C A Malin
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camalin.net
C A Malin
@camalin.net
370 followers 500 following 790 posts
I'm a fledgling author, in the process of writing and self-publishing my first novel, a Regency/Fantasy crossover titled #Ellamir
🇬🇧 | He/Him | 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ Ally | AI-phobic
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camalin.net
C A Malin @camalin.net · Sep 1
It's so exciting to be writing my first novel: #Ellamir, a #Regency adventure #romance, featuring characters exceedingly similar to some of the most memorable #JaneAusten creations, trying to maintain decorum in an increasingly chaotic high #fantasy world. Coming in 2026!

#Fiction #BookSky #Authors
On the left, a portrait of a young woman in Regency dress looks out at the viewer, while on the right, the novel's tagline reads: "Handsome, clever and rich, Miss Ellamir Oakhall lacks neither fortune nor consequence and is decidedly not in want of a husband..." Below this, the novel's title: "Ellamir" by C A Malin - the Bluesky tag @camalin.net and the hashtag #Ellamir
Reposted by C A Malin
mishiiarts.bsky.social
I have to be real, I started indie publishing because I was frustrated by the lack of control and autonomy in trad.

The idea that indies "have to use AI to compete" is genuinely insulting because the whole highlight of indie is that you can do it all yourself & hire cool people to help you.
December 30, 2025 at 6:16 AM
Reposted by C A Malin
tarasgeir.bsky.social
Nothing fazes I’anthal who’s the sunny to the grumpy in this potential pairing. #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
December 30, 2025 at 8:47 AM
camalin.net
Plenty of instances of "sun" in my WIP #Ellamir to choose from for today's #WIPSnips

I decided to go back and visit Hannah and Maqine, sweet soon-to-be sapphic couple, at their first meeting: I like this chapter, and had fun emphasising their different backgrounds immediately through their dialogue
A snippet from Ellamir by C A Malin: It was only holding her parasol that prevented her from throwing her hands to her mouth in fright. There was barely room to pass without being noticed, no chance of going back now, and apparently her bright white Sunday muslin, radiant in the sun, had caught the eye of the stranger, who after glancing over her shoulder, turned and leaned on her hammer in the most casual way, offering a cheerful "Hullo there!" It is very fortunate for the sake of politeness that Hannah had never seen a painted likeness of what her neighbours would call a devil, for otherwise this is the conclusion she must have reached now that the stranger had turned to face her - in addition to that astonishing tail, she also had large golden eyes that seemed to flare and flame in the fierce daylight, and above these - good heavens! - a pair of small horns sprouting from her forehead and growing back flat above her hair; and her skin was a smooth reddish-pink. Many a decent young lady might be forgiven for shrieking or even fainting away; as it was, Hannah could only stand and stare, quite taken aback by how strikingly unusual she looked, and how fiercely, terrifyingly, ravishingly beautiful she was. "Oh! Good… good afternoon," stammered Hannah, as the warmth of her own intense blush joined the heat of the day. She was squinting against the glare, and struggling to find something civil to say although her legs were shaking like a blancmange and her mind seemed to have turned into a useless vapour. "Bright, isn't it?" said the stranger. "You should probably use your brolly thing."
December 30, 2025 at 8:57 AM
camalin.net
So sad that #Smutcember is drawing to a close.

I can't wait to start writing a whole (maybe) volume of my MC's private erotics! That's 30k words, so maybe I can't stretch it to that, but I'm sure as hell gonna try! 😆

Being a wealthy woman of leisure in a restrictively moralistic society...

🧵1/2
lizzieblackwood.bsky.social Lizzie Blackwood @lizzieblackwood.bsky.social · 6h
It's the penultimate prompt of #Smutcember, everyone! Tell us:

What’s a smutty setup you’re looking forward to writing that you haven’t tried yet? If you like, give us the elevator pitch of your new spicy project!

