Kate Ravenna
@fantasticalkate.bsky.social
Writer of fantastical stories. Voracious reader of all things sci-fi and fantasy. First reader for Translunar Travelers Lounge. Codex member.
Starforged is sooooo good, y'all! If you are a writer, I highly recommend the Oracles which I have used to help me brainstorm so many times.
(I asked the Oracle why you should buy Starforged and it said "persevere solution," so maybe it has the solution to the plot problem that's been vexing you.)
(I asked the Oracle why you should buy Starforged and it said "persevere solution," so maybe it has the solution to the plot problem that's been vexing you.)
Ironsworn Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals are now live at @drivethrurpg.com!
First of all, Ironsworn: Starforged, the standalone, sci-fi evolution of the Ironsworn RPG, is a Black Friday doorbuster at 75% off!
Get it here: www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/3...
First of all, Ironsworn: Starforged, the standalone, sci-fi evolution of the Ironsworn RPG, is a Black Friday doorbuster at 75% off!
Get it here: www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/3...
November 28, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Starforged is sooooo good, y'all! If you are a writer, I highly recommend the Oracles which I have used to help me brainstorm so many times.
(I asked the Oracle why you should buy Starforged and it said "persevere solution," so maybe it has the solution to the plot problem that's been vexing you.)
(I asked the Oracle why you should buy Starforged and it said "persevere solution," so maybe it has the solution to the plot problem that's been vexing you.)
Made brookies for Thanksgiving. They smell amazing.
November 25, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Made brookies for Thanksgiving. They smell amazing.
Reposted by Kate Ravenna
I've updated my blog post about Must Read magazines with information about how the Must Read contracts have changed--and the negotiation difficulties that some authors still encounter writerbeware.blog/2025/07/25/c...
Contract Controversy (and Change) at Must Read Magazines - Writer Beware
In a surprise move this past February, a new group called Must Read Magazines acquired five well-known genre magazines: Asimov’s Science Fiction, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, The Magazine of Fanta...
writerbeware.blog
November 18, 2025 at 12:24 AM
I've updated my blog post about Must Read magazines with information about how the Must Read contracts have changed--and the negotiation difficulties that some authors still encounter writerbeware.blog/2025/07/25/c...
I make this black bean soup absolutely all the time. I like to soak the beans overnight, and then you just toss everything in the pot and simmer for forty-five minutes. Super easy, and quite cheap.
smittenkitchen.com/2010/01/blac...
smittenkitchen.com/2010/01/blac...
November 4, 2025 at 4:25 AM
I make this black bean soup absolutely all the time. I like to soak the beans overnight, and then you just toss everything in the pot and simmer for forty-five minutes. Super easy, and quite cheap.
smittenkitchen.com/2010/01/blac...
smittenkitchen.com/2010/01/blac...
Reposted by Kate Ravenna
"A month after you get a rejection from a prestigious magazine, you see an article on the same topic you pitched, using the same sources, written by an in-house writer. The article wins awards. Describe the hex you place on the magazine."
Horrifying Writing Prompts
You inadvertently send your My Little Pony/The West Wing fan fiction to the New Yorker. If your reaction was a New Yorker cartoon, what would it lo...
buff.ly
November 4, 2025 at 2:00 AM
"A month after you get a rejection from a prestigious magazine, you see an article on the same topic you pitched, using the same sources, written by an in-house writer. The article wins awards. Describe the hex you place on the magazine."
This is lovely
"Writing is, at its best, a dance between the reader and the writer – my humanity speaking to your humanity, my grief illuminating yours, my experiences twining with your experiences to create something bigger and more meaningful than either of us could have created alone."
"Writing is, at its best, a dance between the reader and the writer – my humanity speaking to your humanity, my grief illuminating yours, my experiences twining with your experiences to create something bigger and more meaningful than either of us could have created alone."
A few months ago I was asked to give the after-dinner speech at the CWA Daggers. I chose to talk about AI, and the bravery and humanity involved in reading and writing. Afterwards a lot of people asked me to post the speech online, so here it is. I hope you like it ruthware.com/daggers-spee...
Daggers Speech
The following is a lightly edited version of a speech I was asked to give at the 2025 Daggers – the prestigious crime fiction awards administered by the Crime Writer’s Association of the UK.
ruthware.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:09 PM
This is lovely
"Writing is, at its best, a dance between the reader and the writer – my humanity speaking to your humanity, my grief illuminating yours, my experiences twining with your experiences to create something bigger and more meaningful than either of us could have created alone."
"Writing is, at its best, a dance between the reader and the writer – my humanity speaking to your humanity, my grief illuminating yours, my experiences twining with your experiences to create something bigger and more meaningful than either of us could have created alone."
