minute we could get, because that desire to create and improve is a compulsion. If you want it badly enough, you do it.
The time that made me an artist came from the sports I didn't play. From long summers with no library access when my friends were on vacation. From lunchtimes alone. That's a lot of us- we built something out of time and need.
"I want it now" won't get you there.
"I want it now" won't get you there.
February 6, 2026 at 9:52 PM
If you don't want to work at your craft, that's fine. You can choose not to. But the writers and artists who are crafting impressive things practiced for years in every stolen minute we could get, because that desire to create and improve is a compulsion. If you want it badly enough, you do it.
Reposted by Arden Powell ❄️✨
Which reminds me of a thought I often have: life is finite. You have to make choices. Maybe taking the time required to become a skilled artist isn't something you can do right now without giving something else up, and you don't want to give it up.
Okay.
Okay.
February 6, 2026 at 8:31 PM
Which reminds me of a thought I often have: life is finite. You have to make choices. Maybe taking the time required to become a skilled artist isn't something you can do right now without giving something else up, and you don't want to give it up.
Okay.
Okay.
Reposted by Arden Powell ❄️✨
This. When I hit 30 I thought, I'm going to die one day and I will have not tried to write and I've always wanted to be a writer. So I made a choice then that I would take time from other things, sacrifice, to work on writing. It's been years and I'm not where I want to be yet.
AI can't make you an artist. Only time can do that. And I hear AI users talking about hundreds of hours, but no. That's not TIME. Not the kind I'm talking about.
It takes years. Which is where people are like "years of free time is a privilege". Sure.
Except the time wasn't free, it was taken.
It takes years. Which is where people are like "years of free time is a privilege". Sure.
Except the time wasn't free, it was taken.
February 6, 2026 at 9:15 PM
This. When I hit 30 I thought, I'm going to die one day and I will have not tried to write and I've always wanted to be a writer. So I made a choice then that I would take time from other things, sacrifice, to work on writing. It's been years and I'm not where I want to be yet.
Reposted by Arden Powell ❄️✨
Every day some loser ass little shit comes on here whining about how they can't draw or write and that's why they deserve to use the machine that steals from people who did the work to be able to draw and write. And it's tiring. Be a little bitch quietly.
February 6, 2026 at 9:19 PM
Every day some loser ass little shit comes on here whining about how they can't draw or write and that's why they deserve to use the machine that steals from people who did the work to be able to draw and write. And it's tiring. Be a little bitch quietly.
Listen. It's not gatekeeping. It's a skill issue. Except the issue isn't that you can't afford to practice to get skilled at art or writing or whatever talent you feel entitled to. The issue is your entire personality.
February 6, 2026 at 8:11 PM
Listen. It's not gatekeeping. It's a skill issue. Except the issue isn't that you can't afford to practice to get skilled at art or writing or whatever talent you feel entitled to. The issue is your entire personality.
Reposted by Arden Powell ❄️✨
My gay cowboy horror-romance novella is blocked there—Too short? It has a slur in it? Too gory? Who knows! They haven't told me!—but you can get it elsewhere, incl Hoopla.
Itchio: ardenpowell.itch.io/flesh-and-bone
Amz: www.amazon.com/dp/B0F1M52FFX
Apple, Kobo, Smash: books2read.com/u/3yxrDV
Itchio: ardenpowell.itch.io/flesh-and-bone
Amz: www.amazon.com/dp/B0F1M52FFX
Apple, Kobo, Smash: books2read.com/u/3yxrDV
February 6, 2026 at 2:47 PM
My gay cowboy horror-romance novella is blocked there—Too short? It has a slur in it? Too gory? Who knows! They haven't told me!—but you can get it elsewhere, incl Hoopla.
Itchio: ardenpowell.itch.io/flesh-and-bone
Amz: www.amazon.com/dp/B0F1M52FFX
Apple, Kobo, Smash: books2read.com/u/3yxrDV
Itchio: ardenpowell.itch.io/flesh-and-bone
Amz: www.amazon.com/dp/B0F1M52FFX
Apple, Kobo, Smash: books2read.com/u/3yxrDV
Reposted by Arden Powell ❄️✨
I have 4 ebooks now available on bookshop.org! A queer fantasy short story collection, an MM action/adventure Age of Sail fantasy romance, a southern gothic horror, and an interactive horror. (I have 10 paperbacks there, too ✨)
🌈📚 bookshop.org/beta-search?...
🌈📚 bookshop.org/beta-search?...
February 6, 2026 at 2:32 PM
I have 4 ebooks now available on bookshop.org! A queer fantasy short story collection, an MM action/adventure Age of Sail fantasy romance, a southern gothic horror, and an interactive horror. (I have 10 paperbacks there, too ✨)
🌈📚 bookshop.org/beta-search?...
🌈📚 bookshop.org/beta-search?...