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
#Smutcember, a Bluesky writing prompt game hosted by @lizzieblackwood.bsky.social & @hookandquillpress.com Blurry black & white background that looks like a couple heavily making out. Prompt: 30) What’s a smutty set up you’re looking forward to writing, that you haven’t done yet?
December 30, 2025 at 7:54 AM
camalin.net
Hi hi #WIPSnips! Going back to my London roots with a British slang synonym for today's prompt: clobber = clothing

Ella Oakhall comes face to face with one of the most feared and reviled creatures in the whole kingdom

From #Ellamir, my #JaneAusten style #Regency #Romance X #Fantasy crossover WIP
A snippet from Ellamir by C A Malin: The chancel was unlit, yet Ella could see the slight figure seated in the altar chair, watching them approach. Even though she saw remarkably well in dimness, she was strangely unable to make out much about them; their clothing seemed to merge with the shadows, as if the light were unwilling to trespass upon it. When only a few steps remained between them, the figure suddenly rose and moved forward into the lamplight, although it seemed to Ella that they became visible simply by willing themself free of the shadows. She had already been uncertain, unsettled by an odd sense of forboding, but now she felt the cold prickle of fear creep along every pore of her skin as she realised the creature could only be one thing. Humanlike yet quite inhuman, their body was slender and unsculpted, clad in richly ornamented cloth which seemed to disobey the very light. Their face was eerily perfect, too perfect, and so pale as to appear grey even in the warm lamplight. The outer corners of their long, narrowed eyes were swept upward, just as their ears were swept backwards and upwards into sharp points, and at the center of those eyes, a disc of misty marble grey, surrounding a pupil as deep as the far reaches of the night sky. Elf. Ella had never beheld one, knew even less than most of her countryfellows did about them, yet there could be no doubt.
December 29, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Reposted by C A Malin
kiraofthewind.com
#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity
The boys summoned a Demon Lord to ask if he could remove the curse on Aubergine's body. Here, the demon tells them how curses work...
When he was back to his normal self, Aubergine blinked, rubbed the soreness around his wrist and fingers, and lowered his head. “I apologize. The monster inside me has no manners.” “I know. I know better than anyone else what frenzy is. You wish to be rid of the spell that causes you to go berserk when you hold a knife, correct?” “Yes, Your Lordship.” “Then listen to my explanation of what I saw happening inside your soul, then decide which course of action you’d like to take. A soul is like a grand tapestry of a million threads, each one being a word or action that has defined who you are. Demonic curses work by placing a knot of threads on top of your tapestry. The nature of the curse determines how it will interact with your soul. Some are constant, with threads that are forever interwoven into the soul of the cursed individual. Other curses, such as yours, do not interfere until a certain condition is met. In your case, when you hold a blade which your mind perceives as a weapon. At that point, the curse-knot presses down on your soul-tapestry to warp who you are.” Aubergine drawn by Ros Dando Art of Aubergine from the Good Thyme Inn series, wearing a purple hat and suit with steampunk motifs. He has dark hair in a pony tail, dark skin, a chinstrap beard, and magenta jewels on his face. His ears are dark brown wings
December 28, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Reposted by C A Malin
tarasgeir.bsky.social
Using threadbare for today’s #WIPSnips. Grabbing a few hours sleep after an eventful night. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingSnips
December 28, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Reposted by C A Malin
jangoeswriting.bsky.social
From ‘House Rules’. Prompt - ‘Thread’ … with an extra ‘s’.

#WiPSnips
“I still feel this is a pointless exercise.” Twii fidgeted with their robes, continually adjusting them to sit on their shoulders properly. “I already know which discipline I will follow. This is an inefficient use of my time.” “Oh, really?” Rum smoothed her fingers over the embroidered badge of Turbot House on her chest once again. She could feel the threads underneath her fingertips, tracing the picture of a turbot which, indeed, did not have six legs. “What would you be doing now if you were at home?” “Mucking out the goats.” As they walked, though Twii, wherever they went and whatever pace, always appeared to stride. The one-day witch glanced at Rum’s smile, frowning. “Somebody has to.” “I don’t think they got my size right.” To the side, for the unrecorded number of times, Hedric barely saved himself from tumbling forward after standing on the hem of his robes. “And why can’t I have a version in black? What kind of warlock wears blue?” “The robes are the perfect size.” She smothered a laugh with her hand as she used the other to support him. “It’s your body that’s the wrong size.” “And blue is the House colour. It is protocol.” Twii paused, looking both ways at a junction before heading, determinedly, down one way. “A witch does not wear blue, either. Do you see me complaining?” “Yes.” Both Rum and Hedric answered, just as Twii realised that she was not wrong, but the classroom had misplaced itself, so they corrected, wheeling in one movement and striding back the other way, ignoring their combined answer.
December 28, 2025 at 9:10 AM
camalin.net
Hey, #WIPSnips!