Reposted by Kate Ravenna
my name is Oz
and wen the stone
is broke to bits
and all alone
i lie in sand
it stretches bare
you read my words
you pls despair
and wen the stone
is broke to bits
and all alone
i lie in sand
it stretches bare
you read my words
you pls despair
Ozyman, Ozyman-
dias does what no mortal can
and his works? are they there?
no, but maybe still despair
dias does what no mortal can
and his works? are they there?
no, but maybe still despair
This is just to say
I have looked on
the works
that were in
the desert
and which
you were probably
thinking
would still stand
Forgive me
they were trunkless
so vast
and so old
I have looked on
the works
that were in
the desert
and which
you were probably
thinking
would still stand
Forgive me
they were trunkless
so vast
and so old
October 30, 2025 at 12:27 PM
my name is Oz
and wen the stone
is broke to bits
and all alone
i lie in sand
it stretches bare
you read my words
you pls despair
and wen the stone
is broke to bits
and all alone
i lie in sand
it stretches bare
you read my words
you pls despair
I've never watched the Alien movies and yet I'm so tempted to buy this because Shawn does such great work.
I cowrote the "Last Survivor" solo gameplay mode that is included in the Alien Evolved Edition core book. Very exciting to contribute in a small way to the RPG based on one of my favorite cinematic universes.
It’s been a wee while since we shared any news about Alien: The Roleplaying Game Evolved Edition, but we’re very pleased to say that it’s now finally up for pre-order from Free League Publishing.
October 27, 2025 at 4:44 AM
I've never watched the Alien movies and yet I'm so tempted to buy this because Shawn does such great work.
Reposted by Kate Ravenna
I worked for a small food pantry for a while. The can of beans you paid $1 for would cost us 20 cents through our connections.
Give money directly if you can. You can literally multiply the amount of food your donation can provide by 3-5x just by giving cash directly.
Give money directly if you can. You can literally multiply the amount of food your donation can provide by 3-5x just by giving cash directly.
If you can afford it, a *monetary* donation (it goes a lot farther!) to your local food bank would be a most excellent thing to do right now.
I want more people to care that SNAP benefits are being cut off on November 1. 40% of SNAP beneficiaries are children. This is callous and vile.
October 22, 2025 at 10:24 AM
I worked for a small food pantry for a while. The can of beans you paid $1 for would cost us 20 cents through our connections.
Give money directly if you can. You can literally multiply the amount of food your donation can provide by 3-5x just by giving cash directly.
Give money directly if you can. You can literally multiply the amount of food your donation can provide by 3-5x just by giving cash directly.
Reason to snap up Starforged:
-you can have a pet glowcat
-fantastic GMless play
-built in characterization in every asset
-outstanding planet generation tables
-brilliant action and theme Oracles (perfect for planning a game, playing GMless, or using as writing inspiration)
-you can have a pet glowcat
-fantastic GMless play
-built in characterization in every asset
-outstanding planet generation tables
-brilliant action and theme Oracles (perfect for planning a game, playing GMless, or using as writing inspiration)
Ironsworn: Starforged is the deal of the day at @drivethrurpg.com! Save 50% on this spacefaring evolution of the Ironsworn #ttrpg. Supports solo, co-op, and guided play, and includes a massive array of random generators for a universe of adventure and peril.
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/391653
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/391653
Ironsworn: Starforged - Shawn Tomkin | DriveThruRPG
The Sci-Fi Evolution of the Ironsworn RPG is Here!
In Ironsworn: Starforged, you are a spaceborne hero sworn to undertake perilous quests. You will explore uncharted space, unravel the secrets of a my...
www.drivethrurpg.com
October 20, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reason to snap up Starforged:
-you can have a pet glowcat
-fantastic GMless play
-built in characterization in every asset
-outstanding planet generation tables
-brilliant action and theme Oracles (perfect for planning a game, playing GMless, or using as writing inspiration)
-you can have a pet glowcat
-fantastic GMless play
-built in characterization in every asset
-outstanding planet generation tables
-brilliant action and theme Oracles (perfect for planning a game, playing GMless, or using as writing inspiration)
I used every gram for a holo of my sisters. It's been played so many times that it skips and stutters. It hurts every time I watch it, but I can't stop.
I miss them.
It's been so long, they have grown so much. I can barely afford to send a voicemail.
I tell myself it's all for them.
I miss them.
It's been so long, they have grown so much. I can barely afford to send a voicemail.
I tell myself it's all for them.
On an interplanetary merchant ship, strictly enforced rules and regulations are how a crew survives with ship intact and food properly rationed. Even so, each crewmember is allowed a few grams of paint and personal items for their bunk. What does your cot look like?