Reposted by Arden Powell ❄️✨
"Being anti AI is class privilege! Poor people can't afford to learn how to make art without it!"
Yes. Famously, all artists are extremely wealthy.
Yes. Famously, all artists are extremely wealthy.
February 6, 2026 at 7:01 PM
"Being anti AI is class privilege! Poor people can't afford to learn how to make art without it!"
Yes. Famously, all artists are extremely wealthy.
Yes. Famously, all artists are extremely wealthy.
If you're posting about your genAI use being soooo unavoidable as an indie "creative" you are:
a) insufferably entitled
b) too lazy to develop your own skills
c) a class traitor
d) blocked
Hope this clarifies!
a) insufferably entitled
b) too lazy to develop your own skills
c) a class traitor
d) blocked
Hope this clarifies!
February 6, 2026 at 7:16 PM
If you're posting about your genAI use being soooo unavoidable as an indie "creative" you are:
a) insufferably entitled
b) too lazy to develop your own skills
c) a class traitor
d) blocked
Hope this clarifies!
a) insufferably entitled
b) too lazy to develop your own skills
c) a class traitor
d) blocked
Hope this clarifies!
Reposted by Arden Powell ❄️✨
Submissions for our zine call have been a little slow, so I've extended the call to February 14th. Check out our themes and guidelines here:
cursedmorsels.com/submission-c...
cursedmorsels.com/submission-c...
Submission Calls
OPEN Zine call (January 28th through February 14th) Zine PromptsFor this zine bundle, I’m looking for written pieces about these five prompts: -Cunty Horrors (cunty horror microfiction and mi…
cursedmorsels.com
February 6, 2026 at 6:50 PM
Submissions for our zine call have been a little slow, so I've extended the call to February 14th. Check out our themes and guidelines here:
cursedmorsels.com/submission-c...
cursedmorsels.com/submission-c...
"For a year, the institutions of Canadian life have been pivoting as fast as possible to prepare for America’s decline into authoritarianism. [...] Loathing is a powerful economic and geopolitical force."
February 6, 2026 at 6:47 PM
"For a year, the institutions of Canadian life have been pivoting as fast as possible to prepare for America’s decline into authoritarianism. [...] Loathing is a powerful economic and geopolitical force."
I have a stash of fancy chocolate left over from Christmas. The problem is that when I feel like crap I'd rather eat cheap chocolate; the good stuff is wasted on me. But I don't want to buy more because cheap chocolate costs more than it's worth right now. Enormous struggles going on over here.
February 6, 2026 at 5:30 PM
I have a stash of fancy chocolate left over from Christmas. The problem is that when I feel like crap I'd rather eat cheap chocolate; the good stuff is wasted on me. But I don't want to buy more because cheap chocolate costs more than it's worth right now. Enormous struggles going on over here.
This is my FLESH AND BONE interview! Talking about westerns, gothics, werewolves, setting horror in the Canadian Prairies, and the relationship between my (gay) cowboys Marshall and Everett.
February 6, 2026 at 3:05 PM
This is my FLESH AND BONE interview! Talking about westerns, gothics, werewolves, setting horror in the Canadian Prairies, and the relationship between my (gay) cowboys Marshall and Everett.
I have 4 ebooks now available on bookshop.org! A queer fantasy short story collection, an MM action/adventure Age of Sail fantasy romance, a southern gothic horror, and an interactive horror. (I have 10 paperbacks there, too ✨)
🌈📚 bookshop.org/beta-search?...
🌈📚 bookshop.org/beta-search?...
February 6, 2026 at 2:32 PM
I have 4 ebooks now available on bookshop.org! A queer fantasy short story collection, an MM action/adventure Age of Sail fantasy romance, a southern gothic horror, and an interactive horror. (I have 10 paperbacks there, too ✨)
🌈📚 bookshop.org/beta-search?...
🌈📚 bookshop.org/beta-search?...
Still no explanation (that's a lot to ask for these days), but the working theory is that it's too short? Other authors have said their short stories are blocked from upload, but no confirmation from D2D or Bookshop, and no info on exactly how short is too short.
I clicked the big fancy button to distribute my ebooks on bookshop.org and the first one is....blocked! No information yet as to why! Hopefully the others will have better luck.
February 5, 2026 at 10:26 PM
Still no explanation (that's a lot to ask for these days), but the working theory is that it's too short? Other authors have said their short stories are blocked from upload, but no confirmation from D2D or Bookshop, and no info on exactly how short is too short.
I clicked the big fancy button to distribute my ebooks on bookshop.org and the first one is....blocked! No information yet as to why! Hopefully the others will have better luck.
February 5, 2026 at 8:05 PM
I clicked the big fancy button to distribute my ebooks on bookshop.org and the first one is....blocked! No information yet as to why! Hopefully the others will have better luck.
Reposted by Arden Powell ❄️✨