Today's prompt throws up another snippet from the Stardance sequence from #Ellamir which has caused me so much trouble, and is likely to be significantly reworked, but seems to be quite popular on here as I always get nice comments about it!

#Regency #Romance #Fantasy
A snippet from Ellamir by C A Malin: A few steps across cold wet paving soon brought her to the softer sensation of the damp grass of the lawn beneath her unclad feet. The heavy curtain of cloud was drawing aside, revealing a celestial night such as she could not remember to have seen for many a year. The moon was not yet risen, yet it seemed to her that all around her - the rain-washed hedges and shrubs, the raised beds and the walls of the herb-garden, the rear facade of the house itself with its bays of unlit windows - all was bathed in the silver starshine. One particular star winked out at her, waxing sometimes to a quite breathtaking brilliance as she gazed upwards, reaching out a hand to let it dance between her outstretched fingers, and she was certain that as it grew in radiance, so also grew one voice among the multitude, rising high and clear, a shimmering thread in the fabric of song. She had forgotten; as the demands of adulthood and stewardship had been imposed upon her final years of youth, so the felicities and fancies of the small girl she had been were excised and consigned to a dark, distant corner of her memory. She had forgotten, because so absurd it was, so very childish, to believe that the stars themselves could call to her in song. She had forgotten, because so adamant became her duty to maturity, to learning the ways of rigourous deportment and respectable dancing, that the singular, solitary dances of those far-off years, dances without design upon a dew-laden lawn, must be sealed away, attributed to a folly allowable in a child but unthinkable for a young lady of sense and gravity. She had forgotten how there had always been sadness and solemnity to the song, and she had danced not with joy, but from a compulsion to be one with it, to assuage the longing of the singers that she, through their song, felt also. She had forgotten, but now, suddenly and completely, she remembered.
December 28, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Reposted by C A Malin
tarasgeir.bsky.social
You’ve just opened a Star Trek themed restaurant. What are you calling it?

There are four courses!
camalin.net C A Malin @camalin.net · 2d
You’ve just opened a Star Trek themed restaurant. What are you calling it?

Teryaki Nor
foundepisodes.bsky.social Found Star Trek Episodes @foundepisodes.bsky.social · 2d
You’ve just opened a Star Trek themed restaurant. What are you calling it?

The Undiscovered Country Buffet
December 27, 2025 at 7:35 PM
camalin.net
You’ve just opened a Star Trek themed restaurant. What are you calling it?

Dominion's Pizza
foundepisodes.bsky.social Found Star Trek Episodes @foundepisodes.bsky.social · 2d
You’ve just opened a Star Trek themed restaurant. What are you calling it?

The Undiscovered Country Buffet
saavikford.bsky.social 🎄Saavik ‘Put Up More Lights’ Ford ⛄️ @saavikford.bsky.social · 2d
You’ve just opened a Star Trek themed restaurant. What are you calling it?

Saavik’s
December 27, 2025 at 7:40 PM
camalin.net
You’ve just opened a Star Trek themed restaurant. What are you calling it?

Teryaki Nor
foundepisodes.bsky.social Found Star Trek Episodes @foundepisodes.bsky.social · 2d
You’ve just opened a Star Trek themed restaurant. What are you calling it?

The Undiscovered Country Buffet
saavikford.bsky.social 🎄Saavik ‘Put Up More Lights’ Ford ⛄️ @saavikford.bsky.social · 2d
You’ve just opened a Star Trek themed restaurant. What are you calling it?