#TinyTalesTuesday #WritingPrompt
#TinyTalesTuesday #WritingPrompt
October 15, 2025 at 10:16 PM
I used every gram for a holo of my sisters. It's been played so many times that it skips and stutters. It hurts every time I watch it, but I can't stop.
I miss them.
It's been so long, they have grown so much. I can barely afford to send a voicemail.
I tell myself it's all for them.
I miss them.
It's been so long, they have grown so much. I can barely afford to send a voicemail.
I tell myself it's all for them.
Reposted by Kate Ravenna
Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.
October 14, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.
Still just listening to K Pop Demon Hunters and playing Stardew Valley.
October 10, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Still just listening to K Pop Demon Hunters and playing Stardew Valley.
I'm currently working on a hack of Starforged that's Regency England a la Jane Austen or Georgette Heyer. Does that count?
(Shawn built a very robust system so it actually works quite well.)
(Shawn built a very robust system so it actually works quite well.)
Game Jam called "Make It Fit" where we try to force a system to do something that it shouldn't do at all while still maintaining the ethos of the system. Farming mechanics in Blades in the Dark. Orbital Blues dating simulator. Draw Steel store management sim.
October 8, 2025 at 9:33 PM
I'm currently working on a hack of Starforged that's Regency England a la Jane Austen or Georgette Heyer. Does that count?
(Shawn built a very robust system so it actually works quite well.)
(Shawn built a very robust system so it actually works quite well.)
Reposted by Kate Ravenna
it's here, The Deadlands fundraiser 💀
buy your very 2026 coin for the ferryman and help support us
we've got signed books, deadlands issues + psychopomp book bundles, and more coming soon!
please like + RT this to help spread the word
psychopomp.com/the-deadland...
behold!
buy your very 2026 coin for the ferryman and help support us
we've got signed books, deadlands issues + psychopomp book bundles, and more coming soon!
please like + RT this to help spread the word
psychopomp.com/the-deadland...
behold!
October 6, 2025 at 8:04 PM
it's here, The Deadlands fundraiser 💀
buy your very 2026 coin for the ferryman and help support us
we've got signed books, deadlands issues + psychopomp book bundles, and more coming soon!
please like + RT this to help spread the word
psychopomp.com/the-deadland...
behold!
buy your very 2026 coin for the ferryman and help support us
we've got signed books, deadlands issues + psychopomp book bundles, and more coming soon!
please like + RT this to help spread the word
psychopomp.com/the-deadland...
behold!
I never watched Titanic. I was in high school when it came out and I was never interested.
Inspired by a post I just saw in which someone admitted they hadn’t seen a single episode of Friends nor the film Love Actually… what cultural hole do you have that’s a bit weird for your generation?
I’ll go first: I haven’t seen Dirty Dancing.
I’ll go first: I haven’t seen Dirty Dancing.
October 6, 2025 at 1:10 AM
I never watched Titanic. I was in high school when it came out and I was never interested.
Reposted by Kate Ravenna
Give us scifi, give us fantasy, give us anything in between, a bit scary here, a bit heartbreaking there, some frantic action, hope that lingers, a fun ride with so many layers underneath...
Any and all of it, or something else?
Don't self reject, SUBMIT 🥰
Any and all of it, or something else?
Don't self reject, SUBMIT 🥰
Submissions are open until 15 October!
The general submissions portal is now open for all writers. We are looking for speculative fiction stories, 5000 words or under, and our preference is for something that is, more or less, fun.
October 4, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Give us scifi, give us fantasy, give us anything in between, a bit scary here, a bit heartbreaking there, some frantic action, hope that lingers, a fun ride with so many layers underneath...
Any and all of it, or something else?
Don't self reject, SUBMIT 🥰
Any and all of it, or something else?
Don't self reject, SUBMIT 🥰
I know I'm about five years late but I just discovered Stardew Valley so I'll just be spending all my time growing tiny fruit and veg.
October 3, 2025 at 5:00 AM
I know I'm about five years late but I just discovered Stardew Valley so I'll just be spending all my time growing tiny fruit and veg.
Your random reminder that you can download Raccoons with Lockpicks for free and run your own gloriously chaotic raccoon heist!
It's a smol game perfectly sized for a lunch break.
kate-ravenna.itch.io/raccoons
It's a smol game perfectly sized for a lunch break.
kate-ravenna.itch.io/raccoons
Raccoons with Lockpicks by Kate Ravenna
Play as mischievous raccoons with lockpicks in a little heist RPG with narrative dice.
kate-ravenna.itch.io
October 1, 2025 at 3:35 AM
Your random reminder that you can download Raccoons with Lockpicks for free and run your own gloriously chaotic raccoon heist!