Saavik’s
December 27, 2025 at 7:28 PM
camalin.net
You've just opened a Star Trek restaurant. What are you calling it?

Jadzia's Snax
foundepisodes.bsky.social Found Star Trek Episodes @foundepisodes.bsky.social · 2d
You’ve just opened a Star Trek themed restaurant. What are you calling it?

The Undiscovered Country Buffet
saavikford.bsky.social 🎄Saavik ‘Put Up More Lights’ Ford ⛄️ @saavikford.bsky.social · 2d
You’ve just opened a Star Trek themed restaurant. What are you calling it?

Saavik’s
December 27, 2025 at 7:12 PM
camalin.net
I have shared a written sex scene with one person, and tbh it wasn't a positive experience.

I am nervous, so almost all the serious spice in #Ellamir is contained in an optional volume, which will appear in a full unabridged edition, and its existence will definitely remain unknown to my Mum! 😆
lizzieblackwood.bsky.social Lizzie Blackwood @lizzieblackwood.bsky.social · 7d
Considering that many of you may be spending time with loved ones this month, #Smutcember:

Who among your friends and family has read your smut? Has it been a positive experience sharing it with them?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
#Smutcember, a Bluesky writing prompt game hosted by @lizzieblackwood.bsky.social & @hookandquillpress.com Blurry black & white background that looks like a couple heavily making out. Prompt: 23) Who of your friends & family has read your smut?
December 23, 2025 at 12:48 PM
camalin.net
Happy Winter #Solstice if it's your thing.

I'm always a bit sad on this day because I like long dark nights, and a bit of me will be missing until September 😔
December 21, 2025 at 12:29 PM
camalin.net
Hi hi #WIPSnips

This scene from #Ellamir is about to be heavily rewritten, but I'm still pleased to share it. Unlike most of the story, where I'm trying to emulate #JaneAusten, here I'm imitating another of my much loved inspirations: Tolkien

Ella is unknowingly connecting with her heritage...
A snippet from Ellamir by C A Malin How, she asked herself in wonder, how can one distant star shed so much light? Every tree - nay, every last leaf - seems drenched in Her splendour; even the blades of grass shine like silver beneath it. Each limb of every living thing reaches up to Her, beseeching Her for Her blessing, raising their various voices in sublime praise. Hear them! They call to Her, and others join them - such a harmony, such a union of delight and devotion - greater and wider with every moment. I hear them, and I listen, though I know not their tongue; I raise my silent voice and cry out with them from my very heart. I long for that which they long for; I weep for that, that they have lost; I yearn also, though I know not why, nor for what. O mistress of the heavens! light our glade, your blessings shine on branch and blade, throughout this night that thou hast made. The words came to her as might her own thoughts; she had not formed them, yet she felt them. The singers were not actually the trees and grass, but their words were somehow brought to her upon the wind, through the clear night from some other place, while all that grew in the garden joined in with their exaltation. O hallowed mistress, queen of night, as we are gathered 'neath your sight, bestow upon us sacred light.
December 21, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Reposted by C A Malin
tarasgeir.bsky.social
Strope goes through Grio’s wardrobe. #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
December 21, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by C A Malin
linawiren.bsky.social
Two Victorian women building an elaborate snow lady, first published in the January 1892 edition of The Strand Magazine.
December 20, 2025 at 5:04 PM
camalin.net
I'm used to Samsung's energy scorer being motherly (and not understanding the life of a shift worker) but this little morsel this morning really makes me wonder what it thinks is going on...
December 19, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Reposted by C A Malin
mycelialwriter.bsky.social
✨ Holiday Book Sale ✨

Now's the perfect time to read The Chrysillium Tree before book 2 comes out February 1st.

The ebook is just $0.99 for a limited time 🌿✨
Escape into whispers of rebellion, forbidden love, and star-born magic.
a.co/d/5ond6Iy
#BookSky #FantasyBooks #IndieAuthor
December 18, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by C A Malin
raphlife.bsky.social
Techbros seem to love Tolkien, so here's an analogy to help you understand what genAI is.

GenAI is The One Ring. You think your use is justified, b/c you don't have evil in your heart.

But it came from evil, it is intended for evil purpose, & anything you do with it will be twisted to that end.
Boromir from THE LORD OF THE RINGS, holding The One Ring. He thought he could use it for good, but everything done with the ring turns to evil. He was one of the mightiest warriors of middle earth, and he could not resist its powers. Others even mightier fell to the ring. Do you think you are stronger than them? The One Ring is generative AI.
December 17, 2025 at 8:43 PM
camalin.net
Astonished to have zero instances of today's #WIPSnips prompt, so I'm going with near-synonym 'required' and I'm excited because this is quite new (and very first-drafty, sorry!)

#Ellamir Oakhall meets her first elf, a species feared and reviled by the humans of her kingdom, and also her first enby
A snippet from Ellamir by C A Malin: Taluniel's amusement seemed greater still. "I am sorry indeed to so confuse you; sorrier still that your language cannot describe or define me. You wonder if I am male or female; the forming of speech, the conferring of courtesy, demands such distinction in your tongue. Yet I cannot satisfy that, in speech at least; for I am neither. I am neither, and I am both, perhaps you might say; I myself would say 'I am none, and I am all'. It is difficult for you, I see that clearly; but know me better, and mayhap the value of such distinction will diminish." Throughout their conversation, it had required of Ella great focus and concentration to maintain a civil discourse whilst at the same time, suppressing a great number of emotions and sensations which would not usually trouble her in any social situation. It was difficult, for none of her usual facilities seemed appropriate: no inconsequential morsel of small-talk that could be brought out to fill a silence, no carefully weighed element of flattery or ironic disdain to adjust the balance of superiority. For the first time in her adult life, there was no question of superiority, no opportunity for authority; in the presence of this ancient, ageless being with their supernatural aura of near-omniscience, human notions of rank and reserve, of affected courtesy and civility seemed entirely absurd. Intellectually, she was far outmatched; emotionally, she was far adrift.
December 18, 2025 at 12:30 PM
camalin.net
Hi hi again, #Smutcember! 💖
I've been pondering this upcoming prompt for a while, because I'm not sure my favourite sense to rely on is the one I use most often.

It's a great prompt, because it's really made me think about this and how I technically approach writing a sex scene sensually.

🧵1️⃣/4️⃣
lizzieblackwood.bsky.social Lizzie Blackwood @lizzieblackwood.bsky.social · 12d
Time to get sensual, #Smutcember:

What is your favorite sense to rely on when describing sexy scenes? How do you like to engage with multiple senses throughout?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
#Smutcember, a Bluesky writing prompt game hosted by @lizzieblackwood.bsky.social & @hookandquillpress.com Blurry black & white background that looks like a couple heavily making out. Prompt: 18) Share your favorite sense to rely on when describing sexy scenes.
December 18, 2025 at 5:32 AM
Reposted by C A Malin
nehayazmin.bsky.social
Still reeling from their heartbreaking pasts, Mukti and Jamie are blocking the world out, not letting anyone in—the only people they can’t keep out is each other

Can they move forward together—or are some people not meant to fall in love?

FREE this month
bit.ly/ss1bsky

#booksky #romancelandia
December 16, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Reposted by C A Malin
feliciadavin.com
need you all to appreciate this old tumblr post and the time I spent typing out the alt text
feliciadavin.com Felicia Davin @feliciadavin.com · 12d
also any picture of Reagan automatically makes me think of this old tumblr post
photo of Ronald Reagan kissing a US flag but it looks a little like he's eating it tumblr user sascoalition: Obama will never be half the man nor love America as much as Reagan did. tumblr user veganbutt: Obama will never eat as many flags throughout his presidency like Reagan did. Reagan holds the current flag-eating record at 3,463 flags during his presidency. Obama is currently only at 1,072. Here we see pictured: Reagan in action during one of his flag feedings. This is speculated to be approximately his 560th flag consumed.
December 17, 2025 at 6:35 PM