It's a smol game perfectly sized for a lunch break.
kate-ravenna.itch.io/raccoons
It's a smol game perfectly sized for a lunch break.
kate-ravenna.itch.io/raccoons
I'm really enjoying this year's Flights of Foundry! Three jam packed days, and I was on my first ever panel (Public Transportation--the takeaway is that there should be more dragons as busses, thank you) and ran my first convention TTRPG one-shot (my players were all amazing, it was super fun).
September 28, 2025 at 3:33 PM
I'm really enjoying this year's Flights of Foundry! Three jam packed days, and I was on my first ever panel (Public Transportation--the takeaway is that there should be more dragons as busses, thank you) and ran my first convention TTRPG one-shot (my players were all amazing, it was super fun).
. @pscwillis.bsky.social I really like the Diamine inks for behaving well on most papers. Diamine Earl Grey is a very lovely grey ink. (I would not have thought I would like a grey ink, but it is a very lovely lightly purple grey.)
September 28, 2025 at 3:25 PM
. @pscwillis.bsky.social I really like the Diamine inks for behaving well on most papers. Diamine Earl Grey is a very lovely grey ink. (I would not have thought I would like a grey ink, but it is a very lovely lightly purple grey.)
Reposted by Kate Ravenna
Ok, Aeneid discourse time because the statement below is correct, but also, I think, significantly incomplete in ways that understate how good Vergil is as an author (he is very good).
Aeneas is supposed to be a self-righteous prig because Vergil is deeply ambivalent about the Augustan project.
Aeneas is supposed to be a self-righteous prig because Vergil is deeply ambivalent about the Augustan project.
Virgil wrote FanFic.
And while parts of his epic are very good, Aeneas himself comes across as a self-righteous prig.
#ISaidWhatISaid
And while parts of his epic are very good, Aeneas himself comes across as a self-righteous prig.
#ISaidWhatISaid
September 27, 2025 at 4:43 AM
Ok, Aeneid discourse time because the statement below is correct, but also, I think, significantly incomplete in ways that understate how good Vergil is as an author (he is very good).
Aeneas is supposed to be a self-righteous prig because Vergil is deeply ambivalent about the Augustan project.
Aeneas is supposed to be a self-righteous prig because Vergil is deeply ambivalent about the Augustan project.
Reposted by Kate Ravenna
I'll be at Flights of Foundry! I'm on a panel this Friday!
🚌 Friday, 9/26 at 4:00pm PDT (Hour 7) -- Public Transportation: The Wheels on the Bus Go Round And Round, For Now....
🚌 Friday, 9/26 at 4:00pm PDT (Hour 7) -- Public Transportation: The Wheels on the Bus Go Round And Round, For Now....
FLIGHTS OF FOUNDRY is THIS week!!! See you on the discord this Friday!
Register: flights-of-foundry.o...
Register: flights-of-foundry.o...
September 24, 2025 at 2:13 AM
I'll be at Flights of Foundry! I'm on a panel this Friday!
🚌 Friday, 9/26 at 4:00pm PDT (Hour 7) -- Public Transportation: The Wheels on the Bus Go Round And Round, For Now....
🚌 Friday, 9/26 at 4:00pm PDT (Hour 7) -- Public Transportation: The Wheels on the Bus Go Round And Round, For Now....
I'll be at Flights of Foundry! I'm on a panel this Friday!
🚌 Friday, 9/26 at 4:00pm PDT (Hour 7) -- Public Transportation: The Wheels on the Bus Go Round And Round, For Now....
🚌 Friday, 9/26 at 4:00pm PDT (Hour 7) -- Public Transportation: The Wheels on the Bus Go Round And Round, For Now....
FLIGHTS OF FOUNDRY is THIS week!!! See you on the discord this Friday!
Register: flights-of-foundry.o...
Register: flights-of-foundry.o...
September 24, 2025 at 2:13 AM
I'll be at Flights of Foundry! I'm on a panel this Friday!
🚌 Friday, 9/26 at 4:00pm PDT (Hour 7) -- Public Transportation: The Wheels on the Bus Go Round And Round, For Now....
🚌 Friday, 9/26 at 4:00pm PDT (Hour 7) -- Public Transportation: The Wheels on the Bus Go Round And Round, For Now....
Reposted by Kate Ravenna
Tomorrow, Monday 22 September the general submissions story portal for Translunar Travelers Lounge will be open. Speculative fiction of 5000 words or less. Please read the guidelines before submitting! translunartravelerslounge.com/submissions/
Submissions
Broadly defined, the type of fiction we are looking for is “fun”. [Go to Submissions]
translunartravelerslounge.com
September 21, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Tomorrow, Monday 22 September the general submissions story portal for Translunar Travelers Lounge will be open. Speculative fiction of 5000 words or less. Please read the guidelines before submitting! translunartravelerslounge.com/submissions/